Книга девятая

Busy with various troubles, we dictate interpretations of the prophet Isaiah intermittently. Therefore, having finished the eighth book, we now, after a short period of time, move on to the ninth: not without the venom and curses of envious people who, not knowing what they hear and what they say, dare to judge what they do not know, and despise rather than examine, and consider themselves learned and eloquent if they revile all writers. Despising their hostility and chatty grumbling, let us ask for God's help and say with the prayer of the Psalmist: scatter the tongues of those who want to curse (Ps. 67:31). For the place of the Lord is in peace, which surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7). The Prophet also desired it, exclaiming: Lord our God, give us peace, for you have rewarded us with everything (Isa. 26:12). But it’s time for us to invite the department of Isaiah and with Moses to enter into the cloud and darkness, so that our gaze would shine, and, according to the Hebrew, the face would be horned [emit rays], and so that thunder and lightning would be heard and flash, which the despised people could not see (Exod. 19, 20 and 34). Chapter XXVIII. Art. 1–4. Woe to the crown of pride - the drunkards of Ephraim, and the falling flower of the glory of his delight, who were on the top of a very fat valley, reeling from wine. Behold, strong and mighty of the Lord, like a crushing whirlwind of swift hail, like the pressure of many waters spilling and erupting over a vast land. The wreath of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot. And the falling flower of the glory of his delight, which is at the top of the valley of fatness, will be like something ripened before the time of autumn ripening, to which when the one who sees it turns his eyes, immediately, as soon as he takes it in his hand, he swallows it. LXX: Woe to the crown of insult, mercenaries of Ephraim: the flower that falls from the glory on the top of the fat mountain, you who are drunk without wine. Behold the strong and cruel wrath of the Lord, like hail rushing down a slope that has no cover, which falls down with force, like many waters, carrying away the earth and making a path for itself: the crown of insult will be trampled with hands and feet - the mercenaries of Ephraim. And the blossom that falls from the hope of glory on the top of a high mountain will be like a fig that is prematurely ripe, which the one who sees will want to swallow it before he takes it in his hand. Let us explain first in relation to history, then in an allegorical sense and, finally, in accordance with prophetic prediction. The divine speech speaks against the ten tribes that reigned in Samaria, and from Jeroboam, who was from the tribe of Ephraim, were called Ephraim. And he calls them a crown of pride, because in comparison with the two tribes that were called Judah, they were superior in number and strength. He also calls them the drunkards of Ephraim, because they do not understand their Creator, but instead of the Lord they worship the golden calves in Dan and Bethel. They were once in the glory and glory of the Lord, when they were ruled by David and Solomon, and when the twelve tribes worshiped God in the temple of Jerusalem, which were at the top of a very fat valley, which in Hebrew is called ge semanim. This means the place where the Lord was betrayed; At the top of this valley the church of the Lord was located. They are drunk with the wine of error and madness that Jeroboam has prepared for them. Therefore, the Lord, as a punishment, threatens them with the fact that, like a whirlwind with hail, it crushes everything, and the pressure of overflowing waters carries away everything that comes across it: so they will be destroyed by the Assyrian army, and what remains will be resettled in the mountains or cities of Media. He compares the glory of the ten tribes with a wreath of various flowers, which will have such beauty that just as if someone, even before the onset of summer and autumn, saw a precocious (πρόδρομον) fig on a tree, immediately, as quickly as he would take it in his hand, he would swallow it: so when the Assyrian sees the ten tribes, he will devastate and consume them and absolutely nothing from the former people will not leave you in Samaria. This is briefly explained in relation to history. Let's move on to the allegory. In accordance with the explanation of the prophet Hosea, in which Ephraim, and Joseph, and Samaria, and the ten tribes, who separated from the society of the twelve tribes and left the church of the Lord, we classified as heretics: the latter, blaspheming the Lord, in truth, are, according to the edition of the Seventy, a crown of insult, and do everything for the sake of reward, and have fallen from the glory of the Lord, and do not follow the poverty of manna and church humility; but they remain on a very fat mountain, being drunk without wine. Therefore, the strong and cruel wrath of the Lord, intending to punish them, is compared to rapid hail falling not on the roofs, but on the heads of mortals, and with great floods of water, carrying away everything that comes their way. By this crown of insult, the mercenaries of Ephraim are called those who, according to the apostle, who are bad for the sake of gain, (Titus 1:11) have fallen from the color and hope and glory of the former faith, and remain in pride, and serve as the sweetest food of the devil, who daily devours them (1 Peter 5:8). In accordance with the prediction, we can say that it calls the scribes of the Pharisees, who blasphemed the Lord, with a crown of insult, and were called hired servants of Ephraim by Judah, who came from the tribe of Ephraim and from the village of the same tribe, Iscariot, and sold the Lord for money. He (the Lord), being truly the flower of apostolic glory, fell on a very fat mountain, about which, as we think, it is said: “Jacob ate and drank, and was filled, and became fat, and the beloved resisted” (Deut. 32:15); or according to the Hebrew text: in the valley of fat, that is, Gessemanim, which also signifies the name of the place where Judas betrayed the Lord. It is called the valley of the fat or fat because of its fertility, and for the sake of the scribes and Pharisees who took the Lord there, about whom it is written in the psalm: the fat youths have overcome me (Ps. 21:13). This valley of the Tuks, that is, Gessemanim, is called twice in this department; and I wonder how the LXX called it first the fat mountain, and then the high mountain. The traitor was drunk not with wine, but with the love of money and the incurable rage of asps, and the poverty of the devil, who entered into him after a piece of bread (Jn. 13:27), and was completely absorbed by him because his prayer turned into sin (Ps. 109:7), and even his repentance did not have saving fruit (Matthew 27:3–5). The Hebrew word sacchore is ambiguous and means either drunkards or mercenaries. Therefore, Issachar is translated: there is a bribe, and sachar: μέθοσμα, that is, intoxication; and other translators translated: drunk, only LXX: mercenaries. Poem. 5–8. In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a crown of delight for the remnant of His people, and a spirit of judgment for those who sit on the judgment seat, and a strength for those who return from war to the gate. But they, too, did not know because of the wine, and were lost due to drunkenness; the priest and the prophet did not recognize because of intoxication; engrossed in wine, lost in intoxication, did not recognize the Seer, did not recognize the judgment, or extremely. For all the tables were filled with vomit and uncleanness, so that there was no more room. LXX: In that day the Lord of hosts will be the crown of hope associated with glory for the remnant of the people. They will be left in the spirit of judgment for judgment and strength, with the prohibition to kill. For they are deceived by wine: they go astray because of strong drink; the priest and the prophet went mad with strong drink; engrossed in wine, they hesitated: this is a ghost (φάσμα). A curse will devour this enterprise, for this enterprise exists because of the love of money. When the whole land of Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, is devastated by the flood of the Assyrians, and the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim is trampled under foot and swallowed up like a prematurely ripened fig: then the Lord himself will be the crown of victory of the remnant of the people of Israel, that is, the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and the spirit of judgment for him who sits on the judgment seat, no doubt for Hezekiah king of Judah, and the fortress of those who, after devastating the entire country, returning from the battle, imprisoned themselves in the city. We will read about this from this very prophet (Below Chapter 37), when one hundred and eighty-five thousand armed from the Assyrian army were destroyed by a striking angel. But they, that is, Judah and Benjamin, were drunk with the wine of idolatry, and, having despised worship in the church, they began to venerate the images of demons, and did not recognize the seeing Lord, who examines everything. For all their tables and all their worship were filled with vomit and uncleanness, so that not only in the church, but also on the tops of the mountains and in the wooded places, they filled everything with the abominations of idolatry, and the Lord had no place to dwell with them. This is meant literally. Then, regarding the allegorical meaning, we will follow the previous understanding, but we will not leave the LXX interpreters untouched. For after the heretics who have ascended the very fat mountain of pride are swallowed up into the mouth of the devil, the Lord will be the crown of glory for those who remain in the Church and, in comparison with the number of very many who err, are small in number. It will be in the spirit of judgment at the judgment: for the Lord will wash away the uncleanness of the sons and daughters of Zion in the spirit of judgment. And if anyone has blood on him, he will be cleansed not by the spirit of judgment, but by the fire of burning. And he will be a strength for the people and will not allow them to be killed by those who are drunk with the wine of serpents (Deut. 32:33), and are lost because of strong drink. We have often said that wine is made from grapes, and strong drink, which Aquila actually translated intoxication, is any drink that can intoxicate and upset the state of mind, whether it is made from wheat, or barley, or millet, from the juice of fruits, from the fruit of palm trees, or from any other variety. So the priests and prophets of the heretics went mad with strong drink and were consumed with wine, such as Prisca and Maximilla and their leader Montanus, and did not know what they were saying. They get drunk with wine when they poorly understand and distort the Holy Scriptures, and with strong drink when they use secular wisdom and the nets of dialectics to catch them, which should not be called stylish bonds, but rather ghosts (phasmata), that is, some shadows and images that soon disappear and are destroyed. A curse will befall such an undertaking of those who do not seek to acquire godliness (1 Tim. 6:5) and who do everything out of the love of money. The apostle also spoke about this ghost: he listens to spiritual flattery and the teaching of demons, he is a liar in hypocrisy (1 Timothy 4:1, 2). The third explanation is that when the Lord overthrows the scribes and Pharisees and their accomplice Judas the traitor, who from the beginning was a thief, for he carried a box of money for the poor (John 12:6, 13, 29): then He will be the hope and crown of glory for those of the Jews who believe in the Lord. He understands, without a doubt, whose apostles he will preserve for preaching the Gospel and will not allow them to immediately shed their blood for Christ. For all the scribes and Pharisees, both priests and false prophets, were drunk with wine and strong drink, which we spoke about above. But their snares and fetters were nothing, since Judas himself, who betrayed, did it for money, and the priests, who bribed the traitor with money, did it out of fear of their own rejection. For He (the Lord), having made a scourge of ropes, drove out of the church those who sold oxen and sheep, and by His power overturned the benches of those who sold doves and the tables of the money changers, saying to them: “It is written: “My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer; and you made it a house of trade, or a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13; John 2:16). In a mysterious sense, that passage of the Hebrew text in which we said: for all their tables are filled with vomit and uncleanness, so that there is no more room, can be so applied to heretics and to the scribes and Pharisees, that we call all their teaching and all their sacraments full of vomit and uncleanness, until they digest the waste of the Holy Scripture, and make sure that they are life-giving to the whole body; but they throw out uncooked and foul-smelling things, so that God finds no place in them. I wonder why Theodotion, instead of the Hebrew word called cisoa, instead of which Aquila translated vomit of sewage, and Symmachus only vomit, said ἐμετὸν δυσαλίας, that is, vomit δυσαλίας - I could not find a place where the Greeks read this last a word, unless he has made up a new name for a new object. For even among the Jews it is compound, because vomit is called ci, and s o a means: unclean. So, everything that produces nausea and vomiting can be called δυσαλία. Art. 9–13. Whom will He teach knowledge, and whom will He make understanding what he hears? Weaned from breast milk, weaned from breasts: because you command, command again; command, command again; wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little here, a little there. For with another speech and another tongue He will speak to the people to whom He said: “This is My rest: give rest to the weary, and this is My delight”; but they didn't want to listen. And the word of the Lord will be unto them: command, command again; command, command again; wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little here, a little there, so that they will go and fall backward, and be broken, and be caught in the net and caught. LXX: To whom shall we announce disasters, and to whom shall we tell the news? Those who are weaned from breast milk are weaned from the nipple. Expect sorrow upon sorrow; wait for hope for hope; still a little, still a little: because of the mocking lips, because of another tongue, which will be spoken to this people by those who say to them: this is rest for the hungry, and this is contrition; but they didn't want to listen. And the word of the Lord will be unto them: tribulation upon tribulation: wait, wait; hope for hope, still little, still little; so they will go and fall backward, and be broken, and get into trouble, and be captured. Who, he says, is worthy of the teaching of the Lord, who is worthy of the words of the Savior, who says: Having ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 13:9), so that what he perceives with his ears he understands with his heart? Who they are is shown by the following verse: weaned from breast milk, weaned from the breast. Who does not feed at all on the milk of infancy, but eats solid food; who was weaned with Isaac, for which joy Abraham made a great feast (Gen. 21:8): those are worthy to hear the mysteries of the Lord and to understand what the drunken and wine-absorbed priest and prophet do not know, who got lost and did not recognize the Seer, for all their tables are filled with vomit and uncleanness, which the prophets who announced what was to come and threatened, in case of failure to fulfill what they commanded, with torment, usually said mockingly: command, command again; command, command again, that is, command, order, command what we must do. They, abusing the long-suffering of God, who stopped anger in order to show mercy, on behalf of the prophets, mockingly also usually said this: wait a little, wait a little: let the future come that we predicted. Yet this was said among the people because they did not believe the words of God. But the prophet immediately adds: God will not speak to you in these words to command you what you should do, and so that you expect what is about to happen, but will speak to you in real rage. He first said to the people: This is My rest; give rest to the weary. I have labored for a long time, without finding peace in anyone: foxes have wounds, and birds of heaven have nests: but the Son of man has no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58). And this is My joy, so that I may one day rest in you. They did not want to listen and despised My admonitions. Therefore, because they, mockingly, usually said to the prophets: command, command again; command, command again: wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little here, a little there, and mocked My long-suffering, thinking that I am threatening something that I never intend to fulfill, let them know that this will be realized in practice - that they will go to destruction, and will fall backward from the incurable bringing together of the members (ὀπισϑοτόνῳ), and will never move forward, and will not be able to say with the apostle: “Forgetting those things which are behind, we press forward to those things which are ahead” (Phil. 3:13): but they will be broken, and will be caught in a snare, and will be captured either by the Babylonian or Roman army. Instead of what we said: command, command again; command, command again: wait, wait again; wait, wait again: a little there, a little there, in Hebrew it’s written like this: sau lasau, sau l αsau; cau lacau, cau lacau: zer sam, zer sam; and these words, as a rule, are used by the most immoral heresy 35 in front of all simpletons and deluded ones, in order to instill fear with the news of the words, and precisely because whoever recognizes these words and remembers them in their gathering will, without any doubt, pass into the kingdom of heaven. We read from the Apostle: I will speak with other tongues and with other lips to this people, and neither will they listen to Me, says the Lord (1 Cor. 14:21). This, it seems to me, is taken from a Hebrew text from the present section. And in general, regarding the Old Testament (except for a few testimonies used by Luke alone, who knew the Greek language better), we noticed that wherever anything is said from the Old Testament, they (the apostles) cite it not according to the Seventy, but according to the Hebrew text, not following anyone’s translation, but translating the Jewish thought in their own speech. Symmachus, Theodotion and LXX had different opinions about this place; but since it would take a long time to talk about all of them, we will briefly review the LXX Interpreters, which are read in churches. After the rejection of the Jewish people, the priests and prophets, drunk with strong drink and lost their way, and after the curse has overtaken their plan, which they adopted for the love of money, to whom shall we tell the sorrows that are due for Christ? To whom shall we announce the disasters for which the crown of virtues is being prepared? Of course, those who are weaned from breast milk are weaned from the nipple; means, without a doubt, the apostles. Expect sorrow upon sorrow. He tells the assembly of the apostles and all believers that they should prepare themselves not for one, but for many disasters, and that, having been exposed to disasters and oppressed by them, they still hope and have the hope of hope. And if what is promised slows down, then let them not lose faith: for a little and a very little, and what is promised will come. For tribulation makes patience the work of endurance, and patience is a skill, and skill is hope; but hope does not put to shame (Rom. 5:3, 4). And this very disaster will be aggravated by verbal reproach and blasphemy, in which the persecutors rage against the people of God with furious lips. Then, the apostles and apostolic men, turning to the Jewish people, will say: this is rest for him who hungers for righteousness, and this is contrition and distress leading to life. When they preached this, the wicked did not want to listen to them. Therefore, what was said to the people of God: endure sorrow, endure sorrow; expect hope, expect hope; a little more, a little more turns into punishment for those who did not want to listen to the words of God, so that they will capsize and fall backward, will be exposed to the danger of siege and death and will be taken captive with endless disasters. And that the Hebrew word deah, which everyone translates knowledge, only the Seventy translated disasters, is an obvious mistake. For the first letter Dalet or Resh is distinguished only by a small upper line; therefore, if you read dea, it means knowledge, if rea, then it means malice - not from evil, as the opposite of good, but from disaster. Art. 14–15. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you mocking men who rule over My people who are in Jerusalem. For you said: we have made an agreement with death, and have made an agreement with the underworld: when the all-destroying scourge passes, it will not come on us, because we put our hope in lies, and covered ourselves with lies. LXX: Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you afflicted people and you rulers of this people who are in Jerusalem. For you said: we have made a covenant with hell and an agreement with death: if a passing storm attacks, it will not come to us, because we have placed our hope in lies and will hide behind lies. What we talked about above is that the princes of the Jews usually said to the prophets with mockery: command, command again; wait, wait again and so on, which shows that they did not believe the speeches of the prophets and despised their prophecies - this is also shown by the present section, which is why they are called men who laugh. These are the scribes and Pharisees who rule over the people of God in Jerusalem, whom LXX calls: the oppressed men and the princes of the people of Jerusalem. For not in words, but in deeds they said: we, like other nations, we have concluded an alliance and agreement with hell and death, once and for all we despaired of salvation. Without a doubt, captivity will come after a long time, since you say: “a little more, a little more, wait, wait a little longer.” Therefore, when we die, we will not feel the scourge of captivity. For once and always we believed a lie, that is, we hoped in vain in God and His law. And they covered themselves with lies, because through death they escaped the impending captivity. The Hebrew word sot Aquila and Symmachus translated scourge, LXX - storm, and chasab all translated the lie in which the Jews hoped and whose father, according to the Evangelist John, is the devil. Art. 16–20. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lay in the foundations of Zion a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a foundation stone: whoever believes in it will not hasten. And I will set judgment as a scale, and righteousness as a standard, and hail will destroy the hope of lies, and the waters will drown the refuge. And your alliance with death will collapse, and your agreement with the underworld will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes, you will be trampled upon by it. As soon as it passes, it will seize you, for early with dawn it will pass day and night, and only oppression alone will give the idea of ​​the rumor about it. The bed is too small for another to share, and a short blanket cannot cover both. LXX: Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay for the foundations of Zion a precious stone, a chosen stone, a stone of honor, a stone of honor for its foundations, and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame. And I will put judgment into hope, and My mercy in the balance, and those who hope in vain in lies, that a storm will not pass through us and take away our covenant with death, and your hope in hell will not endure. If the coming storm passes, you will be trampled upon by it; when it passes, it will take you in the morning, in the morning it will pass; day and night your hope will be the worst. Learn to listen, you who are in distress: we cannot fight, we are too weak to gather ourselves. I, he says, expressed to you: listen to the words of the Lord, you laughing men, or oppressed princes of My people, and do not enter into an alliance with death and an agreement with the underworld, you who, having despised My commandments, put a lie in hope, you who say with boasting or, better yet, with despair: we will cover ourselves with lies. Therefore, the generous and merciful Lord, long-suffering and abundantly merciful, says that against our will He will lay in the foundations of Zion a chosen and tested stone, precious and cornerstone, about which the apostle says: For the architect is wise, the foundation of those who lay, and also: for no one can lay any other foundation than the one that lies, even Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:10-11). This stone is truly and twice called a stone, just as in the book of Leviticus man is called twice - and a stone of the cornerstone, since He united the nations of the circumcision and the pagans, about which the psalm says: a stone, which is not built with bregosh, this was the head of the corner (Ps. 170:22). And the builders and masons are those who are now called laughing men and princes of the people who are in Jerusalem. We also read about this stone in Daniel that it was cut off from the mountain without hands and filled the whole earth (Dan. ch. 2) - in the sense that the economy of the divine seed took on a human body, and the fullness of the Divinity dwelt in it bodily. On this stone, which under another name is called a rock, Christ created the Church, and founded, according to the Hebrew text, on a solid foundation, the believer in which will not be ashamed or, according to the Hebrew, will not rush, so that the coming of Christ does not seem to him to be slow. For if, according to Habakkuk, it slows down, then no one should despair of it, for He will certainly come and fulfill the promises of Habakkuk (Habakkuk ch. 2). And God promises to set Himself in Him as a judgment of righteousness: the Father judges no one, but gives all judgment to the Sons (John 5:22), and He will set righteousness or mercy in Him as a measure, so that He will reward each according to his deeds, so that truth and mercy will be balanced with one another, according to what we read in the psalms: mercy and truth are met, righteousness and peace are greeted (Ps. 84:11). And your hope, he says, and your lies, that is, the devil, the father of all lies, will be destroyed by the hail of My punishments. And the refuge under which you thought you were safe will be destroyed by a strong storm and many waters, so that the covenant and agreement that you had with death and with the underworld, that is, with the devil, will perish forever. And the scourge or storm that you spoke about: when the all-destroying scourge passes, it will not come against us, it will come, and you will be trampled upon by it, that is, you will endure all the torments that you, in the spirit of despair, thought that you would not endure. This storm will always attack you - both in happiness and in misfortune you will feel the wrath of God, and cruel death will devastate you. What can we say about punishments? The fear of punishment and the horror of torment alone will correct you to salvation and make you understand your atrocities. And when you are oppressed, then you will know that my prophets spoke the truth. Further: the bed is too small for another to share it, and a short blanket cannot cover both of them has the same meaning as we read in the apostle: you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons: you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:20. 21), and in another place: some communion of righteousness with iniquity; or some communication between light and darkness; some kind of agreement between Christ and Belial; or which part I will return with the infidels; or some kind of laying down the Church of God from idols (2 Cor. 6:14, 15)? He speaks under the metaphor of a most chaste husband, who says to an adulterous wife: one bed cannot combine me and an adulterer with you, and a short blanket cannot cover both a husband and an adulterer. So, O Jerusalem, which is also spoken of in Ezekiel under the name of a harlot’s wife (Ezek. 16:21) and which at the beginning of the book of Hosea [God] calls a harlot and an adulteress (Hos. 3), - O Jerusalem! if you want to come into My arms, then throw away the idols; if you serve idols, you cannot have Me. This is in relation to Jewish. And what is read in LXX: learn to listen, you who are in distress: we cannot fight, we are weak to gather ourselves - what sense makes sense and how it fits in with the previous one, I absolutely do not know. Is it possible that the Divine speech addresses the princes of the people and exhorts them to hope in God, and not in death and hell, and to learn to heed the prophecies of the prophets, and they [the princes] answer that due to the weakness of their strength, they cannot resist the opposing forces and gather as one with the people of God. Art. 21-22 For the Lord will rise up as on the mountain of divisions, He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, to do His work, a work alien to Him, to complete His work, which work is far from Him. And now do not mock, lest somehow your bonds be drawn tighter. For I have heard destruction and reduction from the Lord God of armies over all the earth. LXX: The Lord will arise as a mountain of the wicked, and will be in the valley of Gibeon; with rage he will commit deeds Failures; the work of bitterness and His wrath will be used as if by strangers, and His bitterness is alien. And do not rejoice, lest your bonds become stronger, for I have heard about the finished works from the Lord God of hosts, which He will do over all the earth. The Lord promised that He would lay a precious stone in the foundations of Zion, so that hail would destroy the lies and hopes of the wicked, and so that a strong storm would destroy the covenant with death and the covenant with the underworld. Since the mocking princes did not want to accept this stone, just as once against foreigners, during the reign of David, on the mountain of divisions, which in Hebrew was called pharasim, the Lord divided his opponents, from which the place received its name, and as in the valley of Gibeon, under the leadership of Jesus, when, with confidence in the God living in him, he said: let the sun become straight for Gibeon, and the moon straight for Elon (Joshua 10:12). And the sun stood still for one day and many of the foreigners perished: so the wicked and mocking ones passed away and the Lord became angry to do His work. But to destroy those whom he created is not the work of the Lord, and this means doing something alien, more characteristic of cruelty than mercy. And again, in other words, he repeats the same thing: to complete his work. Punishing sinners is not His business, but punishing Him, the Savior, is a matter distant and alien to Him. Therefore, since the Lord will rise up from His longsuffering and will not spare, as He did not spare on Mount Pharazim and on the valley of Gibeon: then I exhort you, men who mock, do not mock My prophets and do not think that what they foretold will not come, lest if you continue mocking, the bonds of your sins will be drawn tighter (for everyone will be held captive by their sins; Prov. 5:22) or the time of captivity has not come to you. For what the Lord put off for a while - bonds, captivity and punishment, or the last day of judgment - He will now fulfill all this in practice and destroy it and complete it in a short time. So I, the prophet, proclaim to you this, that I have learned from the Lord God Almighty how it is about to happen over all the earth - I proclaim that you will precede the coming wrath by repentance. According to LXX it is said that the Lord Himself will arise as a mountain of the wicked and will be in the valley of Gibeon to do His works, which are all one work of bitterness, which should not seem blasphemous. For he does not say that the Lord will be a mountain of the wicked, but as if he were a mountain, which for the wicked and those suffering torment seems the most difficult, just as a careless son and another sick person consider a father and a doctor cruel if they return them to health with blows or medical cauterization. The Lord will arise and be in the valley of Gibeon for the sake of those who, being in a low place due to sinfulness, through arrogance of spirit, ascend into pride - for Gibeon means hill - in order to do His works, which are works of bitterness - when they are forced to change His mercy and instead of sweet things become bitter. So you, who have no time to endure this, do not now rejoice with the joy that the rich man rejoiced at the feast, clothed in purple and despising the poor Lazarus - do not rejoice, lest somehow your bonds become stronger. For what the Lord will do and fulfill his decree by deeds—this is what I have heard and told you everything. In the words: over the whole earth in the historical sense understand the limits of Judea, and in the allegorical sense - the whole earth. Art. 28–29. Hear with your ears, and listen to my voice; be attentive and listen to my speech. Will a plowman plow all day for sowing, loosen and weed his land? Having leveled its surface, will he not sow chernukha, scatter caraway seeds, place rows of wheat, barley and millet, and wild peas within his borders? And his God teaches him this order; He talks some sense into him. For they will not thresh the chernukha with toothed rollers, and the wheels of the threshing machine will not run on the caraway seeds; but they will beat out chernukha with a stick and caraway seeds with a cane; the bread will be ground. But the threshing wheel will not forever thresh it, and the threshing wheels will not crush it and crush it with their teeth. And this came out from the God of hosts to create wondrous counsel and to magnify righteousness. LXX: Listen with ears and listen to my voice; be attentive and listen to my speech. Will the plowman plow all day long, or will he prepare the seed before preparing the ground? Will it not be then, when he has leveled its surface, that he will sow chernukha and cumin, and then sow wheat, barley, millet and spelt within your borders, and you will learn the judgment of God and rejoice? And the bone is cleaned with cruelty, the chernuka and the threshing wheels do not move on the caraway seeds; but the chernukha is beaten out with a stick and the caraway seeds are eaten with bread. For I will not be angry with you forever, and the voice of My bitterness will not crush you, and these wonders have come from the Lord. Compose advice, exalt vain consolation. And now he says to the same ones to whom he spoke above: listen to the word of God, you mocking men who rule over My people who are in Jerusalem, and commands them to listen to His voice and carefully listen to His words. Will the farmer always plow for sowing, he says? Will he not first loosen the earth, make a furrow with a plow, or break up the raised blocks of earth with a rake and harrow, so that, having leveled the surface of the earth and loosened the previously hard fields, then scatter black seed or caraway seeds, and sow wheat, barley, millet and all grain grain within his own boundaries, according to the difference of the land and the time of year, for not everything is sown together. Instead of spelt, which the Greeks call ζέα, some mean wild peas. And the farmer himself, that is, the sower, is naturally taught his definition by God himself, and instructs him in what treatment should be given to a certain crop. And when the time of harvest finally comes, the chernuka and caraway seeds - these softest seeds - are threshed not with threshing iron wheels, which are rolled around like saws and moved along compressed sheaves, but are beaten out with a stick and a cane, which are popularly called flails (flagella). The bread, that is, the wheat from which bread is made, is ground with iron wheels and all its straw is crushed into chaff. However, it is not always threshed and ground, and not at all times crushed by the teeth of wheels, instead of which (teeth or hooves) in Hebrew there are their horses, so that, having said about the teeth or hooves of wheels, the metaphor will be retained in the rest. Some people think that the mention of hooves and horses refers to herds of horses, which are usually driven to the threshing floor to thresh bread. And this, that is, that chernukha and caraway seeds are beaten out with a stick and a reed, and wheat, barley and spelt, or perhaps millet are ground with iron wheels, is not the eternal definition of God, Who reveals His wondrous counsel in everything and shows the greatness of truth in everything. We expressed this παραφραστιϰῶς (periphrasis) so that it is easier to understand the meaning in which this is said. God provides for the human race in a variety of ways - now he punishes, now he has mercy, now he admonishes with disasters, now he protects from them, that is, now he plows, now he sows, now he reaps the ripened fruits and threshes the harvested ones on the threshing floors and governs His world as He pleases. Chernukha and caraway seeds, i.e. He corrects all the pagans who have not received knowledge of Him and did not have the commandments of the law with a rod and a reed; the wheat, that is, the Jewish people, will be punished with great executions. For whoever is entrusted with more, more will be required of him. A slave who knows the will of his master and does not do according to his will will be beaten much (Luke 12:47), and in another place it is written: “Mightier will be more severely tormented” (Wis. 6:7). However, he will not punish them forever. For it is one thing to be wicked, and another to be a sinner. What we have interpreted in relation to the pagans and Jews, others explain in relation to the people and the priests - that on the day of judgment, the unenlightened people, like chernukha and cumin, will be punished with a rod and a reed, and the priests who had the key of knowledge will be tormented with great punishments, and this will be according to the judgment of the Lord, who in everything shows His wondrous counsel and the truth of justice, so that from those who received more, more will be exacted. Instead of what we translated: chernukha will be paid with a stick and caraway seeds with a cane, LXX - I don’t know what they mean - they translated: and caraway seeds will be eaten with bread. And the ancient Greek interpreters, explaining the Hebrew text, kept silent about these words, perhaps because they did not have anything to say. And where we, in relation to the Hebrew, put: but the threshing wheel will not thresh it forever and the threshing wheels will not grind it and crush it with their teeth, LXX in relation not to the letter, but to the meaning translated: for I will not forever be angry with you, and the voice of My bitterness will not crush you, - pointing to the relief that will follow for sinners after torment and showing that this is like a wonderful and wonderful things will come from the Lord. Therefore, sinners who are subsequently to be punished are commanded to take counsel and rejoice in their consolation - not vain, as LXX added, but simply consolation. For God would never command them to rejoice in His vain consolation, which would not bring them benefit. Chapter XXIX. Art. 1ff. Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city that David conquered. Year after year is added, holidays are taken away. I will surround Ariel with a rampart, and he will be mournful and sorrowful, and he will be like Ariel to Me. And I will position myself as around a ball around you, and I will draw trenches against you and place fortifications for your siege. You will be humiliated, you will speak from the earth and your speech will be heard from the earth, and like a ventriloquist your voice will be from the earth, and your speech will be whispered from the earth. And the multitude of those who oppress you will be like fine dust, and the multitude of those who have strengthened themselves will be like scattered ashes. And it will happen suddenly, without delay: the Lord of hosts will visit with thunder, and an earthquake, and a strong voice of a whirlwind, and a storm, and the flame of a consuming fire. And there will be, like the dreams of a night vision, a multitude of all the nations that fought against Ariel, and all who took up arms, and besieged and fortified themselves after breaking through it. As a hungry man dreams, and he eats, but when he awakens, his soul becomes thin; and as a thirsty man dreams, and he drinks, but when he wakes up, the weary one still thirsts, and his soul becomes thin: so it will be with the multitude of all the nations who fought against Mount Zion. LXX: Woe to Ariel, Ariel to the city that David conquered. Gather the fruit, eat from year to year, for you will eat with Moab: for I will afflict Ariel, and his strength and his wealth will be mine, and I will surround you like David, and I will make a trench around you and build towers around you, and your speech will be brought down to the ground and your words will fall to the ground. And you will be like those who speak from the earth, and your voice will be weakened to the earth. And the wealth of the wicked will be like the dust of a wheel, and the multitude of those who afflict you will be like the ashes that are carried away: and it will be instantly, suddenly from the Lord of hosts. For there will be a visitation with thunder and an earthquake and a great voice, a great storm and a consuming flame of fire. And it will be like one who sees a dream at night, the wealth of all the nations who took up arms against Ariel, and all who fought against Jerusalem, and all those who gathered against it and oppressed it. And they will be like those who are hungry and eat in their sleep, but when they wake up, their dream turns out to be empty, and like someone who thirsts and drinks in their sleep, and when they wake up, they will still thirst, and his soul hoped in vain: so it will be with the wealth of all the nations who fought against Zion. Instead of the grief we translated, in Hebrew it is written oi, which they [the Jews] sometimes use in the vocative case, so that Ariel would not cry, but would exclaim, although in the present place it should be understood in the sense of crying. Ariel also means the lion of God, and instead of a city, which Aquila translated through πολίχνην, it is a small town or a village; in Hebrew they read cariath, which actually means a village and in the Syriac language it is called cartha, from which the forest village is called Cariath iarim. Finally and above, where we read: how did the faithful city of Zion become a harlot (Isa. 1:21)? instead of a city, it is written cariath, that is, a village, which we, for the literal transmission of Aquila’s translation, can translate through town. So, Ariel, that is, the lion of God, is called Jerusalem, which was once very strong, or, as others believe, the church and altar of God that were in Jerusalem. Instead of the following: which David conquered, that Symmachus moved the camp. David, and Theodotion: David’s bypass trench in Hebrew reads hana, which, according to the most learned of Jews, means dwelling. Thus, if we read: which David conquered, then we can attribute this to the time when David took the fortress of Zion, with the resistance of the blind and lame, and Joab was the first to ascend to the heights to conquer (1 Chron. 11). If, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, then this should be understood in the sense that David renewed and strengthened it. The year is added to the year or taken away, as Aquila translated, and the holidays are taken away: for after the destruction of the church and the cessation of Jewish worship, all their festivals were canceled. The Lord also says that He will surround Ariel with the Babylonian army, and that the latter will mourn and grieve when it is destroyed by them. Then, under the high priest Joshua the son of Jehozadek, and Zerubbabel the son of Shela-Tiel, Ezra and Nehemiah, when Haggai and Zechariah prophesied, it will be like Ariel, because it will have the likeness of the ancient church, but will not have splendor and adornment. Also, for the second time, the Lord threatens that He will surround Ariel, make trenches against it and place fortifications for its siege, and what He himself, mourning Jerusalem, says in the Gospel will be fulfilled: if only you had understood the hedgehog for your peace; for the days will come against you and your enemies will lay a prison over you, and they will besiege you and you will be humbled to the ground (Luke 19:42, 43). And Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the time of nations is fulfilled. For now the prophet also says, but in other words - that he, humiliated, will speak from the earth, his speech will be heard from the earth, his voice from the earth will be like the voice of a ventriloquist, and he will whisper from the earth like sparrows - in order with these words to designate the νεϰυομαντείαν (summoning of the dead) of sorcerers, through which, as they say, souls are called and are heard faint sounds of shadows or rather demons. Then, instead of the ventriloquist, Aquila translated the enchanter, which in Hebrew is called cheb, instead of which LXX was translated by the speakers from the earth. These words show that the destruction of the church will continue until the end of the world, that turned to dust it will no longer be restored. But you, Ariel, will be surrounded by such a strong Roman army that it will be like innumerable dust and ashes flying through the air. Therefore, he compares with dust and ashes not the weakness of those who fought against them, but their numbers, equal to innumerable sands. And this will follow suddenly and instantly, so that unexpected wars will begin in the midst of the world under Nero, and the Lord of hosts will visit Jerusalem with thunder, and an earthquake, and a stormy whirlwind, and a flame of devouring fire, which signifies the burning of the church. The Romans, who, after the victory over the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus and Vespasian, brought the vessels that were once God's as spoils to the Capitol and attributed what they did to their courage and the power of the gods, and not to the wrath of God, will possess all the wealth as if in a dream and in a night vision. And just as a hungry man, when he sleeps, dreams that he is eating, and a thirsty man drinks rivers with a throat dry from thirst, and when he awakens, the thirst aroused by the illusory drink intensifies: so the multitude of all the peoples who, being subordinate to the Roman power, fought against Mount Zion, as if in a shadow, a cloud and a dream, will have wealth, which they will leave due to premature death. In the place where we put: all who fought and besieged and fortified themselves by crossing it, LXX translated: and all who fought by crossing Jerusalem, which is not in the Hebrew. Also at the beginning of this chapter, where we said: added year to year or taken away, they translated: gather fruit or harvest from year to year; eat, for you will eat with Moab. The meaning here is the following: before the favorable year of the Lord’s preaching comes, or rather two years, about which in the song of Habakkuk we read from the Hebrew text: “in the midst of two times he will be known” (Habakk 3:2), sow with tears in order to reap with joy (fn. Ps. 126:5). In the Gospel of John it is written that after three Passovers the Lord came to Jerusalem, which is two years. The next one: for you will eat with Moab is not in Hebrew. Regarding this, we can say that if they do not collect the fruits of repentance from themselves, they will eat together with those who will never enter the Church of the Lord. The rest in which the difference is noticed is clear and easily explained from what we have stated. I know that Ariel, as I read, translates my light from God; but this is not at all the same. For here the first syllable is written through aleph and resh, but the light, which in Hebrew is called or, has between aleph and resh the letter vav, which is not in the real name. Nevertheless, what is now said against Ariel is attributed to heretics who consider their teaching to be the light of God and must be conquered by the true David and all their festivals must be destroyed and their real joy turn into future sorrow: the Lord commands them to bring repentance, so as not to start eating with the Moabites and not to become like the pagans. For He will fight against Moab, and will surround all its strength and wealth with His army. And through the towers, that is, the teachers of the Church, he will humiliate their speech on earth; so that they would not set their mouths in heaven, but would be assigned to the earth and speak from the earth and would be like dust raised by a wheel, and all the wealth of the wicked would be likened to the shortest moment of time when He will visit them in His majesty, descending in a whirlwind, storm and punishing fire, and they would understand that all their wealth, and pompous speeches and cunningly woven proofs are like those who eat and drink in vain dream - those who fought against Jerusalem, the vision of the world, or against Ariel, a very strong lion, and finally against Mount Zion, standing on which the city of the Church cannot hide. Art. 9 et seq. Be amazed and amazed, stagger and hesitate; you are drunk, but not from wine, you are staggering, but not from intoxication. For the Lord has brought upon you a spirit of slumber: He will close the eyes of your prophets, and will cover your princes who see visions. And every vision will be for you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to someone who knows the writing, they will say: read it, but he will answer: I cannot, because it is sealed. And they will give the book to someone who does not know the letters and will say to him: read, but he will answer: I do not know the letters. Instead of the spirit of sleep, the LXX translated: contrition, Theodotion insanity, Aquila: καταφορά, that is, sound sleep, which in Hebrew is called thardema and which God brought, as the Scripture says, on Adam (Gen. 2), when a wife was created from a rib from his side. Jonah slept in this very dream on the ship (Jon. 1:5). Nevertheless, the prophecy after the destruction of Jerusalem and the church, that is, Ariel, is directed against the scribes and Pharisees, who, having the key of knowledge, do not themselves enter and do not allow others who want to enter. They are commanded that from amazement and amazement, or radiate according to LXX, from relaxation of the whole body and mental frenzy, they will be drunk and will stagger and hesitate, staggering not from wine and strong drink, but from the spirit of sleep or contrition of the Lord, so that, having realized their evil, they would once bring repentance and say with the prophet: we returned to passion, when we were struck by thorns (Ps. 31:4). Know therefore, scribes and Pharisees who serve as princes of the Jews, that the Lord will reward you with your reward. For when you listened to the Lord Savior, you did not want to understand, and you closed your eyes so as not to see Him, and you weighed down your ears so as not to hear. Therefore He will also close your eyes, that is, the prophets, through whom you have seen the knowledge of God. Or he will close the eyes of you and the prophets who serve as your princes. For the law and the prophets until John the Baptist (Luke 16:16), so that when you do not see, they may see, of whom the following speech testifies: and in that n day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see (v. 18). For the Lord came to judgment, so that the Jews who saw would not see, and so that those who were blind, that is, the pagan nations, would see and contemplate the Lord (John 9:39). Therefore, he did not directly say that the vision of all the prophets would be sealed for all who read; but it will be sealed, he says, for you, to whom I now speak, to whom I foretell this, or will close forever the eyes of your princes, who, according to the Seventy, boasted that they saw the hidden and secret. And, he says, all the Holy Scriptures will be concluded and sealed for you, so that you, who attribute to yourself the knowledge of the writings of the law and the prophetic omens and exercise your mouth tirelessly in the books of the Scriptures day and night, do not understand what you read, as it is written in the Revelation of John: who is worthy to open the book and loose its seals (Apoc. 5:2)? And when no one was found who could open the seals, he says, he began to weep and was finally worthy of God’s words to him: Do not weep, behold, the lion who is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, to open the book and open its seals (ibid., v. 5). The Lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lord Jesus Christ, who opened the seals from the book, and not from just one of the psalms of David, as many think, but from all the Scriptures, which serve as the writings of one Holy Spirit and are therefore called one book. Ezekiel testifies about it with a mysterious speech that it is written inside and outside (Ezekiel 2:10), in meaning and letter. The Savior speaks about this in the Psalms: in the main book of the book there is written about Me (Ps. 39:8), - not in the book of Jeremiah or Isaiah, but in all of Holy Scripture, which is called one book. So, while the teachers of the Jews to this day cannot read and open the seals and reveal the mysteries of the Scriptures, if you give this book to unlearned people who are devoured by their teachers, then they will admit that they do not know the letters and therefore cannot read. But of two evils, it is much lesser to admit ignorance of the law than to boast of wisdom and not be able to know what is said. Art. 13–14. And the Lord said: Because this people draws near with their lips and glorifies Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and they have honored Me with the commandment and teaching of men; therefore, I will surprise this people again with a great and wondrous miracle, for the wisdom of their wise men will perish and the understanding of their understanding will be hidden. According to LXX: And the Lord said: This people draws near to Me with their lips, and honors Me with their lips; but his heart is far from Me; in vain they worship Me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men. Therefore, behold, I will again deport this people, for I will deport them and destroy the wisdom of the wise and hide the understanding of the prudent. The Lord used this testimony against the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew, saying: Because you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition (Matthew 15:3). And again: hypocrites, Isaiah prophesied well about you, saying: these people draw near to Me with their lips, and honor Me with their lips; their heart is far from Me. But they honor Me in vain, teaching the doctrine and commandment of men (ibid., vv. 6–9). At the same time, it should be noted what we often reminded - that the evangelists and apostles did not translate word for word and did not follow the authority of the LXX interpreters, the publication of which was already being read at that time; but, as Jews and knowledgeable in the Law, they used their words without changing their thoughts. The Jewish people draw closer to God with their lips and lips because they boast of their veneration of the one God and their rejection of idols; but his heart is far from Him, because he does not accept the Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever does not accept the Son does not accept the Father either. At the same time, we must also know how someone can approach God or be far removed from Him. He also says through Jeremiah: God draw near, I am, and not God from afar (Jer. 23:23). We approach God with our minds, and not with our bodies, just as we read about Moses: “Moses alone approached God, but the others did not approach” (Ex. 24:2). For he worshiped God in spirit and truth and drew near to Him in thought and spirit. And those about whom it is written that they are exalted from the womb, trained from childhood to old age and taught the law of God day and night, do not draw closer to God, because they accept the traditions of the Pharisees and scribes, which remove them from God, and are likened to whitewashed tombs, seemingly beautiful on the outside, but inside full of the bones of the dead (Matthew 23:27), - those who chose Barabbas and rejected the Lord. Therefore, He threatens that he will not only resettle them in Assyria and Babylon, but also scatter them throughout the world. According to the Hebrew text, He says that He will arouse great astonishment in the Jewish people and perform a wondrous miracle, that He will destroy the wisdom of those who did not accept God’s power and God’s wisdom, and will hide and hide the minds of the prudent, that is, so that they will not find the One who was contained in the letter. The apostle Paul presented evidence from this passage when he wrote to the Corinthians: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and destroy the understanding of the understanding (1 Cor. 1:19), expressing in other words the same thought: not because God is the enemy of wisdom, of which He is the father and through whom all wisdom comes into being in people; but he brought this by adding, as it stands in Hebrew, the wise men of the people and their wise ones, that is, the Jewish people. And indeed, God performed a great miracle among the people after the coming of the Lord Savior, that at the same time Jerusalem burned, and the church was destroyed, and the teaching of the teachers was destroyed, when the above was fulfilled: behold, the Lord of hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judea the mighty and mighty: all the reinforcement of bread and all the reinforcement of water; a giant and a man of war, a judge and a prophet, and a fortuneteller and an elder, and a ruler of fifty, and a wondrous counselor, and a wise builder and an intelligent listener, and so on, which is contained in prophetic speech (Is. 3: 1-3). Art. 15–16. Woe to you who plot in the depths to hide their plans from the Lord, whose deeds are in darkness, and who say: Who sees us and who knows us? This plan of yours is completely perverted, as if the clay began to plot against the potter and the product said to the one who made it: you did not make me, and the product said to its master: you do not understand. LXX: Woe to those who plan in the deep, and their deeds will be in darkness, and they say: who sees us? Who will know about us and what we do? Are you not recognized as potter's clay? Can a product really say to the one who made it: you didn’t make me wisely, or a work to its craftsman: you didn’t make me? This speech of God is now directed by the same ones about whom I said above: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent, I will reject or, as the prophet writes, I will hide, those who are wise in themselves and reasonable in their own view. The words can quite rightly be attributed to them: the testing trials have disappeared (Ps. 63:7), while it is written about the wisdom of God: even if anyone is perfect among the sons of men, Thy wisdom that is absent will be counted as nothing (Wis. Sol. 9:6). They think that God does not know their plans, because their deeds are in darkness, and they say: who sees us and who knows us? But the sages of this age, and the teachers of heretics, and the Jewish Pharisees say the same thing, that no one understands them, not remembering what is said to God: darkness will not be darkened from You, and the night will be enlightened like the day; and: as is its darkness, so is its light (Ps. 139:12). Seduced by this delusion, Adam and Eve, hearing the sound of the feet of God walking in paradise, hid under a tree in which was the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:8); also Cain, saying: if you drive me out this day, I will hide from your presence (Gen. 4:14), due to similar recklessness, he thought that God would not know. Also through Amos it is said about the wicked and sinners: if before My sight they are plunged into the depths of the sea, then even there I will command the serpent, and I will bite (Amos. 9:3). Therefore, even if someone was wise and had a strong mind, but if he does not have the wisdom and knowledge of God, then we can say about him: unless the Lord builds a house, it labors in vain to build it; unless the Lord preserves the city, it builds in vain (Ps. 126:1). Let us make a comparison to this: if the Lord does not help knowledge, then the one who considers himself wise works in vain. If the Lord does not guard our hearts with every guard, then he who considers it possible to preserve it through his diligence watches in vain. This plan of yours is perverted, he says, if you consider the one who made it to be ignorant of what he has done, and the Creator to be ignorant of his creation, just as if the clay and the product said to the one who made it and to its master: you did not make me, or you did not make me well and do not understand your work. This testimony is given in other words by the apostle in his letter to the Romans, where he discusses the depth of the mind of God and wants to refute the accusation from people: O man, who are you against God’s answer? Food speaks to the building who created it: why did you create me? Or is it not the imam of power who is a scoundrel in the mud, and from the same confusion create a vessel for honor, but not for honor? (Rom. 9:20–21). Regarding all this, one should note this rule: the evangelists and apostles translated from Hebrew into Greek without changing their thoughts, as they saw fit. Art. 17 et seq. A little while later, will Lebanon not turn into Carmel, and will Carmel be considered a forest? And on that day the deaf words of the book will be heard, and the eyes of the blind will see out of darkness and gloom. And the meek will be filled with joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel: because he who prevailed is no more. The one who laughed was destroyed, and those who cared about unrighteousness, who persuaded people to sin through the word, and who put a stumbling block to the one who rebuked at the gate and who deceived them from the truth, were destroyed. Let the Jews and those who recognize only simple history answer, looking not for fruit on the tree, but only for leaves and the shadow of words, which soon dries up and perishes: how did at the coming of the Lord the Savior (for from the time of Isaiah to the dispensation of the Incarnation, compared with eternity, the period of time is short and small) the Phoenician Mount Lebanon turned and changed into Mount Carmel, which in Hebrew is called Chermel? This is the mountain that is located on the border of Palestine and the Phoenician Ptolemais, although in the Holy Scriptures another mountain is called Carmel, on which was Nabal of Carmel (1 Samuel 25), a foolish and lawless man, who had as his wife Abigail, who after the death of her husband married David, because during his life she could not marry David without receiving the name of an adulterous woman, if entered into marriage with another husband. How also will Carmel be considered a forest and barren trees? If they are not able to say this, then let them listen to the fact that Lebanon, meaning whitening, refers to the pagan people, who, having washed themselves in the Lord and cleansed from previous filth, having become completely pure and ascending, are established in the face of the Church on the Savior; about him and in the Song of Songs it is said: he who ascends is made white, and is confirmed about his brother (Song. 8:5). This people also turns to Carmel, that is, to the knowledge of circumcision, in order to learn the sacraments of spiritual and true circumcision and take the place of the Jewish people; and those who did not want to accept Christ are recognized as forests and barren trees, which cannot praise the Lord together with fruitful trees. When will Lebanon change into Carmel and Carmel into a forest; then those who were previously deaf and could not hear the words of the prophetic book (about this we said above that all Holy Scripture is called one book according to the words of Ecclesiastes: the words of the wise, like a bone and like a nail pierced, from the accumulation of the tribute of the life of one shepherd; Eccl. 12:11), will hear and speak, and the Savior will say to them: Ephphatha, which means open up (Mark 7:34). And what we translated: the eyes of the blind will see out of darkness and darkness and the explanation of which is easy, Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus translated: the eyes of the blind will see darkness and gloom to show that the mysteries of Christ will be revealed to the pagan people, who were previously blind, according to these elephants: the water is dark in the clouds of the air (Ps. 17:12). In the same psalm it is written about God: put darkness for your shelter (v. 12). We also read in Proverbs: having listened to these, the wise will become wiser, and the wise will acquire construction: he will understand the parable and the dark word, the sayings of the wise and fortune-telling (Proverbs 1: 5. 6). Finally, Moses, in order to understand and see God, entered the cloud and darkness (Ex. 20:21), about which the psalm says: darkness is under His feet (Ps. 17:11). When those who were formerly blind either see all the sacraments or lift up their eyes from darkness and obscurity to see and so that the true light shines upon those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death: then the meek, about whom it is written: blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), or the poor, the chief of whom in the Psalms says: this poor man cried and the Lord heard and ( Ps. 33:7), and: he will judge the poor of men and save the sons of the needy (Ps. 71:4), which is said to the Jews: put to shame the counsel of the poor (Ps. 13:6), they will be filled with joy in the Lord, so that the one who boasts will boast in the Lord (2 Cor. 10:17), and people who are poor or rejected and despised by people, who did not previously have knowledge of the law, will triumph over the Holy One of Israel, who says: You will be holy, for I am holy (Lev. 11:44). All this rejoicing occurs due to the fact that the one who prevailed was no longer there, the one who laughed or the arrogant and proud was destroyed, who said: with strength and wisdom I will accomplish, I will destroy the borders of the nations and destroy their strength, who mocked everyone, so that the saint said: my soul will be filled with reproaches (Ps. 37:8). And all those who care about unrighteousness will be destroyed or destroyed, because of whose evil vigilance destruction does not sleep - those who inclined the entire human race to sin through the word of blasphemy, to reject the Word of God and set their mouths on heaven. It denotes the demons who, being themselves obscene, forced all people to sin through the word, blaspheming through various teachings and, as far as it was possible for them, they put a stumbling block to the accuser at the gate and in judgment and turned away from the truth the one who was at the gate of the daughter of Zion, being above the gates of death, and denounced those who hated the accuser at the gate. What we attribute to the devil and his angels, the Nazarenes understand as being said against the scribes and Pharisees, in the sense that there were no more δευτερωταί [interpreters of traditions], who formerly mocked the people through evil traditions, and to satiate the simple-minded, they stayed awake day and night, forcing people to sin regarding the Word of God, so that they would reject Christ, Son of God. Art. 22 et seq. Therefore, this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: Now Jacob will not be ashamed, and his face will not blush now; But when he sees that his children, the work of My hands, sanctify My name among him, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and glorify the God of Israel, and those who wander in spirit will learn discretion and the obstinate will learn the law. LXX: Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the house of Jacob, who separated it from Abraham: Now Jacob will not be ashamed and will not change his face now, but when he sees that his children are My creation 36; then for My sake they will sanctify My name and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and fear the God of Israel, and those who wander in spirit will learn discretion, and the obstinate will learn obedience; the following then: ÷ and stuttering tongues will learn to speak peace ⁑ should be marked in front with a whitewash. When they hear, he says, the deaf words of the book and the eyes of the blind see, Lebanon will turn to Carmel and Carmel will be considered a forest, so that the meek and the poor will rejoice in the Lord and there will be no one who is proud or mocking; then Jacob will be ashamed, just as he is not ashamed now. Points to the times of Isaiah. And his face will turn red, so that redness and shame will serve as a reason for salvation, especially when they see that their children, that is, the apostles and apostolic men descended from the Jews, perform virtues among the peoples of the Lord and preach the name of Christ to the people and say: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name (Matthew 6). For they will sanctify the Holy One who came from Jacob, and they will teach about the God of Israel among the nations, so that they, leaving idols, will say: what false idols did our fathers have, and among them there is no one who sent down rain, and those who are now wandering in spirit will then have the knowledge of God, and those who once murmured in the wilderness against the Lord will learn the law, which they did not know before. For if they had accepted Moses, they would have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, because Moses spoke about Him. The meaning of what we translated at the beginning of the chapter in relation to the Hebrew: this is what the Lord, who once redeemed Abraham, said to the house of Jacob, brought him out of Chaldea and brought him into the land of promise (Gen. 11:31), is clearly visible. Translated by the Seventy: This is what the Lord says about the house of Jacob, who separated it from Abraham, it can be understood that He separated the scribes and Pharisees who blasphemed the Lord from Abraham, who saw the day of the Lord and rejoiced (John 8:56). For if they had been the children of Abraham, they would have done the works of Abraham. And the apostle says that those should be called children of Abraham who have faith like Abraham's, that is, pagan nations who are called children of Abraham not by works, but by faith. Chapter XXX. Art. 1ff. Woe to the disobedient sons, to you who take counsel, but without Me, who twist the cloth, but not according to My spirit, to add sin to sin - who went to go down into Egypt, and did not question My mouth, hoping to be strengthened by the power of Pharaoh and relying on the shadow of Egypt. And the power of Pharaoh will be a shame to you, and hope in the shadow of Egypt will be a dishonor. For your princes will be in Tanya, and your ambassadors have reached Ganes. All were put to shame because of a people who could not be useful to them: there was neither help nor any benefit from them, but shame and disgrace. LXX: Woe to the apostate sons, says the Lord. You made a meeting, but not through Me, and agreements not through My Spirit, to add sins to sins; going to go down to Egypt, and not asking Me, in order to receive help from Pharaoh and protection from the Egyptians. Pharaoh's defense will bring shame to you and disgrace to those who trust in Egypt. For in Tan there are princes, the worst messengers. In vain they will work for the people, who will be useless for helping them and will serve not for benefit, but for shame and disgrace. After the prophecy against Ariel and other things that have been stated up to this point in the ended speech, another prophecy now begins, which turns out to be fulfilled after one hundred and fifty years that elapsed between Isaiah and Jeremiah. For he predicts the story that we read about in the book of Jeremiah (Jer. 41), that when, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the sending of all the wealth and princes to Babylon, Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, who came from the royal family, was appointed commander over those who remained in Jerusalem; then after his treacherous killing, together with the allied Chaldeans, all the military commanders, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jehoiachin the son of Uzziah, and the rest of the people, from small to great, came to the prophet Jeremiah and said to him: let our prayer fall before your face, and pray for us to the Lord your God for these who remain: for there are few of us left from many, as your eyes see. And may the Lord God tell us your way, so let us go and create the word that we will create (Jer. 42:2-3). When, ten days later, Jeremiah answered them with the words of the Lord: This is what the Lord God of Israel says: If you sit on this land, I will build you, and not destroy you, and I will plant you, and not pluck you out, for I have ceased from the evils that I have done to you. He will not fear from the presence of the king of Babylon, whom you fear (ibid., v. 9:11). And a little later: if you say: we will not sit on this land, and give your money to go to Egypt, and you will go down to live there: the sword that you fear will be found there, and the famine that you feared will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die (ibid., vv. 13-16). Then the proud people answered, saying to Jeremiah: You are a liar, the Lord our God did not send you to us to say: Do not enter Egypt while you live there: but Baruch the son of Neri incites you against us, so that in the hands of the Chaldean you will kill us and bring us to Babylon (Jer. 43: 2-3). Then all the leaders, having gathered the rest of the people together with the wives and children and daughters of the king, without listening to the voice of the Lord, went to Egypt, taking with them Jeremiah and Baruch, and reached Tathnas, so that Jeremiah, as a sign of the future captivity, predicted against the rebellious people what is contained in his book. Thus, what was to happen subsequently is predicted in advance, and those are called apostates and disobedient sons who, leaving the advice of God received through Jeremiah, followed their own will, and founded the fabric not according to the Spirit of God, who spoke to them through the mouth of Jeremiah. He spoke metaphorically about the foundation of the fabric to indicate the wrong plan, and they did this in order to increase previous sins through the sin of perseverance and pride. Those who went down, he says, into Egypt and did not question My mouth. This does not mean that they did not ask, but that they did not want to listen to the advice of the prophet, hoping for reinforcement by the power of Pharaoh and relying on the protection or shadow of Egypt. Instead of the power of Pharaoh, as twice stated in this place, the Hebrew says maoz. As we noticed at the end of Daniel’s vision (Dan. 11:38), by God maozim one should understand not the God of the village of Modim, as Porphyry raves, but the mighty and mighty God. Pharaoh among the Egyptians is the name of royal power, and each is called by a special name, like Pharaoh Necho and Pharaoh Wafr, just as we put before the proper names of kings: Caesar and Augustus. And, he says, the power of Pharaoh will be a shame for you, and hope in the shadow of Egypt will be a dishonor. The same Jeremiah writes that in Taphnis, a city in Egypt, he buried stones at the entrance to the house of Pharaoh, and said to the men of Judah: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden, and he will build his throne on them. And when he comes, he will smite the land of Egypt: whoever is [doomed] to death with death, whoever is taken into captivity with captivity, and whoever is under the sword with the sword; and he will light a fire in the churches of the gods of Egypt and burn them, and take them captive, and will dress in the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his clothes, and will come out from there calmly” (Jer. 43:10-12). For after the subjugation of the Egyptians, the Jews who fled to the Egyptians were also captured. The following then: your princes will be in Tan and your ambassadors have reached Ganes should be read with irony and with special expressiveness (ἑμφατιϰῶς) - in the sense that, having despised the advice of God, they sent their princes to Tan, the city of Egypt, where the palace of Pharaoh was and where many signs and wonders were performed under Moses, as he says Psalmist: Place miracles in Egypt, on poly Thaneos (Ps. 77:43). Isaiah also says: Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and show you what the Lord of hosts has planned for Egypt. There were no more princes of Tang (Isa. 19:12–13), who were no more, he says, at the time when the Lord entered Egypt on a light cloud. We do not read about the city of Ganes elsewhere; but from his words: your ambassadors have reached Ganes, we conclude that this is the most remote Egyptian city, near Ethiopia and Blemonia, instead of which LXX translated: the worst messengers will work in vain, hoping for the Egyptian people, who could not be useful to them, but served to eternal shame. Some believe that this passage is written against the ten tribes in Samaria because, while demanding help from the Egyptians, they were captured by the Assyrians. In an allegorical sense, these are all those who, having despised the divine religion, return to their vomit and, having lost the name of their sons, are called the most shameless dogs, hold consultations, but not through the Lord, and enter into an alliance, but not according to the spirit of the Lord, and add sins to sins, so that, having submitted to tempting vices, they also accept perverse teachings and descend into the darkness of Egypt, seeking help from Pharaoh reigning in Egypt, whose defense leads to eternal dishonor and shame. For in Tanya, that is, in the despised and rejected commandment, its princes are the worst messengers, laboring in vain for a people who could not be useful to them. For just as the salvation of the disciples pleases the holy teachers, so the destruction of the deceived destroys their ancestors who resorted to the help of Egypt. Burden of the Animals of the South. Instead, the Hebrew says: massa beemoth neger, which the LXX translated: vision of four-legged animals in the desert. The foregoing exposition, which we have made in great detail on the basis of history, serves as an explanation of the present passage, because, according to the usage of the prophets, the burden, that is, the load and weight of torment and punishment, extended not only to Babylon and the Philistines, and to Moab, and Damascus, and Egypt, and the desert sea, also to Idumea and Arabia, the valley of Zion and to the distant Tire, but also to the animals of the south, which LXX translated: quadrupeds in the desert. This means the tribe of Judah, which, being located in the southern part, borders the desert, and those who, despising the prophecy of Jeremiah, did not want to live in Judea after the capture of Jerusalem, but fled through the desert to the Egyptians. And rightly they are called the animals of the south, or four-legged in the desert, because they rejected the mind of God and, despising His command, fled to the idols of Egypt, having hope in Pharaoh, who leans on whom is like one leaning on a reed, which, when broken, wounds the hand of the one leaning on. The sons of Horites also spoke about this kind of animal in the psalm: a man who is ignorant of honor is likened to foolish cattle and becomes like them (Ps. 48:13). The following then: this path of theirs is a temptation to them (v. 14) can rightly be understood in relation to the present section, because the path through the desert served to their destruction. I know, I have read that the animals of the south and the four-footed animals in the desert, that is, those who, leaving the borders of Judea, fled to the darkness of Egypt, belong to the spirits of wickedness in high places, and the rulers of this darkness are those who have lost all wealth and former strength due to attachment to Egypt. That's what he 37 said. We, in order to allegorically explain what has not yet been stated, say that all those who, having abandoned the Creator, indulged in worldly delusions, are the four-legged creatures of this world, from which they vainly hoped to receive help when they abandoned the true help of God. Art. 6–7. In the land of oppression and distress there is a lioness and a lion: from them is the viper and the flying asp: carrying their riches on the backs of animals, and their treasures on the humps of camels to a people who could not benefit them: Egypt will help in vain and in vain. LXX: In oppression and distress, the lion and the lion's cub: from there the asps and the offspring of the flying asps, who carried their wealth on donkeys and camels to a people who will not help you: the Egyptians will help you in vain and in vain. Instead of lion, in Hebrew it is written leis, and instead of a flying asp, which LXX translated: the generation of flying asps, in Hebrew it says: ἐμπρηστής and flying, which we can call burning and which in Hebrew is called saraph. Then, in the place where we translated: carrying animals on their backs, instead of animals, everyone equally translated πώλους, that is, donkeys. The land of oppression and distress means a vast desert, through which the remainder of the Jerusalemites, together with Johanan, the son of Kareev, and the daughters of King Zedekiah, taking everything they could have, fled to Egypt. [By lion and lion cub, understand metaphorically (μεταφοριϰῶς) Jerusalem and its inhabitants, according to the words of Balaam in Numbers: Behold, all men shall rise up like lionesses, and like a lion shall be exalted: he shall not sleep, until he shall lay down his catch, and shall drink the blood of those that are slain (Numbers 23:24). It is also written in Ezekiel: take up lamentation against the prince of Israel, and say: Why is your lioness mother among the lions of the night, multiply your lionesses in the midst of the lions (Ezek. 19:1-2)? And so that we do not think that the Holy Scripture really speaks about the lion and the lioness, it speaks contrary to the nature of things - that from the lion and the lioness were born the viper and the flying adder or the flying offspring of asps, that is, that the worst children were born from bad parents, about whom the Gospel spoke: the birth of vipers, who told you to flee from the wrath to come (Matthew 3:7). And to the land of Israel it is said: you are a land without rain; the rain will come upon you in the day of wrath, and the elders among you are like lions, roaring, delighting with admiration, and consuming souls with violence (Ezek. 22:24–25). These offspring of vipers or flying asps, that is, the princes of the people and the whole host of the wicked, went to the people who could not bring them any benefit, according to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 46:25-26), because the Lord delivered Pharaoh Bethhra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and into the hands of those who sought his life, and all the men were completely destroyed by sword and famine Jews who were in the land of Egypt, so the Jews say that before the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah and Baruch escaped the threatened captivity due to death. Someone explained the lion and lion cub as the heavenly Jerusalem and its deceived inhabitants 38, and the flying adder, vipers and offspring of asps - as that wriggling serpent about which we read above (Isa. 14 and 27) and about which the Savior spoke in the Gospel: he saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven (Luke 10:18): he is called in the Apocalypse by the dragon and carried with him to the earth a third of the stars, which, due to a wrong decision, lost their former wealth, leaving it in Egypt of this century. Therefore I cried out for him: this is only pride, calm down. I don’t know for what purpose LXX was translated instead: to erect this, because this consolation of yours is in vain. Further, Symmachus translated: ταραχαὶ εἰσιν ϰατοιϰẽιν, that is, confusion to dwell. The Hebrew word reeb Aquila translated ὅρημα, that is, attack and pride, Symmachus confusion; Seventy futility, Theodotion vastness; it is written in three letters: resh, ge and bet and is the same thing that is read in the Psalms: I will remember Rahab and Babylon who lead Me (Ps. 86:4). The meaning is this: since the help of the Egyptians is in vain, I commanded it, that is, Jerusalem, or cried out that the Egyptians have only the name of the kingdom and pride without strength, and that Israel should sit or live in its own land, and not seek in vain help from the weak. Art. 8. Now go and write to them on a beech paper, write it carefully in the book: and it will be on the last day as a testimony forever. The Jews say that since there is one spirit in the prophets and all the times of the Lord are united, then Jeremiah is commanded, and this is the commandment of God, that he should go to Egypt and write for them on a beech tree, that is, on a rotting tree, or, as Symmachus translated, ἐπὶ πτυχί, that is, on a large board. As for the word to them, it is without a doubt the Jews. And he carefully laid it out in the book, so that there is no difficulty in reading, so that when the prophecy is actually fulfilled, they will understand that the speech of the prophets is true. We briefly skim through the clear ones to stop at the darker ones. Art. 9 et seq. For this is a people who provoke wrath, and lying children, children who do not want to listen to the law of God, who say to the seers: do not look ahead, and to the seers: do not foresee the true; tell us pleasant things, foresee for us false things. Remove the way from me, turn away the road from me: let the Holy One of Israel depart from our presence. It is obvious that those who provoked the Lord to anger were those who did not want to listen to the words of Jeremiah (Jer. 43), who said to him: stop foreseeing for us what we do not want: do not forbid us to go to Egypt and do not predict what is fair; but speak what is pleasing to us, so that we will go to Egypt to add sins to sins. Why are you telling us what we don't want to hear? Why are you pointing out a path we don’t want to take? Why do you often repeat to our ears: Thus says the Lord the Holy One of Israel? Let this prophecy stop with us. In an allegorical sense, all heretics are called lying children. For they came forth from us, but were not maddened from us (1 John 2:19). They do not listen with the ears of the inner man to the law of God, and say to the teachers of the churches: do not foresee for us what is just, and do not threaten us with the flames of Gehenna, but promise us the kingdom of heaven, that after luxury and pleasure paradise will open to us. Why are you showing me the path of the Lord, which I do not want to follow? Why do you repeat the name of the Holy One of Israel, which does not penetrate into my heart? This is also said to all careless members of the Church, if they reject the strictness of the teachers and lean toward the seducers. Art. 12–14. Therefore thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel: Because ye have rejected this word, and have trusted in unrighteousness and agitation, and have leaned on it; then this iniquity will be for you like a crack threatening to fall, revealed in a high wall: for suddenly, when they are not expected, its destruction will come. And it will be destroyed, just as an earthen vessel is crushed when broken very strongly: and in its fragments there will not be a shard with which to take fire from the hearth or scoop up a little water from a reservoir. Since above, he says, you said: let the Holy One of Israel depart from our presence, or, as the Seventy translated: take away the word of Israel from us; then thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, and appeared contrary to their desire, so that they might know Him as one who punished Him, whom they despised when He admonished them. You relied on the untruths and lies of the Egyptians and relied on their excitement or bickering and pride, as Symmachus and Theodotion translated; therefore this iniquity or sin will be imputed to you, so that you will be like the suddenly falling wall of a very strong and conquered city, the destruction of which will come suddenly, for this is how the LXX was translated. In Hebrew, the meaning is this: how difficult it is to repair a crack in a very high wall, accompanied by great destruction, and get back its former beauty; this will result in unexpected ruin for you. And, using another similitude: like an earthen vessel, if it breaks with very great force, it is so crushed into pieces that from the fragments there is barely a small shard left to take fire or draw a little water from a depression and a reservoir: so when you go to Egypt, while Nebuchadnezzar is pursuing you, you will perish and be destroyed. Also, heretics and every teaching contrary to the truth rely on untruth and lies and, according to the Seventy, murmur against their Creator. Therefore, the city of their wickedness, built by Cain, will be destroyed, and sudden destruction will come for it when it is taken by the men of the church and will be so destroyed and devastated that there will be nothing left in it that could re-ignite the extinguished fire and supply at least a little dirty water to the thirsty nations. Art. 15 et seq. For thus says the Lord God the Holy of Israel: If you turn and rest, you will be saved: in silence and in hope there is strength; but you did not want to and said: no, but we will run away on horses, - that’s why you will run, - and we will sit on fast ones, - for that, those pursuing you will be fast. Among a thousand people, you will flee for fear of one and for fear of five. Seventy: Thus says the Lord God the Holy of Israel: When you are converted, you groan, then you will be saved and you will know where you were: because you hoped in vain, your strength became in vain and you did not want to listen, but said: we will run on horses, - for that reason you will run, - and we will be horsemen on light horses, - therefore those who pursue you will be light. A thousand will flee at the cry of one, and at the cry of five many will flee. The Holy One, he says, whose name I kept silent about above, is the Lord God himself, who speaks to you both through me and through Jeremiah (Jer. 12 and 18): if you repent and abandon either the vices or the error of the wicked plan, and remain in Judea, fearing not the attack [or power] of the Babylonians, but My commandments, then you will be saved. Remain in peace and trust in the Lord and have strong hope in My promises - you, who despised the commandments of life, said in despair: it will not be as you say, but let us run on horses to the Egyptians and go to them with speed and haste. since you have thus bound, you will indeed flee and go hastily to Egypt; but even faster will be the Babylonians, who will pursue you all the way to Egypt, and such fear and horror will take over Egypt that one Chaldean will not be able to resist a thousand Egyptians, and five enemies will be a great multitude of those fleeing, according to what we read in Deuteronomy: The Lord will give you to be cut off before your enemies: you will go out to them by one path, and you will flee a seven-day journey from before them. and you will be scattered throughout all the kingdoms of the earth (Deut. 28:25). In an allegorical sense and according to the edition of the Seventy, divine speech calls all sinners and especially heretics to repentance, because if they, having turned from vices, rebel, they will be saved, and then they will understand where they were before and that they hoped in vain for vain. And while he calls them to repentance, they, on the contrary, hope in false teachers and in an unfaithful world; for not wanting to listen to the words of God, they strive for the Egyptians and rejoice at the speed of those whose multiplication the Lord forbade (Deut. 17:16). Therefore, the church men will quickly pursue them, and the voice of one warrior or five fighters (we must attribute this to the mind and the five senses) will not be able to be endured by a thousand people and a discordant crowd of fleeing people. Art. 17. Until you remain like the mast of a ship on the top of a mountain and like a banner on a hill. Jeremiah also writes that after the destruction of those who fled to Egypt by sword and famine, only a few remained who returned to Judea (Jer. 46). And just as after the wreck of a ship and the disintegration of its connections, one tree remains, called the mast, and is placed as a sign on the top of a mountain or on a high hill: so barely one or the other remains as a sign and traces to show the power of God. And when they return to the land of Judea, then all the remaining Jews who are now going to the land of Judea to live there will know: whose words are being fulfilled, mine or theirs. Art. 18. Therefore the Lord waits to have mercy on you, and therefore He will be exalted in sparing you, because the God of justice is the Lord: blessed are all those who trust in Him. Great is the mercy of God that He awaits our repentance, and until we turn from vices, He holds back a strong hand so as not to be forced to punishment. He has mercy and mercy in order for His mercy to be exalted and the goodness of the Creator to become known to everyone. Or, in accordance with what is said in the Gospel: if I am exalted, I will draw everyone to Himself (John 12:32), He therefore ascends to the cross in order to spare everyone. For He is the God of justice, and blessed are all who trust in the Lord who awaits their conversion. And whose and what kind of appeal this is, the following words will show. Art. 19. For the people of Zion will dwell in Jerusalem. The Jews date this back to the time of Cyrus, when the people returned from Babylon to Judea under the leadership of Zerubbabel and the high priest Jesus. We, as we have often said, relate all the promises that go beyond the limits of that limited time to the coming of Christ, when the people who were once captive and freed through the suffering of the Lord began to live in Zion and Jerusalem, and precisely on the watchtower and in the vision of the world, that is, in the church. And as for the addition about holiness made by the Seventy, who said: for a holy nation lives [or will live] in Zion, then in explanation of this we can say that in Zion no one lives except the one who is holy and who listens to the Lord, who says: You will be holy, for I am holy (Lev. 11:44). Art. 20. You will not always cry, He who is merciful will have mercy on you: according to the voice of your cry, as soon as He hears it, He will answer you. When you return to Zion and live in Jerusalem, you will not cry as you cried before, but your crying will turn into joy: blessed are those who mourn, for they will laugh (Luke 6:11). And after you call and say in the Lord: I have cried with all my heart, hear me, O Lord, (Ps. 119:145), and again: “I have cried, save me, and I will keep Your commandments” (Ps. 119:146), and in another place: “I waited for the morning and called” (ibid., v. 147), and your voice will be silent loud that it reaches the heavens: then immediately the Lord will answer you, and you will be like Moses, about whom it is written: Moses spoke, but God answered him (Ex. 19:19). Art. 21. And the Lord will give you a little bread and a little water. If we attribute this to the time of Zerubbabel, then the explanation will be easy - that there will be no complete joy with him, according to the words of David: when the Lord returned the captivity of Zion, they would have been comforted (Ps. 126:1): so that they would receive not complete and perfect consolation, but a semblance of consolation. If - for the coming of the Savior, then meager bread and a little water, according to the Apostle Paul and the same prophet Isaiah, foreshadows the gospel speech, which, instead of the lengthy rules of the law and commandments, summarized everything in one word: love your true self as yourself (Matthew 22:39). For the final and shortened word was spoken by the Lord on earth (Isa. 10:23). Art. 22. And you will no longer let your teacher run away from you, and your eyes will see your teacher, and your ears will hear the word behind him who says: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left. Seventy: And those who deceive you will no longer come near you, for your eyes will see those who deceive you, and your ears will hear the words of those who deceive you behind you, who said: This is the way; follow it either to the right or to the left. At this point the LXX edition disagrees with the Hebrew in many respects. Therefore, we will first talk about the edition of the vulgate and then follow the order of the original. When the eyes of the heart understand and see the truth and with all the power of their mind they recognize those who previously deceived them, and with experienced words they understand the words behind those who deceive, for they always hasten to deceive the blind part of the body, according to what we read in the Psalm: they will shoot down in the darkness the upright in heart (Ps. 10:2), arrogating to themselves the authority to teach right and left, that is, good and bad, and desiring that the disciples should not investigate rationally, but would follow the leaders: then those who previously deceived will not be able to approach them after they notice that they have been understood. Then, according to the Hebrew text, the explanation is both easy and true. For when the Lord gives the believers meager bread and a little water, he will no longer allow the knowledge that teaches man to escape from them, but his eyes will always see his teacher and his ears will hear the word of him behind him saying: this is the right way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left, according to it, which is read in another place: we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, let us walk in the royal way (Num. 20:17). For on both sides, what exceeds the measure constitutes vice. And about the right side it is said: do not be truthful (Eccl. 7:17). Regarding the left, there is no doubt that they are placed on the side of the goats and the perishing. Art. 23. And thou shalt defile the settings of thy silver, and the settings of thy cast silver, and thou shalt defile them as the uncleanness of a woman who has been purified; away - you tell it. Seventy: And you will desecrate the silvered and gilded idols, you will crush them and scatter them like the water of a woman who has purification, and you will throw them away like dung. When you understand the truth and those who deceive you do not come close to you, your eyes will see your teacher and your ears will always hear: this is the way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left: then you will crush and dispel all the errors and idols and simulacrums of truth, which the cunning tongue has composed in the brilliance of eloquence, which means silver, and according to the rules of wisdom, which expresses gold, and you will consider them so unclean that you will compare them with the unclean blood of a woman during purification, which the Seventy translated in other words: the water of a woman having purification. Art. 24 And rain will be given to your seed wherever you sow on the earth, and the bread of the fruits of the earth will be very abundant and juicy. LXX: Then the seed of your land will rain, and the bread of the fruit of your land will be abundant and juicy. In the book of Kings it is written (1 Kings 18) that after the killing of the false prophets Elijah gave rain to the land of Israel, and also the bread of Elisha and subsequently the Savior was very abundant and very juicy and had such nutritional value that many thousands of people were satisfied with it (2 Kings 4; John 6). So in the present place, the rain of spiritual seed will not be given until after the silver-plated and gilded idols are broken and recognized as dung. For if they do not abandon vices, they will not follow virtues. Art. 25. That lamb will graze that day in a large place. And your oxen and donkeys, which till the land, will eat the bag winnowed on the threshing floor. Seventy: And your livestock will graze on that day in a rich and spacious place. Your bullocks and oxen that till the land will eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley. With the abundance of everything, with the sending down of the heavenly rain and with that bread that comes down from heaven and from which no one will ever be hungry, the lambs who follow the Lamb will graze in a very large place, wherever He goes and are always at His right hand. The oxen, that is, the leaders of the herd, about which we read; the host of young men among the young women (Ps. 67:31), and the donkeys, on which the Lord entered Jerusalem sitting (Matthew 21:7) and who till the land, will eat from the threshing floor what has been winnowed, so that, of course, no amount of chaff will be added to their food, about which it is written in Jeremiah: “As chaff is to the wheat, saith the Lord” (Jer. 23:28) and which, according to the Gospel, is burned with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17). Then, according to the Seventy, the cattle, which have not yet been filled with understanding and wisdom and about which it is said to God alone: ​​I was your cattle (Ps. 72:22), will graze in a very fat and vast place, which does not bear thorns and thistles, but, like the land of Israel, flows with milk and honey and provides complete freedom to those grazing. The bulls and oxen cultivating the land are the apostles and apostolic men, in relation to whom the Apostle Paul explains what is written: let not the ox thresh the wall, and: food is given by God according to his will (1 Cor. 9:9). But he, without a doubt, speaks of those who cultivate their land and regarding whom he said: “You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). For the Father is the vinedresser and Christ is the vine (John 15:1). They will eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley. We read that Isaac sowed barley and visited the foreigners and received the fruit of the barley a hundredfold. And Hosea hired an adulterous woman for an omer and half an omer of barley (Hosea 3:1-2). The Savior also fed five thousand men with barley loaves (Jn. 6), who still served the bodily senses and followed the Law of Moses. Elsewhere, He, breaking the seven loaves of the Law and dividing them into pieces, fed four thousand men with wheat loaves, according to the Gospel number (Matthew 6). People of this kind eat partly chaff as long as they follow something to the letter, and yet through chaff and barley they little by little succeed in moving on to wheat. Art. 25. And on every high mountain and on every exalted hill there will be streams of flowing water in the day that many are destroyed, when the towers fall. In this place, the Jews attribute the extermination of many and the destruction of the towers to the power of the Roman Empire, about which the apostle says: hold it now and hold it until it is done (2 Thess. 2:7). For at that time the people of Israel will be so blessed that not only the valleys and plains, but all the mountains and hills will be watered by flowing waters. By mountains and hills we mean those who have risen to the heights of virtue, who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6), whom the Lord calls to drink. For whoever drinks of His water will never thirst (John 4). Therefore, we read in the psalm: bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel (Ps. 67:27). And the Gospel says that everyone who drinks from the waters of Jesus will have rivers of living water flowing from their bellies (John chapter 7). And the saint says to God: for you have a fountain of life (Ps. 35:10), from which comes the purest river, about which Scripture again says: the river’s aspirations make glad the city of God (Ps. 46:5). And in another place: the river of God is filled with waters (Ps. 64:1), that is, the one who says through Jeremiah: You have left me without the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13). This will happen when very many are destroyed or perish: for many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16), and when the towers fall, or the forces of demons, or all the proud and exalted and great in this world, about which the Psalms say: I saw the wicked exalting themselves, and standing tall like the cedars of Lebanon: and by He died, and behold, he was not, and he sought him, and his place was not found (Ps. 37:35-36). Those who moved from the east, whose languages ​​were mixed in Babylon (Gen. 11), and those on whom the tower of Siloam fell (Luke 13:4) wanted to build such towers. Art. 26. And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in that day on which the Lord binds up the wound of His people and heals the wound of their wound. Seventy: And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, on the day when the Lord will heal the contrition of His people and heal the pain of your wound. I am surprised how in the present place the Hebrew words labana and hamma, which Aquila translates white and heat and which mean the moon and the sun, above the same LXX they translated brick and wall, in the place where it is written: and the moon will blush and the sun will be ashamed, instead of which they translated: the brick will soften and the wall will fall (Is. 24:23), and now they, following the Hebrew, translated moon and sun. Therefore, I have a suspicion that they did not initially make a mistake, but were gradually distorted through the fault of the copyists. For it cannot be that those who translated the same words correctly in the present place made an error above. So in the day of the destruction of many, when the arrogant and the proud fall, and those who set their mouth on heaven know that they are earth, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun: when the Lord gives a new heaven and a new earth, and the form of this world passes away, so that the moon and the sun receive a reward for their labor and failure. For the creation awaits with hope the revelation of the sons of God, since the creation itself will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19, 21), although some, understanding by them instruments of light, claim that they are devoid of feeling. In this way the moon will receive the light of the sun. And there is nothing surprising in such an opinion about a very bright element, which is given control of the night, when it is also written about the saints: the righteous will be enlightened like the sun (Matthew 13:43). And the sun will receive seven times greater light, just as there was the light of seven days when the world was first created (although the seven days of Seventy were not translated), when the Lord binds the wound of His people or heals the contrition of His people, when what is written is fulfilled: “tribulation and sorrow and sighing will be taken away” (Is. 35:10): when, after the entry of the full number of the pagans, all Israel will be saved or when vengeance comes for those whose souls under the altar cry: until you avenge our blood from those living on the earth (Apoc. 6:10). And take this into account that he did not say “when he heals the brokenness of his people Israel or Jacob,” but simply: “his people,” to mean all those who serve God. Some attribute this place and everything contained in this section of promises to the heavenly Jerusalem and to the conversion of those who dwell in it, when what is written is fulfilled: heaven and earth will pass away (Matthew 24:35). Others attribute this to the time of Elijah and say that this is the same as what was written above: and your eyes will see your mentor and your ears will hear the word behind the speaker: then from the mountains and hills, in accordance with the fables of the poets about the golden age of Saturn, streams of milk will flow and the purest honey will drip from the leaves of the trees. Those who accept this will also accept, in accordance with the Jewish error, the fable about the thousand-year earthly kingdom of the Savior, not understanding that the revelation of John, under the cover of the letter, contains the hidden sacraments of the Church. Of course, in all likelihood, the heresy of the Nicolaitans. 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