Nahum 1

The burden of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. First, he defines the purpose of the prophecy, and usefully clarifies what and where it looks to; then he makes clear who is speaking and from where. For he says "burden," that is, the prophecy that has been received and set forth and is at hand would be understood not about any others, but against Nineveh, or in other words, let the burden of the prophecy be understood as Nineveh. And the book is inscribed "The Vision of Nahum of Elkosh." This is doubtless a village somewhere in the land of the Jews. For we shall take 'of Elkosh' not as from a father, but rather as from a place. And we say this, having the tradition from the readings.

According to the Seventy translators, in the order of the twelve prophets Nahum is placed after Jonah, because they seem to prophesy about the same city. For it is written in Jonah: The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, saying: Arise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it. But in Nahum this is the opening: The taking up of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. Therefore both weave their prophecy about Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrians, which is now called Ninus. Moreover, in the Hebrew, Micah is placed after Jonah, and Micah is followed by Nahum, which means consoler. For the ten tribes had already been led away into captivity by the Assyrians under Hezekiah, king of Judah, under whom now also the vision against Nineveh is seen, for the consolation of the people carried away. Nor was it a small consolation, both for those who were already serving the Assyrians and for the rest, who under Hezekiah, of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, were being besieged by the same enemies, to hear that the Assyrians too were to be taken by the Chaldeans, as will be shown in what follows in this book. But it must be understood — since Nineveh in our language, from the Hebrew, sounds beautiful; and this world is called beautiful, whence among the Greeks too κόσμος (world) received its name from adornment —, that whatever is now said against Nineveh is proclaimed figuratively of the world. For this reason the taking up, which the Seventy translate λῆμμα, and which Aquila translated ἄρμα, is given among the Hebrews as massa, that is, a heavy burden, because it presses down on her against whom it is seen, and does not allow her to raise her neck. Moreover, as to what is added, Nahum the Elkoshite, some think that Elkoshite was Nahum's father, and that according to the Hebrew tradition he too was a prophet, whereas Elkosh is to this day a hamlet in Galilee, small indeed, and scarcely showing in its ruins the traces of old buildings, but still known to the Jews, and pointed out to me as well by the man who was leading me around. At the same time this too must be noted, that this very taking up, or burden, or weight, is the prophet's vision. For he does not speak in ἐκστάσει (ecstasy), as Montanus and Prisca and Maximilla rave, but what he prophesies is the book of the vision of one who understands everything he speaks, and who makes the weight of the enemies a vision among his own people. Therefore, concerning the consummation of the world according to ἀναγωγὴν (anagogy), O Paula and Eustochium, the prophecy is woven for the consolation of the saints, so that whatever they see in the world they may despise as passing and perishable, and may prepare themselves for the day of judgment, where the Lord is to be the avenger against the true Assyrians.

Something of this kind is the meaning of the word oracle: in his wish to give the prophets an insight often productive of rapture, God caused a sudden transformation of their mind so that while in this condition they might receive the knowledge of the future with deeper fear. He calls it "oracle," then, since the grace of the Spirit, as though suddenly taking hold of the prophet's mind, transformed it with a view to the revelation of what was to be made clear. He is saying the same thing here too: "an oracle of Nineveh, a book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite," as if to say, the prophet's mind was suddenly seized by the grace of the Spirit and transformed so as to contemplate those things through which he learned of the fate of Nineveh and which he provided to his listeners as instruction in what was shown to him.

God is jealous and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges with wrath; the Lord avenges his adversaries, and he cuts off his enemies. The Lord is long-suffering and his strength is great, and he will by no means clear the guilty. The saying is profound, and not easy to grasp, except only for those who are willing to examine closely the things in it. And if it should be understood as having been directed to the Jews, we will find the exhortation suitably mixed with moderate rebuke. But if someone should think it was made and spoken against Nineveh, the mind will be turned to another of the interpretations, and to those who have suffered the devastation it gives and confirms the hopes of recovering again. We shall therefore make the purpose of the meaning for both as clear as possible. For the Jews, having spurned love for God, and holding the genuineness of piety toward Him in no account whatsoever, descended into polytheism and strange error and a life outside the law, and they built altars, they set up precincts to the works of their own hands, they brought rites and sacrifices to Astarte, to Chemosh, to Baal-peor, to the golden calves, and what is even more irrational than these, to them they dedicated songs of thanksgiving. For the wretched ones said out of their madness, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." But by such terrible impious acts they have forgotten themselves, sharpening against themselves the God who of old presided over and saved them, to whom they have become enemies, and have been placed in the portion of adversaries, assigning themselves to gods that are not so by nature, although Moses long ago cried out concerning God, that He is a jealous God, and a consuming fire, and that He would not endure those who chose to grieve Him.

A jealous God, and an avenging Lord. The voice of the prophet praising God because he has avenged on the Assyrians the wrong done to his people. Or, according to a higher understanding, because he hears the groaning of his saints, and at the consummation of the world makes the adversaries feel punishments. That zeal is taken in a good sense, the apostle Paul too shows, saying: Be zealous for the greater gifts, and in another place: For I am zealous for you with the zeal of God, and the Lord himself in the psalm: The zeal of your house has consumed me, and Elijah: Zealous, he says, I have been zealous for the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel. We read also of the zeal of Phinehas, and of Mattathias. And Simon the Zealot, the apostle of Jesus Christ, whom Mark the evangelist calls Simon the Cananaean. But the Lord is zealous for the salvation of those over whom he is zealous, so that those whom his clemency could not save, his jealousy may save. Hence also to Jerusalem, which because of its excessive sins did not deserve the visitation of his zeal and fury, God speaks in Ezekiel: My zeal has departed from you, and I will be angry with you no more. So as long as the world was doing repentance, its consummation did not come about; but after iniquity was multiplied and the charity of many grew cold, so that even the elect of God are tempted, then the zealous Lord comes for vengeance, not that he himself is an enemy and avenger, which is said of the devil, but that his vengeance is hostile, and like fire consumes wood, hay and stubble, so that pure gold and silver may remain.

The Lord avenging, and having fury: the Lord avenging on his foes, and he himself angry with his enemies. LXX: The Lord avenging with fury, the Lord avenging on his adversaries, and he himself taking away his enemies. According to both understandings, because the Lord loves the one whom he rebukes, and chastises every son whom he receives, he is therefore angry, so that he may take away whatever is adverse and hostile to him, and so that, when the foes and the contrary thoughts are broken and their words taken away, they may return to their former state. Then in what follows he says: The Lord is patient, and his strength long. But since we have once undertaken to expound the history as well, let us understand the enemies and foes of God to be the Assyrians, against whom, though he has long been patient, he will afterwards show himself an avenger with fury and wrath.

The Lord's way is in destruction and in shaking, and clouds are the dust of his feet. As the Prophet is about to proclaim beforehand the capture of Nineveh for the comfort of those who have suffered, and to make clear to the wronged that it will be shaken down by God, he usefully recounts first the all-powerful nature of the divine, and that for it, when it chooses to accomplish anything whatsoever, there is nothing that resists, but rather everything follows easily, and what seems good to it will prevail, even if some earthly matter seems difficult for us and for those like us to accomplish. For the Jews thought that the Babylonians would be most difficult to capture, and possessed a hand so invincible, that not even if God wished it, could they be weak against their enemies. For I think the things dared by them cruelly and savagely throughout their whole country called them to this despair. Therefore, so that they might know that they will lie down without a struggle when the wrath of God rises up against them, and they will be captured, and very easily, he necessarily says, The Lord's way is in destruction and in shaking, and clouds are the dust of his feet. For if, he says, you should plan against some—for this is the way—it will surely run down upon them as in an earthquake. An earthquake and destruction are an invincible and altogether inescapable thing, and in addition to these, clouds flying like dust and covering the sky. And the Prophet seems to be bringing them to the remembrance of the flood that happened against the whole race of men in the time of Noah, for then God went forth, as it were, in destruction and in an earthquake against all, raising up clouds and, as the sacred scripture says, opening the floodgates of heaven, and inundating the world under heaven with irresistible rains.

And again: "I will reestablish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am Lord, that you may remember and be confounded and may no more open your mouth because of your confusion, when I shall be pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God." Thus it is clearly indicated by these divine words what was meant in another place by the statement "And though cleansing you he shall not make you innocent." Even the just, being restored to their former state after committing sin, do not dare open their mouth but say with the apostle, "I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

The Lord is patient and great in strength, and, cleansing, he will not make innocent. This is said more expressively in the Greek: καὶ ἀθῳῶν οὐκ ἀθῳώσει (and clearing he will not clear). And the sense is: he was indeed long patient with the crime of the Assyrians, and by the strength of his magnanimity bore their iniquities, calling them to repentance; but since, having despised the goodness of God, according to their impenitent heart they stored up for themselves wrath on the day of wrath, he who before was patient will by no means allow them to go away unpunished as though clean and innocent. Or certainly thus — since we wish at the same time to take what is said in a good sense —, he is patient who upholds all who are falling, and raises up those who are dashed down, who heals the troubled in heart and binds up their bruises, and great is his power, dissolving the enmities in the flesh, and not making the guilty innocent, since even he who applauds himself overmuch will be convicted of having been saved not by his own merit but by the mercy of God. For although he may say: Behold, I have served you so many years, and I have never passed over your command, yet since the Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works; and all have sinned, and lack the glory of God, justified by him freely, he will hear: Or is your eye evil, because I am good? And so it will come about that in the very act by which he reproves and pardons, he allows no one to go away as innocent.

The Lord, in storm and whirlwind are his ways, and clouds are the dust of his feet. For storm and whirlwind the Seventy translated consummation and commotion, although where we have put in storm, and where in the Hebrew basupha is written, it can also be understood as in commotion. This signifies that at the end of the world all things will be moved, according to what is written in Haggai: Yet once more I too will move heaven and earth, sea and dry land; and when all things have been moved — so that they may believe the ways of the Lord, who says in the Gospel: I am the way, and the life, and the truth, and: When the Son of Man comes in the clouds, which in Isaiah are commanded not to rain rain upon the vineyard, and to which the truth of God reaches, as the psalmist says: Your truth even to the clouds —, then the clouds themselves too, namely the prophets and the souls of the saints, which before had been weighed down by their union with the flesh, will be lifted on high and become of a finer substance, and, brought down to be the footstool of God's feet, will minister among the angels in each of the lowest offices. For they will not be able to know the former and ancient things that pertain to the head. But another will take the clouds in the contrary sense, because they always trouble what is serene, and strive to veil the clear light of the sun and stars with their darkness, and because afterwards, subjected to the Lord's power, they are reduced to dust and to nothing, and the earth in them, which is fat, is dissolved.

"The Lord is longsuffering, great is his power, and he will certainly not clear the guilty." He does not suddenly and all at once inflict punishment, but only after exercising extreme longsuffering. You Ninevites are witnesses to this, practicing repentance and finding salvation, and then guilty of extreme wickedness and for a time not paying the penalty for it. But after putting up with people's wickedness for a long time, he is accustomed to inflict punishment on the unrepentant (the meaning of "he will certainly not clear the guilty," that is, he will not exempt from retribution the person whose sins deserve punishment).

Rebuking the sea, and drying it up, and leading all the rivers to the desert. According to the letter, the power of God is described: since he is about to vindicate Israel against its adversaries, it is no great thing for him to destroy the Assyrians, whose majesty is such that he can even change the elements. Or certainly, since we have said once for all that the prophecy concerns the consummation of the world, take this too in the simple sense. When the consummation of the world comes, and heaven and earth pass away, the sea too and the rivers are dried up. But to me, as I read that passage in the psalms: This great and wide sea, there are creeping things without number, small animals with great. There the ships pass, that dragon which you formed to mock him, it seems worthy of the goodness and clemency of God to destroy by his threat all the bitterness and saltiness of the sea, and to humble the dragon that reigns in the waters, and to dry up the whirlpools of malice in which the small creeping things swim, of which there is no number; for the things that dwell with the dragon are not worthy of number. Leading the rivers also to the desert: all knowledge falsely so called, which, raising itself against God, uses the river of eloquence and volubility of words, and, rolling its swelling whirlpools, is borne headlong to the wonder of those who watch. Look at Plato, behold Demosthenes, and Tully too, philosopher and orator alike, and consider the chiefs of the heretics, among whom were Valentinus, Marcion, Bardesanes, Tatian, and you will have no doubt about the rivers. But all these the Lord Jesus will consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the illumination of his coming, and will lead to the deserts. And at the same time observe that, according to the title, which is inscribed The taking up of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite, rightly both is the world understood figuratively in Nineveh, and its sea and rivers of eloquence are dried up at the consummation.

Bashan has grown weak, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon has languished. LXX: Basanitis has been diminished, and Carmel, and the things of Lebanon that flourished have failed. Μεταφορικῶς (metaphorically), through Bashan, Carmel and Lebanon, a fertile region and planted mountains, the devastation of the Assyrian is shown, because he, once powerful and flourishing and ruling over very many nations, is to be laid waste when the Lord is angry. But we can also understand it of the consummation of the world, that all the powerful and noble, and those abounding in excessive wealth, suddenly perish, and it is said to them: Fool, this night your soul will be taken from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Moreover, according to the interpretation of the names, since Bashan sounds confusion and disgrace, we assert that at the consummation of the world, when the Lord comes, everything that is worthy of disgrace and blushing grows weak, and that not only are sins reduced to nothing, but also Carmel, which is interpreted knowledge of circumcision, and those who seem to themselves rich and flourishing in good works, tremble at the coming of Christ, and that the saying in the Gospel is fulfilled: When the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find faith on the earth? For as iniquity increases, the charity of very many will grow cold, and on account of these things the wrath of God will come.

And the Prophet said, "He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers;" and again, "He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He rebuketh the mountains, and they smoke." And again the prophet Isaiah saith, "All the nations are accounted as nothing by Him." Now these things the Spirit of God spake concerning the power of God, that those things which were not He called to come into existence, and that what did exist He called and changed into nothing. To this power also He compareth faith.

If it is [Marcion's] Christ that is meant, he will not be stronger than the servants of the Creator. I would have been content with the examples I have shown you without adding anything further. But here a prediction of [Christ] walking on the water precedes his advent as well. The words of the psalm are, in fact, accomplished by Christ's crossing over the lake. "The Lord," says the psalmist, "is upon many waters." When he scatters its waves, Habakkuk's words are fulfilled where he says, "scattering the waters as he walks." When at his rebuke the sea is calmed, Nahum is also verified: "He rebukes the sea and makes it dry," referring to the winds that had disturbed the sea.

The mountains were moved by him, and the hills were made desolate, and the earth trembled before his face, and the world, and all who dwell in it. LXX: The mountains were moved by him, and the hills were shaken, and the earth shrank back before his face, the universe and all who dwell in it. It can also be taken simply: that at the consummation of the world, when the Savior comes in his majesty, the mountains and hills, the world and the earth, and all things are moved. For if at his passion the sun fled, the rocks were split, the earth trembled, much more will all things be thrown into turmoil at his glory. But figuratively too the mountains and hills are to be understood as the lofty and powerful, who at the coming of the Lord will be cast down to the ground, and, deposed from their throne, will cleave to the pavement. The face for of the Lord is upon those who do evil, to destroy their memory from the earth. Then too the earth will tremble, and the world and the universe will dread the face of the Lord, counting it the supreme torment and punishment that they will not dare to look on his face.

Before the face of his indignation who will stand, and who will resist in the wrath of his fury? LXX: From the face of his wrath who will endure, and who will resist in the wrath of his fury? In place of what we have put: And who will resist in the wrath of his fury? Symmachus translated more plainly: And who will endure the wrath of his fury? Therefore one will be found rarely, or not at all, who is not deserving of the wrath that rebukes. Nor will there be any soul that does not tremble at the judgment of God, since even the stars are not clean in his sight. Moreover, the Hebrew word iaccum, which Aquila and the Seventy translated will resist, let us transfer to that understanding of which it is said, in the second book of Kingdoms (2 Samuel) and in the first book of Chronicles, concerning the wrath of God, in the masculine gender. And no one doubts that there the wrath of God is understood as the devil, and the most wicked angels, who are sent to punish those who are worthy of wrath. So it will be hard to find, at the consummation of the world, one who, spotless and pure, dares to say: Behold, the prince of this world comes, and finds nothing in me, and stands against him with a free brow. But against the Assyrians it must be understood thus: that when the Lord comes in storm and whirlwind, drying up the empire of Babylon, which is interpreted sea, and overturning all its kingdoms, which are understood as rivers, and reducing to nothing its power and fertility, which μεταφορικῶς (metaphorically) are called Bashan and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon, and mountains and hills, and shaking the breadth of its empire, which is called the world, then no power will be able to resist God when he is angry and vindicating his people.

His indignation has been poured out like fire, and the rocks have been dissolved by him. LXX: His fury consumes principalities, and the rocks have been crushed by him. In place of what we have put, has been poured out, Aquila translated συνεχωνεύθη, that is, has been fused, Symmachus and Theodotion ἔσταξεν, that is, has dripped. Whether, then, the indignation of God has been fused like fire, or his fury has dripped in the likeness of a blaze, so that the hard hearts of men, which are called rocks, might be crushed and dissolved, the indignation of God is useful, which, long bearing our sins through patience, has scarcely ever been fused, and yet does not burst forth wholly into punishment, but will drip on us with a moderate heat. But if a drop of his indignation consumes the principalities, against whom we have the wrestling of battle, what would happen if the whole wrath of God were poured out on us? May Jesus grant that the heart of stone be taken away and changed in us into a heart of flesh, and that, its hardness softened, it may receive into itself the precepts of the Lord which are written: For a sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise. And that you may know that what has been said sounds of the clemency of God, not of severity, learn from what follows.

Good is the Lord, and strengthening in the day of tribulation, and knowing those who hope in him. LXX: Sweet is the Lord to those who wait for him in the day of tribulation, and recognizing those who fear him. When he has begun to be angry with the nations and to lay waste kingdoms once most powerful, he will know those who are his, and will not overwhelm those at sea in one and the same storm. But let us understand the day of tribulation, according to ἀναγωγὴν (anagogy), as the day of judgment, of which Isaiah wrote: Behold, the day of the Lord comes, incurable, of fury and of wrath, to make the world a desert and to destroy sinners out of it. Let us hope in the Lord, and through patience await his coming, so that when he comes we may experience him as good, not as a judge, and that he may recognize either those who hope in him or those who fear him. For the Lord knows those who are his.

And in a flood passing by he will make a consummation of its place, and darkness will pursue his enemies. LXX: And in a flood passing over he will make a consummation; darkness will pursue those rising up and his enemies. The Lord is patient and of great mercy, and he will not be angry to the end, nor will he be indignant forever; but when wickedness has grown upon the earth, and all flesh has corrupted its way, he will bring on a flood that is to pass through, not to remain forever. But he will make a consummation, or an end, of its place, that is, of the flood, so that, just as it is said of the impious man: And I passed by, and his place was not found, and: The way of the impious will perish, so the way of the flood may perish after the wrath of the Lord, with mercy alone appearing. This indeed can also be understood according to the history: when he has laid Israel waste, and has inundated the land of promise as if with a flood, he will make an end of the captivity, calling him back to his former dwellings. But on the contrary, darkness will pursue his enemies the Assyrians, who led the people into captivity. But what we have said of Israel and the Assyrians can be understood of the consummation of the world, and of the saints and of the persecutors, or the opposing powers: that God has mercy on the saints after his wrath; but as for the persecutors and their enemies, who have chosen darkness and not light, the very darkness that they chose will seize them; for they will be sent into the outer darkness: There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The word macoma, which we have translated "of its place", all have divided into two parts of speech, so that they turned ma into the preposition "from", that is, ἀπὸ, and interpreted coma as "rising up". Finally Aquila says ἀπὸ ἀνισταμένων, that is, "from those rising up"; the Seventy, "those rising up"; Theodotion, "for those rising up against him"; the Fifth edition, "from those rising up against him". Symmachus alone, agreeing with our translation, says: And in a flood passing over, he will make a consummation of its place. Some of our own interpret "those rising up and the enemies" as Marcion and all the old heretics, who dispute against the Creator.

What are you plotting against the Lord? He himself will make a consummation; a twofold tribulation will not rise up. LXX: What are you plotting against the Lord? He himself will make a consummation, he will not avenge twice on the same thing in tribulation. Symmachus more plainly: They will not withstand the onset of a second distress; Theodotion: A second tribulation will not rise up. But according to tropology he is speaking against Marcion, of whom we spoke above, and against all the old heretics, who, inventing some good God or other, say that he is the one who will make the consummation of the world, and accuse the God of the law as if of cruelty, because he punishes many and inflicts torments for sins. What then, he says, are you plotting against the Lord? He himself who created the world will also make its consummation. But if he seems to you cruel, harsh and bloody, because he blotted out the human race in the flood, rained fire and sulphur upon Sodom and Gomorrah, drowned the Egyptians in the waves, and laid low the corpses of the Israelites in the desert, know that he exacted punishments in the present for this reason: that he might not punish forever. Surely what the prophets say is either true or false. If what they seem to say about his severity is true, they themselves have said: The Lord will not avenge twice on the same thing in tribulation. But if they are false, then this too is false that is said: A twofold tribulation will not rise up; false, therefore, is also the cruelty that is described in the law. But if it is true, as they will not be able to deny, since the prophet says: The Lord will not avenge twice on the same thing in tribulation, then those who have been punished are not punished afterward. But if they are punished afterward, Scripture lies, which it is impious to say. Therefore those who perished in the flood, and the Sodomites, and the Egyptians, and the Israelites in the wilderness received their evil things in their lifetime. Here someone may ask, if a believer caught in adultery is beheaded, what becomes of him afterward. For either he will be punished, and this saying is false: The Lord will not avenge twice on the same thing in tribulation, or he will not be punished, and it is something for adulterers to wish for, that by a short and swift penalty in the present they may escape eternal torments. To this we will answer that God, as he knows the measures of all things, so knows the measures of punishments too; that he is not forestalled by the sentence of a judge, nor is the power taken from him of exercising punishment on the sinner thereafter; and that a great sin is washed away by great and long-lasting torments. But if anyone has been punished, like him in the law who had cursed the Israelites, and him who had gathered wood on the sabbath, such men are not punished afterward, because a light fault has been compensated by the present punishment. The Hebrew expounded this passage thus: What do you think, O Assyrians, you who plot iniquity against the Lord, that he himself would consume the people of Israel, that is, the twelve tribes, to the point of extermination? A twofold tribulation will not rise up, that is, he will not hand over Judah and Jerusalem to you as he handed over the ten tribes and Samaria.

Moreover, since, having been taught by the Hebrews, we wish to follow their tradition too, and to set out for our own, that is, for Christians, an explanation of the history, it must be said: A twofold tribulation will not rise up, that is, the two tribes will not be captured by the Assyrians as the ten were captured. For while the Assyrians are still in the land of Judah, and like thorns embrace one another, glad and rejoicing, they will be consumed by the angel, when in one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the enemy were slain. Beautifully, too, he compared the multitude of their army to a banquet of drunkards, and said that the banquet itself was not of roses, not of lilies, not of flowers, but like thorns embracing one another, which are always handed over to the fire and, like stubble full of dryness, are burned up by a slight blaze. But what follows: Out of you will go forth one plotting wickedness against the Lord, turning over transgression in his mind, they want it understood of Rabshakeh, because, having come forth from the Assyrians, he blasphemed God and wished to persuade the people to despair of the Lord's help and hand themselves over to the Assyrians, to serve not God but idols.

This, that according to the law, for example, the "adulterer or adulteress" was punished with present death: on account of this very thing, that he bore the penalty of his sin and paid the worthy punishments of the crime committed, what will there be after this that threatens vengeance to their souls, if they have transgressed in nothing else, if there is no other sin which condemns them, but they committed this alone and only then, when they were punished and bore the punishment of the law for this? "The Lord will not take vengeance twice for the same thing"; for they received back their sin and the penalty of the crime is consumed. And therefore this kind of precept is found to be not cruel, as the heretics assert, accusing the law of God and denying that anything of humanity is contained in it, but full of mercy, for the reason that through it the people would be purged from their sins rather than condemned.

For as thorns embrace one another, so is their banquet of men drinking together; it will be consumed like stubble full of dryness. LXX: For even to their foundations they will be reduced into brambles, and like bindweed wound about it will be devoured, and like stubble full of dryness. The three distinctions which the Lord set down in the parable of the sowing, apart from the good soil, which bears fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold, the prophet seems to me to unfold again: one, the seed that fell beside the way, another that fell among stones, and a third that fell among thorns; and the Apostle too, speaking of those who do not build well upon the foundation of Christ, indeed intimates this, that there are some who build wood, hay, stubble. Let us therefore refer the wood to what is now said: For even to their foundations they will be reduced to brambles. But the hay to what follows: And like bindweed that is wound about, it will be devoured. Moreover, the stubble is plainly referred to the stubble of which it is now said: And like stubble full of dryness. For this reason, then, the Lord will not avenge twice on the same thing, because the wickedness that had arisen in the authors of heresy will be consumed down to the foundation and to its roots. And if anyone among them seemed to have a pomp of words, that is, empty leaves that delight only the eye, he will be devoured like bindweed, which in Greek is called σμίλαξ, and will be consumed into nothing. Now bindweed is a plant like ivy, which commonly winds itself around vines and shrubs and creeps a long way. Whatever in them, too, seems to have the show of a crop, but has no ears and grains of wheat, will be handed over to the fire like stubble full of dryness. This is according to the Seventy. But according to the Hebrew, truly the alliances and close ties of the heretics are like thorns embracing one another, and their banquet and their mysteries, since they too say that they have the Lord's table, are a league of thorns, eating together and drinking together alike. For when, drunk from the vine of Sodom, they blaspheme against the Maker with rabid mouth, is it not a banquet of briars? Yet it will be consumed together with its authors, like stubble full of dryness.

For out of you will go forth one plotting wickedness against the Lord, turning over transgression in his mind. LXX: Out of you will go forth a thought against the Lord, most evil, thinking contrary things. Truly from the heretics will go forth a thought hostile to the Lord. Does it not seem to be wickedness and transgression against God to say, as Valentinus does, that the Creator was brought forth last, as if the abortion of an erring Wisdom? Is not the shamelessness of Basilides a thought against God, and the monstrous name ἄβραξας (Abraxas), which is set above the Lord the Maker?

Thus says the Lord: If they are complete, and so more numerous, even so they will be shorn, and he will pass through; I have afflicted you, and I will not afflict you any more; and now I will break his rod from your back, and I will burst your bonds. LXX: Thus says the Lord, reigning over many waters: and so they will be divided, and your report will not be heard any more; and now I will break his rod from you, and I will burst his bonds. According to the letter the sense is plain: Although, he says, the Assyrians are strong, and their might is increased by the number of all the nations, even so, as the angel lays waste, they are shorn. For just as the number of the hairs does not resist the sharp shears, so too the number of God's adversaries will be removed by an easy cutting down, and Asshur will pass through: either he will cease to exist, or, his army laid waste, he will return to his homeland, leaving you safe. And again the word is directed to Judah and Jerusalem: I have afflicted you, and I will not afflict you any more, not that he promises perpetual security, but only for that time, and from those enemies by whom it was then besieged.

But according to the LXX the sense is far different. For he still seems to be speaking against those to whom he had said above: What are you plotting against the Lord? and: Out of you will go forth a thought against the Lord, most evil, thinking contrary things. Thus, then, says the Lord, reigning over many waters, that is, over the powers, which are called the waters above the heavens, and which are commanded to praise the Lord, or else over the understandings and the wisdom and the teachings of God. For just as rivers will flow from the belly of the righteous man, and abundant springs unto eternal life, through the various and manifold meanings over which the word of the Lord rules, so the heresiarchs too have their own waters, over which they rule, and which first flowed from their spring. But what follows: And so they will be divided, can be understood either of the heavenly powers that serve God on high, in that each one is in its own office and ministry, or of the manifold variety of wisdom; lest, because he had said: Reigning over many waters, the number of meanings should be thought confused and undistinguished, but rather that each statement has meanings divided among themselves, and separate matters and its own ὑποθέσεις (subjects). For what is said: Your report will not be heard any more, is a rebuke against those who had thought things contrary to God: that, once the sophisms and snares by which the people of God was entangled have been exposed, their word may no longer run its course, nor be received by the peoples.

Finally he adds: And now I will break his rod, that is, the Assyrian's, from your back, and I will burst your bonds; either signifying his power by a metaphor, or else the rod with which he was trying to strike, and the bonds which he was preparing for the captives; although the siege of the shut-in multitude can also be taken for the bonds.

But this too, which he adds: And now I will break his rod from you, and I will burst your bonds, is said on behalf of the very ones against whom the threat is made, that they may by no means be beaten by the devil, nor be subject to him at whose instigation they had devised and fabricated such great things. Therefore his dominion over them will be broken, and the bonds by which the souls of sinners were bound will be burst by the word of God, saying to those who are in bonds: Go out.

Once again, dear friends, God has brought us to the Easter season. By his lovingkindness we are once more about to assemble for it. The same God who brought Israel out of Egypt now calls us to the feast, saying through Moses, "Take note of the month of new fruits, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God." And through the prophet he calls, "Keep your feasts, O Judah; pay your vows to the Lord." So if God himself loves the feast and calls us to it, it is not right, brothers and sisters, to postpone it or to observe it carelessly. We should come to it eagerly and zealously, so that with a joyful beginning here we will experience a foretaste of the heavenly feast that is to come.

The prophet Nahum (or, better, God speaking through him) says, "I will destroy the graven and molten thing; I will make it your grave. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings peace. O Judah, keep your festivals and pay your vows, for it shall no longer be that they may pass into disuse. It is completed, it is consumed, it is taken away. He is come up that breathes into your face and rescues you from tribulation." Anyone who knows the Gospels will recognize who it was that came up from hell and breathed the Holy Spirit into the face of Judah, that is, into the face of his Jewish disciples. The words about the festivals are, of course, a reference to the New Testament, in which festivals are so spiritually renewed that they can never "pass into disuse." The rest of the prophecy too we see realized in that the gospel brought about the destruction of "graven and molten things," that is, the idols of the false gods, consigned now to the oblivion of the grave.

And the Lord will command against you: It shall not be sown from your name any more. From the house of your god I will slay the graven and the molten image; I will make your grave, for you are without honor. LXX: And the Lord will command concerning you: It shall not be sown from your name any more. From the house of your god I will destroy the graven images and the molten images, I will make your grave, for they are swift; behold upon the mountains the feet of one who brings good news and announces peace. I have set down more from the Seventy translators for this reason, that the second περικοπὴ (pericope) could not be separated from the first. For where it says, for you are without honor, for which the Fifth edition put ὅτι ὑβρίσθης, the Seventy translated: for they are swift, which in the Hebrew reads chi calloth. But unless you refer "swift" to the feet of the following section, the sentence is left hanging. Therefore, according to my custom, I will sift first the history, and afterward the sense of the common edition. The Lord, he says, will command against you, O Asshur, so that what you are to suffer may not come by chance and without any judge, but you may suffer it at God's pronouncement. It shall not be sown from your name any more: for indeed Sennacherib, as soon as he had returned to Nineveh, was killed by his sons. Read Isaiah: and he was killed in the house of his god, which he had entered to worship. For this is what he says: From the house of your god I will slay: you will be punished from the place from which you hoped for help. The graven and the molten image will be your grave, so that amid the altars and the sacred couches the impious blood of one worshipping idols may be poured out.

But according to the Seventy translators, join what follows to what precedes: It shall not be sown, he says, from your name any more. By no means, O heretics, will the souls of the deceived take from your dogmas the names which they had previously invoked upon their lands, as is sung figuratively in the forty-eighth (49th) psalm. And this very cessation of sowing will profit you, a sowing which used to kill first the soul of the sower, then that of him in whom he sowed. The dogmas of errors, therefore, will die for you; and you too, who before seemed to yourself to be alive, will die to error, and, dead for your own good, you will have as your grave the idols which you used to worship. And so it will come about that from your breast, which before had been the temple of your god, whom you had feigned, all errors will be taken away. And these things will happen to you, who once used to think things contrary to the Lord, when the word of God, which always ascends upon the mountains, that is, into lofty and sublime souls, has come swiftly to you, and, having trodden down the waves of your former errors and brought them to calm, has restored to you the peace and the sense of faith. Pardon my prolixity; for in following both the history and the tropology I cannot take in both briefly, especially since I am tormented by the variety of the translations, and am sometimes compelled, against my conscience, to weave together the sequence of the common edition.