Nahum 2

If ever there has been a most grievous persecution, such as under Valerian and Decius and Maximian, and the vengeance of the Lord has appeared upon his adversaries, let us say to the Church: LXX: Celebrate, O Judah, your feasts, pay your vows, for they will never again add to pass through into oldness; it is fulfilled, it is consummated; he has gone up breathing into your face, rescuing you from tribulation. I have said once already that according to the variety of the translation the sections themselves are also divided differently, and that the sense of the Hebrew translation cannot agree with the sections. Therefore what is now said is of this kind: O man of the Church, since from the name of your adversaries there shall be no more sowing, and their rod is broken, and their bonds are torn apart, and he has come who should announce peace to you, celebrate your feasts, not in wine and banquets, as the carnal Jews suppose, but in spiritual delights and the torrent of pleasure. O Judah, pay your vows, for never again will enemies pass through you to lead you into oldness, that is, who wish you to bear the image of the old man. For what is old grows aged, and what grows aged is near to perishing: the world is fulfilled, the adversary is consumed. Christ has come to you, who earlier had breathed into your face when he formed you from the clay, and after the resurrection too, breathing into the face of the apostles, said: Receive the Holy Spirit; he it is who frees you from tribulation. For when Nineveh is laid waste and the world passes away, tribulation too will pass away.

LXX: Watch the way, hold the loin, be strengthened in strength exceedingly, for the Lord has turned away the insolence of Jacob, as the insolence of Israel, because those who shake out have shaken them out, and have demolished their branches. Three things are commanded to Judah. First, that he watch the way and look carefully at the road by which he is to walk, according to what is written in Jeremiah: Stand in the ways, and ask for the eternal paths, and see which is the good way, and walk in it, so that when we have stood in many ways, we may come to that way which says: I am the way. Next it is said to him that he hold the loin, that is, that after choosing the way he mortify his body and bring it into subjection, lest, preaching to others as a king and master, he himself be found reprobate. It would take long now to tell how the strength of the devil is above all in the loins, and how the promise is made to David: Of the fruit of your loin I will set upon your throne, and that saying of the Apostle: For he was still in the loin of his father Abraham, Levi was, when Melchizedek went to meet Abraham. And how John is girded with a leather girdle, and how the disciples are commanded by the Savior: Let your loins be girded. And the Apostle to the Ephesians: Stand therefore, having your loins girded in truth; for although ἄσκησις (ascetic discipline) and continence of life avail very much toward the mortifying of the loins, yet nothing so mortifies them as the knowledge of the truth. Hence it is said: Gird your loins in truth. For if Christ is the truth, he who has believed in Christ with his whole mind has mortified his loins in Christ. Thirdly it is commanded: be strengthened in power exceedingly. You have chosen, he says, the way; you have held the loin; take up power, so that you may fight with the enemies.

He has come up who will scatter before your face, keeping the siege; watch the way, strengthen the loins, make your power very strong, for as the Lord has repaid the pride of Jacob, so the pride of Israel, because the ravagers have scattered them and have corrupted their branches. I am compelled by necessity to steer the course of my discourse between history and allegory, as between rocks and crags with shipwreck threatening, and to take care that it does not suddenly strike. For indeed, according to the fables of the poets: Scylla holds the right side, implacable Charybdis the left; if we flee the rocks, we run into the deep; if we avoid the twisting whirlpools, we are carried onto the rocks. The Lord is my witness that in all that I discuss according to the Hebrew I do not speak from my own sense, which is the charge laid against the false prophets, but follow the exposition of the Hebrews, by whom I was taught for no short time, and I am bound simply to point out to my readers what I have learned. Certainly it will be at the reader's discretion, when he has run through both, to judge which he ought rather to follow. Now therefore the discourse is turned to Nineveh — and it is above all on this account that the prophets are obscure, that suddenly, while one thing is being treated, the person is changed to others —, and it is said to her: Nebuchadnezzar has come up against you to besiege you, to lay waste the fields before your face, to pursue the farmers, to ravage the countryside, and to hold you yourself shut in as well. Since, then, war threatens you, behold, I the prophet now rejoicing foretell it: watch carefully and look, and observe what is coming upon you. Strengthen the loins, that is, gird yourself; make your power very strong, that is, gather armies, for as the Lord avenged Judah for the pride of Sennacherib, when his army was slain in Judea and he himself was also murdered by his own sons, so will he avenge Israel, that is, the ten tribes which are held in possession by Nineveh. For the Assyrians laid waste and overthrew both, Judah and Israel, and, under the metaphor of a vine, corrupted the branches of both.

It is finished, it is taken away; he has come up breathing into your face, delivering from affliction. As it was already fixed, and in every way and altogether about to happen that Nineveh must be destroyed, he says that it is finished, indicating by this its coming to an end, as it were. And indeed also that it is taken away, that is, that it has been cut off completely and utterly destroyed. And very well indeed he says "he has come up" concerning Cyrus, signifying something emphatic, I think, such as the prophet Jeremiah also said about him, foretelling what would happen in due time to Nineveh: "A lion has come up from his den, a destroyer of nations has set out, and has gone forth from his place, to make your land a desolation, and your cities shall be laid waste, so that none shall dwell in them." For like a wild beast leaping upon Nineveh, he devoured those in it. But to them he was a terrible and relentless enemy, and became unyielding in his wrath, but to those of Israel he was breathing into their face and delivering from affliction, that is, releasing them from their unusual servitude, loosing their bonds, recovering them as captives, by sending them home, and also commanding that the divine temple be rebuilt for them.

He imparted the fellowship of this Holy Spirit to the apostles, for it is written, "When he had said that, he breathed upon them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.' " This was the second breathing (the first had been impaired by willful sins)2 to fulfill the Scripture: "One who has been delivered from affliction has come up panting into your presence." He has been delivered from Hades. For it was after his resurrection, according to the gospel, that he breathed on them. He gives the grace at this time, and he will lavish it more abundantly. He says to them, "I am ready to give it to you even now, but the vessel cannot yet hold it. Accept for the time the grace of which you are capable, but look forward to yet more." "But wait here in the city" of Jerusalem "until you are clothed with power from on high." Receive it in part now; then you will be clad in its fullness. For he who receives often has the gift only in part, but he who is clothed is entirely covered by his garment. Fear not, he says, the weapons and darts of the devil, for you will possess the power of the Holy Spirit. But be mindful of our recent admonition, that the Holy Spirit is not divided, but only the grace he bestows.

"One has come up blowing in your face, rescuing you from tribulation." God is the cause of this for you by his decision as though by some kind of blowing, destroying them but freeing you from their power. Just as by blowing a breath of life into Adam he made him a living being, so he provided you with salvation by the blowing of life. This is also what Christ the Lord gave the sacred apostles after the resurrection. Since Adam lost what he had received by way of image through the divine blowing, it was right that Christ the Lord should renew the image and restore it to the sacred apostles and through them to all the believers, blowing on them and saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Since former things are a type of the new, therefore, let us take the Assyrians' kingdom that was destroyed as the devil's tyranny brought to an end through Christ the Lord.

Watch the road, brace your loins, be exceedingly courageous in your strength, because the Lord has turned away the insolence of Jacob, as the insolence of Israel. To those about to go very soon into Judea, and intending to go home, he necessarily adds that it is needful for the future both to watch the road and brace their loins, that is to be ready and prepared for the toils of the journey, and to be courageous against all hesitation, and to be seen to love being superior to long distances, using invincible eagerness for this. A sign of readiness is to have one's loins, as it were, well-ordered and girded. And indeed our Lord Jesus Christ says to the holy apostles, or rather to all who believe in him, "Let your loins be girded." For the posture is that of a traveler, and is most especially fitting for those who preach the divine gospel, and have their feet most ready for this. Therefore, he says, brace your loins, instead of, be prepared and, as it were, ready for a journey. For the Lord has turned away, he says, the insolence of Jacob as the insolence of Israel. Observe again in these words the distinction that is necessarily introduced. For by Jacob he means those who dwelt in Samaria, that is the ten tribes, over whom reigned those from the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh, who came from Joseph, who was from Jacob; but by Israel he names those in Jerusalem, I mean Judah and Benjamin. And since, when Sennacherib had sacked Samaria, Jerusalem was not captured, as God at that time defended it and destroyed the Assyrian by the hand of an angel; and Cyrus released not only the captives from Samaria who had been carried away to Nineveh, but also those from Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar had captured the land; the Prophet necessarily says that the Lord turned away the insolence of Jacob as the insolence of Israel. And by insolence he means slavery or servitude.

And lest perhaps you lose confidence, a reason is given you for hoping: The Lord, he says, has turned away the insolence of Jacob, as the insolence of Israel; which is ambiguous: for either the Lord has turned away the insolence of Jacob himself, with which he did injury to others, or he has turned away the insolence which Jacob endured from others. But it seems better to me that the insolence which Jacob used to do to others has been turned away by the Lord. For it is not of such great virtue to endure an injury done by others as it is of the Lord's grace to be calm, gentle and tranquil, unable to do injury. It is asked how the injury of Jacob was turned away, as that of Israel too had been turned away: after Jacob wrestled with the angel, he was found worthy to receive the name of Israel, and because he saw God, he ceased to do injury. As therefore Israel, sense or a man seeing God, and ever thinking of God, does not know how to do injury, so all wantonness and insolence has been turned away from Jacob, that is, from the supplanter, from him who, still set in the contest, supplants his enemies. And that we may know how injury is taken in the bad sense, Solomon is witness, saying: Insolent eyes, an unjust tongue. And how, according to both understandings, the injury has been turned away from Jacob which had earlier been turned away from Israel, the following words make plain: Because those who shake out have shaken them out, and have demolished their shoots, or have corrupted them. The angels, he says, of each one, who daily see the face of the Father, have shaken out whatever dust had clung to Jacob and Israel. Hence Peter's feet too are washed. And through the prophet it is said: Shake off the dust, and arise, O Jerusalem. The disciples too are commanded by the Savior: Shake off the dust of your feet. And in the psalms it is written: As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so are the sons of the shaken out. So the mind prompt to insolence has been turned away from the true Jacob and from the true Israel, because whatever had been earthly in them, and compacted of the lower dregs, has been shaken out and cleansed by the ministering angels, or by admonishers and teachers, who not only shook them out, but also scattered the vices, which soothe the senses with pleasure only for the present, and which are like shoots and branches that are full of leaves without fruit, as the Lord says: Every branch that abides in me and bears fruit, my Father cleanses, that it may bear more fruit; but what does not abide in me and does not bear fruit, my Father will cut off and cast into the fire.

The shield of his mighty men is fiery, the men of the army are in scarlet; fiery are the reins of the chariot in the day of his preparation, and the charioteers have been lulled to sleep. They have been thrown into confusion on the roads; the four-horse chariots have been dashed together in the streets. Their appearance is like torches, like lightnings running to and fro. He will remember his mighty men; they will fall on their roads; swiftly they will go up to her walls, and a shelter will be prepared. The gates of the rivers have been opened, and the temple has been torn down to the ground, and the soldier has been led away captive, and her handmaids were driven along, moaning like doves, murmuring in their hearts. LXX: The arms of his power from men, mighty men mocking in fire, the reins of their chariots in the day of their preparation, and the horsemen will fear in the outgoings; and the chariots will be confounded and will be dashed together in the streets. Their appearance is like torches of fire, and like lightnings running to and fro, and their nobles will be remembered, and they will flee in the days, and they will grow weak on their way, and they will hasten to the walls, and they will prepare their bulwarks; the gates of the cities have been opened, and the royal things have fallen, and the substance has been uncovered; and she herself was going up, and her handmaids were being led like doves speaking in their hearts. According to the history the sequence continues against Nineveh, and the army of the Babylonians coming against her is described. And as for his saying, Fiery reins of the chariots: by the burning thongs he signifies the speed of those making ready, and the pomp, as it were of ἐπισκευῆς (of equipment), of those preparing themselves for battle is recounted. And the Scripture is woven together in a mingled way, now about what Israel once suffered, now about what the Assyrian did, now about what the Babylonians carry out against the Assyrians. It is not, therefore, he says, surprising if they come so swiftly to lay waste, since the charioteers and mighty men, either of Israel before or of the Assyrians afterward, had been lulled to sleep.

Now let us come to the Seventy translators. Those who shake out, who shook out Jacob and Israel and scattered their shoots, also broke the arms which they had been accustomed to have while they were insolent, and with which they had oppressed all the weak; and they did not do this only, but they also destroyed in fire the mighty men who were mocking. Consider whether you can call the mighty men mocking in fire the opposing powers, which serve the fiery darts of the devil, which, mighty and once mocking Jacob and Israel in fire, had chariots and horses, by which they were borne, urged on, into war in the day of their preparation. The reins of these chariots, then, and the horsemen will be thrown into confusion on the roads and will be dashed together in the streets, when, Jacob and Israel having been healed by the enlightening of the Lord, both the demons and those who serve their will shall be overthrown by the Lord. We can understand these things of his first coming, when the mighty men and the drivers of the chariots and the horsemen said: What have we to do with you, son of David? Have you come before the time to torment us? But since we have once taken the prophecy against Nineveh as concerning the consummation of the world, it is better for us to say that the arms of the devil's power are then taken away from men, and his mighty ministers, who mocked men in fire. For all their hearts are adulterers, like an oven; and we may say that the bonds too by which the captives were led into vices, and the riders of the chariots, are loosed. For the horsemen will fear in the outgoings, that is, in the consummation of the world, and they will be confounded, and the chariots will be dashed together in the streets; for although broad and spacious is the way that leads to death, yet, under the pressure of a time cut short, they will not be able to find a straight road; but they will be dashed against one another, and none the less they will breathe out their old fury, and like lightnings they will run to and fro hither and thither. I saw, says the Lord, Satan like lightning falling from heaven.

And returning again to the order of the description, he says: So great is the multitude of those coming that the column on the march is mingled together and cannot be told apart. The four-horse chariots themselves too, while they cannot find a way, are dashed against one another in the streets because of the multitude. The appearance of the Babylonians is like torches, like lightnings running to and fro, so that they terrify their adversaries by the sight before they lay them low with the sword.

Then Asshur will remember his mighty men and will look for those who fell on the roads, and he will swiftly go up the walls of Nineveh, and because of the very long siege he will prepare shelters to ward off the heat.

And when the devil and all his nobles have understood this, they will remember the consummation which had long ago been foretold, and they will flee in the days. For they will by no means move about in the nights, but as the day grows bright the darkness will be put to flight, and they will grow weak on the way, not making progress nor fulfilling their endeavors, and they will hasten to the walls. For so great a terror of the coming Lord will seize them, and so feeble will they be for resisting, that they will flee to the bounds of the world, by which the world is shut in and encircled as by walls, and they will prepare themselves to resist. Just as, if someone flees an enemy, not daring to resist him, when he has come into a solitary place, if perhaps the foe follows, he is compelled by necessity to fight back.

But is this the only place we read of "substance"? Has it not also been said in another passage: "The gates of the cities are broken down, the mountains are fallen, and his substance is revealed"? What, does the word mean something created here also? Some, I know, are accustomed to say that the substance is substance in money. Then, if you give this meaning to the word, the mountains fell in order that someone's possessions of money might be seen. But let us remember what mountains fell, those, namely, of which it has been said, "If you shall have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say to this mountain, 'Be removed, and be cast into the sea!' " By mountains, then, are meant high things that exalt themselves.

But what does it profit to build a house unless the Lord has built it? What does it help to shut the gates which the Lord unbars? The gates of Nineveh have been opened, which had a multitude of citizens like rivers, and the temple, that is, her kingdom, has been destroyed, and the soldier has been led away captive, that is, all have been led into Babylon. But by the handmaids of Nineveh understand, by a metaphor, the lesser cities and villages and forts. Or certainly the captive women will be driven along before the faces of the victors; and so great will be the terror that their grief will not even break out into sobbing and wailing, but they will moan silently within themselves and with a dark murmur swallow their tears, after the manner of cooing doves. These things according to the Hebrew tradition.

But while they are thinking this, all the things which had been held and possessed by them will be brought out into the open, and the gates which they had shut will be opened, and their kingdoms will fall, and the substance, that is, the riches, will be uncovered. But the substance of the world itself and all her handmaids, after they have subjected themselves to Christ and have begun to serve him, will be led glad and rejoicing, and believing from the inmost heart of confession, so that they are compared to the cleanness of doves, they will murmur or speak in their hearts. And then will be fulfilled what is said in the sixty-seventh (68th) psalm of the victory of the Savior: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive.

But since we have once said that Nineveh is the beautiful one, that is, the world, let us see what the pool of the world is. Scripture does not say that the waters of Nineveh are like the waters of the sea, nor like the waters of rivers, nor like the waters of springs, nor like the waters of wells, but like the waters of a pool, so that, just as in Jeremiah the people is rebuked which forsook the fountain of living water and dug for itself broken cisterns that cannot hold water, so in Nineveh too all those waters are such as have fallen from heaven and, leaving their ancient height, have slipped down to the depths. For all the dogmas of this world which are outside the fountain of the Church and the sealed garden, and cannot say: The rush of the river makes glad the city of God, nor are of those waters which above the heavens praise the name of the Lord, though they seem great, are nevertheless small and shut in within a narrow bound. And let it not disturb anyone that we take the pool in the bad sense, when that pool to which Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz, is commanded to go up is taken in the good sense. For there it is said with an addition: The pool of the aqueduct, and the pool of the fuller, which is accustomed to wash away filth and to cleanse the stains of garments. And because it is set on high, the prophet is therefore commanded to go up to it and, in meeting the king, to promise victory over the two burnt firebrands. There follows: Fleeing, they did not stand, namely the inhabitants of Nineveh. First, indeed, they ought not to have fled from God; then, even if they had fled, they ought at some time to stand. For there is a great difference between him who fled and stood, and him who, fleeing, never stood. For he who stands has ceased to flee; he who does not stand has gone forward in perpetual flight. In so great a crowd of those fleeing, therefore, there was no one who looked back and did repentance and heard the Lord speaking: Return to me, O sons, returning, and I will heal your bruises. Hence the saint too says in the psalms: Flight has perished from me. I think that this very thing is also signified by the mystery of leprosy, concerning which it is said in Leviticus: When the leper has been separated by the priest outside the camp, if the leprosy has stood still, the man is clean, and he who had been cast out as a leper is cleansed and returns to the camp and dwells among the people. But if, he says, the leprosy has spread, that is, has not stood still but has grown and made progress in evil and changed the color of its former health, then the leprosy is most plainly proved by him who has the knowledge of inspecting and purging leprosy. But we too are commanded by the true Solomon to dwell in Jerusalem and never to go out from it. And if what was formerly subject to us flees from us and goes to the Philistines, let us not go out of the walls of our city nor follow the footsteps of the fugitives; lest, while we wish to save those who flee, we ourselves perish; but rather let us let them go, that the dead may bury their dead, and, while we may, let us pluck out and cut off from ourselves the eye, the hand and the foot that cause us to stumble.

And Nineveh: like a pool of waters are her waters, but they have fled. Stand, stand, and there is none who turns back; plunder the silver, plunder the gold, and there is no end of riches from all the desirable vessels. LXX: And Nineveh: like a pool of waters are her waters, and they, fleeing, did not stand, and there was none who looked back; they were plundering the silver, they were plundering the gold, and there was no end of her adornment; she has been weighed down above all the vessels of her concupiscence. It is plain that, when the cities of Nineveh — which Scripture calls her daughters — have been led into captivity, Nineveh herself, who had nourished such great peoples that they were compared to the waters of pools, has a useless multitude, since there is no one to resist and to bear the onslaught of the Babylonians rushing in. For she had peoples who only fled, and while their mother cried out: Stand, stand, shut the gates, mount the walls, fight back against the enemy, there was no one who turned back, no one who looked back to his mother, but all, turning their backs, deserted the city as plunder for the enemy. Hence it is said to the Babylonians, since those have fled: Plunder the silver, and make spoil by a sudden ravaging of the wealth gathered over so long a time. For there is no end of the riches, the furniture and the vessels which are stored in Nineveh, nor can you carry off as much as she offers herself to be plundered.

And as for what is said: They were plundering the silver, they were plundering the gold, and there was no end of her adornment: she has been weighed down above all the vessels of her concupiscence, it is said of the waters of Nineveh, and of those fleeing who had fled and did not stand, nor was there one who looked back; and who, not content only to have fled and not to have looked back, were plundering the silver besides, whatever eloquence was seen in the world; they were plundering the gold, whatever was splendid in the way of maxims in the learning of the age, in order to adorn Nineveh, in order to compose their dogmas with every flower of thoughts and words. Because of this Nineveh has been weighed down above all the vessels of her concupiscence; for the more she had a great possession of gold and silver and varied furniture, which was heavy, the more she herself was weighed down, since she loved heavy things. Hence also iniquity in Zechariah sits upon a talent of lead, and the Egyptians, who were heavy with sins, sank in the sea like lead. And in the person of the sinner it is said in the psalm: Like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me. And Peter, who before, being light, trod the waves with suspended step, after he was weighed down by unbelief and was being swallowed by the billows, is lifted up by the hand of the Lord.

She has been scattered and torn and rent apart, and the heart is melting, and there is a loosening of the knees and a failing in all the kidneys, and the faces of all are like the blackness of a pot. LXX: A shaking out, a shaking out again, and a boiling up, and a breaking of heart and a loosening of knees, and pains upon every loin, and the faces too of all like the scorching of a pot. Under the metaphor of a captive woman, Nineveh is described as scattered, torn, rent: her heart melting, her knees loosened, and her kidneys broken, and the faces of all her inhabitants, through terror of the enemy and the greatness of their fear, appear scorched like pots, wasted, and disfigured with pallor. Moreover, according to the LXX we must understand at a higher level what shaking out, shaking out again signifies. He who is of the people of God and, being a man, has at some time sinned, and returns to his former state, is told, as Jerusalem is: Shake off the dust, and rise up, O Jerusalem. And of him who is such that, after he has been shaken out, he deserves to pass into the arrows of God and to be drawn by the Lord against the enemies, it is sung: As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so are the sons of the shaken out. And when his footprints, as of one walking upon the earth, have been sprinkled with dust, he will hear from the Savior: Shake off the dust of your feet for a testimony to them, no doubt meaning those who refused to receive the preachers. But he who is of Nineveh, which has been weighed down above all the vessels of her concupiscence, is shaken out not once but often. And after he has been shaken out again, and his surface has been cleansed — lest any filth remain within —, there comes to him also a boiling up, which in Greek is more expressively called ἐκβρασμὸς; for ἐκβρασμὸς is properly used of things of this kind, when what lay hidden within breaks out upon the surface. Hence also the pimples which arise on the lips after an illness are called ἐκβράσματα, and it seems a sign of health that the disease has broken out onto the surface. And not only is this remedy applied to Nineveh, that she be shaken out frequently and the hidden sickness be forced to come out of her vitals, but a breaking of heart and a loosening of the knees are also foretold, so that, just as the hard and stony heart of Pharaoh was broken, which, as long as he had it, would not let the people of God go, so the broken heart of Nineveh too may be softened and changed into one of flesh, and the stiff knees which before were not bent to God may be loosened and bow to God, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named, and in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth and in the underworld. So that, after they have come to know their creator, they may hear: Be strengthened, you loosened hands, and make strong the feeble knees. And pains, he says, upon every loin. We have already said above that sexual union is signified by the loin, and that all the works which pertain to intercourse are shown by the name of the kidneys. Great, therefore, will be the pains in the kidneys at the consummation, because all the strength of the dragon is in the loins; and in return for all these things on account of which there came before the shaking out, the shaking out again, the boiling up, and the breaking of heart, the loosening of knees, the pains of the kidneys, the face of all will be like the scorching of a pot, so that it is either close to fire and burning, or, losing the sheen of oil, grows black like coals and is covered with eternal confusion, from which the saint is far removed when he says: The light of your countenance, O Lord, is sealed upon us. For with unveiled face he beholds the glory of God. And I think that, just as other is the glory of the sun, other of the moon, other of the stars, and star differs from star in brightness, so in the resurrection of the dead there will be a great distance both of brightness among the saints and of blackness among the sinners.

But since according to ἀναγωγὴν (anagogy), both in Jonah and in this prophet, we have interpreted Nineveh as this world, and according to John: The whole world is set in the evil one, when the world, the dwelling of beasts and the place in which lions used to pasture, has passed away, then in wonder and exultation we shall say: Where is the dwelling of the lions and the pasture of the lions' whelps, to which the lion went, the devil, of whom Peter also speaks: Your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour, and the lion's whelp, the antichrist, and all perverse teachings, the contrary word? You have heard, says John, that antichrist is coming; but now there are many antichrists; for there are as many antichrists as there are false dogmas. And before the coming of Christ there was none to frighten them; but after our Lord came into the world and entered Nineveh, he saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning, and Lucifer, who rose in the morning, fell from heaven. For the true Samson came to the Philistines, and while he was going to Timnah, which means its consummation, to take to wife the poor little Delilah from the Gentiles, he killed the lion to which its consummation had come, and when it was dead he ate the honey of sweetness. But the true David too, keeping his father's sheep, seized the lion and killed it; and Benaiah, which means the Lord a builder, went down into the pit of this age, which is wont to cool hot waters, and killed the lion. And in the vision of Isaiah which is seen against the four-footed beasts, it is first said of the distress of these beasts: In tribulation and distress the lion and the lion's whelp.

Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the pasture of the lions' whelps, to which the lion went, that the lion's whelp might enter there, and there is none to frighten them? The lion took enough for his whelps, and killed for his lionesses; and he filled his caves with prey, and his den with plunder. For caves and lionesses the Seventy translated nests and whelps; in the rest the sense is the same. But this is still said of Nineveh: that it was the dwelling of kings and the court of nobles, to which the lion went, the Babylonian king, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, and the lion's whelp, that is, his under-kings as well, and there was none to resist them. The lion took enough for his whelps, and killed for his lionesses. That is to say, this same Nebuchadnezzar possessed everything by the right of victory, and handed over the captives into slavery to his children and to his cities, or certainly to his wives; and he filled his caves with prey, or, as it is in the Hebrew, his pits, and his den with plunder, filling both his treasuries and his cities with gold, silver, garments and every adornment, so that he might possess what Nineveh had held and Babylon had conquered.

This lion, before he was killed by Christ, took very many as prey for his whelps, and killed for his young lions, his attendants, that is, the demons. Look at the conventicles of the heretics, and you will not have to seek the many taken by the lion. Consider the dead who have left life behind, and you will not call their churches the sheepfold of the shepherd, but the caves of the lion, which he has filled with corpses and the blood of the dead. You have made, says David, darkness, and it became night; in it all the beasts of the forest will pass through. The lions' whelps, to snatch and to seek their food from God. The lion is hard to find by day, but he always prowls in the nights, to snatch from the Church of Christ, so that, according to Habakkuk, he may be sated with choice foods. Finally, Judas was of the sheepfold of Christ, and, snatched by the lion, he was strangled with a noose. And that prophet too, whom the Lord had commanded not to eat bread in that region where the golden calves were, and a lying religion, was struck by a lion because he ate. Jeremiah also speaks of sinners: A lion from the forest struck them, and a wolf destroyed them even to their houses; and a leopard kept watch over their cities. All who go out from them will be taken. In this, note that no one is taken except one who has gone out from the cities of God. In the fourth book of Kingdoms (2 Kings) too, those dwelling in the cities of Samaria and not knowing the judgment of the God of the land were killed by lions, until they learned to worship God, and they were freed from the lions. For this reason, I think, whatever has been taken by beasts is not offered in the sacrifices of God, and the prophet says: What is unclean and taken by a beast has not entered my mouth. The lion, therefore, has been killed, and, false dogmas having been refuted, out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.

Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots even to smoke; and the sword will devour your whelps, and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more. LXX: Behold, I am against you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will burn your multitude in smoke, and the sword will devour your lions, and I will take away your prey from the earth, and your works will be heard no more. O Nineveh, all that has been said you will suffer, and I am its author. I the Lord will burn your chariots even to smoke and consumption, and I will cause all your nobles and under-kings to be devoured by the sword. No longer will you lay waste lands, nor exact tributes, nor will your emissaries be heard throughout the provinces; or else, I will no longer hear the angels who are your governors interceding for you. But these very things are also said to the world, in which is the multitude that goes by the broad and spacious way to death, the multitude which the Lord threatens, once set on fire, to be suffocated by the smoke of its own malice, because of its excessive vanity. The sword also, the word of God, living and sharp and filed on every side, will devour the lions; and he promises, moreover, that he will take away its prey from the earth, so that no one may any longer be taken in Nineveh, and as one merciful he takes away the evil works and suppresses them, so that their voice and sound can be heard no more. Hence he says: And your works will be heard no more.