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The seventh book is also the second or last of allegorical interpretation. For it ends the allegorical interpretation of the ten visions, which when I finish with your, Eustochius, prayers and with the help of Christ, I will proceed to the eighth and will present both interpretations together, like the first books through the fourth. Chapter XVII. Art. 1. Burden of Damascus. Symmachus and Theodotion: acceptance of Damascus; LXX: word against Damascus, adding this from themselves, which they did at the beginning of the vision of Moab. For the first time in Genesis we read the name of Damascus, who before Isaac was a servant of Abraham and was considered an heir if a son had not been born to Sarah according to the promise (Gen. 15). It means either kissing blood, or drinking blood, or the blood of sackcloth, which is all befitting of the pagan people, who before the faith of Christ were friends of blood and cruelty, and committed deeds worthy of crying and sackcloth. In the Book of Days (2 Chron. 24) the story tells that at the end of the year the army of Syria came out against Joash king of Judah and came to Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people and sent all the spoil to the king of Damascus, who came with a few men: and God delivered into their hand a very large multitude, because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers. This must be contemplated in a mysterious sense and as an image of the future, so that we can attribute both to the time of the coming of the Lord. For at the end of the favorable summer in which the Gospel was preached by the Savior, an army of the pagans, consisting of a few men, came out of Damascus against Judah and Jerusalem, abandoning the Lord: and they destroyed all the wealth of their law and prophets and sent men to the king of Damascus, that is, men of the Church and the teaching of the Gospel, who were few in number to prepare the entire then unbelieving world and the Jews scattered throughout the whole world; and yet the Lord delivered Jerusalem into their hands, because the Jews abandoned the Son of God, Who was first foretold by the prophets. Therefore, I think, Saul, who later, as a zealot of the law, received the name Paul for virtue, went to Damascus and wanted to fight against the Gentile believers, but defeated there, he followed those who lived in Damascus, so that, having returned from there, go to Jerusalem to conquer the Jews. But let it not seem to anyone a contradiction that the book of Chronicles says joyful things about Damascus, and now the book of Isaiah foreshadows sad things, because both unfavorable and favorable things are announced regarding Israel itself, which was God’s lot. And as it is said to Israel according to the flesh and to the Gentiles: You are Gentiles according to the flesh, being called foreskin because of that circumcision which is called circumcision according to the flesh; so, on the contrary, there is Israel in spirit and there are pagans in spirit, and among other pagans there is Damascus in spirit, so that we do not stop only at Jewish fables. Art. 1ff. Damascus will cease to be a city and will be like a pile of stones in ruins. The cities of Aroer will be abandoned to the herds and they will rest there and there will be no one to frighten them; And the help of Ephraim will cease, and the kingdom will be at Damascus, and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the Lord of hosts. As shown in the inscription, through Damascus the calling of the pagans who loved or drank blood and who, having believed in Christ, will cease to be cities of the former way of life and will be a heap of stones in ruins is indicated. For just as heaps of stones scattered across the fields are gathered into one heap, so from all the tribes a heap of believers was gathered on the ruins of the people of the Jews during their fall and during our uprising. And the cities of Aroer, that is, tamarisk, will be abandoned for the flocks of the Church, so that we may settle in the cities abandoned by the Jews and so that after the destruction of idolatry the Gospel will be published. We see the fulfillment of this in our times: on the site of the church of Serapis in Alexandria and the church of the Marne in Gaza, churches of the Lord were erected and the cities of Aroer were prepared for the flocks of the gospel. Aroer, that is, tamarisk, grows in desert places, according to what is written in the curse of that person who trusts in a person and whose heart departs from the Lord: it will be, he says, like a tamarisk in the desert and will not see when good comes; but he will live in dry places, in the desert, in a land of salt marshes and uninhabited (Jer. 17:6). Others say that µίστρα, that is, hatred, is magically evoked from this tree. So, those who were previously in the wilderness of the pagans and hated the name of Christians will serve the flocks of Christ and will rest in them and there will be no one to frighten them, because the Lord will dwell among them and in the presence of the Shepherd they will not be afraid of the wolf. Then God’s help will cease for Ephraim, which in this place refers to the scribes and Pharisees according to the prophecy of Hosea, who calls the opponents of the people of God Ephraim (Hos. 5 and 8). And the kingdom will cease in Damascus, so that in the previously bloodthirsty Damascus, sin and the chief of sin, the devil, will no longer reign, but with the remnant of Syria, that is, with those who believed from the Gentiles, the same thing will happen as before with the children of Israel, after the kingdom of God is taken away from them and after it is transferred to the nations who produce the fruits thereof, as the Lord of hosts spoke through all his prophets. Art. 4–6. And it will come to pass on that day that the glory of Jacob will diminish, and his fat flesh will grow thin. And he will be like one who gathers what is left of the stubble, and his hand will gather the grain, and he will be like one who seeks grain in the valley of Raphaim. And he shall have as it were a bunch of grapes, and as it were two or three olives on the top of the trunk when an olive tree is shaken, or four or five of its fruits on its tops, says the Lord God of Israel. After the same thing will happen to the remnant of Syria as once happened to the glory of the children of Israel, and salvation, through their fault, will be given to the Gentiles, then all the glory of the Jews, for which they were famous throughout the world, will diminish, and their fat flesh will become thin, when they will have neither prophets, nor signs and powers, nor the presence of God’s help, nor the rank of the priest: but the whole body of their people will become emaciated and will be converted. into nothing. And while it is said about the calling of the pagans: the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37), they will gather the poor remnants of the harvest saved by the apostles, and very rare ears of corn, not from the mountains and high places, but in the valley of Raphaim, that is, in the insignificance of the letter. And pay attention to the fact that Raphaim, meaning: giants, means, like Ephraim above, the Pharisees and scribes. Further, LXX instead of the valley of Raphaim translated: the valley of the hard, to express the hardness of the Jews. From nothingness their rescued ones are chosen like ears of corn in the straw, like clusters preserved after the harvest of grapes, and like two, three, or four or five olives after the shaking of an olive tree. For when the shock of the people of Judah came, then that olive tree of the people of Israel, which under Moses had six hundred thousand armed men (Num. 26) and under David, according to the number of Joab, an innumerable people (2 Sam. 24), could hardly bear a few fruits to the Lord Savior: two olive trees for Paul and Barnabas, and three olive trees for Peter, James and John (Acts. 13), who saw the transfigured Lord on the mountain (Matthew 17) and were honored to go with the Lord to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue. Four and five olive trees make up the remaining nine apostles, among whom Matthew took the place of Judas the traitor (Acts. 1), which, of course, according to the difference of gifts unknown to us, are divided into four and five olive trees, in order to indicate the number of Gospels and books of the Law, as preachers of both Testaments. Art. 7, 8. On that day man will rise up to his Creator and his eyes will turn to the Holy One of Israel. And he will not bow down to the altars which his hands have made, and which his fingers have made; they will not look upon the groves and the churches. At the time when among the people of Israel, to whom it was previously said: “The Lord your God called you a fruitful olive tree” (Jer. 11:16) and about whom we read in the Psalms: your sons are like new-planted olive trees around your table (Ps. 127:4), the hungry Lord found, as a result of the drying up of spiritual grace, two, three, or four, five olive trees, will come the fullness of the pagans will not turn to idols made with hands, but to their God, and, turning to the Holy One of Israel, they will despise altars, groves and temples, knowing this that is written, every garden that the Heavenly Father does not plant will be uprooted (Matthew 15:13). Art. 9, 10. On that day the cities of his strength will be left as plows and harvests left before the children of Israel. And it will be empty, for you have forgotten God your Savior and have not remembered your strong Helper. LXX: On that day your cities will be abandoned, just as the Amorites and Hivites abandoned them before the children of Israel. And they will be empty, because you have forsaken God your Savior and have not remembered the Lord your Helper. Just as during the time of Moses and Joshua the son of Nun, the Ammorites and Hivites and other nations living in the land of promise left their plows and harvests and harvests in the fields and fled so as not to fall into the power of the enemies; So the land of Judea and all its strongest cities, during the devastation of Judea by the Romans and during the siege of Jerusalem, were abandoned by their inhabitants. And an appeal is made to the land of Judea itself, that is, to those who lived on it. Yet you suffered this because you forgot God your Savior, as Jesus is translated, about whose future coming the law and the prophets constantly announced to you, and you did not remember your strong Helper, who was always your patron. Thus, the reason for the abandonment of the cities of Judah is the oblivion of the Savior, who at the beginning of this prophet said: “Israel did not know Me, neither did My people understand.” Art. 11. For this you will plant a faithful garden and plant an alien shoot. In the day of your planting the grapes will be wild, and in the morning your seed will flourish: the harvest will be taken away in the day of inheritance, and there will be great sorrow. LXX: Therefore you will plant an unfaithful garden and an unfaithful seed, and on the day on which you plant it you will be mistaken. But if you sow in the morning, it will flourish for the harvest on the day of inheritance, just as when the father of a man gives an inheritance to his sons. Instead of what we translated according to Aquila, Symmachus and the Seventy: on the day of inheritance, which in Hebrew is called biom nehela, in Hebrew you can read: on the worst day. And instead of what Aquila and Theodotion translated: and man will mourn, we, taught by the Jews, instead of man, who in their language is called enos, translated anus, that is, strongly. We will say more about the ambiguity of this word, if life lasts, in Jeremiah, where according to LXX it is said: both man is, and who knows him (Jer. 17:9) 31? I will say what I began: since you, land of Judea, forgot about God, your Savior, and did not remember the One who always gave you strength; then although for this you will plant a faithful garden, or, according to the translation of Aquila and Theodotion, a beautiful one, or, as Symmachus translated, a good one, preaching the one God: but you will plant an alien shoot, not accepting the Father, because you do not accept the Son. For whoever believes in the Father also believes in the Son. And since you have planted an alien branch of blasphemy against Jesus in the synagogues of Satan, therefore you will not gather bunches of grapes, but wild grapes. And although your shoot will apparently bloom and have some shadow of piety, since you turn people away from idols; however, when you come to gather fruit on the day of inheritance, you will greatly grieve, seeing that the heathen nations are preferred to you. Therefore, the apostle says: my sorrows are great, and my heart’s pain never ceases. I prayed that I myself should be separated from Christ according to my brethren, my relatives according to the flesh: who are the Israelites, whose sonship, and the institution of the law, and the glory, and the covenant and the promises: theirs are the fathers, and so on (1 Rom. 9:3-5). This is said not only by Paul, but also by each of the saints, wanting the root to be saved along with the branches of the wild olive tree. This inheritance is that which we receive from the Lord and about which the Apostle says: divisions of gifts are, and the same is the Spirit, and divisions of ministries are, and the same is the Lord: and divisions of actions are, and the same is God, working all in all (1 Cor. 12:4-6). Someone may wonder why, instead of beautiful and good gardens, as Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus translated, we said the faithful garden. The Hebrew word neemanim, if written through the letter aleph, means πιστο͂ι, that is, faithful, and if written through ayin and pronounced neamenim, it means beautiful. Therefore, Naomi, who is written through this letter, says in Ruth (Ruth. 1:20): do not call me Naomi, that is, beautiful, but call me bitter. Art. 12 et seq. Woe to the multitude of many nations, like the multitude of a roaring sea, and the noise of the masses, like the roar of many waters, will roar. The nations will roar like many waters during a flood, and He will threaten him, and he will run far away, and will be caught like mountain dust by the wind and like a whirlwind by a storm. Evening - and here is confusion; morning, and he will not stand. Such is the fate of those who devastated us, and the lot of those who ruin us. Above we read under the name of Damascus about the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews and the election of a few believers from the Jews through the apostles and in the apostles. And since, in comparison with the whole world and all nations, a small part of the Christian people believed, about whom it was said above: and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, for many are the ranks, but few are the chosen (Matthew 22:14) and: not all have faith (Thessalonians 3:2); then now, accordingly, do not cry, but grief is attached to these peoples who did not want to believe and persecuted the Christian people. They are compared to masses of waves and to the sea, noisy and striving to suppress and occupy everything as far as it can. For the nations will make a noise at the spectacles of debauchery in the theaters, at the cruelty of the amphitheater and at the furies of the circus, like the noise of waters during a flood, blaspheming with a common voice of wickedness and demanding that Christians be thrown to lions and beasts, and other things of the same kind. But when they rage like the sea, then the Lord will threaten the author of their disturbance and drive him out from his people. And just as the dust raised on the mountains, the higher it is, the more it is carried away, and just as a whirlwind rising from the earth in a fast storm is carried high, so he, when captured, will be separated from the people of God and will run away so as not to be sent into the abyss. When the day of destruction comes, which means evening, then there will be confusion due to the consciousness of one’s sins. And at the time of the morning, that is, on the day of resurrection, he will not stand that LXX will not be translated. If he does not, then what will those who allow the devil to repent and, as far as possible, promise him the Archangel’s heights, answer? Such is the fate of those who devastated us, and the lot of those who ruin us. This is either a Christian people, or the prophet speaks on behalf of a believing people, since their persecutors, who oppressed them with exile, imprisonment and confiscation of property, will have eternal destruction, and will be subject to eternal punishment. Chapter XVIII. Art. 1ff. Woe to the land, the cymbal of wings, which is on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers, sending ambassadors by sea and in papyrus ships on the waters: go, swift messengers, to a people overthrown and torn to pieces, to a terrible people, after which there is no other, to a people waiting, waiting and trampled, whose rivers have cut their land. All of you, inhabitants of the universe living on earth, when the banner is raised in the mountains, you will see and hear the sound of the trumpet. LXX: Woe to the ship wings of the land on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers, sending hostages by sea and papyrus messages by water. For easy messengers will go to a high people and a strange and worst people who are on the other side of it: a people without hope and trampled upon; now the rivers of the whole earth are like a country that is inhabited (or will be inhabited): their country will be inhabited, as a banner is raised from the mountain, and as the sound of a trumpet is heard. I outlined a very dark prophecy according to both editions, so that those who wish to understand what was written would not seem to be missing anything. And I am greatly surprised by those who think that our faith and Christian hope are content with simplicity, since it is written: the commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes (Ps. 18:9), and that we should only care about fulfilling what is commanded, while all Scripture and in particular the prophets are covered with the mysteries of the future, in order to call us to understanding and to what is said in the Gospel: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; press, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9). But since I outlined the historical interpretation and what is contained in the Hebrew text in the fifth book, I will now present what I find necessary for the allegorical interpretation. A prudent reader may ask: what does the cymbal of wings and other things that follow mean in the vision or the burden of Damascus. After it was said about the calling of the Gentiles, about the rejection of the Jews and the election of those who believed through the apostles, and then about the multitude of nations and persecutors, who are compared to the waves of the sea; It was necessary that the prophetic speech should also announce the heresies that tormented and are still devastating the Church, about those who sowed tares in the field of the Church when the lord was sleeping (Matthew 13). According to the Apostle, those who do not have the love of God are called cymbals: although I speak with the tongues of men and with the tongues of angels, I do not love them, but they are like a ringing brass, or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor. 13:1). And not only a cymbal that makes a dull sound, but, due to the ease of heretical speech rushing in different directions, they are called the cymbal of wings, or, according to the Seventy, the wings of a ship, those who, promising many goods, float on the waves of this age. Under the wings of a ship we mean the sails hung on ships and moving them. And he set up the ship’s wings beautifully, because every heretic promises high things and although he boasts that he has wings, he remains in salt waters and does not go far from the land, but in the middle of the way he is unexpectedly wrecked. Therefore, instead of a cymbal, Aquila translated the shadow of wings, because they do not have wings, but the semblance of wings. And the words: which is on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers mean that heretics surpass everyone in their wickedness. For example, Epicurus says that there is no providence and that pleasure is the highest good. But in comparison with him, Marcion and all the heretics who torment the Old Testament are more wicked. For, accepting providence, they accuse the Creator and claim that He sinned in very many matters and did not do what He should have done. For what benefit do snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, fleas, bedbugs and mosquitoes bring to people? So, they are on the other side of the Ethiopian rivers and send ambassadors across the sea of ​​this age, that is, their disciples, who, as those who bring them books, are called delivering on the waters of the truth papyrus, that is, paper ships, which are quickly destroyed. For just as books quickly darken from water and dampness, are erased and perish, so their speech and teaching, which at first seemed to have some power, pass away and fall. So, ironically it is said to them: O angels of heretics, go quickly. The blessed Apostle Paul calls them false apostles, deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Cor. 11). And go to a people overthrown and torn to pieces: overthrown by God and torn to pieces by the attacks of heretics. To a terrible people: because there is nothing more terrible than blasphemy, putting your mouth on high. After which there is no other nation: because every sin is lighter in comparison with blasphemy. A people waiting, waiting and trampled upon: for all heretics promise themselves heavenly things and promise great things, and yet they are trampled underfoot by demons. Whose land was divided by rivers, whose waters came not from the sky, but from the earth. For what corner, what extreme desert of the earth does not the stormy speech of heretics penetrate? So, all those who dwell and live in the universe turn their eyes to the banner of the heretics, raised as if on the mountains, and listen to the sound of the trumpet, that is, their teachings. This is according to the Hebrew text. For the Seventy, the wings of the heretics are mourned, who fly like ships on the sea of ​​this age and surpass the wickedness of the pagans, whom the Scripture now calls Ethiopians, and it is said to the doctrine and their speech: you, who send on the sea of ​​this age books, hostages of your corruption, and messages to deceive those who read them. Light messengers go to a high people and to a strange and worst people. For none of those who belong to the church have such zeal for good as heretics for evil, and they consider it a gain for themselves if they deceive others and, having perished themselves, destroy others. The people are called high because of arrogance, and alien and worst because they are alien to God. This is, in truth, a people without hope and trampled underfoot, whose rivers throughout the whole earth imitate the habitation of the Church in order to find for themselves a welcome and a place where they could raise the banner of their teaching and sound (as if) the trumpet of the Scriptures. Art. 4 et seq. For thus says the Lord to me: I will rest and look in my place: how clear is the light of noon and how is the cloud of dew on the day of harvest. For before the harvest it has fully blossomed and the unripe fruit will languish, and its branches will be cut off with knives, and what remains will be cut off and discarded. And it will be left together for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the birds will live there for a whole summer, and all the animals of the earth will spend the winter there. At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a nation overthrown and destroyed, from a terrible nation after which there was no other nation, from a people waiting, waiting and trampled, whose rivers have cut their land, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion. God calms down and looks at his place, or according to Aquila, in the firmament, that is, in the Church, about which the Apostle Paul says: the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). He looks at what is happening in the Church; and just as the midday light is clear, so He illuminates everything, according to what is said allegorically in the eighteenth Psalm about the Sun of righteousness: and there is none that can be covered with its warmth (Ps. 18:7). And just as a cloud of dew is very pleasant during the harvest and in the hot summer, so the Lord, under whose protection everything flourishes, gives comfort to those who dwell in His Church. And before the fulfillment of the times comes, since we now understand in part and prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13:8), there will be many perfect ones, about whom the apostle says: as many as are perfect, let us be wise (Phil. 3:15). The useless branches will be cut off with knives, according to the words of the Savior in the Gospel: I am the true vine, and My Father is the workman. Every rod about Me that does not produce fruit I will cut off, and every rod that produces fruit I will cut off, so that it may bear abundant fruit (John 15:1, 2). And what is circumcised will be left for the birds of the mountains and the beasts of the earth - the birds with which the seed is laid waste along the way, and the beasts to which the soul that does not confess God is given over, so that whoever is cut off by the Lord and rejected and separated from His body, that is, from the Church, will serve as the abode of the birds and beasts both in summer and in winter, that is, in happiness and misfortune. But just as the useless and unfruitful in the Church are cut off and removed so that a little leaven does not spoil the entire mass: so on the contrary, it may be that those who were seduced by heretical error, and were overthrown by the Lord and torn to pieces, and were terrible because of blasphemy, and hoped in vain for deception, and were trampled by demons and were scattered by rivers in different directions - those when they remember their God and If they leave the worst teachers, they will bring a gift to the Lord of hosts, not anywhere else than on Mount Zion and on the spytower, which means the church. We speak very briefly because much has already been said in the book of historical interpretation. Chapter XIX. Art. 1. The Burden of Egypt. Symmachus and Theodotion: the adoption of Egypt. LXX: Vision of Egypt. Where in Hebrew it is written massa Mesraim, that we translated the burden or weight of Egypt, instead of which Aquila translated ἄρμα Αἰγυπτου, we can say that since the prophet lifts up and bears the yoke of the Lord, he was worthy to see or bear the prophecy on Egypt. Therefore, I am surprised that LXX, instead of heaviness, translated a vision in relation to Babylon, a word in relation to the Philistines, Moab and Dimask, and now a conversion in relation to Egypt, although in Hebrew in all these cases there is not a word and a vision, but massa, that is, burden and heaviness. And regarding the fact that Symmachus and Theodotion always translated λῆµµα, that is, acceptance, we must know that the prophet received a spiritual gift from the Lord in order to know the secrets of Egypt or to see with the eyes of the mind, as LXX translated. But this is not the Egypt for which the Jews recognize it and as Josephus believed, who in the books of Antiquities says 32 that the priest Onias fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah by building in the Iliopolitan region - what the Egyptians call νοµός - a church in the likeness of the church of God and an altar. For let it be so, let us assume that this is said about Onias and the altar: what kind of five cities will these be that speak the Canaanite language in Egypt, of which one according to the LXX is called Ἀσεδἐκ, and according to other translators the city of Ars or Ares or the city of the sun? And who will be the savior who was sent to the Egyptians to save them and so that the Egyptians would know the Lord? When did they honor Him with sacrifices and gifts and fulfill their vows? When did the Lord strike Egypt and heal it? Can we prove that at any time there was a road from Egypt to the Assyrians and that the Assyrians entered Egypt and the Egyptians to the Assyrians and the Egyptians served Assur? When Israel was third in Egypt and the Assyrians had, as it were, a blessing in the midst of the land, so that the Lord said: Blessed are my people in Egypt and the work of my hands is the Assyrian? Obviously, this does not apply to the Egypt that the Jews think of. So, we can call Egypt the place that we inhabit and the world that lies in evil, especially since Mesraim, as Egypt is called, means ἐκϑλιβουσα, that is, oppressive or leading to oppression. However, it should be known that much of the Egyptian burden or vision refers to the province of Egypt, which is still inhabited and visible. But in this and in other places of the Scriptures many things are indicated that are untenable in historical interpretation, so that by the very subject we are necessarily forced to seek a higher meaning. Art. 1. Behold, the Lord will ascend on a light cloud and ascend into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will shake at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. And I will make Egyptians against Egyptians, and man shall fight against his brother, and man against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt will be torn in its bowels, and its council will I overthrow; and they will question their idols and their soothsayers and sorcerers and fortune-tellers. And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of cruel rulers, and a strong king will rule over them, says the Lord God of armies. Quite a lot of the Egyptian prophecy that Isaiah raised or saw I have briefly summarized in historical interpretation. Therefore, now we should touch on something higher in allegorical interpretation. The Lord entered on a light cloud, into the body of the holy Virgin Mary, not burdened with any human seed, or better yet, into His body, conceived by the Holy Spirit. And he entered into the Egypt of this world, and immediately all the idols of Egypt were shaken, so that the prophecies and all the deception of idolatry, which possessed the deceived world, felt so crushed that the wise men from the east, taught by demons or on the basis of the prophecy of Balaam (Num. 24), realizing that the Son of God was born, who would destroy all the power of their art, came to Jerusalem and worshiped the Child (Matthew 2). Then every heart of Egypt melted away and the Egyptians rebelled against the Egyptians according to what the Lord says in the Gospel: Do not remember that He came to bring peace to the earth: He did not come to bring peace, but sword. For he came to separate a man from his father, and a daughter from her mother, and a bride from her mother-in-law (Matthew 10:34, 35). At that time this will also be fulfilled: defeat the husband of his household (Mic. 7:6). And man will fight against his brother, and man against his friend. For in one house there were divided two against three and three against two, and father was divided against son and son against father, city against city and kingdom against kingdom—a kingdom of those who did not believe against those who believed, or those who believed and wanted to save their neighbors. And the spirit of Egypt was torn in its inward parts, so that they would not be of the same mind, but, divided against each other by the sword of the Spirit, they would know that all their counsel would be overthrown. Nevertheless, those who did not want to accept the true faith, remaining in the same error, questioned the idols and their fortune-tellers, soothsayers and sorcerers. And since they did this, the Lord handed them over into the hand of cruel rulers, according to the apostolic saying: they were handed over to Satan, so that they would not be punished for blasphemy (1 Tim. 1:20), so that, oppressed by this very difficult slavery, they would turn to the all-good Lord. And he perfectly calls the demons rulers, the cruelest of whom there is nothing. Also, under the strong king, who serves as their ruler, obviously there is the devil, whom the Lord calls strong in the Gospel, who, when he is bound and defeated, the things from his house and his spoils are divided. Art. 5. et seq. And the water in the sea will dry up, and the stream will be exhausted and dried up, and the rivers will dry up, and the streams of the embankments will become shallow and dry up. The reeds and reeds will wither, the bed of the stream from its source will be exposed, and every irrigated crop will dry up, burn out, and there will be no more. And the fishermen will weep, and all those who cast their fishing rods into the river and cast their nets into the water will lament, and they will fall into despondency. And those who process the flax, those who spin and weave fine linen, will be in confusion, and those who irrigate it will wither, all who made cages for catching fish. The princes of Tsoan are foolish; Pharaoh's wise advisers gave foolish advice. When a strong king becomes a cruel ruler in Egypt, then all the teaching and brilliance of worldly eloquence will dry up and the very source of all streams, the devil, from whom all lies come, will dry up, so that other rivers and streams that were filled from the muddy waters of the Nile will dry up. Both reeds and reeds will dry up from excessive drought. Instead of reeds, LXX translated papyrus, from which paper is made, adding achi green, which is not in Hebrew. Having asked scientists about the meaning of this word, I learned that the Egyptians call this name in their language every plant growing in a swamp. Reed in an allegorical sense means empty speech and does not contain anything solid; also papyrus, which, although apparently has a core, is brittle and dries quickly. Also, all the streams, after the main stream dries up, will dry up, and what was previously watered by the waters of Egypt will dry up and will not exist, so that the fishermen of Egypt, very hostile to the fishermen of the Lord, will mourn, and those who cast their fishing rod into the river and cast their net into the water will mourn. Those who deceive one in particular throw the fish into the muddy waters, and those who deceive many together, so that they speak publicly in the synagogues of Satan and seduce the flocks of nations, these cast a net over the waters of Egypt. Those who processed flax to make priestly garments, spinning it and preparing fine linens, which actually belongs to the art of dialectics, will also be in confusion. Instead of fine linen, LXX transferred fine linen, from which priestly garments are also prepared. The next thing: and it will be irrigated in withering, all who made cages for catching fish means that all the forges of the Egyptian fishermen will be destroyed and destroyed. Instead of cages made for catching fish, as we translated in relation to the meaning, both in Hebrew and in all translators there are souls instead of fish, so that we are transferred from the historical meaning to the allegorical, since those who made cages and pits did it precisely to catch souls in them. It should be noted that instead of cages, LXX was translated ξύϑον, which means a kind of drink prepared from fruits and water and usually called in the provinces of Dalmatia and Panponia by the national barbaric word sabajum. The Egyptians use it mainly to give drinkers not pure water, but muddy water similar to a mixture of scum, so that through a drink of this kind, a heretical, corrupt teaching is indicated. Then the princes of Zoan, which means a humiliated command, will be stupid. For all heretics teach the opposite of highness, humiliation, cast down into the underworld and are the princes of a low and despicable commandment. Also, the advisers of Pharaoh, that is, the king of Egypt, who is correctly translated by scattered and divided and separated in different directions, will turn out to give foolish advice when the Lord destroys the wisdom of the wise and rejects the understanding of the prudent (1 Cor. 1:19). Art. 12 et seq. How will you say to Pharaoh: I am the son of wise men, the son of ancient kings? Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and show you what the Lord of hosts has planned for Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become foolish, the princes of Memphis have faded; they deceived Egypt, the corner of its nations. The Lord mixed a whirling spirit among them, and they caused Egypt to wander in all its affairs, as a drunken man wanders and vomits. And there will be no work in Egypt that is done by the head and the tail that bends and holds back. Heretics usually say to their king or Pharaoh: we are the sons of the wise, who from the beginning transmitted to us the apostolic teaching; We are the sons of ancient kings, called kings of philosophers, and we have knowledge of the Scriptures combined with secular wisdom. Now he asks them or the king of the heretics himself: where are his wise men, who despised church simplicity, and forces them to answer: what did the Lord of Hosts plan for the Egypt of this world and what will He do at his death? Foolish are the illustrious princes of Zoan, who had the despicable commandment of the heretics. All the princes of Memphis, famous for their vain eloquence and oral speech, withered away. For Memphis means mouth or from the mouth and metaphorically (µεταφορικὧϛ) means speech. Further: they misled Egypt - the angle of its peoples or according to LXX: they mislead Egypt by tribes means that the kingdom of worldly wisdom will turn out to be stupid and the princes of every teaching that the tribes designate will be exposed as having stupid teachers. For the Lord mixed up with them the spirit of whirlwind or delusion according to what is written: and because they were not tempted to have God in their minds, for this reason God gave them over to an unskilled mind (Rom. 1:28). And just as a saint can say with Isaiah: “We will work the spirit of your salvation on earth,” so a sinner will create a spirit of error, that is, a spirit of malice, according to what we read in Jeremiah: your apostasy will punish you and your malice will expose you (Jer. 2:19). If a heretic who does not accept the Old Testament is tempted by the fact that the Lord is said to be stirring up the spirit of error or whirlwind, then let him listen to what is written by the Apostle, that is, in the New Testament: God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts into uncleanness (Rom. 1:24), and also: for this reason God gave them up in the passion of dishonor (ibid., v. 26), and also: God gave them over to an unskilled mind to create incomparable things (ibid., v. 28). They give themselves over to the lusts of their hearts because they have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and reptiles. We read this not only in the Epistle to the Romans, but also in the Epistle to the Thessalonians about the Antichrist: not having received the truth for love, so that they could be saved, for this reason God will send upon them the power of deceit, so that they may believe lies, so that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken pleasure in unrighteousness, may receive judgment (2 Thess. 2:10-12): I think that the Apostle Paul borrowed this from the present passage of Isaiah, in which he says: The Lord stirred up a spirit of error among them, and they caused Egypt to wander in all its affairs, as he says, a drunken and vomiting man, who is intoxicated with vices, wanders. Joel 33 speaks about these drunks: “Woe to the drunk without wine.” And they are not only drunk, but also spew out the rage of dragons and the incurable rage of asps, so that after spewing out this kind of wine they will understand their intoxication and realize that while they are drunk, they will have neither beginning nor end, that is, neither head nor tail; but they will be like an animal cut off on both sides. Instead of the beginning and the end, as Symmachus and LXX translated, Theodotion put, according to his custom, the very words of the Hebrew chaphphe and agmon, which Aquila translated crooked and perverted, wanting that by crooked they meant old people, and by perverse - frolicking children who do everything wrong, and that therefore the meaning here is that in Egypt there will be not only a head and a tail, but also old people and children, that is, both a beginning and an end. Art. 16–17. On that day Egypt will be like women, and will tremble and fear at the movement of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He will move against it. And the land of Judah will be a joy for Egypt: whoever remembers it will tremble at the decree of the Lord of hosts, which He has decreed concerning it. At that time - for this meaning, as we have often said, is the day - when the Lord stirs up the spirit of error and whirlwind, so that Egypt spews out the wine of dragons and the incurable rage of asps, at that time Egypt, realizing its error and previous intoxication, will be afraid like a woman, not with sudden fear, usually experienced by men, whom Egypt does not love, but strangles and kills, but with fear characteristic of women, whom Pharaoh only wants to keep alive. He will be afraid of the movement or raising of the hand of the Lord, with which punishments are indicated and which He will move and raise to smite Egypt. Then the land of Judah, that is, the knowledge of the Scriptures, the law and the prophets, the Gospels and the apostolic epistles, will be joyful to Egypt if it knows them and if, from comparing their teaching and truth, it understands that it was a lie. Anyone who remembers this land will tremble with that trembling that leads to life: for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). And we can understand this not only in relation to the end of the world, but also in relation to the present time. For every heretic fears a man who is ecclesiastical and educated in the heavenly sciences, and is afraid when he remembers him. He will fear and tremble at the decree of the Lord, which He decreed about the Egypt of this world. We touch briefly on the details to move on to the rest. Art. 18. On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak in the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts: one will be called the city of the sun. The hand of the Lord, raised or moved against Egypt, brings much benefit, so that the land of Judah will be a fear for him and so that everyone who remembers it will be afraid. At that time five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan; By these we mostly mean the five senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. When we look at a woman with lust; then our vision speaks in the language of Egypt. When we hear the judgment of blood according to the word of the Lord: “Do not accept empty hearing”; then our hearing speaks in the language of Egypt. When we live according to the prophet in the midst of luxury and lie on beds of ivory and anoint ourselves with the best ointments; then our sense of smell speaks in the language of Egypt. When the womb serves as our god (Phil. 3); then our taste speaks in the language of Egypt. If we do not heed the word of the Apostle, it is good for a man not to touch his wife (1 Cor. 7:1), but on the contrary, we unite with a harlot; then our sense of touch speaks in the language of Egypt. If, on the contrary, we lift up our eyes and see that the fields have already turned white and are ripe for harvest, and if we are not inclined to the ground, but like the woman of the Gospel who could not look at heaven for eighteen years (Luke 13), we lift up our eyes and say: I lift up my eyes to You, who live in heaven (Ps. 122:1); then our eye and our sight speak the language of Canaan. If we circumcise our ears and listen to the Lord who says: Having ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8); then our hearing speaks in the language of Canaan. Who can say to the groom: We follow you into the stench of your world (Song. 1:3) and: in every place there is the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15); then this sense of smell speaks in the language of Canaan. And the taste is understood in a good way by the one who eats the bread that comes down from heaven, living bread, and not dead, and listens to it: taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 33:9): such a one constantly speaks in the language of Canaan. But there is also a spiritual sense of touch, about which the Apostle John says: Our hands have touched the words of animals (1 John. 1:1), - for the one who touches Jesus by faith in such a way that the Savior can say about him: I will touch someone: I felt the power that came out of Me (Luke 8:46). We have learned how much benefit the raised hand of the Lord gives; Now let’s ask a question: why do the five cities of Egypt speak not the Hebrew language, but the Canaanite language? We will try to answer this like this: Jew means περάτηϛ, that is, one who moves, one who moves from place to place. Therefore, even though we were holy, while we are in Egypt and living in the darkness of this world, we can speak not in Hebrew, but in Canaanite, which is the middle ground between Egyptian and Hebrew and is mostly close to Hebrew. Canaan means as movement or as responder. Thus, when we move away from Egypt and want to leave the power of Pharaoh, so that our land and confession will be terrible for Egypt: then we move and, as it were, respond to the will of the Lord, and however, since we are still in the present age, we cannot yet speak the Hebrew language. The next thing: the five cities will swear by the Lord of hosts means that even while we are here we should remember not about demons, but about Almighty God. While the names of the other four of these five cities are silent, one is called the city of the sun, which, as it seems to me, relates to vision. For just as in order for a city to be visible, the sun and the moon are needed, so in order for our eyes to be enlightened, we need the sun of righteousness. Art. 19–21. On that day there will be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord on its border. And it will be a sign and a testimony of the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they will cry to the Lord in view of the oppressor, and He will send them a Savior and intercessor to deliver them; and the Lord will be known by Egypt. In connection with what was said above: on that day the five cities of Egypt will speak in the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts, now he adds: there will be an altar of the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, which, according to Joseph 34, Onias tried to fulfill, having poorly understood it. And the monument of the Lord denoting suffering, on which the monument in Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters was written: Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews (John 19:19), as a sign of the cross and as a testimony to all the nations that are now called Egypt. And when the persecution from the persecutors of the name of Christ intensifies, then they will cry: Abba Father (Rom. 8:15). And the Lord of hosts will send the Savior, that is, Jesus, and a judge or intercessor who will set them free, so that, having been freed, they will know the Lord and be known by the Lord, and so that where sin has abounded, grace will abound (Rom. 5:20). It is said about one altar in Egypt, that is, in this world, so that we know that all the altars erected against the altar of the Church do not belong to the Lord. Since this was a clear prophecy, in the book of historical interpretation we said that everything up to the end of the vision of Egypt refers to Christ. Art. 20. And the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day, and will honor Him with sacrifices and gifts, and will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. And the Lord will smite Egypt with a blow and heal it; and they will turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them and heal them. Having known the Lord, the Egyptians will honor Him with spiritual sacrifices and gifts, and will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them, and will say with David: the sacrifice to God is a broken spirit (Ps. 50:19) and: lifting up my hand is an evening sacrifice (Ps. 140:2), when those who believe in the Nazarene will themselves be Nazarites, not drinking the wine and strong drink and vinegar that was offered Lord, and everything that is made from the grapes of Sodom. And when they fulfill their vows with Abel and God looks upon them, then their terrible brother Cain, that is, the people of circumcision, will hate them, and will shed Christian blood, which will cry out to the Lord (Gen. 4), and therefore will leave the face of God, saying about the Savior: crucify, crucify Him (Luke 23:22) and: not the imams of the king, only Caesar (Jn. 19:15). He who is holy in body and spirit makes a vow to the Lord and fulfills it. Zacchaeus also made a vow, promising half of his estate to the poor (Luke 19). The question is: if a savior and intercessor was sent to the Egyptians to free them from oppression, then how does it now say: the Lord will strike Egypt with a blow? But we must pay attention to the following: and he will be healed. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens (Heb. 12:6). And the Savior himself, in the sixty-eighth Psalm, speaks to the Father: Thou hast smote him for his sake, and hast driven them away, and added My wounds to the disease (Ps. 68:27). So, if He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us, so that by His stripes and wounds we might be healed (Rom. 8); then the Lord gave the martyrs over to suffering, but will heal them again at the resurrection, so that the faith of the believers will be strengthened by their wounds. Therefore, it is said to Job: do you really think that I did not tell you so that you would turn out to be righteous? For He Himself sends suffering and restores previous prosperity, and visits His slaves with a rod, so as not to take His mercy away from them. Therefore, daughters and daughters-in-law, who have sinned a lot and spread their feet to everyone who passes by, are not visited and are not punished, according to the words of the Lord: I will not sit on your daughters when they commit fornication, and on your brides when they commit adultery (Hos. 4:14). So, the Lord strikes the Egyptians not with fire, not with a sword, but with a rod. For is there any son whom his father has not taught? And this is so that after healing they will turn to the Lord, and so that He will have mercy on them and heal them again. For we always need the mercy of God and there is no end to His mercy. Art. 23. On that day there will be a road out of Egypt, and the Assyrian will enter Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria: and the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians. As with the other things that preceded, what happened to the Egyptians, we explained in a good way, that is, that five cities in their land will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord, and an altar of the Lord will be built in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a monument, and a testimony, and a sign, and a savior who will free them, and that the Lord will be known by the Egyptians and they will know Him, and that they will offer sacrifices and gifts and fulfill vows and will the afflicted are healed and turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on them and heal them again: so the following, namely that the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians, should be understood in a good way. For the apostle also served the believers in order to win them (1 Cor. 9). And Esau submits to his brother Jacob in order to be a participant in his blessings (Gen. 33). So those of the pagans who will previously be saved and will have the altar of the Lord with them, by their service, mixing and community will save those who persist in cruelty and themselves will go to the Assyrians to bring them to Egypt and so that later they can reach the people of Israel. For this reason, I think, a faithful wife serves an unfaithful husband, in order to little by little attract him from Egypt and from the Assyrians to Judea. Art. 25–26. On that day Israel will be third with the Egyptian and the Assyrian, (there will be) a blessing in the midst of the land, which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed are my people in Egypt, and the work of my hands is the Assyrian: but Israel is my inheritance. Israel will be the third with Egypt and with the Assyrians, so that the whole mass can be leavened with its blessing and so that those who were previously hostile to it will be united by this connection of blessing, and so that Egypt will be the people of God and the Assyrians the work of His hands, and Israel will be His inheritance. Egypt is blessed by the Lord because it is blessed as a result of its community with Israel. And the work of His hands is the Assyrian, because in it He showed His mercy. But only Israel can say: the Lord is my portion (Lam. 3:24), Israel, which contemplates God with its mind and is called His inheritance. Chapter XX. Art. 1ff. In the year in which Tartan entered into Azoth, when Sargon king of Assyria sent him, and fought against Azoth and took it: at that time the LORD spake into the hand of Isaiah the son of Ammosh, saying, Go, and put off thy sackcloth from about thy loins, and cast off thy sandals from off thy feet: and he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah walked naked and barefoot as a sign and as a sign about Egypt and Ethiopia: so will the king of Assyria lead captives from Egypt and immigrants from Ethiopia, young men and old men, naked and barefoot, with their loins exposed, to the shame of Egypt. And they will be horrified and ashamed because of Ethiopia, their hope, and because of Egypt, their glory. And the inhabitant of this island will say on that day: behold, they were our hope, we ran to them for help, so that they would deliver us from the hand of the king; and how can we be saved? Tanatan was translated instead of Tartan LXX and Arn instead of Sargon; but we cannot know what this means, and we cannot invent false etymological explanations for false names. These names are not Jewish, but Assyrian, from which Tartan, as we learned, means a tower given or superfluous or continuing, and Sargon is the head of the garden. This king of Egypt, who, as we said above, planned great things, has very many leaders, of whom one is Tartan, pompous with pride, going far along the path of crimes and more famous than the others: and he is sent to conquer Azoth, which in Hebrew is called Asdod, and means the fire of the age, and the leader of the king of Assyria conquers those who serve the age and lust. And the Assyrian king Sargon is beautifully called the ruler of the gardens, devoted to pleasure and luxury. And Ahab the king of Israel wanted to turn Naboth's vineyard into a garden (1 Kings 21); but he, understanding this according to the laws of allegorical interpretation, preferred to die rather than do this, so that the paternal inheritance and old possession would not turn into the amusement of the wicked king. The prophet is commanded that, having taken off sackcloth and sandals, he should walk naked and barefoot, and that this should be an indication and a sign for the Egyptians and Ethiopians, who persecuted the people of God and were humiliated because of pride. For Egypt means persecuting or oppressing, and Ethiopians mean humiliated and rejected; for everyone who exalts himself will humble himself (Luke 14:11). They will be taken into captivity and will endure torment for three years, about which years we read in the Psalms: I thought about the first days and remembered eternal years (Ps. 77:6). We should not consider these punishments small, but they will continue for a long time. During the very captivity and resettlement of the Egyptians, young men and old men, rooted in evil and having reached the perfect age of the prophets, will go naked, so that all their crimes will be revealed (for there is nothing secret that would not become obvious; Luke 8:7), and barefoot, since they could not eat the Passover of the Lord; because whoever eats it has his loins girded and holds a staff in his hand and stands with his feet shod (Ex. 12), so that when passing through the desert of this age he will not be wounded by snakes. Then their loins will be exposed, through which impurities are spewed out, and all the shame of Egypt will be revealed, so that those who had hope in Egypt and Ethiopia will be ashamed and will see that their glory has turned into shame, and so much so that the inhabitant of this island, that is, of the century, who was not a stranger and a stranger, but wanted to rule the world forever, will say with shame: here is Egypt and here is Ethiopia, in whose help we hoped that they would free us from prince of this world! How can we be saved when those in whom we had hope are captured? And it should be noted that before the capture of Azoth, the prophet was dressed in sackcloth and had shod feet in order to mourn those wounded by the fiery arrows of the devil and the servants of lust; but at the same time walk with shoes in order to be able to trample on snakes and scorpions and walk safely in the desert of this world, in which there are snakes and scorpions and the thirst for wealth. After the capture of Azoth, he walks barefoot and naked in the image of the captivity of Egypt and the resettlement of Ethiopia. For in the holy land, into which he is in a hurry to enter, he could not stand or walk dressed in sackcloth and with his feet covered with leather, as the Lord says: Cut off the boots of your feet: for the place where you are standing is holy ground (Ex. 3:5). Chapter XXI. Art. 1. And next. The burden of the coastal desert. Like whirlwinds come from the south-west, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. A terrible vision was announced to me: whoever is unfaithful acts treacherously, and whoever destroys, he devastates. Arise, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have put an end to all his groaning. Because of this, my loins were filled with sadness: anguish seized me, like the pain of a woman giving birth. LXX: Vision of the seaside desert. As a storm passes through the desert, emerging from the desert, a terrible vision was announced to me from a terrible land: the apostate retreats and the lawless one commits lawlessness. The Elamites and the Persian ambassadors are coming against me: now I will groan and be comforted; therefore my loins were filled with exhaustion, and pangs seized me as if I were giving birth. What we think in the historical sense, we said briefly about this; Now let us present the highest allegorical meaning. A vision or burden is seen against the sea of ​​this age, and the prophet contemplates how many temptations this world is filled with. And that the world is called the sea, relative to this I, omitting many, limit myself to one testimony of the Psalm: those who went down to the sea in ships, doing work in many waters, saw the works of the Lord and His wonders in the depths (Ps. 107:23, 24). For those who do the work of God in this world and speak with the prophet: He came into the depths of the sea (Ps. 68:3) themselves see His miracles in the depths and, freed from temptations and disasters, say that they heard a terrible and menacing vision. This storm comes from the desert in which the Lord was tempted (Matthew 4) and in which Israel suffered from the bites of the serpent and the stings of scorpions. And when it comes, it passes and passes by: then the one who endures it will understand that only an apostate retreats and that only a lawless person acts lawlessly. So, if we are overwhelmed by the waves of the sea and if a cruel storm strikes us, then it is through our own fault, just as before the storm we were apostates and lawless. The words: Elamites and Persian ambassadors are coming against me have the following meaning: Elamites mean despisers, and Persians mean tempting. So, let those who despise, despise and tempt come; but I will groan, and my groaning will be my consolation. But my loins were also filled with sadness and the pain of giving birth gripped me, so that I could conceive and give birth from the fear of God and bring His salvation to the earth. And rightly, according to the Hebrew text, whirlwinds and storms come from the desert and from a terrible land, where God does not dwell, but where everything is earthly, where every unbeliever does a work in accordance with his unbelief, and every desolator devastates. Therefore, he boldly speaks against his enemies: Arise, Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have put an end to all the groaning of the seaside desert, a terrible land and the most difficult vision that was announced. For my loins, bringing repentance, were filled not with pleasure, as before, but with sorrow, so that I no longer say: my stomach is filled with reproaches (Ps. 37:8). I was seized with agony and pain, such as usually engulfs a woman in labor. The Vulgate edition and the Hebrew text differ considerably in the present place; Therefore, we briefly outlined both, so as not to give even a small reason to φιλεγκληµῶσιν (those who love accusations) to accuse us. Art. 4, 5. I fell when I heard it, I was troubled when I saw it: my heart fainted, terrible darkness enveloped me: my beloved Babylon became a wonder to me. Set up a table, look from the observation tower at those eating and drinking: get up, princes, take your shield. LXX: I acted lawlessly so as not to hear, I hastened so as not to see; my heart wanders: iniquity has covered me; my soul is in fear. Prepare the table, look from the spy tower; eat, drink, rise, princes, prepare your shields. The Prophet says that from hearing and a very menacing vision, which he saw as coming from the coastal desert, he fell and was confused and, almost with darkened eyes and a frenzied mind, did not know what he saw. For that Babylon (instead of which Aquila and Theodotion translated darkness to designate this world, which lies in evil and whose princes serve, according to the Apostle Paul, as rulers of this darkness (Eph. 6)), which was once beloved for the prophet or for God, became wondrous in its destruction. Therefore, the prophet is commanded that, eating from the table of the Lord and being satisfied with His food, he should carefully look at what will come to the world; and through him it is said to all believers that, eating and drinking the body and blood of the Lord, they should turn into princes of the church and hear with the apostles: arise, and that the Apostle Paul take the shield of faith from the weapon (Eph. 6), so that through it you will be able to quench the kindled arrows of the devil. This is in accordance with the Hebrew text and with the developed interpretation regarding the world. We now move on to the LXX edition, which differs in many ways from its predecessors. The prophet reproaches himself, or rather, on his own behalf, reveals the error of others who, following the killing letter, despise the life-giving spirit and says that he acted badly, not heeding the law spiritually, but on the contrary, trying not to see the mysteries of God and not speaking to David: open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of your law (Ps. 119:18). Therefore, his heart wanders and, filled with Jewish superstition, remains not in the love of God, but in fear, having a spirit of slavery in fear, and not the spirit of adoption, by which we cry: Abba, Father (Rom. 8). Therefore, he is commanded to begin the meal of spiritual food and to eat and drink from it to everyone who follows his example, and so that, despising their former error, those who lay in spirit in the letter would arise, become princes and say to the prophet: Lord, for you have crowned us with weapons of favor (Ps. 5:13). Art. 6, 7. For this is what the Lord said to me: Go and set a watchman, and let him tell what he sees. And he saw a chariot with two riders, sitting on a donkey and sitting on a camel, and he looked diligently, with great attention, and cried out like a lion. LXX: For this is what the Lord said to me: go and set a watchman for yourself, and report what he sees. And I saw two horsemen sitting, one sitting on a donkey and one sitting on a camel: I heard many tidings and called Uriah to the spytower. The Prophet is commanded to set a guard in his heart and diligently watch what will happen to the world, and he saw two horsemen sitting on a donkey and sitting on a camel. Someone interpreted them in such a way that he called Christ sitting on a donkey, in accordance with the Gospel reading (Matthew 21) and the prophecy of Zechariah (Zechariah 9), and vice versa, sitting on a camel - a nasty force due to the ugliness of the humpbacked animal. Others understand the two sitting in relation to the letter and the spirit and refer to the two covenants. And instead of what in Hebrew is called arie, instead of which Aquila and Symmachus translated lion and lioness, LXX, I don’t know what they meant, they put Οὐρίαν, which someone thinks to interpret in the sense of the light of the Lord, although the light of the Lord, which is not here, is written in different letters, and the lion, as it is read here, in different ones. He believes that Urieus is the name of this guard, whom the prophet is commanded to place in his heart, and through the explanation of the name he relates this to the concept of Christ - that while He dwells in us we can contemplate the future. The same can be applied to the lion, since Jacob (Gen. 49) and Balaam (Num. 23) mysteriously call Christ by this name. Art. 8–10. I stand on the watchtower of the Lord all day long, and I stand on my watch all night long. Here comes a man sitting on a two-horse chariot, and he answered and said: Babylon is fallen, fallen, and all the images of her gods are thrown to the ground. My threshing and the sons of my threshing floor! What I heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you. LXX: The Lord said: I stood all day and over the camp I stood all night: and here He himself comes, sitting on a two-horse chariot, and answering said: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all her idols and things made with hands are thrown to the ground. Hear ye that remain, and be sorrowful: hear what I have heard from the Lord of hosts. The God of Israel has told us. The prophet stands on the watchtower of the Lord and, being in His light, sees what is about to happen. He sends this guard and this duty assigned to him in order to see the future in the darkness of this age. Behold, he says, He comes, showing that he saw what follows, that the Lord Savior is coming, sitting on a two-horse chariot and driving two horses harnessed to one chariot, or rather animals, a donkey and a camel. This driver of the two-horse chariot answered and said to the waiting prophet and those who wanted to know His words: Babylon is fallen, fallen, the confusion of the whole world; He fell at My coming, when I took on a human body, and will completely fall at the end of the world. And all his images were crushed on the earth. Instead, the LXX was translated by idols and things made with hands, pointing out the writings of heretics and the various heretical errors of those who make idols and honor the imaginations of their hearts. The following is then from the person of the prophet speaking: My threshing and the son of my threshing floor! What I heard from the Lord of the armies of the God of Israel, which I declared to you, has the following meaning according to the Hebrew text: O people who must be gathered into My barns, which I threshed through various disasters for this purpose, in order to throw away the chaff from them, and to gather the purest wheat into My barns! What I heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as being about to happen to the whole world, this I made known to all of you who are in the world. Others say that there is also a face here, that is, the Lord the Savior; because He himself speaks to the apostles: I have told you what I have heard from the Father (John 15:15). And since instead, according to the LXX, it reads: listen to those who remain and mourn, then here, it seems to me, the meaning is this: O apostles, about whom Isaiah writes: Had not the Lord left us a seed, as Sodom would have been, and as Gomorrah would have been likened to (Isa. 1:9), you, the remnant of whom, according to the teaching of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans, have been saved (Rom. 9), you, the forsaken from the people of Judah for salvation and those who mourn the destruction of your people, about whom we read in another place: there is sorrow and continual pain in my heart according to my brethren according to the flesh, who are Israelites (Rom. 9:2,3): I declare to you what I have heard from God the Father, which the God of Israel foretells about your future destiny. Art. 11, 12. Burden of the Duma. He shouts to me from Seir: watchman! How long is it night? Watchman! How long is it night? The watchman said: the morning is approaching, but it is still night; if you ask, then ask, contact, come. LXX: Vision of Idumea. He shouts to me from Seir: guard the fortifications; I watch morning and night; if you seek, seek and dwell with me. The Hebrew word elai, which everyone translated from me, if you want to read eli, then it means my God or my strong one. And what we have set is shouting or calling, that is, καλεῖ, due to the uncertainty in the Hebrew and Greek language, can be expressed through shouting or calling, and has the following meaning: God, who serves as my guardian, calls me day and night to repentance, so that leaving Seir, which means shaggy and hairy, I dwell with Him. Duma means either likeness or silence. Idumea means earthly. So, the Lord speaks to the host of the apostles and commands them: Call to me those who are from Seir, so that many pagans, who, like Esau, have nothing soft, smooth and pure, but who are rude, wild, and unyielding, will serve me. And you, apostles, having called the nations from Seir to Me, guard the fortifications of the Church, so that the enemy does not easily invade, so that the lion, which roars around looking for an entrance through which to penetrate, does not tear and destroy the flock that is in the fence of the Church. The people in the Church answer: not only in happiness, but also in misfortune, that is, day and night I will keep Your commandments, O God. God says to him: if you are really looking for Me, then show by deed that you are looking for Me, and it is not enough for you to find me once, but having found Me, seek constantly, and in order to better hold on, forget about your people and your father’s house, and leaving the error of the pagans, remain with Me in the Church. We said this according to the LXX translation, which in the inscription places a vision on Idumea, that is, on the earth, to show that those who previously served earthly affairs are being called. Then, according to Aquila, who set up the Duma, that is, silence or similarity, we can understand it this way: like the people of Israel, the pagan nations are called, and where before there was silence of the law of God, cries of confession are heard; and the wild olive will turn into a good one. And in the Gospel parable we read about slaves sent to call the good and the evil in order to fill the householder’s feast with someone, since the former did not want to come (Matthew 12). The church can also say that the Lord calls to her from Seir, that is, from earthly places and calls her to salvation, and she says to the Lord Himself: O guardian, why have you risen from the night and walked in darkness? Why, being without sin, are you in sinful flesh? Why did You deign to take on a human body? The guard, that is, the Samaritan, who in the Gospel carried the wounded man on his shoulder to the inn (Luke 9), answers: morning is approaching, but it is still night. And the meaning is this: for the multitude of the pagans the sun of righteousness has risen, but for the Jews darkness has come, according to what is written: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who see will be blind (John 9:39). And the Watcher himself, who said: the morning is approaching, but the night is still speaking to the multitude of the pagans: if you seek Me, then seek more diligently; Turn to Me, sons who turn, and I will heal your afflictions, and come to Me. These passages are difficult, and since they are very unclear in the historical sense, we are forced to follow different opinions on the allegorical interpretation. Art. 13. Burden on Arabia. This is not in the LXX edition of the interpreters, but what follows: in the forest by evening you will fall asleep on the paths of Dodanim is connected with the previous vision, so it reads like this: if you seek, seek, and with me dwell in the forest. Arabia in our language means evening, which is the beginning of night and darkness: and everyone who has the beginning of sins lives in the evening twilight, and whoever has reached the peak of sins is in the middle of the night. That is why in Egypt the firstborn are beaten in the middle of the night (Ex. 12). And the Apostle Peter denied the Lord three times before the rooster crowed, which signifies the middle of the night (Matthew 26); After the night had passed and as the day approached, when the darkness of the night began to dissipate and the rooster crowed, the harbinger of light, he wept bitterly, realized his sin, and at that time could say: the evening will come to weeping, and the morning will come to joy. This is about the real place, by the way. However, the name of Arabia, that is, the evening and the west, has different meanings in other places of the Scriptures. In the forest by evening you will fall asleep on the paths of Dodanim: LXX: In the forest by evening you will fall asleep on the path of Dedan. Those who begin to live wickedly and enter the path of sins do not sleep and do not remain in the fields sown, or prepared for sowing, as well as in meadows and fields that are white for harvest, according to the teachings of the Savior, as well as among fruitful trees, but remain in barren forests, where thorns and thistles are located and where animals live. We also read about such a forest in the book of Kings that the oak grove or forest devoured more than what was destroyed by the sword when Absalom rebelled against his father (2 Sam. 18:8). And it is rightly said that they live on the road and on the paths, since evening is the beginning of evil, and on the path of Dedan, which means judgments. For as many generations of sins they have, they receive as many judicial sentences as retribution. Dedan can also mean great judgment. Art. 14–15. Those who meet you, bring water to the thirsty; you who live in the land of the south, meet those who run with bread. For they fled from the face of swords, from the face of a drawn sword, from the face of a drawn bow, from the face of a difficult battle. LXX: Bring water to meet the thirsty, you who live in the land of Teman, meet with bread those who flee, because of the multitude of those killed, because of the crowd of wandering, because of the multitude of swords, and because of the multitude of drawn bows, and because of the multitude of those who fell in war. You, who are in Teman, which means the south and perfection, and who live in the place about which it is written: God will come from the south (Hab. 3:4), you, filled and perfect and having in you the light of the knowledge of the Scriptures, go out to meet those fleeing from Arabia and from the forest with water and bread and do not wait until they themselves come to you, but imitate that father in the Gospel parable who went out to meet the one returning son. He gave him clothes, put on a ring (Luke 15), and you bring water and bread to those running, so that the tired and exhausted ones will be strengthened by your mercy and quickly reach your homes. For they fled from the swords of the heretics, from the teaching of the pagans, from the blasphemy of the Jews; and since they saw that many were killed by their arrows and fell in battle, they wish to be saved with your help. This passage can be understood specifically against those who, having given themselves over to idleness and laziness, are content with their own salvation and do not shake hands with those who repent and convert. Art. 16–17. For thus says the Lord to me: in one more year, like a mercenary year, all the glory of Kedar will be taken away, and the remainder of the number of brave archers from the sons of Kedar will be diminished; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken thus. I tell you to meet with water and bread those fleeing from the forest and Arabia because the Lord promised that this would happen. Just as quickly the year of a mercenary passes, who constantly only expects payment for his work, or constantly labors and works in order to receive payment for his work, so all the glory of Kedar, which means darkness, about which in the Psalm we read: settled in the village of Kedar (Ps. 119:5), will soon cease and the entire number of archers who inflicted wounds on those in the forest of Arabia, i.e., perverse teachings, will turn into nothing, when those fleeing from the forest will be delivered and eat the bread of heaven. For what this will be, the Lord of all, and actually the God of Israel, said about this, that is, those who see with the mind of God. Chapter XXII Art. 1. The Burden of the Valley of Vision. LXX: word on the Valley of Zion. In the Book of Hebrew Names we stated that Zion means a watchtower, which, being placed on a height, serves to see what is happening in the distance. So, since Zion, according to the laws of tropology, should designate the Church, as in the second psalm on behalf of the Lord the Savior it is said: I have been appointed king over Zion by His holy mountain (Ps. 2:6), and those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion (Ps. 125:1), and again: the Lord loves the gates of Zion, more than all the villages of Jacob (Ps. 186:1), and the apostle says even more clearly: approach Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22): then the question is, why is this vision talking about the Valley of Zion? The very disposition of our thoughts turns us to spiritual understanding, so that we know that all the princes of perverse teachings, who have fallen from the heights of the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and have been brought down to the base, are in the Valley of Zion. I think Solomon says something similar in Proverbs: the eye that scolds its father and annoys its mother's old age, let the ravens be plucked out of the valleys, and let the eagle's chicks be devoured (Prov. 30:17). For as soon as the mind of heretics mocks the Creator-Father and neglects the old age of the Mother Church, it is immediately torn out by vile and unclean birds, which indicate the opposing forces. And they cannot say: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from nowhere will my help come (Ps. 120:1), but like dumb animals they are chained to earthly things. What is the matter with you, that you too are all up on the rooftops? LXX: what has happened to you now that you have all ascended to the futile roofs? The fact that in the book of Kings, according to LXX, constitutes a question, namely, what does it mean in the words of Elisha (2 Kings 2:14): where is the god Eliin affo, this is stated more clearly in the present place: instead of what the LXX translated now, in Hebrew there is affo, which we have translated now, and Aquila, wanting to keep the Jewish idiocy, put καίπερτοι, which is a conjunction that the Latin language does not express. When he says: what is the matter with you? Then he asks why, together with others, he rises and, in the opinion of the high ones, is in the lowlands. And the meaning is this: when philosophers are arrogant and all worldly wisdom, arguing about the high, despises the simplicity of the church, then why do you strive for heights, which LXX more expressively translated δώματα μάταια, i.e. vain roofs, to show that there is another roof from which the Savior forbids to descend (Matt. 24), which however, the roof is not vain. And the Apostle Peter at the sixth hour of prayer ascends to the roof (Acts 10). Now, in order to show the wide variety of heresies, he named not just one roof, but many roofs. Art. 2. The city is noisy, crowded, the city is jubilant. LXX: the city is filled with screaming people, the city is jubilant. The teaching of the heretics is maintained not by meaning, but by verbosity and shouting. Therefore, because of the multitude of deceived people, the city is called crowded, and because of pride, rejoicing. For in their pride the heretics become arrogant and boast that they have found the most hidden things. Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in war. LXX: Your wounded were not wounded by the sword, and your dead did not die in war. The greatest part succumbs to the seductions of heretics without any opposition or competition with them, and such are the vast majority. And so the killed or, as LXX translated, the wounded of the Valley of Zion were not killed and wounded by the sword, but voluntarily went over to the heretics, and in comparison with those who were defeated after the battle, the one who surrendered voluntarily was worse wounded and killed. Likewise, during martyrdom, one who yields after executions is less guilty in comparison with one who apostatized from Christ without any coercion or suffering from torment. Art. 3. All your leaders fled together and are heavily bound. At this point we have followed the LXX translation, since it is slightly different in meaning from the Hebrew. However, when translated from Hebrew word for word, they read like this: all your nobles moved, they were tied together from the bow, which edition was followed by other translators. For all the leaders of the heretics moved to the synagogue of Satan from the Church of Christ and crossed over together, having disagreed in false faith, having agreed in the transition - and were bound from the bow, about which it is written in the psalm: behold, sinners have made a bow, preparing arrows in the body to shoot in the darkness of the upright in heart (Ps. 10:2) and to throw kindled arrows the devil, which together both wound and bind. And therefore they are heavily bound, since they have stopped their ears, like deaf and ear-clutching asps, so as not to hear the voices of exorcists and the wisely enchanting exhorter. Therefore, the Apostle Paul commands the heretic, after the first admonition, to leave him to corruption, since he has become corrupted and condemned by his own court. For from us came forth, but was not from us: if they had been from us, they would have remained with us (1 John 2:19). The prince of these fleeing leaders is the one whom the same Isaiah calls the fleeing dragon, the great serpent, who, having thrown deadly words into the ears of the deceived, heavily binds them and does not allow them to leave their nets, having escaped from which the saint rejoiced in the Psalm: my soul, like a bird, has been delivered from the snare of those who catch (Ps. 123:7) and in another place, rejoicing in this. deliverance, says: You are my protector and my refuge, my God, and I trust in Him, for He will deliver me from the slaughter of the hunter, and from rebellious words (Ps. 90), or burnago, which actually means the teaching of heretics. All those found with you are equally connected, no matter how far they ran away. LXX: And your brave ones have run far away. Another word from the prophet to the Valley of Zion, whose inhabitants ascended to the rooftops in vain, shouted in confusion and were wounded without fighting, the leaders of which all fled and were heavily bound, and the brave ones who were among them fled very far. For the more intelligent someone is in heretical false teaching, the further he departs from the Lord. And regarding what is said in the Hebrew text: everything found with you, we must note that heretics also say that they find those whom they have deceived, but their finding is destruction. They bond equally and run far away. I do not like the interpretation that according to the difference of heresies, the distances of those who fled are also different, when the Holy Scripture says that all those found by heretics are equally bound and fled very far according to the word of the Lord: what is not with Me is on Me: and whoever does not gather with Me, scatters (Luke 11:23). Therefore, it is said about Moses that he alone approached God, while others did not approach. For to his saints God is a God who draws near, and not a God who is afar off, says the Lord (Ex. 24). Art. 4–6. Therefore I said: get away from me, I will cry bitterly; do not strive to comfort me in the desolation of the daughter of my people, for the day of destruction and trampling and mourning is from the Lord God of armies in the valley of vision. He who tries the wall and is brave - to the mountain! LXX: Therefore I said: let me go, I will cry bitterly; do not try to console me about the contrition of the daughter of my family, for the day is confusion and destruction and trampling and error from the Lord God of hosts: they wander from the least to the greatest, they wander through the mountains. And Samuel wept for Saul (1 Samuel 15). And the Lord and Savior wept for Jerusalem (Luke 19). And the apostle writes to the Corinthians: let not my God again come and humble me among you and weep for many who have sinned before and did not repent (2 Cor. 12:21), and with a feeling of compassion he says to others: he who faints, and I will not faint; Who is tempted, and I am not relieved (2 Cor. 11:29)? So the prophet, seeing that the people, who were once the people of the vision, ascends to vain roofs and indulges in confusion, that all its princes have fled and are bound by the bonds of sins, begins to cry and rejects those who are comforting and says that he is crying not for the sons, but for the daughter of his people, who has lost her manhood. For the day of judgment and destruction and trampling will not be for Jerusalem, which means the vision of the world, but, according to its ancient name, for Jebus, which means trampling; and there will be for him a day of mourning or delusion, as the LXX translated, from the Lord of hosts, - not in the sense that weeping and delusion were from the Lord, but that regarding the holy Scriptures, which the Lord gave for reading, there is a pretext for delusion among those who can say: why have you, O Lord, turned us away from your path (Isa. 63:28), and in another place: “The Lord has confused their spirit errors" (Isaiah 29:10), so that they would not stand on the mountain of vision, but in the Valley of Zion. And this very day, which is revealed from the Lord of hosts in the valley of vision to reveal the works of everyone, tests the wall of the heretics, which they built against the church as the strongest fortification, tests the majestic and proud wall, that is, their teachers, who boast that they stand on the mountain - Christ. We read about this in another place: come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will tell us his way (Isa. 2:3). Further, translated by LXX: they wander from the least to the greatest, they wander in the mountains, we must understand that the great ones are in a greater crime, and yet from the least to the greatest they all wander, they wander in the mountains - Moses and Jeremiah and other prophets, and the Evangelists and the apostles - and being in the valley, they miraculously wander in the mountains. Art. 7–9. And Elam took the quiver, (I see) the chariot of the horsemen, and the shield exposed the wall. And your best valleys will be full of chariots, and the horsemen will set up their quarters in the gates. And the veil of Judah will rise, and in that day you will see a storehouse of weapons in the house of the forest, and you will see the breaches in the city of David, for there are many of them. LXX: The Elamites took the quivers, and the men on horseback, and the assembly of the warriors. And it shall come to pass that your chosen valleys will be filled with chariots, and horsemen will surround your gates, and they will open the gates of Judah, and they will look in that day upon the chosen houses of the city, and they will reveal the secrets of the houses of the castle of David, and they will see that they are many. Elam, which means their ascent, or the Elamites, as the LXX translated, whom we translate despising, took a quiver to shoot in the darkness the upright in heart, these human horsemen in the chariot - they took it so that the wall of Zion and the stronghold of the church would be deprived of their shield and protection. Then, he says, your chosen valleys and lowly doctrines, the valley of Zion, will be full of those chariots that the Lord and Pharaoh drowned, the horsemen and rulers of which will set up their quarters at your gates, so as not to allow those besieged and imprisoned within you to escape. Then Almighty God, through the men of the church, will reveal the veils of Judas and all the secrets of those who are in the confession of faith, and then you will see, Valley of Zion, on that day, in the clear light of truth, you will see the entire warehouse of the apostle’s weapons and the houses of the forest in which many pagans dwell - just as in the hundred and thirty-first psalm it is sung: behold, I heard in Ephrath, I found in the fields of the oak grove (Ps. 131:6). When the veil of Judas and its hidden things, previously hidden for the sake of mystery, are revealed, and you see the armory of the church, then you will understand the schisms in the city of David, which you have multiplied in order to gather the deceived nations for yourself. These Elamites, according to the LXX edition, have not one quiver, but many, and they are horsemen of people whose souls they ride, and a great multitude of them are preparing for battle against the church, so that all its valleys are filled and the horsemen sharpen their minds and with their attacks challenge the church man, who is designated by the name of Judas; and when he presents the evidence of the Scriptures and exposes everything false, then the heretics will see the houses of the city of David and will recognize everything that was previously hidden - they will learn how in the castle of David, what is meant by mighty hand, that is, Christ, everything is the teaching of truth. These places are dark not only in a historical sense, but also in an allegorical sense. Therefore, those who do not like our interpretation must submit their own so that we accept their explanation if it is correct. Art. 10–11. And you gathered up the waters of the lower pool and marked the houses of Jerusalem, and pulled down the houses to strengthen the wall. And they made a pond between the two walls for the waters of the old pond. But you did not look at the one who made it, and you did not see the one who did it from afar. LXX: And they brought the water of the old pond into the city, and destroyed the houses of Jerusalem to strengthen the walls of the city. And they made water for themselves between two walls inside the old pond. But they did not look at the one who made it from the beginning, and they did not see its creator. You who see or are seeing breaches in the city of David, that is, in the church, breaches that have multiplied throughout the whole world, you who have gathered up the waters of the pond of your teaching, not the upper, but the lower, and have marked or destroyed the houses of Jerusalem in order to strengthen your wall, you have not dug wells that have vital and eternal waters, but fragile ponds that cannot hold the waters. And you made them between the two walls of the new and old testaments and neglected the water of the old pond and did not pay attention to the author of the law - God, and completely ignored the Creator of the world. This applies to Hebrew. With regard to the LXX: the heretics saw that there were many of them and, relying on this multitude, they rejected the teaching of the Old Testament from the city of God, that is, from the church and destroyed the houses of Jerusalem in order to build synods of the evil ones, and having rejected the Old Testament, they did not follow the New, since the New Testament is confirmed by the testimonies of the Old Testament. Therefore, between the two walls, old and new, they made new waters for themselves, which they consider internal and containing higher mysteries than those contained in the Old Testament; and they did not look at God, Who is the Creator of the Old Testament, and they did not want to see the culprit even from afar. Art. 12–14. And the Lord God of armies will call on that day to weeping and mourning, and to the cutting of their hair, and to girding with sackcloth. And here is joy and joy - killing oxen and slaughtering rams, eating meat and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die. And the word of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: This wickedness will not be forgiven you, says the Lord God of hosts. The Lord God of armies constantly calls to repentance the heretics who, despising the water of the old pond, dug themselves a reservoir between two walls and collected the water of the lower pond, which has water not from heaven, but from the earth - and calls them to weeping, for blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:5), and to weeping, so that later they will not hear: weeping is for you and not weep (Matthew 11:17). He also calls for the cutting of hair, so that they cut off all the deeds of death and destroy from their body everything that is dead in the body; and to girdle with sackcloth, so that later, like Jerusalem instead of a girdle, they will not girdle with cord. On the contrary, instead of crying and sobbing, shorn hair and sackcloth, they had joy and gladness, and as if everything would end in death, killing bulls and slaughtering rams in order to eat meat and drink wine, they spoke the words of blasphemers: while we live in the present century, we will enjoy pleasures, for tomorrow, that is, the future time, will not be felt by us. When they said this, the Lord heard the words of blasphemy and uttered a threat that He would not let go of this wickedness until they either died in sin and vices, or were cast into hell with their iniquities. This can be understood not only about heretics, but also about every sinner who, not caring about his sins, in despair becomes worse, and devoted to vicious passions, adds blasphemy to sin, thinking that every feeling of the living ends in death, saying this in Epicure’s words: “after death there is nothing and death itself is nothing.” Art. 15–25. Thus says the Lord God of armies: Go, go in to him who lives in the tabernacle, to Sovna, the ruler of the church, and say to him: Why are you here? Or is there really someone here that you have carved out a tomb for yourself here? You carved a monument on a hill, carefully carved a dwelling for yourself in the rock. The Lord will throw you over like a rooster and lift you up like a light garment. The crown will crown you with misfortune, like a ball throwing you into a vast and spacious land; there you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be a reproach to the house of your Lord. And I will drive you out of your place, and I will overthrow you from your ministry. And it shall come to pass on that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. And I will clothe him with thy garment, and strengthen him with thy belt, and put thy power in his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will put the key of the house of David on its frame, and it will open, and no one will stop it; it is a ban, and no one will open it. And I will strengthen it like a nail in a strong place, and it will be a throne of glory for his father’s house. And they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, various kinds of utensils: every small vessel, from drinking vessels to every musical instrument. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, the nail set in the strong place will be broken, and everything that hung on it will break and fall and perish, for the Lord God has spoken. LXX: Thus says the Lord of hosts: go into the porch to Somna, the treasurer, and tell him: why are you here? Or what do you need here, that you have carved out a tomb for yourself, and made a monument for yourself on a hill, and built a tent for yourself on the ground? Behold, the Lord of hosts will cast out and crush your husband, and will take off your robe and your glorious crown, and will throw you into a great country without measure, and there you will die: and he will put your best chariot into disgrace, and the house of your prince to be trampled under foot. And you will be cast out from your order and from your degree. And it shall come to pass on that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and will clothe him with thy garment, and will give him thy crown, and will put thy command into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, and I will give the glory of the house of David unto him, and he shall rule, and there shall be no contradiction. And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he will open it, and no one will stop him; and it is prohibited, and no one will open it. And I will place him as a prince in the right place, and on the throne of glory of his father’s house, and everyone who is glorious in his father’s house, from the least to the greatest, will trust in him. Every small vessel is aganoth, and they will hang on it. On that day, thus says the Lord of hosts, the man who was established in the right place will be removed, and will fall, and the glory that was in him will perish: for the Lord has spoken. The prophet Isaiah is commanded to enter to the one who lives in the tabernacle, which in Hebrew is called sochen, to the Sovereign ruler of the church, or as LXX translated ταµίαν, i.e., the treasurer and keeper of the treasures of the house of God. Sochen means either a tabernacle or a vestibule, that is, the chamber in which the ruler of the church lives. Who else lived in the tabernacle of Judah and in the once house of God, if not the word and interpretation of the Jewish law, which consisted in the reading of the Old Testament? So this tradition and teaching says: what are you doing here? Why do you want to build yourself a house in a killing letter and establish your tabernacle, which has no foundation, on a strong rock, a tabernacle and a house, which should rather be called a tomb and a monument? Therefore, I tell you that you should not bother carving a monument, for the Lord will transfer your priesthood as a geber is transferred, that everything was translated by a husband, and the Jew, who guided us in the reading of the Old Testament, translated by a rooster. Just as a rooster, he says, is carried by the hand of the bearer from one place to another, so the Lord will easily transfer you from your place, and you, who once had a high priestly crown and consecration in a golden shield on which the name of God was written, will be crowned with misfortune and sorrow, and like a ball thrown over a sloping and wide place cannot stop, but rolls endlessly: so all your people will be scattered to the ends of the universe. And there you will die with your letter, and all your glory, and the chariots on which you once solemnly rode, and the splendor of the house of God will turn into reproach. For the Lord will take you from your place and from your ministry, that is, from the sacrificial rites, in fulfillment of what is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews: the priesthood is transferred according to need and the law (Heb. 17:12). When you are cast out from your ministry, then I will call My servant Eliakim, to whom I said in another place: “Tell him to eat, so that you may be called My servant” (Is. 49:6). Eliakim means the resurrecting God, or God's resurrection. So, this resurrecting God, who is the son of Hilkiah, that is, the part of the Lord, will take your place and put on your garment and be strengthened with your girdle, so that what you had in the letter he will possess in the spirit, and will be the father of those who live in Jerusalem, that is, in the vision of the world, which is the church, and the father of the house of Judah, where the true profession of faith is. Therefore, He Himself says to the apostles: children, I am still with you for a little while (John 13:33), and to another: child, your sins are forgiven you (Matt. 9:2), and to another: daughter, your faith will save you (Luke 7:50). I will give him, he says, the key of the house of David, to him who opens and no one shuts; who shuts and no one opens (Apoc. 3). And this very key will be on his frame, that is, in suffering, according to what is written in another place: his leadership will be on his frame (Is. 9:6). For what He opens through His suffering will be impossible to lock, and what He prohibits in the rites of the Jews will not be opened by anyone else; For I will set that nail in a sure place, in a sure place, where the congregation of the believers is. Therefore, those who believe in Christ are called faithful. And he shall be the throne of glory of his father's house, that is, the church, and upon it shall hang all the glory of his father's house. Therefore, it is written in the Gospel: “But all the people held fast to him” (Luke 19:48), which happened not only at that time, but is still being fulfilled to this day, so that they hold on to him, as it were, various vessels, wisdom and truth and everything that Christ is called. The kinds of vessels are different, instead of which Aquila translated sasaim and sephoth, which Symmachus translates grandsons and mixed, so that both the apostles and all believers, i.e. sons of sons, and mixed from all nations are held on it - from the drinking vessels, instead of which Theodotion put agunoth, for both small and great will believe in the Lord. The drinking vessels are, I think, the apostles, filled with the waters of life, about which it is said: Bless God from the fountains of Israel (Ps. 67:27), in which cups wisdom dissolved her wine. And every musical instrument, he says, is those who at all times proclaim praises to God. What follows apparently contradicts our understanding: how can this nail, fixed in the right place, be taken and broken, and what hangs on it fall and perish, and this will happen, for the Lord has spoken? This can be resolved if we read this Gospel, that in the last days the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24), and what the Lord Himself says: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth (Luke 18:8)? So, it is not the nail that will break, fall and perish, which is wicked to say, but the nail will be taken from the right place, i.e. from the church, as a result of the ever-increasing wickedness, those who previously hung on it by faith will then break and fall and perish through unbelief. And this will be fulfilled in the last days, for the Lord has spoken. Instead of a nail, which in Hebrew is called jathed and is translated by everyone the same way, some LXX put the prince above, and here a man. Sovna, whom we, with the speed of dictation, almost lowered, means, turn now or appeal. So, the ruler of the Jews is told to turn from the law to the Gospel and, leaving the images of sacrifices, transfer to the truth of spiritual sacrifice. Ch. XXIII. Art. 1. Word on Tire. What appeared to us regarding the burden or word and acceptance of Tire according to the Hebrew text, we said about this above in the book of the historical interpretation of the ten visions. Now we will briefly trace the entire prophecy to Tire through the allegorical explanation and the LXX edition. Shooting range in Hebrew is called Sor, and in our language it means crowded space. Therefore, every soul occupied with vices and unclean thoughts can be called Sor. Cry out the ships of Carthage, for they are lost and will come no more. From the land of Ketim, she was taken into captivity. The inhabitants of the island became like her, the merchants of Phenicia crossing the sea on many waters, the seed of the merchants, like the brought harvests, the merchants of the nations. Instead of Carthage in Hebrew there is Tarshish, which was all translated the same way. Tarshish means contemplation or asking for joy; Ketim, which in Hebrew is called Chetim, means the frozen sea, and instead of Phenicia, the Jews read Sidon. So, those who are surrounded by a storm of evil thoughts and who, desiring to be rich according to the apostle, fall into temptation and the snares of the devil and into many harmful lusts that plunge people into the abyss (1 Tim. 6:9) are exposed. And they are told that they must cry out, knowing that all the gains of this world will perish and the vision of joy and gladness will turn into crying and weeping. For this sea will no longer be able to carry ships, but everything will be covered with ice, and the captives of the Tirian colony will be taken away for punishment. For those who live on this island are like no one else but merchants or carriers of goods, who are blown by every wind of doctrine and pass from one vice to another. We live on an island while we are overwhelmed by the temptations of this world and while our island and ship are rushing in all directions on the waves of the sea. The merchants of this island are from Sidon, which means huntress; a lot of hunters live in it, about whom it is written: he will deliver you from the net of the hunters (Ps. 90), just as in another place the saint testifies that he is delivered from their fetters, saying: our soul, like a bird, is delivered from the net of the hunters (Ps. 123:7). All merchants of the pagans are likened to fields that quickly dry up, or to harvest fields by the river that have rain not from heaven, but from the earth, and therefore are destined to perish along with the pagans. Where we read: the seed of merchants, in Hebrew there is the seed of Sior, which indicates the Nile, since it has muddy waters with which the fields of Egypt are irrigated. Art. 4–5. Be ashamed, Sidon, said the sea; The stronghold of the sea said: I did not suffer in childbirth and did not give birth and did not raise young men and did not raise maidens. When it is heard in Egypt, they will be grieved for Tyre. The sea of this age, in which live small and great animals and the serpent, which God created to mock him, seeing that formerly those who were captives of demons were captured by the hunters of Christ, hunting from every mountain and hill, turns to the opposite power of the hunters, which means Sidon, and says to it: be ashamed of Sidon, for I did not suffer in childbirth, and did not give birth and raise young men who were captured by you and did not brought back virgins, whose foolishness is exposed in the Gospel (Matthew 25). For my sickness with gluttony and the birth and upbringing and rebirth of virgins was destroyed by the sickness of the apostles of Christ, of whom one said: my children are still sick, until Christ is imagined in you (Gal. 4:19), and again: you have drunk milk, and not meat (1 Cor. 3:2), and again: I want to present you all as a pure virgin Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). When Egypt hears this, which in Hebrew is called Mesraim, which means ἐκθλίβουσα, i.e. depressing and oppressive, then he himself will be afraid, realizing that he himself will suffer what Tire suffered. This applies to all the prophets, and can be understood in relation to various heresies, when with the fall of one heresy, another is afraid, and in the shame of one, the other has a presentiment of its fall, and as it is said about the Sodomites: before the forces were in Sodom, those who were in Capernaum remained until this day, and it is added: both the land of Sodom is more joyful It will be on the day of judgment, which is not the same for you: this is what the Savior says about Tire and Sidon: it will be more tolerable for Tire and Sidon on the day of judgment, which is not the same for you (Matthew 11:21-24). Therefore, about the Canaanite woman, who understood that her daughter, that is, her soul was oppressed by an evil demon, it is said that she left the borders of Tire and Sidon to ask for the mercy of Christ, for she could meet the Savior only by leaving the borders of Tire and Sidon. Art. 6–7. Go to Carthage; cry out to those who live on this island. Is this your pride from the beginning until he was betrayed? His feet will lead him far to travel. The words: his feet will lead him far to wander are added from Hebrew and are designated by an asterix, i.e., illuminating stars. O Tyrians, you who live in cramped conditions and on an island, you are exposed on all sides to waves of temptation, leave it and go to Carthage, that is, to Tarshish, and hasten to the truth of joy, mourning the ancient sins and the original reproach that either you inflicted on others or yourself suffered from others. I command you this because you see that your city of Tire is about to move from its place and from the usual order of life to other areas - when, leaving ancient errors, it will bend its neck to the Gospel of the Savior, so that those who previously lived in cramped conditions will go far away and will be strangers and heirs of the teachings of the Lord Savior. Art. 8–9. Who determined this for Tyra? Has he become smaller and has no strength? His merchants are the princes of Canaan, the celebrities of the land. The Lord of hosts determined to bring down all the arrogance of the glorious and to humiliate everything that is famous on earth. The word Canaan was added from Theodotion's edition, and Aquila translated the merchants instead. So, the Holy Spirit asks, or rather, by questioning affirms, that the Lord has determined this against the princes of Tire - against the princes, whose whole concern is to acquire wealth by trade; and just as in the Gospel we read about pearl merchants who, having sold all the pearls, want to buy one, and of course should be called famous merchants not of earth, but of heaven: so on the contrary, the merchants of Tire, that is, sorrow and distress, should be called famous of the earth, since everything they do touches the earth, and princes of Canaan, which means worried and excited. For they do not set their feet on stone, and it cannot be said about them: a stone is a refuge for hedgehogs or a hare (Ps. 39; 103:18), but more than that, they endure what the righteous almost suffered: but my nose did not move a little, my feet did not shed (Ps. 72:2). So, the Lord of hosts determined this council to destroy the heavy bonds of the merchants, or better to destroy the common untruth, of which all the subordinates of Tire are proud. The words: and to humiliate everything that is glorious on earth do not mean that the Lord is the author of humiliation, but that what is subject to humiliation is itself humiliating. We also read in the book of Leviticus about the priests: “he defiled him with defilement” (Lev. 21), no doubt a priest - not in the sense that he was the author of the defilement, but to show that he who previously seemed clean to many was defiled. Art. 10–11. Till your land: for ships do not come from Carthage, and your hand, which summons kings on the sea, has no power. The LXX edition in this place differs a lot from other translators and from the Hebrew itself; but let's continue our work. Above he said: go to Carthage, cry out to those who live on the island. Now, since ships from Carthage no longer come, he says the opposite: cultivate your land. For Tire had to lose the foreign ships that came to him in order to be forced to cultivate his land, about which Proverbs says: “He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread,” so that he lives not from the unfaithful danger of waves and shipwrecks, but from the fruits of his own work, about which the Psalms sing to the righteous: “You will eat the labor of your hands” (Ps. 127:2). It is written in Hosea that the paths of the harlot are surrounded by thorns from the Lord, so that she cannot follow her lovers, so that, forced by this necessity, she returns to her former husband. We often see this in worldly affairs - that many who could not know the Lord due to happiness and abundance in everything, understand him due to misfortune and turn to works of righteousness when their hand does not have the power to enjoy the happiness of this world, the hand that formerly ruled over the kings on the sea, or according to Symmachus, troubled the kings whose heart is in the hand of God. And, oh, if only we, leaving the trade of this sea, would cultivate our land and not wait for the ships of Carthage or the ships of Tire, which usually sailed to Carthage, so as not to submit to the power of the serpent who rules the sea! Oh, if only we would set our feet firmly on the earth, or better yet, striving towards the heavenly, we would cultivate our land, so that having sown here, we could reap there! Oh, if only our hand, which previously revolved in the affairs of the world and with strength and happiness could move even kings, that is, saints, from their places, became weak in the affairs of the sea, so that it could be strong in the work of our land! Art. 12. The Lord of hosts gave a commandment about Canaan to destroy its power, and said: You will no longer do offense and injustice to the maiden daughter of Sidon. That Tire and Sidon are in the land of Canaan, we showed this above, presenting evidence from the Gospel, in which it is read that a Canaanite or Syrophoenician wife left the borders of Tire and Sidon and met the Lord Savior. Every soul that is in the waves of the age and blown by every wind of doctrine can be called Canaan, which means like agitation or movement. Therefore, it is said to the adulterous elder: the tribe of Canaan, and not of Judah, kindness deceives you (Dan. 13:56). So, for Tire and its oppression, it is necessary that the power of Canaan perish, so that its inhabitants can be told that they can no longer offend and unjustly oppress the maiden daughter of Sidon. Anyone who is subject to the devil in a whirlwind of various vices and given over to the defilements of uncleanness, in order to defile the body with lusts and uncleanness, is a son or daughter of Sidon. It should also be noted that Sabaoth is not in Hebrew, but the maiden, on the contrary, is borrowed from the Hebrew text. Art. 13. If you go to Ketim, then you will have no peace there either; and if to the land of the Chaldeans, then it too was devastated by the Assyrians. Siim founded it, erected its fortifications, erected its tower: its wall fell. The words Siim founded it, erected its fortifications, erected its tower under the asterixes are included from the edition of Theodotion, and the words: its wall fell are added without the asterixes, Ketim means a completed or complete blow; The Chaldeans in this place mean like breasts, the Assyrians - like accusers. We could not find the etymology of the word Siim, and other translators translated it by the very name given in Hebrew. So, Tiru is told that even if he wanted to go to Ketim and avoid being struck for his oppression, even there he would not be able to find perfect peace; just as if he wanted to go to the Chaldeans and take advantage of their abundance and wealth in everything, then he would find them devastated when the Assyrians exposed their barrenness - accordingly, the apostle handed over sinners to Satan so that they would learn not to blaspheme - sinners who were given over to the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit could be saved. For the Chaldeans they laid the foundations of This, by which I mean the worst demons, who erected the highest fortifications and towers of the city of the Chaldeans against the knowledge of the Lord; but every building of them fell into ruins, for it follows: its wall fell. For if the Lord does not build the house, then those who build it have labored in vain (Ps. 127:1). We often see in the world that some people move from one activity to another, which, for example. those who have experienced failure in military service switch to trade, or lawyers take up the arms of military people. They change their activities to change their unluckiness; but according to God’s dispensation, for those whom He deigns to save, all efforts lead them to the opposite, so that through poverty and misfortune they are forced to rely not on themselves, but on their Creator. Art. 14. Shout the ships of Carthage, for your stronghold has perished. The ships of Carthage, that is, Tarshish, are commanded to cry out, not because they are lost and will not come, as was said above, but because their stronghold is destroyed. For Tarshish, according to another translation in our language, means the end of six or joy. We read that in six days this world was created, which, according to the teachings of the church, will subsequently perish. So, all the blessings of this world and all the work of mortals are compared with the erratic navigation of ships - that they will soon perish and the entire stronghold of the swimmers will be destroyed. Therefore, it is written in Solomon: the wise will come into strong cities and destroy their foundations (Proverbs 21:22). For everything that is created by the art of heretics, secular wisdom and perverse teachings, the ecclesiastical man destroys and shows that all this must be subdued under his feet. Art. 15–18. And on that day Tire will be abandoned for seventy years, like the time of one king, like the time of a man. After seventy years, Tire will be like the song of the harlot. Take the zither, wander, harlot city, consigned to oblivion. Play the zither well, sing many songs so that you will be remembered. After seventy years, God will visit Tire, and again it will be restored to its former position and there will be trade in it to all the kingdoms of the universe on the face of the earth. And his trade and goods shall be holy to the Lord; and they will not gather together for them, but for those who live before the Lord. All his trade, eating and drinking and filling the storehouses, is a memorial before the Lord. The words remembrance before the Lord, on the face of the earth and as the time of man are not in Hebrew, but are added in Greek. Tire, once given over to disasters for seventy years, is freed so that, after the completion of the period of desolation, he turns the song of the once harlot into praises of God and, taking a zither, tunes all its strings to play, so that after playing well and singing many songs, there will be a memory of him with God, a memory that was forgotten because of fornication, and so that Tire will be restored to its former state and have the riches of the kingdoms of the whole world; but the goods of his labors will be collected not for the Tyrians, but for those who live before the face of the Lord, and so that they eat and drink and are filled with all the goods of the earth, which for the joy of the feast will be collected by the labors of all. Divine speech exhorts Sidon and Tire to repentance and promises that its labors and goods will be dedicated to the Lord. Which sinner cannot have hope of salvation if only he sings well, and all the strings of virtue, previously upset, are tuned to praise the Lord? In the forty-fourth psalm, which actually refers to the union of the bride and groom, i.e. to God the Savior and the mysteries of the Church, we read among other things the following: and gifts to the daughters of Tire: the riches of people will pray to your face (Ps. 44:13). And again the groom himself says to the Tirian bride: hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house, for the king will desire your kindness (Vv. 11-12). Therefore, in the depiction of her beauty it is said: the queen appeared at your right hand in robes of gold, her robe was full of spots (Art. 10). And one more thing: all glory to the queen’s daughter within (Verse 14). If the king desired the beauty of the Tyrian woman, repentant and adorned with various virtues, then how much more would her goods and trade be not the same as the people living in Tire, but the same as those who live before the face of the Lord? Having brought repentance, they will hear from the Lord the Savior: eat your neighbors, and drink and get drunk, brothers (PP 5:1). And what it means to eat and drink and be satisfied with the storehouse of all virtues, this the faithful reader understands. That the church was desolate for seventy years is taught by Jeremiah (chapter 29), Daniel (chapter 9) and Zechariah (chapter 7). And in Ezekiel (chap. 16), we read about Sodom that it will be restored to its former state, and about Egypt that after the devastation of the land of Egypt and the drying up of the seven rivers, it will again receive its former fertility. The septenary and seventieth number, whether it is made up of single days or seven tens, denotes perfect and complete repentance, so that Tire, after the time of repentance has been fulfilled, rightly returns to its former state. I think that this harlot is spoken of in a mysterious way and in the Proverbs of Solomon: do not listen to the wicked woman: honey drips from the lips of the harlot’s wife, which for a while delights your throat, after which you will find bitter bile (Proverbs 5:2-4). For through the window of her house she looks at the streets, since the path leading to death is wide and spacious (Matthew 7), and seeing every foolish youth - for she does not dare to tempt the wise - staggering through the back streets and having lost the straight path, she speaks to him in the dark and in the gloom and, under the guise of pleasure, leads him as a sacrifice to death. If she is converted and sings well and fulfills the time of years of perfect repentance, she will eat and drink and be satisfied. Let Novatian hear this and shut up. See interpretation of blessedness. Jerome to this place. Since there is no such place in the prophet Joel, some scholars suggest that instead of Ioel one should read idem - aka, i.e. Isaiah, in ch. XXVIII. 1 tbsp. according to LXX there is an expression similar to that given by the blessed one. Jerome. Joseph. Ancient Book 13, ch. 6. You might be interested in: