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Once upon a time, during my adolescence, I read: “There is nothing so easy that it would not be difficult if you do it reluctantly.” I confess that I have long promised interpretations of Ezekiel, but, being busy with people coming here from all over the world, I could not fulfill [this promise] because there is not a single hour, not a single minute in which we would not meet a crowd of brethren and would not turn the monastic solitude into a large gathering of strangers, 47 so that we could either lock the gates or leave the study of the Scriptures, according to the teaching of which the doors should be opened. Therefore, in the stolen, or rather stolen, hours of the nights, which, with the approach of winter, began to become longer; we try to dictate it, whatever it may be, and through interpretation to weaken the languor of the spirit, agitated [by anxiety]. We do not boast, as some may suspect, of the acceptance of the brethren, but simply indicate the reasons for the slowdown, especially since the flight from the west and the overflowing of the holy places with those in need due to nakedness and wounds reveals the fury of the barbarians. We cannot look without tears and lamentation at the fact that those who once possessed influence and untold riches have reached such poverty that they need shelter, food and clothing, and that, nevertheless, the cruel and merciless souls of some are not softened, since they examine their rags of clothing and wretched belongings, looking for gold from captives. Added to this difficulty of dictation is the fact that when our eyes darken from old age, which also experience something similar to what blessed Isaac had (Gen. 27:1), we cannot read Jewish books in the night light, which, even in sunlight and daylight, dull our vision through small letters. But we also become acquainted with Greek interpretations only from the words of the brethren. There is no doubt for everyone that food chewed by someone else’s teeth arouses disgust in those who eat it. Therefore, I ask you, daughter of Eustochius, to proceed to what we write with the help of scribes and for which we have almost no time to correct, that is, to the seventh [book], and, as I said before, if the brevity or breadth of the books is not the same, then attribute this to the brevity and breadth of the visions or, better, ὑποθέσεων (subject), since We didn’t want to separate mutually related things and pile up different things into one heap. Eze.XX:45–49. 48 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man! turn your face towards the way to the south, and speak a word (stilla) to the southwest and prophesy against the forest of the midday field, and you will say to the forest of the noonday: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will burn in you every green tree 49 and every dry tree: the flame that is kindled will not be quenched, and the whole surface will be burned with it from the south to the north. And all flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it, and it will not go out. And I said: ah, ah, ah, Lord God! They say about me: “Doesn’t he speak in parables?” LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! set your face against Teman and look at Darom, prophesy against the forest, the leader of Nageb, and he will say to the forest of Nageb: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour in you every green tree (lignum) and dry tree. The kindled fire will not go out, and the entire surface from south to north will be burned by it, and all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it won't go out. And I said: No, Lord, Lord: they say to me: “Is not what he says a parable?” What it means to turn or confirm your face, we talked about this in detail above. For it requires a confirmed face and a firmness of the brow in order to fearlessly say what is commanded, especially when disaster is announced to the entire mass of the people. And what Teman, Darom and Nagev and also Nagev mean in Hebrew, instead of which the LXX translated ἀπηλιώην (east), this is expressed in our translation. Instead of the words: leader Nagev, it is better in Hebrew: fields or country of midday. For it is not written sare, as the LXX believed, which word means leader and elder, but sade, which actually means field and country; the error arose due to the similarity of the letters Dalet and Resh. The word of God speaks under the image of a forest against Jerusalem, which serves as a dwelling place for beasts and cruel people, that it will set it on fire and all its trees will be burned, naming not those trees (arbores) that were devoid of fruit, but firewood (ligna), as if prepared for burning. And first he burns the green wood in it, according to what we read from the same prophet: Begin with my sanctified ones (Ezek. 9:6), and then dry, which could not have anything vital in itself, that is, saints and sinners together, so that some would escape the disasters of captivity through death, while others would be given over to eternal torment. The addition: from south to north means: from Jerusalem to Babylon, so that the entire path of those going into captivity will be filled with those perishing from the sword, hunger and infection. For in relation to those in Babylon, Jerusalem is located in the south, just as, on the contrary, the cauldron, according to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:13), meaning Jerusalem, is kindled from the north, that is, Babylon. And beautifully at the beginning he said: pronounce the word (stilla, actually: pour out a drop) to the north, so that it seems that not all of God’s wrath is being poured out, but some drop and part. If such severity is expressed in a drop, then what should we think about whole showers? [This is in order] so that all flesh, which sees the salvation of God, will know, through the burning of forests and the flame, which cannot be extinguished by anyone’s help, that He is the Lord. Realizing this, the prophet answered: ah, ah, ah, Lord God, or, as LXX translated: no, Lord, Lord, and adds: and they say to me: “Doesn’t he speak in parables? ” or: “Isn’t what he says a parable? “The meaning is this: speak more clearly, we do not understand what you say in parable; express to us in direct speech the definition of God. In an allegorical sense, Feman, Nageb and Durham can also be understood as Egypt; because we often read in Daniel (Dan. 11:29) about the south, understood in the sense of Egypt. And Egypt belongs to the misadventures of this world. Thus, Ezekiel prophesies about what disasters are coming to the world, which he calls a forest that does not have fruitful trees, but constitutes the habitation of animals. The twenty-eighth psalm (Ps. 28:9) says about him: the voice of the Lord makes the tree grow, and opens the oak groves. These are the forests and oak groves that during the battle killed more of Absalom’s army than the sword destroyed (2 Sam. 18:8). And in the forests, first the green tree, and then the dry one, is lit - those who live in evil, and those who died for righteousness. The words: and the whole surface from the south to the north will be burned by it means - from those who seemed to have an ardent spirit, to those who, with the intensification of lawlessness and the cooling of the love of many, have lost their former ardor, so that all flesh will see that the flame of the Lord does not go out. But the prophet prays to the Lord that what He threatened would not happen, that is, that the forest would not be set on fire and all the trees would not be burned, so that either they would still have the opportunity to repent, or the need to announce disasters would not be placed on him, especially since the people do not understand this and, due to the darkness of the words, are more likely to go mad. Ezek.XXI:1–5. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! Turn your face towards Jerusalem, and speak a word (stilla) against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel, and you will say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will come against you, and will draw my sword from its sheath and will destroy from you the righteous and the wicked, because the righteous and the wicked are slain among you. My sword will come out from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. And all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword from its scabbard, which will not return. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Therefore prophesy, O son of man, and set thy face against Jerusalem, and look upon their holy things, and prophesy against the land of Israel, and thou shalt say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will draw my sword against thee, and draw my sword from its scabbard, and will destroy from thee the wicked and the unjust. So My sword will come out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north, and all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword from its sheath; he won't come back anymore. Since he said above: they speak about me: does he not speak in parables? and since the people demanded a direct decision, the Lord, what was said before metaphorically, in a parable or, as others translated: a proverb, now expresses more clearly that the forest of Nageb, Darom and Teman is Jerusalem, and its temple, the holy of holies and the whole land of Judea, and under the flame that will burn the forest, of course, a destroying sword, which will be drawn from its scabbard to destroy the righteous and the wicked. For this means a green tree and a dry tree. Therefore, the Lord says: if they do this in a hard tree, what will happen in the wood (Luke 23:31)? Instead, LXX, I don’t know why, was translated: lawless and unrighteous, as if both did not mean the same thing. What was said there: and all flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it, that is, a forest or flame, and it will not go out, is expressed here in other words: so that all flesh will know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword from its scabbard, which will not return back. Ezek.XXI:6–7. And you, son of man, groan, breaking your thighs, and groan in sorrow before their face. And when they say to you: Why are you groaning? You will say: from the hearing that comes, every heart will fail, and every hand will fail, and every spirit will faint, and water will flow over all knees. Here he comes and will come true, says the Lord (in the Vulgate added: God). LXX: And you, son of man, groan, breaking your thighs, and groan in sorrow before their face. And it will happen if they say to you: why are you groaning? then you will say: from the news that is coming, every heart will be overcome with fear, and all hands will drop and will be lifeless (ekhanimabitur); all flesh and every spirit and all the dead will be defiled with phlegm. Here it comes and will come true, says the Lord God. First, [God] said: prophesy or speak a word to the south, southwest and noon and to the noon grove. Since this seemed dark and the people did not understand the words of the prophet, then, secondly, it is stated more clearly that the grove at noon is Jerusalem, that under all the barren trees, at the roots of which an ax is laid (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9), its inhabitants are meant, and the sword means burning. Thirdly, while they are silent and do not ask why he predicted this, the prophet is commanded to do what he is asked about and to answer what the Lord said. Moan, he says, cry out, not in a weak voice and not holding back grief, but crushing your thighs, so that your groaning comes from the depths of your heart and from spiritual grief. And do this in front of them, so that when they ask you why you are lamenting with such groaning and what calamity has befallen you that you are groaning so much, you would answer them in My words: Because I weep and cannot hide the sorrow of my heart, because the rumor that was constantly heard in my ears is being fulfilled and coming, that is, the threatening army of the raging Babylonian. When it comes and surrounds Jerusalem with trenches, then every heart will melt and every hand will give up, so that due to the fear that will take possession of the souls of people, no one will dare to resist. For the entire spirit of the warriors will faint and such awe and horror will seize everyone that, due to fear, the limbs and entrails will weaken and the bladder will not be able to hold phlegm, so that the knees will be defiled by urine. For it is natural that, due to fear, the bladder weakens and, contrary to the desire of the person, phlegm flows out. This usually happens with severe illnesses, so that, due to the weakening of the sick’s strength, not only the knees, but also the beds are desecrated. Behold, he says, what I have often predicted is coming, and it is being fulfilled in practice, and what was said not by me, but by the Lord, will come true. I know that someone brought a lot of evidence regarding the thighs and flowing waters in order to fully clarify the prophet’s chastity, bitterness of spirit and deep spiritual sorrow, since the waters of semen defile the knees. But this kind of explanation does not apply to the present place. Eze.XXI:8–17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God, say: the sword, the sword is sharpened and cleaned; sharpened to slaughter the victims, and polished so that it shines: you, the awesome scepter of My son, have cut down every tree. And I gave it to be scoured, that it might be taken by hand: this sword is sharpened, and it is scoured, that it might be in the hand of the destroyer. Cry and cry, son of man, for he was among my people, he was among all the leaders of Israel. Those who fled were put to the sword along with My people; therefore strike [yourself] on the thigh, for he is tried, and when he casts down this scepter, he will be no more, says the Lord God. But you, son of man, prophesy and strike hand to hand, and the sword will double and the sword of the destroyers will triple. This is the sword of great defeat, which will cause them to be terrified and their hearts to melt, and it will cause much destruction. At all their gates I have placed a sword that causes confusion (dedi conturbationem), sharp and polished to shine, prepared (amikti) for slaughter. Be alert, go to the right or to the left, wherever your face turns. And I will applaud and execute My wrath. I, the Lord, have spoken. It would take a long time to list both editions, and the volume of the books would expand [too] especially where there is either no difference or it is not great. Therefore, I will give only some of the differences. Instead of what we said: you, the awesome scepter of My son, cut down every tree, they translated: destroy, despise, repel, every tree. Then, where we said: those who fled were put to the sword, they and others translated: My strangers or inhabitants. Where we translated: hit [yourself] on the thigh, they translated: hit with your hand. And where we translated: and when he casts down the scepter, there in their publication it says: the tribe is rejected. He speaks to the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, that he will come to Jerusalem, that it will be sharpened and cleansed, because many are to be slaughtered, and makes an appeal to him himself. You shake and cast down the scepter of My son, that is, the power of the people of Israel, and you cut off every tree, that is, the whole mass of the Jewish people. I gave, he says, this sword so that it would be taken by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar and so that it would be in the hand of a very strong man. Therefore, prophet, cry and cry, and testify of the coming disasters with loud crying. This sword spared no one and left no one uninvolved in the threatening disasters. He was on the people, he was on the leaders of Israel, he was on the strangers and my priests who dwelt in my church. Therefore strike him on the thigh or with your hand and take on the appearance of someone weeping. For this sword is tested by Me, and when it casts down My scepter and kingdom, it will no longer be, but it will end with King Zedekiah. Again, prophet, I command you, who hit the thigh out of horror and surprise, to strike with your hands, since not only once, but also the second and third time, the sword will come for destruction. For Nebuchadnezzar came the first time when he took Jehoiachin, the second time when Jehoiakim reigned, the third time when Zedekiah reigned. And this sword tripled when the great slaughter took place, and it caused so much destruction that their spirit was terrified and their hearts melted away, and it caused confusion at all their gates. Therefore, it is commanded for him, that is, a sword sharp and polished to a shine, trimmed, adapted and ready for beating, so that he goes wherever he wants - to the right or to the left. Wherever your face wants, go boldly, having Me as your leader, having Me as your assistant. I will applaud you in order to encourage you, as it were, as your patron and encourager, when you mercilessly destroy My enemies. Do not hesitate, do not be afraid and do not be afraid to experience what Sennacherib experienced: I, the Lord, have said, you are the doer of My will, fulfill My decree. In a mysterious sense, we can understand by a sharp sword and ready to be beaten the devil, about whom the apostle says: deliver him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved (1 Cor. 5:5). And in another place: Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom he delivered to Satan, so that they would not be punished for blasphemy (1 Tim. 1:20). And in the Psalms it is written: he sent wrath, and anger, and sorrow, a message from fierce angels (Ps. 77:49). Some think that this sword was also in the hand of an angel when Jerusalem was defeated during the reign of David (2 Sam. 24:16). Others suggest that [here] we are talking about the sword about which it is written in the Gospel: He did not come to bring peace to the earth, but the sword (Matthew 10:34), and to make a mutual division of all ties of kinship, so that the wicked would fall and the saints would rise. But it is wicked to think in this way about the sword of the Savior, and not about the devil, who overthrows the scepters of the Lord in the Church, who destroys everyone among the people, both the leaders and strangers of God, and who was then tested by the Lord when he overthrew Judas the traitor and those like him. When he ate a piece, Satan entered into him (John 13:27). The sword of the destroyers doubles and triples so that the sin of Jerusalem may be forgiven, for it has received its sins from the hand of the Lord (Isa. 40:2). The Lord rejoices and triumphs and encourages the raging sword to go either to the right or to the left, and wherever his face directs it, so that, after the destruction of the evil, the good remain and so that what is written is fulfilled: “What spit is to the wheat,” says the Lord (Jer. 23:28)? Ezek.XXI:18–24. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, imagine two roads, and [on them] the sword of the king of Babylon must go. Both (Vulgate: both) will leave the same country, and he will make fortune telling with his hand, at the beginning of the road he will tell fortunes. Imagine a road, so that a sword would go [on it] to Gabbath of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah, and to Jerusalem (Vulgate: to Jerusalem), very fortified. For the king of Babylon stopped at a crossroads, at the beginning of two roads, making fortunes, mixing arrows. He questioned the idols and guessed by their entrails. To the right of him there was a fortune-telling for Jerusalem, to set up rams, to open the mouth in battle, to raise the voice in a [military] cry, to direct the rams against the gates, to build a rampart, to build fortifications. And in their eyes he will be as if he had questioned the oracle in vain and imitated the Sabbath rest; but he will remember iniquity to take it. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have brought to remembrance your iniquities (Vulgate: you have remembered your iniquities) and have discovered your treachery and your sins have been revealed in all your thoughts; since you, I say, brought [this] as a keepsake [Vulgate: remembered], you will be taken by hand. I remember I read an intricate explanation of this passage according to the LXX translation from a certain [interpreter], who classifies Rabbath of the sons of Ammon as a pagan people, and Judah and Jerusalem among those who gather in the name of Christ and give the dignity of [this] name to deeds, and [according to which] the king of confusion, the devil, stands at every beginning of the ways and lies in wait in a hidden place, and this verse is fulfilled: at paths have laid temptations for me (Ps. 139:6), and he stands at the crossroads, wanting either to keep those who belong to him, or to acquire new servants for himself, and constantly goes to the right, that is, to those who are on the right side, in order to take possession of them, in order to rejoice during the beating, in order to take unfortunate Jerusalem through battering rams and the accumulation of earthly affairs, but at first in such a way that it seems to him [Jerusalem] that he is inactive and doing futile efforts. But since he recalls the iniquities of those who are in the Church or, better yet, by evil deeds they bring to mind previous crimes to the opposing forces, then all the sins of the people and their thoughts are revealed, and they are taken captive, because they increased the previous offenses through new ones. So someone said; but we must follow the historical explanation begun. When, he says, the word of the Divine said to me: prophesy, son of man, and speak to the sword and say: sword, sword, etc., which is contained in the prophecy about the sword, then the word of the Lord came to me again, saying: Do you want, son of man, to know who this sword is, and to recognize more clearly the face [depicted] by the raging sword? Hear what I say: imagine two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to go along them, who will go out one way, the Chaldean, but when he comes through the steppe and desert to the parting of the roads in the land of Arabia, called [the land of] the children of Ammon, of which one road leads to the right, to Jerusalem, and the left to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, to [their] main city: now called Philadelphia: then, says, remembering the defeat that was inflicted on the king of Assyria, when one hundred and eighty-five thousand were killed in one night, he will be afraid to turn to the right and go against the very fortified Jerusalem; but he will stop at the crossroads itself and, according to the custom of his people, will question the oracle, lowering his arrows with inscriptions or with the designation of individual names into the quiver and mixing them to see whose arrow will come out and which city should be taken first. The Greeks call this βελομαντίαν (divination by arrows) or π῾αβδομαντ´αν (divination by wands). So, he questioned the idols, guessed by their entrails. His fortune telling was to the right that he would go to Jerusalem and take it, fill up ramparts, set up rams, build fortifications, and besiege the city and open his mouth at the slaughter and raise a noise in the jubilant and shouting army. By doing this, he will appear, he says, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem as asking the oracle in vain and as if wasting time in the Sabbath rest, that is, busy with trifles (ludere) and not doing any work. But the king of Babylon will not rely on his own strength, but on the iniquity of the people, as a result of which, as he knows, they angered God and multiplied the sins of the fathers with new crimes, and their treachery was revealed to everyone, and therefore will not doubt victory, since he is confident in the iniquity of Jerusalem. So according to the Hebrew [text], with which LXX disagrees not so much in meaning as in a few words. Eze.XXI:25–27. And you, the lawless, wicked leader of Israel, whose day is coming, predestined in a time of iniquity! Thus says the Lord God: take off the turban, put on the crown. Didn't he exalt the lowly and humiliate the high? I will place him in iniquity, in iniquity, in iniquity, and this will not happen until He comes to whom judgment belongs, and I hand it over to Him. LXX: And you, the lawless, wicked leader of Israel, whose day is coming, your end will be in the time of iniquity. Thus says the Lord God: You have taken off the turban and put on the crown. He won't be like that. You have humbled the high and elevated the low. I will place him in iniquity, in iniquity, and he will not be so until He to whom he belongs comes and I give him. Symmachus translated this passage as follows: And you, the lawless one, the leader of Israel, whose day is coming, determined in the time of lawlessness: thus says the Lord God: he removed the kadar and put on the crown; [there will be] neither this nor that; He will exalt the lowly and humiliate the high. I will do this through lawlessness, lawlessness, lawlessness. And this was not the One to whom belongs the judgment that I will give. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people, the speech turns to the leader of Israel, who, as is certain, means Zedekiah, with whom the reign of the kings of Israel from the tribe of David ended. The day is coming, he says, for you, which was predetermined for you long ago, and because of you the priesthood and the kingdom of the Jewish people ceased. For the mitre serves as the distinctive adornment of the high priest, and the crown, that is, the diadem, is the sign of the king. Isn’t this the turban and the crown that did nothing according to the court, but like the king of Babylon, he exalted whomever he wanted and humiliated whomever he wanted? Therefore, not once and not twice, as it stands in LXX, but three times I will impute [this] to you as iniquity forever, which is not immediately imputed to you, but [will not be imputed] until Christ comes, to whom judgment belongs, and the Father hands over to Him the kingdom and judgment or the Church gathered from the nations: For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). And in another place he says: God, grant Your judgment to the King and Your righteousness to the Son of the King (Ps. 72:1). This is the One to whom the power and the eternal priesthood have been deposited, about whom Jacob also spoke: the prince from Judah and the leader from his feet will not fail, until the hope of the tongues, which was set aside for Him, will come (Gen. 49:10). In the place where we translated: isn’t he, Symmachus translated perfectly: [there will be] neither this nor that. For, since he said: take off the turban, put on the crown, he added: [there will be] neither this nor that, that is, the kingdom and the priesthood will cease. Therefore, those who were later, before the coming of Christ, together with kings and high priests, of whom one, the high priest Hyrcanus, placed a diadem on his head, vainly wanted to appropriate both this and that to themselves, while the kingdom after Zedekiah did not belong to them, but to Him to whom it was set aside and Who was the hope of the tongues, as Malachi also says: you priests who despise My name (Mal. 1:10). and a little later: My will is not done in you, and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands. From the east of the sun to the west, my name is great among the nations, and in every place (incense) is offered to my name and the sacrifice is pure (ibid., Mal. 1:11). This pure sacrifice, without the blood of goats, rams and oxen (Ps. 49:13), is performed at the coming of Christ, when the One Desired by the Nations came and the Sun of righteousness rose, in whose rays there is healing (Mal. 4:2). Eze.XXI:28–32. And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God concerning the children of Ammon and their reproach, and you shall say, Sword, sword, draw thyself to slay, purify thyself to destroy and shine, so that, although vain visions appear to thee and foretell false things, thou shalt be drawn upon the necks of the wounded wicked, whose day is coming, ordained in the time of iniquity. Return to your scabbard, to the place in which you were created, in the land of your origin I will judge you. And I will pour out My indignation on you, I will breathe the fire of My wrath upon you, and I will deliver you into the hands of feeble-minded people who cause destruction (Vulgate: destruction). You will be food for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the earth; you will be forgotten; for I, the Lord, have spoken [this]. The sword of the king of Babylon stopped at the beginning of two roads, at the junction of the right and left, of which one led to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and the lot came out to go to Jerusalem, as we read above. After its conquest and taking, the end of the kingdom and its priesthood is also foreshadowed forever. The sons of Ammon remained, and the very order of division required [to say]: what happened to the left road. Therefore, the prophet is commanded to say about the sons of Ammon and about their reproach, that they too will be taken, and he turns his speech to the same sword: O sword, a sword prepared for beating, polished to shine and destroy! although the idols gave an answer to you and [although] everything that the demons answer is false, that is, that you threaten with the necks of the wounded and through you what the Lord threatened long ago is being fulfilled; However, at the end of your work, which you committed against the sons of Ammon, you must return to your sheath, that is, to Babylon, to the place in which you were and were created, so that I, in the land of Your origin, judge you and pour out My indignation on you, and so that you are taken by the force of the Medes and Persians. This is discussed in more detail in the book of Isaiah, in the vision of Babylon: “Behold, I will raise up the Medes against them.” And a little later: “And that glorious Babylon between the kingdoms, famous for the arrogance of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; it will not be completely inhabited” (Isa. 13:17–19). And since he once speaks under the image of a sword about a king, or rather about the kingdom of Babylon, he retains the metaphor (μεταφοράν). With the fire of My wrath, he says, I will breathe upon you in order to destroy you with fire and deliver you into the hands of feeble-minded and inexperienced people who do not have the art of forging and sharpening swords, so that you will no longer be sharpened, cleaned and shine for beating, but so that you will be food for the fire, and so that your blood, which you shed before the eyes of everyone, will quickly turn on you, and so that you will be consigned to eternal oblivion and perished forever; because I, the Lord, said [this], for whom to say is also what to do. Eze.XXII:1-16. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, will you not judge the city of blood and show it all its abominations? And you will say: Thus says the Lord God: a city that sheds blood in its midst so that its time may come, and makes idols among itself to be defiled! Through your blood, which you shed, you sinned, and through your idols, which you made, you were defiled, and you have hastened your days and shortened the time of your years. Therefore I have given you as a reproach to the nations and as a mockery to all lands. Those near and far from you will triumph over you (or mock you), defiled, glorified, great by fall. Behold, the princes of Israel each used their strength with you to shed blood. Father and mother were dishonored (or father and mother were slandered) among you. The stranger was wronged among you. The orphan and the widow were grieved (or oppressed) among you. You have despised My holy things (Vulgate: you have despised and profaned), You have profaned My sabbaths. Slanderers (or robbers) were among you to shed blood, and they ate among you on the mountains. An atrocity (or, as it is more expressively stated in Hebrew, zemma, that is, debauchery) was committed among you. They revealed your father's shame and dishonored you from the monthly purification (humiliaverunt), and each one committed abominations with his neighbor's wife, and the father-in-law criminally desecrated his daughter-in-law. A brother raped his sister, his father’s daughter, (or dishonored) you. Gifts were taken from you to shed blood. You took growth and interest. And out of selfishness you accused your neighbors (or: and I will completely destroy your malice in your violence), and you forgot Me, says the Lord God. Behold, I clasped My hands about your greed, which you discovered, and about the blood that was shed among you. Will your heart stand firm and your hands be stronger in the days that I give you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it. And I will destroy [scatter] you among the nations, and scatter you throughout the lands, and I will put an end to your uncleanness and will possess you in the sight of the nations (or according to the first edition of Avila and Theodotion: and I will make you unclean, or according to Symmachus: and I will smite you with stripes in the sight of the nations), and you will know that I am the Lord. And you, he says, son of man (for I use the usual name in relation to you), judge the city of blood and show him all its abominations, so that he knows that he is justly subjected to threatening captivity and has brought upon himself the time of his destruction with many bloodsheds. The first of all crimes is that you honored idols instead of God and worshiped the works of your hands; and you have hastened the time of your years, which was spoken of for a long time, but which was delayed, so that you might bring repentance. But you, because of your unrepentant heart, store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5). Therefore, I will give you over to the reproach of the nations and to the ridicule of all the lands that surround you, both near and far, who will triumph over you or mock you. Defiled, glorified, great by fall. Defiled because you are no longer pure. You have become famous for evil, who once surpassed all nations in the glory of goodness. Great is the fall, because the higher you were, the more you fell. But meanwhile, omitting other things, I will list a little of what you had. Your princes, who judged not by truth, but by the firmness of strength and muscle, shed innocent blood from you. Others dishonored their father and mother or slandered their parents, as Scripture says: whoever curses his father and mother shall die by death (Ex. 21:16). They oppressed the stranger and foreigner among you, as if wandering and removal from the fatherland were not enough for them instead of all kinds of oppression. They grieved or oppressed the orphan and the widow among you, so that those whose entire fortune depends on the justice of the laws were not only upset, but also oppressed by you. You despised My holy things or sanctuaries and profaned My Sabbaths, so that you made no distinction between the holy and the unclean, between the day appointed for works of piety, the Sabbath rest for the service of God, and between other days on which it is lawful to work and serve the needs of the flesh. Slanderers or, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, treacherous people, which in Hebrew is called raсhil, and you had murderers who blasphemed God or did everything treacherously and with violence. And they ate on the mountains, highly wise and arrogantly exalted before God, and committed evil or debauchery among you, so that you did openly what is rarely done in the back streets and secretly, when the conscience of people turns away from evil. And what debauchery consists of is indicated by the following speech: the shame of the father was revealed to you, the daughters-in-law were mated contrary to the law of God and man, and the unclean woman was dishonored from the monthly purification, without showing leniency to the demands of nature, and without taking a break from vile deeds and inflamed with lust for his neighbor’s wife. But what’s even more criminal is that the father-in-law was inflamed [by passion] for his sister, and the brother did not respect the sister’s rights, raping the sister, who was born not by the same mother, but by the same father. They took gifts to shed innocent blood. The extreme need of the poor was turned into a means of profit in order to receive growth and interest, and because of self-interest they blamed friends. You did this, O Jerusalem, because you forgot Me. For remembrance of God keeps one from all dishonorable actions. Therefore, I took on the appearance of the Lord being angry and clasped My hands because of your greed and because of the blood shed among you, so that you would understand and know whether you can with spiritual or physical strength (vel animo vel manu) resist My anger. For I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will fulfill it. And when you, Jerusalem, are taken, I will scatter you among the nations and scatter you through the air like useless stubble, carried here and there. But My goodness is great, that My severity will turn into mercy. For I will do everything so that you will not have your uncleanness and that you will receive your former purity. When you receive it, I will possess you in the sight of all nations, so that when I possess you, you will understand that I am the Lord. If we follow the translation of Symmachus and Theodotion, one of whom says: and I will strike or cover you with wounds, and the other: and I will make you unclean in the eyes of the nations, then everything will need to be understood in a bad way, although this contradicts the thought expressed above: and I will put an end to your uncleanness, because the cessation of uncleanness means the restoration of purity. I reviewed both editions together to avoid expanding the [volume] of books. Eze.XXII:17–22. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! The house of Israel has turned to dross for Me. All of them copper, and tin, and iron and lead in the furnace became the dross of silver. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Since you have all turned to dross, behold, I will gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem, as silver and copper and tin and lead are put together in a furnace, and I will kindle a fire in it to melt it. Thus I will gather you in My fury and in My wrath, and I will calm you down, and I will melt you, and I will kindle you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it; As silver is melted in the furnace, so it will be with you in the midst of it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out (Vulgate: when I pour out) My wrath on you. The Hebrew word sig Symmachus translated dross, Aquila in the first edition στέμφυλον and γίγαρτον, both meaning grape marc. In his second translation and in the Seventy, confusion is translated. Then, dross signifies the unclean waste from the purification (sordes et purgamentum) of metals, so that, in accordance with the imminent captivity or, rather, the threatening destruction of the city, fire is used so that, [speaking] under the image of melting, there remains pure silver, which became unclean from mixing with copper, tin, iron and lead, of which three: copper, tin and lead consist of the molten substance and are decomposed by fire. Iron is softened and refined by means of an anvil and hammer, and takes on various forms at the request of the master. So, just as silver, made unclean by the above-mentioned metals, is thrown into the furnace, so that, after removing the unclean waste (sordes) and foreign substances, it will be pure: so, he says, I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem and surround you with the Babylonian siege, in order to kindle a fire among you for melting. And what the extreme heat of the flame does there, famine and pestilence will do here, and when I ignite you with the fire of rage, I will calm down and limit the grief from neglect [to Me] to vengeance through punishing you. I will do all this so that, after the outpouring of My wrath on you, the end of your punishment will serve to knowledge of Me and so that you will know that I am the Lord, the judge of all and the rewarder. And that He is called a refiner, regarding this we read in many other places, but especially in Malachi and Isaiah, one of whom says: behold, the Lord comes out like the fire of a refiner and like the grass (glorious soap) of those who melt, and he sits to boil, like silver and like gold, and will melt away the sons of Levi (Mal. 3:2-3); another: and the Lord will wash away the filthiness of the sons and daughters of Zion, and the blood will cleanse from among them the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning (Isa. 4:4). I think that this is also what the words of the Psalms mean: test me, O Lord, and test me, after which it is added: kindle my belly and my heart (Ps. 25:2). What we attributed to Jerusalem, we can attribute to the state of souls that God created pure: they perceived gold in the mind and wisdom, and silver in colloquial and eloquent speech, so that they could express what they perceived with the mind in words. About silver we read: the words of the Lord, pure words, silver kindled, tempted by the earth, purified by the sevenfold (Ps. 11:7). In a similar way, gold and silver are spoken of in the sixty-seventh psalm, in which it is written: if you sleep in the midst of the border, the wing of the dove will be covered with silver, and its space will be glittering with gold (Ps. 67:14). For all glory is to the king's daughter within (Ps. 45:14), who says in the Song of Songs: The King has brought me into his bed (Song. 1:3). Whoever slept and rested between the two Testaments will immediately receive the silvered wings of a dove and will shine with the glitter of gold in the treasury of the heart. In this sense, I believe, it should be understood that for sinners and for those who deserve the wrath of God there will be a copper sky, an iron land, and especially the land of Egypt, from which the Lord brings Israel out as from an iron furnace. Also according to Zechariah (Zech. 5:8) wickedness sits on a talent of lead. And in the song of Exodus it is said: “I am mired like tin in greener waters” (Exodus 15:10). For they were oppressed by a heavy burden of sins and could say: for a heavy burden weighs heavily on me (Ps. 37:3). And just as counterfeit copper has the appearance of gold, so tin resembles silver, which [a simple and inexperienced person] cannot easily distinguish. And it often happens that the mixture of heretical wickedness in gold and silver is separated by the fire of the Holy Spirit and the judgment of the Lord, and what remains is pure gold and silver, about which the prophet says: “I gave them silver and gold, and they made Baal out of them” (Hos. 2:8). Similar to this [is the following]: I brought you out with silver and gold, and do not hurt their knees (Ps. 104:37). The end of all punishments will be the knowledge that He is Lord. We also read about a tin stone or a piece of tin in Zechariah (Zech. 4:10); what it means we explained in its place. Eze.XXII:23–31. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! tell him: You are an unclean land, and not watered with rain in the day of wrath. The conspiracy of the prophets was among her, like a lion roaring and snatching away prey: they ate souls, received wealth and wages, and multiplied her widows among her. Her priests violated My law and desecrated My Holy Places. They did not separate the holy from the profane, and did not distinguish between the unclean and the pure, but they turned away their eyes from My Sabbaths and defiled Me among themselves. Her princes among her are like wolves, stealing prey in order to shed blood and destroy souls and selfishly seek profit. And her prophets anointed them without proper confusion, seeing empty visions and predicting false things to them, saying: Thus says the Lord God, when the Lord has not spoken. The people of the earth were accused unjustly and robbed through violence, they oppressed the poor and needy, and oppressed the stranger with unrighteousness without trial. And I looked among them for a man who would build a fence and stand before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I did not find it. And I poured out My indignation on them; I destroyed them with the fire of My wrath. I turned their way upon their heads, says the Lord God. An attentive listener might ask: what is this dross that disfigured the purity of silver and mixed it with copper, lead, tin and iron? Therefore, what is expressed there under the image of the city and the crucible, the same is predicted here under the image of the earth, which was not irrigated and did not receive rain. By rains we must understand those about which it is written: We will command the cloud that no rain come upon it (Isa. 3:6); we wait for it when we are given the timely and late rain, about which it is written: the rain is free to separate, O God, from your inheritance (Ps. 67:10). The rain of wrath is that which everyone brings upon himself with a multitude of sins. We want to know what the dross of the city means, the uncleanness of the earth, hardened and full of thorns and thistles. A conspiracy, he says, of prophets or, according to the Seventy: leaders, among him, like a lion, about which Peter also writes: our adversary is the devil, like a lion walks roaring (1 Peter 5:8). This lion and all his accomplices seek to devour not bodies, but souls, and receive payment, and make every decision in court for money. And that at that time the Jewish people had this, no one doubts it. For because of the priests and princes and prophets the Lord brought evil upon them. But we often see this in our Jerusalem: they, according to the Seventy, consume souls through violence and receive payment in order to make widows of many who have betrayed the groom - the Lord. These prophets form a gang of conspirators in order to mutually support themselves and do everything for the sake of vile self-interest. The priests, who should be the leaders of the church and from whose lips they seek knowledge of the law, desecrate the holy things and do not make any distinction between the holy and the profane, but only between money. They turn away their eyes from the Sabbaths and do not think about the rest of God, which consists in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and do not say to the prophet: open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of your law (Ps. 119:18), nor the following [words] of the apostle: but we all behold with unveiled face the glory of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). Among such prophets and priests, the Lord is defiled, about whom it is written: But He stands in the midst of you, whom you do not know (John 1:26). Thus, prophets or leaders are compared to lions. And the princes, by whom we mean people of a lower degree, imitate the predation of wolves, shedding the blood of souls rather than bodies, and selfishly seek profit, not being satisfied with this: those who serve the altar share with the altar (1 Cor. 9:13), but, having entered into the service of the Lord, they collect the wealth of Croesus. Also, the prophets who foretold the future smeared them without proper mixing, as we said above 50 in relation to the prophets who foretold, who smeared the wall, which is destroyed by downpours, without any admixture of chaff. This kind of [prophets] see empty visions and do not so much prophesy as make false predictions, saying to the wretched earth: “Thus says the Lord, this is the promise of the Lord,” when the Lord did not tell them. The people of the earth, not God, but earthly affairs, imitating the princes and priests, did everything through untruth and violence, oppressing not the rich, but the poor, about whom it is written: the beggar does not suffer rebuke and: the deliverance of a man’s soul is wealth to him (Prov. 13:8). Also, the stranger and wanderer, who was not yet a citizen of the Church, but only a listener and had the rudiments of faith, was oppressed by unrighteousness, so that, having gone around sea and land, they would acquire one proselyte and make him a son of Gehenna. But among such vices and masses of crimes, I looked among them for a person who could resist My wrath and, like Moses, Aaron and Samuel, oppose himself to My fire and flame, but I could not find it. Therefore, He said to Moses: Leave Me and I will consume this people (Ex. 32:10). So, since I could not find anyone who would resist and restrain Me, I poured out all My indignation on them and destroyed them, not without measure and justice, but turning their ways on their heads - either repaying the culprits for their own sins, committed by them, or [turning them] on the heads of the leader of the people, the prince and the prophets, of whom there was none who dared to resist the wrath of the Lord and because of which the unclean and the desert land was not worthy to receive the rain of the Lord. Eze.XXIII:1–10. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! There were two women, daughters of the same mother, and they committed fornication in Egypt; in their youth they committed fornication. There their breasts were crushed and the breasts of their virginity were compressed (or, as the LXX says: there their breasts fell, and there they were deflowered). Their names are: the larger (or eldest) Oolla, and her sister is Ooliva. And I had them (or they were Mine), and they gave birth to sons and daughters. And their names: Oolle - Samaria, Oolive - Jerusalem. So Oolla fornicated against Me and became addicted (or left) to her lovers, to the Assyrians, to those close to her, to those who dressed in clothes of the color of yachts, to princes and dignitaries, to all the desired (or chosen) youths, horsemen riding horses. And she committed her fornications with them, with all the chosen sons of the Assyrians, and defiled herself with all the abominations (or fabrications) of those to which she was addicted. She did not abandon those fornications that she committed in Egypt. For they also slept with her in her youth, and they squeezed the breasts of her virginity (or: and they corrupted her virginity) and lavished their fornication on her. Therefore I gave her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of Asshur, for whom her lust was kindled. They exposed her shame, took her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. And they became well-known women (or: and she became the subject of gossip for women), and carried out judgment (or vengeance) on her. The twelve tribes of Israel, which were united in Egypt, were subsequently divided into two and into ten tribes, called Judah and Israel, as the Scriptures of Kings and Chronicles testify. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, of the tribe of David, reigned over Judah in Jerusalem, where there was a church and priests and most of the tribe of Levi; and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, of the tribe of Ephraim and Joseph, [reigned] over the ten tribes in Samaria. Of these, Samaria is now called Oolla, which in our language means tabernacle, and Jerusalem is called Oolla, that is, My tabernacle is in it, just as the ten tribes had a tabernacle - not God’s, but an idol’s. For Jeroboam, to divert the people from serving God, placed golden calves in Bethel and Dan. Therefore, we will talk about each separately. These two women, Samaria and Jerusalem, were daughters of the same mother, originally from the tribe of Israel, and they committed fornication in their youth in Egypt. For they would not have received the law, according to the message from Egypt, on Mount Sinai, forbidding them to honor idols, if they had not honored the Egyptian monsters in Egypt. The mother of both of them could be a Hittite, about whom we read above (Ezek. 16:6): “your father is an Amorite and your mother is a Hittite.” But when it is said: “Everyone will put away the abominations of Egypt from before their eyes” (Ezek. 20:7), then this means that in Egypt Israel served idols, and there the breasts of his virginity fell or were crushed. Samaria is called larger and older either because of the number of ten tribes, or because after the death of Moses the people were ruled by Joshua the son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim, from which he was, as we read (1 Kings 12), and Jeroboam, who separated them from the house of David. And God had them, or they belonged to Him, when they groaned from the work of the Egyptians, first working clay and bricks. They subsequently bore Him sons and daughters, either in the wilderness or in the land of promise. And at first Oolla, that is, Samaria, began to commit fornication in relation to God, when she became addicted to the Assyrians, dressed in robes of the yellow color, and not to just any of the people, but to the leaders and dignitaries, and not to the elderly, but to all the young people, chosen horsemen, whose idols she followed and from whom, contrary to the command of God, she asked for help. They came and desecrated her, so that she left nothing of all that she had done in Egypt during her youth. For the Egyptians also slept with her during her youth, whose idols she revered, and there she was deflowered and her breasts were crushed, and there was such an abundance of fornication that they did not commit fornication with her, but, as they say, lavished their fornication on her. Therefore, she was given to her lovers themselves, Thul, and Feglaththalassar and Shalmaneser, for whom she was inflamed with lust, and they τροπολογικῶς (in an allegorical sense) revealed her shame as a fornicating woman. The opening of the city means the captivity of [those] who took their sons and daughters captive, and killed her with the sword, so that she was killed as an example to all women and, on the worse side, serves as the subject of frequent conversations for all [women]. They carried out judgment and vengeance on her, so that she had no means of salvation left; but to this day the ten tribes remain in captivity on the mountains and in the cities of the Media, to which they were resettled. What Joseph, Ephraim, Samaria, Jezreel and Israel mean in an allegorical sense and why they are opposed to the house of David and Jerusalem, meaning the Church, we spoke about this in detail [in the interpretation] of the prophet Hosea. They are also spoken of in the seventy-seventh psalm: the sons of Ephraim, drawing and shooting bows, returned on the day of battle (Ps. 77:9); and again: I will cast away the tabernacle of Joseph, and choose the tribe of Judah (ibid., Ps. 77:67–68). For God chose the house of confession, the Church, and rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, which means multiplication. For, abandoning the law of God, they added golden calves to their service, and are called Oolla, that is, the tabernacle, not of God, but of error and demons. And the larger and eldest sister, due to her large number and captivity by the Assyrians, committed fornication against God, for she left the true faith and became addicted to the leaders of the heretics, her lovers, dressed in robes of the yellow color, promising her high and heavenly things, and to the horsemen, about whom it is said: these are on chariots and on horses (Ps. 19:8), to chosen sons Assyrians, and leaders and dignitaries, mutually promising themselves knowledge and eloquence. She did this because even in heresy she committed the same fornications that she committed in Egypt, that is, before she believed and while she was still living in the world. And she (or they were deprived) of her virginity was deprived of her virginity by the Assyrians, who persisted in evil, or by avengers. For our adversary, the devil, also serves as an enemy and an avenger (1 Peter 5). They crushed Samaria's breasts and deprived her of the virginity she had in the Church. Therefore, she was betrayed to her lovers according to the apostle, who writes: they gave them over to Satan, so that they would be punished not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:20; and: he gave them over for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved (1 Cor. 5:5). They revealed the shame of unfortunate Samaria and discovered all its vileness; the sons and daughters born of her, gifted with knowledge, simple-minded and inexperienced, were taken into captivity, and she was killed with a spiritual sword, and they serve as the subject of frequent talk from the evil side throughout the world and become generally known among all teachings, so that her abominations are punished as an example for all women. Eze.XXIII:11–22. When her sister, Ooliva, saw this, her lust was inflamed more than her, and with shamelessness she extended her fornication, more than her sister’s fornication, to the sons of the Assyrians, to the leaders and dignitaries who came to her, dressed in speckled (or expensive) clothes, to the horsemen who rode horses, to all the young men of beautiful appearance. And I saw that one way of both was defiled, and she multiplied her fornications. And when she saw the men painted on the wall, the pictures of the Chaldeans painted with colors, and their loins girded with a belt, and the painted bandages on their heads, which all had the appearance of leaders (or tristats) 51 , they looked like the sons of Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans in which they were born: she was kindled with lust for them, because of the lust of her eyes, and sent ambassadors to them in Chaldea. And when the sons of Babylon came to her on the bed of the breasts (or soaring ones), they defiled her with their fornications, and she defiled herself with them and her soul became satiated with them (or departed from them). And she laid bare her fornications and revealed her shame: and My soul departed from her, as My soul departed from her sister. For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. And the lust was kindled to have intercourse with them, whose flesh was like the flesh of donkeys, and their flow like the flow of horses (or their private parts - the private parts of horses). And you repeated the crime of your youth, when in Egypt your breasts were crushed and the breasts of your virginity were squeezed. The literal interpretation is easy: Olive, that is, Jerusalem, in which was the tabernacle of God, having seen the suffering of her sister, did not understand by example in order to keep her foot from going astray, but increased the fornication of her own sister. For she once set up idols in Dan and Bethel, and this one often worshiped the image of Baal on the high places and in the church of God and committed fornication with the Assyrians. The idol of Baal or Bel (Bel) and (to put it more clearly) Bel (Belis) serves as the subject of the cult of the Assyrians, dedicated by Nin, the son of Bel, in honor of his father. And she shamelessly extended her fornication to the Assyrians, to the leaders and dignitaries, dressed in spotted and multi-colored clothes, to the horsemen and to all the young men of beautiful appearance, so that the fornication of both sisters was the same. But in this regard, Jerusalem multiplied her fornications, that, seeing the images of the Chaldeans on the walls, she was inflamed with lust, and, seduced by their appearance and clothing, sent ambassadors to them, asking for help: they came and desecrated him. But, since lust is not constant, but soon produces satiety; then, having become defiled and fed up with them, he retreated from the alliance with them. Therefore, when I saw the abominations and fornications that had become known to everyone, I retreated from her, so that the one who surpassed her sister in crimes would also be subjected to a more severe punishment than her sister. She was so shameless that she committed all the errors of her youth already in old age, and strove for Egyptian vices even with her passion for the Chaldeans. For before she was addicted to copulation with the Egyptians, whose flesh was like that of a donkey, and the ejaculation of semen was so abundant, or the private parts were so large, that they exceeded the ugliness of horses. And the crimes of her youth did not cease, on the contrary, they returned again when she became Mine, so that in the desert and in the land of promise she surpassed her former debauchery, in which she lost her virginity and her breasts were crushed and all the beauty of virginity was lost. Then, as regards the allegorical meaning, it is difficult to understand how the Church transcends heretical lust. Is it only we who can say that a servant who knows the will of his master and does not fulfill it will be beaten a lot (Luke 12:47), and that heretics commit iniquities from without and die from shipwreck outside Noah’s ark; members of the Church, if, following the true faith, [at the same time] imitate Egyptian and Chaldean vices and pursue various types of sins, then they deserve the most severe punishments. Do we not send ambassadors to the Chaldeans, meaning: like demons, when we open them and give them kneading breasts in the chest that serves as the seat of the mind, and having had enough of pleasures, we move from one to another, and desire not so much fornication as many harlots, and we reach such madness that, after serving the Lord for a long time, we return to Egypt and do what we did in the world before we received name of believers? Eze.XXIII:22–27. Therefore, O Olibah, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stir up against you all your lovers, from whom your soul is full, and I will gather them against you from all sides: the sons of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, nobles, and tyrants, and princes, and all the sons of the Assyrians, young men of good appearance, leaders and dignitaries, all the chief rulers (principes principum) and famous riders. And a multitude of nations will come against you with chariots and wheels; with armor, shield and helmet they will arm themselves against you from all sides. And I will bring judgment upon them, and they will judge you with their judgment, and I will turn upon you My jealousy, which they will execute against you with fury. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and what remains will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and the rest of you will be consumed by fire, and they will strip you of your clothes and take the vessels of your glory. And they will put an end to your iniquity among you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not raise your eyes to them and you will no longer remember Egypt. LXX: Therefore, Ooliba, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers, from whom your soul has departed, and I will bring them against you from all sides: the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, φακούθ and κούθ, and all the sons of the Assyrians with them, chosen youths, leaders and dignitaries, all tristats and eminent horse riders. Everyone will come at you from the north, with chariots and wheels, with a crowd of peoples, with round and semicircular shields (clypei et peltae), and they will set a guard around you. And I will bring judgment before them, and they will judge you with their judgment, and I will turn My jealousy against you, and they will deal with you with the wrath of wrath. They will take away your nose and your ears, and the rest of you they will kill with the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and the rest of yours the fire will devour, and they will strip you of your clothing and take the vessels of your glory, and they will destroy your wickedness and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift up your eyes on them and you will no longer remember Egypt. Since you remembered the flesh of the Egyptians and imitated the abominations of the unclean people, who honor the idols of all animals; then I will bring against you your lovers, from whose union you retreated, having become fed up with connections with them, so that your strong former love turned into the same hatred. The sons of Babylon, I say, and all the Chaldeans, nobles, tyrants and princes [I will bring against you], instead of which in Hebrew stands Phacud and Sue and Cue, by which many understand the eastern peoples, although we do not find such names either in the book of Kings, or in Chronicles, or even in Jeremiah, which describes the captivity of Jerusalem, or in any other place of Holy Scripture. And it is not surprising if LXX put the very names of the Hebrews, when Symmachus and Theodotion equally use these same words. All, he says, Assyrians, horsemen and handsome youths, leaders and dignitaries or tristats, which we translated: the main commanders. We also read about them in Exodus: the chosen horsemen are tristates (Ex. 15:4), instead of which in Latin it is simply translated: triple stewards (trinos statores). The name tristati among the Greeks means the second level after royal dignity. It is written about them: both of them did not reach the first three (1 Chronicles 11:21), who were in charge of the cavalry, infantry and taxes and whom we call the chiefs of both military departments (magistratus utriusque militiae) and provisions masters (praefectos annonari tituli). Everyone, he says, on chariots and on horses, armed with armor, a helmet and a shield, surrounded you in a circle, and I will hand over the court to them, so that you will be judged by those whom you left and the agreement with whom you violated, and they will judge you with their court, as an adulteress. And I will turn, he says, on you My jealousy, which they will execute against you with fury. For My jealousy is among enemies due to the violation of fidelity. They will cut off, he says, your nose and your ears, like that of a woman who is adulterous and caught in fornication, so that, having been disfigured, you will no longer be liked. For, just as in relation to appearance, all the beauty of the face consists in the beauty of the nose and ears, in which pearls and pearls hang on women; so the dignity of kings and judges, signified through the face and ears, will be destroyed by their sword. They will take your sons and your daughters. He says: yours and yours, and not Mine and Mine, because they were born of adultery, and the rest will be consumed by fire. And they will deprive you of your garments with which I adorned you, and the vessels of your glory, silver and gold, which I gave you for the sacred rites in the church and about which it is written: “I gave them gold and silver, and they made of them Baal” (Hos. 2:8). I will do all this so that, after the loss of your beauty and the disfigurement of your charming face, your iniquity and your fornication, which you learned and committed in Egypt, will finally cease, so that, having lost your nose and ears, you will not dare to raise your eyes to the Chaldeans and show your ugliness in front of your former lovers and will no longer remember your addiction to the Egyptians, whose large flesh attracted you. All this is said under the image of an adulterous woman and disfigured for adultery, so that she would no longer boast of her beauty, but would blush from the ugliness that she deserved through her great debauchery. Everything that is said in an allegorical sense (τροποκῶς) about Jerusalem can also be applied to the soul, which, being in union with God due to virtues, subsequently, due to vices, began to commit adultery and departed from Him and, upon discovery of all its iniquities, was naked and disfigured and shown to everyone, so that it would finally leave its iniquity and not boast about the dignity of the name, but, due to the consciousness of vices and memories of Egypt, she no longer dared to raise her eyes to the sky. Therefore, her nose is cut off and her ears are cut off, since she turned the stench of fragrance into stench and listened to the judgment of blood, which we understand in relation not only to the sense of smell and hearing, but also to vision, which Samson and Samuel were deprived of as a result of abuse. God also make dumb and deaf (Ex. 4:11), so that their tongue does not pass through the earth and so that those who have lost life in themselves will be deprived of all sensation. This will be so that everything will be purified by fire and Egyptian fornication will be destroyed and so that she can no longer turn her eyes to evil. Eze.XXIII:28–35. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you have hated, into the hands of those of whom your soul is full. And they will deal with you out of hatred and will take from you everything that you have acquired (omnes labores tuos), and will leave you naked and full of shame, and the shame of your fornication will be revealed. Your iniquity and your fornications have brought you to this; for you have played the harlot, following the nations, among whom you defiled yourself with their idols. You have walked in the way of your sister: and I will put her cup in your hand. Thus says the Lord God: You will drink your sister's cup deep and wide, and you will be mocked and mocked because of its enormous capacity (quae est sacrassima). You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, the cup of sorrow and sorrow, the cup of your sister Samaria. And you will drink it, and you will drink it down to the very dregs, and you will swallow its shards, and tear your breasts (or, as the LXX translated: I will destroy its holidays and new moons). For I have said [this], says the Lord (the Vulgate adds: God). Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten Me and left Me behind your body; then bear also your iniquity and your fornication. It is useful for Jerusalem to have enmity towards the Assyrians and Chaldeans and not to remember Egypt, but to be handed over for punishment into the hands of those who hated him, to which he surrenders no earlier than as soon as his soul is satiated with them, so that, after repenting of previous sins, he is cleansed through punishment and loses everything acquired through the art of fornication, and sees his nakedness and shame, and learns that all this it was done to him not by the Lord, but by his fornication, with which he committed fornication with the above-mentioned nations, serving their idols. You have gone, he says, along the paths of your sister Samaria; therefore you must drink the cup of the one whose sins you followed. Regarding the cup, which is often used in the sense of punishment and punishment, there is a lot of evidence, among which is the following: the cup in the hand of the Lord of wine is not dissolved, fill with dissolution, and turn away from sowing into this: otherwise its thirst will not be exhausted, all the sins of the earth will drink (Ps. 75:9-10). And Isaiah speaks of the cup of fall and the vial of wrath (Isaiah 51:17). And God says to Jeremiah: Take a cup of undissolved wine from My hand, and give all tongues to drink, to whom I will send you. And they will drink, and vomit, and rob (Jer. 25:15–16). For, as some of the cleansing remedies are given to remove harmful phlegm found in the body; so the Lord gives the cup of torment without any mixture in order to remove all the bile and bitterness from sinners and restore them to their former health. This cup will be deep and wide: deep in the severity (magnitudine) of punishments, wide in the time of captivity. When, he says, you become drunk, and are overcome with grief, and drink the cup to the very dregs [sediments at the bottom] and exhaust it so much that you even swallow its shards; then your former fornication will anger you and you will torment the breasts that were crushed in Egypt and which were squeezed and squeezed by your lovers, or I will destroy your holidays and new moons, so that instead of celebration and joy you will have eternal groaning and sorrow. Since you did this, and forgot Me and left Me behind your body or behind, due to bodily vices or behind the genitals, which means vile shamelessness; then bear your iniquity and wickedness, that is, the punishments that you have earned through your wickedness and iniquity. You can say the words: you will drink to the very scum and you will swallow shards of it, understood in relation to Jerusalem with a special indication that he, after his sister Samaria, drank her cup and, as it were, drank the scum of her torment to the very bottom. Eze.XXIII:36–49. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man! wilt thou not judge Oolla and Ooliva, and reproach them with their crimes (or iniquities); for they committed adultery, and blood was on their hands, and with their idols (or inventions) they committed fornication, and their sons, whom they bore to Me, they brought to them to eat (or caused) through the fire. But this is what they did to Me: they desecrated My sanctuary on that day and violated My Sabbaths. And when they slain their sons to their idols, and entered into my sanctuary on the day when they desecrated it, they did this also in the midst of my house. They sent for people coming from afar, they sent an ambassador to them. So, here came those for whom you washed (or: when they came, you immediately washed) and tinted (in the Vulgate added: antimony) your eyes and adorned yourself with women's attire. You sat down on a magnificent bed, and the table in front of you was decorated (Vulgate: was prepared). You placed My incense and My ointments on it, and the sound of a rejoicing crowd was heard (or: harmonious sounds of rejoicing were heard). And among the men, crowds of people were also brought, and they came from the desert (or: drunken from the desert), putting wrists on their hands and the most beautiful wreaths on their heads. And I said to the one who had reached the point of shamelessness (attrita est) in adultery: now this one too will commit fornication in her fornication. And they came to her: as to a fornicating woman, so they came to Oolla and Ooliva, lawless women (or: to commit lawlessness). These are righteous people, they will judge them with the judgment of adulterers and the judgment of those who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands. For thus says the Lord God: bring a crowd against them and give them over to confusion and robbery, and they will be stoned by the nations and cut down with their swords; Their sons and daughters will be killed and their houses will be burned with fire. And I will destroy iniquity (or wickedness) from the land, and this will serve as a lesson for all women, so as not to commit iniquity (or wickedness) like them. And they will turn your iniquity (or wickedness) upon you, and you will bear [punishment] for your sins with your idols, and you will know that I am the Lord God. As I often reminded, I have placed the few things in which the LXX edition differs from the Hebrew edition to the side so as not to bore the reader. Logical consistency required that the one who separately described the adulteries of Samaria and Jerusalem should also announce their punishment. Everything is said as to adulteresses, and in the form of a generalization, their crimes are briefly stated, so that the people justly stone the adulteresses according to the commandment of the law. Therefore, since they committed adultery, pronounce a just sentence. For they committed adultery with idols and the blood is on their hands, precisely those whom they slaughtered to idols, dedicating to demons the sons whom they bore to Me. And they did this not in the squares, on the mountains and in the groves, as they were accustomed to often do, but they finally desecrated My church by placing a statue of Baal in it. And they profaned My Sabbaths, so that they kept neither place nor time holy. But they were not content with only these adulteries, and it was not enough for them that they slaughtered My sons to their idols or demons, but, carried away by foreign pleasures, they honored the idols of the Assyrians and Chaldeans. When they came, Ooliva, (that is,) Jerusalem, did in relation to them everything that is characteristic of an adulteress, so that you washed your body, painted your eyes with antimony, put on women's clothes, sat on the bed, ready (or prepared) for debauchery, offered food to strengthen the weakened strength of your lovers for debauchery; brought fragrant incense and ointments to the idols, which I, in particular, commanded to be used for Me, and to destroy from the people that soul who wanted to make them for private use (Exod. 30:33); held crowded meetings or all kinds of musical sounds were heard from you, so that not only through sight, but also through hearing and smell and all the senses, you tried to please your lovers who came to you drunk - not having any grace characteristic of city dwellers, but from the desert and steppe, imagining the appearance of villagers and robbers. And lust flared up in you, lawless sisters, to such a frenzy that you placed your wrists and parting pins on the hands and heads of your lovers or on yourselves, in order to be dishonored, dressed in all the ornaments. Therefore I said to her, or to Jerusalem, or Samaria, or both: you have so lost your shame that you do not secretly dishonor yourself and do not try not to be seen by husband or people, but, like harlots, you publicly expose yourself to disgrace by those who come to you, one before the other wanting to dishonor you. Therefore, I will hand you over to be punished by those to whom you yourself have given yourselves over to disgrace. For they are righteous people, because, at My command, they torture an adulteress and a murderer. Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: with the word of your admonition, O prophet, gather a crowd of nations against them, and first let all their wealth be plundered, and then let them be stoned and cut down with swords, their sons and daughters be killed, and their houses burned. All this will happen so that wickedness will be destroyed from the land, and so that all women and all remote areas will learn a lesson - to avoid punishments like these, and so that, having received what you deserve and have suffered [punishment] for your iniquities with your idols, you will know that I am the Lord. All this was said allegorically and under the image of adulteresses against Samaria and Jerusalem, because, having been betrayed to the Assyrians and Chaldeans, they were taken into captivity and their cities were burned with fire - those peoples who, instead of God, worshiped the idols of demons, were exterminated. This can also be attributed [to the time] after the coming of Christ in the sense that righteous people from among the pagan nations themselves judge, through comparison with them, the Samaritans and Jews and hand them over for destruction, to whom the Lord said: your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:38) and: when you see how Jerusalem is at war, then understand that its desolation has come near ( Luke 21:20). For until this time they have committed adultery and are being stoned throughout all the earth. They sent ambassadors to those who were at a distance and could not say: God draw near, I am, says the Lord, and not God from afar (Jer. 23:23), and they prepared for their lovers, the demons, and they turned all the clothes and jewelry received from God, as a gift of nature, to serve the demons and provided their adulterous lovers with their deeds and their beauty, which we understand by wrists and headbands. Their punishment instills fear in the nations, or, better, in those who believe from the pagans, not allowing them to do anything similar to what Samaria and Jerusalem did. Then wickedness will be destroyed from among them when they receive [punishment] for their iniquities and remove from their eyes the veil that lay on the face of Moses (Ex. 34:33) in order to know that He is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they did not recognize as the Son of God. Eze.XXIV:1-14. And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, saying: Son of man! Write down for yourself the name of this day, (precisely) today, on which the king of Babylon strengthened himself against Jerusalem. Say, in the form of a proverb, a parable against the house that angers and tell them: Thus says the Lord God: put a pot, put it, I say, and pour water into it. Put his pieces into it, every good part, thighs and shoulders, chosen and full of bones. Take the fattest animals; put also heaps of bones under it; the brew boiled in him and his bones were boiled among him. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, the pot whose rust is upon it, and its rust has not come off from it; throwing it out piece by piece and piece by piece: the lot did not fall on it. For his blood is among his; he spilled it on a clean stone, but did not spill it on the ground, where it could become covered with dust. To bring My wrath and to take revenge with vengeance, I shed his blood on a clean stone so that she would not be covered. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, whose great fire I will build. Collect the bones that I will burn, the meat will be destroyed, the whole compound will be boiled, and the bones will decay. Place it also empty on the coals, so that it will become hot and its copper will melt, and its uncleanness will melt in it and its rust will be destroyed. A lot of hard work was endured, but its extreme rust did not come off even from the fire. Your uncleanness is vile, for I wanted to cleanse you, but you have not been cleansed from your uncleanness and will not be cleansed until I stop My wrath against you. I, the Lord, said: he comes, and I will do: I will not pass over, I will not spare, and I will not have mercy. According to your ways and according to your plans I have judged you, says the Lord. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, saying: Son of man! Write down for yourself the day from this day on which the king of Babylon strengthened himself against Jerusalem, from this day, and speak a parable against the house that grieves and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Set a pot and fill it with water and put in it the divided parts (divisones), every good cut (incisuram), drumstick and shoulder, after separating the meat from the bones, taken from the choice animals, and light the bones under them; it boiled and his bones were boiled in the midst of it. Therefore thus says the Lord Adonai: O city of blood, the cauldron on which its rust remains, and the rust has not come off from it; he took it out piece by piece; the lot did not fall on him, because his blood was in his midst; I spilled it (rosui) on a very smooth stone; I did not spill it on the ground, where it would have been covered with earth. So that the rage would rise to vengeance with vengeance, I shed his blood on a completely clean stone so that it would not be covered. Therefore this is what the Lord says to Adonai: Woe to the city of blood, and I will raise fear 52 and multiply the wood and kindle the fire so that the meat will rot and the broth will evaporate (imminuatur) and the bones will burn and so that it will stand on its coals. It is lit so that its copper will flare up and burn out, and its uncleanness will be burned up in its midst and the rust will disappear. The rust will be humbled and his great rust will not come off; its rust will be put to shame; your uncleanness is zemma, because you have become defiled and have not been cleansed from your uncleanness. And what will happen if you are not cleansed until I have completed My wrath against you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and will come and fulfill it; I will not delay, I will not have mercy, and I will be implacable. I will judge you according to your ways and according to your plans, says the Lord Adonai. Therefore I will judge you by your blood, and by your thoughts I will judge you, unclean, famous, and excessively wrathful. Much of this was added from Theodotion, as well as the Hebrew word zemma, instead of which we translated vile uncleanness. They also added something that is not in the Hebrew and that is marked in front with a white [dubious place]: therefore I will judge you by your blood and by your thoughts I will judge you, unclean, famous and excessively angry. So, let's talk about each one separately. In the ninth year of the captivity of King Joachim (for in the fifth he 53 began to prophesy) and in the tenth month of the same ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, who was in the country of Babylon, and said to him: Son of man! write down this very day for yourself and know that today the king of Babylon began to besiege Jerusalem in the land of Judea and surround it with an army, and depict this siege with a parable and a saying, which in the present place means a metaphor and allegory. Set up, he says, a copper pot, that is, a cauldron, and pour water into it, and cut all the meat of the fattest animals into pieces, like the thigh, so the drumstick and the shoulder, and carefully separate the meat from the bones, and, having put the meat in the cauldron, put the bones or stack them under the cauldron, and make a heap or elevation of the bones, so that not once, but many times, the brew will boil in the cauldron, and so that the meat in it will boil and the bones under it will burn from fire. But don’t you want, prophet, to know what kind of cauldron this is and what kind of meat or bones it is? So say, says the Lord God: woe to the city of blood, that is, Jerusalem, the cauldron, the rust of which, that is, wickedness, is extremely great, and although fire was laid, its rust did not come off from it. For even in the midst of captivity and torment they persisted in their former wickedness. Destroy it piece by piece and separately, and no one will be saved. The lot did not fall on him, so that some would perish and others would be saved, but common destruction came upon all. For his blood is murder and the killing of sons in his midst. He shed this blood on a completely clean stone, so that it would be visible to everyone and not covered with earth or dust, that is, so that My wrath would not pass, but so that the completely open [shedding] of blood would soon be followed by vengeance. For if blood is spilled on the ground, then, according to the laws of nature, the ground absorbs the moisture of the blood, or it gradually becomes covered with earth and dust. But when blood is spilled onto a stone that is completely smooth and has no depression, it slides and takes up a large space. This indicates that he committed murder not secretly, but publicly, just as it is said to Cain: the blood of your brother cries out to Me (Gen. 4:10). Therefore, tell the city, not of one blood, but of many bloods: Behold, I will build a fire in you, or take out a brand (torrem), which the people call a firebrand (titionem), and not only the soft and tender meat, but also the hardest bones of you, I will so burn that you will have nothing left that is not burned by the fire. And when the meat and bones are destroyed and burned, then place the empty cauldron on the coals, so that its copper will also heat up and be destroyed, and, when the copper is destroyed, its rust will also disappear, that is, so that, after the city is destroyed by fire, wickedness will disappear along with the city. But what is the benefit of doing what was commanded? Even through fire the rust and wickedness of the cauldron and the city cannot be destroyed, but criminal and vile uncleanness remains in it, for this is the meaning of earth. And he makes an appeal to the cauldron itself, that is, to the city itself. I wanted to cleanse you, but you have not cleansed yourself from your uncleanness, and you cannot cleanse yourself until I bring My wrath upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken, and My decision cannot be avoided. The siege of the city is already coming, I will fulfill what I threatened, and I will not pass by, as I often did, your crimes and I will not spare you and will not have mercy on you, even if you multiply your prayers; but I will reward you according to your ways and your plans, or, better yet, I will judge you according to your deeds and thoughts, so that in this I may show my goodness, like a doctor who does not spare a rotten body in order to save healthy members: he does not spare in order to spare; can be cruel in order to show compassion: he pays attention not to the patient’s pain, but to healing the wound, more willing, according to the Gospel word (Matthew 5:30), to lose one member than to destroy the whole body. Also worthy of attention is the consistency with which the captivity occurs from the beginning of the prophecy to the present day, when the siege of Jerusalem begins. First the sword is summoned; then two roads are presented, to Ammon and Jerusalem, of which Nebuchadnezzar’s lot falls on the right side; silver, copper, tin, lead and iron are smelted in the city; also, the earth is not watered by rains, but is filled with thorns, then, under the name of two sisters - Oolla and Ooliva, the sins of Samaria and Jerusalem are spoken of, of which one is taken captive, and the other faces captivity. Finally, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Ezekiel, who was in captivity and those who were with him and betrayed him with King Jeconiah, is given to know on what day the siege of the city began, and the image of a cauldron is presented, [in the sense] that just as meat and bones put into a cauldron will be destroyed by fire, so the whole city with its citizens will perish and none of the besieged will remain who did not perish. from famine, sword, and pestilence, and the rest will be taken captive to Babylon. This same prophecy can also be attributed to the time of the suffering of the Lord, as a result of which Jerusalem was surrounded by an army, and its sons were exterminated, and during the siege by Titus, the son of Vespasian, no one was saved and the church was destroyed, and fifty years later, under Hadrian, the city was destroyed by eternal fire. When Ezekiel saw this vision in Jerusalem, Jeremiah depicts the real captivity at the beginning of his book: what do you see, Jeremiah? He says in response: the konob is set on fire and its face is from the face of the north (Jer. 1:13). Some, following the allegorical meaning, refer this entire place to the end of the world and the ninth number, which in the sacred Scriptures means punishment and illness and always follows justice, is dissolved by the goodness of the tenth month and tenth day. For this is why punishments are used towards the sick, so that the illness is followed by healing. For the world, which lies in evil (1 John 5:19), is burned on the day of judgment with divine fire, and the city of blood is set on coals of fire, so that what is written in Isaiah will be fulfilled (Is. 41:14–15): If you place coals of fire, sit on them; these will help you. It also seems difficult how, in the destruction of coals and bones, of which the Pharisees are also full, to whom the Lord says in the Gospel: woe to you, scribes and hypocrites, for you are like a tomb rolled down, whose interior is full of the bones of the dead and uncleanness (Matthew 23:27), now it is said that rust and uncleanness were not destroyed, but wickedness will remain even after strict court This [difficulty] is easily resolved if we understand the following [saying] of the apostle: God shut all under sin, that He may have mercy on all (Rom. 11:32; Gal. 3:22); For the creation is subject to vanity (Rom. 8:20). The blood that has been shed is left in the sight of all creation so that the crimes of all will be revealed. We can also understand the Lord the Savior as a completely pure stone, which followed the people of Israel in the desert and about which it is written: piyahu for from the spiritual stone that followed; the stone is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4); since through him everything is revealed and what is written is fulfilled: nothing is covered that cannot be revealed (Matthew 10:26). The Lord says that He will not show compassion, and will not pass over the sins of the world, and will not spare the wicked and will not have mercy, so that the ways of the wicked perish, according to what is said at the end of the first psalm (Ps. 1:6): and the way of the wicked will perish. Eze.XXIV:15–27. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! Behold, I take from you by means of a blow the joy of your eyes, but do not complain, and do not cry, and let no tears flow from you. Sigh silently, do not cry for the dead. Let your crown be tied about you, and your sandals be on your feet, and do not cover your face with a veil, and do not eat the food of those who mourn. Thus I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died, and in the morning I did as He commanded me. And the people said to me: Why don’t you tell us what the things you do mean? And I said unto them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the LORD GOD: Behold, I will defile my sanctuary, the pride of your power, and the delight of your eyes, and the cause of your soul, and your sons and your daughters, whom you have forsaken, shall fall by the sword. And you will do the same as I did: you will not cover your faces with a veil and you will not eat the food of mourners; You will have crowns on your heads and sandals on your feet; You will not mourn and cry, but you will melt away from your iniquities, and everyone will groan before each other. And Ezekiel will be a sign for you: everything that he did, you will also do when this comes, and you will know that I am the Lord God. And as for you, son of man, behold, on that day when I will take from them their strength, and the joy of their dignity, and the joy of their eyes, on which their souls, their sons and their daughters, rest, on that day when the one who fled to you comes to give you news: on that day, I say, your mouth will be opened in the presence of this fugitive, and you will speak and will no longer be silent, and you will be a sign for them, and they will know that I am the Lord. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man! behold, I will take from you by the sword (or in preparation) the joy of your eyes; you will not groan and cry, and tears will not come out of you: [this is] the groaning of the blood, the crying of the loins. Your hair will be braided and your sandals will be on your feet, and you will not be comforted by their mouth and you will not eat the bread of men. I told the people in the morning what He commanded me, and in the evening my wife died, and in the morning I did as I was commanded. And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us the meaning of what you are doing?” And I said to them, The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Adonai: Behold, I will profane My holy things, the pride of your strength, the joy of your eyes, and the things that are spared for your souls. Your sons and your daughters whom you have left will fall by the sword, and you will do the same as I did. You will not be comforted by their mouth and you will not eat the bread of men, neither will your hair be on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not complain and cry, and you will perish from your iniquities, and everyone will comfort his brother and Ezekiel will be a sign for you. You will do everything he did. And when this comes, you will know that I am Adonai the Lord. And as for you, son of man, in the day when I will take away their strength, the pride of their glory, the joy of their eyes, and the pride of their glory, their sons and daughters; On that day someone who has escaped will come to you to give you news: On that day your mouth will be opened to him who fled, and you will speak and will no longer be silent, and you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord. Higher up, setting fire to a pot and cauldron meant a siege of the city; Now prophetic speech testifies that it is taken and destroyed, and the entire people are either destroyed by the Sword or taken into captivity. First, in accordance with our custom, let us lay down historical foundations. Son of man! Behold, I will take, he says, from your eyes what serves as a consolation for you, and I will take it with a blow, or, as LXX translated. when preparing, that is, having prepared you, do not do what is usually done when mourning. Do not groan, and do not cry, and do not let the streams of tears reveal your heartache; but if you are overcome by too much sadness, then sigh silently and let it not be expressed in words. Do not cry for the dead, or, as the LXX translated: groaning of blood, crying of the loins, which makes it known that his wife will die. For immediately it follows: and my wife died in the evening, which actually refers to the union of the loins. For there is nothing dearer to a husband than a good wife, who is prepared for man by God and with whom he is united according to the law of the Lord and forms one body with her. The next thing: let your wreath be tied around you and your shoes be on your feet has this meaning; You will have hair that is cut when you are sad, and shoes on your feet that are usually taken off by those who cry. Therefore, David, running away from his son Absalom and repenting of the killing of Uriah, walked with bare feet (2 Sam. 12; 15; 18). The Jews claim that in Babylon the rulers, while keeping the commandments of the law, surround their heads with a decalogue written on parchment, and that this means what they are commanded to hang before their eyes and on their foreheads, so that they can constantly see what is commanded. And since Ezekiel was a priest, he did not have to take off the crown of glory, but had it tied on his head. That's what they would say. But we, according to the Seventy, will understand by a wreath the hairs on the head, although their translation does not fully express the meaning of the Hebrew text. And do not, he says, cover your face with a veil, and do not eat the food of those who cry, to cover your face and accept from those who console you what the Greeks call περίδειπνα (funeral dinners). I said, he says, to the people in the morning what the Lord commanded me, and in the evening my wife died, the joy of the eyes and the weeping of the loins and blood. And immediately the next day in the morning I did what was commanded me, and the people asked me why I acted contrary to the general custom. And to them, asking about the reasons for such patience, I answered the word of the Lord, which came to me, so that I would speak to the people of Israel, thus commanding: Behold, that is, now, I will defile My sanctuary, so that the church and that which was a source of pride for you, that is, confidence, hope and aspirations of your salvation, and the siege of which your souls feared, would be burned and opened to all foreigners and the defiled; I will also destroy the sons and daughters who are left among you from famine and pestilence with the sword. Everything that I did, you will do too. When the custom of crying is observed, the grief is moderate; but when we are subjected to such grave misfortunes that they are higher than crying, then everyone, being preoccupied with his own misfortune, does not cry about the misfortunes of others, even if they were very close to him. You, he says, will not do anything that is usually done when mourning; but after the city and the church are burned, you will become numb from the severity of the disaster. You will not cut your hair, and walk barefoot, and weep, and cover your faces with veils, and accept food from those who comfort you; but you will melt and perish from your iniquities, and you will have almost no freedom to groan, so as not to offend the pride of the victors if they see you publicly crying; so the prophet Ezekiel will be a sign for you, and everything that he did not do at the death of his wife, you will not do at the destruction of the city and the church. And he says even more clearly: son of man! at the time when I will take from them their strength, the church - as we said, the object of hope and joy about the dignity on which they alone placed hope, and the hope on which their souls rested, then also sons and daughters - is implied from the previous: I will take; at that time, he says, when someone who has fled from Jerusalem or has escaped comes to you, saying that the city is destroyed, you, who were previously silent and did not groan freely and who showed such patience that at the death of your wife and the sadness of your loins you did not shed tears, you will open your mouth and you will speak not to the one who comes, but with him, so that everything that you predicted was going to happen, he will announce as having already happened, and you will no longer be remain silent, but you will reprove them and tell them that everything happened to them deservedly, so that you will be a sign for them, in accordance with what is written in Zechariah: “the prophets are significant men” (Zech. 3:8). And in another place the Lord says: in the hands of the prophets we became like (Hos. 12:10). This can be said in historical terms. Let's move on to the mysterious meaning (if, however, this does not seem strained for the wisdom of the careful reader). For everyone there is no doubt that the Lord the Savior is called the son of man, who at the last hour, that is, in the evening of this world, lost his former wife, and did not cry for her, and did not cover his face with a veil, and did not receive any consolation from people, and in the morning he predicted, as would be, what was fulfilled in the evening, and again in the morning, at the second coming, he confirmed, as accomplished, what he predicted, as would be - that the sanctuary of the Jews and that which served as the delight of their eyes and about which their souls trembled has been defiled; also their sons and daughters fell by the sword of the Romans. We will understand the words: you will have a wreath on your heads and shoes on your feet in the sense that you should not cry and accept signs of sadness after the truth has been received instead of a shadow and some have become Nazarenes and each will be comforted by his brother; so that Ezekiel, whom God the Father strengthened, serves as a sign for them, foretelling the future, and when Jerusalem was destroyed, the church was burned and the whole world heard about it and scattered Israel inhabiting the ends of the earth, then the words of the Lord were fulfilled in practice, they have freedom, and after the desecration of His sanctuary, after the fulfillment or overthrow of the law of the killing letter, the glory of the gospel was revealed and Israel will know that He is the Lord and God, who in the morning He predicted this as destined to happen, and in the evening and at the end of the world, He proved by His coming that it had come true. Of course, the Bethlehem monastic monastery of Bl. Jerome, where many visitors flocked who wanted to listen to his edifications or who sought refuge here from the fury of the Goths in Italy and the Saracens in Egypt, Phenicia, Syria and Palestine itself. In many editions, these verses form not the end of the XX, but the beginning of the XXI chapter. Lignum is a felled tree used for heating and burning, logs, firewood. See the meaning of the prophet. Ezekiel ch. XIII Art. 10 (pages 154). This was the name given to the first three persons in the state after the king. Sn. Below is the interpretation of Art. 22 - 27. this same chapter. Perhaps instead of terrorem (fear) one should read torem (brand) here, as one should assume based on the text of LXX and the following explanation of this passage. You might be interested in: