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What I promised in the previous book, namely, that on the foundation of history, if Christ deigns to our desire, to build a spiritual building and, having brought out the top, to show the decorations of a perfect church, I will try in the next two books, virgin of Christ Eustochia, with your prayers and the mercy of the Lord, so that with the same diligence with which the fifth book embraces history, the sixth and seventh briefly set out the allegorical meaning, without explaining everything, so that many books are not compiled, but briefly indicating what the church men thought before us. Chapter XIII. Art. 1 The burden or vision against Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. I saw with the eyes not of the flesh, but of the mind, what a great and heavy burden was placed on Babylon. And since Babylon, called Babel in Hebrew, means confusion, because the languages ​​of those who built the tower were mixed there, then the spiritual meaning is that world which lies in evil and which confuses not only the languages, but also the deeds and thoughts of everyone. The king of this Babylon is the true Nebuchadnezzar, proud before the Lord, saying in his heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the ends of the north, I will ascend to the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Is. 14:13, 14). This is the one who showed the Lord all the kingdoms of the world and said to Him: “all this has been given over to me, and I will give it to You if you fall and worship me” (Matthew 4:9; Luke 4:6, 7). Then, in what follows, the threat is not against Babylon, but against the entire universe. The Lord of hosts commands the most warlike people to come from a distant land, from the edge of heaven, to destroy the universe. And again: “Behold, the inevitable day of wrath and wrath is coming to turn the world into a wilderness and destroy sinners from it” (Is. 13:9), and then: “I command the whole world to do evil and to the wicked their iniquity” (v. 11). From this it is clear that everything that is said against Babylon refers to the confusion of this world and its destruction. Art. 2. On a dark or open mountain, raise a banner. The apostles and apostolic men and teachers of the churches are commanded to raise the banner of the cross of the Lord, not in a low place or in deep valleys, but on a dark or open mountain when they want to fight against Babylon. One of this means the hidden secrets of the church, for the contemplation of which and for hearing the voice of God, Moses entered darkness and obscurity. For God made darkness his covering, and clouds and gloom around him (Ps. 17:12). Another teaches that we must ascend to the heights of church dogmas, humbling ourselves, according to the Apostle Paul, and saying: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God” (1 Cor. 15:9). He himself raised the banner on the open mountain, when, with his characteristic humility, he said: for I do not judge the things that are in you, but rather Jesus Christ and him who was crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). This banner will be raised on the highest among the nations, to gather the lost from Israel, even by He who came from the root of Jesse. Raise your voice, raise your hand. Instead, LXX translated: comfort with your hand. The one who speaks about lofty things and despises the present as short-term and transitory raises his voice. He hears from the same Isaiah: “Go up to the high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with power in bringing good news to Jerusalem” (Isa. 40:9). He raises his hand who can say with David: lifting up my hand is the evening sacrifice (Ps. 141:2), and who in every place raises sacred hands to raise not only hands, but also to comfort with his hand, so as not to say to the poor: come tomorrow and receive, but to immediately, through mercy, bring comfort in his poverty and need. And let the leaders enter the gates. LXX: Open, princes. The leaders of the Church enter the gates of the mysteries of God and learn the mysteries of the Scriptures, having the key of knowledge to open them to the people entrusted to them. Therefore, it is commanded that the teachers open the door and the disciples enter. Art. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones. Instead LXX: I command and I will bring them. For he himself sanctifies his servants, so that both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified may all be of one. In another place He says to believers: Be holy, for I am holy (Lev. 19:2). He Himself commands and will bring His princes to fulfill what is commanded. And I have called My mighty ones in My wrath, triumphant in My glory, LXX: giants come to fulfill My wrath, rejoicing together and reproaching. What is stated here is, according to the Hebrew text, in connection with the previous one - that He who commanded His sanctification Himself called His mighty ones to triumph in His glory. Further according to LXX: by the giants who come to fulfill the wrath of the Lord, rejoicing in the misfortune of others and having fun, we must understand the evil and nasty forces, about which we read in the Psalms: they sent upon me the wrath of their fury, rage and wrath and sorrow, sent by fierce angels (Ps. 77:49). Among them was the destroyer in Egypt, who did not dare to enter the doors smeared with the blood of the lamb (Ex. 12), and that spirit who stood before the Lord and said: I will deceive Ahab. And the Lord said to him: You can deceive and be able to do so: go out and do this (1 Kings 22:21,22). Therefore, in the same book of Kings, Micah said: I saw the Lord of Israel sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing around Him, on His right hand and on His left (ibid. v. 19). The forces on the right side are those angels who are sent for good purposes, and on the left side are those to whom we surrender for punishment. Therefore, the apostle says: I delivered them over to Satan, so that they would be punished, not for blasphemy (1 Tim. 1:20). The name of the giants, instead of which in Hebrew is geborin, i.e. strong, LXX and Theodotion turned into the likeness of pagan fables, calling them sirens, and titans, and Arcturus, Hyades and Orion, which the Jews call by other names. If the giants are the opponents of God and if all the Jews, contrary to the truth, rebel against God; then all heretics are giants, rejoicing in their error and especially triumphing when they revile the Church. Art. 5. The voice of a multitude on the mountains, as if from a crowded people, the voice of the noise of the kings of the nations gathered together. This place is understood in three ways. Firstly, that after raising the banner on the open mountain, many peoples come and stop on the mountains, dividing into two parts, that is, into nations and kings, into disciples and teachers, about whom the Savior said in the Gospel: many from the east and west will come and lie down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11). Therefore, they have one voice and they speak in agreement among themselves, confirming this apostolic: let all of you say the same thing, and let there be no discord among you, but let you be established in the same understanding and in the same thought (1 Cor. 1:10). Secondly, a city of heretics is depicted, who, thinking that they are on the mountains, rebel against the mind of God and speak wicked speeches against the high and set their mouths in heaven, heretics who themselves have nations and kings devouring the deceived people. The third interpretation is this: since he said above that the giants are coming to fulfill My wrath, rejoicing together and reproaching, he depicts the arrogance of the giants themselves and their evil unanimity in punishing those who were betrayed to them. The Lord of hosts gave a commandment to the fighting army coming from a distant land, from the end of heaven: The Lord and the vessels of His wrath, to destroy the whole earth. LXX: The Lord of armies commanded a very warlike people, that the Lord and His warriors should come from a land far away from the uttermost ÷ base of heaven, to destroy the whole world. The word foundation must be marked with a white space in front. In the book of Kings and Chronicles we read (2 Kings 24; 1 Chronicles 21) that the wrath of God kindled over Israel when David numbered the people and insulted the Lord. Also in the Psalms it is written: Lord, do not reprove me with Your wrath, do not punish me with Your wrath (Ps. 6:2), and so on, instead of which I read in the explanations of a certain interpreter 29 that by the wrath of God we can understand the opposite force to which we surrender ourselves for punishment, which is also sung in the eighth Psalm: the hedgehog to destroy the enemy and the local (Ps. 8:3). The servants of God - angels, who at the end of the world will be sent to gather sheaves of tares, and separating them from the wheat, prepare them for eternal fire (Matthew 13) can also be recognized as warriors coming from a distant land and from the edge of heaven. Also, the whole earth will perish if the affairs of the earth are destroyed. There are other warriors of the Lord, armed with the armor of the apostles, so that every day in the Church, which is meant by οἰκουμένη, that is, the universe and the inhabited one, to destroy and destroy those who rebel against the mind of God. Art. 6–7. Cry, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it will come as a desolation from the Lord. Because of this, all hands will weaken and every heart of man will fail and be crushed. Since the warriors of the Lord will come to destroy the whole earth, then cry out and bring repentance to those who are struck by punishment. For the day of the Lord is near, or the day of the destruction of the whole world and the judgment or end of everyone’s life. For from the Lord comes destruction, which we called desolation in order to maintain the metaphor, since above he spoke of warriors. When the day of judgment or dormition comes, the hands of all those to whom it is said elsewhere: “Be strong, weakened hands,” will weaken. The hands will weaken because there will be no deed worthy of the righteousness of God: “and no one living will be justified before Him” (Ps. 143:2). Therefore, the prophet says in the Psalms: if the Lord sees iniquity, who will stand (Ps. 129:3)? And every heart or soul of a person becomes exhausted and horrified by the consciousness of his sin. This is that terrible and terrible day, about which Zephaniah says: fear from the presence of the Lord, the day of the Lord is near (Zeph. 1:7), and again: the great day of the Lord is near, near and quickly (Zeph. 1:14). And Amos says: Alas for those who desire the day of the Lord! What is this day of the Lord for you? This is darkness, not light (Amos 5:18). And what is added according to the LXX: the ambassadors will be alarmed and pain will seize them, then we can understand those ambassadors whom the citizens sent to counteract the one who went to a distant land to seek a kingdom for himself. Therefore, He Himself says in the Gospel: “Besides, they are My enemies, even if you did not desire Me, so that there would be a king over them, bring these things and cut them off before Me (Luke 19:27). Art. 8. Cramps and pain will occur; as a woman giving birth they will get sick; everyone will be amazed at his neighbor; the faces of the couple are their faces. When the warriors of the Lord come from a distant land and all hands are relaxed and the heart is in horror and contrition, then pain in the stomach (which we have translated cramps in the stomach) and pains will seize them, similar to the pains of women in labor. Through this it is shown that they are tormented by their own conscience and have faces burned by the fire that they themselves lit within themselves; because they cannot say: the light of Your countenance, O Lord, is upon us (Ps. 4:7), and: we all, with revealed face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image (2 Cor. 3:18). Everyone will be amazed at his neighbor, seeing him in the same torment that he himself is suffering. Art. 9. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, fierce and full of indignation, and anger, and rage, to turn the earth into a desert, to destroy its sinners from it. Instead of earth LXX they translated τὴν οἰκουμένην, i.e. the universe; instead of cruel - incurable. For when the day of judgment or death comes, then what is read in the sixth Psalm will be fulfilled: who in hell will confess to You (Ps. 6:6)? For that time is not a time of repentance, but of punishment. And in another place it is said: since the great abundance of Your goodness, O Lord, You have hidden from those who fear You (Ps. 30:20). So, much of God’s mercy is hidden from those who are still in fear and do not have the perfect love of God, so that, hearing about the cruel and incurable Day of the Lord and full of indignation and rage, they may stop sinning. And the universe or earth will turn into a desert and from it, previously burdened with the burden of sins, sinners will be destroyed, so that after the destruction and destruction of crimes, one truth will dwell and reign on earth. Art. 10. For the stars of heaven and their brightness will not give their light: the sun is darkened when it rises, and the moon will not shine with its light. LXX: for the stars of heaven and Orion and all the adornment of the sky will not give their light (or will not have it), and will be darkened at the rising of the sun, and the moon will not give its light. Instead of the brightness we translated, of course here, Aquila Theodotion put the very Hebrew word chisileem, instead of which LXX translated Or i he, adding from themselves: and all the decoration of the sky, which should be marked in front by the obel. Regarding Orion, pagan fables say that he has twenty-two stars, of which four are of third magnitude, nine are of fourth magnitude, and another nine are of fifth magnitude, and others are called Boot. Also in the book of Job we read about the Hyades, Vesper, Arcturus about the treasures or hiding places of the south (Job 9:9), which should be mentioned in their place. But we should not think that among the Jews these stars are called by the names that are heard in Greek and Latin; but they have special names. For just as God called the light day, the firmament heaven, the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters seas (Gen. 1), and He called each of the stars by its own names, the features of which our language does not express. For it is written about God in another place: count the multitude of stars and name them all (Ps. 146:4). So, when the day of the Lord comes to turn the world into a wilderness and completely destroy sinners from it; then, in comparison with the divine greatness, the stars of heaven and all their splendor will lose their light. And it is not surprising that he says this about the smaller stars, when even the sun will darken at its rising and the moon will not have its usual shine. The same thing that was translated by LXX, namely, that the stars and Orion and all the decoration of the sky will darken at sunrise, does not contain any sign or miracle, because at any time it happens that after the sunrise the stars of heaven are not visible. And it is not surprising that he said this about the sun, when even with the full moon and its shine all night long, most of the stars do not shine. And that the stars are in the sky during the day is proven by a solar eclipse, because when, due to the shadow of the earth, as explained by philosophers, and the location of the circle of the moon on the opposite side, an eclipse occurs, then the stars are very clearly visible in the sky. Art. 11. And I will visit the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquities. When God visits and shakes, he shakes in order to correct. Then, when He is very angry with those who do not repent, He says: I will not sit with your daughters when they commit fornication, or against your brides when they commit adultery (Hos. 4:14). On the contrary, about those who believe in Christ it is said: “I will visit their iniquity with a rod and their sins with blows; But I will not take My mercy from them” (Ps. 89:33, 34). And I will put an end to the arrogance of the infidels and humble the pride of the strong. LXX: And I will destroy the self-will of the wicked and humble the self-will of the proud. The Hebrew word gaon, which clearly expresses arrogance and pride, Theodotion and the Seventy always translated self-will, following more the meaning than the letter, because everyone who is proud is ready for self-will. So, for this purpose the Lord visits the evil of the world and the wicked for their iniquities, in order to curb the arrogance of the proud and pacify the pride of the strong. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). And in Proverbs we read: “Before contrition a man’s heart is puffed up, and before glory it is humbled” (Prov. 16:18). Fall always follows pride, and glory always follows humility; for everyone who exalts himself will humble himself, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11). Elsewhere we read: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and destroy the understanding of the prudent (1 Cor. 1:19). What is destroyed by the Lord is not true wisdom and not true knowledge, but false knowledge - those who gather up lies with their tongues are tested to the point of weariness and find nothing, speaking wickedness from above and setting their mouths on heaven. Therefore, the pride of heretics is actually called an insult to the truth. Art. 12. A husband will be more valuable than gold and a person more valuable than the purest gold. LXX: and those left behind will be more honored than gold refined through fire, and man will be more honored than the Sophira stone. At the end of the world, when the universe will be turned into a desert and the sun will darken at its rising and the moon will not give its light, then such will be the signs and wonders from the Antichrist that, due to the increase in lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold, so that, if possible, they may deceive God’s elect (Matthew 24). Then a man will be more valuable than gold, which in Hebrew is called phaz, and Aquila translated κἰῤῥόν, which is of the finest reddish color, and a man (will be more valuable) than the purest gold, which in Hebrew is called Ophir and which Aquila translated σπήλωμα ὀφείρ, which LXX, I don’t know what he means, transferred the stone from Sophir. This is the area in India in which the best gold will be born, just as in Genesis we read about the river Pishon: “this is the one that surrounds the whole land of Evilath, in which there is gold, and the gold of that country is the best, and there is a carbuncle and a green stone” (Gen. 2:11, 12). More expensive is understood in the sense of rarer. For everything that is rare is dear, as in Samuel we read: “and the word of the Lord was dear in Israel” (1 Samuel 3:1). Art. 13. Moreover, I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move from its place. LXX: For the heavens will be furious and the earth will be removed from its foundations. When will a man be more valuable than gold, and a man (more valuable) than the purest gold, and when what is written will be fulfilled: “Do you think that the Son of Man, when he comes, will find faith on earth?” then both heaven and earth will shake. For heaven and earth will pass away not of their own will and not of their own accord, as many think, considering them to be animate, but “because of the wrath of the Lord of hosts and because of the day of his wrath,” which looks upon the earth and causes it to shake. Therefore, what is said in LXX: for the sky will be angry should be understood metonymically (μετωνυμικῶς) instead of those living in heaven, as if we said that the whole city shouted or the whole city came out to meet the judge. About the foundations of the earth we read in Proverbs: God with wisdom founded the earth (Prov. 3:19), and to Job the Lord says: Where were you when you laid the foundations of the earth (Job. 38:4), - not in the sense that the earth has a foundation laid in depth on a solid mass, but its foundations must be recognized as the will and power of God, by which everything is contained. For He Himself founded it on the seas and placed it on rivers and He Himself hung it on nothing (Ps. 23:2; Job 26:7). Art. 14–16. And it will be like a roe running away and like a flock of sheep, and there will be no one to gather it: everyone will turn to his people and they will all flee to their own land. Everyone who is found will be killed, and everyone who comes forward will fall by the sword. Their little ones will be broken before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives dishonored. When heaven and earth are shaken, the devil, the writhing serpent, or every sect that is contrary to the truth, divided into teachers and students, will flee, of which the first, due to ὀξυδέρκειαν (sharpness of vision), are called in Greek Dorcades, that is, chamois, and their followers are like dumb animals, who, wandering there and here, have no leader, for they have lost the One about whom it is written: from the Lord a man’s feet are made straight (Prov. 20:24). These latter, freed from the evil teachers, will turn to their people and will all flee to their land from which they came; and whichever of them is found will be killed or struck with the sword. This will not only happen at the end of the world, but also now happens in the church, when, after the defeat of the teachers, the deceived flock turns to the people and to their land, and what is found in it is killed, so that he ceases to be a heretic, and whoever remains a heretic will fall from the spiritual sword. Then their babies and little children, who have not yet reached adulthood in error, will be broken in the presence of their teachers, their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be dishonored—false wisdom and perverted teaching. Therefore, for such fathers, whose children should be put to death, we must pray and say: Lord grant them. What do you give them? The womb is barren, and the breasts are dry (Hos. 9:4). For they were tormented by the birth of iniquity, they conceived sickness, and gave birth to iniquity. Art. 17–18. Behold, I will raise up the Medes against them, who will not seek silver and will not desire gold; but they will kill infants with arrows and will not have pity on the fruit of the womb, and their eye will not spare children. In Genesis (Gen. 10) we find that the ancestor of the Medes was Madai, which means measure, or from the mighty or strong. So, against the Babylonians, who were confused in mind, the mighty and strong God stirs up the servants of power for punishment, to reward each one according to his deeds. For with the measure they measured, it will be measured to them. Measure poured out, shaken down, full and abundant, will be given into their bosom (Luke 6:38). They will not take either silver or gold, that is, neither the beauty of eloquence, nor wit, for which they previously applauded themselves, but they will subject those devoted to them to punishment, and will not take pity on babies and the fruits of the womb, so that they will be all the more unhappy. But oh, if we too were excited by the Lord, if we too were given this opportunity not to desire the silver, nor the gold of eloquence and worldly wisdom, but to kill the children of heretics and all those deceived by spiritual arrows, i.e. the testimony of the Scriptures; and if, without any mercy, we were to kill the milk-fed delusions, perishing from merciful cruelty; Oh, if only we did not show regret for any infancy and were rewarded with this bliss: “Blessed is he who has and will dash your babies against the stone” (Ps. 137:9)! Art. 18 et seq. And that glorious Babylon between the kingdoms, famous for the arrogance of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed, as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah: it will not even be inhabited to the end and will not be restored for generations; and the Arabian will not pitch tents there, and the shepherds will not rest there, but the beasts will rest there, and their houses will be filled with dragons, and ostriches will live there, and shaggy ones will gallop there, and owls will call to each other there in his palaces, and sirens in the churches of debauchery. – Chapter XIV. Art. 1. The time will soon come, and its days will not be prolonged. LXX: And Babylon, which is called famous and glorious from the king of the Chaldeans, will be destroyed as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; We will not be inhabited forever and will not enter into it through many generations, and the Arabians will not pass through it, and shepherds will not rest in it, but animals will rest there and the houses will be filled with noise, and sirens will lie there and demons will jump there, and onocentaurs will live there, and hedgehogs will make lairs in their houses. He will come soon and will not delay. The following then: and his days will not last should be marked by asterixes, because it was added from Theodotion. When the Medes are raised against the city of confusion, who consider neither gold nor silver to be good, who kill children with arrows and show no mercy to the fruits of the womb, and whose eye does not spare children, then the once glorious city, which was the pride of the Chaldeans, who mean: like demons, it will be destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, so that no trace of its former habitation will remain in it. When there is a new heaven and a new earth and the image of this world passes away, the city of confusion will not be inhabited forever and will not reach its former state. For when he is deprived of his former glory, he will not pitch his tents there. The Arabian, which means western and evening, would wish to live in a city that he would see devastated. The Arabian in the present place is understood in a good way - that he always strives for the goal and, forgetting about the past, reaches out to the future. And the shepherds tending the meekest flock of the Lord in Jerusalem will not rest there, but on the contrary, those beasts will rest there, for the removal of which the Psalmist prays, saying: Do not deliver over to the beasts the soul that confesses to You (Ps. 73:19). Instead, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion put the most Jewish siim. And their houses will be filled, that is, the Babylonians, according to LXX and Theodotion ἤχου, that is, with noise and shouts, according to Aquila with typhons, which we translated dragons, according to Symmachus - oiim, which word is in Hebrew. And ostriches will live there, an animal that always strives in the desert, about which it is written in more detail in the book of Job; although it apparently has feathers, it does not rise high from the ground; instead, LXX translated σειρῆνας, i.e. sirens. The shaggy ones, which in Hebrew are called sirim, Theodotion translated: with raised and standing hair. Symmachus and LXX translated the demons. Also, instead of onocentaurs, as some LXX translated, following the fables of the pagans who say that there were hippocentaurs, the other three translators put the very Hebrew word iim, which we translated owls. And where LXX said: hedgehogs will make lairs in their houses and where in Hebrew it is stated thannim, there Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated: sirens, showing that these are either some animals or demons, singing sweetly, through the delusion of the pagans, and seducing people who cannot pass with closed ears through the dangers of this age. Then the name Onocentaur, composed of (the name of) donkeys and centaurs, denotes, as it seems to me, those who partly discover something human and then deviate into vices with sensual inclinations and vile lewdness. So, it is said in an allegorical sense that at the end of the world or at the death of everyone, all the glory and pride of the Chaldeans and the confusion of the world will retreat from us and so everything will be destroyed, just as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and this world will no longer stand, but will perish forever. And that Arabian will not pitch his tents there, about whom the sixty-seventh Psalm says: Make a way for him who ascended into the west, the Lord is his name (Ps. 67:5), and the shepherds will not rest there, that is, the angels who guard the human race and daily see the face of the Father; but beasts and dragons and ostriches and shaggy owls and eagle owls and sirens will rest there, by which we mean all the beasts in angelic form, or demons, and those to whom we surrender for punishment. And in the houses that were once houses of debauchery, where there was fun and joy, there will be the howl of owls and the plaintive voice of sirens, leading those listening to him to death. And that the time of judgment is near and that the day of Babylon’s destruction will not slow down, then no one will be surprised by this who pays attention to the fact that among those who believe in the Lord, Babylon is constantly being destroyed through holy men and that every long period is short in comparison with eternity. We spoke briefly about the genera of beasts, or rather monsters, because this was partly set out in the historical interpretation in the previous book. It is also necessary to take into account that after the word of the Church and the teaching of the Savior destroy the city of confusion, so that it becomes like Sodom and Gomorrah, it will not be inhabited by holy men and shepherds shepherding the flock of Christ will not rest in it, but on the contrary, animals, dragons and ostriches will rest there and shaggy ones will gallop in it. For everything that the heretics say in the synagogues of Satan is not the teaching of the Lord, but the howling of demons and shaggy men, to whom Esau was like. And in the churches of debauchery the sirens will rest, who with their sweet, deadly singing draw souls into the abyss, so that when the storm rages they are devoured by wolves and dogs. So the time for the fall of the heretics is constantly approaching and coming, and their destruction is imminent. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will take him out of Israel again, and cause them to rest in their land; the stranger will join them and cleave to the house of Jacob. And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will have them in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive those who captive them and subdue their oppressors. And it will happen on that day when the Lord gives you rest from your labor and from your shock and from the heavy slavery to which you were previously enslaved: you will pronounce this parable against the king of Babylon and say. Instead of a stranger, that is, a proselyte, LXX was translated: γηώραν, which in Hebrew is called ger. Therefore, I think, the son of Moses, who was a stranger in the country, received from his father the name Gersham (Ex. 2:22). So, georas is a Hebrew word, modified in declension according to Greek grammar, although someone ignorant of the Hebrew language tries to explain it according to Greek etymology, deriving it from the fact that he has concern for earthly things; for, he says, γῆ means earth and ὤρα – φροντίς, i.e. care. Then, instead of masal, which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated the parable, which we also followed, LXX translated the lament. The order of thoughts is as follows: after Babylon is desolate forever, so that it becomes the abode of wild beasts, the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, that is, the one who was an instigator of vices, and will choose Israel, the one who contemplates God with his mind. And notice the peculiarity of the words: Jacob, who is still in the struggle, will have mercy, but Israel, who received the name after the victory, will receive not mercy, but election. And they will rest in their land, about which the Savior says: blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5), and: I believe to see the good of the Lord on the land of the living (Ps. 26:13). Those chosen through the apostles, a multitude of the Gentiles, will also join the house of Jacob, and they will take the remnant of the house of Israel and bring them to their place to dwell in their tents, and the house of Israel will have them in the land of the Lord as male and female servants. For it is good for the evil that they serve the good. Therefore, it is said to Esau: work for your brother (Gen. 27:40), and to Jacob: be master of your brother (Gen. 27:29). And they will take those who were previously seduced by sophisms, and their oppressors, who did everything for profit, will be converted into slavery. When Jacob and Israel calm down from their labor, in which they labored much, fighting against the age and heretics, and from the shock and slavery in which they were previously enslaved to malicious interpretation and false teachings: then he will utter a lamentable song and a parable against the king of Babylon, that is, against the speeches of heretical error and confusion, and will say what follows. The Jews explain this passage literally, but they cannot prove that this was fulfilled upon their return from captivity. For the Babylonians who had previously captured them did not serve them, nor did they, after the defeat of the Babylonians, own their houses or have them as male and female slaves. Thus, the Jews, according to their fables, are left to think that this will happen to the Roman Empire, that after the fall, in the last times, of the Roman Empire, they will be served by those peoples whom they previously served. But if those who follow the letter delude themselves with false hope, then who will agree with them that Rome is called Babylon and the king of the Roman Empire is called Nebuchadnezzar? Art. 5–6. As soon as the torturer was gone, the tribute ceased, the Lord crushed the rod of the wicked, the reed of the rulers, beating the nations in anger with an inevitable blow, enslaving the peoples in rage, persecuting cruelly. In the Epistle of Peter we read: it is time to begin judgment from the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). And in Ezekiel it is said by the tormentor: begin from my sanctified ones (Ezekiel 9:6). For according to the difference of sin the order of judgment is distributed, so that those who have sinned less are purified first; as the last enemy, death will be destroyed. So, when Israel is freed from heavy slavery, he will pronounce a parable against the king of Babylon, which we must understand precisely as a parable, for if the speech is against Nebuchadnezzar and the presentation here is purely historical, then how can something that is not παραβάλλεται, that is, not compared with anything else, be called a parable (parabola)? So Israel is surprised that the torturer, who was accustomed to extorting through torture to the last quadrant, is no longer there. He is not accustomed to torturing anyone else, but the debtors who say in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12). Debtors are handed over to this torturer by a judge, who sends them to prison and tortures all sins down to the most unimportant. Finally, the Apostle Paul betrays to the tormentor the fornicator Corinthian, who married his father’s wife, as well as Figellus and Hermogenes (1 Cor. 5; 2 Tim. 1). It is also said above about these torturers: “My people! your oppressors plunder you and those who demand bribes rule over you.” Instead of taxes, Aquila turned to famine. For when the bridegroom is removed from us, we suffer a hunger for the word of God and are constantly deprived of the body of the Lord. Therefore we are smitten or oppressed by the rod and reed of the wicked, instead of which the Seventy translated the yoke; for we did not want to bear the lightest yoke, the yoke of the Savior. With the same rod and this cane he beat the peoples with inevitable fury and cruelly pursued those fleeing, wanting not to correct the devotees, but to kill them. Art. 7 et seq. The whole earth calmed down and fell silent, rejoiced and rejoiced, and the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced over you; since you fell asleep, no one will come to chop us down; Hell began to move under you, and it raised giants to meet you at your entrance. All the rulers of the earth have risen from their thrones, all the rulers of the nations, will all respond and say to you: are you struck down just like us, and have you become like us? Your pride has been cast into the pit, your corpse has fallen, moth and rot will be spread under you, and worms will be your covering. With the death of the wicked king, who struck the nations with an incurable blow and cruelly persecuted them, the whole earth calmed down and fell silent, which had previously been full of rebellion and division, so that the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon rejoiced, about which it is written in the Psalms: you brought grapes from Egypt, you drove out tongues, and you planted... The mountains are covered with its shadow, and its branches are covered with cedars of God (Ps. 79:9, 11). These cedars of God, since they once sinned, the Lord handed over to destruction through punishment. Therefore, another Psalm says: The Lord plucks down the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 28:5). By cypress trees we must mean all the tall ones and all those eminent in the service of the Lord, who said with a common voice: since you fell asleep. Note that mortal rest is also called dormition. No one will come to chop us down. For after the victory over the strong man and after his vessels were plundered, his other servants also fell. Therefore, the Lord says in the Gospel: go into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel (Matthew 25:41). How many were cut down and felled with their axes by these choppers of wood and trees! Hell, set in motion or brought into grief upon meeting the entry of the true Nebuchadnezzar into it, is a place of punishment and torment, in which the rich man dressed in purple is seen; the Lord also descended to this place to free the prisoners from prison (see Zech. 9:11; 1 Peter 3:19). By greeting hell we can also mean that angel who administers punishments in the underworld, who raised all the giants, instead of which some translated: Raphaim, and others - Titans. They are called giants according to the legend of the pagans, who consider them earth-born, born of the earth. We, according to the Greek etymology of this word, by giants can mean those who served earthly affairs. Then it follows: all the rulers of the earth stood up from their thrones at the entrance of the one who was once their ruler, so that, previously respected for his power, they would later marvel at the punishment and say: and you are struck just like us, and you have become like us. These words have the following meaning: we thought that we, due to our weakness, could not resist the power of God and that only you alone could remain at your height; but, as circumstances show, you too were defeated, enslaved and became like us, so that those who were divided on earth by rank in the underworld were made equal by punishment. Your pride or glory was cast into the pit and your corpse fell, or as LXX translated, your great joy, in which you formerly rejoiced when you subjugated the nations. Rottenness will be spread under you, and worms will be your covering. This is the resting place of the devil, this is the bed of the tempter, who became so proud that he even dared to tempt the Lord, saying: I will give all this to you if you fall down and worship (Matthew 4:9). By rotting and moth and a covering of worms we mean either eternal torment, which is generated by one’s own conscience, or material torment, which is born from one’s own sins. For just as worms are born from putrefaction, as long as the very substance of the corpse exists and as long as there is moisture in the corpse, so punishments are born from the very essence (materia) of sins. Therefore, the Apostle Paul, after killing death, to which the prophetic speech spoke through Hosea: “I will be your death, death; I will be your thorn, hell” (fn. Hos. 13:14), says to her: “Where is your strength, death, where, death, is your sting” (1 Cor. 15:55)? For after her death there will be no one to flog us and there will be no sin that must be flogged, because the sting of death is sin. Art. 12. Just as you fell from heaven, the morning star, who rose in the morning, fell to the earth, slaying the nations. LXX: How did the morning star fall from the sky? He who sent to all nations is crushed on earth. Instead of the star, called in Hebrew elil, Aquila translated: the crying son of the dawn. For the one who, as a result of his pride, was cast from heaven to earth and crushed, really had to cry and weep. Therefore, the Savior says to the disciples: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven (Luke 10:18). I don’t see it now, but I saw it before when it fell. And if, as a result of pride, he fell from such a height, then you too should boast, not that demons obey you, but that your names are written in heaven, so that through humility you may enter where he fell through pride. This is the prince of the world who, among the other stars, rose in the morning and through his own fault from the star (Lucifer) became the evening star (Vesper), and not rising, but setting, who struck the nations or who sent his servants to the nations in order to deceive everyone with his deception. These are false apostles, false workers who take on the appearance of the apostles of Christ, who sow seed on the good seed when the teachers of the Church are asleep and do not want or cannot give in to their malice. Jacob and Israel, whom the Lord had mercy on and whom the Lord chose, also says the following to the devil, or, as LXX wants, about the devil, that is, not in the second person, but in the third: Art. 13–14. You, who said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the edges of the north, I will ascend to the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. He said this either before he fell from heaven, or after he fell from heaven. If he was still in heaven, then how can he say: I will ascend into heaven? But since we read: heaven is the heaven of the Lord (Ps. 113:24), then being in heaven, that is, in the firmament, he wanted to ascend to heaven, where the throne of the Lord is located, to ascend not with humility, but with pride. If he says these words after he fell from heaven, then we should see arrogance here, that even after the overthrow he does not calm down, but still hopes for greatness, so as to be not between the stars, but above the stars of God. And while the Lord says to the apostles: it is sufficient for the disciple to be like his teacher, and his servant like his Lord (Matthew 10:25) and to the Father he says: “Holy Father, I pray, as you are the Father in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21), he is so proud that he boasts that he will set his throne above the stars of heaven, which didn't fall. And what he adds: I will sit on the mountain of the covenant on the edges of the north, instead of which the LXX was translated: on the high mountain, on the high mountains that are to the north, we can attribute this to what Jeremiah says: from the face of the north evil will be kindled against all those who dwell on the earth (Jer. 1:14), and to the burning cauldron that lights up from the north. The north wind is the most severe, from which the Lord wants to free His captives and take them to the holy city, saying: Bring the river to the north, and Liba: do not forbid, bring My sons from a distant land (Isa. 43:6). And this, which may be the opposite of this: the mountains of Zion, the edges of the north, the city of the great king, is easily resolved. For those who were once on the edges of the harshest north, later, through repentance, began to dwell in the city of God. Always this kind of star strives to rise above those who have the image of the heavenly and shining in the Church as the stars of God, and to sit on the mountain of the agreement or covenant, that is, in the Church, which is on high and owns those who once lived on the edges of the north. He forgets himself so much that he wants to rise above the clouds, which the Lord commanded not to give rain to Israel and which the truth of the Lord reaches; Obadiah also says to him: If you ascend like an eagle, and if you lay your nest among the stars, from there I will overthrow you, says the Lord (Abdiah 1:4). The accursed Judas, who was sent like a cloud along with the other apostles to rain on Israel, and who was, as it were, a star among other stars, to whom the Lord said: let your light shine before men (Matthew 5:16), through his own fault, accepted the devil who sat on him, who, to top off his words of pride, even dared to say this: I will be like the Most High, so that just as Christ has prophets and apostles, so I will have false apostles. All this should be attributed to heretics who, being down, boast that they are with their prince on the mountain. Art. 15. But you will be cast into hell, into the depths of the pit. LXX: now he will descend to hell and to the foundations of the earth. You will not descend into hell of your own free will, for this is characteristic of the Lord the Savior for the liberation of prisoners from hell, but you will be cast into hell by force, so that you, who could ascend to heights through virtues, may be cast down to hell for punishment for your crimes. The saints have eagle and dove wings and can say: I will fly and rest (Ps. 55:7); and the wicked and like the Egyptians in the stormy waters sank like lead and drowned in the depths like a stone (Ex. 15). Therefore, lawlessness, or, as it better stands in Hebrew, wickedness, appears in vision as sitting on the talent of lead (Zech. 5). So this, read in another place: everyone who exalts himself will humble himself (Luke 18:14), the king himself experienced confusion, being cast into the foundations of the earth or, as it is more correct in Hebrew, into the depths of the ditch. About the foundations of the earth in Deuteronomy it is written: “The fire was kindled in My wrath, it will burn to hell; will devour the earth and its foundations” (Deut. 32:22), that is, those who are the earth. And about the ditch, which means the underworld of hell, there is the following evidence: he was used with those who descended into the ditch and: he laid me in the underworld (Ps. 88:5, 7). For just as a ditch receives the waters descending into it, so hell receives souls; Benaiah went down into such a ditch during the snow and cold and killed a lion in it (2 Samuel 23:20; 1 Chronicles 11:22). Therefore, heretics also abandon the source of living water, the Lord, and dig themselves weak ditches that cannot hold water. These reservoirs, which do not have the fire of the Holy Spirit and are not like the prophet Jeremiah, who said according to the LXX interpreters: “I found hot water in the desert” (Jer. 2), but due to the cooling of love they lost the fire of the Holy Spirit, belongs the one about which the same Jeremiah says: “As a reservoir cools water, so malice cools those who have it” (Jer. 6:7). Oh, if only they, according to the Apocalypse of John, were either hot or cold (Apoc. 3:15), that is, they would either believe or not believe at all, so as not to be rejected by the Lord for their warmth and feigned faith! Art. 16–17. Those who see you will lean towards you and peer at you. Is this really the man who shook the earth, who shook kingdoms, who made the world a wilderness and destroyed its cities and did not open the prison to its prisoners? Or as LXX translated: he did not free those who were taken away. Those who, not with their eyes, but with their hearts, will see that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has fallen from heaven into hell, will bend down in humility, which is the opposite of pride, and will peer into him, saying this: is this really the man or the man who shook or set the earth in motion? And the meaning is this: he who said: I will be like the Most High and boasted that he is God turns out to be a man about whom in the ninth Psalm, written actually against the devil, it is said: rise, Lord, let no man be strong (Ps. 9:20), and in the Gospel: “the enemy man has sowed tares” (Matthew 13). Therefore, we read what was said to him and his accomplices: Az rekh: You are gods by nature and sons of the Most High. But you, like men, are dying, and like one you are falling from princes (Ps. 82:6, 7). And to him, under the image of the prince of Tire, it is said: because thy heart was lifted up, and thou saidst: I am God, I have come to dwell in the heart of God in the sea: but thou art a man, and not God, and thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God (Ezek. 28:2). This man and this man shook the whole earth, that is, those who heard along with Adam: earth you are, and you went back to earth (Gen. 3:19) and shook the kingdoms or kings, whose heart is in the hand of the Lord (Prov. 21:1). Shocked, he says, but did not destroy. Therefore, one of the shocked, but not fallen, said: my nose did not move in the least (Ps. 72:2). And the apostle speaks to believers, so that they put on the armor of God and stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11). But a house founded on stone is not shaken by any storm (Matthew 7:25). Then follows: who made the world a desert or, like all the others, except LXX, translated in Hebrew: as if a desert. For with vices and sins he has made the world, which in Hebrew is called thebel, a desert, so that it has no virtue or works in the same vices with which the desert of the pagans is full. He also destroyed the cities of this world, so that from the churches of Christ he made synagogues of the devil and desecrated the purity of the true faith with heretical impurity. But he did not open the prison to its prisoners, that is, the world. We were all prisoners and kept prisoners in prison, to whom, who were in chains, the Savior said: come out, and to those who were in darkness: open yourselves, for the Lord sets free those who are in chains. Freed by Him, they express gratitude to Him by saying: “You have loosed my bonds” (Ps. 116:7). For everyone is pulled in by the ropes of their sins; which ropes and bonds the apostles can resolve, imitating their Teacher, who told them: whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18). The apostles resolve them with the word of God, the testimony of the Scriptures and exhortation to virtues. Art. 18–19. All the kings of the nations all died in glory, each one in his own house. And you were thrown out of your tomb like bloody pus: desecrated, dumped along with the dead and those slain with the sword, with those who descended into stone ditches. LXX: All the kings of the nations died with honor, the man 30 in his house. You will be thrown on the mountains like a vile miscarriage and buried along with those killed by the sword, with those who go down to the foundations of the earth. These are the kings of the nations to whom God, according to the Song of Deuteronomy, entrusted the nations to rule (Deut. 32), who, although shaken by Nebuchadnezzar, were not overthrown, in whom sin does not reign, but since their heart is in the hand of God, they did not fall. For the Savior is called both the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, and the King of kings. Therefore all these kings rested in their glory, each in his own house. For the Father has different mansions (John 14) and according to the difference of virtues there is a difference in mansions. Further, Nebuchadnezzar was thrown out of his tomb and, after death, did not rest from his torment. Threw out like blood pus, which in Hebrew is called neser, which Aquila translated ἰχῶρα, that is, pus and uncleanness, Symmachus ἔκτρωμα, that is, miscarriage, LXX dead man, Theodotion offspring, although this is the same word above (chap. 11, v. 1), where we are about Christ we read: a vine will come out from the root of Jesse, and color will come from its root, LXX translated color, Theodotion is an offspring, Akila ἀκρεμονα, that is, offspring (virgultum). Actually, neser means the shoots that grow at the roots of trees and which, having been torn out by farmers, are thrown away as useless; That’s why we translated: the branch is useless. So Nebuchadnezzar, like a useless branch prepared for burning, or like stinking blood pus, as he was filled up with those killed by him with the sword and descended to the foundations of the ditch, will be thrown into the depths and will not have community in burial even with those whom he killed. For there is another punishment for the author of sin, and another for the one forced by this culprit. This is the sword with which very many were struck and killed, about which in the seventh Psalm we read: “if you do not turn, he directs his sword, he draws his bow, and prepares it, and in it he prepares the vessels of death, he makes his arrows for those who burn” (Ps. 7:13, 14), that is, for those who have received the fiery arrows of the devil in their hearts. Further, according to LXX, the corpse of Nebuchadnezzar, along with many killed, desecrated and wounded, will lie on the mountains of pride and will be brought down to the underworld. The foundations of the ditch, instead of a stone ditch, were translated by Symmachus in order to, in other words, designate the depth and hell of the underworld. Art. 20. Like a rotting corpse, you will not have community with them even in burial. For you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people. LXX: Just as a garment mixed with blood will not be clean, so you will not be clean, because you have destroyed My land and killed My people. Since the Hebrew text differs in many ways from the LXX edition, we will talk about each separately. Like a rotting corpse, or as Aquila translated, trampled upon, you will not have community in burial even with those whom you have killed. For you are a teacher, and they were students; whoever is entrusted with more will receive more from him. For you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people, that is, those who were entrusted to you to rule. Therefore, he dares to say to the Savior: “all this has been given to me, and I will give it to You if you fall and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). And that the corpse of the devil is rotting, no one who has read that sin is very stinking can doubt this, since the sinner himself says: My wounds have become stale and rotten because of my madness (Ps. 37:6). On the contrary, virtue is fragrant, and therefore the love of spiritual brothers is compared to the fragrance that descends on Aaron’s braid, on the sweep of his clothes (Ps. 133:2), and to the bride the groom says: “Your smell is pleasant and your face is beautiful” (Song 2:14). And how the corpse of the devil is spiritually trampled upon, the apostolic teaches about this: God will crush Satan under your feet soon (Rom. 16:20), and the words of the Lord who says: For I will smooth the clay of the ways (Ps. 17:43). Since he destroyed the land entrusted to him and killed the people entrusted to him, not keeping them alive to God, but preparing them to be accomplices of his destruction, then for this the name of the wicked will not be and will not be called forever. Then, according to LXX, this has the following meaning: you, the morning star, who rose in the morning, who once had deeds of virtue and light, who were the garment of God, you, about whom one could say: clothe yourself with light like a robe (Ps. 104:2), - since you killed with the sword many who went down to hell, and were defiled by their blood, you will not be called the garment of God, but a garment mixed with blood, not stained and polluted, so as to appear to have something pure, but completely stained with blood. And then it should be noted that it is said to the devil: just as clothing mixed with blood will not be clean, so you will not be clean. Where are those who allow the devil to repent and say that he can be clean? But at the same time, we do not recognize the heresy that claims that there are different natures and that there is a nature that does not allow healing. For these clothes are not in themselves unclean; it was so created by God that God was once clothed with it; but since she was mixed with blood and completely defiled herself through her own fault and arbitrary evil, she will not be pure. And therefore it will not be pure that she destroyed the land of the Lord, killed His people, ruining and killing the land of Judah and the land of confession and all the saints, and as a result of this she will not endure forever. Therefore, the Gospel says: go into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel (Matthew 25:41). But as a saint he serves with the robe of God and a new robe, and puts on the robe of salvation and joy, saying: Let my soul rejoice in the Lord: for he has clothed me with the robe of salvation, and has clothed me with the robe of joy (Isa. 61:1), so on the contrary, the sinner who bears the image of the old man and the earthly deserves to hear: Behold, all of you, as if you promised a robe, and you prayed for prayer (Isa. 50:9). And whoever goes further in crime and does not want to cleanse the old with the new, he will compare not with the old clothes, but with the clothes of a woman during the monthly cleansing, saying: we have all gone astray and become unclean, just as all our righteousness is an unclean port (Isa. 64:6). Art. 21–22. Seed of the wicked, prepare your sons to kill the iniquities (or for the iniquities) of their fathers; they will not arise and inherit the earth and fill the face of the world with cities. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy the name of Babylon and the remnant and offspring and generation, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: Evil seed, prepare your sons to kill the sin (or for the sins) of your father, so that they do not rise up and rule the earth and fill the earth with cities. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy their name and remnant and seed. Instead of the seed of the evil, as the LXX translated, in Hebrew it is written: zera mrim, which others translated: the seed of the evil. Not because the seed is evil in itself, for God created all things good (Gen. 1:31); but from those who are evil by their own will, came the evil seed, which happens by will, and not by nature. Therefore, in Daniel we read: the tribe is Canaan, and not Judah (Dan. 13:56). And the apostle speaks about good sons: I gave birth to Christ Jesus through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15), and in the Gospel: when the little ones received Him, He gave them the realm to become children of God (John 1:12). For everyone who commits sin is of the devil. So, this seed is commanded to prepare for the killing of its sons, that is, all evil thoughts and evil deeds, born of wicked fathers, to designate, without a doubt, the opposing forces. These evil sons are killed for the iniquity of their fathers, so that they do not rebel and take possession of the land, which must be owned and filled with saints, so that the cities of the Lord can be built in it. And since the victory of people is not complete, for if the Lord does not preserve the city, which has been scoured in vain (Ps. 126:1), then the Lord himself will rise up against the sons of the wicked and destroy from confusion their name, and the remnant, and every offspring and generation, so that they will no longer multiply in the cities of the Lord. We read in the Gospel (John 8:44) that the devil is deceitful from the beginning and that he is the father of it, that is, of lies, without understanding what many believe that the father of the devil is the serpent reigning in the sea, whom the Jews call Leviathan. And they think that this is in accordance with the present passage according to the LXX interpreters, who said: for the sins of your father, while in Hebrew abotham (or abothum) clearly means not your father, but their father. Art. 23 And I will turn it into a hedgehog's possession and into swamps of water, and sweep it away, wiping it with a broom, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: And I will make Babylon desolate, says the Lord, so that hedgehogs will dwell in it and there will be nothing. And I will make him an abyss of mud to his destruction. When the Lord of hosts has destroyed the name of Babylon, and the remnant, and the offspring, and the whole generation, he will not be content with destroying it, but will give it to the hedgehog's possession and to the swamps of water, and will sweep it away, not lightly and casually, but by wiping it, so that none of the former dirt remains in it. In the Acts of the Apostles it is written (Acts 10 and 11) that in that linen vessel, which hung on its four edges from heaven, there were contained all kinds of four-legged and reptiles and birds, in explanation of which the apostle later says that God (by this) showed me that I should not call any person unclean. Therefore, through various animals, the morals of people were indicated; Thus, the Pharisees and Sadducees, due to their depravity, are compared to broods of vipers; Herod, due to his wickedness, is called a fox (Lk. 3 and 13), and those living in luxury and prone to debauchery are called horses that neigh at women (Jer. 5:8), and it is said: do not be like a horse and a horse that has no understanding (Ps. 31:9). On the contrary, the innocent ones are called doves and sheep. So, in accordance with the teaching of the Lord Savior, Who called the worries of this age and the deception of wealth needles, the one who, according to the Apostle, loves unfaithful wealth (1 Tim. 6) and who has self-confidence, armed not with the weapon of God, but with the needles and sins of this world, and to whom this Gospel is quite rightly told: foolishly, this night your soul will be extorted from You, and what you have prepared, to whom will they be (Luke 12:20)? Babylon, devoid of virtues, has such inhabitants, where there is no irrigated field that would bear fruits of various seeds, but where swamps are barren, muddy and dirty, in which animals crawl that love dirt. Therefore, the most merciful Lord swept it out, wiping it very hard, and, as if with some kind of broom, cleaned it completely, so that the Babylonian seeds would perish and only hedgehogs would live in it. When we see someone immersed in the mud of wealth and, as LXX translated, barathro, that is, in a deep abyss, and surrounded, as it were, by a dirty swamp, then without hesitation we can call him a hedgehog, an inhabitant of the deserted Babylon. Art. 24–25. The Lord of hosts swore, saying, Will it not be as I have planned, and will it not be as I have determined in my mind, to crush the Assyrian in My land and trample him on My mountains? And his yoke will be removed from them, and his burden will be taken from their shoulders. When the hedgehog dwells in desolate Babylon and instead of irrigated and fertile fields all swamps cover, so that nothing remains of the former seed and abundance in Babylon, then the oath of the Lord will be fulfilled and what He has determined in His mind will happen, to crush the Assyrian in his land and trample on his mountains. For the unexpected enemy is in a hurry to take possession not only of the earth of God and all the lowlands, but also of those who, in serving God, excelled in virtues, which can be compared to mountains and it is said about them: his foundations are on the holy mountains (Ps. 87:1). And notice the peculiarity: on earth it is crushed, but on the mountains of God it is trampled by the Lord himself. For when all the enemies are under the feet of Christ, so that death is finally destroyed, then the very heavy yoke of the Assyrian, with which he formerly oppressed them, will be lifted from the saints, and the burden, or, as the LXX translated, κῦδος, that is, their glory, will be taken from their shoulders, so that after the yoke of the Assyrians is removed, they will see peace, how good it is, and the earth, how very abundant it is, and bow down their necks under the yoke of Christ to labor and became people cultivating the land. Therefore, Issachar, which means there is a reward, received his name from the virtues. And in the prophet we read: “there is a reward for those who serve the Lord” (Jer. 31:16), and in another place: behold the Lord and His reward is with him (Is. 40:10), who will reward everyone according to his deeds. And that the Assyrians, that is, the opposing forces, will be crushed and trampled, this is also taught in the Gospel: Behold, I give you power to tread on the serpent and the scorpion, and on all the power of the enemy. And the words of the apostle testify: God will crush Satan under your feet quickly (Rom. 16:20). Art. 26–27. This is the decree that I have decreed over the whole earth, and this hand is stretched out over all nations. For the Lord of hosts has determined, and who can undo it? And His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it away? Instead of the entire earth, the LXX transferred the entire universe at the end of the burden or vision against Babylon. What was hidden is revealed, that God has decreed for the whole earth, that is, for the entire universe, and not only against the land of the Chaldeans and the king of Assyria and the Chaldeans, and His hand is stretched out or lifted up against all nations, and not against just the nation of Babylon. From this it is clear that everything said does not apply to one country in particular, but in general against the universe. And what is said: who can cancel it and who will turn it away, we should not understand in the sense of something difficult, as it is read: who is wise and understands this (Ps. 107:43)? And: “Who do you think is a faithful and prudent steward” (Luke 12:42)? And other things like this, but in the sense of the impossible. For no one can cancel the decree of God and turn away His outstretched or raised hand, so that it does not strike. Art. 28 et seq. In the year that King Ahaz died, there was such a burden. Do not rejoice, all the land of the Philistines, because the rod of your tormentor has been broken. For from the root of the serpent will come a basilisk and its seed that will devour the bird. And the firstborn of the poor will be fed, and the poor will rest in safety. I will starve your root and kill your remnant. LXX: In the year in which King Ahaz died, there was this word: do not rejoice, all you foreigners, because the rod of him who tormented you was broken. For from the seed of the serpent will come forth generations of asps, and from their offspring shall come winged serpents. And the poor will be fed with it and the poor people will rest in peace. But he will destroy your seed with famine and kill your remnant. After the death of Ahaz, which means κατάσχεσις, that is, possession or possession, of whom we read as a very wicked king, such a burden or word is made on the Philistines. For during his life and during his reign there could be neither a burden against foreigners nor the word of God to the prophet over sinners. I remember this, I said above, when, after the death of Uzziah, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne. And in Exodus we read (Ex. 2:23, 24) that after the king of Egypt died, the children of Israel groaned from their labors and cried out, and their cry arose from their labors, and the Lord heard their groaning. If this were not said allegorically, then they should have groaned more during his reign when they worked on clay and bricks. So, the Philistines, who are now called the Palestinians and who are the Seventy are constantly translated ἀλλόφυλοι, that is, foreigners, are commanded, and they are told not to rejoice or rejoice because they have broken the rod or yoke of their tormentor. The Lord loves him, punishes him, and beats every son who accepts him (Heb. 12:6). How God teaches us sons, when he visits our iniquities with a rod and our sins with blows, so as not to take away mercy from us (Ps. 89:33, 24). This is the rod about which in another Psalm it is written: Your rod and Your club comforted me (Ps. 22:4). This is the rod and the yoke that the Savior wants to place on the necks of everyone, so that having taken off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, they would bear the yoke of Christ. And if someone overthrows and crushes him, then immediately from the seed or root of the serpent, which is a writhing serpent, will come a basilisk and asps, and from the asps will come flying serpents and devouring birds. After the overthrow of the yoke of God and the trampling of the teachings of the Lord, first the seed of the serpent takes root in our thoughts, then from the evil seed the basilisk is born, which is the king of serpents, and, as they say, kills people with its breath and gaze, or the offspring of asps appear, about which the Psalm says: the poison of asps is under their lips (Ps. 139:3 ), - various kinds of sins that break out from the evil treasury of thoughts into evil deeds. And when they prevail among foreign people who have become strangers to God, then winged snakes will immediately come out, so that it is not enough for them to conceive and do evil, but they will still pass on evil deeds to their offspring and invent various heresies. I think that winged snakes are arrogant and rebel against the mind of God and place their mouths in the sky, or swallow birds, that is, with poisonous lips devouring with their mouths everyone who wants to fly and rise to heights. This, by the way, is about the evil ones; and those who have not broken the rod and the yoke of their tormentor, but who have bowed their neck to the Lord and are poor in spirit, will be satisfied and will say: The Lord shepherds me, and will deprive me of nothing (Ps. 23:1), and they will hear from the Lord: I will provide good pasture (Ezek. 34:14), and they will go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9 ). And the poor will be fed by Him who strikes them for correction, and they will rest in peace, or, under the care of the shepherd, they will be safe and, together with Lazarus, will rest in Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16). And those who have broken the yoke and rod of their tormentor will suffer eternal hunger, so that they will not feed on the word of God, but their entire remnant will perish, so that nothing will be born from the evil seed. Art. 31, 32. The gates howl, the city howls: the whole land of the Philistines is overthrown. For smoke comes from the north, and there is no one who can escape the mass of it. What will be said in response to the messengers of the people? That the Lord founded Zion and the poor of His people will hope in him. Instead of messengers, that is, angels, as one Symmachus translated, everything was translated by kings, misled by the ambiguity of the word, because the Hebrews call kings (יכלמּ) and angels, that is, malache (יכאלמּ), by the same name, with the exception of the letter aleph added to the name of angels. In the book of Hebrew Names I indicated that Philistines means falling from the cup. So those who were drunk with the cup of Babylon and the wine of sensuality and, among other vices, also because of drunkenness, did not achieve the kingdom of God according to the Apostle (Eph. 5), are commanded to let their gates weep and the city cry out. By the gate I mean blasphemous lips, and by the city the soul, which serves as a treasury for evil thoughts. She must cry out and wail, because she is all overthrown and cast down to the earth and does not have a sound mind and the wisdom of God. Why are the gates crying? Why is the city screaming? Because the whole land of the Philistines was overthrown. And why it was overthrown is shown by the following verse: smoke comes from the north, and there is no one who can escape the mass of it. This smoke rises from the burning arrows of the devil, it is harmful to the eyes, contrary to the light and comes from the north, from which in the book of Jeremiah the cauldron is set on fire (Jer. 1:14), and from which disasters are kindled on all the inhabitants of the earth, who cannot say: a stranger and a stranger like all my fathers (Ps. 39:13), but living on the earth. Therefore, in Proverbs it is read: “the north wind is cruel” (Proverbs 25:23). By another name it is called favorable, which, being in itself cruel and unfavorable and stubbornly refusing to accept the yoke of God, is called favorable by those who turn sweet into bitter and bitter into sweet, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness. And there is no one who would escape the mass of this smoke, for no one is without sin, even if he had only one day of life. And when the land of the Philistines falls and the smoke pervades everywhere, so that no one can escape it, what will be said to the angels who guard all the nations, wondering and wanting to know why Zion alone, placed on guard and on high, escaped this smoke? What will be said to them? Of course, what follows: that the Lord founded it and himself serves as its foundation. He founded it on the foundation of wisdom, truth, strength and self-control, by which names is meant Christ, about whom the apostle says: no one can lay the foundations of his battles more than the one who lies down, who is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). But he who is foolish and speaks foolish things, and whose heart is occupied with vain things, builds his house on sand, which has no firmness. So in this Zion, which was founded by the Lord, the poor, or the meek and lowly of his people, will have hope, about whom it is said: blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5) and who listened to the Lord, who said: learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). They were humiliated before glory and listened to the Apostle Peter saying: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you during his visitation” (1 Peter 5:6). These poor ones are the same ones we read about above: the firstborn of the poor will be fed and the poor will rest in safety. Chapter XV. Art. 1. The Burden of Moab. LXX: The Word Against the Land of Moab. Symmachus and Theodotion: Acceptance of Moab. Just as circumcision is both carnal and spiritual, the apostle speaks of the spiritual: for we are the circumcision, and we serve God in the spirit, and we boast in Christ Jesus, but we do not hope in the flesh (Phil. 3:3), and then, in contrast to the spiritual Israel, it is said about the carnal: you see Israel in the flesh (1 Cor. 10:18) and: you are Gentiles in the flesh (Eph. 2:11); This is how Moab should be understood spiritually, which means from the father or the water of the father, conceived from incest and confusion, so that he seems to have been born without a father and against the will of the father. We read about Moab in many places in the Scriptures and especially in the book of Numbers, when Balak, the king of Moab, summoned the soothsayer Balaam to curse him, who, among other things, predicted this mysterious thing against Moab: “a star will rise from Jacob and a man will arise from Israel and defeat the princes of Moab” (Num. 24:17). Art. 1. For by night Ar was desolate, Moab was silent; for in the night the wall was broken down, Moab was silent. LXX: The land of Moab perished in the night, for the wall of Moab perished in the night. Instead of Ar (ﬠﬧ), which Theodotion alone put as read in Hebrew, Aquila and Symmachus translated city, not taking into account that between the Hebrew letters ain and resh there is no iod, which if there were, then it would be correct to read city. Worldly wisdom, about which the Lord speaks through the prophet: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent (Obd. 1:8; Isa. 29:14; 1 Cor. 1:19), since it has as its culprit the mind that is born as a result of divine creation, it seems to be born from the father, which means Moab; and since he is an adulterer and an enemy of the people of God, he is born from incest, in a cave and at night. Therefore, he died in the middle of the night, that is, in eternal error. And the Egyptians were swallowed up by the waves of the Black Sea during the morning watch, which indicates the time of night (Ex. 14). And Lot, during the destruction of Sodom at night, came to Zoar, and the sun rose for him (Gen. 19). Understanding this, the blessed apostle writes about the saints and perfect ones: “we are not the sons of night and darkness, but of the day. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But we, being (sons of) the day, must watch, having put on the breastplate of faith and love” (1 Thess. 5:5, 7, 8). And since he left the night and had already begun to be the son of the day, he says to the believers: “the night has passed, and the day has approached; as during the day we will walk decently, not among feasting and drunkenness, nor among debauchery and sensuality” (Rom. 13:12, 13). After the destruction of the land on the night of Moab, its wall, built by the art of dialectics, was devastated and destroyed that same night and fell silent in eternal silence. Then Ar, which means ἀντίδικος, that is, the enemy, indicates that this wisdom, contrary to God, was defeated by the word of the church, which fought against it. Art. 2. The house and Dimon (or Divon) ascend to the heights for crying. LXX: Be sorrowful for yourselves, for Dimon, where the altar is, will perish; go up there to cry. Every house of contrary wisdom and Divon, which means their course, ascends to the heights of which it was proud, not to make sacrifices, but to mourn what it previously sinned. And indeed lies pass and flow like a river and cannot stand for long. But the Word of God, which is firm, stands firm. Therefore, the manna, which seemed like frost on the earth’s surface, did not flow down, but remained. Further, according to LXX, the Moabites are commanded to grieve and cry not for others, for this is characteristic of the perfect, but for themselves, because their Divon will also perish, that is, beautiful speech flowing like a stream: in it they had, as it were, an altar consecrated by them, and all worldly riches. Therefore, the Psalm says: “If wealth flows, then do not apply your heart.” The beginning of salvation is to understand your sins and mourn them. Art. 3. And next. Over Nabe and Medabah Moab will cry out: bald spots will be on all his heads, every beard will be shaved off. At its crossroads they girded themselves with sackcloth: and over its roofs and in its streets everyone cried out (or the cry descended into lamentation). And Heshbon and Eleala shall cry: their voice is heard unto Iazah; Moreover, the armed men of Moab will cry out; his soul will cry out for itself. My heart will weep for Moab; his poles reach Zoar, a three-year-old heifer; for at sunrise a mourner will rise to Luif, and on the way with Oronaim they will raise a cry of contrition; for the waters of Nemrim will be abandoned, because the grass has dried up, there are no grains, all the greenery has died. According to the importance of the matter and their visit: they will be led to the river of willows; For the cry goes round the borders of Moab, to Agallim the cry thereof, and to the well of Elim the cry thereof: for the waters of Dimon are filled with blood. For I will put an appendage upon Dimon for those who fled from the lion of Moab, and for the remnant of the land. Since there is almost one meaning in this entire prophecy, in order not to divide it, presenting it in parts, I have stated it all together, and in brief I will say what I consider necessary regarding the particulars in an allegorical interpretation. Nabo means seat or prophecy, Medabah - from the forest, Heshbon - plans, Eleala - ascension, Iazah - done or commanded, Zoar - small, Luif - cheeks, Oronaim - gorge of sorrow, Nemrim - leopards or apostates, Agallim - calves or sandy hills, Elim - rams or strong ones, Dimon - sufficient sorrow. So, since every teaching contrary to the truth, born without the inspiration of God from the human mind in the darkness of error, was devastated by night and its proofs, understood under the walls, were destroyed, so that they fell silent forever and their whole party turned to repentance and tears over Navah, that is, prophecy and the seat, that is, their teachers, and over Medabah, where there are no fruit trees, but a barren forest, in which animals live, about which in the twenty-eighth Psalm it is written: and he opens the oak groves (Ps. 28:9), then there will be crying and crying, and the ornaments of eloquence will be removed from their heads, so that they will be naked and disfigured. And if they seemed to have something masculine in their beard, then, shaved by a churchman, they will turn out to be effeminate and weak. And at their crossroads, that is, at the crossroads of error - since everyone invents what he wants according to his own desire - they will gird themselves with the sackcloth of repentance, and on the roofs and terraces of houses on which they at first considered themselves high, and in the squares (since they enter not through the narrow path leading to life, but through the wide one leading to death) there will be a cry. And they will not rise to pride, but will descend to weeping. Then they will understand all the vanity of their plans, which Heshbon means, and the emptiness of proud exaltation, which Eleala expresses, so that their voice will reach the evil deeds they have committed, and to condemnation by their own recognition of the commandment, which they considered divine. Therefore, the poles, that is, those who were strong in Moab and realized their error, will cry out and begin to have hope of success when their soul cries out for itself. Therefore, the prophet, with a feeling of compassion, turns to those whose souls were crying (or screaming) for themselves, and says: my heart will weep for Moab, that is, to call them to repentance. The poles and all the supports that they apparently had in heresies will reach Zoar, that is, Malago, and will turn out to be not strong, but weak. This Zoar, that is, a small repentance, if it endures, will lead them to perfect salvation: this means a three-year-old heifer, according to what we read in Genesis, where Abraham is commanded to offer a bull, a ram and a goat of three years old, that is, a perfect sacrifice, in order to be worthy of the inheritance of the Lord (Gen. 15). And after repentance, through Luif, that is, through the tears of the cheeks, they will reach heights. And through this seemingly sorrowful entrance and exit they will raise a cry of contrition to the Lord, so that they will be able to say: the sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a contrite and humble heart God will not despise (Ps. 50:19). And this will be fulfilled, because the waters of Nemrim, that is, the teaching of heretics, compared to leopards and apostates, will be abandoned and will be reduced to insignificance. These are those leopards, whose diversity and spots, according to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 13), do not change, and those apostates about whom we read in the Psalms: those who transgress against all the sinful lands (Psalm 119:19). Also, all grass and grain and everything that seemed green in their speech dried up. And in accordance with the importance of their sins, they were visited by God, so that through punishment they would know Him Whom they had not known through good deeds. Finally they will be led to a valley or a stream of willows, so that no fruit remains in them. For the property of the seed of these trees, they say, is such that whoever pours it into a cup will not have children. Therefore, the saints, who, due to sins, began to be among the confusion of this world, hung their organs on the willows of the rivers of Babylon (Ps. 136). All the borders of the Moabites are surrounded by a cry either calling for repentance or mourning error, so that through their weeping they can bring bulls (as a sacrifice) of the mouth and reach the source of the Lord rams or strong ones, because Elim means both. Regarding the waters of Dimon, which means sufficient pain or sorrow, which desecrated many with their irrigation, that they did not serve to save the seduced peoples, but were blood for them. Therefore, the prophetic speech promises that over those who shed tears, which means Divon, they will not only aggravate the sorrow, but will also add much more to the sorrow, so that, after they have brought complete repentance and escaped the Lion of Moab, they will have God as their ruler, which LXX called ariel, which is translated lion of God; but I leave in this place an explanation of their translation, both because it disagrees in very many ways with the Hebrew text, and because its meaning can be understood from what we have explained. Chapter XVI. Art. 1. Send the Lamb, ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. And it will be like a bird running away and chicks flying away from a nest: so will the daughters of Moab be when they pass through the Arnon. Enter into the discussion, convene a council; make your shadow like the night at noon; shelter those who flee, and do not hand over those who are wandering. My exiled ones will live with you; Moab, be their refuge from the desolator. For the dust is finished; the ill-fated one is destroyed; The one who trampled the earth is gone. And a throne will be prepared in mercy, and he will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David he who judges and seeks righteousness and quickly rewards what is just. What we translated from the Hebrew: send the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, can be read like this: send the Lamb to the ruler of the earth, that is, that it is not the Lamb himself who is the ruler of the earth, as we translated according to the historical meaning, but that the Lamb must be slain to the ruler of the earth. Thus this Lamb, who is either himself the ruler of the earth or is slain to the ruler of the earth, comes from the family of the Moabites, and from those who fled from Moab and were worthy to have a lion as ruler. This means Ruth, from whom Christ was born (Matthew 1:5), which he calls the rock of the desert, because the Moabites and Ammopitites, according to the commandment of God, will not enter the Church of God until the tenth generation and forever (Deut. 23). And whoever fled from the desert of Moab and, let us turn to the mysterious meaning, despising lies, stood on the mountain of truth, he will be like a bird running away and like chicks flying away from a nest, so as not to be swallowed up by the snakes of Moab. So, he says, all the daughters, that is, the souls of Moab, will be when they cross the Arnon, which means their sanctification, when, leaving error, they move on to the knowledge of the truth. So it is said to Moab himself or to the one who fled from Moab: do nothing without advice (Prov. 13), lest you be carried away by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4), but follow Him who is the Angel of great counsel. And call a council to form the Church of God from those who wander and wander. Place the tent and the tabernacle, in which you previously thought to find peace, which was a sign of night and darkness, at noon, that is, in the brightest light, in which you must shelter those fleeing from error and no longer betray those who were previously wandering. O Moab, to My exiles, who left Me and left the Church and, abandoning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, followed their own understanding, or who lived with you when the desolator - the devil began to pursue them, give refuge, turning all their thoughts to the fear of the Lord, and know that after the coming of the Lamb, who, having come from the rock of the desert, is the ruler of the whole earth and came to the mountain of the daughter of Zion, everything ended the power of the devil, compared to dust. And the ill-fated one, who made many unhappy, was destroyed, and he who trampled upon the whole earth, that is, those who were earthly, was no more. After its destruction and reduction to insignificance and complete disappearance, a throne and an eternal kingdom will be prepared, first in mercy, because we are all under sin (Rom. 3), and will sit in the tabernacle of David, which fell and was raised again, He who will judge mercifully and seek righteousness and reward everyone according to his deeds. Let us consider from the beginning of the burden or speech of Moab, which says: Ar Moab was desolate by night and so on to this place, and we will see how gradually through repentance the Moabites become Israelites, and run away like birds, and fly away like chicks from a nest to cross the Arnon, and live on the mountain of the daughter of Zion, and so that after the destruction of the power of the devil or the Antichrist, Christ reigns over them and sets up his throne among those saved by mercy and righteousness. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). Art. 6 et seq. We have heard about the pride of Moab: it is proud beyond measure. His pride, his exaltation and his fury are more than his strength. Therefore Moab will weep for Moab, he will all weep; To those who rejoice over a wall (or walls) made of baked brick, tell about his wounds (or yours), for the suburban fields of Heshbon are devastated, the vineyard of Shebam. Seventy: We have heard of the injustice of Moab: he is too insolent; his pride, and his injustice and fury, are not as thy fortune-telling: Moab shall not weep thus: for in Moab all shall weep: but thou shalt think upon the inhabitants of Dezeph, and shalt not be put to shame: the fields of Heshbon shall weep for the vineyard of Shebam. The darkness with which this passage is covered by the LXX interpreters is evident from the fact that one can barely read it. Therefore, we will speak according to the Hebrew text. The Scriptures usually, having raised the human spirit out of despair with joyful news, again frighten with a threat those who are careless and unwilling to repent, so that the goodness of God does not harden our hearts. Let's imagine just one example of this. In the one hundred and forty-fourth Psalm we read: the Lord is good to everyone, and His compassions are in all His works (Ps. 145:9), and a little later: the Lord strengthens all that fall down, and raises up all that are cast down. The eyes of all trust in You, O Lord, and You give them food in due season (Vv. 14, 15). But having said first: The Lord protects all those who love Him, the psalmist added: and all sinners will consume (v. 20), so as not to make the listener careless. So, since he predicted that after the destruction of the Antichrist and his father, the devil, who would trample the whole earth, a throne of mercy would be prepared and he would sit in the tabernacle of David; then on behalf of the saints who escaped from Moab and learned from their own experience about its pride, the prophet says: we heard about the pride of Moab, or about injustice, as LXX translated. For what heretic is not proud? Despising the simplicity of the Church, he looks at the people who belonged to the Church as unreasonable animals, and is so exalted by the arrogance of pride and injustice that he arms his mouth against the Creator himself, slandering His prophets as if on the basis of the Gospel testimony, in which the Savior says: all of them came before Me; they are also thieves (John 10:8), so that even He calls Moses, the servant of God, a murderer; Jesus the son of Nun, who possessed such holiness that at the command of his words the sun and the moon stood still, he reviles him as a bloodthirsty man, and calls David, from whose seed Christ came (Matthew 1), a murderer and adulterer, despite his repentance and meekness, by which he is compared with the mercy of God. But although he is proud and arrogant and indulges in frantic rejoicing, he is bolder than his strength allows. Therefore, Moab will cry out to Moab, that is, to each other; it is precisely all the different kinds of heretics and wise men of this age who will cry out one against the other when they are given over to torment. Therefore, you, teachers of the Church or those saved from the error of Moab, declare your wounds received from the arrows of heretics to those who have walls built not of the square stones of which the church was built, and so hewn that hammer and ax were not heard in the house of God. For all their plans, which means Heshbon, do not relate to the habitation of the city of the Lord, about which it is written: the river's desires make glad the city of God (Ps. 46:5); but they are suburbs, so that they only seem to relate to the city of God: these suburbs are deprived of the protection of God or burned by divine fire, especially the vineyard of Savama, which means raising the heights, because it rises to heights and tries to raise the tower of its pride to the sky. What is stated in the LXX for the inhabitants of Dezeph is not in Hebrew; but instead reads ares, which means tiles or baked brick. Art. 9, 10. The rulers of the nations cut down its vines and reached Jazer. They wandered through the desert: its shoots were left behind: they crossed the sea. Therefore shall they weep with the lament of Jazer for the vineyard of Shebam: I will make thee drink with my tears, O Heshbon and Eleala: for in the gathering of thy grapes, and in thy harvest, the voice of them that trample is fallen. And joy and rejoicing will be taken away from Carmel, and there will be no joy and rejoicing in the vineyards: the wine in the winepress will not be trampled by those who are accustomed to trample: I have stopped the voice of those who trample. The environs of Heshbon, which we mentioned above, are devastated, as well as the vineyard of Shebamah, which can be translated not only through raising the heights, but also through some kind of conversion, because in the country of Moab one notices partly a desire to turn to the service of the Lord. Therefore, the rulers of the nations, the apostles and apostolic men completely cut down the vines and shoots of this Savam vineyard, so that other heresies would not arise from some heresies and the number of erring ones would not become endless. And they not only cut down the shoots of Shebam, but they reached Jazer, which means their strength, that is, to all the most solid teachings of the heretics and built with dialectical art, in which they apparently had the support of their error, and their sword raged so much that they recently wandered through the desert and had no one to slay. And although they cut down its vines, due to the strength of a very bad root, some shoots remained. The rulers of the nations passed beyond the sea, that is, through the temptations of this age, about which we read in the Psalm: I came into the depths of the sea, and a storm drowned me (Ps. 68:3), and in another place: they who went to the sea in ships, doing work in many waters: they saw the works of the Lord and His wonders in the depths (Ps. 107:23, 24). Thus they crossed the sea to see the works of the Lord and His miracles in the depths of temptations when freed from them. So, the prophetic speech mourns the power of the heretics, that is, Jazer, and the vineyard of Shebam, which rebels against the mind of God. And I will make you drunk with my tears, Heshbon, that is, their plans, and Eleala, that by which they rise to heights. Why does Jazer weep over the vineyard of Shebam and make Eleal drunk with his tears? So that we weep for ourselves and teach them to weep, since, he says, at the gathering of your grapes and at your harvest, the voice of the tramplers fell. For the vineyard of the Moabites, due to their proximity, is the same as the vineyard of Sodom, about which it is said: From the vineyards of Sodom their grapes are, and their rod is from Gomorrah (Deut. 32:32). And in Psalm seventy-seven we read about the Egyptian vineyard, which God struck with hail. And the harvests of Moab are born in the valleys of Raphaim, and the imaginary harvest of grapes takes place in that vineyard, about which it is said above: the rulers of the nations cut down its vines. For they crush the bitterest grapes and trample them with their feet, so that the poison of the serpent is not squeezed out of them and so that all who drink it do not perish. The joy and rejoicing of the heretics, with which they were previously accustomed to rejoice, will also be destroyed, so that after repentance they will be worthy to hear it: blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). What is added from Carmel does not mean that the heretics really have Carmel, that is, the knowledge of spiritual circumcision, but that they falsely boast of it. And when the vineyards are cut down and the joy and exultation of false knowledge are destroyed, then there will be none of the former tramplers who would trample the grapes that they trampled before, and their voice will forever be silent. Art. 11 et seq. Therefore my belly will sound to Moab like a harp, and my entrails to a wall of burnt brick. And it will be, although it will be revealed that Moab labored in his high places until he was tired, and although he will enter his sanctuaries to pray, he will no longer have strength. This is the word that the Lord spoke from that time to Moab. After the destruction of the error of Moab, or rather after the transformation of joy into sadness and tears, my womb, the prophet, which is musically constructed like a zither and which, having conceived from the fear of God, brought forth many children, so that there is not a single string that does not make its sound, will resound with the cry of Moab, bringing repentance. And all my insides were against a wall made of baked bricks, instead of which Theodotion transferred them to a destroyed wall. For all the enemy’s fortifications on which they previously hoped will be destroyed and fall. The insides of the prophet are those about which David spoke in the Psalm: bless my soul the Lord, and all that is within me is His holy name (Ps. 102:1). For just as a zither does not emit a loud and harmonious sound if even one string breaks, so the spiritual womb of the prophet, if even one string of virtues is missing in it, will not be able to emit pleasant singing and shout to the brick wall with all its insides. If it is the opinion of philosophers that the virtues are related to each other, and according to the Apostle James, if anyone lacks one, he does not have all the virtues. When Moab understands that he labored in vain in these teachings, which he previously considered high, he will enter his sanctuaries, not those that are holy in themselves, but which the erring one considered holy, and will not be able to find help. Or, perhaps, leaving behind false delusions, he will try to enter the sanctuaries of the Church to make them his own, to ask and pray, but he will not be able to. For we cannot obtain perfect virtue immediately, as we wish. As for the words: this is the word that the Lord spoke from that time to Moab, then we must know that this is an epilogue, repeating the introduction in which he said: a word against Moab or a burden, so that he ended here with what he began there. From that time on, it should be understood this way: from which he began to speak to him, so that everything that he said is one word of God, that is, one definition. Further, according to LXX, which translated: the bowels of the prophet, like a wall, are renewed by God, and he, that is, Moab, will be put to shame and come to the altars and to what is made by hand, we can explain in such a way that the bowels of the prophet are always renewed and strengthened by God, so that the opponents will be put to shame and understand that what is made by human hands is in vain, and does not serve in the least for salvation. Art. 14. And now the Lord spoke, saying: In three years, counting the years of the hireling, the glory of Moab will be taken away over all the numerous people, and it will remain small and insignificant and in no way great. The three years in which the glory of Moab will be taken away from all its numerous people or from its great wealth, as the LXX translated, must be understood figuratively. For just as the mercy of the Lord is subject to weight and measure, so torment and punishment have their own measure, so that after three years, in which he remains small and insignificant and insignificant, he will cease to be in humiliation. And it should be noted that according to the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 4), Israel, that is, the ten tribes that sinned the most, when counting the days for the year, is counted as punishment for three hundred and ninety years, as stated in the Hebrew, and not one hundred and ninety, as in the Vulgate edition, and Judah, in which was the church of God, forty years. For the little one is worthy of mercy, but the stronger will be tormented more severely (Wis. 6:6), and the servant who knows the will of his master and does not fulfill it will be beaten much (Luke 12:47). So Moab, a stranger and not belonging to the people of God, but having converted, leaving error, will remain small and insignificant and inglorious not for many years, but only for three years. These are the years about which we read elsewhere: “remember the days of the age” (Is. 46) and also: I thought about the first days, and remembered eternal years (Ps. 77:6). For if Israel in the flesh served shadows and images, and every feast of them was an image of the future, then why do not the years of the present represent future times, about which we read elsewhere: “What will you do in the days of the gathering and in the days of the feast of the Lord” (Hos. 9:5)? The words of the mercenary, counting the years, show that the false teaching does everything for the sake of profit and benefit. For every hireling and who is not a shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, when he sees the wolf coming, he flees, because he is a hireling and the sheep do not belong to him (John 10). Therefore, I think, a stranger and a hired servant do not partake of the sacred, and slaves are not partakers of the sacred. For it is not for the love of the Lord, but for the sake of retribution, that all those who devour the houses of widows and bring their own flocks do so in order to clothe themselves with their wool and milk them (Matthew 23). What we said about mercenary teaching can be applied to other things. If I give alms in order to be glorified by people, then I have received my reward and should be called a mercenary. Even if I pretend to be chaste, but my conscience is otherwise, then I have not the reward of a mercenary, but the punishment of a sinner. And, when comparing two evils, sinning openly is a lesser evil than being a hypocrite and pretending to be holy. But Moab also achieved the point that, having previously had many accomplices in his error, he was subsequently reduced to a few, or, having previously possessed a large amount of sinful wealth, after repentance he became small and poor in evil. Of course, the interpretations of St. Basil the Great. In Greek ἔκαοτος – everyone. In general, the current Greek text of this passage differs significantly from the translated blessed one. Jerome. So, instead of the words: vile miscarriage we read: ὠς νεκρὸς ἐβδελυγμένος - like a vile dead man and εἰς ἅδον - to hell instead: to the foundations of the earth. You might be interested in: