Jeremiah 4

If you return, Israel, says the Lord, to me, turn back, for which the Seventy translated: if Israel is turned, says the Lord, to me, he shall be turned. And the sense is: 'if he has returned to me, he will return from captivity', or otherwise: 'when he has offered what he has'. For to him who has, it shall be given; but from him who has not, even that which he seems to have shall be taken away. But according to the Hebrew the sense is this: 'if you return to me, Israel, and once for all desire salvation, and say that you have sinned and have not listened to the voice of your Lord, turn back fully; believe in him whom you denied, and then there will be full conversion'.

If you take away your stumbling blocks from before my face, you shall not be moved. When, therefore, we are moved and say: but my feet were almost moved, we do not suffer this through the weakness of nature, but because we set up stumbling blocks and our idols against the Lord.

Upon these things God says concerning Israel: "If Israel turns back to me, says the Lord, then he shall be turned back"; that is, if he turns completely, then he shall be turned back with a turning — not if he as it were begins to turn. Then he says: "and if he removes his abominations out of his mouth, and stands in awe before my face, and swears, 'The Lord lives,' in truth and in judgment and in righteousness, then the nations shall be blessed in him." If they do these things, "the nations shall be blessed in him." But what are these things they are to do, so that the nations may be blessed in him? "If he removes his abominations out of his mouth." And what is it to remove the abominations out of the mouth? Whatever we speak badly are abominations in our mouth. Let us therefore remove the abominations out of our mouth, taking away slanders, vain words, idle words that are going to cause us to be accused "in the day of judgment; for by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." If, then, we wish that the words "and the nations shall be blessed in him, and in him they shall praise God in Jerusalem" should meet us, let us do the things said from the beginning. And which first? To remove "the abominations out of our mouth." Next is also the "you shall stand in awe before my face." As the second thing let us do this, not simply that we may stand in awe; for perhaps there is an awe that comes about, but not from the face of God. Those, at any rate, who fear without knowledge, but set themselves to fear, do not stand in awe from the face of God; but as many as stand in awe with knowledge, by ever beholding and picturing to themselves "the face of God that comes upon those who do evil things, to cut off from the earth the memory of them," these are the ones who stand in awe from the face of God.

"If he removes his abominations out of his mouth, and stands in awe before my face, and swears, 'The Lord lives,' in truth and in judgment and in righteousness." Let us look at ourselves who swear, in what manner we swear not in judgment but without judgment, so that our oaths come about by custom rather than by judgment. We are carried away, at any rate, and, reproving this, the word says: "and if he swears, 'The Lord lives,' in truth and in judgment and in righteousness." We know that it was said in the Gospel by the Lord to the disciples: "But I say to you, do not swear at all"; but let us look also at this text; and, if God grants it, both will be examined together. For perhaps one must first swear "in truth and in judgment and in righteousness," so that after this, having advanced, one may become worthy of not swearing at all, but of having a "yes" that needs no witnesses that this is so, and of having his "no" that needs no witnesses that it is truly "no." "And he swears," then, "'The Lord lives,' in truth." In the one who swears I first seek that there be no falsehood, but the truth, so that he may swear with truth; but we wretches even swear falsely. But let it be "with truth" — not even so does the oath come about well, but "in judgment." For grant that I swear by custom: I do not swear "in judgment." If one must take up, for such an oath, the God of the universe, and his Christ, over this matter, how great must the matter be, that I should set my knees and swear? In view of unbelief arising in some concerning my word, tending it as a physician, I might perhaps do this at some time; but if I should swear at random, if I should swear thus, I would sin.

"If," then, "he swears, 'The Lord lives,' with truth and in judgment" — not without judgment — "and in righteousness" — not unrighteously — "then the nations shall be blessed in him." He united both, those of the nations and Israel. He spoke concerning the nations, he spoke also concerning Israel.

In the Old Testament it is said that he who swears in the name of God should swear and not perjure himself. For to perjure is the same as to forswear, and this is to take the name of God in vain.

Jeremiah says: "And you shall swear: the Lord lives, in truth and in judgment and in justice;" and the Gloss says there that "an oath ought to have three companions: truth, judgment, and justice."

First, an oath ought to be made with truth; that is, without falsehood. Truth is present in an assertory oath when a man does not deny what is true, nor affirm what is false, nor knowingly assert what is doubtful; for speech is indicative of those things which are in the heart. But do you know what it means when a man testifies to something false by the witness of divine truth? It is to say that he lies and that divine truth lies along with him.

Second, an assertory oath must be made with justice. It is made with justice when it is not made against a commandment of the divine law, nor against a precept of holy Mother Church, nor to the detriment of one's own salvation or that of another. And he who swears against these three swears rashly and sins in a twofold manner: both because he swears and because he keeps the oath.

Third, it is necessary that judgment accompany an assertory oath, so that there be in the mind a discernment of truth and justice, namely, whether the oath is true or false, just or unjust, fruitful or unfruitful. Whence, if I swear without judgment, not discerning among these three, I swear rashly.

And you shall swear: the Lord lives, in truth and in judgment and in righteousness, and the nations shall bless him and shall praise him. And how is it that the Gospel forbids us to swear? But here 'you shall swear' is said for confession and for the condemnation of the idols by which Israel used to swear. Accordingly the stumbling blocks are taken away and he swears by the Lord. And as for what is said: the Lord lives, in the Old Testament it is an oath for the condemnation of the dead, by whom all idolatry swears. At the same time it must be noted that an oath has these companions: truth, judgment and righteousness; if these are lacking, it will by no means be an oath, but perjury. 'And when,' he says, 'Israel has done this too, and through the apostles has become the teacher of the nations, then all the nations shall bless, or be blessed, in him, and shall praise him, because salvation has gone forth from Israel'.

But if the old law had belonged to the devil, it would not have led people away from idolatry, but rather would have drawn them on and cast them into it; for this did the devil desire. But now we see the opposite effect produced by the old law. And indeed this very thing, the oath, was ordained of old for this cause, that they might not swear by the idols. For "ye shall swear," saith He, "by the true God." They were then no small advantages which the law effected, but rather very great. For that they came unto the "strong meat," was the work of its care.

"If you swear, 'The Lord lives,' in truth, in justice and in righteousness." In the sacred Gospels, by contrast, he made more perfect prescriptions than these: "It was said to the ancients, You shall not swear falsely: you shall discharge your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all." He bids Jews, being weak as they are, to swear by him so that through the habit of swearing they may learn to adore him alone. He also promises that if this is done, "nations will be blessed through him and through him will praise God in Jerusalem." In other words, when they practiced true worship of God, many of the neighboring peoples would learn about godliness.

The departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean spirit. There is, moreover, the apostolic injunction, that the grace given us should not be unprofitable. Those things that he wrote particularly to his disciple, he enforces on us through him, saying, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you. For he who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread. But the paths of the slothful are strewn with thorns." The Spirit warns ahead of time not to fall into them, saying, "Break up your fallow ground. Do not sow among thorns."

In the last discourse we laid down clearly what sort of character the theologian ought to bear, what kind of subject he may philosophize about, and when and to what extent he may do so. We saw that he ought to be pure, as far as he can be, in order that light may be apprehended by light. He ought to associate with serious people in order that his word will not be fruitless by falling on an unfruitful soil and creating a climate of calm within from the whirl of outward distractions. Then we will not be like madmen constantly trying to catch our breath. This way, we can go as far as we have ourselves advanced or at least in the direction we are advancing. This is how it is when we have broken up for ourselves the fallows of Divinity, so as not to sow seed among thorns. We have plowed the ground, being molded and molding others by Holy Scripture.

For thus says the Lord to the man of Judah and Jerusalem: break up fallow ground for yourselves, and do not sow upon thorns; be circumcised to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my indignation go forth like fire and be kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the wickedness of the thoughts — or devices — of yours. For what we said: be circumcised to the Lord and take away the foreskin of your hearts, Symmachus put: be purified to the Lord and take away the wickednesses of your hearts, understanding circumcision as cleansing and foreskins as vice. And this is commanded to the men of Judah and Jerusalem who follow the true faith and dwell in the Church: that they should not sow upon thorns, which the word of the Gospel signifies, thorns that choke the seed of God, but should first make fallow ground, dig up all the brambles and take away the briars, so that clean fields may receive clean seeds. This is what is said in another place: do not cast your pearls before swine, and do not give what is holy to dogs. For how can a man hear the word of God and conceive the seeds and bear fruit, whose mind is full of the troubles of the world? And as for what follows: be circumcised to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts, it is commanded to no one else but the man of Judah and the inhabitant of Jerusalem, that they should forsake the letter that kills and follow the Spirit that gives life. 'For if you do not do this,' he says, 'my indignation will go forth like fire and will be kindled, and there will be none to quench it'. And he therefore warns and foretells beforehand so as not to be compelled to do it, as we also prove in the case of the Ninevites, to whom the sentence was foretold so that they might turn aside the impending fury by repentance. And all these evils will come because of the wickedness of our thoughts or devices. Where are those who say that there is no sin in thoughts, when, according to the truth of the Gospel, all vices proceed from the heart?

Let us imitate the example of all these people, that there may be peace and righteousness in our days, and that what we read in another place may not happen to us: "Thorns and briars shall spring up on the soil of my people." Rather, let us clean the fallow ground for ourselves and not sow among thorns.

He adds: "And the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him they shall give praise to God in Jerusalem. For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem." He has spoken to those from the nations, he has spoken also to those from Israel, and he now speaks to those from Judah. I remember the figurative interpretations spoken earlier concerning Judah and those who dwell in Jerusalem. For we too dwell in Jerusalem, if God grants it. Since "where the treasure is, there also is the heart," if we lay up treasure in heaven, we also have our heart in the Jerusalem above, concerning which the apostle says: "But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother, as it is written," and what follows.

"Thus," then, "says the Lord to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem: Break up for yourselves fresh ground, and do not sow among thorns." This saying is spoken above all to those who teach, that they should not first entrust the things they say to their hearers before they have made fresh ground in their souls. For when, having "put their hand to the plow," they have made fresh ground in the souls, then, since these hear according to "the good and fair land," when they sow, they do not sow among thorns. But if, before the plow and before making fresh ground in the ruling faculty of the hearers, someone takes the holy seeds—the word about the Father, the word about the Son, the word about the Holy Spirit, the word about the resurrection, the word about punishment, the word about rest, the word about the law, the word about the prophets, and in a word about each of the things written—and sows them, he transgresses the commandment that says, first, "Break up for yourselves fresh ground," and second, "and do not sow among thorns."

But one of the hearers will say: I do not teach, I am not subject to this commandment. Then you too, become a farmer of yourself, and do not sow among thorns, but make fresh ground of the field for me, which God of all has entrusted to you. Consider the field, see where the thorns are, where are "the cares of this life and the deceit of riches" and love of pleasure. And having considered the thorns in your soul, seek the rational plow, concerning which Jesus says: "No one who has put his hand to the plow and turned back is fit for the kingdom of God." Having sought it and found it, having gathered from the Scriptures the working oxen that are clean, plow and break up the ground anew, and, so that it may no longer be old, make it new: "having put off the old man with his deeds and having put on the new man who is renewed unto knowledge," you will make fresh ground for yourself; and if you make the fresh ground, take seeds from those who teach, take seeds from the law, take from the prophets, from the writings of the gospel, from the apostolic words; and having taken these seeds, sow your soul through memory and meditation. These will seem to spring up of themselves; but in truth it is not they that will spring up after the memory of them, but God will make them grow: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." And if anyone has been able to consider the Scriptures, this man has made fresh ground, and having made fresh ground he has sown not among thorns. These seeds are ordered by God not to become an ear of grain suddenly, but, as in the Gospel according to Mark, "first the blade, then the ear, then it becomes ripe." When it becomes ripe for harvest, those who are sent out for the harvest will come; when it becomes ripe for harvest, they will come, to whom the word says: "Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white for harvest." He says to us, then: "Break up for yourselves fresh ground, and do not sow among thorns." But if, before you have cleansed your soul, while you still have thorns, you approach one who teaches—whether one who is able, or one reputed to be so—or even ask for lessons and spiritual seeds, you transgress the commandment that says: "Do not sow among thorns."

How could it be shown from the testimony of the prophets, already received among the Gentiles in the New Testament, that the promise which God made to Abraham has been fulfilled through the coming of Christ? — It is written in the prophet Isaiah: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7). But perhaps the Jews will say: The house of God, that is, the synagogue, is open to all. Nor do we object; yet in such a way that, as always, the circumcised join themselves to the Law. For their Law is that by which they were commanded, after the manner of Abraham, to be circumcised. Therefore, nothing new can seem to be signified by this example of the prophet; since anyone coming from any nation has never been forbidden from the beginning of Judaism to join himself to the Law. Nothing new spoken by the prophet can be thought, indeed it would be unessential, if the Gentiles have always been admitted to serve the God of Abraham and are never found to have been forbidden. And this is true, because those who submit themselves to the Law are never found not to have been received. If, therefore, these things are so, it seems needless that the prophet admonished about what, once handed down, has always been observed. And could anyone so dull be found as to say that the prophet spoke something unnecessary and empty? I do not know for whom it would be safe even to hear this and not oppose it. For since the Jewish people, on account of the sins which they committed against God, seeking help from idols, were often rebuked by the prophets but refused to enter upon the path of repentance so as to return to God, God, in reproach of them, indicated that He would open His house to all nations to pray, so that, the Jews being cast off, He would show that He would place others in their place. For if the nations have always been admitted to the Law, as was said above, how could the prophet say that this would happen in the future, unless he meant something different from what had been previously commanded? He could not speak of a thing which was done daily as though it were going to come. Therefore it is clear that this tends to the ruin of the Jews, to whom the prophet shows that, with them removed, others were to be called and were to receive the house of God’s grace, which had been promised to the Jews. What that promise is, the prophet Isaiah teaches, saying: “There shall come out of Zion one who shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this shall be my covenant with them” (Isa. 59:20–21). Therefore this covenant is the removal of sins. This is the New Covenant, which was promised through Jeremiah, who says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will accomplish for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I arranged for their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord” (Jer. 31:31–32). This is their transgression, when they made the image of a calf; then they corrupted His covenant. Therefore also the tablets on which the Law had been given were shattered under the mountain (Exod. 32:4, 19), because they deserved to receive more severe precepts. But because God is mild and merciful, He promised through the prophets that He would change the Law, so as to give another Covenant, which would differ from that which He had given before: that not only what was burdensome might be changed, but also those things which were given in figure, that is, the sabbath and circumcision; so that, since they had long been oppressed, being relieved in all things, they might give grateful thanks to God as petitioners. And because, persisting in their fathers’ transgression, they refused to turn their minds away from idols, He testifies that the nations, together with the remnant who kept the faith, will enjoy the Covenant which He had said would come: so that the faithless Jews might be tortured in a twofold way. For they were burdened for a time by the precepts, and in the future they will pay fitting penalties, because they were found faithful neither in the Old nor in the New Covenant. So He said that He would give a New Covenant, so that the Old, which had been given to the Fathers, would cease. And therefore, whoever serves God in this Covenant does not observe the sabbath, nor new moons, nor circumcision, nor distinctions of foods; but has only the fear of God in faith: because he will not be justified by the Law, but by faith, as the prophet Habakkuk says: “For the righteous shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4); so that he no longer uses many precepts to gain favor with God, but few. Isaiah again, speaking with the same meaning, says: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved. For the Lord shall accomplish and cut short His word in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short word upon the whole earth” (Isa. 10:22–23). For the remnant who will persevere in the faith of the promise, while the others do not believe, He shows the shortened word of the Law: this is the New Covenant which He promised. It would not otherwise be called a Covenant, unless in a similar way this too were confirmed by the witness of blood, just as the Old Covenant, so that both might have one and the same name: but in the Old, many precepts, in the New, however, few, as He promised. So that, since He had said that Abraham would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4–5), in the same way the sons might be justified as the father had been justified: so that, once those things ceased which began after the faith of Abraham, those who receive the faith by which that same Abraham was justified might be sons of Abraham, as was said by the Lord. And this is neither strange nor unheard of, that men should be justified without care for the sabbath and circumcision and the rest of the commandments of this sort. For Enoch did not please God by this, that he might be translated; nor was Noah found righteous in the flood by observing this alone; nor was Abraham himself justified after he was circumcised: “Abraham,” it says, “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Heb. 11:5, 7, 8; Rom. 4:3). Then he was circumcised, so that there might be in him a sign that, though he was old, he believed that he would have a son. Therefore it is not circumcision that commends Abraham, but faith. And so, for those who believe, faith is sufficient for justification, that they may be sons of Abraham in faith, not in circumcision, because they have no need of circumcision. For what Abraham believed is not what is believed in their case. But the Jews were therefore ordered to be circumcised, so that they might have the sign of Abraham’s faith, not of their own faith, but so that they might be known as his sons according to the flesh. Yet if they believe, they will be his sons also in justification. For what advantage is it to be called the son of a powerful man if one is powerless, except that it is even more harmful? For it is a disgrace to be the son of a noble and glorious man without honor. Indeed, bodily circumcision is so far from being a merit that God says through the prophet Jeremiah that He will take vengeance on all the circumcised in foreskin, if they are not circumcised in heart (Jer. 4:4). Yet He is not angry with those who are circumcised in heart but uncircumcised in flesh, because no one has ever pleased God without the circumcision of the heart. Whoever, therefore, are circumcised in the flesh signify the lineage of Abraham according to the flesh; but those who are circumcised in heart signify the lineage of God according to faith, because, being circumcised from all worldly error, they confess God as their Father. What then does the circumcision of the flesh profit, if, when faith is lacking in the Jew, he cannot attain to the merit of Abraham? Or what harm is there in foreskin, when no one attains to his righteousness except the one who has followed the faith of Abraham? They therefore glory in the circumcision of the flesh in vain, since they see that it has no merit before God. And since, as has been shown, it is better to have faith than circumcision, the Gentiles are better than the Jews; for the Gentiles have faith, the Jews have circumcision. And whom do you think He recognizes more as sons of Abraham: those who are like him according to the flesh, or those who are like him in faith? But the faith of Abraham bears witness. And therefore he glories not in the flesh but in faith. For this reason he has received as sons those whom he sees to be imitators of his glory. For how can he call those sons from whom he sees a shrinking back from that by which he pleased God and was justified? He will therefore be able to judge them not as his sons, but as his enemies. For they appear to be envious of him, despising the faith through which he was glorified. Nor is it surprising if the Jews are found untrusting, not at all accepting the New Testament, when we know that they were not faithful even in the Old. They were always rebellious and disrespectful against God, and therefore they received such commandments by which their necks, which were unbending, might be pressed down. For they never wished to hope for good things from God, whose such great benefits and such wondrous powers they had come to know. Therefore it is that, among other things, the prophet Ezekiel says: “I lifted up my hand to them in the desert, that they should be scattered among the nations and dispersed in the lands, because they did not perform my ordinances and rejected my commandments.” And in what follows: “I gave them laws that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live in them” (Ezek. 20:23–25). He shows for what reason such great and so harsh commandments were given to them: because they proved ungrateful for such great benefits, and, justice dictating, they were to be pressed by more severe precepts. Therefore He called them “not good,” although they are just: because they did not lead them to justification, but to destruction; and although a punishment rightly inflicted, yet for the one who suffers it, it is not a good. After these things, however, because God is merciful, He promised that He would give the New Testament, in which the shortening of the Law would justify believers, just as Abraham was justified: so that, with new moons and the sabbath and circumcision and the other precepts ceasing, not those that belong to the natural law, that is, murder, adultery, and such things, they might be justified as Abraham was. For, with the faith of Abraham renewed, He willed that all things should cease, so that the time might be such as it was when Abraham believed. But perhaps the Jews say: “If those things that were given by Moses are said to cease through the shortening of the Law, was circumcision given by Moses so that it should cease? And therefore we have the sign of our father, because we are the sons of Abraham, a sign which, for the sake of the testimony of our lineage, ought not to cease.” Circumcision indeed had to be observed in its time, that is, before the New Testament which had been promised was given. But when, by the grace of God, the burdens of the Law were ordered to cease, what need is there of circumcision? Therefore a new Law was given, that is, a spiritual one, so that carnal things might cease, and those who received it might accept its sign: so that just as in the Old Testament they had the sign of Abraham, from whom the Old Testament began, so also in the New they might have the sign of the Savior, who is the institutor of the New Testament. For just as from Abraham they were called Hebrews, so from Christ they are called Christians. Whoever, therefore, are still called Hebrews have not received the New Testament which God promised, bringing to nothing the kindness and mercy of God: for He no longer wished His people to be designated by the name of a man, but agreed to establish them under the name of His Son. With what courage, then, do the Jews say that we do not use our Law but theirs, when David says, “I will give thanks to you among the nations” (Ps. 17:50), and again, “Rejoice, O nations, with his people”? And to the prophet Jeremiah the Lord says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you; and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Judaism certainly has its own particular signs: for this people is signified either in Jacob, or in Samaria, or in Jerusalem, or in Judea, or in Israel. As for the nations, however, it is clear that He signifies them in a different way than He does the Jews. Therefore Jeremiah is our prophet. For although in all the Prophets God showed that the nations would share in His gift, yet to Jeremiah in particular He says that He has given him to us as a prophet. For he signified that the New Testament would come, which would profit the Gentiles more than the Jews, as now appears clearly. For since the preaching of the New Testament is spread over the whole earth, a faithful Jew is so rarely and with such difficulty found that all the Churches of the New Testament are called “of the nations,” as it was said in the prophet Hosea: “I will call that which is not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved” (Hosea 2:24; Rom. 9:25). Therefore, the Jews having been rejected, He calls the nations with the same mercy and grace with which He agreed to call Abraham. For Abraham did not come to know the Lord without being called. Therefore, He who agreed to call Abraham likewise agreed to call the nations. Why then do they say, “The Law is ours,” when it is clear that the gift of God is for all who are willing? Let this careless violation cease, since the grace of God is common to all. With what shame do they deny that our Christ was promised in the Law, when they see in Him all the signs which the Law foretold as to come? For both according to the promise made to Abraham all nations are justified by believing in Him (Gen. 22:18); and according to the prophet Isaiah He was born of a Virgin (Isa. 7:14) in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah, as was promised, from the seed of David (Micah 5:2); and in accordance with what Jeremiah prophesied (Jer. 31:31–32), He proclaimed the New Testament which God then promised would come; and after all the signs of power had been shown, He humbled Himself, according to the words of the Prophets; and having suffered all that had been foretold, He rose on the third day, as it is written in the prophet. And if they inquire about the time of the promise, as it is shown in the prophet Daniel (Dan. 9:24 ff.), they will find it fulfilled in the time when Christ was born and suffered: for from the first year of Darius, king of the Persians, down to the birth and passion of the Lord and the destruction of Jerusalem, which was carried out by Vespasian, chief of the Roman Empire, the seventy weeks were completed, which are four hundred and ninety years, a reckoning made clear through the kingdoms and the successors of the empire. Therefore also it is found calculated by Tertullian in the book which he wrote against the Jews; but, lest this should backfire to his disadvantage, although he calculated correctly, we have passed it over in silence. And who can doubt this number, when now about three hundred years are found in addition to that number? It is therefore shameless, after so many years have been added beyond the time of the coming of the Saviour, to say, “He has not come.” Under the Apostles, or at the time when the Lord was living among men, hatred opposing the truth could still hide itself; so that, although it saw all the signs of the Christ who had been promised in the Savior, it could say that it doubted about the time, to conceal its unbelief. But afterwards, when many years began to exceed the promised number, what shamelessness it is to deny that He has come, whose coming is known to have been fulfilled both by signs and by times! For when something is full and does not overflow, a combative person may say that it is not full; but overflow closes the mouth of the argumentative. So the Jews, in the time of the Saviour, could say, though deceitfully, that the calculation from the time of Darius to the Lord Christ was not correctly made, so that He might not be acknowledged as the one who had been promised. We are mistaken, they might say, in the years and in the months and in the days of the emperors, and we do not make an exact reckoning. But when the times have extended beyond the prescribed number of years of the promised Christ, no excuse can be put forward to deny that He who has come is the Christ, unless, which God forbid, the one who promised is said to have lied. For when the time of the promise has elapsed, and it is denied that the one who was promised has come, what else is charged against the promiser but falsehood? Yet that He who made the promise is truthful, all the signs teach which were foretold in Christ and are known to have been found in Christ. The Jews, however, while they are ashamed to change themselves, do not consider that there will be a judgment to come. For nothing is worse than for someone to deny that a thing is true when he understands that it is not a lie.

The first circumcision of the flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised instead. In Jeremiah, "Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah, and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, 'Renew newness among you, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart lest my anger go forth like fire, and burn you up, and there be none to extinguish it.' "

Let us see, then, how Abraham is the father of many nations. We confess that he is the father of Jews, through descent according to the flesh. But if we hold to the descent according to the flesh, we are forced to say that the prophecy was false. For he is no longer father of us all according to the flesh. Yet the example of his faith makes us all children of Abraham. How and in what manner? With people it is unbelievable that one should rise from the dead. In the same way, it is also unbelievable that there should be offspring from aged persons as good as dead. Yet when Christ is preached as having been crucified on the tree, as having died and risen again, we believe it. By the likeness of our faith, therefore, we become the adopted children of Abraham. And consequently by our faith, like him, we receive the spiritual seal, being circumcised by the Holy Spirit through the font of baptism, not in the foreskin of the body, but in the heart, according to the words of Jeremiah: "For the sake of the Lord, be circumcised, remove the foreskins of your hearts." And according to the apostle: In the "circumcision that is of Christ, buried together with him in baptism," and so forth.

Circumcision of the heart is sufficient for the faithful. It is spiritual, as he said by Jeremiah; light a lamp and "sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord. Remove the foreskin of your hearts, O MEN OF JUDAH."

He speaks moreover concerning our ears, how He hath circumcised both them and our heart. The Lord saith in the prophet, "In the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." And again He saith, "By hearing, those shall hear who are afar off; they shall know what I have done." And, "Be ye circumcised in your hearts, saith the Lord." And again He says, "Hear, O Israel, for these things saith the Lord thy God." And once more the Spirit of the Lord proclaims, "Who is he that wishes to live for ever? By hearing let him hear the voice of my servant." And again He saith, "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for God hath spoken." These are in proof. And again He saith, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of this people." And again He saith, "Hear, ye children, the voice of one crying in the wilderness." Therefore He hath circumcised our ears, that we might hear His word and believe, for the circumcision in which they trusted is abolished. For He declared that circumcision was not of the flesh, but they transgressed because an evil angel deluded them. He saith to them, "These things saith the Lord your God"-(here I find a new commandment)-"Sow not among thorns, but circumcise yourselves to the Lord." And why speaks He thus: "Circumcise the stubbornness of your heart, and harden not your neck?" And again: "Behold, saith the Lord, all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but this people are uncircumcised in heart." But thou wilt say, "Yea, verily the people are circumcised for a seal." But so also is every Syrian and Arab, and all the priests of idols: are these then also within the bond of His covenant? Yea, the Egyptians also practise circumcision.

Note the kindness and severity of God. For he is not kind without being severe or severe without being kind. For if he were only kind and not severe, we would not think much of his kindness. If he were severe and not kind, perhaps we would also despair in our sins. But God is both a kind and a severe God—for we who repent need his kindness, but those of us who persist in sins need his severity.

And next to this it is said: "Be circumcised to your God, circumcise the foreskin of your heart." "Be circumcised to your God"—of necessity is added "to your God." You will understand this from the perceptible example: they are circumcised, I mean according to the perceptible sense, not only those of the circumcision according to the law of Moses, but also many others. Among the Egyptians the priests of the idols are circumcised, but that circumcision is a circumcision to idols and is not a circumcision made to God; whereas that of the Jews was perhaps, but at all events then, made to God. If, then, the word says, "Be circumcised to your God," having understood the literal sense, pass over also to the figurative interpretation, so that you may find how, among those circumcised figuratively (so that perhaps some of them might say, "We are the circumcision"), some are circumcised to God, while others are indeed circumcised, but not to God. For there are indeed other words besides the word of truth, besides the word of the Church. They circumcise the manners and the heart, so to speak they bring to sober-mindedness, those who philosophize; they bring to sober-mindedness, those from the heresies, and a circumcision comes about for them. But it is indeed a circumcision, yet not to God; for among them a circumcision comes about by a false word. But when, according to the ecclesiastical rule, according to the purpose of sound teaching, you are one who shares in the common life, you are not only circumcised, but you are circumcised "to God."

"Be circumcised," then, to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart." Who does not pass over these words as though they were plain? Yet there is a certain foreskin of the heart, and this must be circumcised. He who has examined the word precisely, seeking such things in this passage, will inquire: the foreskin is born with us, the circumcision is acquired, and what has come from birth, this the circumcision removes. If, then, the word commands the removal of "the foreskin of the heart," there must be something born together with the heart, which it calls a foreskin, which must be removed, so that one may be circumcised as to "the foreskin of the heart." If anyone understands "we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest," if anyone understands "the body of our lowliness" in which we were born, if anyone understands "no one is clean from filth, not even if his life be but a single day; and his months are numbered," he will see in what manner we were born with the uncleanness and foreskin of our heart.

But that it may be spoken by the simpler example that is able to bring you to see "the foreskin of the heart," I will set forth that in the first age false opinions altogether arise in the soul; for it is not possible for a man from the beginning to receive true and pure doctrines. But the divine word made provision beforehand for history and for the writing according to the letter, so that it might nourish the one born according to the flesh to Abraham in the words that are according to the flesh first, and that the one from the slave-girl might become first, in order that after him could be born the son of "the free woman" and the one through the promise. If it be understood why this was included, the foreskin of the heart can be understood as coming before the circumcision. There is need, then, for us to receive the word that purifies the doctrines and removes all the things that have arisen in us according to false opinion. This, then, is to put away the foreskin of our heart; for if the heart is that which has in us the ruling faculty, where the thoughts are, whence "the reasonings come forth" that are evil, he who removes the evil reasonings removes "the foreskin of the heart"; he who puts away the false opinion has circumcised "the foreskin of his heart" and becomes "a man of Judah and one dwelling in Jerusalem," being circumcised. But if anyone does not put away "the foreskin of his heart," let us see what the word threatens against him: "Lest," he says, "my wrath go forth like fire and be kindled, and there be none to quench it." The wrath of the Lord goes forth, then, like fire upon those not circumcised to God, upon those who have not put away "the foreskin of their heart," "and there shall be none to quench it, because of the wickedness of their doings." That fire has for its fuel the wickedness of our doings. Where there is no wickedness of doings, the fire has nowhere to feed. And that the fuel of that fire is the wickedness of the doings, hear the prophet saying: "and there shall be none to quench it, because of the wickedness of your doings."

Paul mentioned "certain false brethren as having crept in secretly," who wished to turn the Galatians to another gospel. He shows that that adulteration of the gospel was not meant to transfer them to the faith of another god and christ, but rather to perpetuate the teaching of the law. He blames them for maintaining circumcision and observing times, and days, and months and years, according to those Jewish ceremonies that they ought to have known were now abolished, according to the new dispensation willed by the Creator, who foretold in ancient times this very thing by his prophets. Thus he says by Isaiah: "Old things have passed away. Behold, I will do a new thing." And in another passage: "I will make a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt." In the same he said by Jeremiah: Make to yourselves a new covenant, "circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart." It is this circumcision, therefore, and this renewal, that the apostle insisted on when he forbade those ancient ceremonies concerning which their very founder announced that they were one day to cease.

This was God's forethought: He gave circumcision to Israel, as a sign by which they might be identified when the time should arrive that their above-mentioned reward should prevent them from entering Jerusalem. This situation, because it would come to be, was announced. Because we see it accomplished, we recognize it. Just as the physical circumcision, which was temporary, was made to be "a sign" in a rebellious people, so spiritual circumcision has been given for salvation to an obedient people.The prophet Jeremiah says, "Renew yourselves, and do not sow among thorns. Be circumcised to God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart," and in another place he says, "Behold, days shall come, the Lord says, when I will draw up for the house of Judah and for the house of Jacob a new testament; not such as I once gave their fathers in the day that I led them out from the land of Egypt."

He clearly brought out that the visible circumcision is a type of the invisible, and that if there is circumcision within, bodily circumcision is unnecessary. Taking a lead from this text, the divine apostle wrote to the Romans, "A person is not a Jew, you see, who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision what is outward, in the flesh; rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit and not in letter. That person's commendation comes not from people but from God."

Declare in Judah and make it heard in Jerusalem; speak, sound the trumpet in the land, cry aloud, say: gather together, and let us enter the fortified cities. Let 'Iudas' hear this, let 'Hierusalem' hear this, in which is the 'confession' of faith, and in which the 'peace' of Christ dwells, and to which it was said through Isaiah: go up onto a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; let it cry aloud and give command thus: 'let us enter the fortified cities — the wars of the heretics are rising: let the fortifications of Christ hold us — ; raise the standard of the cross on the watchtower and on the height of the Church; be strong, you who fear, do not stand still, but run to the help of Christ; for evil,' he says, 'I bring from the north, and great destruction, the true Nebuchadnezzar, who is permitted by me to exist in this world for this very reason, that your strength and victory may be proved'.

"Declare it in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; say, declare, signal with a trumpet upon the earth, and cry aloud." These things, he says, which are announced, say in Judah, to those from the tribe of Judah of Christ; "for it is evident that our Savior arose out of Judah."

"Signal with a trumpet upon the earth." The lofty word, which rouses the hearer, which prepares him for the war against the passions, for the war against the workings of the adversaries, which prepares him for the heavenly feasts—for it is spoken with reference to both of these—is taken as a trumpet. In Numbers such a word is a trumpet; for instance, the word commands me, and if it is given to anyone else (it is given to the one who wishes and who has sought the meaning of the Scriptures), it commands to make "trumpets of hammered silver." Thus the word says: "Signal with a trumpet upon the earth, and cry aloud; say: Gather together and let us enter into the walled cities." The word of God does not wish us to enter into an unwalled city, but into the church of the living God, walled about by the word of the Lord (for this is the wall)—it stands in the seventeenth Psalm, that God also is a wall.

"Take up your baggage and flee to Zion"; as many of you as are outside Zion, "take up your baggage and flee to Zion; hasten, do not stand still," you who are in progress hasten to the Watchtower, "for I bring evils from the north and great destruction"—of the evils brought "from the north," from the north of the adversary, as has often been said; and whoever is found not to have hastened, nor to have entered "into the walled cities," not having come to be in "the churches of God," but standing outside, he himself, being seized by the enemies, will be destroyed. And who is the enemy? Let us see from what follows in what manner it is said: "A lion has gone up from his lair, destroying he has cut off nations." This is the enemy, whom we must flee. A lion pursues us. Who is this? Peter teaches us, saying: "Your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour; resist him, firm in the faith." And according to the ninth Psalm, "he lies in wait in secret, he lies in wait like a lion in his lair." And this lion lies in wait not by day, but when night comes; for according to the hundred and third Psalm: "You appointed darkness, and it became night. In it all the beasts of the forest will pass through, young lions roaring to seize and to seek their food from God."

The lion has come up from his lair, and the plunderer of the nations has raised himself up; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation; your cities will be laid waste, remaining without inhabitant. This is, as we have said, the true Nebuchadnezzar, of whom Peter also speaks: our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion. And he comes up, it may be, from the abysses, into which he is to be bound again, and he begs not to be sent there, and the plunderer — or the devastator — of the nations has raised himself up, of whom it was said: he shall rule over all his enemies, and who boasts in the sight of the Lord: I have gone around the whole earth and trodden it down. For who is there whom the poisons of the devil do not touch, except him alone who can say: behold, the prince of this world comes and finds nothing in me? He often makes the whole land of the Church a desolation, so that those who have gone out from the Church fight against the Church, of whom John the evangelist also speaks: they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us. The cities of the land of Judea are laid waste and the conventicles of the heretics flourish; if anyone, therefore, is a supporter of the authors of perverse doctrines, of him it can be said: the lion has come up from his lair, and the plunderer of the nations has raised himself up, and the rest.

"A lion has gone up," then, "from his lair." Where? When? He is fallen below, he has gone down into the lowest parts of the earth. "A lion has gone up from his lair." You are a man, you are higher than the devil; for you are stronger than he, whatever sort you may be; he, because of his wickedness, is below. "A lion has gone up," then, "from his lair, destroying he has cut off nations"; having gone up "from his lair," from the place proper to his own punishment, "destroying he has cut off nations; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation." He wishes to enter into your land, concerning which we were speaking a little while ago. He wishes to feed upon each of us. He comes, then, "to make your land a" desolation, that the lion may trample down the seeds, that he may make your land desolate. "And your cities shall be pulled down so that they are not inhabited. For these things gird yourselves with sackcloth." Since, then, a lion has gone up and a lion threatens you and wishes to destroy your land, gird yourself with sackcloth, weep and mourn, through prayers entreat God, that he may utterly destroy this lion from you and that you may not fall into his mouth. For "just as when the shepherd snatches out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a lobe of an ear"—this lion seeks to take you by the ears, so that through your greediness, casting false words upon you, he may remove you from the truth; he wishes to snatch your feet away from the truth and devour them. But do you gird yourselves with sackcloth and beat your breast and weep and wail, seeing the enemy who is at hand, that "the fierceness of the Lord's anger" may be turned away from you, and, when the wrath has been turned away, you may be able, coming to be in freedom from care, the lion no longer creeping in upon you, because you have entered into the walled city, to glorify God who delivers you in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

For this gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and howl, for the wrath of the fury of the Lord has not turned away from us or, as the Seventy translated, from you. In no other way can we escape the lion and most savage beast unless we do repentance and turn to the Lord, not only in mind but also in deed. For as long as he lays waste the Church and the land of Judah, and ravages Jerusalem as well, the wrath of God is manifest.

And it shall be in that day, says the Lord: the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes, and the priests shall be astounded, and the prophets shall be dismayed. While the plunderer lays waste the Church of the Lord and the wrath of the Lord remains against us, all help will be useless. The heart of the king shall perish, whose heart ought to be in the hand of God, and the heart of the princes, who were thought to be wise; for God has made foolish the wisdom of the world, because through it they did not know God. The priests themselves too, who ought to teach the law of the Lord and to defend the peoples subject to them from the fury of the lion, made senseless by a kind of stupor, shall be turned to madness — for so the Seventy translated, expressing 'ecstasy of mind' for 'stupor' — and the prophets shall be dismayed, or, as Aquila translated the Hebrew word 'iethmau', they shall be out of their minds. For who would not go mad, who would not lose heart, when he sees the princes and kings and priests and prophets that were once his own under the lion?

And I said: alas, alas, alas, Lord God — for which the Seventy translated: O Lord God —, have you then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: you shall have peace? And behold, the sword has reached even to the soul. Because he had said above: at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of God, and all the nations shall be gathered to it in the name of the Lord in Jerusalem, and now he says: the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes, and the priests shall be astounded, and the prophets shall be dismayed, the prophet is troubled and thinks that God has lied to him, and does not understand that the former was promised for long ages after, while this would come about in the near time, in accordance with which the Apostle too says: has God rejected his people? Far from it. And the sword reaches even to the soul when nothing living is left in the soul. At the same time he shows this too: that unless the sword goes before, to cut away and purge the vices of the soul, peace and the promise do not follow.

At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem: a burning wind — or of error — in the ways that are in the desert, the ways of the daughter of my people, not for winnowing and cleansing. A full spirit shall come to me from these. When the sword has reached even to the soul and the threshing floor has been finished, then the burning wind will come from the desert, which will not cleanse and winnow it, so that, with the chaff scattered here and there, the grain may be laid up in the granaries; but a full spirit will come, not to the people at all, but to me, so that my wheat may be scattered. 'Wind' and 'spirit' are called among the Hebrews by the same name, 'ruha', and according to the nature of each passage we should take it either as 'wind' or as 'spirit'. Others expound this passage thus: that after the threshing floor has been cleansed, the remnant will be saved, whence it is also written: a spirit of fullness shall come to me, as the evangelist says: 'we have all received of his fullness, and we shall obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit'. But according to the history take the burning wind as Nebuchadnezzar, who consumes all things; according to tropology, as the adverse power, which, coming from the desert and from the wilderness, where there is no lodging of God, tries to overthrow his Church.

And now I — but I will speak my judgments with them. Aposiōpēsis [breaking off], after that line of Vergil: whom I — but it is better to calm the troubled waves. Being about to speak of good fortune, then, he restrains himself and joins sorrows to sorrows; for these are the judgments which God speaks with his people of old, so that they may know that they justly suffer what they suffer.

Behold, he shall come up like a cloud, and like a tempest his chariots; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are laid waste! He sees things to come as present and describes the Babylonian army, the din of whose chariots and wheels is compared to a most savage tempest, and the swiftness of whose horses is likened to eagles. When the prophet had said this and had pointed out with his finger the enemies as though they were coming, the people groans and feels these things not as future but as already done, saying: woe to us, for we are laid waste! Refer this same thing to the Church: that daily the army of the true Nebuchadnezzar assails us, and the chariots of Pharaoh and all his cavalry outstrip the onrush of eagles. If the man of the Church understands this, believing that saying: 'when you have turned and groaned, then you shall be saved', he will say: woe to us, for we are laid waste!

Wash your heart from wickedness, Jerusalem, that you may be saved; how long shall harmful thoughts linger in you? To the people saying: woe to us, we are laid waste! the prophet answers, nay rather God through the prophet: wash your heart from wickedness, Jerusalem, with that water of which Isaiah too speaks: wash yourselves, be clean, the water of saving baptism, the water of repentance. And he speaks to the metropolis of the Jews, so that by the city the peoples may be understood: 'how long do you lie subject to wicked thoughts, which proceed from your heart?' And in the holy Scriptures we should take the heart for the soul and the understanding.

Then we wash our hands when we enter into church, but our hearts not so. Why, do our hands send forth a voice? It is the soul that utters the words: to that God looketh; cleanness of the body is of no use, while that is defiled. What profits it, if thou wipe clean thine outward hands, while thou hast those within impure? For the terrible thing and that which subverts all good is this, that while we are fearful about trifles, we care not for important matters. To pray with unwashed hands is a matter indifferent; but to do it with an unwashed mind, this is the extreme of all evils. Hear what was said to the Jews who busied themselves about such outward impurities. "Wash thine heart from wickedness, how long shall there be in thee thoughts of thy labors?" Let us also wash ourselves, not with mire, but with fair water, with alms-doing, not with covetousness.

For the voice of one declaring from Dan, and of one making known an idol — or pain — from mount Ephraim. The divine word now speaks according to the lie of the land of Judea. For the tribe of Dan, near Mount Lebanon and the city which is now called Paneas, faces the north, from which Nebuchadnezzar is to come. And he describes an idol, whether Bel, or pain, or iniquity, as coming from mount Ephraim. For after the tribe of Dan comes the land of Ephraim, through which one comes to Jerusalem. 'Dan' means 'judgment', 'Ephraim' 'abundance'. The judgment of the Lord, therefore, will come upon the land that sins against the Lord, with all the abundance of punishment.

Say to the nations: behold, it has been heard in Jerusalem that guards are coming from a distant land; and they have given their voice over the cities of Judah; like guards of fields they have become over her round about, because she has provoked me to anger, says the Lord. He wants all the nations round about to know the sentence of God, and all to receive correction from the scourging of Jerusalem. 'It is told,' he says, 'by common report in Jerusalem that adversaries are coming from a distant land, and that the roar of a howling army is rising against her, who besiege the city so diligently and shut in the city with siegeworks, that you would think them not so much adversaries as guards of fields and vineyards. But all this has come about not by the strength of the enemies, but by the fault of Jerusalem, because she provoked God to anger'. For if the adverse powers have no power over swine, how much more is this true of men, and of men once of the city of God!

Your ways and your thoughts have done these things to you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, it has touched your heart. He makes an apostrophe to the city of Jerusalem: that her ways and thoughts, by which she sinned both in deed and in word, have made all that came upon her come, and that her wickedness, which is bitter in itself, has touched her heart and pierced the inmost parts of her soul. Whatever, therefore, befalls us befalls us through our own fault, who turn the sweet God into bitterness and force him to rage against his will.

My belly, my belly, I am in pain; the senses of my heart are troubled. I will not keep silent, for my soul has heard the sound of the trumpet, the clamor of battle. Destruction upon destruction has been called, and all the land is laid waste; suddenly my tents are laid waste, in a moment my skins. Where we, following Symmachus, have put 'are troubled', and in the Hebrew is written 'homae', the Seventy and Theodotion put maimassei, a word whose meaning I do not know to this day. Aquila, however, put ochlazei, which itself also means 'tumult'. Let this be said about the word, over which I know there is a great dispute among very many. And the voice is introduced of the prophet, and through the prophet of God speaking, that he grieves over the destruction of his people and his inner bowels are torn as a man's are, just as the Savior too grieved over the death of Lazarus and lamented Jerusalem, so as not to hide his grief in silence; and every blast of the trumpet and roar of the battles disturbs his feeling, while evils are heaped upon evils and the whole land of the two tribes is laid waste. 'While I was not expecting it,' he says, 'my tents of old and my skins were ravaged by the raging Babylonian, and my former lodgings passed into the plunder of the enemies'. And God says this same thing when he sees the tumults of sedition and discords in the Church, and the partridge crying in his assemblies, and the rest of God turned into wars. Whence it follows:

"My belly! my belly aches!" — cried Jeremiah. What belly of his aches? That belly aches which we too have, and which aches when it brings people into the world. But the feelings cause pain of a different order: they are the pain of my heart.

How long shall I see those fleeing, shall I hear the sound of the trumpet? Either those fleeing the Babylonian king, or those fleeing me and withdrawing from my service.

The ancient and pious doctrine that defended the Trinity was abolished, by setting up a fort and battering down the incarnation. They opened the door to impiety by means of what is written, using as their pretext their reverence for Scripture and for the use of approved terms but really introducing unscriptural Arianism. For the phrase "like, according to the Scriptures," was a bait to the simple, concealing the hook of impiety, a figure seeming to look in the direction of all who passed by, a boot fitting either foot, a winnowing with every wind, gaining authority from the newly written wickedness and tool against the truth. "They were wise to do evil, but they had no knowledge to do good."

And therefore the scribes and Pharisees, too, who from the times of the law had begun to despise God, did not receive His Word, that is, they did not believe on Christ. Of these Esaias says: "Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after rewards, not judging the fatherless, and negligent of the cause of the widows." And Jeremiah, in like manner: "They," he says, "who rule my people did not know me; they are senseless and imprudent children; they are wise to do evil, but to do well they have no knowledge."

And the Lord himself through the prophet: The leaders of my people have not known me; they are foolish sons, and without understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have not known. They were indeed called my leaders, he says, and leaders of my people, but because they did not know me, and destroyed the name by their deeds, therefore they are foolish sons and without understanding; they have prudence only to this end, that they may subject the simple flock to themselves and trample it under their feet; but to do good and to rule the people they have not known.

For my foolish people has not known me. They are unwise sons and senseless; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have not known. The cause of the destruction, the devastation, the flight, the trumpet: that the people has become foolish, not by nature but by the bent of its will. And this very folly is proved from this, that they did not know God; and instead of wise sons they have become foolish sons and senseless. For what greater folly can there be than that, while the ox knows its owner and the ass its master's crib, Israel should not know the Lord and should despise him when present, whom it always desired to see? And as for what is added: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have not known, here wisdom is to be taken for wickedness, in accordance with which the sons of this age too are wiser than the sons of light, and the steward of iniquity is said to have done certain things wisely, and the serpent in paradise is read to have been more prudent than all the beasts. That, then, is true wisdom which is joined to the fear of God; otherwise, where there are snares and evasion, it is to be called not wisdom but cunning and craftiness. For what we said: for my foolish people has not known me, the Seventy translated: for the princes of my people have not known me, so that the fault is rather the teachers' than that of the people, which does not have the knowledge of God.

In the beginning, God commanded that you do these things because of your wickedness. In the same way, because of your determination to remain wicked, or rather, because you are increasingly prone to do it, he uses the same precepts to call you to remember it or come to know it. But you are a people hard-hearted and without understanding, both blind and lame, children without faith, as he himself says, honoring him only with your lips, far from him in your hearts, teaching doctrines that are your own and not his.

I looked at the earth, and behold, it was empty and nothing, and at the heavens, and there was no light in them. I saw the mountains, and behold, they were moving, and all the hills were troubled. I gazed, and there was no man, and the bird of the sky had departed. I looked, and behold, Carmel was deserted, and all its cities were destroyed before the face of the Lord and before the face of the wrath of his fury. The prophet sees in the spirit the things that are to come, so that the people, hearing, may be terrified and, having done repentance, may by no means suffer what it dreads. The earth is empty, its inhabitant destroyed; the heavens have no light, since the people does not see for the greatness of its terror; the mountains themselves and the hills have unsafe hiding places, and by hyperbolēn [hyperbole] they seem to move and be troubled.

He gazed and looked around here and there, and not even a bird could be found; for even the mute elements feel the wrath of God, and the irrational animals dread it. That this is true the whole world now shows, in that, a multitude of men having been slain, the birds too, which are wont to follow the inhabitants, have gone away and perished.

Carmel itself too, which overhangs the great sea, planted with olives and thick with shrubs and vines, will come to such desolation that it will have the waste of a wilderness; all the cities too will become deserted. And the cause of all these evils is this: that through the fault of the sinning people the wrath of the Lord has been roused. Whatever we have said according to the history of Jerusalem and Judea, let us refer to the Church of God when it has offended God and has been laid waste either by vices or by persecution, so that where once there was a choir of virtues and joy, there a multitude of sins and sorrows dwells.

For thus says the Lord: all the land shall be deserted, but yet I will not make a full end; the earth shall mourn and the heavens above shall grieve, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented, nor have I turned back from it. God's mercy being mixed with wrath, all the land is deserted, but a full end is not made, so that there may be those who understand his clemency.

The heaven too will look sad above, and the earth itself will mourn, because the sentence of the Lord has come right to its end, and he has not repented of the things he purposed and spoke. But repentance is ascribed to God when a sentence foretold is withdrawn and raging wrath does not come right to its end. He threatened through Jonah, and the multitude of tears and groans overcame the impending sword.

At the sound of the horseman and of the one shooting the arrow — or bending the bow — every city has fled — or region — ; they have gone into the heights and climbed the rocks — and what follows: and they have gone into the thickets or caves, was added by the Seventy —, all the cities are abandoned, and no man dwells in them. The divine word describes the army of the raging Babylonian: that for fear of it the whole people abandoned the city and climbed every height, and yet could not escape the wrath of the Lord. But whatever, as we said above, is understood in the history against Jerusalem, refer to the Church when it has offended God and has been handed over to adversaries, either in a time of persecution or, at any rate, through vices and sins.

And if Plutus is blind, are not those women who are crazy about him and have an attraction with him blind too? Having, then, no limit to their lust, they push on to shamelessness. For the theater, and pageants, and many spectators, and strolling in the temples and loitering in the streets, that they may be seen conspicuously by all, are necessary to them. For those who glory in their looks, not in heart, dress to please others. For as the brand shows the slave, so do gaudy colors the adulteress. "For though you clothe yourself in scarlet, and deck yourself with ornaments of gold and anoint your eyes with paint, in vain is your beauty," says the Word by Jeremiah. Is it not monstrous that while horses, birds and the rest of the animals spring and bound from the grass and meadows, rejoicing in ornament that is their own, in mane and natural color and varied plumage, woman, as if inferior to the brute creation, should think herself so unlovely as to need foreign, bought and painted beauty?

But you, laid waste, what will you do? For 'laid waste', which in Hebrew is said 'sadud', which Aquila alone translated so, the others translated 'wretched' and 'pitiable', through her own fault, because she has offended the merciful God. Accordingly it follows:

When you clothe yourself in scarlet and are adorned with a golden necklace and paint your eyes with antimony, in vain will you adorn yourself; your lovers have despised you, they will seek your soul. He speaks under the figure of an adulterous woman: 'once you have offended God and, as it were, left your husband, the Creator, in vain do you seek out ornaments; the demons, your lovers, have despised you, and they will seek not at all the uncleanness of debauchery, but the destruction of your soul'. This same thing is to be understood spiritually against those who have lost conjugal affection and the chastity of the true faith. 'If,' he says, 'you clothe yourself in scarlet — take up faith in the blood of Christ —, if you adorn yourself with a golden necklace — have meditation of the sense and of spiritual understanding — and paint your eyes with antimony — have zeal for the mysteries and for knowing the secrets of God —, in vain will you adorn yourself. For these things you had prepared for your lovers too, and therefore the narrow bed cannot hold both, nor does God accept the ornaments with which you formerly pleased your lovers'.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, anguish — or groans — as of a woman in childbirth; the voice of the daughter of Zion, swooning and spreading out her hands: woe to me, for my soul has fainted because of the slain! He describes the city of Jerusalem wailing and crying out after the likeness of a woman in childbirth, that is, one who is bearing her first offspring. For as a woman giving birth, who has not yet experienced the pain of childbearing, swoons — she suffers anguish, she can scarcely breathe, and with her hands spread out she collapses —, so too the daughter of Zion, when she sees her children slain, bursts out into these words and says: woe to me, for my soul has fainted because of the slain! Two examples are compared in one passage: of a woman bearing children and of a woman mourning, so that whatever a woman suffers in childbirth or in the deaths of her children, Jerusalem may suffer in her peoples.