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I believed that after the defeat of the serpent 40 in the [very] middle, a new generation of echidna would not come to life, and after the death of Scylla, according to the fables of the poets, the dogs of Scylla would no longer rage against me, never ceasing to bark, and, after the defeat of the heretics by the hand of God, even the chosen ones of God would not be tempted if possible; [but] heresy itself does not die when the young ones remain, inheriting their hatred towards us, and taking our image, they do not leave the poison of the old mother and the crafty Ulysses, and only smear their lips with honey and, according to the saying of the Scriptures (Ps. 54:22), made their words softer than oil, and they themselves are arrows, and arrows of fire, which must be reflected and quenched by a shield faith. I said this, daughter Eustochius, so that you would help me, who is working on a prophetic work and fighting heretics, with prayers, and so that the Lord with His mind through my lips would explain the sixth volume of interpretations on Ezekiel, and so that by the grace of the same Spirit, through which what we read in the Scriptures was revealed to the prophets, it would also be revealed to us, who are explaining, so that we could say: I opened my mouth and drew the Spirit (Ps. 119:131). Ezek.XVIII:1–2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Why do you turn a proverb among yourselves into a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the children’s teeth were set on edge?” LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, what is this parable of the children of Israel, saying, “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the children’s teeth were set on edge?” What they said LXX: son of man is not in the Hebrew. The Divine Scripture teaches that what is said in Exodus: I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, give away the sins of the father to the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and show mercy in thousands to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:5-6), and again: the Lord came down in the cloud, and stood near Moses and called Moses’ name The Lord, and the Lord stood before him and called to him, saying: The Lord God is generous, and merciful, long-suffering, and abounding in mercy, and true, and keeping righteousness, and mercy in the thousands, taking away iniquities, and untruths and sins, and from the iniquities of the fathers He will not cleanse the children and children of children to the third and fourth generation (Ex. 34:5-7), so it should be understood, as if it were a saying and a parable, so that one thing is expressed in words and another is contained in thoughts, which we also said above in the parable of the two eagles. Therefore, the Lord says in Psalm 77: I will open My mouth in parables, I will proclaim the decrees from the beginning (Ps. 77:2). And in the Gospel the parable of the seed and the tares and of the mustard plant, [the seed] of which, although smaller than all seeds, nevertheless grows into a large tree (Matthew 13:32), He suggests that it represents one thing in words, and concludes another in thoughts. And until now we thought that the two testimonies from the Exodus that we presented above did not constitute a parable, but expressed a simple thought. And although we would not dare to say anything and, being an earthen vessel, to speak against the potter, why did You make me this way or that, yet we quietly allowed temptation due to the fact that it could seem like the injustice of God that one sins and another bears the punishment for sins. For if He repays the sins of the fathers to the children to the third and fourth generation, then it seems unjust that one sins and the other is punished. But through what follows: to those who hate Me, the temptation regarding the threat or command is eliminated. For they are not punished to the third and fourth generation because their fathers sinned, although rather the fathers who sinned should have been punished, but because they imitated their fathers and hated God because of inherited evil and that wickedness passed from the root to the branches. Usually heretics who do not accept the Old Testament speak about this passage against the Creator: how can the God of the Law and the Prophets be good and just, who, remaining calm and silent regarding the sins of the fathers, rewards [for them] those who have not sinned - rather, on the contrary, what cruelty is in Him, that He extends His wrath to the third and fourth generation! We will answer them that the goodness of God the Creator is manifested in this too. For it is not a characteristic of cruelty and severity that He withholds anger to the third and fourth kind, but a sign of mercy that He delays the punishment for sin. For when he says: The Lord God is generous and merciful, long-suffering and abounding in mercy, and adding: the father remits iniquity to his children and his children, indicates that He is so merciful that He does not immediately punish, but delays the determination of punishment. If the punishment of sinners is delayed until the third and fourth generation, then what more does He do to the righteous and saints? [Concerning this] it follows further: keep righteousness and mercy to many thousands to those who keep His commandments and keep His commandments. In Proverbs it is written: like a grape of sourness, it hurts the tooth and the smoke of the eye, so do those who commit lawlessness (Prov. 10:26). From this it is clear that it is not others who have toothache and are set on edge, but those who have eaten sour grapes. The meaning of this passage is as follows: just as if someone said: the fathers ate sour grapes, and the children had teeth set on edge, then it would be strange and would have no consistency: it is so unfair and incongruous with anything that the fathers sin, and the children and grandchildren suffer. Some of what is written in Exodus: “Take away the sins of the father for children up to the third and fourth generation” explain this in such a way that they attribute [this] definition to the human soul, saying that for us a father is the slightest disturbance of feelings (levem punctum sensuum) and sinful excitement, and a son - if sin arises in thought, grandchildren - if you carry out what was conceived and conceived in practice, and a great-grandson, that is, the fourth generation - if you not only do that which is evil and criminal, but you will also boast of your atrocities in accordance with what is written: when the wicked comes into the depths of evil, he is negligent (Prov. 18:3). So, God never punishes the first and second excitements of thoughts, which the Greeks call προπαθείαι, and from which no person can be free; otherwise he [punishes] if someone decides to fulfill his plan or does not want to correct what he has done through repentance. Therefore it is written: “No man is without sin, even for one day of his life. The years of his life are numberable” (Job 14:4–5). And in another place: who can boast of having a pure heart (Prov. 20:9)? And one more thing: the stars are also unclean before Him, and in His angels He carefully sees what He sees (Job 4:18; 25:5). If this high nature is not alien to sin, then what should be said about people who, clothed with mortal flesh, must speak to the apostle: I am a wretched man: who can deliver me from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24)? and who, having fulfilled everything, must say: we are servants without keys: as if we should create without creating, we will create (Luke 17:10), and: unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain: unless the Lord preserves the city, it will be built in vain (Ps. 127:1-2). To prove that it is not the first impulse of a thought, or, better yet, not a weak excitation of a thought that is punished by God, but only if what has arisen in a thought is carried out in practice, this [evidence] should be cited from Genesis: Ham sinned by mocking his father’s nakedness, but it was not the mocker himself who was punished, but his son Canaan: cursed, he says, is Canaan; He will be a servant to his brothers (Gen. 9:25). For what justice is there in the fact that the father has sinned and judgment is pronounced on the son? Also, in that the apostle leads in the opposite direction, (namely) - that the wife is saved if her daughters continue in faith, holiness and chastity (1 Tim. 2), it seems unfair that the parents will be saved if the children and grandchildren are virtuous. For how many holy parents are there who have bad sons, and vice versa, how many sinner parents are there who give birth to righteous and holy children! Thus, everything that we said above should be understood in the sense that the sins of parents and those giving birth are punished in the branches, and not in the root. Regarding the proverb or parable, for now it will be enough to say that the law and the prophets, that is, Exodus and Ezekiel, or, better, God Himself, who spoke here and there, do not at all seem to contradict in their decisions or correct in one place what he said incorrectly in another. If anyone can find a better or different meaning that would eliminate the seductiveness of these evidences, as if mutually contradictory, then it is better to agree with his opinion. Ezek.XVIII:3–4. As I live, says the Lord, this proverb will no longer be a proverb among you in Israel. All souls are Mine, both the soul of a father and the soul of a son are Mine. The soul that sins will die. LXX. As I live, says the Lord Adonai, they will no longer speak this parable in Israel; for all souls are Mine. As the soul of a father, so the soul of a son is Mine. The soul that sins will die. What does it mean: I live, says the Lord, and a parable or a saying, we talked about this in detail above: it will not be spoken in Israel, but among those who do not have knowledge of God and cannot discern the truth. All souls, he says, are mine, according to creation, and not according to merit, as Moses was called the man of God, about whom it is written: “the prayer of Moses, the man of God” (Deut. 33), and Elijah, who said to the commander of fifty soldiers: if I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven on you and on fifty men (2 Kings 1:12). But a man of sin and a son of iniquity is not called a man of God, just as those are called slaves and servants of God about whom it cannot be said: everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34). And one more thing: for if anyone is overcome, he also has work to do (2 Pet. 2:19). Just as the sins of children do not harm the fathers, so the sins of the fathers do not affect the children, but the soul that sins will die - not through the destruction of the being, but as a result of [cessation of] communication with Him who says: I am life (John 14:6). And in another place he says: everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die (Jn. 11:26), and: Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death forever (John 8:51). For our life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), since we will live when Christ, our life, appears in glory, and what is written is fulfilled: Amen, amen, I say to you, that if you listen to My word and believe in him who sent Me, you will have eternal life, and will not come into judgment, but will pass from death to life (John 5:24). And what Balaam says: let my soul die among the souls of the righteous (Num. 23:10), has the meaning that he wants to die to the world and sin and live with the souls of the righteous, whose life is Christ and who can sing: I will please the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. 114:9). For He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living (Matthew 22:32). And if Balaam, as is likely, means vain people when translated into our language, then it is obvious that the formerly vain pagan people desire to have communication with the souls of the righteous, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are called εὐθεῖς, that is, right and righteous. Therefore, the book of Genesis received its name from their name 41. Ezek. XVIII:5–9. And if the husband is righteous and does justice and righteousness, does not eat on the mountains and does not turn his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife and does not approach his wife during the cleansing of her uncleanness, and does not upset a person, returns the deposit to the debtor, does not steal anything by force, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, does not give in interest and does not receive more, from he turns away his hand from unrighteousness, he executes justice between man and man, he walks in My commandments and keeps My statutes, to fulfill the truth: then he is righteous, he will live in life, says the Lord God. LXX: But a man who is righteous, who does justice and righteousness, does not eat on the mountains, and does not turn his eyes to the thoughts of the house of Israel, and does not defile his neighbor’s wife, and does not approach his wife when blood flows, and does not oppress a person, returns the deposit to the debtor and does not steal through theft, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, and does not give away his money to growth, and receives no more, turns away his hand from unrighteousness, carries out fair judgment between man and his neighbor, walks according to My commandments and keeps My excuses to fulfill them: this one is righteous, he will live life, says the Lord Adonai. If you want to know that what was said: I will punish the father for sins until the third and fourth generation (Ex. 20:6) does not mean what many think, and does not correspond to this opinion: the fathers ate sour grapes, and the children had teeth on edge: then listen to what I add: if the father is righteous, who does this, but does not do that, and if he has a very bad son, who, having abandoned the virtues of his father, betrayed vices: then won’t he live life because he is righteous, and won’t he die by death because he did everything through the avoidance of which the father became righteous? Let's look at the list of father's virtues, which, it seems to me, are divided into seventeen parts. Of these, the first is that he creates judgment; the second, similar to this one, connects truth with judgment; third: does not eat on the mountains; fourth: does not turn his eyes to idols or, as the LXX translated, to the thoughts of the house of Israel; fifth: he does not defile his neighbor’s wife; sixth: avoids the embrace of the wife during the cleansing of her uncleanness; seventh: does not upset a person or, as LXX published from afar, does not oppress by force, eighth: returns the pledge to the debtor; ninth: he does not steal anything by force or, according to the Seventy, does not steal anything through theft; tenth: he gives his bread to the hungry; eleventh: covers the naked with clothing; twelfth: does not give money on interest; thirteenth: does not receive anything more than what he gave; fourteenth: He turns away his hand from unrighteousness; the fifteenth, similar to the first, but differing in particular: it carries out correct judgment between man and man; sixteenth: walks according to the commandments of the Lord; seventeenth; keeps His decrees and justifications. What each of them means in particular, we will talk about this further. If the husband is righteous and does justice. In Proverbs it is written: the thoughts of the righteous are destined (Prov. 12:5). He who possesses this virtue, so that he does nothing without reasoning and without discussion, can say this prophetic [saying]: the destinies of the Lord are true, justified together (Ps. 19:10), and when he judges everything correctly, without showing partiality in judgment to the poor, he will fulfill the commandment of the Lord: “You will judge the younger and the older alike” (Proverbs 18), boldly saying: love my soul to desire Your destiny at all times (Ps. 119:20), and also: I have chosen the path of truth, and I have not forgotten Your destiny (Ps. 119:30), and in the same psalm: I understood that Your destiny is true (or righteous) (Ps. 119:75), and will achieve such bliss that I will understand the judgments of the Lord, which constitute the great depth, and will say with the apostle: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and understanding of God! for His judgment has not been tried and His ways have not been searched (Rom. 11:33), and in prayer He will say: for Your destiny is good (Ps. 119:39). After judgment follows righteousness, the possessor of which will undoubtedly have Christ, who, according to the Apostle, was unto us righteousness, sanctification, and deliverance (1 Cor. 1:30), to do true righteousness and not show partiality in court, but to be able to judge others in court by one’s own righteousness. The third is not eating on the mountains, which, according to the Jews, refers to the sin of idolatry. For we often read in the books of Kings and Chronicles: “Do not destroy only the high ones: yet people eat the fat and the crow on the high ones (1 Kings 22:43; 2 Chronicles 30:14, etc.), which Scripture indicates that on the mountains and in the groves they slaughtered sacrifices to idols and burned incense. We will say that he eats on the mountains who speaks to the Pharisee: God, I give you praise, for I am not like this publican: I fast twice on Saturday, I give tithes of everything, as much as I can get (Luke 18:11), and so on. The publican, on the contrary, heeding the One who said: learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), struck his chest with his hand, that is, the repository of evil thoughts, and did not dare to raise his eyes to heaven. But also what is said in another place: do not seek for yourself the things that are on high, and do not try the strong things for yourself (Sir. 3:21), denounces heretics for the fact that they all eat on the mountains of pride, and despise church simplicity and do not know what is written about them: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). In fourth place is placed: and does not turn his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, instead of which LXX translated his thoughts. Idols, that is, idols invented from their hearts, are made and their heartfelt eyes are turned to them by all heretics who recognize their lies and deceit as the truth. The idols of the house of Israel are those who are in the Church and, through false knowledge, deceive all the simple-minded, in order to introduce the teachings of philosophers into the house of Israel, that is, those who contemplate God with their minds. In fifth place is placed: and he does not disgrace or defile his neighbor’s wife, which clearly prohibits adultery; but in the addition: his neighbor, if every person were not meant by neighbor, then, apparently, we would be commanded to abstain from the wives of friends, and we could freely desecrate the wives of enemies and strangers to us. Thus, by a person’s neighbor we should understand every person in accordance with the parable proposed by the Savior about a certain man who, coming from Jerusalem, was wounded by robbers: when the Pharisee asks: who was his neighbor, then [the Savior] teaches him that the neighbor is the one who showed mercy. In a mysterious sense, one can understand by the wife of a holy husband wisdom, as Solomon says: love her, and you will have it; desire her, and he will keep you (Wis. 4:6). He wants to desecrate it who reviles the blessings of others and, fueled by the passion (facibus) of hatred, disgraces the holy, corrupts the chaste, defiles the pure. Sixth: neither does one approach a woman or a wife during the cleansing of her impurities. Every month the sick and weak bodies of women are relieved through the outpouring of unclean blood. If at this time the husband unites with his wife, then, as they say, the conceived fruits receive a spoiled seed, so that from this conception lepers and those with elephantiasis are born (elephantiaci) and, due to purulent blood, ugly monsters of both sexes with small (or ugly) or unusually large members are born. Thus, husbands are commanded not only in relation to other people's wives, but also in relation to their own, with whom they apparently legally enter into marital union, as the Scripture says: grow and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28), know a certain time for union, when to unite, when to separate from their wives. This is exactly what the apostle and Ecclesiastes express: a time to embrace and a time to depart from embrace (Eccl. 3:5). So let the wife, as a result of the desire for union, beware of seducing her husband, and the husband of raping his wife, believing that at all times she must necessarily give him conjugal pleasure. Therefore, Paul says: lead your vessel to acquire holiness and honor (1 Thess. 4:4). It is beautifully said in the sayings of the Pythogorean Xystus: “He who loves his wife too dearly is an adulterer.” Someone, translating this book into Latin, wanted to decorate it with the name of the martyr Xistus, not taking into account the fact that in the entire book, which he divided into two parts, he was completely silent about the name of Christ and the apostles. And it is not surprising that he converted the pagan philosopher into a martyr and bishop of the city of Rome, when he also mixed the first book of Eusebius of Caesarea in defense of Origen with the name of the martyr Pamphilus, so that through such a praiser it would be easier to win the Romans over to the extremely wicked books of περὶ ἀπχῶν. Then follows in seventh place: and did not upset a person or, as LXX translated, did not oppress by force. I don’t know [anyone] who would be alien to this vice and sin. For the Egyptians also oppressed the Jews by force. Therefore, Habakkuk complains that the wicked oppresses the righteous (Hab. 1:4). And, oh, if only this were said about external ones, and not about internal ones! For even the heads of churches usually oppress the people through arrogance, about whom it is written: if you have appointed an elder, you will not be exalted, but be in them as one of them (Sir. 32:1). And the Savior commanded: whoever wants to be first in you, let him be the least (or last) of all (Matthew 20:27). And what is said in the Hebrew [text]: and did not grieve a man, this is in accordance with the apostolic testimony: do not grieve the Holy Spirit who lives in you (Eph. 4:30). And in the Gospel of the Hebrews, which the Nazarenes usually read, it is stated as the greatest crime if anyone grieves the spirit of his brother. If the grief of another kills the one who grieves, then what should be said about untruth and tyrannical inclinations, to which does this [saying] correspond: Why is the earth and ashes proud (Sir. 10:9)? And how, having forgotten about his position and being full of phlegm, bile and uncleanness, and having to be eaten away by worms in a few days, he places his mouth on the sky, and his tongue passes over the earth, and speaks with the true Nebuchadnezzar: I will ascend to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will be like the Most High (Is. 14:13-14). Eighth: the pledge is given to the debtor, not to every debtor - otherwise, for many, the possibility of receiving the pledges back would be a means of enrichment, but for such a debtor, about whom the law says that he is poor and has pawned his clothes, but before sunset he must receive the clothes back (Deut. 24:13), so that he, tormented by the cold, does not cry out to the Lord, the avenger of what was done to him. injustice. If, in accordance with what follows, we must give bread to the hungry and cover the naked with clothing, then how much more [should we] return ours, if, however, his poverty is undoubted? We can also return the pledge to the debtor when we return his pledge to the one with whom we are united by love and who owes us mutual love, without retaining anything else from his debt. Tenth place: does not steal anything by force or, according to the Seventy, does not steal anything through theft. Regarding kidnappers, the apostle says that one should not eat with other sinners, because all theft is combined with violence (1 Cor. 6:10). For if force is not used, then abduction does not succeed. But there is also a holy effort and a desired abduction, about which the Gospel writes: from the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven has been in need, and the needy have taken it away (Matthew 11:12). Jude, the brother of Jacob, says about this: “Those who are on trial have mercy on those who are on trial, have mercy” (Jude 23). And vice versa, opposing forces rush to steal the prey to the death of those who are kidnapped. Jacob also points to this, saying: the beast devours him, the beast ravishes Joseph (Gen. 37:33). Therefore, those sheep of the Lord who follow Him are not snatched out of His hands. And He Himself says: My Father, who gave to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch away from the hand of my Father (John 10:29). From this it is clear that there is one power, strength and being of the Father and the Son. For if from the hand of the Son no one can steal what the Father has given, and the same is in the hand of the Father, which is not stolen by anyone, then this clearly shows that everything is common between the Father and the Son and that the Father holds in the hand of the Son, just as the hand of the Father holds what belongs to the Son. Tenth: he gives his bread to the hungry. Through this we learn that alms should be given not to the well-fed, but to the hungry, and that bread should be given not to those who belch from satiety, but to those who suffer from exhaustion. Bread contains all food. And with special force it is said that we should not use bread for alms, acquired through theft and interest and in other evil ways; for the deliverance of a man's soul is wealth to him (Prov. 13:8). We see many doing this - clients, and poor people and farmers, not to mention the violence of the military and judges who oppress by force or commit theft in order to give a little of a lot to the poor and boast of their crimes. And publicly in the Churches the deacon proclaims the names of those making offerings: “she sacrifices so much, he promised so much,” and they find pleasure in the applause of the people, although their conscience torments them. We give the unfortunate a reason to rejoice over what they give, and to grieve over what they steal. But it is better to understand by the bread of the righteous that [bread] that says: I am the living bread that came down from heaven (John 6:51) and for the giving of which we pray in prayer: give us our daily bread or that which is to come (Matthew 6:11), so that in the present century we may be worthy to receive daily that [bread] that we will subsequently constantly receive. This bread is given by the righteous to the hungry, about whom it is written: blessed are they that hunger and thirst (Matthew 5:6). For whoever is righteous makes his own the common bread of all, which was lacking in Judea according to the words of the prophet: I will erase their foundation or stem of bread (Ezek. 5:16). What we are talking about - if, however, we are Christ's - or, rather, what the prophet is talking about, is the bread of the believers and the hungry. It will not be given at all to those who ate and drank, and were filled, and became fat and stubborn, and about whom it is said: Woe to you who are filled now, for you are hungry (Luke 6:25), lest they vomit it, according to Solomon: for they will vomit and defile your good words (Proverbs 23:8). This is what the Savior says in other words: Do not let the holy thing be a dog, neither cast your pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). The eleventh place is occupied by: and covered the naked with clothing, which speech, according to the interpretation of the previous verse, should be explained in two ways: so that we would give clothing to those who did not have it, as the Savior says: naked, and clothed Me (Matthew 25:36), and give to those who did not have faith and virtues the clothing of Christ, about which it is written: for those who were baptized into Christ were baptized into Christ. put on your clothes (Gal. 3:27). This garment did not belong to the one who, not having the wedding garment, was removed from the feast. The Lord speaks about this nakedness to Jerusalem: but you were naked and full of shame (Ezek. 16:7). Twelfth place is occupied by: and he did not give on interest, or, as LXX translated: he did not give his money on interest. In Hebrew, any type of growth is prohibited, but according to the Seventy only monetary growth. Therefore, in Psalm 14 it is said: “Thou shalt not give thy money for interest” (Ps. 14:5) and in the same way it says: “Thou shalt not give to thy brother for interest, but give to a stranger at interest” (Deut. 23:19-20). Ezekiel: I didn’t lend my money on interest. The Gospel represents a further exaltation of virtue, since the Lord commanded: give in return, asking for nothing (Luke 6:35). In the fourteenth place it follows: and you received no more. Some people believe that growth is only monetary. Having provided this, the divine Scripture abolishes all kinds of excess (superabundantia), so that you do not receive more than what you have given. They usually demand growth in the fields or, as the word of God calls it, surplus (abundantiae) from wheat and millet, wine and oil, etc.; for example, if in winter we give ten modii 42, and during the harvest we receive fifteen, that is, one half more. Whoever considers himself to be the most just receives one-fourth more, and they usually say to justify this: I gave one modius, which, after sowing, gave ten modiuses. Is it not fair that I, in addition to my own, should still receive powers when he, thanks to my generosity, has nine and a half of what I gave? Do not be flattered, says the apostle, God cannot be mocked. (Gal. 6:7). Let this merciful moneylender answer us briefly: did he give to the one who has, or to the one who has not? If he had, then, of course, he should not have given, but gave as if he had not. But in this case, why does he demand more, as from a propertied person? Others, instead of monetary growth, usually receive various kinds of gifts, and do not understand that everything is called growth and usury, no matter what, if it turns out beyond what was given. Fourteenth degree: from untruth, he says, he turned away his hand in order to avoid untruth in every matter. For unrighteousness is committed not only with the hand, but also with other members, as Solomon says: put away unrighteous lips far from You (Prov. 4:24). and in the Psalms: untruth to the height of the verb (Ps. 72:8). Also, the foot is directed towards unrighteousness and the eye, if he looks with lust at another man’s wife and does not imitate the one about whom it is said: “Thou shalt not commit iniquity, for flattery will be found in His mouth” (Isa. 53:9). Therefore, we are commanded to make friends with unrighteous wealth, so that they will receive you into eternal abodes (Luke 16:9). The fifteenth is this: the right judgment was carried out between a person and a person or his neighbor. This, apparently, has the same meaning as the first, where it is written: if he is righteous and does justice, but with the addition of the correctness of the court carried out between a person and a person or his neighbor, from which it is clear that he has ἐπιτασιν (highest degree) of virtues. Therefore, at the beginning of Proverbs, after many commandments, the correction of judgment is added. Know, he says, wisdom and punishment, and understand the words of wisdom, accept the developments of words, understand the true truth and correct the judgment (Prov. 1: 2-3). Therefore, the Apostle (1 Cor. 6) denounces those who are in the Church for the fact that they are judged among themselves, but the lowest and despised one is chosen, who, according to the Gospel, is the first to judge man with man, and who has destroyed what is characteristic of a child, and has achieved a perfect man, and, however, needs higher understanding in order to achieve true judgment. This is followed in the sixteenth place: he walks according to My commandments, and in the seventeenth: he keeps My statutes and My justifications, in order to fulfill them and keep what he has done. Both can have a variety of meanings if we want to reveal all the provisions of the law, which are said to contain the commandments of the Lord and justifications. The one hundred and eighteenth psalm is full of decrees and justifications and partly the eighteenth, in which it is written: the justifications of the Lord are right, gladdening the hearts (Ps. 18:9). At the same time, the question arises: how did God say to this same prophet: if I give them excuses that are not good, they will not live in them (Ezek. 20:25). The answer is easy and will be given more fully later: Jews do not live because they follow the letter that kills, but Christians live because they understand the life-giving spirit. It would take a long time if we wanted to prove with evidence where the commandments of the Lord are spoken of, and where about justifications, and what disagreements or misunderstandings obscure both. Therefore, in the present place it is added: this one is righteous, he will live life, says the Lord God. Whoever does this and does not do that will not be punished for the sins of his father, but will live through his virtues. Ezek.XVIII:10–13. But if a son is born to him, a thief who sheds blood, who does any of these things (or, as the LXX translated: and commits sins: he will not walk in the way of his righteous father), and does not do all this, but eats on the mountains, and defiles his neighbor’s wife, grieves the needy and the poor (or oppresses), steals through violence, does not return the pledge, and turns his eyes to idols, commits abomination, gives in stature and receives more: will he live! Since he does all these abominations, he will die; his blood will be on him. Instead of the robber in the Hebrew it is written pharis, which Aquila in the second edition translated sinner, Symmachus the criminal, LXX and Theodotion the infector (pestilens). Just as infection produces disease and usually causes devastation everywhere in the countries in which it is found, so the infectious person devastates everything. But first, let’s say in relation to historical understanding, so that you know that the iniquities of the fathers do not extend to the children. If a righteous person does what is described in order in the previous speech, then he will live life. But if he gives birth to a son who retreats from serving the Lord and changes his father’s virtues to vices, doing what he did not do, and not doing what he did, then can he really live? Of course, he will not live, but [he] will be guilty of his own blood. Then, in a spiritual sense, if a member of the Church preaches the gospel faith, and his son or disciple is deceived by heretical error, then he will be called an infector. It is written about him in Psalm 1: neither does infection sit on the seat (Ps. 1:1). Also in Proverbs, the arrogant, insolent and proud are called a pestilent. He shed the blood of the deceived and aggravates all sins in himself, eating on the mountains of arrogance and desecrating the church of his neighbor, grieving, oppressing and causing stumbling blocks for those who are in need and poor in the knowledge of the Scriptures, forcibly abducting those whom he separated from the Church, not returning the pledge received from the teacher to fulfill what is written, thou hast taken, thou hast given (Matt. 10:8), and turning his eyes to idols and graven images made up out of his own heart, and doing all abominations, and giving money at interest to increase the error of the teacher through the efforts of the disciples, and demanding from those to whom he gave more than what he gave: of course, he cannot live, but will die in his blood. Ezek.XVIII:14–18. But if a son is born to him, who, having seen all the sins of his father, which he committed, will be afraid and will not do likewise (Vulgate: the like of them), will not eat on the mountains, and will not turn his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and will not defile his neighbor’s wife, and will not grieve a man, will not withhold a pledge, and will not steal spoils, and will not steal his spoil, but will give his bread to the hungry and cover the naked with clothing, for offense. the poor man will turn away his hand, he will not receive growth or interest, but he will fulfill My statutes and walk according to My commandments: then this one will not die for the iniquity of his father, but will live life. His father, who slandered and abused his brother and did evil among his people: this one died for his iniquity. Do not be surprised, he says, if the son of a righteous man, having turned to vices and sins, dies, while, on the contrary, the son of a sinner and wicked man, seeing the corruption of his father’s ways and turning not to do evil, but to do good, is not made guilty of his father’s atrocities. This can be understood in relation to us, to whom it is said in the Psalms: hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people, and your father’s house, and the King will desire your kindness (Ps. 45:11-12), and who were born from the generation of the pagans, to leave the crimes of their fathers, and to do justice and righteousness and to live by it. Thus, he repeats what we said in detail above. So we skim through everything, wanting to move on to something darker and newer. Eze.XVIII:19-20 And you say: why did not the son bear [guilt] for the iniquity of his father? It is precisely because the son did justice and righteousness, kept all My commandments and fulfilled them, that he will live life. The soul that sins will die. The son will not bear [guilt] for the iniquity of the father, and the father will not bear [guilt] for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous will be with him and the wickedness of the wicked will be with him. It addresses an issue that listeners might have been confronted with. You, he says, are in the habit of saying: why did the righteous son not bear [guilt] for his father’s iniquity? To this he replies: precisely because the son did good deeds and did not commit the misdeeds of his father. And justice demands that, just as a sinner dies for his crime, so a righteous man lives for his virtues, and that the soul that sinned dies, but the soul that keeps God’s commandments lives. Ezek.XVIII:21–22. But if the wicked repents of all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all My commandments and does justice and righteousness; then he will live life and not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he committed. So much so, he says, that the sins of the fathers do not extend to the children, and the crime of the father does not outweigh the righteousness of the son, and some are not punished for the crimes of others, that even the one who was formerly a wicked and sinner, if he later repents and, having corrected himself, makes amends for his former sins, will not be judged for old sins, but will be accepted into My flock for new virtues. But at the same time, you need to pay attention to what kind of repentant wicked and sinner He accepts. If, he says, he turns from all his sins that he committed and keeps all the commandments of the Lord, in order, of course, to abandon all crimes and follow all virtues, if he does all good and forsakes all bad: then I will forget about all his iniquities that he committed. By his righteousness, which he committed, he will live. He will live not so much by Mine as by his own truth, although My justice tends to render good to the good and bad to the bad. Eze.XVIII:23 Do I want the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live? So, the Lord wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Wherever the severity and severity of the definition is noticed, condemnation falls not on people, but on sins. Ezek.XVIII:24. But if the righteous man departs from his righteousness and commits iniquity, like all the abominations that the wicked are wont to do; then will he live? All his righteous deeds that he did will not be remembered. For his apostasy, which he committed, and for the sin of which he is sinful, he will die in them. Just as a righteous person who was previously a sinner is not helped by his previous sins, so a sinner who was previously righteous is not helped by his previous righteous deeds. For whatever condition everyone is in, he will be judged accordingly. Ezek.XVIII:25. And you said: “The way of the Lord is not right.” Listen, O house of Israel: Is my way wrong? Are your ways no longer wrong? Gives reasons why the Lord's decision is right. Do you consider Me, He says, wrong because I repay the sins of the fathers to the children and that some eat sour grapes, while others have set teeth on edge? Behold, everyone dies through his sin and returns to life through his righteousness; in both cases (sometimes we are judged) not for the past, but for the present. But your decision is unfair, since you do not recognize the parable as a parable and understand it as if it were taken from reality, so that some are punished for the atrocities of others. Ezek.XVIII:26. For if a righteous man departs from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. For the iniquity he committed, he will die. This can be understood in this way: the people of Israel, who were previously righteous, apostatized from their righteousness, since they abandoned the Author of righteousness and committed lawlessness by rejecting the Son of God. For the sin and crime he committed, he will die - not for many, but for one thing, for killing the Heir in order to destroy the inheritance. Ezek.XVIII:27–28. And if the wicked man turns away from his wickedness, which he committed, and does justice and righteousness; then he will bring his soul back to life. For when he saw it, he turned away from all his iniquities that he had committed: he will live life and not die. On the contrary, he says, a pagan people, having no knowledge of God and wicked, if they turn away from their wickedness, which they did before, in idolatry, and do what is prescribed to Israel by the law; then he, who was previously dead, will return his soul to life, and seeing that he perished through his iniquities committed by him, he will believe in the One who says: I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6): he will live life and will not die. Ezek.XVIII:29. But the children of Israel say, “The way of the Lord is not right.” Are my ways wrong, O house of Israel? Are your ways no longer wrong? To this day, Israel blasphemes God because He abandoned His people and accepted the Gentiles. The Lord convicts them that their ways are wrong, but the Lord’s decision to send other winemakers into His vineyard when the previous cultivators perished was just. Realizing this in the Gospel parable, the Jews said: Let it not be (Luke 20:16). Ezek.XVIII:30. Therefore I will judge everyone, O house of Israel, according to their ways, says the Lord God, whether those who are judged be from among the Gentiles or from the people of Israel: they are not in the sight of God (Rom. 2:11), but everyone will be crowned for his faith and will be condemned for ungodliness and unbelief. Ezek.XVIII:30–31. Turn and repent of all your iniquities, and iniquity will not be your destruction. Remove from you all your opposition with which you have resisted. This speech is directed specifically to Israel, so that they would repent and leave their iniquities or the resistance with which they persisted against God. But this can also be understood in relation to both people, in the sense that both Israel and the pagans, having forsaken their sins, will turn to the One who can heal the broken. And make yourself a new heart and a new spirit, so that, leaving the old letter, you can live in the new spirit. Israel's new heart means believing in Him whom they previously rejected. The new heart of the pagans means leaving idols and despising the veneration of the dead, believing in Him who is the God of the living. And why should you die, O house of Israel? It is better, as we said above, to understand this exhortation, in which it is written, turn and bring repentance, regarding the Jews, whose death He does not want and to whom He now says: why should you die, O house of Israel, which you have as fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, about whom it is written: God of the living, not God of the dead (Mark 12:27). Why should you die through your own fault, who should live for the merits of your fathers and by My mercy? Ezek.XVIII:32. For I do not want the death of the dying (or sinner), says the Lord God: turn and live. I do not want to say that you, whom I gave birth to salvation, should die. For they gave birth to sons and raised them up, but they rejected Me (Isa. 1:2). So, turn and live. It is said to turn only to those who were previously with God, but subsequently left communication with Him. And live through repentance, those who became dead through sin. Thus, Israel that does not return to its former state must be considered dead. Ezek.XIX:1–9. And you raise a cry for the princes of Israel and say: why did your mother, the lioness, sleep among the lions? She nursed her cubs among the young lions. And she brought out one of her lion cubs; he became a lion and learned to catch prey and eat man. And the nations heard about him, and, not without hurting themselves, they caught him and brought him in chains to the land of Egypt. When she saw that she was weak and her hope was lost, she took one of her lion cubs and made him a lion. He walked among the lions and became a lion, learned to catch prey and devour people; He learned to make widows and to lay waste their cities, and the earth and everything in it was desolate at the sound of his roaring. And the nations gathered against him from all the regions and spread their net against him; he was caught in the act of wounding them. And they put him in a cage, brought him in chains to the king of Babylon, and took him to prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel. LXX: And you raise a cry for the prince of Israel, and say: why did your mother become a cub among lions? She multiplied her cubs among the lions. And one of her little ones jumped out; he became a lion and learned to steal prey, ate people, and the nations heard about him. And he was taken while harming them, and they brought him in bridle into the land of Egypt. And she saw that he was taken from her, and all that she had perished, and she took another of her cubs, made him a lion, and he turned among the lions, became a lion and learned to steal prey, ate people and grazed with his boldness and devastated their cities and devastated the earth and everything that was on it with the sound of his roar. And the nations from the surrounding countries sent against him, and they spread their nets against him. To their detriment he was caught, and they put a bridle on him, and in a cage he came to the king of Babylon, and they took him to prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel. I am not unaware that I read a lengthy explanation of this passage, confused by such darkness that it did not so much clarify as obscure the reading, since everything written in it refers to opposing forces and describes lions and wars in the heavenly Jerusalem; how one of them was caught and again another was put in his place, and presents many evidences regarding the fact that the devil and his accomplices are usually called lions, as it is from the Apostle Peter: our adversary the devil, like a roaring lion walks, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8), and from the Psalms: do not deliver over to a beast the soul that confesses to You (Ps. 73:19). When he turns to history, he says that Johanan, the son of Kareah, was taken to Egypt, but why he was called a lion when he fled with a few, I cannot know; and the other lion is Zedekiah, who was also taken to Babylon. But we, leaving this kind of interpretation to the will of the readers, will say that, due to the proximity of captivity, the prophet does not so much foretell the future as narrate about the past. For after the sixth year of Zedekiah (since immediately then we read: and it happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month - Ezekiel 20:1) a lamentation arises for the princes or for the prince of Israel and it is said: Why did your mother, a lioness, sleep among the lions? Thus there is a lamentation for the princes, that is, for all those born from the descendants of Josiah. The mother of the princes, Jerusalem, is called the lioness who gave birth to and nursed lion cubs; She brought out one of her lion cubs and made her a lion, which indicates Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, whom Pharaoh Necho took to Egypt and installed Jehoiakim in his place. After his death, Jeconiah his son was made king. was taken with his mother and the noblest persons of the city by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon; from him was born Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel, who received his name from the fact that he was born in Babylon. It is also clear that under the image of a lioness, lion cubs and a lion, and another lion, something is described that at the time in which the prophet wrote this was already accomplished. For after Jerusalem raised Jehoahaz the son of Josiah from the royal family and made him king, he soon turned out to be so cruel that it is said allegorically about him that he caught prey and devoured people. When the Egyptian came to him, he caught him not without wounds or in a pit, as the Hebrew [text] actually says, in order to keep the allegory about catching lions, in which they are usually caught in pits. And he brought him in a bridle or in chains to the land of Egypt, and there he died. When his mother, Jerusalem, who gave birth, nurtured and installed him as king, saw this and the fact that her hope was lost, she took Jeconiah, the son of Joachim, from the other kings, and made her king. Also, he, who imitated the cruelty of his predecessor, is described under the image of a fierce lion, since he devoured people, made many widows, devastated cities, and at the sound of his roar the whole country was horrified, so that the nations gathered to him, and spread their net over him, and caught him in a pit, and put him in a cage and in chains - not because this was the case with Jehoiachin, for he himself gave himself up to the king Babylonian and was sent to Chaldea, but in order to retain the image of a lion, which is caught in pits, entangled in chains and kept in cages. But as for history, we read about Zedekiah, who after Jehoiachin was made king of Jerusalem. Since one reads about chains and cages and is called a prison, this gave reason to many to understand Zedekiah more than Joconiah. But he was kept in prison and was not killed, but only dethroned. About Zedekiah, history says that he was blinded and taken to Babylon and was immediately killed there. Ezek.XIX:10–14. Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the water; its fruits and its branches grew from the abundant waters. And she had strong stems for the scepters of rulers, and her stature became high in the branches. And she saw her height among her many branches, and was torn out in anger and thrown to the ground, and the hot wind dried up her fruit, her strong stems withered and withered, the fire devoured her. And now she is transplanted into the desert, into a land impenetrable and thirsty. And fire came out of the stem of its branches, which consumed its fruit, and there was no strong stem left on it, the scepter of rulers. She is mourned now and [later] she will be mourned. LXX: Your mother is like a vine, like the color of pomegranates, planted by the water. Its fruit and its branches came from abundant water. And it had a strong stem for a generation of leaders, and it rose in majesty among the branches. And she saw her greatness among her many branches, and was broken in anger, thrown to the ground, and the hot wind dried up her chosen ones. They were punished, and its strong stem withered. Fire destroyed it, and now they planted it in the desert, in a waterless land, and fire came out of the stem of its chosen ones and devoured it, and there was no strong stem left on it. [This] tribe serves as a parable for lamentation and will serve as a parable for lamentation. Different expressions say the same thing. And as we read above, the comparison of Jerusalem with a beautiful woman and then with a lioness who nursed lions in her den; so now it is compared to a beautiful vineyard or vine, which is planted near abundant waters, and therefore its branches, saturated with moisture, achieved such greater growth that one branch, which Scripture calls a very strong or very hard stem, became suitable for the scepters of rulers, instead of which the LXX was translated: for a generation of leaders, that is, in order for there to be kings from it. And the vine itself was so beautiful that its blooming greenery is compared to the color of a pomegranate apple, which in Hebrew is expressed: like a vine in your blood, and the redness of the flowers is compared to blood. Since God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6), the raised and straightened vine was torn out in the wrath of the Lord and thrown to the ground in order to retain the image of a beautiful vine in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem. For even if the vine was beautiful, and even if it spread long branches, if you take stakes and stamens, then, having connected with the earth, it dries up from the heat; especially if the hot wind, which the Greeks call καύσωμα, dries up its fruit, so that it withers and is, as it were, burned by a blazing fire. As for what was added by the Seventy: they were punished, instead of which in Hebrew it is written: they withered, then I cannot know what connection this has. But how was a vine so abundant and fertile and so beautiful transplanted into the desert, into a land impenetrable and thirsty? This refers to the land of Babylon, to which they were resettled, or to Egypt, where they fled, or to the land of Judah itself, in which a few poor remained, over whom Gedaliah was the leader, in order to gather the remnant of the people and govern them. But Ismail, from the royal family and from the stem of the branches of the vine, rebelled against him, who killed him in Masfa (or in Masef) and ate all the fruit of the vine, and after that there was no strong stem and scepter of the rulers in this vine. For there was no king left to rule the people, but they fled with Johanan the son of Kareah into Egypt. As a result of this, lamentation and a lamentable parable appear to mourn the royal family, which in Judea ceased until He for Whom the desire of the tongues was set aside comes (Gen. 49:10). From this it is clear that the previous reading, which says: why did your mother, a lioness, rest among the lions, and the one in which it is written: your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the water, refers to Jerusalem, which lost its lions and its branches, and there was no stem left in it, from which there would be a generation or the scepters of rulers. For it begins with crying and ends with crying. Take up lamentation for the princes of Israel, that is, lamentation occurs at the beginning and now at the end; and weeping and lamentable parables must accompany the royal family. Then, what others in a mysterious sense refer to the heavenly Jerusalem, saying that very many fell from it into this vale of tears and ceased to be kings, and the vineyard, which was once the most beautiful, was burned by the scorching wind, so that not a single green branch remained in it, and that Jeremiah subsequently mourns it, under the image of the city, we understand this in relation to the Church, in the sense that in the last time, with the increase iniquity, the love of many will grow cold, so that even God’s chosen ones will be tested, if possible, and her princes will be caught in the snares of the devil, who is not content with catching one king, but daily hastens to catch kings and princes, according to what is written: his chosen foods (Hab. 1:16). Also, the branches of the Church, which formerly were like flowers and the red color of blood, will subsequently be dried up by the wind. This interpretation is also expressed in the parable of the Gospel, according to which what sprang up burned up at sunrise and suddenly withered (Mark 4:6), so that there was almost no branch left from which a stem could grow and be a worthy prince of the people. Amos expresses this in other words: I will send a famine and a thirst on the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of God (Amos 8:11). Therefore, we must weep and weep for the princes of Israel, through whose guilt and pride Judea was devastated and the city of Jerusalem was taken. Eze.XX:1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth [month], on the tenth [day] of the month: the men of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and they sat down before me. Eleven months and five days after the previous vision, the word was again spoken to the prophet, when men from the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat down before him. And that the people of Israel had such a custom that, wanting to know something from the Lord, they inquired through the prophets, this is attested to by many examples. Saul, looking for donkeys, goes to Samuel and received advice from a servant to bring a quarter of a shekel to the prophet (1 Samuel 9:8). When the son of Jeroboam fell ill, his wife was sent to Shiloh to the prophet Ahijah (or Abijah), bringing gifts, loaves and cakes, grapes and a jar of honey, to find out about her son’s illness (1 Kings 14:3). David, being himself a prophet, asks another prophet, Nathan, whether he should build a church for the Lord (2 Sam. 7:5). And Ahab asks whether he will enter Ramoth-gilead or not (1 Kings 22:6). Also in Isaiah (Isaiah 37:21) and in the book of Kings (2 Kings 19:20) it is announced what will happen to Sennacherib. It is not surprising if in the Old Testament the prophets foretell what will happen to whom, when we read that Agabus foretold what would happen to Paul (Acts 21:11). In Deuteronomy it is written: the nations, whom the Lord will destroy before you, will listen to these dreams 43 and sorcery: but the Lord your God has not given this to you (Deut. 18:14). For the pagans tend to turn to the Chaldeans, fortune-tellers, ventriloquists, magicians, soothsayers, and the oracles of demons, who mock their delusion. Therefore, even now the elders of Israel come to the prophet in order to question the Lord through him, and yet they do not talk about questioning, although the one who should be questioned knows what they are asking about, so that it serves as a miracle that he knows why they came and answers what was contained in the unspoken speech that was in their souls. Eze.XX:2–3. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! speak to the elders of Israel, and you will say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live, I will not answer you. The promise is given to the saints and to those who inquire about what should be asked that even at the time when you speak, I will say: Here I am. But to sinners, such as the elders of Israel were, and whose atrocities the prophet further describes, are given not an answer, but reproach for their sins, and He adds an oath: I live so that the decision to refuse will be more firm. And what LXX said: if I answer you, Symmachus translated this more clearly: I will not answer you. Eze.XX:4. If you judge, if you judge them, son of man. LXX: If I take vengeance on them, son of man. They came precisely to question Me, wanting to know about what they doubted and about the future; but you, son of man, judge them, so that there is not the answer of the prophet, but the decision of the judge for the iniquities that they committed and in which they followed the atrocities of their fathers, Or: if I take revenge on them, so the meaning will be the following: they covered themselves with such iniquities that they do not even deserve correction and admonition in accordance with what the prophet says: I will not sit on your daughters and on your brides, when will commit adultery (Hosea 4:14). Therefore, sinners who reach the depths of sin are allowed to fulfill the thoughts of their hearts. Eze.XX:4–5. Show them the abominations of their fathers, and tell them. LXX: Witness to them the iniquities of their fathers, and tell them. If the sins of the fathers do not extend to the children, then why are the abominations and iniquities of the fathers now laid upon the elders? Of course, in order to show that they act like their parents and, due to inherited evil, are dragging along a very long rope of sins, and so that they fear the punishment of those whose vices they imitate. Eze.XX:5–6. Thus saith the Lord God: On the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand for the tribe of the house of Jacob, and revealed myself to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them, saying: I am the Lord your God: on that day I lifted up my hand for them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into the land which I have provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, the most excellent of all lands. LXX: Thus says the Lord God: From the day in which I chose the house of Israel, and became known to the seed of the house of Jacob, and was known by them in the land of Egypt, and received them, saying: I am the Lord your God: on that day I took them with my hand, saying that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into the land that I have prepared for them, into a land flowing with milk and honey: [it is] hundred more than any [other] land. Instead of what was said by the Seventy: this is a hundred more than all lands, instead of which we translated: the most excellent of all lands, Aquila in the first edition put: firmament, in the second: glorious, Symmachus: country, Theodotion: stronghold (fortitudo), in the precise sense that it serves as the foundation of all countries, because in it there is worship of God, and the church, and sacred rites, and the knowledge of God, and, being in Egypt, the people of Israel did not know God so much that Moses, having been sent to them, said: if they ask me: who sent you, that I brought the river to them? Speech, says: He sent me (Ex. 3:13–14). Thus in Egypt He became known to the people and to the seed of the house of Jacob, when He lifted up His hand for them against the Egyptians and said: I am the Lord your God, and have chosen them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey. For they were not yet able to take solid food, but, like children and infants, they needed honey and milk, according to their childhood. And that, according to the literal understanding, the land of Judea is glorious and more fertile than all countries, this cannot be doubted by anyone who surveys the entire land from Rinocurura to Mount Taurus and the Euphrates River and powerful cities and picturesque countries, that is, Palestine and Phenicia, Arabia, Kelesyria, Cilicia and other countries that the Lord promised Israel if he fulfills the commandments of God and which if he did not receive, then the reason for this was his disbelief. For in Palestine itself and the Judean region there remained very many peoples who were not expelled. And the one who did not promise is guilty if the one to whom the promise is made becomes unworthy of the promise, especially since the promiser is offered a choice: if you want and listen to Me, you will destroy the good earth; If you do not want, you will girdle the sword (Isa. 1:19–20). Thus they are elected at the present time, and the one who is not immediately elected may be tempted and perish; for both Saul, chosen to be king, and Judas, [chosen] to be an apostle, subsequently fell through their own fault. The raising or stretching out of a hand indicates the position of the one who strikes - that He will strike the Egyptians for them and free Israel from Egypt. Eze.XX:7. And he said to them: put away every abomination (offensiones) of your eyes and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. LXX: And he said unto them, Let every one put away the abominations of his own eyes, and let him not defile himself with the inventions (inadinuentionibus) of the Egyptians: I am the Lord your God. Instead of abominations, which in Hebrew are called secuse, Symmachus translated: disgusting (nauseas) 44, Aquila in the second edition: rejection (abssissiones), in order to show that it should remove from the eyes those suppurations and that kind of disgusting, which not only prevents looking, but also causes those looking at it to vomit. Also gelule is a Hebrew word, which the LXX translated fabrications, Aquila in the first edition of uncleanness, in the second edition, and also Symmachus and Theodotion idols; We followed them in this case. First of all, he commands them that, when leaving Egypt, they should forget the idols that they had served for a long time, or that they should remove from their eyes what they should not even look at, and no longer rely on what they had been defiling for a long time. I, he says, am the Lord your God, and not the monsters of Egypt and not ugly inventions of various kinds. But we, when we come out of Egypt, are commanded to remove the abominations of our eyes, that is, not to be carried away by what we were previously carried away by [living] in the world, not to be defiled by the idols of Egypt, that is, by the inventions of philosophers and heretics, which are rightly called idols. We must also remove our eyes from the spectacles or, better, from the abominations of Egypt - the arena, the circus, the theater, and everything that defiles the purity of the soul and that through the senses penetrates the soul (ad mentem) and [through which] what is written is fulfilled: death is out through your windows (Jer. 9:21). Eze.XX:8. But they angered Me. LXX: But they retreated from Me or, as Symmachus translated: they did not rely on Me. Having been called, they immediately fall away from God, so that there is no interval between the calling and the falling away. And then it should be noted that only those who were previously with Him depart from God. That is why the dragon in the book of Job is called a rebel, a traitor and an apostate. And they did not want to listen to Me. No one cast off the abominations of his own eyes or forsaken the idols of Egypt. LXX: And they did not want to listen to Me. They did not reject the abominations of the eyes and did not forsake the inventions of the Egyptians. Since, he says, they angered Me and retreated from Me, not wanting to listen to Me when freedom of decision was given to man, and doing everything that they should not have done according to the law, and immediately losing hope of salvation, and murmuring against Moses and not believing in the promises of God: then it follows: And I said that I would pour out My wrath on them and bring My wrath upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt. Immediately, as soon as I commanded them to forsake or reject the abominations of their eyes and not to be defiled by the idols of Egypt, they angered Me and did not want to listen to what I said, but, on the contrary, did what I commanded not to do. Therefore, I decided to pour out My wrath and indignation on them and fulfill My wrath, which I harbored within Myself in Egypt, since they had not yet come out of Egypt. For below (Ezek. 20:10) it follows: therefore I removed them from the land of Egypt and brought them out into the wilderness. From this it is clear that they had not yet been removed from Egypt when He wanted to pour out His indignation and bring His wrath upon them and strike them in the midst of the land of Egypt. Eze.XX:9. But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled before the nations among whom they were and among whom I revealed Myself to them in order to bring them out of the land of Egypt. What I intended to do for the sake of justice, I did not do this because of great mercy, so that My name would not be profaned and so that it would not seem that I could not fulfill what I promised to Israel. Thus, I spared My name so that those nations among whom I became known to them in the land of Egypt would not have a reason to blaspheme. Hitherto the prophet describes what He promised them during their stay in the land of Egypt, and how they immediately angered Him, and what God had in mind against them and, however, did not do. What follows was said after they were removed from Egypt. Eze.XX:10–14. Therefore I removed them from the land of Egypt, and brought them out into the wilderness, and gave them My commandments, and declared to them My statutes, that man might do them, and live through them. I also gave them My Sabbaths, so that there might be a sign between Me and them, and so that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel provoked Me to anger in the wilderness: they did not walk in My commandments, and rejected My statutes, which a man should do and live (Vulgate: by doing which, a man would live) through them, and they profaned My Sabbaths exceedingly (vehementer). Therefore I said that I would pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness and destroy them, but I did it for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled before the nations, from which I removed them before their eyes. This is said to those who were brought out of Egypt into the desert, so that they, having freed themselves from the vices of the Egyptians, would more easily in the desert fulfill the commandments of God and keep His statutes and keep the Sabbaths, which were given as a sign between Him who gave and those to whom they were given, as the Scripture says: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: And you command the sons of Israel, saying: See also My Sabbaths you shall keep: there are For there will be a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. And keep the Sabbath, for this is holy to you: he who defiles it shall die by death. Whoever does work in it, that soul will be required from among his people (Ex. 31:12–14). Thus, the Sabbath and circumcision were given to us as a sign of the true Sabbath and true circumcision, so that we would know that on the perfect and eternal Sabbath we must calm down from worldly affairs and circumcise not the foreskin, but the heart. Therefore, working six days, on the seventh day we remain in peace, so as not to do anything else, day or night, except to know that we owe everything we live to the Lord, and on every seventh day to devote ourselves entirely to His name, so that through the sanctification of the day we remember the Lord who sanctifies us. The Lord gave these commandments and justifications and the observance of the Sabbath in the wilderness, so that by fulfilling them we would live through them, and not move from them to something higher, as promised in the Gospel. But they desecrated them, not just once and not a little, but extremely, which expresses the highest degree (ἐπίτασις) of defilement. So, He spoke and decided in His mind to pour out His wrath on them in the wilderness and destroy them, when He said to Moses: leave Me, and being angry with me, I will consume them (Ex. 32:10). But He did not want to fulfill this, sparing the Egyptians and other nations, so that they would not be tempted, and themselves, whom He had mercy on, awaiting their repentance and conversion. And it should be noted that when He spoke to those in Egypt after [His] anger, He said: I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled before the nations, from whom I removed them 45 before their eyes. For at that time they were still among [them], since they had not yet come out. And now, after they went out, it is said: from whom I removed them before them. Eze.XX:15–17. Therefore I lifted up My hand against them in the wilderness, so as not to bring them out into the land that I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands, because they rejected My statutes and did not walk in My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, for their heart followed idols. But My eye was sorry to destroy them, and I did not destroy them in the wilderness. LXX: And I lifted up My hand against them in the wilderness, that I might not bring them at all into the land which I had given them, into a land flowing with milk and honey—[a] hundred more than all the land—because they rejected My justifications and did not walk in My commandments and profaned My Sabbaths and followed the thoughts of their hearts. But My eye was sorry to destroy them, and I did not completely destroy them (in consumption) in the wilderness. Although I decided to pour out all My wrath on them and destroy and destroy them, I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled among the nations, that is, the Amalekites and others who fought with them in the wilderness, [decided] not to bring them into the land that I promised them, flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands or honeycombs. The reason for the punishment and this decision is that they rejected My statutes and did not walk according to the commandments and desecrated My Sabbaths. And the reason for this reason, that they did not do this, is that their heart followed the idols of Egypt. But, he says, My eye was sorry to destroy, destroy and completely destroy them. This raises the question: how did He spare those whose corpses fell in the wilderness and none of whom, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb the son of Jephun, entered the Promised Land? From this we see that they live and are not reserved for everlasting punishments, nor blotted out from the book of the living, nor perished before the Lord. For if, on the basis of the fact that they were not brought into the Promised Land, we were to recognize them as lost, then Moses, who only saw the Promised Land, but did not enter it, would have perished. The Lord says about him in the book of Jesus: Moses my servant has passed away (Deut. 34:5) and in Malachi: remember the law of Moses my servant (Mal. 4:4) and in Jeremiah, as a friend and very close to Himself, God says about him: if Moses and Samuel stand before Me (Jer. 15:1). It should also be recognized that the prayers of Moses were heard when, interceding for the people, he said: if you forgive them their sin, forgive it; Otherwise, blot me out of your book, you have written me down (Ex. 32:32). And so that we may know that the decision is not made for the destruction of children and servants, but for correction, we must listen to the testimony of the Scriptures. Son, do not be upset by the Lord’s punishment, but weaken when you are reproved by Him. The Lord loves him, punishes him, beats every son, but accepts him (Prov. 3:11-12); and in another place: when I kill, then I will seek Him (Ps. 77:34); and in the song of Deuteronomy: I will kill and make life (Deut. 32:39). By literal understanding, we can also say that He did not destroy or destroy them along with their tribe and offspring, but, having destroyed the fathers, spared the children whom He brought into the Promised Land. Eze.XX:18–20. And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the commandments (or statutes) of your fathers, neither do you keep their statutes, nor be defiled by their idols (or thoughts). I am the Lord your God. Walk according to My commandments and keep My statutes and do them, and keep My Sabbaths holy, so that this may be a sign between Me and you, and so that it may be known (or so that you may know) that I am the Lord your God. After the destruction of the fathers who fell in the desert, He gives commandments to the children, through whose salvation He had mercy on the fathers. And My eye was sorry, he says, to completely destroy and destroy them, but He preserved the fathers through the children, and He testifies to the same thing that He spoke to the fathers - that when they walk in His commandments, and keep His statutes and keep the sanctification of the Sabbath, which is given for a sign, then they will know that He is the Lord their God. The commandments and laws of the fathers and their decrees mean a deep-rooted error: let them not imitate the sins of those whose punishments they see. Eze.XX:21–22. But the sons also provoked Me to grief; they did not walk in My commandments, and did not keep My statutes to do them; which, if a person did, he would live through them; and they profaned My Sabbaths. And I threatened to pour out My wrath upon them, and to execute My wrath upon them in the wilderness. But I turned away My hand and acted for My name's sake, so that it would not be defiled before the nations, from which I removed them before their eyes. But the sons, he says, followed the atrocities of their fathers and did everything that they did, which is why they deserved the same kind of sentence: but as a result of the same great mercy of My, like the fathers, they were delivered [from punishment] and but for the same reasons as the fathers. I had mercy on them and, as one and the same Creator of both, I calmed My wrath as a result of similar long-suffering. We quickly pass through the clear to move on to the darker. Eze.XX:23–26. Again I raised my hand against them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands, because they did not fulfill My statutes, and rejected My commandments, and defiled My Sabbaths, and their eyes were [turned] after the idols (or thoughts) of their fathers. Therefore, I gave them evil commandments and decrees from which they could not live, and I desecrated them through their gifts, when they sacrificed (or spent) everything that opens the womb for their sins (instead of which the LXX translated: so that I would destroy them and what they had abandoned), and they would know that I am the Lord. When in the Old Testament the Lord raised His hand against their sons, who fell in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations, Scripture does not speak about this, but based on what it reports here, one must believe that this really happened. This may also mean that after entering the Promised Land, they, due to many sins, at different times were betrayed to various nations and kings, and at that time the commandments of the Lord, which were essentially good, and the decrees through which believers could live, became not good for them, since during captivity they could not keep the commandments of the law and fulfill what was commanded by the word of God. And he did not say: I gave them bad commandments, but not good. For if something is not good, it does not follow from here that it is bad, just as the apostle teaches that a man should not touch what is good to his wife or woman, but for the sake of intemperance, let everyone have his own vessel in holiness and purity (1 Cor. 7:5; 1 Thess. 4:4). If he does not do this, then this is neither good nor bad. Thus, God gave them, after they were scattered among the nations, commandments that were not good, that is, He allowed their thoughts and desires to do what they should not [do]. And He defiled them through their gifts, like a priest who separates the lepers from the people and makes it known that they are defiled, since they sacrifice to idols what they ought to sacrifice to God, and pass through everything that opens the womb, that is, the firstborn, through the fire of Baal, so that, having been abandoned by God and given over to idolatry, they would understand that He is the Lord, whom they themselves provoked to anger. Symmachus translated this passage more clearly, putting the future [tense] instead of the past: Therefore I will also give them commandments that are not good and decrees by which they cannot live, and I will defile them through their gifts, because they dedicate and conduct [through fire] everything that opens the womb, so that I may destroy them, and they will know that I am the Lord. The meaning is this: since I saw that the children were equal to their fathers in their atrocities and were doing the same things, through which they angered God, I wanted to place them among the nations and scatter them throughout the whole world and give them unkind commandments and decrees from which they could not live, in order to defile them through their gifts - since they dedicated all the firstborn to idols - and destroy them forever and so that they would know, that I am the Lord. Through this He makes it known that He did not give the commandments that were not good to those who were in the wilderness, but to those whom He wanted to scatter among the nations and make them wander throughout the whole world, He intended to give what He did not give, so that they themselves would make the good commandments of God there not good, showing to idols what God commanded to show to Him. It can also be said that before the anger they received only the ten-letter book, and after idolatry and blasphemy [they received] various rites of the law, so that they would better offer to God the sacrifices they made to the demons, and so that, compared with sacrilege, it would be less important that in itself was not good, but was not evil either, since it was offered to God, and, however, was not good, because they angered The culprit of good. Eze.XX:27–29. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Hitherto even so have your fathers blasphemed Me, when they humiliated and despised Me, and when I brought them into the land whereon I lifted up My hand to give it to them: they saw every high hill and every green tree, and they began to slay their sacrifices there, and made their offensive offerings there, and set up their fragrant incense there and They poured out their drink offerings there. And I said to them: What is this height to which you go? And it is called by the name “height” to this day. LXX: Therefore speak unto the house of Israel, O son of man, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Adonai: even unto this [time] your fathers provoked Me to wrath by the sins which they sinned against Me, and I brought them into the land into which I lifted up My hand to give it to them. And they saw every high hill and every branched tree, and there they began to sacrifice to their gods, and they set up their wrathful gifts there, and they set up their fragrant incense there, and they poured out their drink offerings there. And I said to them: what kind of avvanah is this? for you go there. And they called it by the name of Avvan to this day. I wanted, he says, to scatter them, who sinned in the desert, among all nations and give them unkind commandments, so that they would sacrifice for idols what they were supposed to bring to Me, and dedicate every firstborn of theirs to them through fire, in order to destroy and destroy them. But when he says I willed, he shows that He did not do what He wanted. The next thing then: and they will know that I am the Lord, LXX does not have. For it seemed inconsistent to them that after the destruction they should know that He is Lord. But you, son of man, speak again to them, that is, to the elders of the house of Israel, who came to question you: Your fathers, from whose tribe you come, also blasphemed and humiliated Me: after I brought them into the land which they occupied as a result of My power and which I gave them as possession, they turned to anger Me. For when they saw every high hill and every branched tree, they made consecrations on the mountains, in the groves and in the forests, and sacrificed sacrifices to idols and poured out drink offerings, and when I saw this, I said to them: what kind of bama is this (for it means height), or why do you go to this kind of place, which you have chosen for yourself on all the hills, so that to this day this kind of place is called bamoth and an ancient error does it keep the same name? Instead of bama, which we translated height, in the LXX edition, due to an error, it is written ἀββανά 46, which does not exist at all in the Hebrew language. Vama, if both syllables are divided into two words, can mean: in which, which does not correspond to the meaning of the present place. But everywhere in the books of Kings and Chronicles [in the expressions]: hitherto the people burned incense and made slaughter on high, bama is written in the singular, and in the plural bamoth means heights. Eze.XX:30–31. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: In the way of your fathers you defile yourselves, and after their abominations you commit fornication. And by the offering of your gifts, by causing your sons to pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day, and shall I really give an answer to you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not give you an answer. You imitate the vices of your fathers and walk along the same paths, so that the same vices deserve the same punishment, and you have become so successful in lawlessness that you dedicate your children to demons through fire, and it is not enough for you to do this once, but to this day you are doing the same thing - not in the sense that the elders did it during the captivity, but in the fact that those who lived in Jerusalem and were threatened with captivity do not stop doing everything this. And being guilty of such shameful acts, you, he says, demand an answer from Me? As I live, says the Lord God, I swear by Myself that I will not give you an answer. And what follows: Eze.XX:32–33. And what comes into your mind will not come true, who say: Let us be like the pagans and like the tribes (cognationes) of the earth, to serve wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord God, I will reign over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with an outpouring of wrath, this has the following meaning: Do not think that your thoughts can be fulfilled in which you blaspheme Me. For you say: we do not want to be under the authority of the Lord and to be called His people, but like all the heathen throughout the entire globe, and just as every nation lives according to its own will to honor wood and stones and serve idols, so we will be one of many nations. To this God answers and swears by Himself and says: I will not leave you and will not neglect you, as masters usually neglect and despise runaway slaves, but I will bring you back in My power, and with an outstretched and smiting arm and an outpouring of wrath I will bring you again to your former service and will reign over you, so that you, whether according to your desire or contrary to your desire, will have Me as King. and experienced the wrath of that King whose goodness you despised. Eze.XX:34. And I will bring you out from among the nations and gather you from the countries where you are scattered: with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm I will reign over you. I, he says, will not allow you to be among the pagans and remain in eternal captivity, but I will lead you out of the nations and gather you from the countries where here and there you were forced by enemies to scatter to be slaves. I will do this not in order to destroy and destroy you, but in order to be your King. From this we see that even in what heretics call the cruelty of the Creator, goodness is expressed, since He is angry and reveals severity for this purpose and pours out all His anger in order to return to His kingdom those who chose the tyranny of demons to serve. Eze.XX:35–38. And I will bring you into the wilderness of nations, and there I will plead with you face to face. As I judged the fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you, says the Lord. And I will put you under my scepter, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant, and I will separate out the transgressors and the wicked from among you: I will bring them out of the land where they are, but they will not enter the land of Israel, and you will know that I am the Lord. I will do to you, says the Lord, who are in Babylon and now serve idols, what I did to your fathers in Egypt - I will bring you out into the wilderness of nations and there I will judge you face to face, as I judged those when they came out of Egypt. And when I have judged you, I will subject you to my scepter and power, and will make a covenant with you, and will bring you into your land in bonds of love, so that you, bound by my love, cannot depart from me. The transgressors and the wicked, who out of hardness of heart persist in evil deeds, I will single out from among you, not to possess [them], but to reject them. And I will bring them out of the land of their sojourn, so that, having been brought out, they do not enter the land of Israel, but perish in various countries and through the difference of good and evil they will know that I am the Lord, who does everything with understanding. The speech rushes to the rest, and we briefly run through everything in order to indicate only the meaning to the readers. Eze.XX:39. “And you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God, “go every one after your idols and serve them. If you do not listen to Me in this, you will still profane My holy name with your gifts and your idols. LXX: And you, O house of Israel, - thus says the Lord Adonai, - let everyone leave their imaginations, and after this, if you listen to Me and no longer desecrate My holy name with your gifts and affections (studus). Symmachus translated this passage more clearly: Go, everyone, and serve your idols, because you did not want to listen to Me. Do not profane My holy name any more with your gifts and idols. But on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, says the Lord God, there will all the house of Israel serve me. The translation of Symmachus has the following meaning: since you do not want to serve Me, then go and serve idols and follow in the footsteps of your graven images. For you do not want to listen to Me, neither to slay sacrifices for Me, nor to burn incense to Me, nor to be called My people. For My worshipers will serve Me not in groves and high places and places of idols, as you do, but on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel. Further LXX develop a special idea. Forsake your former thoughts, destroy the sins of evil thoughts, and if after this you will listen to Me and will not desecrate My name with your gifts and idols, then you, the whole house of Israel, will offer Me sacrifices and serve Me on My holy mountain. Aquila, partly agreeing with Symmachus, partly disagrees: go, he says, after your idols and serve them, because you are unworthy of My dominion and I am not pleased with your service. If you do not listen to Me in this, but will desecrate My holy name, since you show the appearance that you bring Me what you bring to idols, and only bring blasphemy against My name, calling yourself Mine, but being worshipers of idols; then know that in My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, there the whole house of Israel will serve Me, not you who serve idols, but the whole house of Israel who will later believe. Eze.XX:40–42. But in my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, says the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel will serve me, all of them, I say, in the land in which they will be pleasing to me, and there I will require your firstborns and the firstfruits of your tithes in all your holy places; I will receive you as an incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, and I will sanctify you in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the Lord. . Regarding this mountain, on which the entire house of Israel serves God, Isaiah and Micah unanimously sang: In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be revealed on the top of the mountains, and will be exalted above the hills, and all the nations will come to it, and many nations will go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and teach us in His ways and let us walk in His paths. For out of Zion will come the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isa. 2:2–3; Micah 4:1–2). And again Isaiah says: go up to the high mountain, preach the gospel to Zion, lift up and lift up your voice, preach the gospel to Jerusalem (Is. 40:9). By this Mount Zion we mean either the Church, which means a watchtower and stands at the height of holy dogmas, or the Lord Savior Himself, through whom firstfruits, tithes and all service are turned into a fragrance, so that all the surrounding nations, seeing that the Lord’s people are saved, will glorify God, and those who are saved will know that He is the Lord. Eze.XX:42. When I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land against which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. Then you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, concerning which I lifted up my hand to bring your fathers into it, which they lost through their own fault, and you received not so much by your own merits as by my goodness. Eze.XX:43–44. And you will remember all your ways and all your evil deeds with which you have defiled yourselves through them, and you will abhor yourself for all your evil deeds that you have done, and you will know that I am the Lord, when I will do good to you for My name's sake: not according to your evil ways and not according to your destructive evil deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord GOD. We cannot remember our atrocities and vices if we are not brought into the land of Israel and, while in it, we do not say with the apostle: because I am not worthy to be called an apostle, for this reason I have persecuted the Church of God (1 Cor. 15:9). And you will be disgusted, he says, with yourselves for all your atrocities that you have done, or as Symmachus translated: and you will consider yourself children for all your atrocities that you have done, so that, after your exaltation, you will recognize yourself as humble, since the Lord gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). And in another place it is written: before contrition the heart of a husband is exalted, and before he is exalted he is humbled (Prov. 18:12). For arrogance is followed by contrition, and humility is followed by exaltation. And you will know that I am the Lord when I do good to you. And then we came to know the Lord the Savior more when He showed favor to us, and suffered for our sins and bore our iniquities and suffered for us - not for any merit of those being saved, but for the sake of His name. Also, our ways and destructive atrocities deserve not pardon, but punishment. And everything that we said about the people of Israel, who, having been liberated from Egypt, did a lot in the desert and angered God and then, after being introduced into the promised land, worshiped idols and served wood and stones and after that were saved by the goodness of God - we can attribute all this to those who, by the high hand of the Lord, were freed from the Egypt of this age and, having been led into the desert of vices, again sighed for Egypt and did what through which they should have been punished, but, nevertheless, as a result of repentance, they were saved not according to their own merits, but according to the goodness of the Lord. According to the opinion of the Jews, with which Bl. agrees here. Jerome, references to the book of the righteous or righteous in Josh. 10:13 and in 2 Samuel. 1:18 refers to the book of Genesis. The same opinion is expressed by Bl. Jerome to the point. on the prophet Isaiah ch. ХLIV (Works of Jerome in Russian translation, part 8, p. 195). Modium is a measure of the capacity of liquid (about 2/5 of a bucket) and granular bodies (about 2.5 garnets). Some manuscripts use omnia (everything) instead of somnia (dreams). Actually, what causes vomiting, nausea, disgust. According to some manuscripts: among which they were. Now ἀββαμά. According to one ancient scholium, ἀββανά means stone. You might be interested in: