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There is no writer so ignorant that he would not find a reader like him, and a much larger proportion read the Milesian fables than the books of Plato. For in the first there are jokes and fun, and in the second there are difficulties and tension combined with effort. Further, regarding the Timaeus, which treats the harmony of the world and the flow of stars and numbers, Tullius himself, who translated it, admits that he does not understand it. The testament of Grunnius Corocotta Porcella is sung in schools by crowds of laughing boys. Thus, let your Lucius of Lanouin have witnesses, or rather his well-wishers, and let him be superior in numbers, just as he may be superior in intelligence. But the testimony of a few is enough for me, and I am content with the praise of friends who, demanding my writings, are carried away by their love for us and for the study of the Scriptures, and I think that there will be some who will argue that the very fact that I address you with a speech, Eustochius, is subject to censure, not taking into account the fact that Huldas, and Anna and Devora prophesied in the silence of their men, and that in the service of Christ it is not the difference of gender that matters, but minds So, the twelfth book of commentaries on Isaiah will have such a beginning. Art. 27–31. Why do you say, Jacob, and say, Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord and my judgment escapes (or has escaped) from my God”? Don't you know or haven't you heard! The eternal God, the Lord, who created the boundaries of the earth, will not weaken or faint, and His wisdom is unsearchable. He gives strength to the weary and increases strength to those who lack strength. The youths will become weak and weary, and the young people will fall from weakness. But those who trust in the Lord will regain their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. Seventy: For do you not say, O Jacob, and what have you said, O Israel: “My way is hidden from God, and my God has deprived me of my judgment and has departed?” And now don’t you know and haven’t you heard? The eternal God, the God who created the boundaries of the earth, will neither hunger nor be weary, and His wisdom is unsearchable. He gives strength to those who are hungry and sorrow to those who are not sick. For the young men will hunger, and the young men will be weary, and the elect will be powerless. But those who trust in God will regain their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not become hungry. since such is the greatness of Almighty God that nothing is hidden from Him and everything is governed by His will, then why do you say, Jacob, that is, the two tribes called Judah, and you, Israel, say the other ten tribes in Samaria, already taken to Assyria: my way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment will elude my God? The meaning is that you say that God has nothing to do with earthly things and does not look at what each of us does. Therefore, we are unjustly oppressed by enemies and destroyed, according to Habakkuk (Habakk. ch. 1), like cattle and fish that do not have a ruler. God answers them: Don’t you know and haven’t the words of the previous Scriptures taught you; or according to the Seventy, you don’t know, because you haven’t heard that the eternal God and Creator of everything, the Lord knows everything, contains everything, controls everything according to His greatness? And He never weakens or becomes weary, so that He cannot understand your judgment and so that your ways are hidden from Him. Unsearchable, he says, is His wisdom, from which place, as I believe, these words of the Apostle were borrowed: His judgment is not tried and His ways are not searched (Rom. 11:33), or as the Seventy translated: He will not hunger and will not be weary. For where there is food, there is often hunger, if you are deprived of food, and where there is hunger, there is exhaustion. And since this is not in God, why do you attribute human passions to Him? On the contrary, He Himself gives strength to those who are hungry and weary, and in those who seem like nothingness in the world, He increases strength and strength, or according to the Seventy, He gives those who are not sick sadness, for there is sadness that leads to death, and there is sadness that leads to life. Therefore, He gives sorrow to those who have an unrepentant heart, so that they may recognize their sins. And since many are attached to bodily health and think that their youth and adolescence will last forever, they add and say that the blooming age soon passes and the strong body becomes frail. Those who rely not on their own strength, but on God and always trust in His mercy, they renew their strength and go from strength to strength and lift up their wings like doves and hear: your youth will be renewed like an eagle (Ps. 102:5); they strive for the Lord and do not become exhausted from striving for Him; they walk and never get tired. We have often said that in old age eagles become young again when their feathers change, and that only they can look with sparkling eyes at the radiance of the sun and the brilliance of its rays, and that through this experience they test their chicks to see if they are of good origin. In this way, the saints also become young again and, having received an immortal body, do not experience the exhaustion characteristic of mortals, but are caught up in the clouds at the meeting of Christ and, according to the Seventy, never hunger, because they have food in the sight of the Lord. Chapter XLI. Art. 1–7. Let the islands fall silent before me, and let the nations renew their strength; let them draw near and then say: together let us draw near to judgment. Who raised up the righteous from the east and called him to follow him? He will betray nations to him and conquer kings. He will give it up as dust to his sword, like stubble blown by the wind to his bow. He will pursue them: he will pass in peace, the path at his feet will not be noticeable. Who did and accomplished this? The One who causes birth from the beginning. I am the Lord, I am the first and the last. They saw the islands and were afraid: the ends of the earth were amazed, they drew near and came near. Everyone will help his neighbor, and will say (or says) to his brother: be strong. The coppersmith, striking with a hammer, encouraged (or will encourage) the forger at that time, saying about the joint: “good,” and strengthened it with nails so that it would not wobble. Seventy: Renew yourselves before Me, for the princes will renew their strength; let them draw near and speak together: then let them proclaim judgment. Who raised up righteousness from the east, called it to his feet, and it will go? He will betray before the nations, and will make kings astonished, and will cast down their swords to the ground and their bows like stubble, and will pursue them, and the path of his feet will pass in peace. Who did and accomplished this? He who called her will call her from the beginning of the birth. I am God first, and in that which has to be I am. The nations saw and were afraid: the borders of the earth were amazed and drew closer: they came together, each deciding to help his neighbor and brother, and they will say: the artisan and the coppersmith, who strikes with a hammer and at the same time forges, has prevailed; sometimes he says: the soldering is good. They strengthened it with nails, set it up, and it won’t wobble. The nations, that is, the islands, which are subject to the blows of the false and bitter waves of this world, are commanded to listen and close their lips, and recognize what was said to Israel: “Hear, O Israel, and be silent!” and to renew strength, so that through previous weakness you would not be unable to listen to the words of God, so that you would first approach the Lord and, not being content with your own salvation, teach others what you yourself have learned, and would talk with God about whether He acts righteously in relation to everyone. But He questions them in such a way and calls them to an answer that by the very question He teaches them what they do not know: who raised up the righteous from the east or righteousness. For He is the God not only of the Jews, but also of the pagans, who called Christ the Lord the Savior, who gave us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and deliverance (1 Cor. 1:30), in which, according to the same apostle, the righteousness of God is revealed. He called him to follow Him in everything and do the works of the Father and fulfill these words: do Thy will, O God (Ps. 39:9). Before Him, kings and peoples will bow their necks, and before His sword and arrows the opposing forces will bow down like straw and dust. He will persecute them, that is, the kings and princes of every nation. And it will pass in peace, calling everyone to peace, to be reconciled with God. The path in His feet will not be noticeable, that is, He will not feel exhaustion from the path and any fatigue characteristic of human weakness; but he drinks from the stream along the way and lifts up the head of this family (Ps. 109:7). Who says he did and accomplished this? Who raised up the righteous or the righteous? Who betrayed nations and kings to him? Who subdued him all with sword and bow? Of course, the One who foretold this from the beginning of the world, Who is the Creator of everything. And since He said, asking: who raised up the righteous from the east, etc.; then, due to the silence of everyone, He answers to himself: I am the Lord first and I am the last. This is the same one who says in the Revelation of John: I am alpha and omega, the firstfruits and the end (Apoc. 1:8). They saw the islands, that is, nations or churches gathered from nations that are subject to the storms of this world, and they feared the Lord; because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10). All the borders of the earth trembled, approaching and coming together to the Gospel of Christ. And seeing themselves saved, they actually fulfilled what they had heard: let them draw near and then speak to help their neighbors and strengthen their brothers in the Lord and say to them: turn away from idols, despise the old images of demons, which the hand of man has made, which are made by forging and hammering, which are held together by soldering, which are strengthened with nails so that they do not shake, and when they stand, they cannot walk. What we have explained in relation to the person of Christ and the calling of the pagans and the preaching of the Gospel and the condemnation of demons, some attribute to Cyrus, king of Persia, since he raised him up against the Babylonians from the east, and forced him to obey his command, overthrowing very many nations before him and subjecting everything to his sword and bow, and so on that follows, are attributed to his person, that is, that the Babylonians did not help them idols made by human diligence and erected by the art of a coppersmith. Some of the Jews think that this is said about Abraham, that this righteous man was called from the east, that is, from Chaldea, because he alone turned out to be righteous, and followed him, leaving his fatherland to a land he did not know, and delivered the kings into his hand who came out against Sodom and Gomorrah, and before his sword and bow he made them like stubble and dust, and pursued them and returned in peace, and did not feel that he had made a long journey, and this fulfilled not by his own strength, but by the mercy of the Lord, who knew from the beginning that this would come true. They saw, he says, the islands, that is, the surrounding peoples, and were afraid of His power: and the ends (extrema) of the earth. This is precisely Shem, the son of Noah, who, at an extremely dangerous (extremo) time for the earth, was saved with the Father and brothers from the flood and was preserved until that time; [some] believe that Melchizedek is meant by him, and that he came to meet Abraham returning from battle, and received him and blessed him and strengthened him with the blessings of God (Gen. 14), and that he is the coppersmith who [as if from metal] cast Abraham and with the hammer of his art brought him into a better condition, and said to him: it is good that you are fastened and bound by the fear of the Lord. And he strengthened him or strengthened him with the nails of the commandments of the Lord, so that he would not hesitate, but would remain in the fear of Him. Art. 8–16. And you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend. In it I took you from the ends of the earth and called you from the distant [parts] of it and said to you: You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you. Fear not, for I am with you; do not turn away, for I am your God; I strengthened you and helped you, and My righteous right hand upheld you. Behold, all who fight against you will be put to shame and put to shame; they will be as if they do not exist, and those who argue with you will perish. You will look for them and you will not find them; those who rebel against you will be as nothing, and those who fight with you as non-existent. For I, the Lord your God, took you by your right hand, saying to you: Do not be afraid, I have helped you. Fear not, O worm Jacob, O dead of Israel. I have helped you, says the Lord, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I have made you a new threshing machine, having sharp, jagged edges. You will thresh the mountains and grind them into pieces; and turn the hills to dust. You will winnow them, and the wind will scatter them and the whirlwind will break them, but you will rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Seventy: And you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, whom I have loved, whom I took from the ends of the earth, and from the ends of it I called you and said to you: you are my servant, I have chosen you and have not forsaken you. Fear not, for I am with you, so that you do not go astray; For I am your God, who strengthened you and helped you, and established you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all your opponents will be put to shame and put to shame; for they will be as if they do not exist, and all your enemies will perish. You will search, and you will not find them, people who will rage against you, For they will be as if they do not exist, and will not fight against you. For I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand, saying to you: Fear not, Jacob, little Israel. I have helped you, says God, who redeems you, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made you like new threshing wheels, like saws; and you will thresh the mountains, and you will grind the hills, and turn them into dust, and you will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the Lord and in the saints of Israel. Jacob and Israel are physical and spiritual, as the Apostle Paul teaches: you see Israel according to the flesh (1 Cor. 10:18), from which we conclude that there is another according to the spirit, and to Israel according to the flesh it is said: if they were children of Abraham, they quickly did the works of Abraham (John 8:39). To them and above it is said: why do you say, Jacob, and say, Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord and my judgment has eluded my God.” Now, on the contrary, God speaks to spiritual Israel, who accepted the coming of their Lord, whom He calls first the servant, then the chosen, finally the seeds of Abraham. For first we received the spirit of slavery in fear (Rom. 8), and then, having been chosen, we achieve the love of God. So after the calling of the nations, when they saw the islands and were afraid, the ends of the earth were amazed, and drew near and came near; the remnants are called upon according to the election of grace, as the Gospel also writes about: from them Jesus chose the twelve, also called apostles (Luke 6:13), who, after slavery to the educational law, were chosen in the Gospel and were worthy to be the seed of Abraham, the friend of God. For in it He took them from the ends of the earth, and from the far reaches of it He called Israel from all nations, first gathering together the people of Judah, about whom the Apostle Paul says: It is not right for you to speak a word first; and having rejected it, we turn into tongues (Acts 13:46). So to you, and to My servant and My chosen one, about whom will be preached among the nations and who will be subjected to very many persecutions, I say: do not be afraid, for I am with you, to whom I say in the Gospel: Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Do not be mistaken and do not deviate from the truth, and do not be seduced by the false conviction that on your own, being inexperienced and naked, you are penetrating the masses of nations and calling the most indomitable peoples to meekness. It was I who strengthened you and helped you, and supported or protected you with the right hand of My righteous, that is, the Lord Savior, or with My right hand, as translated LXX. For behold, your opponents, the people of Judah, and all those who fight against you and your pursuers will be reduced to nothing, and you will look for your opponents, and you will not find them. And the reason is indicated why he will not find his opponents: for they will be as if they do not exist. These opponents are said to be raging against the apostles, or in Hebrew, destroyed. You should not be afraid because I took your hand, saying to you: do not be afraid, I helped you, do not be afraid, Jacob the worm, those who died from Israel, or as LXX translated: the least of Israel. Delivered by me: I helped you, do not be afraid, Jacob the worm, the Seventy do not have. The worm, which in Hebrew is called tholath, is called, due to humiliation and reproach, the host of the apostles, imitating the Savior, who says in the psalm: I am a worm, and not a man, the reproach of men and the humiliation of people (Ps. 22:7). For like a worm burrows into the earth; Thus, the apostolic speech penetrated into pagan cities and entered hearts that were previously extremely cruel. And it is rightly said about the few from Israel, because compared with the whole world, very few of the Jewish people believed, to whom the Lord says in the Gospel: Fear not, little flock (Lk. 12:32), or, in Hebrew, about the dead from Israel, who speak to the apostle: I die all the days (1 Cor. 15:31). And in another place: Christ was crucified. Now no one lives, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). The following: I have made you a new thresher, having sharp teeth, means that the preaching of the Gospel will crush the opposing forces and spiritual corruption that rises up against the mind of God, which, due to the difference in exaltation, are called mountains and hills. And when they are carried away and scattered like a whirlwind, then Israel will rejoice and rejoice in the Lord the Holy One of Israel. We can also say that the minister of the church, having the jagged edges of the Gospel preaching in the new threshing mill and acting not according to the old letter, but according to the new spirit, will crush the hardness of hearts of unbelievers, separating the wheat from the straw and grinding the hills and mountains, that is, all the heresiarchs who, having been crushed and defeated, turn to ashes and learn that they are nothing, so that the former those who were united in evil were divided for their own good. Art. 17–20. The poor and needy are looking for water and there is none: their tongues are dry from thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers on steep hills and among valleys. I will turn the desert into a collection of waters and the impassable land into streams of waters. I will make cedar and thorns and myrtle and olive trees grow in the desert. I will plant cypress, elm and beech together in the desert, so that they will see and know, understand and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this and the Holy One of Israel has done it. Seventy: And the poor and needy will rejoice; for they will seek water and there will be none; their tongue is dry with thirst. I, the Lord God, will hear them, the God of Israel, and will not forsake them, but will open rivers on the mountains and springs in the valleys; I will turn the desert into swamps and the thirsty land into drains. In the dry land I will plant cedar, and beech, and myrtle, and cypress, and poplar, so that they may see and understand, and ponder, and know together that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has shown. The pagan people, poor and weak, who did not have the knowledge of the truth, through various teachers and various teachings of philosophers, seek saving waters and do not find them, because they are not there; their tongue was parched with thirst, without law and prophets. For, according to the Gospel, he spent his entire fortune on doctors (Luke 8), and could not free himself from the bloodshed of idolatry and the blood of victims. Therefore, the Lord God of Israel did not completely abandon them and did not allow them to perish forever, but opened rivers on steep hills or mountains and springs in the valleys. These rivers originated from the river about which one reads in the Psalms: the river's aspirations make glad the city of God (Ps. 40:5), and in another place: the river of God is filled with water (Ps. 64:10). These waters and springs flowed from the source that speaks through Jeremiah: You left me without the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13). And above this same prophet says: “they will drink water from the springs of the Savior.” The Psalms also sing about them: bless the Lord God from the fountains of Israel (Ps. 67:27). And he turned, he says, the desert into a collection of waters and the impassable land into streams of waters. About these waters the Savior in the Gospel said in a mysterious speech: whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will be in him a fountain of water flowing into an eternal belly (John 4:14), and again: if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. If anyone drinks water, I will give him; rivers of living water will flow out of his belly. This is what the Evangelist says about the Holy Spirit, and the believer wants to receive Him in His name (John 7:37–39). So, since the members of the church, which was once deserted, were filled with the waters of life, as a result of this, cedar, beech, myrtle, cypress, and poplar grow in it, according to the Seventy; and according to the Hebrew and other translators: cedar, shittim, and myrtle, and olive tree, and cypress, and elm, and beech together. This variety of trees signifies the difference of spiritual grace. And since their nature is known to everyone, we will only talk about the Hebrew set t a, which Theodotion translated through the thorn bush. It is a kind of tree that grows in the desert, similar to the white thorn; of it were made all the wood of the ark and the tabernacle, called sittim (Exod. 37); This non-rotting and very light wood surpasses the hardness and beauty of all trees in both strength and brilliance. Cedar, cypress, and myrtle have a very pleasant smell and do not rot. Also, elm and poplar or beech are either attached to vines for tying them up or are very suitable for various products. All this is planted together in the desert, so that not even a single string on the harp of the Lord and no virtue from the gifts of the church seems absent, so that everyone understands that the hand of the Lord accomplished all this, so that in the desert of nations rivers of virtues are found and in the land that was once deserted and filled with salt marshes, cedar and cypress and other trees grow, so that their top and end, ascending to the sky was illuminated by an olive tree, serving as food for light and rest for workers. Art. 21–24. Bring your judgment near, says the Lord; Imagine if you have anything, said the king to Jacob. Let them come closer and tell us what will happen: tell us what has happened before, and we will understand with our minds and know the consequences of them: tell us the future. Announce what will happen in the future, and we will know that you are gods. Do the same, if you can, good or bad, and we would talk and look together. Here you are, like nothing, and your deed is insignificant, the one who chose you is an abomination. Seventy: Your judgment is near, says the Lord God; Your plans have come and drawn near, says the king of Jacob. Let them come closer and tell us what will happen, and we will delve into it with our minds and know the last thing. Tell us also about the future and announce what will happen in the last time; and we will know that you are gods. Do good and bad, and we will be amazed and together we will see where you come from and where your work comes from: from the land of abominations they chose you. As we said above, there are two types of Jacob and Israel: unbelievers and believers in the Lord Savior; Thus, at the calling of the pagans and when in the church, which was once a desert, rivers and springs overflowed and various trees were covered with wonderful greenery and everyone received full abundance: those of the pagans who did not want to believe in Christ are called to judgment to answer why they did not want to see, and know, and understand and understand that the hand of the Lord did this and the Holy One of Israel created everything. Let your idols, which you consider very strong, come closer, he says. Or imagine, if you have something, and reveal your plans, on what basis and for the sake of what you did not want to accept the revealed truth. At the same time, an appeal is made to the idols themselves, although they are deprived of feeling and do not have the ability to hear or respond. Tell us, he says, either about the past or the future, and from the course of events prove your power. This means that after the coming of Christ all the idols fell silent: where is Apollo of Delphi and Loxia, Delia and Clara and other idols that promised knowledge of the future and deceived very powerful kings? Why could they not predict anything about Christ, nothing about His apostles, nothing about the destruction and destruction of churches? So, if they could not predict their own destruction, then how could they foretell someone else’s, whether good or bad? If anyone says that many things were predicted by idols, then you need to know that they always mixed lies with the truth and presented the answers in such a way that it was possible, whether something bad or good happened, to understand both. This is the well-known prediction to Pyrrhus, king of the Epirotes: “I tell you, Aeacides, that the victory of the Romans is possible,” 49 and to Croesus: “Croesus, having crossed Halys, will destroy vast kingdoms.” Another sign that idols are not gods is that they can do neither good nor bad. And this is not in the sense that idols or demons residing in idols did not often do bad things, but in the fact that they could only do this when they were given power by the Lord. Therefore, in the Gospel they beg to be given authority over a herd of swine (Matthew 8). And in Job we read that he [the devil] could not destroy even the livestock and property of the holy man (Job ch. 1). And there is nothing surprising in this regarding God, when the Apostle Paul handed over some to Satan so that they would learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1). Or it should be said that they are mute images of people, and are devoid of feeling, and cannot do either good or bad and know neither the past nor the future, because they came from nothingness and from that which has no existence, and it is not so much they themselves who are worthy of disgust as the one who honors them. For the tongue has made idols of silver and gold, the works of men's hands; They have lips and do not speak, they have eyes and do not see (Ps. 113:12-13). So, therefore, they can know and proclaim the future and tell the past and do good or bad, without having the sensitive faculty characteristic of people or dumb animals? And it doesn't matter what substance they are made of when they all consist of earth. Art. 25–29. He raised [him] from the north, and he will come from the rising of the sun; He will call on (or has called on) My name and will bring in the dignitaries like mud and like a potter who tramples (or has trampled) clay. Who spoke it from the beginning, that we might know, and from the foundation, that we might say, “He is truthful.” There is no one who proclaims, no one who predicts, no one who listens to your words. He will be the first to say to Zion, “Here they are, and I will give Jerusalem a messenger of good news.” And I looked, and there was none of them who would give advice and the one asked would answer in a word. Seventy: but I raised up him who is from the north and who is from the rising of the sun; they will be called by My name. Let the princes come, and like the potter’s clay and like the potter who tramples the clay, so you will be trampled under foot. For who will tell you what is from the beginning, so that we may know what is ahead, and so that we may say that it is true; there is no one who would predict and who would listen to your words. I will give Zion a beginning, and I will comfort Jerusalem along the way; For among the nations there is none, and among their graven images there is none who proclaims, and if I ask them, Where are you from, they will not answer Me: for they are your creators and in vain deceive you. Until now he speaks against idols and those who, after the coming of Christ, did not want to leave them. And since they are in error, he says that He Himself raised up a mass of nations from the north. For from the north disasters are kindling upon all the inhabitants of the earth, and it is said to Jeremiah: What do you see, Jeremiah? And the river is set on fire, and its face is from the face of the north (Jer. 1:13). They are erected from the north so that they may believe in the one who came from the rising of the sun. We read about Him above: who raised up the righteous or the righteous from the east? and in another place: Behold a man, the East is his name (Zech. 6:12). He will call (or called) them in My name, so that, leaving idols, they will honor the one God. For He Himself says in the Gospel: I came in the name of My Father, and you do not accept Me; If another comes in his own name, him you will receive (John 5:43). He will trample upon princes and dignitaries and worldly arrogance, and they will be subject to him, like clay to a potter, to create a vessel for honor and one for dishonor (Rom. 9:21). This, which I, in accordance with the custom of the prophets, speak of as having been done by Me, as if it had already passed, or, according to Symmachus, I promise as something that will happen, none of the demons and idols can predict. Therefore, all the oracles fell silent, for there was no one who would proclaim, there was no one who would listen, when the hearts of the pagans, which were previously foolish, realized their error and abandoned false prophecies. And the first Lord will speak to Zion, that is, to his Church, and will say to her: these are your sons, whom I have given you through My faith. Points to the apostles who preached the Gospel throughout the world. Zion and Jerusalem are distinguished by names; but just as the city is one, so the Church is one. And so, let us ask all the peoples who follow the delusion of idolatry, so that they can answer where they come from. And this will be the answer of all, that all follow vanity and the wind and worship the works of their own hands. Everything we have said about idols and nations can be attributed to perverse teachings and to their princes, heresiarchs, because while Christ proclaims peace to the Church and shows them the path of truth, they follow error and become like the wind and whirlwind. The Jews, by erected from the north and coming from the rising of the sun, mean the Assyrians and Persians, who came to Jerusalem and trampled all its princes, and none of the idols that they honored knew that this would happen, except the Lord alone, who rewarded them for their sins. Chapter XLII. Art. 1–4. Behold My Servant, I will accept him, My chosen one, My soul delights in him. I have given My spirit upon him: he will proclaim judgment to the nations. He will not cry out or take on a form, and His voice will not be heard outside. He will not break a shaken reed and he will not quench the smoking flax. In truth there will be judgment. He will not be sad or worried until judgment is established on earth, and the islands will trust in His law. Seventy: Jacob, My Servant, I will receive Him. Israel is My chosen one, My soul has accepted him. I have given my spirit upon him, that he may execute judgment upon the nations: he shall not cry, neither shall he faint, neither shall his voice be heard outside. He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax; but according to the truth he will execute judgment; He will shine and will not be crushed until He establishes judgment on earth, and the nations will trust in His name. Jacob and Israel are not in the present section, which the Evangelist Matthew did not include (Matthew 12:18), following the Jewish original. We say this as a reproach to those who despise ours. This is written in more detail both in the interpretations of Matthew and in the book that we recently wrote about Algazia. 50 And meanwhile it should be noted that where it is written about the face of the apostles, Jacob and Israel and the seed of Abraham are named there, to whom, as people and slaves, accordingly it is said: do not be afraid of the worm Jacob, and little Israel. And where it is predetermined about Christ, it is read without Jacob and Israel. Behold My servant, I will accept Him, My chosen one, My soul delights in Him. And further: I gave you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of prison and those who dwell in darkness from prison (vv. 6-7). And it is not surprising if he who was born of a wife and subject to the law is called a slave (Gal. 4:4), and who in the form of God has diminished himself, received the form of a slave, and is found in the likeness of a man (Phil. 2:7). My soul delights in Him, seeing in Him all the powers, or rather, that He Himself is God’s power and God’s wisdom. I gave, he says, My spirit upon Him, descending in the form of a dove. He will announce to the nations a judgment that they have not known before. He will not cry out, for He will be meek and humble, and will not take on a disguise or lift up His voice, meaning: Loudly. Either, according to Symmachus, he will not be deceived, understanding all the machinations of the devil, or, according to the Seventy, he will not leave, that is, the Jewish people, calling them to repentance. His voice will not be heard outside, for He did not preach the Gospel to other nations outside of Galilee and Judea. Although we read that He was within the boundaries of Tire and Sidon (Matthew 15) or in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi, which is now called Penea, you need to know that it is not written that He entered the cities themselves. He will not break a reed that is shaken or broken. For He will be merciful to everyone and will forgive sinners, saying to the woman: be of good cheer, child, your sins will be forgiven (Luke 7). And it will not extinguish the smoking flax, or as others have translated it: hidden and gloomy; those who were close to extinction [or destruction] are preserved by the mercy of the Lord (we outlined this regarding Jews and pagans in the above-mentioned works), but everything will be judged according to the truth, without fear of the scribes and Pharisees, whom he fearlessly called hypocrites (Matthew 7:15; 22, 23; Luke 6:12). The next one: he will shine and will not be crushed until he establishes judgment on earth, the Evangelist Matthew did not set (Matthew 12), or the one between the words “judgment” and “judgment” was omitted due to a copyist’s mistake. This means that having risen from the dead, He enlightened everyone and was not crushed by death until He established judgment on earth, He who said in the Gospel: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see will be blind (John 9:39). Instead, we translated: he will neither be sad nor excited, but will maintain the same appearance at all times, for which the philosopher Socrates is falsely praised, as if he had never been more sad or cheerful than usual. Instead, Aquila and Theodotion translated: he will not darken and will not hasten until he establishes judgment on earth. The meaning is this: no one will be frightened by a stern appearance and the one who will preserve true judgment until the end will not rush to punishment. Further: the islands will trust in His law, the Seventy stated more clearly: the nations will trust in His name, which are called islands in the Scriptures because on all sides they are open to attacks from pursuers. By His law we must mean not the one given by Moses, but the Gospel. For out of Zion shall come the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem (Isa. 2:3). Jeremiah also prophesies about this law: these days are coming, says the Lord, and I am making a new covenant, not according to the covenant, which was once commanded by their father (Jer. 31:31-32). Art. 5–9. Thus says the Lord God, who creates the heavens and spreads them out, who establishes the earth and its origins, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, called you in righteousness and took your hand and kept you, and gave you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind and to bring out the prisoners from prison, sitting in darkness from prison. I am the Lord, this is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. The former things have come to pass, and the new things I proclaim; before it happens I will let you hear. It was unknown who had said first: Behold My servant, I will receive Him; My chosen one, My soul delights in Him. I have given My spirit upon Him; He will bring judgment to the nations. For after the condemnation of the idols, speech suddenly began: here is My servant and other things that we have explained [as said] on behalf of the Father about Christ. So, so that it does not remain unknown who said the above, he adds and says: Thus says the Lord God, who creates the heavens and spreads them, or as LXX translated: He who created the heavens and established them. So the Creator and Lord of the universe himself promised the coming of his Christ, who not only stretched out and established the heavens, but also established in the depths the foundations of the earth and everything that is born from it, so that by viewing His creations, His invisible things would be visible, as well as His eternal power and divinity (Rom. 1). He gave breath to everyone on earth, according to the first law of mortal [creatures]. For God breathed into Adam’s face the breath of life, and he became a living soul (Gen. 2). But He gave the spirit to those who trample the earth and subject carnal wisdom to His power. So, the one who has so many heralds says this to the one from whom the islands and nations expect the law: I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, about whom I myself speak in the Gospel: Righteous Father, peace is not known to You (John 17:25), to be the God not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. And he took your hand, for whatever the Son does, the Father does. And I saved you, because You yourself save everything. And I gave you as a covenant to the people of Israel, to whom I first promised your coming. Into the light of the pagans who sat in darkness and the shadow of death. To open the eyes of the blind who have not seen God before. And bring the prisoner [or prisoners] out of prison, because everyone is caught in the ropes of their sins (Proverbs 22). And in the Gospel, the Lord gives permission to those whom Satan has bound. Those sitting in darkness from prison - who were in the night and darkness of error. Through the addition: I am the Lord, this is My name; I will not give My glory to another, the Son is not excluded, to whose words in the Gospel: You have glorified me, Father, with the glory that you had before the world was not (John 17:5). He himself answers: “I have both glorified and will glorify.” For He did not say: I will not give My glory to “anyone” - if He had said so, he would have excluded the Son - but: I will not give My glory to “anyone else” except you, to whom I have given, to whom I will give. Therefore, I am surprised at this peculiarity in the Holy Scriptures, that all the translators, who usually differ in many other things, unanimously translated the word aher through another. But so that we know that with these words He excludes not the Son, but idols, then the following words testify: and My praise is to the idols. Instead, LXX [translated]: neither my strength (virtutes) to my idols. For Christ is God's power and God's wisdom, He contains in Himself all the powers of the Father. What follows: the former has now come true. The meaning is this: what I said, what I promised through Moses and the prophets, all this has been fulfilled. Now I proclaim to you the Gospel, the calling of the nations, the passion of Christ, the new faith, so that, seeing the fulfillment of the former in practice, you will believe that what I now promise will come true. Art. 10–17. Sing to God (vulgate: Lord) a new song, praise to Him from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the islands and their inhabitants. May the desert and its cities be exalted (vulg. may it be exalted): Kedar will dwell in houses, praise the inhabitants of the rock (Petrae); they will shout from the tops of the mountains. They will give glory to the Lord, and His praise will be proclaimed in the islands. The Lord will come out as brave, as a warrior will arouse jealousy: He will call and shout, He will show Himself strong against His enemies. I was constantly silent, silent, patient: like a woman in labor (vulg. suffering from childbirth) I will say: I will scatter and absorb together. I will devastate the mountains and the hills and dry up all the greenery on them, and I will make the rivers into islands, and I will dry up the lakes, and I will lead (vulg. lead) the blind onto a road that they do not know, and along paths unknown to them I will lead them. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these words I fulfilled for them and did not forsake them. They turned back: they who put their trust in an idol will be covered with shame, saying to the idol: You are our gods. Seventy: Sing to the Lord a new song: glorify His dominion and His name from the ends of the earth, those who go down to the sea and those who sail on it, the islands and their inhabitants: the wilderness and its villages rejoice; manors and inhabitants of Kedar. Those who dwell on the rock will rejoice, they will shout from the top of the mountains. They will give glory to God, His powers will be proclaimed on the islands. The Lord God of hosts will come out and destroy the war, stir up jealousy, and shout against His enemies with power. I was silent at first; Will I always be silent and endure? I have endured, like a woman in labor, I will destroy and dry up together, I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their grass. And I will make the rivers into islands, and I will drain the swamps. And I will lead the blind along a path that they do not know, and I will cause them to walk along paths that were unknown to them. I will make darkness light for them and crooked things straight. I will fulfill these words for them and will not forsake them; but they turned back; they who put their trust in idols are covered with shame, saying to graven images, “You are our gods.” He who said before: the former things have come to pass, and the new things I declare, before they come to pass I will let you hear, and who promised that He would say what they did not know, testifies in the subsequent speech what this new thing is, commanding the apostles and apostolic men to sing a new song, not according to the old letter, but according to the new spirit, and not only in the old Testament, but also in the new, and His praise will reach to the ends of the earth. For His departure is from the end of the heavens, and His meeting to the end thereof. The message of the apostles went out into the whole earth, and their words went out to the ends of the world (Ps. 18:7.5). Or according to LXX: glorify His name to the ends of the earth, so that the name of Christ may be proclaimed to the nations throughout the world. And who should sing a new song is shown by the following words: those who go down to the sea and swim on it, or all that fill the sea. For Jesus, seeing the apostles on the shore by the sea of ​​Gennesaret straightening the nets, called them and sent them into the great sea (Lk. 5), in order to make them from fishermen into fishers of men - they who preached the Gospel, from Jerusalem to Illyria and Spain, having in a short time also caught the power of the city of Rome itself, or went down to the sea and sailed on it, exposed to the storms and persecutions of this world. Also, by islands and those living on them, we mean either various nations or many churches. Let the desert and its cities, he says, raise their voice, about which we spoke above. Or let the desert and its villages rejoice, and Kedar, which was once an uninhabited country on the other side of Saracen Arabia. And the inhabitants of the rock, which is also the name of the city in Palestine. This means that the pagan peoples, previously deprived of the knowledge of God and given over to the errors of idolatry, will turn to praising the Lord. Or, since Kedar means darkness, and the rock, according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 10), is Christ, then all believers are commanded that those who were previously in darkness and who now believe in the Lord Savior should cry out from the tops of the mountains and openly preach Christ, to whom and above (chap. 40, v. 9) it was said: Go up to the high mountain, O evangelist of Zion; lift up your voice with might, O evangelist of Jerusalem. And I will give glory to Him on the islands about which we spoke above. The prophetic speech describes the glorious coming of the Savior, about which the Apostle Paul says: “according to the illumination of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4; 1 Tim. 1), and compares Him with a very strong man who will fight with his opponents, arousing jealousy. This is also foretold in the song of Deuteronomy: “They aroused jealousy in Me with those who were not God, and provoked Me with their idols, and I will arouse jealousy in them with a people who do not exist, and with the most foolish people I will provoke them” (Deut. 32). He will also cry out and shout against his enemies, reproaching them for their infidelity and proclaiming loudly: I was silent, constantly silent, patient, or as LXX translated: I was silent; Will I always be silent? so that what is said through Solomon may be fulfilled: a time to remain silent, and a time to speak (Ecc. 3:7). The meaning is this: I have often tolerated you who have sinned for a long time, but I will no longer remain silent as I was silent before. And just as a woman giving birth brings a child into the world and opens up what was previously locked up in the entrails; so I will now reveal My sorrow and the concealment that I have always had regarding your crimes, and I will dispel your plans, and at one time I will swallow up all the people, and all the arrogance of the mountains and the exaltation of your hills. And the grass, about which it was said above: in truth, the people are grass (chapter 40, art. 7), that is, I will turn both the princes and the low rabble into a desert. This is added by the Seventy from the edition of Theodotion, who kept silent about these words. And when I dry you up from head to foot and destroy you, then the rivers of My teaching will flow on the isles of the heathen, and I will make your lakes or swamps dry, so that among the Gentiles there may be knowledge of the Scriptures, and among you there will be drought of teaching. And I will lead the blind by a road which they did not know before, about which we read above: I gave you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind. They will be led by the path about which Christ says: I am the way (Jn. 14:6) or the path of knowledge of God, and I will lead them according to the ways of the prophets. Then their darkness will turn into light and the crooked will become straight, so that they understand what they read and look with the eyes of their hearts at the light of Christ, clear in the Old Testament. But at the same time he adds: I have fulfilled these words or will fulfill them for them, not promising what I have to be, but fulfilling what I first promised. But when I said this, the Jewish people turned back, so that they would not believe the one who promised, and he who had previously believed in idols would be disgraced in his errors and despise the promise of God. Or when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in (Rom. 11:25), then the people of Israel will turn and repent of their error, as a result of which they previously served idols. Or, after the calling of the pagans, he will return to the beginning; thus he says that all nations who did not want to believe in the Gospel will be put to shame because of their idols. Art. 18–20. The deaf, listen, and the blind, look to see. Who is blind if not My servant? and deaf, if not he to whom I sent My messengers? Who is blind if not sold? and who is blind but the servant of the Lord? Having seen many things, will you not preserve, and having your ears open, will you not hear? And the Lord wanted to sanctify it and magnify the law and exalt it. The people themselves are ruined and devastated. The snares of the youths are all hidden in the prison houses; they have become prey, and there is no deliverer, they have been plundered, and no one says: give it back. Which of you will listen to this, delve into it and listen to what is to be? Who gave Jacob over to destruction and Israel to desolation? Is it not the Lord Himself against whom we have sinned? And they did not want to walk in His ways and did not listen to His law. And He poured out the wrath of His wrath and fierce war on him, and burned him all around, but he did not understand, and scorched him, but he did not understand. Seventy: Deaf, listen, and blind, look to see. Who is blind if not My youths, and [who] are deaf if not those who rule over them? Who is blind if he does not accept, and the servants of God have become blind. You have often seen and not saved: your ears are open and you have not listened. The Lord God wanted to justify himself and magnify the praise. And I saw, and the people were devastated and ruined. For the snares are in the lodges everywhere, and together in the houses in which they hid them. They were given over to plunder, and there was no one who could deliver from the theft, and there was no one who would say: give it back. Which of you would listen to this and know what is to be? Who gave Jacob over to plunder and Israel to desolation? Is it not God against whom they sinned and did not want to walk in His ways and obey His law? And he brought the wrath of His wrath upon them, and the war intensified against them, and they burned them all around, and neither knew them nor took them to heart. Lest anyone think that the words: deaf, listen, and blind, look to see, refer to the pagan people, who were previously deaf and blind (as the Jews try to prove through stupid interpretation), the prophetic speech itself shows who should be understood by the deaf and blind. Who, he says, is blind, if not My servant, and deaf, if not he to whom I sent My messengers, no doubt pointing to the prophets. Who is blind if not sold by his sins? Who is blind but he who was formerly a servant of the Lord? He is told: seeing many things and having very many prophets, through whom you can know the commandments of God, will you, Israel, not keep what is commanded you? Having your ears open, will you not listen to what is said, about which we read above: you will hear by hearing, but will not understand, and by seeing, you will not see: for the heart of this people is clothed (Isa. 6:9). The Lord wanted, he says, to sanctify it and magnify His law and raise and exalt the humble people. But he did not want to fulfill the will of God, and therefore he was ruined and devastated by his opponents, by which we must mean either demons or enemies. The snares of the youths are everything, and they are hidden in the prison houses, or, as the LXX translated: the snares are in the lodges everywhere and together in the houses in which they hid them, denoting the scribes and Pharisees who deceived the miserable people and everywhere plotted against the Lord Savior and His apostles - having the key of knowledge, but not entering themselves and preventing others from entering (Luke 11). And beautifully, he called their hearts, in which evil thoughts dwelt, prisons. Therefore, they were given over to plunder and plunder, and there was no one who would deliver them and speak for them. But at the same time, the prophet exhorts that if everyone cannot listen, then at least a few should recognize what is to come and understand from whom they suffered it. And let those who did not want to listen to or fulfill the instructions of the law learn the reasons for their ruin. The Lord poured out on them all His anger and indignation, full of rage, so that the one who had previously been silent would no longer be silent and would denounce them not with words, but with punishments and torments, and would strike them with a very fierce war, pointing out the cruelty of the Romans. And although he was burned on all sides and there is nothing whole in him, he does not understand the reason for his punishment - that he was punished because he did not accept the Son of God. Chapter XLIII. Art. 1–13. And now thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and he who builds you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you, and called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters (vulg. through waters), I will be with you, and the rivers will not cover you. When you go into the fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not scorch you: for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt, Ethiopia and Sheba as a propitiation for you. Therefore you have become dear and glorious in my sight: I have loved you, and will give [other] people for you, and nations for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; From the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, give, and to the south, do not withhold; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. And everyone who calls on My name, I created him for My glory, and formed him and created him. Bring out a people who are blind, although they have eyes, and who are deaf, although they have ears. All nations gathered together and tribes copulated. Which of you will foretell this and let us hear about what happened from the beginning? Let them present witnesses from themselves and be justified, and let them listen and say: “In truth you are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me, and understand that it is I. Before Me there was no God and after Me there will be no one.” I, I am the Lord, and there is no Savior besides Me. I foretold and saved: I told you and you had no other way. You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God, and from the beginning I am the same, and there is no one else who will deliver out of My hand. I will do it, and who will turn it away? Seventy: And now thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and he who created you, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are Mine. And if you pass through water, I am with you, and the rivers will not cover you. And if you pass through the fire, you will not get burned, the flame will not scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave you Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Siena in exchange. Therefore you have become dear and glorified before Me. And I have loved you, and will give men for you and princes for your head. Fear not, for I am with you; From the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Bring, and to the south, Do not withhold: bring My sons from a far land and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, for in My glory I created it and formed it and formed it. And I brought out a blind people, those who have eyes and are blind, and their ears are deaf. All the nations gathered together, and their princes met. Who will proclaim this? Or who will tell you what has happened from the beginning? Let them bring their witnesses and be justified, and let them listen and speak the truth. Be My witnesses, and I am a witness, says the Lord God, and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe and understand that it is I. Before Me there was no other God and after Me there will not be. I am God, and there is no savior except Me. I have proclaimed and saved; reproached you and you had no other choice. You are My witnesses, and I am the Lord God from the beginning, and there is no one to deliver out of My hands. I will do it, and who will turn it away? The Jews explain this in relation to the second coming of the Savior, since after the completeness of the Gentiles all Israel will be saved. But we think that the promise to which it was said above is by no means given: who is blind, if not My youths, and who is deaf, if not those who rule over them? And then: the people were ruined and plundered, and finally he adds: he poured out his wrath of rage and fierce war on him, and burned him all around, but he did not know, and scorched him, but he did not understand. Consequently, what we said above, that there are two Jacobs and two Israel, one bodily and the other spiritual, [consisting] of those who did not want to believe in the Savior, and of those who accepted the Son of God, this must now be understood, that is, that the face of the apostles and the first Church of Christ, gathered from the people of the Jews, is called upon, so that they understand their Creator and organizer, who was the Creator of soul and body him. And let him not be afraid of his pursuers, for he has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, who called him by his name, and out of love calls him especially his people; but let him preach strictly and not be afraid of any dangers. And by adding: waters and rivers and fire and flame, he describes the attack and rage of the persecutors who are hostile to the salvation of the pagans and do not want the word of the Gospel to be preached, although the Jews want to understand the Egyptians by waters, the Babylonians by rivers, the Macedonians by fire, the Romans by fire. He commands them not to fear because the Lord God is their Savior and the Holy One of Israel is with them, who created them to preach in Egypt, in Ethiopia and in Siena and in the uttermost parts of the world. Instead of Siena, the rest of the translators put Saba, from where was the queen of the south, who came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10). Therefore, the face of the apostles became dear to God and beloved to Him, and salvation for all people and nations who were called by them to the Gospel and counted for the salvation of their souls. Therefore, he adds and says: do not be afraid, for I am with you, saying to you in the Gospel: Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). For from the east and the west I will bring your sons, who will rest in the bosom of Abraham, and from all parts of the world a people will be gathered, consisting of my sons and daughters, who will either call on my name or be called by my name, to be called Christians for the glory of their Creator. The next thing is: bring out a blind people, [although] they have eyes, a deaf people, [although] they have ears, according to many, this is said about the pagan peoples, who, as a result of the teaching of the apostles, began to hear and see. But we can also attribute this to scattered Israel, who was called through the apostles and was the first to believe, to whom Paul also says: it is not right for you to speak the word of God first (Acts 13:46), and the Lord himself in the Gospel: go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6). Finally it follows: all the nations gathered together and the tribes copulated, that is, with the people who believed from among the Jews, so that there would be a twofold calling, circumcision and uncircumcision. And when it says bring out, the speech is addressed to the Son. Or, according to the Seventy, the Father says about the Son that He brought out His blind and deaf people and united them with the pagans, and made many of them heads of the churches. And the prophet is surprised that none of the pagans could foresee this and know the decisions of God, but only His people, who accepted the law and had prophets; For God is known in Judah, His name is great in Israel (Ps. 75:1). Or God Himself is the witness of His words, and the finisher, and His servant and servant whom He has chosen. Without a doubt, He points to Christ, to whom He says above: “It is great for You to be called My servant.” And all this will happen so that the truth will be preached to the world, and so that those whose minds were previously senseless and insensitive will know, believe and understand that besides one God there is no other God, neither before nor after. For the Creator of times never had a beginning, since this very thing ever relates to time. And as now He said: I am a witness, says the Lord God, and the servant whom I have chosen, and the Lord says the same thing in the Gospel: the testimony of two men is truly. I am the Father who testifies of Me and the Father who sent Me (John 8:17.18); This is how one must think about His deity, that there is no God except the one who says this and His Servant, whom He has chosen. And it is wonderful that besides God the Father there is no other God; for Christ is God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24), who says in the Gospel: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:11). For just as the one Christ the Lord does not exclude the Father from being Lord, so the one God the Father does not exclude the Son from being God, who in the beginning was the Word and the Word to God and God is the Word. This has been with God from time immemorial (John 1:1, 2). What follows: there is no Savior except Me shows that the Son in the Father saves everything. This same prophet testifies about Him: “The Lord will send them a Savior who will deliver them” (Isa. ch. 19). For God, wise and strong, cannot exist without his wisdom and strength. Thus, since I foretold this from the beginning as destined to happen, there will be no one who would reject My will or invalidate what I would do. Although this is said to Jacob and Israel, it refers to the apostles and to all who from the Jewish people want to believe in Christ. Art. 14–15. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I sent you into Babylon and destroyed all the barriers and the Chaldeans, who boasted in their ships: I am the Lord your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Seventy: Thus says the Lord, who redeemed you, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I will send to Babylon and raise up all those who flee, and the Chaldeans will be bound in ships. I am the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who has shown Israel your king. According to the Hebrew text, even now the prophetic speech is addressed to Israel - that their redeemer, the Lord and Holy One of Israel, said to them: for the sake of you who preach the Gospel with Me, to whom I said above: Fear not, for I am with you, who serve as witnesses of My will and proclaim to the unbelieving world about My Servant, another witness, I sent My Son to Babylon and into the confusion of this world. And he broke all his constipations, which in Hebrew are called barihim (or barichim) and which Theodotion translated strong. And he crushed, he says, the Chaldeans, which means ἀπὸ ϰοινοῡ (from the general), proud of their ships: that is, those who, like ships, waver among idols. Regarding the Chaldeans, no one doubts that they mean demons. I, the Lord, foretold this coming, your creator and king of Israel. Further, according to the Seventy, the meaning is completely different: I, the Lord, who delivered you from dangers, and the Holy One of Israel: for your sake I will send the king of the Medes and Persians to Babylon and will put its inhabitants to flight, and the Chaldeans who captured you will be bound and resettled across the Caspian Sea to other nations. I, the Lord, have decreed that it should be, I who have shown that Israel will be the king of the believers. Art. 16–21. Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who brought forth a chariot and a horse, an army and a mighty man; together they fell asleep and would not get up; they are crushed, like flax extinguished. Do not remember the past and do not look back at the ancient things. Here I am doing something new; Now it will appear, you will certainly know it. I will lead the way in the desert and the rivers in the impassable country. The beast of the field, the dragons and the ostriches, will glorify Me; for I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the wilderness, to give drink to My chosen people. I formed this people for Myself; he will proclaim My praise. Seventy: For thus says the Lord, who made a way through the sea and a strong path through the water, who brings out chariots and horses and a very strong people. But they fell asleep and won’t get up, they went out like Len faded away. Do not remember the past and do not think about the old. Behold, I will make a new thing, which will appear today, and you will know it, and I will make a road in the wilderness and rivers in a dry land. The beasts of the field, the sirens and the daughters of ostriches will bless Me, for I have given water in the desert and rivers in a dry land to give drink to My chosen people, My people whom I have purchased, so that they may proclaim My virtues. The Lord, who destroyed and rejected Babylon, and deprived its strong ones of power and made all the Chaldeans who successfully sailed in the waves of this world captive, himself in the strong waters of the Red Sea opened the way for His people, freed from Egypt, to pass through it. Or he who paved the way in the Red Sea Himself opened a path in the strong waters of the Jordan River, so that both the exodus from Egypt and the entry into the promised land would be miraculous. In the depths he drowned the chariots and horses and all the army of Pharaoh, who fell asleep in eternal sleep. They are crushed and faded away, like flax, in a short time and instantly. For flax, not yet being engulfed in fire and, due to its natural lightness, immediately extinguished, decomposes into ashes. So, I command you that during those signs and wonders in which the most powerful city of Babylon was destroyed and in which the way was opened for My people in the Red Sea and Jordan, you should not remember the old things, because in the Gospel I will do much greater things, in comparison with which the former must be kept silent. For it is no longer in the Red Sea, but in the wilderness of the whole world that I will open the way. And not one river or source will burst out of the rock, but many rivers, which will strengthen not bodies, as before, but thirsty souls, and what we read above will be fulfilled: “you will drink water from the springs of the Savior” (Is. 12). Then there will be something that has never happened - that all the beasts, dragons and ostriches, who lived in the pagan desert and, due to the blood of idolatry and coarseness of morals, were very similar to beasts, will glorify and praise Me. Instead of dragons, which Theodotion alone called thannim (or thennim), as written in the Hebrew text, the rest translated sirens - monstrous animals who, with their sweet but deadly singing, carried Scylla to be torn to pieces by the dogs. This means that those who were previously devoted to pleasure and intemperance will turn to serving the Lord, although it is better to understand dragons, for ostriches also join in, so that once they have spoken about desert animals, they can also point to these animals that love the desert. “The beasts of the field and dragons and ostriches will praise and glorify Me, because I have given water in the wilderness of the heathen and rivers in the dry land of the nations, so that My people, whom I have chosen for Myself, or My chosen people and the people whom I have purchased with My blood, may drink, so that they may know My praises and virtues. Art. 22–24. You, Jacob, did not call Me, and you, Israel, did not work for Me. You did not offer Me a ram for your burnt offering, nor did you glorify Me with your sacrifices. I did not force you to serve Me with a [grain] offering, nor did I bother you with incense. You did not buy Me [incense] reeds for money, and You did not make Me drunk with the fat of your sacrifices. But you troubled Me with your sins and burdened Me with your iniquities. LXX: Jacob did not call you this day, nor did I force you to work, O Israel. You did not bring me sheep for your burnt offering, and you did not magnify me with your sacrifices, and I did not enslave you with sacrifices and did not burden you with incense, and you did not buy me incense for silver, and I did not desire the fatness of your sacrifices, but I protected you in your sins and in your iniquities. While the beasts of the field, dragons and ostriches praise Me, you, Jacob, did not want to call on Me and then work to atone for sin through repentance. Regarding the fact that you, as you think, offered sacrifices to Me and killed rams, know that they were not accepted by Me, because they were common to Me and idols. He repeats the same thought that he expressed above: why do I need the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs, and the blood of oxen and goats I do not want (Isa. 1:11). For I, he says, did not demand anything expensive from you in order to burden you with preparing it. I did not demand offerings from you and did not ask for incense, or incense, or incense, or various kinds of ointments, so that I could get drunk and be satisfied with their smoke; but obedience, which is higher than sacrifice, and that sacrifice about which David speaks in the Psalms: sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: God will not despise a contrite and humble heart (Ps. 50:19) - this is what He wanted, this is what He demanded. And you troubled and burdened Me with your sins, so that I was forced to say: I am tired of enduring (Isa. 1:14), and I can no longer bear you. Therefore, through Hosea, God also says: what will I do for you, Ephraim? Will I protect you, Israel? What shall I put you? As Adam I will build you, and as He will build you (Hos. 11:8). As for what was stated by the Seventy: but I protected you in your sins and in your iniquities, this can be connected with the previous one, that protecting sinners is labor and fatigue for God. Art. 25–28. I, I myself, blot out your iniquities for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Remind Me that we may go to court together; tell me if you have anything to justify yourself. Your father was the first to sin, and your intercessors have departed from Me. And I declared the holy princes unclean (contaminavi), and gave Jacob over to be killed and Israel to be mocked. LXX: I, I, blot out your iniquities, and I will not remember them. Just remember, and we will sue. Be the first to tell your iniquities, so that you may be justified. Your fathers have sinned, and your princes have committed iniquities against Me, and the princes have profaned My holy things. And I gave Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach. You, he says, Jacob and Israel, burdened Me with your sins and I could hardly bear the burden of your iniquities, whom I do not call My servants or My servants, but I simply call them by the name of Jacob and Israel, in order to point out and convict sinners. But for My own sake, because I am good, long-suffering and abounding in mercy, I will blot out all your iniquities with the sprinkling and blood of the New Testament: I will blot out the old handwriting that was written against you, and I will no longer remember your sins, which I will forgive you in baptism, if you want to believe. So remind Me: if you can justly say anything in response to Me, I will gladly listen, so that we can go to court together and so that you can prove that I did not do to you what I should have done. We read this thought in a more complete form in Micah: My people, what have I done to you or why have I suffered a cold for you? Answer Mi. Beforehand I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and delivered you from the house of work, and I sent before you Moses and Aaron and Miriam (Mic. 6:3-4). And in the fiftieth psalm, David says to God: “so that you may be justified in your words and overcome when you are judged” (Ps. 50:6). So, tell me if you have anything to justify yourself. The meaning is this: I will not be the first to speak against you, lest you say that you are overwhelmed by the multitude of words, but speak in your own defense if you have anything solid, so that you may find yourself undeservedly enduring what you are experiencing. But so that you know that I have had mercy on you not because of your merits, but because of My goodness, I turn to your fathers and ancestors so that you understand that you were born sinners. Your father was the first to sin in the wilderness, that is, the whole people of Israel. Or your ancestor Abraham is convicted of sin, since he answered the Lord, who promised his seed the promised land: by this I will understand that the imam will inherit it (Gen. 15:8). And your intercessors, he says, have departed from Me: Aaron and Moses at the water of disputation, who spoke as mediators between Me and you (Num. 20). And so that we can understand that this explanation is not far-fetched, then it follows: I declared the holy princes unclean, about whom it is sung in the psalm: they were sacrificed at the stone of their judge (Ps. 141:6). He says about them that he considered them unclean because they did not enter the promised land. And he gave Jacob over to be killed and Israel to be mocked, so that none of those who came out of Egypt, with the exception of two, entered Judea, but their corpses lay in the desert. According to the Seventy, who added on their own behalf: Be the first to say your iniquities in order to be justified, God calls them to repentance, so that they understand their crimes and sins and achieve pardon. For in another place it is written: the righteous is a blasphemer to himself in the first words (Prov. 18:17). It is said about their princes and fathers that they desecrated the holy things of the Lord, not serving the law of God, but following the traditions and commandments of men: for their sake Jacob died and Israel was handed over to reproach, removed from their country and, like an exile, wandering throughout the whole world. Chapter XLIV. Art. 1–5. Now listen, Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord, who creates you and forms you, who helps you from [your mother’s] womb. Fear not, My servant Jacob, and the most righteous whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty one, and streams on the dry one: I will pour out My spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your descendants. And they will grow among the grass like willows by streams of water. One will say: “I am the Lord’s”, and another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write with his hand: “I am the Lord’s” and will be called by the name of Israel. LXX: And now listen, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. I am the Lord God, who created you and formed you from the womb; you will still have help. Fear not, my servant Jacob, and beloved Israel, whom I have chosen: I will again give water to those who walk thirsty in a dry land; I will put my spirit on your seed and my blessings on your sons. And the eyes will appear like grass among the waters and like a willow by the streams of water. One will say, “I am God’s,” another will cry out for the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, “I am God’s,” and will cry out for the name of Israel. Where the Jewish people are accused of unbelief and reproach, there they are called without special epithets, only by names: you, Jacob, did not call on Me, and you, Israel, did not work for Me, and then: I gave Jacob over to be killed and Israel to be mocked (above, chapter 43, v. 22 and 28). But when he addresses the apostles, who came from Jews, special names are added. Hear, Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen: so that bondage may come first, and then election. Thus says the Lord, who created and formed you, who helped you from the womb, so that even in your mother’s womb you held on to your brother’s heel (Gen. 25), or who preserved you from persecutors at the beginning of the Church. Do not be afraid of their cruelty, My servant Jacob, and the most righteous one whom I have chosen. He calls Israel by another name; because the Hebrew word isurun other translators translated εὐϑύτατον or εὐϑῆ that is, the most righteous or righteous, only LXX: most beloved, adding from itself Israel. But Israel (I srael) among the Jews, according to the mark, actually means the righteous of God. This word means a husband who sees God not by its design, but by its pronunciation. Therefore, the book of Genesis is called εὐϑεῖς, that is, the righteous, Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Therefore, do not be afraid, Jacob and Israel, for I will pour water on the thirsty and dry land, which has often been spoken of. And I will pour out or put My spirit on your seed and My blessing on your descendants, who will be reborn by water and the Holy Spirit in baptism. The Savior promised this in the Gospel, saying: if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. And immediately it is added: this speech is about the Holy Spirit, whom the believer wants to receive (John 7:37, 39). He also compares those reborn in baptism with green herbs and willows growing by streams of water: and contrary to their natural properties, the one that was previously barren bears fruit or the seed of which, taken as food, makes barren. This is precisely what is read in the first psalm: and it will be like a tree planted by the rising waters, which will yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall away (Ps. 1:3). Others understand by herbs and regenerating willows a double calling, namely by the herbs - the pagan peoples, and by the willow - the believers from Israel. And at the same time, he describes the diversity of believers: one will say: “I am the Lord’s,” being confident that he has works of righteousness, the other will call—implying: sinners—in the name of Jacob to repentance, so that they too will leave their vices and sins. Another will write with his hand “I am God,” [or the Lord’s] or, as the LXX translated: he will write on his hand: “I am God,” boasting at the first beginning of serving Christ that he is a warrior. And he will be called by the name of Israel. For not all from Israel, but most of the Gentiles will be called by the name of Israel, having received the law and the prophets and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit promised to the people of Israel. Art. 6–20. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and besides Me there is no God. Who is like Me? Let him name and proclaim and explain to Me the order from the time that I formed the ancient people: let them tell them what is coming and the future. Do not be afraid and do not be embarrassed: long ago I made you aware and declared: you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me and a Creator whom I would not know? All sculptors of idols are worthless, and those who desire them most will not benefit them. They themselves are their witnesses, that they neither see nor understand, that they may be put to shame. Who made a god and cast an idol that brings no benefit? All those involved in this will be put to shame; for artists are from people; they will all gather together, stand, and be afraid and put to shame together. The blacksmith prepared a saw, trimmed it with coals and a hammer, and worked with his strong hand. He will be hungry and weak, will not drink water and will become tired. The carpenter pulled the cord, trimmed it [the wood] with a planer, processed it with a square and rounded it with a compass, and carved out the image of a husband, as if a noble man living in the house. He cut down cedars and brought ash and oak that stood between the trees in the forest. He planted a pine tree, which was grown by rain, and it served as fuel for people; He took [part of] it and warmed it up, set it on fire, and baked bread. From the rest he made a god and worshiped him, made an idol and prostrated himself before him. He burned half of it on the fire, and cooked half of it for food. He cooked the food, and was satisfied, and warmed up, and said: oh, I got warm, I saw the fire. And from the remains of it he made a god and an idol for himself: he prostrates himself before him and worships him and prays, saying: save me, for you are my god. They knew not and did not understand, for their eyes were covered, so that they could not see, and so that they should not understand with their hearts. They do not think in their minds and do not know and do not have the sense to say: “I burned half of it in the fire and baked bread on its coals; I fried the meat and ate it, and from the remains of it I will make an idol, first I will chop off the tree stump; part of him is framed in ashes: the foolish heart worshiped [or will worship] him; and he has not delivered [or will not deliver] his soul, neither will he say, A great deception is in my right hand. After the glorification of the apostles, the calling of the pagans, the coming of the Savior and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which [He] promised to give to all believers, when, depending on the difference of merit, one will say: I am the Lord's; another will call in the name of Jacob; another will write with his hand that he is the Lord’s, and despite his origin from the unbelieving society of the pagans, he will be called by the name of Israel, so that he will be a worshiper of the one God: another section begins (περικοπή), which we have all set out together so as not to interrupt the connection of one thought. And since the [translation] of the Seventy in this section, with the exception of a few words, does not differ from the Hebrew, we limited ourselves to our edition, understanding which you can know the others. This speech is directed against the idolaters of that time, in which the prophet Isaiah foretold the future to the nations, and denounces those who, despising the service of Almighty God, prostrated themselves before wooden idols and worshiped the works of their own hands. So, let's go over [briefly] the particulars. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, who will believe in Me, and his Redeemer, who will accept the coming of My Son: The Lord of hosts and powers and the Almighty; for this in Hebrew means Hosts. I am the first and I am the last, I am the alpha and the omega, and besides Me there is no God, for the boy whom I have chosen is God in Me. About Him I said above: “Behold My servant whom I have chosen, My chosen one, whom My soul has received: He will proclaim judgment to the nations, and in His name the nations will hope” (chapter 42). And he does not say that He alone exists, but that besides His power and wisdom there is no other God and, condemning faith in many gods and idols, he says: who is like Me? Let him call the non-existent existing (fn. Rom. 4:17) and set forth the order of My creation, in which everything was thoroughly thought out by Me, from the time I created man on earth. And I not only want this, but also demand knowledge about the future. Therefore, you, Israel, having Me as your king and Redeemer, do not be afraid of the idols, regarding which you learned on Mount Sinai that they are insignificant. Or maybe there is another creator whom I would not know? Or is there another world besides this world that reveals the power of an unknown God? But not only what is done, but also those who do it, will be considered as nothing. And when the time of retribution comes, they will not be able to save them the works of their hands, with which, blind and devoid of feeling, their artists will be put to shame. For who can believe that God is formed by the ax and the saw and the drill and the hammer? Or that by means of coals idols are cast, or by means of a cord, a planer, and squares and compasses, gods are suddenly made, especially when the hunger and thirst of the artist indicate the insignificance of art? For a wooden statue is made representing the image of a person, and the more beautiful it is, the more sacred the god is considered. It is placed in a church and is kept in an eternal prison, growing for a long time in the forests and, depending on the difference in the trees, it was cedar, ash, oak or pine. And in an amazing way, the trimmings and shavings from that are thrown into the fire to heat the one who made the god, and to cook all kinds of food, and from the other part a god is made, so that, after finishing the work, the one who made it bows to it and asks for help from his work - and does not understand or does not think, or rather does not see with either bodily or spiritual eyes, that something of which is burned cannot be God, and that divine greatness is not created by human hand. The prophetic speech ridicules idols in great detail, but this is easily misunderstood and does not require extensive or rather unnecessary explanation. Flaccus writes about this in satire 51, ridiculing the idols of the pagans: “Once upon a time I was a block of wood, a useless stump of a fig tree; The artist thought for a long time whether to be me, a bench, or Priapus! ““I’ll make a god!” said; Here I am God! I've been scaring since then But everything that has been said about idols can also be applied to heresiarchs, who, with the art of their hearts, form idols of their teachings and deceptions and honor that for which they know that it was invented by them. And they are not satisfied with their own delusion unless they attract all the simple-minded to worship them. They think that piety serves for profit (1 Tim. 6), and they devour the houses of widows, and taking advantage of the ignorance of the people, they thus make their god with the help of dialectical art, as if by means of an ax and a drill, a saw and a planer, and they forge with a hammer and gild with the beauty of rhetorical speech: their god is their belly and their glory is in their cold (Phil. 3:19). Art. 21–23. Remember this, Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant; I formed you: My servant, O Israel, do not forget Me. I have blotted out your iniquities like a cloud and your sins like a cloud; turn to Me, for I have redeemed you. Praise the heavens, for (in the Vulgate added: mercy) the Lord has done: rejoice, ye ends of the earth, resound with praise, ye mountains, the forest and every tree in it; For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and Israel will be glorified. LXX: Remember this, Jacob and Israel; for you are My servant; I formed you My servant, and you, Israel, do not forget Me. For behold, I have blotted out your iniquities like a cloud and your sins like darkness. Turn to Me and I will redeem you. Rejoice, O heavens, for God has had mercy on Israel. Blow the trumpet, O foundations of the earth, shout, O mountains, gladness, O hills, and all the trees that are upon them, for God has redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified. If this is so, and since you know that the idols of men are inventions, then you, Jacob and my servant Israel, do not forget your Creator, and do not offend yourself by bowing to the work of your own hands. Since they will be completely overthrown at the coming of My servant, whom I have chosen, then know with all your mind that just as clouds, darkness and fog are either dissipated by the warmth of the sun or thinned out by the wind, so I will dispel your iniquities and all the sins with which you have previously offended Me. Turn only to Me and bring repentance, for you must be redeemed with the precious blood. If you do this, then know that at your salvation the heavens and earth will rejoice and all the elements will glorify: either the angels who dwell in heaven, and other powers with which the foundations of the earth are held, or the apostles and prophets, about whom the apostle also spoke: “the apostles and prophets were built upon the foundations” (Eph. 2:20). Also, the mountains and forests or hills, which, according to the difference in merit, occupied the first, middle and last places, are commanded to bow and trumpet when they learn that the Lord has redeemed Jacob and rejoices over the conversion of Israel, or that Israel itself, having turned from error, becomes glorious. Art. 24–28. Thus says the Lord, who redeemed you and formed you from the womb: I am the Lord who does all things, who alone spreads out the heavens, who establishes the earth, and there is no one with Me; He who invalidates the signs of the soothsayers and drives fortunetellers into a frenzy, who turns the wise back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of His servant and fulfills the decision of His messengers; saying to Jerusalem: “You will be inhabited (or built)”, and to the cities of Judah: “You will be built, and I will restore its deserts”; saying to the deep, “Be dry,” and I will dry up your rivers; saying to Cyrus: “You are My shepherd and you will do all My will”; saying to Jerusalem, “You will be built,” and to the church, “You will be founded,” LXX: Thus says the Lord, who redeemed you and formed you from the womb. I am the Lord who accomplishes all things, I am the one who spreads out the heavens and establishes the earth. Who else has dispelled the signs of ventriloquists and fortune telling from the heart? I, who turn the wise back and make their decisions foolish, and confirm the word of My servant and confirm the truth of the decisions of My messengers; I say to Jerusalem, “You will be inhabited,” and to the cities of Judah, “You will be built,” and its deserts will rise; I say to the abyss: “Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers”; I tell Cyrus that he should understand and fulfill all My desires; I say to Jerusalem, “You will be built,” and I will found My holy house. After the destruction of the idols and iniquities of Israel and the invention of sins, when all creation together will rejoice and, according to the testimony of the Gospel (Luke 15), the angels in heaven will rejoice at the repentance of sinners: the power of God is described - that it is not a great thing for Him to redeem Jacob and restore the right heart in Israel, whom He formed from the womb. And if this seems no small matter to someone, then it is not difficult for the one who alone has stretched out the heavens, as it is read elsewhere: stretch out the sky like a skin (Ps. 103:2). And this is not because the Son was excluded from the reach of heaven, for all things were by Him, and without Him they were nothing (John. 1:3), but in order to exclude idols through this thought, as we have often said. For in the Proverbs of Solomon, from the person of Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom, it is said: when he prepared heaven, he was with Him (Proverbs 8:27). Like that speech, and it happened; He commanded, and was created (Ps. 32:9), and: by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their power (Ps. 33:6). We often cite this in order not to leave any reason for heretics to blaspheme Christ. Also, when the earth was established, when He strengthened its foundations, there was no one with God except Him who was in Him. So, He has such qualities and properties that when the time of the predetermined sacrament comes, all idols will be destroyed and the knowledge of the one God will be preached throughout the world, and He will overthrow and destroy all the prophecies of soothsayers and ventriloquists and the signs and miraculous phenomena of fortune-tellers with which they deceived the human race, and the wisdom of the philosophers, which also constituted a very large part of error, will expose them to stupidity, since they are praised for the fact that they comprehended wisdom not by human, but by divine thought. He will also put into practice the word of His youth or servant, which we spoke about above, and the decision of His messengers, that is, the apostles and all the teachers who proclaimed the will of their Teacher to the people. So he who is about to accomplish this, the power of which I have described briefly, also to Jerusalem, which is about to be destroyed by the Babylonians, now says, before its destruction, that it will again be inhabited by nations, and the cities of Judah - that they will be restored to those who restore its deserts, so that everything will be filled with worshipers. So, whoever says to Jerusalem and Judah and its deserts that it will be inhabited and built and restored, he says to the depth or the abyss, that is, to Babylon: “Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers,” [that is] all the power of kings. Or, since he named the depth and the abyss, he correctly placed, in a figurative sense, the rivers about which the psalmist sings: on the rivers of Babylon, there is a gray horse and a mourner (Ps. 137:1). And whoever restores Jerusalem destroys Babylon. He also says to Cyrus, the king of Persia, who first destroyed Babylon and the Chaldeans: you are my shepherd, or, as LXX translated: so that he understands. The reason for this difference is obvious. For the Hebrew word roi, if read through the letter resh, means my shepherd, and if through dalet, - one who knows or understands my - being similar, they differ in a small way and therefore are often confused. At the beginning of the book of Ezra it is written that, by the command of Cyrus, king of Persia and Media, the people of Judah were freed from captivity, and those who wished to return with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedek, the great priest, were released to Jerusalem. For the Lord inspired him to do His will and fulfill His commands. And he clearly added: saying to Jerusalem: you will be built, and to the church: you will be founded. For under Cyrus it was commanded that Jerusalem and the church should be built, for which only the foundation was laid during his lifetime. But under Darius, in his second year, according to the prophecy of Haggai and Zechariah, they began to build a church. Chapter XLV. Art. 1–7. Thus says the Lord to My Christ Cyrus, whom I held by the right hand, so that he will subdue the nations before him, and I will put the kings to flight, and I will open the doors before him, and the gates will not be shut. I will go before you and humiliate the glorious ones of the earth: I will break the copper gates and break the iron bars. And I will give you hidden treasures and kept secrets, so that you may know that I am the Lord, who calls you by name, the God of Israel. For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel My chosen one, I called you by your name and made you like them, but you did not know Me. I am the Lord, and there is no more: besides Me there is no God; I girded you, but you did not know Me, so that you would know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is no [God] besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, who forms light and creates darkness, who makes peace and creates disaster (malum). I am the Lord who does it all. I know that regarding this place, very many, not only from the Latins, but also from the Greeks, are greatly mistaken, thinking that it is written: thus says the Lord to My Christ, the Lord, and understanding this in the sense as in another place we read: “The Lord sent rain from the Lord” (Gen. 2), and the Lord said to My Lord (Ps. 109:1). For it is not said ϰυρίῳ, which means the Lord, but to Cyrus, called in Hebrew Chores, the king of Persia, who conquered Babylon and the Chaldeans. And after the accession of the Medes, he is above called a chariot driver, that is, a camel and a donkey. He is called Christ, that is, the anointed of the Lord, which among the Jews served as a distinction of royal power, just as in our country the diadem and purple are given only to emperors: so among the Jews those who entered the kingdom were doused with ointment. Therefore, Saul is called Christ of the Lord (1 Sam. 12). And in the Psalms we read: do not touch My anointed [Christ], and do not act deceitfully against My prophets (Ps. 104:13). He took him by the right hand and held him so that no one could resist his strength. Let us read Xenophon's eight books of the history of Cyrus the Elder, and we will see that Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled. For what city was not open to him? Which king did he not conquer? What walls, which were previously impregnable, were not destroyed after his siege? Therefore, God makes an appeal to Cyrus himself: I have given you the treasures and hidden riches of all cities, so that you, who previously worshiped idols, as a result of good deeds, will know the one God, especially when you learn that your name was predicted much earlier than your birth. This is precisely what Josephus reports in the eleventh book of Jewish Antiquities, that Cyrus read about a certain prediction of his name by Isaiah and therefore especially loved the Jews, as close to God. “I gave this to you,” he says, for the sake of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one, and I called you by your name, as I called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and predicted much earlier, as about Isaac and Josiah, so that you would not be considered the Christ to whom you were likened, and whose image and shadow you preceded. But you did not know Me, that is, you worshiped idols and not God. I have girded you with strength; I have made you a conqueror over many nations, but you have not known Your helper. At this point I cannot sufficiently marvel at the folly of those readers who refer this to Christ, through whom the world is reconciled to God. I am, he says, the Lord, and there is no one else besides Me. Apart from the Word, and precisely My mind and power and the wisdom that is in Me, there is no other God. And I did this so that from the east and the west the whole world would know that there is no other God besides Me. I am the Lord and there is no other. For the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, who says in the Gospel: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). And in the book of Ezra it is stated that Cyrus wrote to all nations that there is no God except the God of Israel. Or this is how we need to understand it: the release of the captives and God’s pardoning of his people made God more famous to all nations. So I, who gave you strength and the one God, bring about that which is mutually opposite, light and darkness, that is, day and night: peace and disaster, that is, peace and war, which also indicates that He was angry with His people when they endured the darkness of captivity and the misery of slavery. And again he had mercy on them when, having been released to their fatherland, they again received peace and joy. For just as darkness is opposite to light, so war is opposite to peace. Therefore, let the heresy be ashamed, which considers God the author of evil. For here malum [disaster or evil] is not the opposite of good, but is put in place of misfortune and war, according to what is written in the Gospel: his evil prevails over the day (Matthew 6:34). We can, in an allegorical sense, refer this to the minister of the church, to whom God gave the word and wisdom, so that with his disputation of words he would overthrow all sects that are contrary to the truth, just as the Holy Scripture speaks about Stephen (Acts ch. 6) that no one could resist his wisdom, and that he would subdue kings, that is, the leaders of all heresies, to his power, and open and crush what had previously seemed closed through dialectical art, and reveal the secrets of heretics, defeating them and exposing them, so that they would know the mysteries of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). God calls such a man by His name, because he is the protector of His servant Jacob and His chosen one, Israel. He accepts it and likens it to His Word; but he must be careful not to consider what he says as his own, but must attribute everything to the glory of the giver, so that he himself does not deserve to hear: I girded you, but you did not know Me. For when, armed with the armor of the apostles, he teaches everyone that there is no other God but one, who is the God of Jacob and Israel; Then Marcion will be ashamed, who accepts two gods, one good and the other righteous, one creator of invisible things, and the other of visible ones. Of these, the first creates light, the second creates darkness, the other creates peace, the other creates disaster, while the same God, depending on the difference in merit, created both. Aio te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse (Cicer. Divinat. II, 56), which can mean either the victory of Pyrrhus over the Romans, or the victory of the Romans over Pyrrhus. The ambiguity here depends on the two accusative cases (te and Romanos), of which each can be both subject and object. Creation bliss Jerome (in Russian translation), part 3, page 169 et al. You might be interested in: