Книга семнадцатая

How many mysteries the seventeenth number contains in the sacred writings, to which the book of interpretations on Isaiah has now reached, I would like to consider this in a few words, the virgin of Christ Eustochius. But since I cannot talk about everything in all places, I will briefly remind you that the psalm inscribed with this number is [the psalm] of the Lord’s servant David, and that he sang the words of the song on the day on which the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, and said: I will love you, O Lord, my strength (v. 1), and so on. The Servant of the Lord is the one to whom the Father says in Isaiah: It is great that You should be called My Servant (Isaiah 49:6). And in another place: “Behold my Child, whom I have chosen, and my beloved, in whom my soul delights” (Isa. 42). This Child, translated meaning mighty with hand, on the day on which the Lord delivered him from the hand of Saul, in our language called the besought or the grave, and from all His enemies who cried out against Him: crucify, crucify Him (Luke 23:22), when, as a conqueror, he ascended to the Father in scarlet robes from Bosra (Isa. 63), then among other words characteristic of a triumphant one, he said: deliver Me from the bickering of people, put Me at the head of the tongues, people, who did not know them, worked for Me, and listened to Me in the ear of the ear (Ps. 17:44-45). And then about the people of Judah: the strange sons lied to Me and made them lame from their paths (Ibid. v. 46), which Elijah also said: How long will you keep churches on both sides (1 Kings 18:21). Finally, this psalm, which is difficult to find in others, is contained in the history of both Samuel and Days. From the singular number, rising by increment to the sevenfold, it reaches the twenty-eighth psalm, which is also called in the inscription of David, at the end of the tabernacle, when the angels are commanded: Bring to the Lord, ye sons of God, bring to the Lord, sons of rams (Ps. 28:1), and all the sacraments of the saving doctrine and the Church are sung: the voice of the Lord is on the waters, the God of glory roars, The Lord is on many waters, the voice of the Lord is in the stronghold (Ibid. vv. 3-4). And a little later: the voice of the Lord brings forth the tree, and opens the oak groves, and in His church everyone speaks glory (Ibid. v. 9). And to indicate the large number of believers, he added: The Lord will inhabit the flood, and the Lord will sit as king forever. (Art. 10). Then, upon the addition of the eighth sacrament, Iisaloi is formed, inscribed with the number thirty-six, the beginning of which is as follows: do not be jealous of the wicked, do not envy those who create iniquity (Ps. 37:1) and the explanation of which requires not a preface, but a special book. And so as not to repeat much now, [I will only respect the fact that] through increasing by multiplication to the fifteenth number, to which the psalms of degrees correspond and in accordance with which the vessel of election lived in Jerusalem with Peter (Gal. 1), the number one hundred twenty 60 is formed, corresponding to the number of the first believers in Christ, who, when they were gathered in the upper room of faith, the Holy Spirit descended on them (Acts 1). Then, reaching in order up to the seventeenth and possessing evangelical dignity, in accordance with the commandment of the Lord about the right sides, he catches one hundred and fifty-three large fish (John 21) and places them in the Church. The prophet Isaiah speaks to her even now. Chapter LX. Art. 1–3. Rise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and darkness the nations: but the Lord will rise above you, and His glory will be visible on you. And the nations will walk in your light, and kings in the radiance of your ascension. LXX: Shine, shine ÷ Jerusalem ⁑ for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Behold, darkness will cover the earth and darkness over the nations; and the Lord will appear above you and His glory will be visible on you. And nations will walk in your light and kings in your radiance. What we understood by the restoration of Zion and Jerusalem and by all that is promised to it in the prophetic foreshadowing, we spoke about this in some detail at the end of the previous book, where we explained what this verse means: the Redeemer of Zion and those who return from iniquity in Jacob will come (Is. 59:20). Now we should briefly touch upon what many people think regarding this passage, so that, having considered the error, we can more easily grasp the truth. The Jews and our half-Jews, expecting from heaven Jerusalem, adorned with gold and precious stones, claim that this will come true in the millennium, when all nations will serve Israel and the camels of Midian and Ephah, coming from Sheba, will bring gold and incense, and all the sheep of Kedar will be gathered and the rams of Neba will come to be slain on the altar church that will be built. Also [they say] about the islands and especially about the ships of Tarshish, that his daughters will fly like doves, bringing riches consisting of gold and silver, that the walls of Jerusalem will be built by foreigners ruled by pagan kings, and that the gates of the city will always be open so that wealth and sacrifices will be brought to Jerusalem day and night. And all the deserts will be built with cypress, and pine, and cedar, cut down in Lebanon, especially the temple of the Lord, in which there will be eternal joy, so that it will suck the milk of the pagans and eat the riches of kings, and there will be such an abundance in everything that instead of copper they will have gold, instead of iron - silver, instead of wood - copper, instead of stones - iron. And not only will its princes enjoy eternal peace and its officers will rule the nations with justice, but its gates will also be carved. But what is more important, instead of the sun and moon, the Lord himself will shine with eternal light, and instead of one person he will have a thousand very strong men and instead of small ones he will have very strong nations. This is said by those who desire earthly pleasures and are looking for beautiful wives and numerous children, for whom God is the womb, and whose glory is in their shame (Phil. 3) and the one who follows their error presents himself, under the name of a Christian, as one like the Jews. Others argue that all this is literally promised to the Jews if they accept the One who says in the Gospel: I am the light of the world (Jn. 8:12), enlightening every person coming into the world, so that just as sacrifices were allowed to the people of Israel not because they were good in themselves, but so that they would not be offered to demons, so the Lord promises this to those inclined to delicacy and not seeking anything other than bodily pleasures, to the Jews, so that at least for the sake of [satisfying their] bodily desires and the abundance of riches they would receive the Son God's and since they did not accept Him, the promises are not fulfilled. Therefore, to the Canaanite woman pleading for her daughter, He said: I have come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). And to His disciples: do not go into the way of the tongue, and do not enter into the city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6). For this reason, the apostles first preached about the Lord in the synagogues, and when He was not received by them, they said to them: it is not wise for you to speak the word first; and having rejected salvation, we are turned into tongues (Acts 13:46). For light has come into the world, but the Jews loved darkness more. Therefore, the Lord, mourning Jerusalem, added: if only you had understood the hedgehog for your peace (Luke 19:42). And since [Jerusalem] did not accept it [the world], he added: now the days will come against you, and the enemy will lay a guard against you and will destroy you and bring you down to the earth with your sons (Luke 19:43). We, in accordance with the previous thought, think that all this is said to the Church: it was first gathered from the pagans and the light that arose over it was transmitted through the apostles to the pagans. She is told: Arise, shine, so that, having fallen among the unbelievers, she will arise among the faithful; having fallen in the synagogues, she will arise in the churches and after her uprising she will shine, so that they will not have the darkness of error. For, he says, your light has come, which all the prophets promised, which you have always expected. And the glory of the Lord, which once was above the tabernacle and His church, has risen above you, about which it is said: glorious was spoken about you, the city of God (Ps. 87:2). For behold, darkness will cover the earth - those who philosophize about earthly things, and darkness - the nations, or as it is read in Hebrew: the tribes, which actually refers to the Jews, about whom in another psalm it is written: there the tribes have risen up, the tribes of the Lord, the testimony of Israel (Ps. 122:4). And the Lord, the sun of righteousness, will rise over you, and His glory will be visible on you, about which it is written: and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). And the nations will be in your light. We will all walk in the light of the apostles, which shines in the world and darkness has not overcome it. And kings, he says, at the radiance of your ascension, when you have just been born in Christ. This is fulfilled both spiritually and physically - that kings, whose heart is in the hand of the Lord, and in whom sin does not reign in the mortal body, walk in the radiance of the nascent church or in the One who ascended in the church, and subdue the necks to faith in the true King Christ. We see this being fulfilled daily when, after the destruction of the error of idolatry and the fury of persecution, Roman dignitaries come over to the faith and peace of Christ. There are those who are all that - about which we say that after the first coming of the Savior before the end of the world it has already been partially fulfilled, and must fully be fulfilled [subsequently] - they expect in the future time, when, after the full number of the pagans has entered, all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25). Their opinion should not be rejected at all, but we must know that this will be fulfilled spiritually, and not physically. Then, the name of Jerusalem and the nations, which appears here among the Seventy, is not in Hebrew, and it should be marked in front with an obel, contrary to those who claim that all this is said to Jerusalem. Art. 4. Lift up your eyes around and see: they have all gathered together and come to you. Your sons have come from afar and your daughters will suck from the breast (in latere). LXX: Lift up your eyes around and look at all your sons gathered together. All your sons have come from afar and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. This is said to the Church, originally gathered in Zion, about which in the Acts of the Apostles we read that in Jerusalem there were devout people from all over the world who received the word of God and either listened to other speakers, or themselves spoke to others in the languages ​​of their own and foreign peoples (Acts 2). And the commandment is to lift up your eyes around, which the Lord also commanded to his disciples, saying: Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already floating for the harvest (John 4:35). For from Zion, and not from Mount Sinai, will come the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And it is commanded that they should lift up their eyes and look at their assembled sons, coming from afar. She is also told in another place: Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, preach to the daughters of Jerusalem (Zeph. 3:14). Behold, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord, and many nations will flee to the Lord, and they will be My people, and I will be their God (Zech. 2:11). And we are sons who came from afar to the Lord, who were once far from God’s covenant and His promises, who had no hope and were without God in the world. But what does the apostle say? You who were sometimes far away are now nearer (Eph. 2:13). The following then: and your daughters will suck from the breast means that infant souls in Christ and in the baptism of infants, about whom the Apostle Peter says: as newborn babies love verbal and unflattering milk (1 Pet. 2:2), suck the milk of the apostles. Paul also said to such babies and nursing children: My children, with them I am still sick, until Christ is imagined in you (Gal. 4:19). And in another place: just as a milkmaid warms her child, so she desires to give you favor, not just the gospel of Christ, but also her soul (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). And what according to the Seventy says: your daughters will be brought on their shoulders, then special attention should be paid to this. For sons who are strong come on their own from afar and are gathered to the faith of the Lord. The daughters, who are weaker and, due to the weakness inherent in sex, have not yet achieved a perfect husband, are carried on the shoulders of the apostles to be brought into the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Art. 5. Then you will see and be filled, and your heart will be amazed and enlarged, when the mass (multitudo) of the sea turns to you, when the power of the nations comes to you LXX: Then you will see, and you will fear and be amazed in your heart, for the wealth of the sea and of the tribes and peoples will be transferred to you. When you lift up your eyes and see your sons and daughters, either by themselves, quickly coming or carried on the shoulders of the saints, then you will rejoice and, like rivers, you will be flooded with unexpectedly appearing waters, and your heart will be surprised and amazed or expanded, listening to the apostle: our mouth is opened to you. And one more thing: do not fit too tightly within us (2 Cor. 6:11), so that, due to the tightness of the heart, you will not be deprived of the opportunity to receive as a guest Christ, who says in the Gospel: I and the Father will come and make our abode with him (John 14:23). What was added to the Seventy: and you will fear is not in the Hebrew, although after great joy fear could arise, so as not to lose such a great good. Is it not a joy [for a person] to see the riches and mass of the sea transported and turned to him and the strength of the nations coming to him, so that everything that is in this age and in the world may be his and so that, after strengthening the faith of the pagans, he can say: I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)? Art. 6–7. Many camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; they will all come from Sheba, bringing gold and incense and proclaiming the glory of the Lord. All the cattle of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you, they will be offered on my acceptable altar, and I will glorify the house of my majesty. LXX: And herds of camels will come to you, and the camels of Midian and Gephar [or Ephah] will cover you; They will all come from Sheba, bringing gold and incense, and will proclaim the salvation of the Lord. All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaoth will come and be offered as propitiation on My altar, and My house of prayer will be glorified. After the riches of the sea and the strength of the nations, also herds of camels and dromedaries from Midian and Ephah are promised to Jerusalem, who will all come from Sheba, bringing gold and incense, and more importantly, proclaiming the salvation of the Lord. Also, all the sheep from Kedar will be gathered in the Church and the rams of Nebaioth will come or, as it is written in Hebrew, will serve and will offer or offer sacrifices on the altar of the Lord, so that His house may be glorious. Midian and Ephah are countries on the other side of Arabia, abounding in camels, and the whole country is called Sheba, from where was the Queen of Sheba, who came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and also brought gold and incense, bringing much to the peace-loving king and receiving even more from him. Kedar is the country of the Saracens, who are called Ishmaelites in the Holy Scriptures. And Nebaioth is one of the sons of Ishmael, after whom the desert is called, poor in fruits, but rich in livestock. Consequently, through the familiar names of foreign nations neighboring Israel, the conversion of the whole world is foreshadowed. For Midian in this place means iniquity, Ephah - detached or pouring out, Sheba - conversion or captivity, Kedar - darkness, Nebaioth - prophecy. Thus the herds of camels, freed from the bonds of iniquity and pouring out their souls before God, will cover Jerusalem with gifts and all will come from captivity and their conversion, bringing the gold of faith and the incense of sacrifice. And through these gifts, not being satisfied with their own salvation, they will succeed so much that they will even proclaim God’s salvation to others. That rich man, who in the Gospel, like a camel, bore the burden of wealth and was a camel, did not want to heed the advice of the Lord and free himself from the burden, so that, having thrown off the burden, he would fly on the wings of a dove in the sky; so he went away sad. And about this kind of camel the Savior says: it is more convenient for me to pass through needle ears than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24). He presented the difficulty of the matter, but not the impossibility. Therefore, to sacred memory, your mother Paula and brother Pammachius passed through the hole of the needle, that is, through the narrow and narrow path leading to life, into the kingdom of heaven, leaving the wide path with burdens leading to hell. Or rather, they brought everything they had as gifts to the Lord, fulfilling what was written: the deliverance of a man’s soul is his wealth (Prov. 13:8). For what is impossible for men is possible for God (Matthew 19). Having primacy in their gifts, in their thoughts gold and fragrant incense and saying: May my prayer be corrected like an incense before You (Ps. 141:2) and: The fragrance of Christ is in every place (2 Cor. 2:15), by example of their virtue daily proclaim the salvation of the Lord, so that all the sheep of Kedar will gather in the church and come from the darkness of error to light, and so that the rams of the prophets, about whom it is sung in the twenty-eighth psalm: offer to the Lord, sons of God, offer to the Lord the sons of rams (Ps. 28:1) came and were offered or, according to Theodotion, sacrificed themselves to the Lord and were acceptable sacrifices, so that the Church of Christ would be glorified. About this kind of sheep the Savior says to the disciples: go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6), and also: My sheep hear My voice (John 10), and in more detail from Ezekiel: Behold, I will seek My sheep and will greet them, as a shepherd greets his flock. This says the Lord: I will seek the lost, and bring back the lost, and will bind the broken, and strengthen the weak, and will provide and preserve the strong with justice (Ezek. 34:11–12), (Ezek. 34:16). And so that we know what kind of sheep these are, he says with greater clarity: And they will convince you that I am the Lord their God, and these people are My house of Israel, says Adonai the Lord. But you are My sheep, and the sheep of My pasture, and I am the Lord your God (Ezek. 34:30–31). So, if anyone from among the nations is rich, let him be saved like a camel, not without giving and gifts, so that he can proclaim the word of the Lord. If anyone has the simplicity of sheep and the strength of rams, let him ascend or be offered on the altar of the Lord by those who surpass them in strength, so that His house may be glorified. And what we noted as written in Hebrew: the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and will be offered on My pleasing altar, this is of course true in relation to those who, having been chosen from among the pagans to serve, become servants of the Savior. If anyone loves debate and claims that this is promised in the literal sense, we will answer him: we are not imams of this custom, lower than the church of God (1 Cor. 11:16), and let us say that even if this was promised to the Jews in the literal sense, it was however promised under the condition that if they accepted their light, which was sent to them, then this too would follow, that is, if, due to an addiction to gold and the abundance of riches and [other] bodily objects with which this people had always been captivated, they would accept the Son of God, and since they did not accept Him, then everything was destroyed, including the spiritual inheritance given to those who accepted [Him]. Art. 8–9. Who are they flying like clouds and like doves to their dovecotes (fenestras). For the islands wait for Me, and in the beginning the ships of the sea, to bring your sons from afar, and with them their silver and their gold, in the name of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. LXX: Who is it that flies like clouds and like doves with their chicks towards Me? The islands were waiting for me and the ships of Tarshish were ahead of me to bring your sons from afar, and with them their silver and gold, for the sake of the holy name of the Lord and because the saint of Israel was glorified. Since the Lord ascended to Egypt on a light cloud and commanded the clouds from the prophets so that they would not rain on Israel, the church, originally gathered from the people of the circumcision, is surprised that a mass of peoples from all over the globe are flying to it, and having received the wings of the Holy Spirit, they rush along Symmachus and Theodotion to their dovecotes, along Aquila to their gateways (cataractas) to enter to church. Or teachers together with their students, that is, pigeons with their chicks, fly to the church from the pagan islands, which, according to the prophecies of the prophets, were waiting for the Lord. Also, the ships of Tarshish, that is, the seas, which we spoke about in more detail in the vision of Tyre, will bring their sons to the church at the beginning of faith, bringing gold and silver. For with the heart one believes the truth, but with the mouth one confesses for salvation (Rom. 10:10). About this gold and silver in the sixty-seventh psalm it is written: the krill of the dove is plated with silver and its space is in the glitter of gold (Ps. 67:14), and in the seventy-first: the kings of Tharsia and the islands will bring gifts, and the kings of Arabia and Sheba will bring gifts (Ps. 71:10). All this is offered in the name of the Lord God and the Holy One of Israel, who will glorify him. Art. 10–12. And the sons of foreigners will build your walls, and their kings will serve you. For in My wrath I struck you down, and at My reconciliation I had mercy on you. And your gates will always be open, they will not be shut, day or night, so that the strength (fortitudo) of the nations will be brought to you and their kings will be brought to you. For the people and the kingdom that do not serve you will perish, and [such] nations will be ruined to the point of desolation. LXX: And foreigners will build your walls and their kings will stand before you. For because of My anger I struck you, and because of My mercy I loved you. And your gates will always be open, they will not be shut day or night, so that you may bring in the strength of the nations and their kings who are to be brought to you. For the nations and kings who do not serve you will perish; the nations will be ruined to the point of desolation. By the way, by what the Church is enriched [or built] and the city of the Savior is built, foreigners and sons of foreigners also build its walls so that the enemy cannot enter and unbelief cannot find a place. Foreigners and foreigners actually mean pagan peoples, who in truth built the church of Christ, so that their kings and princes serve or stand before it. This can be taken either literally or spiritually. Literally, we see that the Roman Caesars subjugate the neck and yoke of Christ and build churches at the public expense and make laws against the persecution of pagans and the machinations of heretics. If it is spiritual, then those who take precedence among them in continence, eloquence, holiness and subordinate the ministry of the body to the power of the spirit, themselves serve and stand before or help her who is often abandoned due to inattention or struck by the rod of persecutors, so that He will love her again for the reason of His mercy. Or at least it should be said that He will reconcile the one who was once struck and given into captivity among the Jewish people to Himself in the calling of the Gentiles, so that its gates will always be open and will not be locked day or night, and will be constantly open for those who want to be saved, that is, so that those who want to believe in Him in joy or in sorrow will not be prohibited from entering. And the power or wealth of the nations will be brought to her, and their kings will serve or will be brought to her as captives. You will understand this then when you see that the most eloquent [people] are brought to the faith of Christ and that the wisdom of the wise is made foolish and the understanding of the prudent is rejected, so that the foolish things of God may be wiser than men (1 Cor. 1). The people and their kings, who do not want to serve the Church with good and useful service in order to transfer it [or transfer it] to apostolic dignity, will perish with the destruction prepared for the wicked, and everything that was with those who did not want to have God as a guest will be turned into desolation. Art. 13–14. The glory of Lebanon will come to you, fir and beech and pine together to adorn the place of My sanctification, and I will glorify the place of My feet. And the sons of those who oppressed you will come to you bowed down, and all those who reviled you will bow down at the soles of your feet, and they will call you the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. LXX: The glory of Lebanon will come to you in cypress and pine and cedar together, so that My holy place may be glorified, ⁜ and the place of My feet will be glorified ⁑. And the sons of those who oppressed you and provoked you will come to you with fear, and all those who provoked you will bow down at the soles of your feet and will call you the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. The Seventy lack many things, which I put under the asterisks from the Hebrew, and what they added, I marked in front with an obel. Lebanon is a mountain in Phenicia, covered with tall trees, describing which the psalmist says: I saw the wicked exalting himself and hanging like the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 36:33), and in another place: the Lord destroys the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 28:5), and much more, which I, for the sake of brevity, omit. From here Hiram, king of Tyre, once sent trees to King Solomon in Joppa to build the church of God (1 Kings 3). Regarding him, also now, Scripture promises that spruce, and beech, and pine, or, according to the Seventy, cypress, and pine and cedar, or, according to Aquila, pine, taadaor and taassur, or according to Theodotion, vrais [or gates], taadaor and teassur, will be cut down together to build the temple of Zion. And if this is so, then where will the Jerusalem of gold and precious stones be? Where is the Lamb's wife? Where are the twelve gates, decorated with various precious stones? Unless, perhaps, it will have walls and foundations made of precious stones, and the church, which should be more decorated, will be built of wood? On this basis, we should all understand spiritually - that the spruce, cypress, pine and cedar, which were once tall trees in Lebanon, will glorify the church of God and the place of His feet and make it glorious. And in order not to clarify thoughts through verbose speech, [I will only point out the following]: the holy man and most eloquent martyr Cyprian and the confessor of our time Hilary, who were once the tallest trees in the world, do not they seem to you to have built the Church of God? The following is then: and the sons of those who oppressed you will come to you bowed down or returning, and they will bow down at the soles of your feet; all those who reviled you, we must understand in relation to those who, not as a result of desire, but out of necessity, became Christians, and for fear of offending the rulers, bend down with fear in their souls, or at least [should understand this way] that those who were formerly persecutors later believed. Such was the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the churches of God, and was later called the vessel of election (Acts 9); (1 Tim. 1). When this is so fulfilled that the full number of the Gentiles comes in, then all Israel will be saved. And it will be called the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel, which stands on high and is gathered from both nations. Art. 15–16. Because you were abandoned and hated and there was no one who passed [through you], I will make you the pride of ages, the joy of all generations, and you will suck the milk of nations and suck the breast of kings. And you will know that I am the Lord who saves you, and your redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. LXX: Because you were abandoned and hated and there was no one to help: I ​​will make you an everlasting rejoicing, a joy throughout all generations. And you will suck the milk of nations and eat the wealth of kings. And you will know that I am the Lord who saved you and delivered you, the God of Jacob. Previously, it was abandoned and hated, with branches broken off on you, because there was none of those who would pass by and provide help there, about whom the Psalms say: and do not decide for those who pass by: the blessing of the Lord is on you (Ps. 129:8): therefore I will make you the pride of the people and the joy of two generations, since instead of the previous branches, others have been grafted in from the wild olive of the pagans, which, contrary grafted by nature, bear fruits that do not have the same bitterness, but the sweetness received from the root. You will also suck the milk of nations and suck the breast of kings. What is the meaning of this passage, we outlined this in more detail above when explaining this verse: your sons will come from afar and your daughters will suck from their breasts; or according to the Seventy: you will eat the wealth of kings. This wealth, according to the Hebrew original, is the breasts of kings and teachers, with which the newborn babies in Christ are taught and nourished. When you have sucked them and come to solid food to also eat the riches of this kind of kings, then you will know that I am your Savior, who redeemed you with My blood, or the mighty God of Jacob. Art. 17–18. Instead of copper I will provide gold, instead of iron I will provide silver, and instead of wood copper, and instead of stones iron, and I will make peace your overseer and your officers for righteousness. There will be no more lawlessness in your land, no more desolation and destruction within your borders, and salvation will occupy your walls and glory will occupy your gates. LXX: Instead of copper I will give you gold, and instead of iron I will give you silver, and instead of wood I will give you copper, and instead of stones iron. And I will give you your princes in peace and your officers (episcopos) in righteousness, and iniquity will no longer be heard in your land, nor destruction and disaster within your borders, but your walls will be called salvation and your gates graven images. The same object, depending on the quality of the places, serves as a genus for one, and as a species for another. And so that it does not seem that I am talking about the arts of rhetoric and dialectic, I will present general examples that could enlighten the uneducated (simplicem) reader. My son, who serves as a species in relation to me and who has me as a kin, serves as a kin for his son. I will also say something else: what is greater in relation in one thing is less in relation in another. A centurion is larger than a common soldier, but smaller than a tribune. Five is not much in relation to ten, but a lot in relation to one. Thus, during the restoration of spiritual Jerusalem, wood will turn into copper and stones will change into iron, that is, people who were once senseless and insensitive will change into objects that could be of some benefit to the city. And copper and iron itself, through the increase of virtues, will be changed into gold and silver, so that they have not the appearance [only] of usefulness, but value and beauty. We have often talked about what gold and silver mean in the scriptures. I will appoint, he says, your princes for peace and your officers for righteousness. Here the greatness of the Holy Scripture deserves surprise, that it called the future leaders of the Church overseers (episcopos), all the supervision of which takes place in the world and the name of the dignity [whose] is in righteousness, so that they will not show partiality in judgment and no lawlessness will be heard in the land of the Church and ruin and disaster within its borders. For all this will follow where there is lawlessness and righteousness is not observed and peace disappears. But instead of all this, he says, salvation will be occupied by your walls or the Savior, who according to Jewish reading is called Jesus, which actually serves as the name of the Lord, for He Himself serves as the stronghold of the walls of the Church, which has gates to the glory of the Lord, so that those who enter them first of all learn to glorify the Lord and confess His name. And that LXX instead of glory translated γλ ύ μμα, that is, statue, then regarding this we can say that the gates of the Church must be sculptured from all the virtues, so that through them we can enter into it. Art. 19–20. The sun will no longer serve you for daylight and the shine of the moon will not illuminate you; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun will no longer set and your moon will no longer wane, for the Lord will be an everlasting light and the days of your mourning will end. LXX: The sun will no longer serve you for daylight, and the rising of the moon will not give you light during the night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and God your glory. For the sun will not go down on you and the moon will not be darkened on you. And the Lord will be an everlasting light and the days of your mourning will end. This section forces us to relate everything that has been said and that will be said to the last time, when, after the passing of heaven and earth, the ministry of the sun and moon will cease, and the Lord himself will be the eternal light, so that what, according to the chiliasts, must be literally (canialiter) fulfilled, we recognize as having to be fulfilled spiritually, differing from them in relation to the property of promises, and not time. They should be answered briefly that while for false prophets and sinners the sun sets at noon, and vice versa, for those who fear God the sun of righteousness rises; then why does not [the sun of righteousness] constantly [shine] for the saints - the one who says: I am the light of the world (John 8:12), who shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome Him (John 1:1)? During the days the sun will not burn us, but the moon will not burn us at night (Ps. 120:6). For we have the Lord as eternal light, and the days of our sorrow will end when we do not weep at the destruction of Jerusalem, but rejoice at the building of the Church. For blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who mourn because they will laugh. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied (Matt. 5; Luke 6), so that, after being satisfied with the flesh of the Lord, they will pour out the word of the Lord from their hearts and speak about their deeds to the king (Ps. 44). Art. 21–22. All your people will be righteous, they will inherit the earth forever, a branch of My planting, a work of My hand for glorification. From the smallest will come thousands, and from the least a very strong people. I, the Lord, will suddenly do this during it. LXX: Your entire righteous people will always possess the land, preserving the plantings and the works of their hands for glory. From the smallest will come thousands, and from the least a great nation. I, the Lord, will gather them. At the end and cessation of the days of sorrow, when sorrow turns into joy, all the people of Zion will be righteous and, because of righteousness, will inherit the land of the meek. And one should not be surprised if, in order to receive the benefits of the promise, he holds back the land of the meek and the living, about which the prophet sighs, saying: I believe to see the good of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. 27:13), since this is the branch of the planting of the Lord and the work of his hands is for the glorification of God. For every garden that My heavenly Father does not plant will be uprooted (Matthew 15:13). Or according to the Seventy, the people who keep the planting of God and the work of the Lord’s hands will be preserved for the glory of the Creator. God speaks about a good planting through Jeremiah: I have planted thee, the fruitful grapes (bonam) are all true (Jer. 2:21), which in Isaiah is called the vine of Sorek (Is. 2). And since Paul, as a result of the consciousness of the virtues of Christ speaking in Him, could say: be imitators of me, as I was of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1), then he said to the Corinthians: I was planted, Apollos gave water, but the Lord will increase (1 Cor. 3:6). For what is planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in its courts (Ps. 91:14). Then the one who was small will turn into a thousand, hearing from the Lord: be the region over five cities or over ten cities (Luke 19:17), (Luke 19:19), so that he will be called χιλίαρχος [chief of a thousand]. And whoever said with the apostle: to me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given (Eph. 3:8), he will be the head of a great race in heaven, when at the appointed time the Lord sends His angels, and they gather to Him all His saints from one end of heaven to the other (Matt. 21), - not only from Israel, but also from the pagan nations, pointing to which He [the Savior] said: and Some sheep are imam, even though they are not of this fold, and you must accept My name, and there will be one flock and one shepherd (Jn. 10:16). He will do this suddenly, so that when they have no hope, a very strong people will be formed from them. Although we partially see the fulfillment of this every day, it will be accomplished with greater completeness at the end of the world, at the second coming of the Savior. Chapter LXI. Art. 1–3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed me, He has sent Me to proclaim good news to the meek, to heal the brokenhearted, and to preach release to the captives and the opening of prison [to the prisoners], to preach the summer acceptable to the Lord and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn, to give Zion to those who mourn, and to give them a crown instead of ashes, instead of mourning, the oil of joy, instead of the spirit of sorrow, a robe (pallium) of praise. LXX: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He anointed Me, He sent Me to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to call the acceptable summer of the Lord and the day of recompense, to comfort all who mourn, to give Zion to those who mourn, to give them glory instead of ashes, an anointing of joy to those who mourn, a robe of glory instead of the spirit of sorrow. The one who said above: I, the Lord, will gather them at the right time, or in Hebrew: I, the Lord, will suddenly do this at the time, says after that: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, not because the Lord God has the Lord God, but because He speaks in accordance with the economy of the incarnation that which is characteristic of humiliation. The psalmist also said to Him: Thou hast loved righteousness, and thou hast hated iniquity; therefore, for the sake of Thy anointing, O God, Thy God is more than a partaker of Thy with the oil of joy (Ps. 44:8). For when partakers are called, you must understand the bodily nature, because God has no partakers. And since the anointing was spiritual, and not [anointing] the human body, as was the case in the Jewish priesthood, it is said that He anointed the communicants, that is, the other saints. His anointing took place at the time when He was baptized in the Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove and remained on Him (John 1:32). This same prophet also spoke about him: a rod will come out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will arise from its root, and the Spirit of God will rest on Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety (Is. 11: 1–2). Therefore, when the Savior, after baptism in the Jordan, came to Nazareth, where he was raised, he entered their synagogue, according to custom, on the Sabbath day. And when he stood up to read, the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, opening which He found it written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, His is for the anointing of Me; to preach My messenger to the poor, to preach remission to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the brokenhearted free, to preach the joyful year of the Lord (Luke 4:18–19). When, having covered the book, He gave it to the servant and sat down, the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, and He began to say to them: Today this scripture will be fulfilled in your ears. And everyone bears witness to Him. And marvel at the words of grace that proceeded from His mouth (Luke 4:21–22). So, if at that time the prophecy was fulfilled, then how do some attribute what is said [here] to the time of death? Unless we can only say that then it was fulfilled in part, and it will be fulfilled more fully when all the people of God are righteous, for now we understand in part and prophesy in part. When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with (1 Cor. 13:2-10). Thus, He is anointed with the Holy Spirit in order to preach the gospel to the poor or meek, as He says in the Gospel: blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:4–5). And He was sent to heal those who are broken-hearted (Luke 4:18) and say: God will not despise a broken and humble heart (Ps. 50:19), or, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, to bind up the wounds of sins, to preach liberation to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and opening [of prison] to the prisoners, which Symmachus translated more clearly: release to prisoners. About Him, or rather to Him, it is said above: behold, I opened the eyes of the blind to the light of tongues, to bring thee out of the bound chains and from the dark house of those who sit in darkness (Isa. 42:6-7). By favorable summer and day of reward we mean the entire time of His preaching, during which He lived in the flesh. The apostle explains this in relation to the first coming of the Savior, saying: now is a burden acceptable, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2), which we spoke about in more detail above 61. If reward is taken in the sense not of merit in good, but of punishment for sins, according to which it is called the day of vengeance, then it should be understood that in relation to the Jewish people, who, after His suffering, were immediately overcome by the wrath of God. And He comforted all those who mourned, saying: Blessed be to those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4), to give Zion to those who mourn and give them glory and a crown instead of ashes. From among them was the Apostle Paul, who mourned Zion and said: for my sorrow is great and unceasing sorrow (Rom. 9:2). And one more thing: I myself prayed that I might be excommunicated from Christ according to my brethren and my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites (Rom. 9:3-4). And since they were weeping and mourning, instead of ashes they received the oil of joy, seeing that very many of the Jews believed and put on very clean clothes instead of mourning clothes. Art. 3–5. Then they will be called in it mighty in righteousness, the planting of the Lord to be glorified. And they will build up the centuries-old deserts, and erect ancient ruins, and restore cities that have been devastated for generations. And strangers will come and feed your flocks (pecora), and the sons of foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers. LXX: And they will be called generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory. And the everlasting deserts will be built up, those that were once desolate will be raised up, and the cities that were desolate, devastated for generations, will be rebuilt, and foreigners will come and feed your sheep, and from other generations there will be herdsmen and vinedressers. After the apostles and apostolic men, instead of ashes and the spirit of sorrow, receive the oil of joy and the pallium or, according to the Seventy, the table of 62 glory and praise; then they will be called generations of righteousness, the glorious planting of the Lord, or in Hebrew ele, through both syllables extended, strong and in God's righteousness or the planting of the Lord for glorification, so that when they are glorified or when they themselves glorify the Lord, they will build cities that were forever desolate, and restore the ancient ruins of both the Jewish people and all nations that will not only possess knowledge to build and renew cities, but they will also be the best shepherds, so that, after the rejection of the previous shepherds, to whom God said through Ezekiel: O ole shepherds of Israel! Do the shepherds graze their own food? Are there not more sheep (Ezek. 34:3)? could listen with the Apostle Peter: feed my sheep (John 21:17). And in a miraculous way, masons and shepherds will become farmers, that is, farmers and winegrowers, so that they can say with the Apostle: “We are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3). Therefore, the Savior asks the scribes and Pharisees, the winegrowers and farmers of the Jews: what will He do with the bad winegrowers and farmers? And when they answered: He will destroy the wicked with evil and betray the grapes with another worker, then He added: the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a tongue that produces its fruits (Matthew 21:41-43). This doesn't need any explanation. For how many heads of churches are from Jews, and not from foreigners and people from foreign nations, who formerly served demons and were far from the covenant of God and alien to His promises and were without God in the world, and now they rule the churches and with the plow of faith they humble the rude hearts of the pagans, which were previously indomitable, in order to bear fruit, so that they may multiply the sowing of the teachings of Christ with an abundance of good business? Art. 6–8. And you will be called priests of the Lord, “servants of our God,” they will say to you. You will devour the strength of nations and be proud of their glory. For your double disgrace and shame, they will praise their part: and therefore they will receive double in their land, they will have eternal joy. For I am the Lord, who loves righteousness and hates theft of burnt offerings. LXX: And you will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You will devour the strength of nations and will arouse wonder with their riches. So they will possess the earth for the second time and eternal joy will be on their head. For I am the Lord, who loves righteousness and hates lawless robbery. The builders of the cities that were desolate and the shepherds of the flocks, they are also the oratai and the winegrowers, that is, the sons of foreigners, also serve as priests of God, in which the prophet now says: but you will be called priests of the Lord, “servants of our God” they will say to you, without a doubt, meaning the heads of the churches. Or, perhaps, it should be understood in relation to the apostles, so that the train of thought is as follows: when masons, shepherds, oratoi and winegrowers from the pagans will be leaders of the churches - you, about whom it was said: the remnant will be saved (Rom. 9:27) and: if the Lord of hosts had not left us seeds, as Sodom would have been, and as Gomorrah would have been like (Is. 1:9), you will be called priests and servants of God, just as the sons of David were, about whom the Scripture says: “And the sons of David were priests of God” (2 Samuel 8). They will devour the strength of the nations and will excite wonder at their riches. For the crown of the fathers is the glory of the children, and the prosperity of the people is the feast of the priests (Proverbs 17). Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this kind of riches: I thank my God in Christ Jesus, for in Him I have been enriched in everything, in all speech and in all understanding, just as the testimony of Christ is made known to you, so that you will not lack a single gift (1 Cor. 1:4-7). The strength of the nations is the triumph of the martyrs, and we are proud of their glory - not that pride that serves as a vice, which God resists in order to give grace to the humble (James 4), but that which results from power and glory. That's why Moses had a horned face [shining with rays]; who could say: because of You we will rip our enemies by the horns (Ps. 43:6). Aquila, instead of the pride of glory, translated κ α ὶ ἐν δό ξῃ, α ὐ τ ῶ ν πορφύρ ᾳ ἐ νούιε θ αι, that is: you will be clothed in purple, to indicate the distinctive royal decoration The following then: for the double shame and shame they will praise their part, which is not in the Hebrew, so it should, in my opinion, be explained. Because you have had double shame, both from the Jewish people, who apostatized from God, and from the pagans, who served idols, you will see them, after turning to the fear of God, praising their part, without a doubt - the Lord, about whom the saint said: “my part is the Lord” (Ps. 72). No one can say this except he who has another part. So, since you had from them double shame and the shame of their sin, which they themselves were not ashamed of, then in their land, that is, in the land of the meek and living, they will receive double when they believe in both the present and the future. And they will have eternal joy, instead of which the Seventy read: so they will possess the earth a second time. And eternal joy will be on their head, because the Jews who possessed the land within very narrow limits will subsequently possess the entire globe. About this land the Father says to the Savior: ask of Me, and I will give the tongues, Your heritage, and Your possession, the ends of the earth (Ps. 2:8). This was granted by the Lord, who loves true judgment and hates theft during burnt offerings, instead of which LXX translated: lawless theft, as if any theft were not lawless. Thus, what he says means this: God loves the poverty of the righteous more than the gifts of the rich, which come from robbery and iniquity. Art. 9. And I will give their cause in truth, and will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed and their descendants will be known among the nations among the nations. All who see them will know them that they are the seed that God has blessed. LXX: And I will give their labor to the righteous, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their grandchildren among the nations. Anyone who sees them knows them to be seed blessed by God. God, who loves righteousness and judgment and turns away from burnt offerings combined with violence (for what comes from theft, God counts it for the wages of a harlot and for the price of a dog), the very labor of those who will again possess the earth and who will be crowned with extreme joy will give to the righteous, or, as it better stands in Hebrew, according to the truth, so that it will not be a shadow of the truth, as in the Law, but the truth itself. And he will make an everlasting covenant, not the same as He gave to Moses and which has passed away, but the covenant of the Gospel, about which Christ says: heaven and earth will pass by, but My words will not pass by (Matthew 24:35). And then the seed of the apostles will be known among the nations, and all future tribes will receive the seed of the teaching of God, without saying what the people of the circumcision sinned before, saying: “For what else does God seek besides the seed?” Anyone who sees them will know at first glance that this is the seed that the Lord has blessed. For who does not recognize the people of God by their way of life, by meekness, self-control, hospitality and all the virtues? And who, on the contrary, will not turn away from the bloody hands of Israel, in relation to which the prophet prays, saying: Fill their faces with dishonor, O Lord (Ps. 82:17). Art. 10–11. I will rejoice in the Lord with joy, and my soul will rejoice (vulg. rejoice) in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation and has clothed me with the garments of righteousness, as a groom adorned with a crown, and as a bride adorned with his necklace. For as the earth produces its greenery and the garden brings forth what is sown in it, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to increase before all nations. LXX: They will rejoice in the Lord with joy. May my soul rejoice in the Lord. For He has clothed me with the robe of salvation, and has clothed me with the robe of gladness, as He has adorned me as a bridegroom with a headdress, and as a bride with a woman’s attire, and as the earth that produces its blossom, and as a garden produces its seeds: so the Lord God manifests righteousness and praise before all nations. The beginning of the department of the Seventy, who said: They will rejoice in the Lord with joy, is connected with the end of the previous department. According to Hebrew, this is the beginning of another section, in which the Church is displayed, responding to the words of Christ: I will rejoice in the Lord and my soul will rejoice in my God - not about the fathers, as the Jews boasted, saying: We are the seed of Abraham and no one’s servant (John 8:33), but about God, in accordance with the words of Scripture: But the people who believed had one heart and one soul (Acts. 4:32). He further indicates the reasons for the joy: For He has clothed me with the robe of salvation and the robe or tunic of righteousness and joy, which in Hebrew is called mail, adorned and clothed me. For all of us who were baptized into Christ put on Christ (Gal. 3) and have Him as the robe of righteousness, who became holiness, righteousness and redemption for us (1 Cor. 1). He also presents a comparison of two flocks in the Church: perfect and beginners. He compares the perfect ones to the beauty of the groom, and likens the beginners to the decoration of the bride. Perfect was Paul, who, like a bridegroom, adorned with a crown and had to be crowned, or as Aquila translated: ἱ ερατευμένο ς οτεφρά ῳ; what in our language is called the one who wears a priestly crown, spoke according to the authority of Christ who spoke in him, fought a good fight, passed on to his death, and kept the faith. Otherwise, the crown of righteousness is kept for me (2 Tim. 4:7), and in another place: if you are perfect, let us be wise (Phil. 3:15). For beginners, he was compared to the fulfillment when, on behalf of the beginners, he said: “When a child was born, like a child he spoke, like a child he was wise, like a child he understood (1 Cor. 13:11), and also: we see in part and we understand in part, until that which is perfect comes (1 Cor. 13:8-10). Therefore, it is likened to the adornment of a bride, adorned with a woman’s attire or, as others have translated, with her ornaments (vasis) or her necklaces. And he presents examples of another comparison, of which the first refers to the groom, the second to the bride. Just as the earth produces its greenery and is watered by heavenly rains, and just as a garden, in need of the waters of springs and rivers, produces its seed: so, he says, the Lord will increase righteousness and joy before all nations - not before Israel, to defeat the arrogance of the Jews, but before all the nations who gather in the Church. Chapter LXII. Art. 1. – For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, until her righteous one comes out like a radiance and burns like a lamp. His savior. And the nations will see your righteousness and all the kings will see your glory, and they will call you by the new name which the mouth of the Lord has called. And you will [vulg. shall be ] a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of thy God. LXX: For the sake of Zion I will not be silent and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not leave until her righteousness comes out like a light and her salvation burns like a lamp. And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings will see your glory, and they will call you by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will call you. And you will be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of your God. The Lord and Savior said: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, therefore He has anointed Me (Isa. 61:1), to the place where it is written: All who see them will know that they are the seed that the Lord has blessed. After this promise, the Church answers: I will rejoice in the Lord with joy, in the third psalm of degrees, on behalf of the repentant people, singing with joy: I rejoice in those who said to me: let us go to the house of the Lord (Ps. 122:1); now the face of the prophet is introduced, saying: for the sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest. Day and night, he says, I will not close my lips and my speech will never cease, but until then I will cry out and add prayers to prayers, until the Promised One comes and illuminates the entire universe with His radiance. And who is the One whom he seeks, whose coming he desires, he sets out this very clearly, until he comes out like a radiance. His righteousness will not burn like a lamp, his Savior, or the Seventy: until his righteousness comes out like a light, and his salvation will not burn like a lamp. He who said in the Gospel: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), although he was kindled in Zion and Jerusalem, will not shine in Judea alone, but it will be said to her: “The light that is with you has been kindled; coming from the Father, it began to burn within your borders and will illuminate all nations.” And all the kings, Jerusalem and Zion, will see your Glorious One, who was born from your tribe, who, lifted up by you on the cross, drew everyone to Himself, so that all nations see His righteousness, with which the Creator had mercy on the nations of all, and kings - His glory, with which He was glorified on the cross and subjected all kingdoms to His power. Therefore, it will not be called Jerusalem and Zion, but will receive a new name, which was given to it by God, who said to the Apostle Peter: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). This name comes from God, so she will be called the Lord's. And her people will not be called by the old name, Israelite, but by a new name, that is, Christian. And it will be like a crown to the hand of the Lord and like a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of His God, when the host of believers crowns it, and a diadem of power, which the martyrs will decorate with various precious stones, will be in the hand of God, so that He will crown His Son with their victories. Therefore, the Apostle Paul said to the saints: “My joy and crown” (Phil. 4:1). Art. 4. They will no longer call you abandoned and your land will no longer be called desolate, but they will call you “My will in it,” and your land inhabited, for you have become pleasing to the Lord, and your land will be peopled. LXX: And you will no longer be called forsaken, and your land will no longer be called desolate. For you will be called My will and your land inhabited. Instead of Zion and Jerusalem you will be called the Church and the Lord, instead of Jews you will be called Christians. And you won't limit yourself to these names; but you, who were previously called abandoned, which in Hebrew is called azura, will be called epi-si-ra, which means: My will is in it, and your land, which was previously called semema, desolate or desert, will subsequently be called bula, which Avila translated εοχ μ αένη, Symmachus and Theodotion σ υνω κ ιοιιένη, LXX; ο ἰ κουμένη - all this means; inhabited, possessed. It is a Jewish custom to always give names to objects on [known] occasions. So Abram, who was previously called the high father, when he heard the promise: and through your seed all the nations will be blessed (Gen. 22:18), he was called the father of many nations, that is, Abraham. And the Lord Savior is given the name above: soon captivity, brazenly plunder (Is. 8:3). Also, the sons of Zebedee, one of whom could loudly proclaim: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word (John 1:1), were called Banerem, which means: the sons of Thunder (Mark 3:17). The next thing: for you have become pleasing to the Lord, and your land will be inhabited, was omitted by the Seventy, He also indicated the reasons why it is called ephsi and why it is called bula - since the Lord showed favor to Zion, He also made its land inhabitable, which had previously been abandoned due to Jewish error. Or this too should also be attributed to the Church, which was formerly occupied by idols and was abandoned by God. Art. 5. For a young man will live with a virgin, and your sons will live in you. And the groom will rejoice over the bride, and your God will rejoice over you. LXX: And like a young man living with a virgin, so shall your sons live. And it will happen that as the groom rejoices over the bride, so will the Lord rejoice over you. And the apostle says: husbands, love your wives as Christ does the Church (Eph. 5:25). And in another place, having presented an example: for this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, he added: this is a great mystery, but I speak into Christ and into the Church (Eph. 5:31-32). Therefore, if, due to the shortness of time, which is difficult, husbands must have wives as if they did not have them: then how much more holy will the union of the bride and groom be? This is the bridegroom about whom it is sung in the eighteenth psalm: and he, like a bridegroom, come forth from his chamber (Ps. 18:6), and that bride, about whom it is very often written in the Song of Songs and who has no wrinkles or spots (Song. 4). Paul wants to present her to one husband as a pure virgin, so that she will be holy in body and spirit. Psalm 44 also sings about her under the name of her beloved: the queen is devoted to You at your right hand, her garments are adorned with gold (Ps. 44:10). Thus, just as the groom rejoices over the bride, and the young man rejoices over the maiden, in which examples the union is holy, so the Lord will rejoice over the one whose names will remain unchanged. Art. 6–7. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have placed guards, all day and all night they will never be silent. You who remind us of the Lord, do not remain silent and do not give Him rest (silentium) until He has established and made Jerusalem a glory on earth. LXX: And on your walls, O Jerusalem, I have placed guards who will never be silent all day and all night, reminding you of the Lord. For He is not like you, if He restores and makes Jerusalem a glory on earth. The Prophet said: for the sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, and so on, to the place where the division has now ended: your God will rejoice over you. He promised that he would ask day and night that the Savior and the Righteous One, who was promised, would come and illuminate the whole universe like a lamp. After this, the face of God is introduced, saying to Jerusalem, that is, the Church of the firstborn and that which was created in the apostles and through the apostles: I have placed guards on your walls, by which we can understand either angels, or apostles and all its leaders and teachers. They guard the walls of the Church so that our enemy the devil, who walks like a roaring lion and seeks how to enter it, does not have the opportunity to devastate the flock of the Lord. These guards should not be silent day or night, neither in joy nor in sorrow, but constantly pray for the mercy of the Lord, so that His flock and the walls of Jerusalem are protected and fenced with His help. That is why the speech is addressed to these guardians and teachers: O you, who remind us of the Lord and trouble His mercy with prayers day and night! Let prayer never cease on your lips. Do not give rest to Him, meaning the Lord, but always disturb, in time and out of time, and imitate an intercessor before a strict judge. For if, as a result of constant prayer, he abandoned the severity of the spirit, then how much more will the heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him? You must pray until Jerusalem, which fell from the Jews and became an example and a shameful name, is glorified throughout the entire universe. But I wonder: for what purpose does LXX, instead of what is in the Hebrew: give Him no rest until He builds and makes Jerusalem a glory on earth, they say something the meaning of which does not fit with the previous one: for He is not like you, if He corrects and makes Jerusalem a glory on earth. Is it only possible to coordinate this with the help of the art of eloquence, which is said to the guardians of the Church, that none of those who through their preaching will be like that, that Jerusalem will be corrected and become the joy of the whole earth. Art. 8–9. The Lord has sworn with his right hand and with the arm of his strength: I will no longer give your wheat to be food for your enemies, and the sons of strangers will not drink of your wine, which you have labored for. For those who gather it will eat and praise the Lord, and those who gather it will drink in My holy courts. LXX: The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by the strength of His arm, that I will no longer give My wheat for food to your enemies, and the sons of strangers will no longer drink of your wine, for which you have labored; but they that gather shall eat it, and they that gather shall drink it, in my holy courts. Almighty God, who said to the Church: I have placed guards on your walls who will never be silent and whom I command that they never cease to pray until they achieve what they pray for, now swears by His right hand and the arm of His strength. We often talked about who our Lord and Savior is, who, according to the Apostle, is God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1). He swears that Jerusalem will never give wheat and wine as food to enemies and foreigners will not use his labor, but those who sowed with tears will reap with joy, and those who reaped and, throwing away the straw, gathered clean grains into the barns, will themselves eat from the labors of their hands and extol the Lord with eternal praise and drink wine in His holy courts. By this we can understand either the many abodes of the Father, if we relate this to future bliss in the kingdom of heaven, or probably the Churches spread throughout the entire globe, having been planted in which, we will subsequently flourish in the house of the Lord. And when He says: I will no longer give your wheat to your enemies, and the foreigners will not drink your wine, on which you labored, then he shows that before the labor of the Jews and all their deeds were possessed by demons, when they wavered between God and idols, when Elijah said to them: how long will you worship both your molds? If the Lord God exists, follow His footsteps (1 Kings 18:21). And according to the typical story, which is set out in the Book of Judges, the Midianites came and devastated its fruits as far as Gaza, so that the food of people turned into food for dumb animals (Judges 6). This is the wheat and the wine that only those who praise the Lord will eat and which they will drink in His holy courts, about which the Lord spoke during His suffering: Amen, amen, I say to you, because to whomever I have not eaten, you shall eat of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of My Father (Mark 14:25). This is partly accomplished in the Church when the Lord says to His disciples: drink, my friends, and be drunk, brothers, because wine makes glad the heart of man (Ps. 103). And in full light and at noon Joseph drinks with his brothers (Gen. 43). But it will be accomplished more fully when the earth is watered with the blessings of the Lord. The wheat from which the heavenly bread is formed is the one about which the Lord says: My flesh is truly food, and also about wine: and My blood is truly beer (John 6:55). Art. 10–12. Come, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, level the road and remove the stones, raise a banner for the nations. Behold, the Lord has declared to the ends of the earth: tell the daughter of Zion: behold, your Savior comes, behold His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him. And they will be called a holy people, redeemed from the Lord, but you will be called a city sought out, and not forsaken. LXX. Pass through My gates and make a way for My people, throw away the stones from the road and raise a standard for the nations. For behold, the Lord has declared to the ends of the earth: Tell the daughter of Zion: Behold, your Savior comes, having His reward with Him and His work before Him, and He will call this people holy, redeemed of the Lord, and you will be called a city sought out, and not forsaken. He commanded the guards of the walls of Jerusalem, whom he had previously commanded not to be silent and never cease to pray, that they should pass through the gates of Jerusalem and pave the way for the people. The half-Jews claim that this will come true in the last time, when, after the full number of the pagans, Israel will be saved and turn to the Lord. Others think that this will be fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven, when there will be true joy and when everyone will receive what they deserve, and they will not see the Lord in humiliation, but will see Him in the position of Judge, when He comes on the clouds with many angels to reward everyone according to his work. But we, in accordance with the explanation that has begun, can understand this in relation to the first coming, saying that the apostles and apostolic men are commanded that they should enter and pass through the gates that hell will not overcome, and remove all obstacles from the path, so that the people would enter the Church of the Savior without any temptation. Therefore, John also cried out in the wilderness: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, as the prophet Isaiah said: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths right; Every wilderness will be filled and every mountain and hill will be humbled (John 1:23; Isa. 40:3–4). Now the same idea is expressed in different words. The stones are removed by the church man who softens all the roughness in the hearts of believers. The same Baptist said about them: God is able to raise up children for Abraham from this stone (Matthew 3:9). Or, according to the Seventy, he who separates the unbelievers from the believers throws stones from the road. So that the Jews do not think that this is being said about them, for this purpose it is added: raise a banner for the nations and for the tribes of the pagans, so that not only the narrow land of Judea is called to salvation, but so that it is announced to the ends of the earth, so that the whole world hears about the suffering of the Creator of all. Tell, he says, to the daughter of Zion, who is either called the daughter of Zion because she originally came from the Jews, about whom she speaks in the Song of Songs: “My son’s mother is making war for me” (Song. 1:5), or, probably, because she is a daughter, because she received the name of adoption from God. For the little ones received Him, that they might become children of God (John 1:12). What exactly are leaders and teachers commanded to declare to the daughters of Zion? Behold, your Savior is coming, who in Hebrew is called Jesus. Therefore, Gabriel says to Joseph: and you will call His name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). This Savior is the Judge of all believers, to reward everyone according to his deeds: rewards to the righteous, eternal punishments to sinners (Matthew 16). And he will call them, he says, the Lord and Savior Himself, or, in Hebrew, they will call them the apostles and apostolic men, a holy people and redeemed from the Lord, who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Likewise, the city itself will not be called, as it was previously called, abandoned - either among the Jews, because of trade [or renunciation], or among the pagans, because of idolatry, but sought after, as d rusa is called in Hebrew, so that, in accordance with the increase and variety of virtues, it will constantly receive new names. Chapter LXIII. Art. 1. Who is this who comes from Edom, in stained robes from Bosra. This one is beautiful in his clothes, performing with the abundance of his strength! LXX: Who is this who comes from Edom, in scarlet robes from Bozrah, so beautiful in his clothing, with strength and strength. This whole place, from the place where the Seventy says: Shine, shine, O Jerusalem, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you (Isa. 60:1), to the present section, where it says: Who is this that comes from Edom, in stained robes from Bosra? Many of our people refer to the end of the world, at which, as they claim, this will be fulfilled either in the literal sense (carnaliter) or in the spiritual sense (for the opinion of many is different). But since we read above in this same section: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, therefore He has anointed Me, He has sent Me to preach to the poor (Is. 61:1), to which the Lord and Savior, having read the book of Isaiah in the Jewish synagogue, pointed out as being fulfilled on Him, saying: Today this Scripture will be fulfilled in your ears (Lk. 4:21), and now it is said about Him that after suffering, He ascended bloodied to the Father; then we must understand all these words regarding the first coming of the Savior. For it cannot be, as so many of us are trying to do, that what is connected by actions changes over time, and we do not deny that it is very difficult to reconcile all this and in the same way prove that it will be fulfilled spiritually at the death, as we teach that this has already been fulfilled in Christ both in the flesh and in the spirit. So, since the Savior is coming to the daughter of Zion, whose reward is with Him and whose work is before Him, And the Righteous One came out like a radiance, and the Savior burned like a lamp, and the Bride rejoiced over His bride, the Church, or rather, her God, who is also the bridegroom and the Lord, rejoiced over her; then after the incarnation and suffering on the cross it is said to Him: let Thy foot be dipped in blood (Ps. 67:24). And under the name of Judah it is prophesied in Genesis: Judah, your brethren will praise you: your hands are on the shoulder of your enemies; the sons of your father will worship you. Skimen of the Lions Judah, for prey, my blue one, you ascended; You lie down and sleep like a lion and like a lioness: who will awaken him (Gen. 49:8–9)? And one more thing: tie your lot to the vine and to the winery, my son, your donkey; He will stain his clothing with wine, and his clothing with the blood of grapes (Gen. 49:11). This is the One whom the angelic forces, seeing bloodied, ascending to the Father, command the other angels and hear from them: Lift up the gates, your princes, and lift up the eternal gates, and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord is strong and mighty, the Lord is strong in battle (Ps. 23:7–8). And one more thing: the Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory (Ps. 23:10). We have prefaced this in order to show that the present division is also consistent with other evidence. Therefore, in the Song of Songs it is said: my brother is white and black (Song. 5:10), - black in suffering, white in resurrection. So, the angels ask, frightened by the extraordinary nature of the phenomenon (for the mystery of the suffering and resurrection of Christ was, according to the Apostle Paul, unknown to all previous wills - (1 Cor. 2): who is this bloodied one who comes from the land of Edom 63? - Edom in our language is translated through the earth or bloody, - in the stained vestments from Bosra, which, according to many who fall into an involuntary error, refers to the flesh of Christ, that is, basar, which word if it meant flesh, then the letter sin would be written in the middle of it, but now it is written tsadeh, and in translation it means: strong and fortified, What do we understand either regarding Jerusalem, which was formerly surrounded by very strong walls (Ps. 59:11) and in which the Lord suffered, or regarding hell, about which in the fifty-ninth and one hundred and seventh psalms it is written: who will lead me into the city of the fence (Ps. 59:11; Ps. 107:11)? in which the souls of the dead are imprisoned and surrounded by very strong guards. You also need to know that according to history, Bosrah is not in Edom, but in Moab. It follows: He is so beautiful in His clothing, appearing in the fullness of His power. Concerning this, the forty-fourth psalm sings: “more beautiful in kindness than the sons of men.” Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty One, with Thy beauty and Thy kindness, O lords, prosper and reign (Ps. 45:4-5). Instead, the Seventy translated: by force with might. What meaning this makes, let the prudent reader explore. I am one who speaks the truth and fights to save. LXX: I am the one who speaks the truth and the saving judgment. The Lord answers the questioning angels: you ask: who am I, who ascends into heaven covered in blood and to whom the blood with which I am stained has given not ugliness, but beauty? I am the one to whom the Father gave all judgment (John 5), about whom the psalmist said: God, give Thy judgment to the kings and Thy righteousness to the king’s son (Ps. 72:1). I am the one who speaks the truth in order to repay evil to the evil and good to the good, the one who came to fight against opposing forces and preach liberation to the captives and free the prisoners from prison, so that the opponents receive punishment and the captives receive freedom. Art. 2. Why is Your robe scarlet and Your prizes are like those of those who tread in a winepress? LXX: Why are Your vestments scarlet and Your garments like those of those who tread in a winepress that is completely trodden down? Where now it says scarlet, there in Hebrew it is edom, - not the name of the area, but the name of the blood. The angels ask again and say: we have learned that You are the one who speaks the truth, and that the salvation of all is based on Your judgment. Now we want to know why Your clothes seemed to be dipped in grape juice, or why You stained Your tunic with blood, which was woven on top and could not be torn, and from the virgin womb had such whiteness that none of the whiteners on earth could make? For goodness is more becoming to You than cruelty, more whiteness than blood. The Lord answers them not with one verse, as before, but with many words, in order to teach those who do not know everything, so that they do not need to ask again. Art. 3–6. I have trodden the winepress alone, and among the nations there is no man with Me. I trampled them in My wrath, and I trampled them in My anger, and the blood of their garments was spattered, and I stained all My garments. For the day of vengeance in My heart, the year of My deliverance has come. I looked, and there was no helper; I sought, and there was no helper: but My arm helped Me, and My anger itself supported Me. And I trampled down the nations in My wrath, and made them drunk in My wrath, and cast down their valor to the earth. Seventy instead of what we said: I trampled the grindstone, one was translated: completely trampled, which should more be read together with the previous section than to be the beginning of the next. The rest they translated as follows: And among the nations there is no man with Me, and I trampled them in My wrath and crushed them like the earth and brought down their blood on the earth, and I stained all My clothes. For the day of retribution has come for them and the year of redemption is coming. I looked, and there was no helper; I thought, and there was no one to help; and My arm delivered them, and My wrath arose, and I trampled them in My wrath, and brought down their blood upon the earth. Instead of the grindstone, which in Hebrew is called geth, Theodotion put the very Hebrew word phurā. But it is better in this place [translated] by Symmachus, which we also followed. For the Hebrew word phura is ambiguous and means both a winepress and, for the most part, a vessel for wine. Thus, it should be said about the winepress, which, according to its use in the Holy Scriptures, is sometimes placed in place of vengeance and punishment for sins, and sometimes when gathering new fruits, It is placed in place of punishment and torment, when Jeremiah in Lamentations, mourning the destruction of Jerusalem, says: the winepress has trampled the Lord to the maiden, the daughter of Judah: for these I weep (Lamentations 1:15). The eighth and eighty-third psalms about sharpening stones are inscribed with good meaning. They will be spoken about in their places if the Lord grants an extension of life. This winepress, in which the Savior tramples both punishments for the wicked and rewards for the good, He Himself trampled alone and had no helper. For neither angel or archangel, nor thrones, dominions, or [other] any of the heavenly powers took on a human body and suffered for us, and did not trample or crush the opposing forces, except for the one who says in the psalm: save me, O Lord, for I am in poverty (Ps. 11:1), so that even the most courageous and very firm in the truth of the faith, the Apostle Peter fled, overwhelmed with horror, and even denied the Lord (Matthew 26). The next thing is: and My clothes are spattered with blood and I have stained all My clothes should not be understood in such a way as to recognize demons and opposing forces as having blood, but everything should be understood figuratively - that the all-good God, in order to teach His people and to free them from their bonds, is forced to punish their enemies. For the day of vengeance, he says, in My heart, the year of My deliverance has come. We read about this above in a good way - to preach the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance for our God (Isa. 61:2), and now both for bad and for good. For worse: for the day of vengeance is in My heart; in a good way: the year of My deliverance has come, so that at the time in which opponents are punished, the people of God will be freed, or rather will be redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, which in the Apocalypse of John is called slain. About this day of retribution, Moses prophesied by the Holy Spirit that He would take revenge on enemies and reward those who hate (Deut. 32). I looked, and there was no helper, I searched, and there was no helper, - He who said in the psalm: and I waited for the one who grieved, and did not find one, and those who consoled, and did not find (Ps. 68:21). For He Himself, being in the image of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation (Phil. 2:6), taking on the form of a servant, and was obedient to the Father until death, death on the cross, and therefore He gave Him the name that is above every name, so that He would save those who believe in Him with His right hand and so that His wrath, which was against the adversaries, would free the people of God. Or He delivered the believers with His arm and no longer put aside His wrath and brought down their blood to the earth - or τροπικῶς (responsor) demons, or probably the blood of the Jews, instead of which the other translators translated the effort - who with all their zeal tried to free the people who were in bonds. Art. 7. I will remember the mercies of the Lord, the glory of the Lord for everything that the Lord has rewarded us with, and for the many benefits to the house of Israel, which He gave them according to His mercy and according to the multitude of His bounties. LXX: I remembered the mercy of the Lord, I will remember the virtues of the Lord in everything that He rewarded us: The Lord, a good judge for the house of Israel, will reward us according to His mercy and according to the abundance of His righteousness. After the end of the first, as we believe, or the second, as the majority think, coming of the Savior, in which the demands for blood (cruentus) and His victorious voice are described, as is implied, judging or fighting and killing His opponents and His people, another περικοπή begins - a section in which the prophet speaks on behalf of the people, narrating good deeds of God towards him and about his hardness of heart, but the reason for which Jerusalem was given over to burning and Israel into captivity. The Jews date this back to Babylonian times. But we have shown from the course and connection of thoughts that this is being said about the present time, in which they serve the Romans and in which, after the exclusion of Israel, a crowd of pagans took its place. Thus, we must go through each part of the speech and explain it briefly so that the presentation is not fragmentary. Constricted by the burden of evil, I have no hope for anything other than the mercy of God, who shows mercy to thousands of those who love Him and extends His mercy to those who lead Him. From this it is clear that the mercy of the Lord helps those who love and lead God. For it does not depend on the one who wishes and not on the one who strives, but on God who has mercy (Rom. 9), and if the Lord had not built the house and guarded the city, then he who builds and protects it would have watched in vain (Ps. 126). For He will give strength so that we can give strength and be able to say: “You are my strength and help and my refuge in the days of my evils” (Jer. 16:19), by which in this place we should understand not vices and sins, but disasters. Under the following then, according to the Seventy: I will remember the virtues of the Lord in everything that He has rewarded me, instead of which in Hebrew it is: the glory of the Lord, we must understand signs and wonders, instead of which it often stands: virtues, as there: I will not give My glory to another, lower than My virtues to the graven images (Isa. 42:8) And in another place: His virtues will be proclaimed in the islands (Isa. 42:11), - or to the nations of the whole world, or to churches that are founded on a strong bulwark and are more likely to be attacked than to be overthrown. Sometimes virtue is taken in the sense not of powers and miracles, but of good behavior, as in these [sayings] of the apostles Peter: “show your knowledge virtue” (2 Pet. 1:5), and Paul: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise (Phil. 4:8). Therefore, in another place it is said: “better is infertility with virtue.” The first understanding is appropriate in relation to God, the second in relation to people. You have what we translated: for everything that the Lord rewarded us with, which can be understood both for good and for bad, Symmachus made it clearer in the sense of reward for good, saying: for everything with which He blessed us and for the multitude of goodness that He showed to the house of Israel. Instead, the Seventy translated: The Lord, the good judge of the house of Israel, has rewarded us according to His mercy and according to the abundance of His righteousness. No one can say this except the one who can properly endure what he endures. Therefore, in the seventy-second psalm, which begins like this: since the God of Israel is good with a right heart, the prophet speaks on behalf of those who are confused by the judgments of God: but mine in the least did not approach the pose, in the least my feet were not shed, the peace of sinners is in vain (Ps. 72: 1-3), and so on until the end of the psalm. As a result of this, the Apostle Paul, who knew the Lord as a good and righteous judge, says with confidence: the crown of righteousness is kept for me, which the righteous Judge will reward me, not only to me, but also to all those who have loved the appearance of our Lord and Savior (2 Tim. 4:8). But there is no difference between the good and the righteous, which is recognized by the heretics, as he writes: hardly anyone would die for the righteous; for the good, no one would even dare to die (Rom. 5:7). Art. 8–10. And He said: “Nevertheless, these are My people, children who do not deny,” and He was their Savior. In all their tribulation He was not weary (non est tribulatus), and the angel of His presence saved them; according to His love and His goodness He delivered them, and bore them and supported them all the days of the world. But they provoked Him to anger and grieved His Holy Spirit, and He turned into their enemy and Himself fought against them. LXX: And He said: [they] are not My people, [but] children, they will not reject. And He was their salvation from all their sorrow; not a messenger or an angel, but He Himself saved them, because He loved them and spared them, He Himself delivered them and accepted them and exalted them all the days of the century. But they did not believe and grieved His Holy Spirit: [therefore] He turned into their enemy, He Himself fought against them. Where we translated in every sorrow they were not weary, which in Hebrew is expressed through lo, that is, through a negative adverb, there instead one cannot read Himself, so the meaning is the following: in all their sorrow He Himself was weary, that is, God, Himself bearing not only sins, but also our sorrows. For He accepted our ailments and bore our illnesses (Matthew 8:17). Then LXX put something else, which is not in the Hebrew: not a messenger and not an angel, but He Himself saved them, which we will talk about in its place. So, God, who is the righteous Judge of the house of Israel and softens the severity of justice with the kindness of the judge, said: I begot sons and raised them up, but they rejected Me (Isa. 1:2). But since they are My people and since they have been called children, they will not perish forever: if they stop rejecting and renouncing, they will recognize [in him] the Savior; for in all their affliction He himself was weary. Or He was not weary, so as to leave them for a short time and encourage those deprived of His help to pray. Or, on the contrary: He did not tire them, but when others were pursuing, He was a helper and sent His angel to deliver them from danger. Or before the Seventy, not through angels and prophets and other holy men, He wanted to save His people, but He Himself went down to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to carry the sick sheep on His shoulders and find the lost drachma and joyfully meet the returning dissolute son. Therefore, the bride says in the Song of Songs: let him kiss me with the kiss of his lips (Song 1:1). Not through the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets, but let him take my body, let him live in my flesh. Let the Word be made flesh and so let it kiss me, dwelling in me, like Immanuel. Thus, not as a messenger, not as an angel, but He Himself will save those who have received salvation, not for works, but out of the love of God. For God so loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). And since a prudent reader, having thought silently, can say in response to this: why were many not saved if He Himself saved them, and loved and spared His children, and redeemed them with His blood and exalted those accepted? then a clear reason is given: but they themselves did not believe and grieved His Holy Spirit (sanctum ejus) or His Holy One (sancti illius), which in Hebrew is called cadeso. Thus, God wanted to save those who wished and called for salvation, so that the will would have a reward; but they did not want to believe. It is also written about John: to be a man sent from God; His name is John: this one has come and testified to the light, that all may have faith in him (John 1:6–7). And there is no fault if many did not want to believe, but the will of the one coming [or the caller] was such that everyone would believe and be saved. If anyone grieves and offends the Holy Spirit or His Holy Spirit, that is, Christ, he grieves God: the Holy Spirit is of the same nature with the Father and the Son. Therefore, the Apostle commands: do not offend the Holy Spirit, by whom you are signified (Eph. 4:30). This Holy Spirit withdraws from the body enslaved to sins, and wisdom does not enter the corrupt soul (Wis. 1). Therefore, David, in the consciousness of his sins, so as not to lose the Holy Spirit, prays saying: And do not take Your Holy Spirit from Me (Ps. 50:13). And so that we know that anyone who grieves the Holy Spirit insults God and turns from a friend into an enemy and enemy, the Apostle Peter says more clearly in the Acts of the Apostles: “Why did you agree to lie to the Holy Spirit? You lied not to men, but to God” (Acts 5). This is the Holy Spirit about whom the Lord spoke in the Gospel: if you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter, that the Spirit of truth may abide with you forever (John 14:15–16). About Him in Wisdom, which is written on behalf of Solomon, we find the following: For the Holy Spirit of punishment will run away from flattery and be taken away from foolish thoughts (Wisdom 1:5). Art. 11–14. And he remembered the days of the age, Moses, his people: where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his sheep? Where is the one who instilled His Holy Spirit among him? Who brought Moses to the right with the arm of His majesty, who divided the waters before them to make an eternal name for Himself, who led (vulg. brought) them through the deeps, like a horse in the steppe that does not stumble, like an animal that goes down into the plain, [and] the Holy Spirit was its guide: so You have brought Your people to make a glorious name for Yourself. LXX: And he remembered the days of old, who brought up the shepherd of the sheep from the land. Where is He who put the Holy Spirit in them, who brought out the right hand of Moses, the arm of His glory? So He brought His people out before him through the great water, to make an eternal name for Himself. He brought them across the abyss, like a horse through a steppe, and they were not tired, and like cattle across a plain, the Spirit from the Lord descended and was their leader: so You brought Your people to make for yourself a glorious name. The Lord, who turned from a defender into an adversary of the Jewish people, who provoked His Holy Spirit to anger, and fought against them, Himself remembered the ancient days when Moses prayed for them in the desert, saying: “either forgive them this sin, or, if you do not do this, blot me out of the book in which You wrote” (Ex. 32). Thus Isaiah, remembering the ancient story, says: where is that Moses who brought them out of the Red Sea? Where is the shepherd of the sheep? Where is the one who worked with the other shepherds of the Lord's flock? Who reached the Spirit of God and infused Him, through prayer and petitions, into the flock of the Lord? Or maybe this is how we should understand: where is the mercy of the Lord, with which He once had mercy on His people, giving them also the grace of the Holy Spirit, who brought Moses His servant to the right, and not to the left, by the arm of His greatness, who divided the waters before them in order to make for Himself an eternal name, so that to this day they would talk about His power. For He led His people through immeasurable depths of water, like a horse through a desert, and cattle through a plain, and the Spirit of the Lord was their guide, that is, the flock of the Lord (Ex. 14). By spirit here we must understand the angel who was the leader of the people of Israel according to what is written: angels create their spirits, and their servants a fiery flame (Ps. 105:4), and in the letter to the Hebrews: they are ministering souls, sent into service for those who want to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14). Let us pay attention to what is written in the Acts of the Apostles: The Spirit of the Lord caught up with Philip, and he was not seen (Acts 8:39): should we not understand this regarding the angel? There are those who claim that this was done by an angel about the Holy Spirit. We quickly run through the clear ones to stop at the darker ones. Art. 15–16. Look down from heaven and look from Thy holy dwelling and [from the dwelling] of Thy glory: where is Thy zeal and Thy power? Thy compassion and Thy mercy are withheld towards me. For You are our Father, and Abraham did not recognize us and Israel did not recognize us. Thou, O Lord, is our Father, “our Redeemer”—Thy name has been from everlasting. LXX: Turn from heaven and look from Thy holy house and [from the house of] Thy glory, where is Thy zeal and Thy strength? Where are the multitude of Thy mercies and Thy bounties with which Thou didst bear with us? For You are our Father, for Abraham did not recognize us and Israel did not recognize us. But You, Lord our Father, deliver us: from the beginning Your name has been upon us. You, who have done so much for the people, as was reported in the previous speech, that you considered us worthy even of the community of Your Spirit, also now look down from heaven and look at our deeds, if, however, they are worthy of You, Why do You turn Your face away from us? Heaven is called the habitation of holy things and the house of His glory according to this: heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet (Isa. 66:1), and in another place: He who lives in heaven will laugh at them (Ps. 2:4), and: I have lifted up my eyes to You, who dwells in heaven (Ps. 122:1). This is not in the sense that the almighty God, who holds heaven in his hand and the earth in a handful, is limited to some place, but in the fact that something more holy is called His place and dwelling. Therefore, Solomon, who built the house of God, in prayer to Him says: the heavens of heaven and earth do not suffice for You (1 Kings 8:27). And the Lord's Prayer says: Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth (Matthew 6:10). Therefore, wherever the will of God is done, there is His dwelling place and the house of God. The next thing is: where is Your jealousy and Your power we can explain by the testimony that God speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem, which followed her lovers: “I will no longer be angry with you, and My jealousy has departed from you” (Ezek. 16). The meaning is the following: since we sinned and You began to hate us, Your zeal departed from you, which does not depart when He says through Zechariah: I was jealous for Zion and Jerusalem with great zeal (Zech. 1:14). Therefore, he further says: “And I will be angry with the nations gathered around him” (Zech. 15). As jealousy recedes, the power of God also recedes and the disposition of paternal compassion is overcome, since the incredible goodness of God is overcome by the greatness of sins, so that He who previously could not see me oppressed is kept from helping me. For You, he says, are our Father, who serves as the creator of all. Abraham does not recognize us and Israel does not recognize us, because we insult You, and they do not recognize those as sons whom they know are not loved by their God. Suddenly the question arises: why did he bring Abraham and Israel, that is, Jacob, but did not mention the name of Isaac? To this we will answer that when the beginning and the end are given, then [at the same time] the middle is also called, or so: Abraham from among the pagans was called to faith and, in accordance with the properties of the previous and subsequent position, received a change of name. Jacob also achieved through many labors that he was called Israel. Therefore Abraham had three wives, and Jacob four; Isaac, from beginning to end, had the same name and, pointing to the purity of the Church, was content with one wife. Thus, those who pray for a change in the condition of sinners for the better are likened to those whose sorrow is replaced by joy. Yet this means that they ask that He, being their Father and having honored them with this name, should not forget His children, so that through them the name of God would not be blasphemed among the pagans. Art. 17–19. Why did You, Lord, allow us to wander in Your ways, and harden our hearts so that we would not fear You? Turn for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance. Our enemies have taken possession of Your holy people as nothingness, and have trampled down Your sanctuary. We have become as we were in the beginning, when You did not rule over us and [when] Your name was not called upon us. LXX: Why have You, Lord, turned us away from Your holy path, hardened our hearts so that we would not fear You and turn for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your inheritance, so that we may possess a small part of Your holy mountain, our opponents have trampled down Your sanctuary. We have become as we were in the beginning, when You did not rule over us and [when] Your name was not called upon us. The letter that Paul writes to the Corinthians, although written to the inhabitants of one city, but in accordance with the diversity of the inhabitants, that is, saints and sinners, sometimes praises them, sometimes reproaches them, sometimes teaches them, sometimes reproaches them, calls for abstinence, does not reject marriage, rejects idolatry, instructs regarding the resurrection, to give a hand [to help] to bigamy, so as not to give room for fornication. We said this so that the present section, which all consists of the prayer of the people praying to God, can be attributed to either the righteous or sinners, now praising God, now offering a question to God and placing their guilt on God. Therefore, after the other, they also say the following: why did You, Lord, allow us to wander [far] from Your ways or turn us away from Your path, hardened our heart so that we would not be afraid You? This is not in the sense that God is the cause of error and cruelty, but in the fact that His long-suffering, waiting for our salvation, when He does not restrain those who sin, seems to be the cause of error and cruelty. Therefore, being very angry with some, He withholds His hand from punishment and says: I will not sit on your sons when they commit fornication, or on your brides when they commit adultery (Hos. 4:14). For He beats every son whom He receives (Heb. 12:6), and He beats in order to correct. Therefore, about those who have not lost the name of children, but through punishment are inclined to repentance, He says: I will visit them with the rod of iniquity and the wounds of their unrighteousness; But I will not destroy My mercy from them (Ps. 89:33). For there is sorrow that leads to life, and there is sorrow that leads to death. Therefore, the sinner says in the psalm: You turned our paths away from Your path and humbled us in the place of bitterness (Ps. 43:19). And the people wandered for forty years in the wilderness (Num. 32), so as not to find their former path and return to Egypt. Also in Hosea, the paths of Jerusalem are surrounded by a fence and blocked with thorns, so that he does not follow his lovers, but, forced by necessity, returns to his former husband (Hos. 2). And it is also said about Pharaoh that God hardened his heart so that he would not let His people go and that he would be struck with ten plagues (Ex. 4). This issue was explained very carefully by Paul [in his letter] to the Romans (9). And we touched on it in one essay 64. Turn, says, Lord, or turn us for the sake of Your servants, Abraham and Israel, who did not recognize us or regarding whom we believe that they are among the people. For our opponents took possession of Your holy people as insignificant things and without any labor. Or, according to the Seventy, convert us so that we may possess a small part of Your holy mountain, since we cannot possess Your entire mountain, so that, having a part, we may achieve its fullness and see the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1). This same prophet says about it: in the last days the mountain of the Lord will be revealed (Is. 2:2). And regarding the sense in which the above should be understood: why did You allow us to wander (v. 17), Jeremiah teaches in great detail: You deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived; You restrained me and prevailed (Jer. 20:7). For, promising me mercy, and like a merciful father, without showing severity, and, like a skilled doctor, hiding a very sharp knife, so as not to frighten the sick person before treatment, You made me careless, as a result of which God says about Jerusalem: Behold, I will seduce her and make her like a desert, and I will make her like a waterless land, and I will speak in her heart and give her attraction from there, and the clearing of Achor, reveal its meaning (Hos. 2:14–15). Let us consider the order of thoughts in particular: he seduces her and turns her into a desert and a [country] without water so that she experiences a thirst for virtues. When she says: My soul thirsts for Thee, since my flesh multiplies for Thee (Ps. 62:2), then He will speak to her heart and comfort the weeping one. And he will give her attraction from there, that is, from repentance and sorrow, which produces salvation. And the humility of her contrite heart (for this means the Valley of Achor in translation) opens the meaning so that she knows her Creator. Our enemies, he says, have trampled down Your sanctuary. Without a doubt, it points to a church that was trampled by the victorious Romans. And we became as we were in the beginning, before we were called in Abraham, and when we were in Egypt, not having God, nor kings, nor princes, nor prophets, nor the law of the commandments of God (Hos. 3:4), that all was fulfilled after the passion of the Lord and is now being fulfilled. For since they said: His blood be on us and on our children (Matthew 27:25), then eternal curse remains on them and God does not rule over them and His name is not called upon them, for they are not called the people of God. Chapter LXIV. Art. 1–3. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down! the mountains would fall (defluerent) at Your presence. As if burned by fire, they would melt, the waters would boil (arderent) from the fire, so that Your name would become known to Your enemies, and the nations would be thrown into confusion at Your presence. When You do wonderful [deeds], we will not be able to bear it: You came down, and the mountains fell (deluxerunt) from Your presence. LXX: If You open the sky, the mountains will shake from You, and they will melt, as wax melts before the face of fire, and the fire will burn up the adversaries, and Your name will be revealed on the adversaries; At Your presence the nations will be in turmoil. When You accomplish glorious [deeds], the mountains will shake from You. For our enemies have trampled down Thy sanctuary, and we have become as in the beginning, when Thy name was not called upon us; then we pray and say: Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, and always giving promises, would fulfill what was once promised. This was said at a time when the Savior had not yet come and from the virgin womb had not yet received man with our nature and being in order to save him, so that we could bear the image of the heavenly, just as we bore the image of the earthy (1 Cor. 15). If You did this, they say, and if the heavens or heavens were opened, then at the coming of Your greatness the mountains would fall or the mountains would shake and disappear, as wax disappears from the presence of fire. And the heavens were opened to Ezekiel, and he saw a great vision (Ezekiel 1). Also, between blessings, Moses prays in Deuteronomy: may the Lord open to you His good treasure, heaven, to give you a blessing (Deut. 28:12). And the Gospel (Matthew 3) says that John the Baptist saw the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descending on the Lord in the form of a dove. The mountains, which at the coming of the Lord, about whom it is written: God consumes fire (Deut. 4:24), like wax, will disappear and melt, signify the opposing forces and all those who rebel against the mind of God, about which the ninety-sixth psalm is sung: the earth was seen and moved. Burn like wax from the presence of the Lord, from the presence of the God of all the earth (Ps. 97:3–4). For if You came down and fulfilled Your promises, then the waters of the sea would disappear (according to Symmachus) and fire would destroy all their saltiness. It is written about this in another psalm: as smoke disappears, let them disappear, as wax melts before the fire, so let sinners perish from the presence of God (Ps. 67:3). And it should be noted that when the waters of the sea are destroyed by divine fire, then the name of the Lord Savior will become known to His enemies, about whom the sixty-seventh psalm says: the tongue of your dogs is from his enemies (Ps. 67:24), so that Whom they did not know from a good deed, they would know from the destruction of their city and from their own captivity. And from His presence the nations will be thrown into confusion, or, as the Hebrew says more clearly, they will move, so that those who were previously motionless will come to salvation. And when He performs miraculous deeds and shows signs in the Gospel, which He once showed in Egypt and in the desert, then they confess that they cannot bear His coming, or because trembling will embrace the mountains. And beautifully in Hebrew, as if having been heard, those who above begged: Oh, if only You would rend the heavens and come down! the mountains would fall at Your presence, then they add: You came down, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, according to the truth Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. Therefore, at Your presence all the mountains that we spoke about above fell. The Jews explain this passage this way: fire will burn the wicked as waters boil from the flame of fire, for they claim that by amasim they do not mean destruction and melting, but the wicked. Art. 4–5. From time immemorial they have not heard, nor have they listened with ears, nor have they seen with eyes, O God, except You, what You have prepared for those who trust in You. You have met those who rejoice and do righteousness in Your ways, [who] will remember You. LXX: For centuries we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen, God besides You, and Your works, which You do for those who await mercy; for He meets those who do righteousness, and they will remember Your ways. The Apostle Paul, as a Jew from the Jews, takes a paraphrase of this testimony from the original books in the epistle that he writes to the Corinthians, not translating word for word, which he usually does not do, but conveying the true meaning (1 Cor. 15), which he uses in relation to what he wants to reinforce. Therefore, let the absurdities of the apocrypha, which are circulated in the churches of Christ 65 regarding this testimony, be silent. One can truly say about them that the devil sits in ambush with the rich in hidden places (in apocryphis) to destroy the innocent. And again: “he lies in wait in a secret place (in apocrypho), like a lion in his den; he lies in wait to seize the poor (Ps. 9:29-30). For the Ascension of Isaiah and the Revelation of Elijah have this testimony. And for this and for many similar reasons, Spanish and especially Lusitanian women are deceived, who are burdened with sins, carried away by various lusts, always studying and never reaching the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 3), accepting the amazing inventions of Basilides, Balsam and Thesaurus, Barcelona, ​​as well as Leuzibors and other names. The Apostolic Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons and martyr, writes about them in great detail, explaining the origin of many heresies, and especially the Gnostics, who, through Mark of Egypt, seduced noble women, first Gallic near the Rhone, then Spanish, mixing lust with fiction and ascribing to their ignorance the name of knowledge. And what the people say in this place means that they have never known with their ears or eyes what God is preparing for His saints in the future - that He meets those who do righteousness and remember His ways. Then, according to the Seventy, they say that they never knew any other God than the one who truly is God, and they did not see such and such great works of another [anyone] that He did for those who await His mercy and do righteousness and remember His ways. But why is it written: No one has seen God anywhere (John 1:18), and also: Man will not see My face and live (Exodus 33:20)? Consequently, God is not expressed in words and is not visible to the eyes, but He is seen by those about whom it is written: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). Art. 6. Behold, You were angry, and we sinned; We have always been in them [sins] and will be saved. And we all became like the unclean [or unclean], like the clothing of one who has a monthly purification—all our righteousnesses. And we all fell like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, carried us away. LXX. Behold, You became angry, and we all sinned: therefore we began to wander, and we all became as unclean, as the garment of one who sits - all our righteousness; and they fell like leaves because of our iniquities, as the wind carries us away. The order is reverse. We sinned not because You were angry, but because You were angry because we sinned. And since we have sinned [and] You were angry with us; then we began to wander and left the right path. Or according to the Hebrew text: we, who have always been in sins, will be saved only by Your mercy, since in ourselves we are unclean, and what we have of righteousness that is invisible is compared to the clothing of a woman sitting or having her monthly cleansing. Instead, Theodotion put the very Hebrew word eddim, which Symmachus translated: κυουσῶν, that is, giving birth. Akila: μαρτοριῶν, that is, evidence, since blood during the first marital copulation serves as evidence in favor of the girl. And we have fallen, he says, like leaves from trees, which, due to our iniquities, are scattered by the winds. At the same time, you need to pay attention to the fact that the truth that is in the Law, in comparison with the purity of the Gospel, is called impurity. For that which was formerly glorious is not glorious, because of the more excellent glory. Therefore, the Apostle Paul, who did everything according to the righteousness found in the Law, says that he counted everything as loss in order to gain Christ and for the sake of the excellence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake he counts everything as rubbish, so that he might gain Christ and be found in Him not having his own righteousness, which is in the Law, but with that which through the faith of Christ is the righteousness from God (Phil. 3). For there is a righteous man who perishes because of his righteousness (Eccl. 7), if, after the truth of the Gospel, he wants to exercise in the shadows of the law and unrighteously pursue what is righteous. Therefore, according to the wise Solomon, every man seems righteous when he acts according to the law, to which the Lord speaks in the Gospel: you are justified before men (Luke 16:13). Avoiding this, Paul says: I have nothing in myself, but I am justified in no way (1 Cor. 4:4). From sin [comes] the righteousness of God, about which the same Solomon says: understand the true righteousness (Proverbs 1). Consequently, there is another truth that has no truth, but the true truth is the one about which the Gospel also says: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). Many prophets and righteous people wanted to see her, but did not see her. Abraham saw this truth and rejoiced (John 8:56), following not the letter that kills, but the spirit that gives life. And it is not surprising that this is said about people, when the stars, in comparison with God’s righteousness, are unclean, and regarding His angels He sees some shortcomings (Job 4). So, if anyone, after the Gospel of Christ and the coming of the Son of God, observes the rites of the educational law, let him listen to the confession of the people that all that truth is like an extremely dirty garment, with which Esther compares her diadem, which was the distinction of royal power [and] which she wore not out of desire, but out of necessity: Thou weigh my need, for I abhor the sign, my pride, the hedgehog. is on my head in the days of my vision: I bend it like defiled sackcloth, and do not wear it in the day of my silence (Esther 4). Art. 7. There is no one who calls on Your name who will stand up and hold on to You. You have hidden Your face from us and struck us down with the hand of our iniquity. LXX. And there is no one who calls on His name and remembers to take hold of You. For You have turned Your face away from us and delivered us up for our iniquities. Since we fell like dried leaves from the trees scattered by the wind, no one was found who would call on Your name, and, rising from the ruins of their iniquities, would clutch or hold on to You and would say with the bride: I have found whom my soul was looking for: I will hold on to him and will not let him go (Song. 3). The wind is described in three ways in Scripture: either in relation to great temptations, or in relation to false teaching, or simply as the wind by which clouds gather and the air thickens into clouds. This gospel [saying] refers to temptations: the rivers came and the winds blew and attacked that church, and did not fall, but was founded on rock (Matthew 7:25). About the vicissitudes of doctrine: not that every wind of doctrine blows in the lies of men (Eph. 4:14). Just about the wind: and they could not sail, for the wind was against them (Mk. 6:48): not because this too cannot be understood figuratively, but because it represents only a similitude for the real meaning. When God turns His face away from us, we are struck by the hand of our iniquity or given over to temptations for our sins. From here we learn that iniquity also has hands, as well as all sins, which want to hold us tight. Therefore, in the hand of the tongue is death and life (Prov. 18:21), and the saint prays: let not the foot of pride come upon me (Ps. 35:12). And since the Lord turns His face away from us, we, knowing what is written: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32), we will call on His name and say: I have declared to You my sin and my iniquity is not hidden. Reh: let me confess my iniquity to the Lord, and You have forsaken the wickedness of my heart (Ps. 31:5), and immediately the Lord will answer us: I have taken away the form of your iniquity and the darkness of your sins (Isa. 44:22), and we will say: Make Your face shine, and we will be saved (Ps. 79:4), so that we will not be slaves of sin, but Yours. slaves. For whoever commits sin is the slave of sin (John 8:34). Art. 8–12. And now, Lord, You are our Father, and we are clay, and You are our educator, and we are all the work of Your hands. Do not be overly angry (satis), O Lord, and remember no more iniquity. Look, we are all Your people. Thy holy city is made desolate, Zion is made desolate, Jerusalem is made desolate; the house of our sanctification and our glory, where our fathers glorified You, was burned with fire, and everything we desired turned into ruins. Will you, Lord, hold back after this, will you remain silent and strike us with force? LXX: And now, Lord, You are our Father, and we are clay, we are all the work of Your hands. Do not be excessively angry with us, Lord, and do not remember our sins during this time. And now look, for we are all Your people, Your holy city has become desolate, Zion has become like a desert, Jerusalem has become a curse, the house of our sanctuary and glory, which our fathers blessed, has been burned with fire and all our glorious things have fallen. And you, Lord, endured all this, and were silent and greatly humbled us. If we take into account our merits, then we will have to abandon all hope, and if it is Your goodness, who beat every son whom You accept, then we will dare to turn with prayers. For You are our Father, Who is worthy to say: My son is the firstborn Israel (Ex. 4:22). And although we are clay and the work of Your hands, and You are our educator, and although the vessel cannot object to the educator: why is it made this way or that way, knowing that we are sons, we dare to say: Do not be overly angry, Lord. We do not forbid wrath, nor do we ask for Your long-suffering, through which we store up wrath for ourselves on the day of wrath. But we ask that You will not be overly angry with us, so that during the time of vengeance and punishment you will not remember our iniquity, but rather look more towards Your people, who were once called Your people, and that You will have mercy on the city of Your sanctuary, in which Your name was once called upon. This city is called Zion and Jerusalem, which pleases the longing of the river and in which there was once the height of virtues and the vision of the world. Also, Your house, that is, the church of our sanctification and glory, in which our fathers glorified You, fell into ruins and ashes, and was destroyed by a devastating fire, so that no sacrifices were made in it, the Passover was not celebrated, or any of the rites that You commanded to be performed were performed: but all that we desired was turned into ruins. Therefore, Lord, will You really withhold Your mercy after this and remain silent before blasphemous opponents and defeat and humble us not in the usual way, but in an excessive way? The Jews believe that all this was fulfilled during the time of the Assyrians and Babylonians. But we are in accordance with what follows further from the person of the Savior: I was revealed to those who did not ask Me, I was found to those who did not seek Me (Isa. 65:1), we relate everything to the time of the Roman victory, which Josephus, the writer of Jewish history, sets out in seven books, to which he gave the title of the captivity of the Jews, that is, περὶ ἀλώοεως, and it is unnecessary to explain in words what is clear to the eyes, since everything they coveted was turned into ruins, and the temple, famous throughout the world, into the rubbish of the new the city, which was called Elijah after the founder, and turned into a dwelling for owls, and in vain they speak daily in their synagogues; Will You really endure all this and amaze us and greatly humble us? We can attribute this to the Church or to the soul of a holy man, which can rightly be called the height and vision of the world, since the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit dwell in it. If, through the fault of us or the people, Zion of this kind is abandoned by the Lord, then it is immediately burned by the fiery arrows of the devil; For all who commit adultery are like the furnace of their hearts. And after the coolness of chastity is driven away, the flame of lust will spread in the church of God, so that everything that was previously in us, glorious and famous, will fall, be destroyed and perish, and so that what is said in the Psalms will be fulfilled: having set your holy place on fire, you have desecrated the habitation of your name on the earth (Ps. 43:7). This can only be quenched by one from whose belly flow rivers of living water. About the numbers fifteen and one hundred and twenty bl. Jerome also wrote in a letter to Paulinus. See Creation. bl. Jerome in Russian translation Part 2, p. 73 et al. In the interpretation on Isa. Chapter 49, Article 8 (See Jerome’s work in the Russian translation, Part 8, pp. 247–248). Pallium - Greek cloak or blanket; stola (stola) - long outerwear worn mainly by noble women). The name of Edom is not found in manuscripts other than Ambrosievskaya. This question bl. Jerome touches on this in a letter to Gedibia (Jerome's works in Russian translation, part 3, pp. 158–159). In the message of the Lyon church on predestination (855) there is an indication of a special book by Blessed. Jerome on the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. Bl. Jerome, in all likelihood, has in mind the Gnostics and the disciples of Basilides. You might be interested in: