COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH

Book 1

The word of the Lord, which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah. The blessed Zephaniah prophesies in Jerusalem, not being of obscure birth according to the flesh, nor yet being among those whose custom it was to speak falsely, and to invent divine words for their listeners, concerning whom the divine Ezekiel also said, "Woe to those who prophesy from their own heart, and see nothing at all," and indeed God of all Himself said through the voice of Jeremiah, "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied." But he was truly a prophet, conveying the words from the mouth of the Lord, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, pouring forth good things from his heart as from a good spring; for the tongue of the saints does not know how to speak falsely. Now, the purpose of the prophecy contains a rebuke of the two tribes that were in Jerusalem; I mean Judah and Benjamin. For it is written of them as having been impious, and having unholily assented to the deceits of idols, and as rushing eagerly to anything whatsoever that is displeasing to God; and the time of the reign has also been usefully added, during which he spoke such things to those who had offended, so that by examining the state of affairs at that time, we may then understand for what reason and how great the movement of divine wrath against them was. Therefore, for I will relate in detail the things that will also benefit those who read them; Hezekiah reigned at that time in Jerusalem, a man most especially beloved of God, a lover of piety, a champion of righteousness, an enemy of deceit, and one who cut away the harm from idolatry; for the sacred scripture has clearly testified such things of him. while he was governing in royal honor to Jerusalem, Sennacherib, the tyrant of the Assyrians, went up, and he captured Samaria, and deported Israel; that is, the ten tribes; to the mountains of the Persians and Medes, and having also burned not a few cities of the kingdom of Judah, he did not take Jerusalem, since God was its defender. But it is necessary to pass over the account of the history, being clear. Then, when Hezekiah died, Manasseh, his son, succeeded to the kingdom, who was so impious as to leave no form of wickedness unpracticed. And it is written thus about him in the fourth book of Kings: "And he did "evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the "nations whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. "And he returned and built the high places which Hezekiah his "father had torn down, and he raised up an altar to "Baal, and made groves, as Ahab king of "Israel had done, and he worshipped all the host of "heaven, and served them; and he built an altar "in the house of the Lord, of which He had said, In Jerusalem I will put my "name, and he built an altar to all the host of "heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord, and he made "his sons pass through the fire, and practiced augury and divination, "and appointed a sorcerer, and multiplied diviners to do "evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. And "he set the carved image of the grove in the house of which the Lord said "to David and to Solomon his son, In this "house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the "tribes of Israel I will put my name there for "ever." While Manasseh was impiously doing these things, God of all, then, was indignant, and very rightly so, and he clearly threatened to bring upon Jerusalem the consequences of his wrath. And it is written thus again: "And the Lord spoke by the hand of his servants "the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh the "king of Judah has done these wicked abominations beyond "all that the Amorite who was before him did, and has made "Judah also to sin with their idols, not so, "thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil "upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, "both his ears shall tingle, and I will stretch over "Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house "of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man "wipes an alabaster jar, wiping it and turning it upside down "before them, and I will cast off the remnant of my "inheritance, and deliver them into the hands of their enemies, "and they shall become a spoil and a prey to all "their enemies, because of all the evil they have done in "my sight." And these things, as I said, God threatened he would bring not long after upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. But when Manasseh was already deceased, Amon his son reigned, in no way inferior to his father in impiety of ways, but competing so with his impieties, as perhaps even to surpass him then. And when he also died, Josiah reigned, his son, but one who emulated the piety of Hezekiah, and an excellent lover of his ways. For he tore down altars and precincts, and having declared the divine temple clean of Manasseh's abominations, he commanded the priests according to the law to perform the customary rites for the glory of God; in addition to this, he burned the chariot of the sun, he drove out of Jerusalem false prophets, diviners, and wonder- workers, and indeed also soothsayers; and having slaughtered a great number of the temple priests, he burned them on the altars of the idols; and he overturned the altar of the calves in Bethel, which Jeroboam had made. And since he was so pious and good, God postponed his wrath, and brought none of the things he had foretold. But when Josiah also died, Jehoahaz reigned, whom Pharaoh Necho captured and made a prisoner, crowning with the honor of the kingdom Jeconiah, again a second son of Josiah, during whose reign Nebuchadnezzar marched against Judea, who having ravaged the whole country he took Jerusalem, and having burned the divine temple, along with the sacred vessels he carried off Judah and Benjamin as captives to his own land. It is necessary to know, that the cruelty of the Babylonian also crushed and ill-treated the cities of the foreigners, those situated by the sea, I mean Gaza and Ascalon and others with them, and the Idumeans and Ammonites. For the word of prophecy also recalls this. Let all things utterly fail from the face of the earth, says the Lord; let man and cattle fail, let the birds of the air and the fish of the sea fail, and the impious shall grow weak, and I will remove the lawless from the face of the earth, says the Lord. As their country was to be completely desolate, and was on the verge of being destroyed with all its inhabitants, in these things he makes the word of his foretelling hyperbolic. For we do not say, if we are of sound mind, that the God of all unleashes his wrath also on irrational animals and swimming and flying creatures; but rather he persuades his hearers to understand this, that there will be no sparing of anything at all; but just as when a ship is sunk along with its sailors, no remnant is left behind; so, he says, when Judea is captured, there will be nothing saved, not man, not beast, not bird, not swimming creature. But since it was very likely that there were some in it living lawfully, practicing a noble and admirable way of life, so that he might not seem to be unleashing his wrath upon all simply and indiscriminately, destroying the just with the unjust, and corrupting the pious with the profane and impious, for this reason he makes it clear against whom the things from wrath would go. For he said that And the impious shall grow weak and I will remove the lawless from the face of the earth. And they will grow weak, falling under the hand of enemies, and are removed either by dying and becoming the work of the sword, or by being carried off as captives and serving their captors. But if someone should choose to cleverly reinterpret man and cattle and the rest into morals and manners, he will understand men as those living according to the flesh, and having an earthly mind, and fixed upon temporary things, to whom also the divine word has addressed: "I said, you are gods and all sons of the Most High, but you die like men." For the life of the saints is no longer human, but rather more divine and spiritual; if indeed it is true that though they walk in the flesh, they do not live according to the flesh, as it is written; but rather have their citizenship in heaven; and cattle, in turn, those accustomed to live in great ignorance, and dull of mind, about whom he says through the voice of David, "Man, being in honor, did not understand; he is compared to the senseless cattle and is like them;" and he further commands, saying, "Do not be like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding." And birds we shall reckon to be those having an exalted and, as it were, lofty mind, and who have practiced carrying their intellect on high, and refuse to be drawn down by humble things. Such, in a way, is the boaster, and one completely entangled in the crimes of God-hated arrogance. You will take fish also for the most irrational multitude; for the species of fish are most voiceless; such also are the many, who, as if poured around by some sea of life's turmoil, and feeding on the salty and bitter pleasure of the things in it, are kept for the nets of death, having destruction as the end of their life. These, therefore, will fail, God sending punishment upon them, and having chosen at last to punish them as those treading a wanton and dissolute life, and not refraining from provoking him. And I will stretch out my hand upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will remove from this place the names of the Baalim, and the names of the priests, and with the priests those who worship on the roofs the host of heaven, and those who swear by their king, and those who those turning away from the Lord and those not seeking the Lord, and those not holding fast to the Lord. He thus clarifies what was obscurely said, and clearly states that the things from wrath will happen against the tribe of Judah and against Jerusalem. For he says that his own hand will be stretched out against her, as if seizing and striking, and subjecting them to what is imminently expected, those who are about to ravage and carry them away from the land that bore them, entangled in the snares of slavery. And he lays bare the charges, and says that the names of Baal will be taken from their midst, and the names of the priests will be gone along with them. And by this he signifies that the multitude of venerated objects among them was great, and the manner of their error was varied. But that they will be consumed by war, and the nations of the Jews will come to such a lack of men that there will perhaps be none to name Baal, or able to sit in the precincts of the idols, he has cleverly indicated, by saying that the names of their idols, and indeed of the priests, will be removed. And he says "names" instead of "memorials," or "glories." For thus also the most wise Solomon interprets it, saying "A good name is to be chosen, rather than great riches." And along with the priests and the names of the Baalim, he says that those who worship on the rooftops will be utterly destroyed; and these would be those who are accustomed to worship the moon and the bear and the rest of the host of heaven. And I will likewise remove, he says, both those who swear by their king and those who turn away from the Lord. For it was a custom for some of those who had gone astray to make heaven an object of their oath, and to let their tongue loose upon it; and, as it were, most ambitiously to cry out, By the king and master, the sun. For those who have chosen to do this, it is necessary also to depart fiercely from the love of God, although the law has clearly stated, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, and by his name you shall swear." And so the prophet Jeremiah once bore witness to those of Israel concerning the observance of the command through Moses, and said to God, deflecting the wrath against them, "They say, 'As the Lord lives.'" But those not seeking the Lord, nor indeed practicing to hold fast to him, would reasonably be understood as those living a worthless and unseemly life, and who have honored a polity outside the law. For the God of all is sought by us not so much spatially, but, I think, in actuality, through true knowledge, and that which has in itself what is irreproachable, through faith and gentleness, and through zeal and eagerness for everything whatsoever that is holily admired and pleasing to him. But it is necessary to know that these things were accomplished also by the one who was reigning in Jerusalem, I mean Josiah, in whose time the word of the prophecy also came. For he himself also tore down altars and precincts and handmade things; he slaughtered the priests, the false prophets, the diviners. But the Prophet seems not to be declaring things present at all, nor making his words about things already done, but rather to be foretelling that these things will be at certain times, which indeed were also accomplished through Nebuchadnezzar, who acted not for the glory of God; for how or from where, since he even burned the divine temple? But rather destroying and burning along with the idols those who worshiped them. Be reverent before the face of the Lord God, because the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord has prepared his sacrifice, he has consecrated his called ones. He usefully intertwines exhortation with the threats, and having terrified them with fears, he urges them toward what is better, bidding them to be circumspect; for this, I think, is what "to be reverent" is: the God of all, and to hasten to set right the paths of life, and without delay to turn toward what is dear and pleasing to him. And he says that such people must be seen before the face of the Lord, according to what was said by the voice of Isaiah, "Wash yourselves, be clean, remove the wickednesses from your souls before my eyes; cease "from your wickednesses." For it is not at all the same thing to remove wickedness from human eyes and from before the face of God, but the difference in the matters is very great. For sometimes a man who is wicked and not good in his ways, puts on the appearance of piety and fabricates a name for goodness, although in truth he is not this; and indeed Christ says, "Beware of those who come "to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous "wolves." Such a one is pious in the eyes of men, but not at all in the sight of God; but he who is truly without malice before the face of God not only puts on outward goodness and the appearance of being good, but rather has an unprofaned heart, and is indeed seen as such. For Solomon somewhere said, "For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, "and He looks upon all his paths." He calls the time of the capture the day of the Lord, which he also says is near, not allowing the more careless to perhaps consider and think among themselves that the postponement of the things foretold will be long, and that they will outrun the suffering, having reached the end of their own lives. For it was the custom of the Jews in the prophecies of the most gloomy things to think and say such things. And indeed God somewhere said to the blessed prophet Ezekiel, "Son of man, behold the provoking house of Israel, "saying, they say: The vision that he sees is for many days to come, "and he prophesies of times far off. Therefore say to them, Thus "says the Lord Adonai: None of my "words which I shall speak shall be prolonged any more; for I will "speak the word and will do it, says the Lord Adonai." This is what he says now, as I think, affirming that the day of the Lord has drawn near and that his sacrifice is being prepared, and his called ones are being consecrated. And he calls the slaughter of the impious, which will be done according to his will, a sacrifice; and the called ones, the Chaldeans, whom he says he also consecrates, not as having become holy, but rather as having been appointed and called by God to burn Judea, and with all mercy removed, to destroy those in it. The sacred scripture says something like this elsewhere. For the Persians and Medes and those who fought with Cyrus were called against Nineveh. And the God of all said about them, "They are consecrated, and I am bringing them; giants are coming "to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing and at the same time insolent." Therefore, consecration in these cases would not signify a putting away of wickedness, nor indeed a participation in the Holy Spirit, but rather that some have been predestined and assigned, as it were, to the fulfillment of some such deed. And it shall be in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's house, and all that are clothed with foreign apparel; and I will punish all those openly at the gates in that day, who fill the house of the Lord their God with impiety and deceit. These are the three things through which cities and countries, kingdoms and the orders of authorities under it, and the renowned priesthood, might be well. And if these things are in good order, according to what is fitting for each, the affairs under them would also be well, and the subject people is saved. But if indeed they should choose to honor the perverted path, and should indeed hasten along it, everything will at once go toward what is unseemly, and it is all but drunk with destruction. For just as when a pain occurs in the head of the body, it is necessary for the rest of the members to feel with it and be sick with it; so also when the leaders have turned to what is base and are sick with an inclination toward what is worse, it is necessary that those who are yoked under them are somehow destroyed along with them. For the subject people is somehow wont to follow and be carried along by the opinions of those who have been allotted to rule. In the day, therefore, he says, of the sacrifice pleasing to God, that is, in the time in which there would be of the most terrible things the slaughter of those who have sinned, upon the very first things, which are pre-eminent in glory and set before others, will the things of wrath proceed. And these are: the house of the king; and the neighbor right next to those held in glory and splendor; and third among them, the one more honored by God than the others, that of the sacred ministers; and they too are rulers, and leaders of the peoples, according to the order of the priesthood. And He accuses them exceedingly, as wearing foreign garments, that is, as having come to such a point of godlessness, and having chosen to despise the ordinances given of old through Moses, so as not even to keep the very vestment of the priesthood, when the occasion called them to perform the sacred rites. As, therefore, those who were from Aaron were consumed by fire, and the charge and accusation against them was that they offered strange fire on the altar; in the same way, I think, these also, about whom the discourse was, are called to account, because having neglected the seemliness proper to them, they were not arrayed in a sacred manner according to what seemed good to the lawgiver, but being clothed in foreign garments, they dared to perform the sacred rites. And this is also proof of the utmost contempt and that the law was considered of no account among them. Then how was one to think that the observance of the law would be a concern to the others, if their leaders had no regard for it? Therefore He says, I will take vengeance openly upon the gatehouses; and what He means to declare is something like this. When Israel sinned many times, and did not yield to the words of the prophets, He called them to repentance, correcting them like a father with external sorrows, and sometimes even touching their bodies; for example, I say, He struck the fruits in the field with blight, or at other times sent the locust and the grasshopper, or heaped up the caterpillar, or what is called mildew; and He has afflicted them "with blasting and with jaundice," according to the prophet's voice. Bringing these things upon them from time to time, He struck them, as it were, secretly; but now, He says, I will take vengeance openly upon the gatehouses, that is, I will not bring the things of wrath secretly, it will not be the locust and mildew against you, not a bodily sickness; but the naked, gleaming sword of the enemies, threatening destruction to those who have been impious toward me, and cruelly destroying in the very gatehouses of the temple those who fill the house of their God with impiety and deceit. What then is the impiety? And what is the deceit? Another prophet will make it clear to us, saying about Jerusalem, "Her leaders judged for gifts, and her prophets divined for silver;" and indeed the wise Isaiah somewhere addresses her and says, "Your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, seeking reward, not judging for orphans, and not attending to the judgment of the widow." Therefore, the ministers of the divine altars must take heed, lest they somehow fall into such accusations. For in a typical manner, those of old received the vestment proper to the sacred rites. But since the time of worship in spirit is at hand, let there be for each of those called to the ministry a splendid garment and a vestment, as it were, sacredly fitting: right and blameless faith, an evangelical life, a venerable and most lawful conduct, and an upright character, not overcome by shameful gains, a care that looks to virtue, and that considers what pleases God to be of all account. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, a sound of a cry from the gate of those who slay, and a wailing from the second, and a great crash from the hills. He clearly describes the calamities of the war, and shows some falling and perishing and lamenting for themselves, so that, overcome by the magnitude of the evils to come, they might choose to turn to hasten to do what is better and more fitting, and thus finally be carried out of the wrath. For the Creator is good, and does not desire "the death of him who dies, as that he should turn from his wicked way, and live," according to the voice of the prophet Ezekiel. Therefore, at that time, he says, from one gate of those who pierce, that is, of those who slaughter those who fall in their way, there will be a terrible and grim outcry. For somehow, in cities that are being captured, the enemies, bursting in, raise a terrible cry, breaking down those within them into fear, and as if headlong sharpening one another to cruelty. But from the other gate, he says, there will be wailing and tears, as the captured are pushed against each other, and each one hastens to leap out of the city as if from a sunken ship. And he says there will also be a great crashing from the hills, perhaps calling the so-called upper city in Jerusalem "hills," that is, naming Zion, or indicating something else. For somehow, in the raids of wars, the inhabitants always flee to the tops of the mountains, thinking that the difficulty of the places will be an obstacle to their enemies and will check the assaults of their pursuers. And so our Lord Jesus Christ once proclaimed to the peoples of the Jews, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." Therefore, when God strikes, and demands justice from those who have chosen to despise what they have sinned, nothing will help the sufferers, not a city with the finest towers, not unshakable circuits of walls, not the heights of mountains and the wildness of rocks, not untrodden, difficult terrain; but only repentance saves, pleading with the Judge, and calming His anger, and into the gentleness befitting Him calling the Creator, who is by nature readily good. And it is better to avoid offending Him with all one's might; but since human nature always inclines to evil, and "in many things we all stumble," having nothing steadfast at all toward virtue, let us at least strive to correct our own intentions by returning to what is better, and by repentance call to gentleness the Master of all, who is good by nature, as I just said. Wail, you who inhabit the one cut down, for all the people of Canaan have become alike, all those who are lifted up by silver have been utterly destroyed. That the sword will spare none of the Babylonians, but will utterly destroy those throughout all Judea, he signifies through these things. And he has commanded those left behind in Jerusalem, who were strong enough to escape, to lament greatly for Judea as destroyed, and for the city renowned among them that has been cut down; because all the people in it competed with the ways of the Canaanites, and chose to emulate their ways, and were thus so equal to them in all things as to perhaps even surpass and leave them behind. But the Canaanites were foreigners, God-hated and sinful and idolaters, and among those most slandered for all the most outlandish things. And so, in the sacred writings, someone is reproached, hearing, "Seed of Canaan, and not of Judah." And that their wealth is useless, a rotten and easily-broken support, he explains again, affirming that those who are lifted up by silver will be destroyed, that is, those who are accustomed to being proud of their wealth and possessions, and who raise a haughty brow for this very reason. For since, being overcome by shameful gains, and gaping for this, "the house of their God," as He himself says, "they filled with impiety and deceit," for this reason, wealth is rightly exposed as inert and useless, and knowing how to save no one. "A good name is therefore to be chosen rather than great riches," according to what is written; "for treasures will not profit the lawless, but righteousness will deliver from death," and "Truly a small portion with the fear of God is better than great revenues with injustice." And it shall be on that day, I will search Jerusalem with a lamp, and I will execute vengeance on the men who are contemptuous of their own watch-posts, who say in their in their hearts: 'The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil.' Whatever the enemies, using unrestrained madness against the captured, were about to do, God applies this to his own person, not as though he himself were the worker of such monstrous things, but rather as justly permitting the effects of wrath to come upon the impious. For what Solomon said enigmatically in Proverbs is true: "For not unjustly are nets spread for the winged; for they who partake of murder treasure up evils for themselves." For when it is possible to be far from both punishment and justice, having chosen virtue over evil things, they themselves sharpen wrath against themselves, and sending their own souls to a self-invited destruction, they would be caught by those who know how to judge rightly. Therefore Jerusalem is searched with a lamp. For the Jews suffered something like this from the Romans, which they happened to suffer when Jerusalem was captured by Vespasian and Titus; for as Josephus relates, who lamented the sufferings of the Jews with ten thousand mouths, after the slaughters in the wars and the innumerable multitude of those who perished throughout the city, searching with a lamp for those who had fled into the caves and sewers and bringing them to light, they slaughtered them cruelly and savagely. And he says that he will take vengeance on them as having despised their ordinances, that is, either the laws appointed for each of the things to be done, which they transgressed and were impious, considering their observance to be nothing; or, specifically, he calls the customs of the priests ordinances. For very great according to the law was the care for their vestments and sacred forms and also for the sacrifices. For they did not bring the victims to the altar in one single way. And one might learn the difference in these things by encountering the writings of Moses. But they had no regard for the ordinances, because of having reached such a point of nonsense and chilling thoughts, as perhaps even to suppose and to dare to say that the God of all takes no account of any of our affairs; and so to disregard earthly matters as neither to praise the good and give them rewards worthy of their uprightness, nor to be sharpened against sinners and bring upon them punishments equal to their unholy deeds. This, I think, is the meaning of 'The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil.' Therefore, what is being rumored is a lack of providence and nothing else. And the dogma is so shameful and hateful, that it did not even please the wise men of the Greeks. For they called the introducer of such things an atheist; this was Epicurus, one of those renowned among them for wisdom. Therefore it is possible to say that "The ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks upon all his paths." And he deems the workers of virtue worthy of rewards, but he makes the sinner exceedingly hated, and repays each according to his work, as it is written. Therefore, we must make our paths straight, and make the way that is pleasing to God, the Master of all, thus living lawfully and truly pursuing the most excellent life, in order to have the Master of all be gracious and well-disposed, and not to allow him to be embittered against us, by refusing what is evil and hastening to correct by repentance the faults of slumber and sloth. And their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for destruction; and they will build houses and not dwell in them, and they will plant vineyards and not drink their wine. Perhaps even now it will be said by us at the right time, "Treasures will not profit the lawless." For wealth is always a runaway, and it has no stability; rather it intoxicates and inclines toward apostasy, and has unsteady feet. And indeed to wish to be proud on its account is utterly foolish. For it will least of all deliver those under divine wrath, nor would it free anyone from accusations when God decrees punishment, and what is fitting for sinners bringing punishment. What then is wealth? It serves the flesh alone and is a servant of unholy and abominable pleasure, and a father of arrogance, and a root and genesis of pride, and it procures the possession of fleeting glories, which pass by their possessors like shadows. For it is true that, "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass." That the pursuit of wealth, therefore, is entirely unprofitable for the impious, he teaches by saying that their power will be for plunder by the Chaldeans. For they are those about whom it might be said, and very fittingly, what is sung in the Psalms, "Behold, the man who did not make God his helper, but hoped in the abundance of his wealth, and was strengthened in his vanity." And if they have also built for themselves lavishly adorned houses, they would not be their own, for they will be burned down; and if, in addition to this, they have become cultivators of vineyards, they themselves will not drink. How so? For they will be gone as captives, leaving their homes behind and deprived of everything that knows how to bring joy. And God made this clear through the voice of Jeremiah, saying to one of those who had reigned in Samaria, "You have built for yourself a well-proportioned house, airy upper rooms with latticed windows and panelled with cedar and painted with vermilion. Will you reign, because you are provoked in Ahab your father? They will not eat and they will not drink. It was better for you to do judgment and good justice." Therefore, we ought to desire none of the things on earth, but to cast as far away as possible the delighting in temporary things and the pursuit of fleeting wealth which, in a time of wrath, can profit its possessors in no way; but to make our boast the life in Christ, and the glories of an exceptional way of life, and to consider nothing better than intimacy with God, and to cry out and say, "O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in You;" and in addition to these things, that "One day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I have chosen to be an outcast in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners." Because the great day of the Lord is near, near and coming very swiftly; the voice of the day of the Lord is appointed bitter and hard, mighty; that day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and cry against the fortified cities and against the high corners. He cuts off again the hope of those who are sometimes disposed to think the words will run to a long postponement. For he shows the punishment to be, as it were, at the door, and the disaster from the war running at their heels. He calls the time in which such things will be, the day of the Lord. And indeed he also named it swift, as coming without any delay, and to be seen before long; and he says its voice is hard and most powerful, hinting, I suppose, at the war-cry of the enemies; a day, he says, of wrath and tribulation, of desolation and ruin, of darkness and gloom. For what of such things will not happen to those who have come to such a point of misery, as to be in the very terrors of death, and to lie in the worst of evils? And when enemies have captured a city, what will not happen to the captives? Or what excess of outrage will not be practiced? Are not young boys destroyed, and young girls cast down dead, like plants uprooted before their time? Does not despondency, like some night and darkness, blacken the heart of the captured, so that they are at a loss for counsel and thought; all but overshadowing the mind of each with mist and clouds, not even allowing them to think where on earth they are. Then how is this doubtful? And that the attack of the enemies will be unbearable both for populous cities trained in tactics, and indeed for others, which might be girded with surrounding walls, he has indicated by adding that it will be of a trumpet and A day of clamor is the day of the Lord against the fortified cities and against the high corners. For, as I said, He calls fortified those that are populous, and have a very great fighting class; and high corners, those that are walled. For the corners always somehow rise up in the circuits of the walls, and stand as towers, higher than the others. 'It is a fearful thing, therefore, to fall into the hands of the living God,' according to what is written. For no one at all will be set against Him; for He Himself is the Lord of hosts. And I will distress men, and they shall walk as blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and I will pour out their blood as dust, and their flesh as dung. and their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, because in the fire of his zeal all the earth shall be consumed, for he will make a final end and a haste upon all who dwell on the earth. The meaning of the preceding is very clear, and would require, as I think, no word for clarification. Nevertheless, we will speak summarily. For He threatens them with things beyond all evil, and darkness in their mind; and He immediately relates the cause, adding, 'Because they have sinned against the Lord.' It is as if He said, 'Having acted insolently toward their brothers, they have also unguardedly acted impiously against the Master of all Himself and would be caught rising up against the divine glory.' If it is indeed entirely discordant and unholy to deprive Him of His own honors, and, as it were, to drive Him from the thrones of divinity, and to enthrone for themselves creation and the forms of irrational beasts. For some attached their worship to calves; others to a certain Astarte and Baal-peor; others to the moon and stars. For this reason, then, He threatens to bring upon them the calamities of war, both a final end and a haste. And the 'final end' would signify the utter destruction of the land of the Jews; while 'haste' signifies that the things foretold would happen, as it were, with speed and without delay. And the word 'haste' often indicates in the sacred writings also an assault of tumults. It is therefore a very terrible thing to sin against brothers; but if indeed the transgressions of some should proceed to such a point of depravity as to grieve even the ineffable nature itself, no means will avert the consequences of wrath. It is therefore fitting that one should lament the God-hated heretics, who sharpen their tongue against the Son of God, and say that He is created, and indeed in lesser things than those in which the Father is. And they themselves fashion an idol, as it were, according to what seems good to them, and command that this be worshipped. For if the Son has fallen away entirely from being God by nature, and is a created being, yet is worshipped both by us and by the holy angels, how are we not clearly worshipping creation, just like the children of the Greeks, who fashioned an idol in the form of the sun, or of some other created thing, out of senselessness and vanity of reasonings? Be gathered and be bound together, O undisciplined nation, before you become as a flower that passes away by day, before the wrath of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. Having shown very well the savagery of the war and the magnitude of the coming calamity, he opportunely turns his discourse again to the need to call them to repentance, at a time when it was easy to persuade them, since they were presumably afraid. For when the mind has at times been hardened and has inclined very much toward the more shameful and abominable things, we do not easily accept even choosing to repent, but fear often compels us to it, even unwillingly. He calls them, therefore, to intimacy with Himself. For just as we say that they fell away and became alienated, having worshipped idols and given their mind to their own passions; so again we shall understand it as going back, as it were, and taking hold of intimacy with God, choosing to worship Him alone, and to follow His ordinances. And He calls the race of Israel an undisciplined nation, as also dishonoring the ancient commandment itself, and impiously rejecting the law that trains and is able to bring forth every kind of goodness. But He threatens again, that if they are not bound to Him, in the ways we have just mentioned, they will differ in nothing from the flowers in the fields, which are both rotten and quick to wither, and they will surely fall under those things that come from wrath. Therefore, "As long as we have time, let us do good to all." As long as the Master, being long-suffering as God, grants it, let us repent, let us offer supplications, let us cry out with tears, "Do not remember the sins of my youth and my ignorance," let us join ourselves through sanctification and sobriety; for thus we will be sheltered in the day of wrath, and we will wash away the stain from our transgressions before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon us. For the Judge will surely come from heaven at the appointed times, and will repay each according to his work. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, work judgment, and seek righteousness, seek meekness, and answer for them, so that you may be sheltered in the day of the Lord's wrath. In what way indeed they might be bound to Him, though being an abominable and uninstructed nation, He clearly indicates. For He commands to seek the Lord, to work judgment and righteousness and to answer for them. God, therefore, is sought by us through choosing to thirst to do what seems good to Him, with all laziness set aside; and we will work judgment, carrying out His divine law, and most unweariedly practicing virtue; and we will gain again the glory of righteousness, being very well crowned with boasts from good works, and treading the truly glorious and blameless path of piety toward God and love toward brothers; "For love is the fulfillment of the law," as it is written. But I think one must add to what I said, the "answer for them," that is, to also speak to others and to admonish brothers; for in this way and not otherwise will we be perfect for virtue. So also our Lord Jesus Christ said that the one most approved in deed and word will be called great in the kingdom of heaven; but least, the one who has practiced teaching and is sufficient for this, but is not yet willing to do what he thinks is right, and commands some to practice it. Does he not somewhere also pronounce woe upon the teachers of the Jews? saying thus, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but you yourselves," he says, "will not so much as touch them with the tip of your finger." Therefore, the proof of the most perfect piety is to both practice virtue and to teach others the things through which they might become illustrious. And that the labor for this is not without reward, the disciple of Christ will make clear, saying, "That he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." But if anyone should think that "answer for them" indicates that it is proper to make a study of them, let him understand it in this way too. For the law of Moses also commanded concerning the oracles of God, that "you shall talk of them when you sit down, and when you walk in the marketplace, when you lie down and when you rise up." And David also sings, "And I will meditate on your statutes always." Because Gaza shall be plundered, and Ashkelon to destruction, and Ashdod shall be cast out at noonday, and Ekron shall be uprooted. The word again manages something and clearly foretells things that will happen in due time for the encouragement and comfort of those from Israel. And what is this, I shall say. When Jerusalem was sacked, and all of Judea had been seized by Nebuchadnezzar, the neighboring cities of the foreigners rejoiced over those who had suffered and mocked the vanquished, and they sacrificed to their own gods, as though they had destroyed a race hateful to all; and they dared to say that their trust in God had been proven useless by their circumstances, and they thought that the aid from above was also stronger and better than that of became the hand of the Babylonians. But if anyone from Judea, having left his home and fled his native land during the time of war, arrived among his neighbors expecting to be saved, this one was in a worse state, having encountered men more savage than the Babylonians, those who ought to have shown pity. Therefore, the wretches were insolent against the glory of God, and met those who had fared miserably with harshness and inflexibility, refusing to share their pain; but rather, also savagely burdening the captives with their own coarseness. What then? After this, the people of Israel returned in due course from captivity, when Cyrus reluctantly permitted it, and having come to Jerusalem they were rebuilding the city's wall, and they also rebuilt the divine temple, and were now at last somehow in hope of prospering, with God as their champion. But when they learned that these things were being done, the Gazans and the Ashkelonites, and indeed the Azotians, and those from the city called Ekron, the Moabites and Idumeans and Ammonites, and certain other nations besides these, were consumed by the flame of envy, and wished to hinder them from enclosing the city with the wall, and so, having gathered together, they campaigned against those who had been recalled from captivity. And the battle was joined in the valley of Jehoshaphat; and they fell and were destroyed, as God strengthened Israel. And they took the cities of the nations by force, so as to reduce them to complete desolation, and to make them pens for flocks. He now recalls this history, as it contains a promise, first of the return from captivity, then of future glory and of victory over all. For he says that Gaza will be plundered, that Ashkelon will go to destruction, and that Azotus will be cast out at noonday; "at noonday" meaning openly and not in the manner of robbers, but clearly and by the law of war; and that Ekron will be uprooted. And he makes the threat very cleverly in relation to the meaning of the name; for Ekron is interpreted as "uprooting." This very thing he says it will suffer, as if having in its name the indication of the calamity that would be brought upon it. Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, settlers from Crete; the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of foreigners. Having threatened sufficiently, and having foretold what was about to happen to the inhabitants of Palestine—I mean the Gazans and the Ashkelonites, along with the Azotians and those from Ekron—he weaves a similar discourse also against the Phoenician cities, and especially those among them that are situated by the sea. For this reason he says, "Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast." And since many of the cities in Palestine also dwell by the sea, distinguishing as it were the ones being indicated, he now calls them "settlers from Crete," so that from this we might understand the inhabitants of Phoenicia, whom, as I said, he names settlers from Crete for the following reason. Cretans and Libyans are separated from one another, with the sea lying between them, by very small distances. For as the common account has it, when the wind blows, sometimes the scents of the plants from Crete dart across and kill the wild beasts in Libya, I mean both reptiles and the tribes of venomous creatures. So then, Libyans and Cretans were ranked as one nation. From there, having at various times sent out a colony, they inhabited and built the cities in Phoenicia, just as, of course, the Cappadocians at various times did for the cities of Palestine. And indeed God says somewhere through the voice of Amos, "Are you not as sons of the Ethiopians to me, O sons of Israel? says the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the foreigners from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from a pit." And he calls the Palestinians "foreigners," but the Phoenicians "Syrians," whom he also claims to have brought up from a pit, calling Libya, I think, a pit, because the country is perhaps somewhere both hollow and low-lying. For the sea beside it widens into bays, almost as if it were retreating behind the mainland, and penetrating into the very southernmost regions. But it should be known that instead of "From a pit," the other interpreters have named Cyrene, because the Phoenicians are more clearly shown to be colonists of the Libyans; for Cyrene is a most notable city of Libya. Therefore, he says, the word of the Lord is upon you, O sojourners of the Cretans, that is, Libyans; and he says "sojourners" instead of "colonists" and "migrants." And again he calls them Canaan. For all who inhabited the cities of Phoenicia were Canaanites, even if they were from the beginning colonists of the Cretans. But it should be known that again the other interpreters, instead of "sojourners of the Cretans," have published, "The word of the Lord is upon you, a nation destroyed." But since it was necessary to follow again the writing of the Seventy, we have brought forward what is from history, which tradition brings to us, and which the word of the prophet has also sealed as true. And I will destroy you from your dwelling, and Crete shall be a pasture for flocks and a fold for sheep. Behold, again he speaks to them as settlers, and discourses to them as migrants, and has testified to the truth of the history; for he says he will destroy them from their dwelling, that is, from the land in which they have both sojourned and settled; he says that their cities will come to such a state of desolation as to become a pasture and a fold for flocks. And again he calls Phoenicia, or those in Phoenicia, "Crete," as being from Crete, which borders on and is a neighbor of the Libyans. And in ancient times they were one, and the races were mixed with one another in blood and customs and laws. And the seacoast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; upon them they shall pasture in the houses of Ashkelon, in the evening they shall lie down from the presence of the sons of Judah, because the Lord their God has visited them, and has turned back their captivity. I have already said before, that all the nations, inflamed with envy, were gathered together, and were marching against Jerusalem after the time of the captivity, and indeed, when war broke out in the valley of Jehoshaphat, those who impiously plotted against the redeemed were defeated and have fallen. Therefore, having conquered, those of Israel grazed upon the fields of the foreigners as if they were deserted, and used the desolate cities of the Philistines, that is, of the Palestinians, as enclosures, because all in them had been utterly destroyed. Therefore, he says, the seacoast, that is, the cities of the Palestinians by the sea, which were once populous, the fearsome and hard to conquer, shall be a pasture for flocks for the remnant of the house of Judah. For those who were saved from captivity and scarcely left over, they themselves have conquered, they themselves also will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon in the evening. For towards evening the shepherds shut the herds of livestock up in the enclosures. What then is such great power? Or how will this be, which is beyond both faith and all reason? Because, he says, the Lord their God has visited them and has turned back their captivity. It is as if he were to say: He has ceased His anger against them, He has forgiven them their offenses and arms Himself alongside those of Israel, as of old, and He grants the victory over their adversaries, and this, effortlessly. Therefore, whenever God turns away from us as we sin, we will lie under the feet of our enemies, and there is no one to save or to defend. But if He should again watch over those who strive for virtue and wish to live according to the law, we shall be superior to every war, and we shall very easily prevail over our adversaries, and He himself will give full assurance, saying about every righteous person: "Because "he has hoped in Me, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because "he has known My name. He will cry to Me, and I will hear "him; I am with him in affliction; I will rescue him and "I will glorify him. With length of days I will satisfy him, and "I will show him My salvation." I have heard the reproaches of Moab and the buffetings of the sons of Ammon, with which they reproached my people and magnified themselves against my borders. For this reason, as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, For Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, and Damascus abandoned, as a heap of the threshing floor and made to disappear forever; and the remnants of my people shall plunder them, and the remnants of my nation shall inherit them. When Jerusalem was sacked, and those of Israel had fared miserably, the neighboring nations, as I said, mocked them, and they thought that the capture of Judea was the work of their own falsely-named gods, since the hand that had always from the beginning helped them was completely overturned and gone, perhaps, to nothing—I mean, of course, that of the all-ruling God. For it is not at all unlikely that some should arrive at this foolishness, as having been deceived, having served wood and stones, and having been ignorant of the God who is by nature and in truth. Therefore, he says, I have heard the reproaches of the Moabites and the buffetings of the sons of Ammon. For I think that he who strikes the suffering with reproaches, and opens a unbridled mouth against them, will differ in no way from one who strikes them, perhaps with a rod or a stone, belching out and saying things by which it was likely that some would be embittered to despondency and grief, and he makes the assault of the calamity more burdensome. But since they were also convicted of speaking rashly against the divine and ineffable glory itself, for this reason, he says, having endured the justice of the Sodomites, they will go to destruction, and perhaps making the sufferings of Gomorrah seem small by their own calamities, and late and with difficulty they will know through the events themselves the power of the one who punishes. Damascus, indeed, the illustrious and conspicuous metropolis of the Phoenicians, in which are the palaces, will be a heap of straw, having no ear of grain, of which there is no account, but its end is for burning, that is, for scattering. For the gusts of winds scatter the heaps of chaff everywhere; and in the same manner, the forces of the captors scatter everywhere those in the captured cities, falling upon them like the most violent winds. But that the accomplishment of such evils will at the right times be not for another, but for the very people who have suffered and been reproached, he implies, saying, The remnants of my people shall plunder them and the remnants of my nation shall inherit them. For, as I have already said, he calls the remnants of the nation those who were saved from captivity, who have prevailed over the nations, and having captured the cities of the foreigners, have reduced them to complete desolation. Therefore, when the God of all economically disciplines the Church, either by bringing on tribulations, or by allowing persecutions to take place, when enemies attack her, either Greeks perhaps, or unholy heretics, let no one smile scornfully, but rather let him await the end of the entire struggle. For those who laugh broadly at times, and all but reproach Christ, as not defending his own, that is, as they think, being too weak for this, will suffer the passions of the Sodomites, and will be food for fire, and in addition to this, they will find those whom they considered to be defeated to be victorious. This is for them in return for their insolence, because they reproached and magnified themselves against the Lord Almighty. The Lord will be manifest against them, and will destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth. This, he says, is their portion and this their lot. For they have behaved insolently even against the ineffable glory itself, the wretches speaking rashly and uttering reviling words, and they all but rose up against the One who is beyond all things, using a terrible and unbridled audacity for this. But since they attributed the glory for being able to do all things to their own gods, the Lord will be manifest against them, that is, he will show them his own power, by destroying all their gods. For their temples have been destroyed and have fallen by the hand of Israel, and the handmade idols have become the work of fire everywhere and in every nation of the captured. Where then of the gods the power? Or how could they save others, who are not even able to defend themselves? Or rather, what is deaf and senseless matter anyway? "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands," and if it is not offensive to say, or rather, it shall be said, "What profit is a carved image, that they have carved it, a molten image they have cast, a false vision," according to the voice of the prophet? and as the divine David says, "May all who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." And each one from his own place will worship him, all the islands of the nations. We say that the Lord was revealed upon them, as one who has destroyed all their gods, long ago through those from Israel who vigorously burned along with the cities of the foreigners both the statues in the sanctuaries and the altars in them. But at the time of the Incarnation of the Only-begotten, one might see this having happened more truly, when the Word, being God, became like us and was revealed; and so the divine disciples said that they had touched with their hands and seen with their eyes the very one who is from the beginning, whom they have heard. For he who as God is beyond being seen became manifest, and David somewhere psalms, "God will come openly, our God, and he will not be silent." But since he became manifest "and was seen upon earth," as it is written, "and lived among men," then the abominable and profane herds of idols perished; and the power of the devil has been completely destroyed, and from now on each of those brought to the knowledge of the truth through faith in Christ offers worship through him and with him to God the Father from his own place, and God is no longer known only throughout Judea, but also the lands and cities of the nations, even if they are separated from Judea by an intervening sea, no less do they approach Christ, they offer prayers, they lift up doxologies, they honor him with unceasing praises. For long ago "his name was great in Israel;" but now it has become most known to those everywhere, and earth and sea are full of his glory. And this, then, was that which is said, "As I live, says the Lord, surely all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord." So then, he says, each will worship from his own place. For the law, prefiguring the beauty of the Church, erected for those from Israel that ancient tabernacle; as a type of which that famous temple was also raised in Jerusalem. And the divine Moses, or rather God through him, commanded the ancients that those from all the land of the Jews who wished to worship should go up to Jerusalem, and so to sacrifice and worship God, and death was the penalty for those who sacrificed outside the temple. But since the time of the shadow has passed, the things in types have ceased, and we have now come to know that the divine is not in a place, nor indeed does "the Most High dwell in temples made with hands," but rather he fills the heavens and the earth and the things below; for this reason, believing him to be everywhere and in all things, wherever each one happens to be, there he makes his worship, as having near the God who says, "I am a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God far off." But it should be known that sometimes the sacred writing calls the churches islands, as if lying in the sea in this world, and being poured around by the bitter waters of the tribulations in it, and all but being struck by the most violent waves of persecutions, yet unshakeably established and holding up high, and not being submerged by the afflictions. For the churches are unshaken through Christ, "and the gates of Hades will not prevail against them." Therefore, if someone should wish to understand "islands of the nations" as the churches from the nations, he will not depart from a fitting purpose; as being washed about by the billows of temptations, but having their stability in Christ, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. OF THE SAME AUTHOR, ON THE SAME PROPHET, BOOK TWO. And you, Ethiopians, are the slain of my sword. He remembers every people, that is, nation, that warred against Israel and prattled against the divine glory. He proceeds therefore from the Idumeans and Ammonites to the Ethiopians, or those situated to the east and south, and inhabiting the neighboring land of the Persians; that is, the Egyptians, as being adjacent and neighbors to those of Israel; and the land of the Egyptians is also a part of Ethiopia; and indeed, it is the custom of the sacred writings to call the rivers of the Egyptians the rivers of Ethiopia. For they themselves also drink from the Geon, concerning which the scripture says, "This is it which compasses the whole land of Ethiopia." You Ethiopians therefore shall also be the slain of my sword. And he calls the sword of the Jews his own, as he himself brings it against those who have acted unholily both against his glory, as I said, and indeed against Israel. But since the divinely inspired scripture also knows of spiritual Ethiopians, let us say something about them as well, not departing from the meaning of the things set forth. Somewhere the blessed David, singing as if to our Lord Jesus Christ, said, "You "broke the heads of the dragons on the water. You crushed the "head of the dragon, you gave him as food to the Ethiopian "peoples." And also elsewhere, "The Ethiopians will fall "down before him, and his enemies will lick the dust." And somewhere the bride prefigured in the Song of Songs confesses to be both black and beautiful. Therefore, Ethiopians should be understood as those having, as it were, a dark and unilluminated mind, those not yet enlightened, and not having the divine light. But those who fall down before Christ, just like the bride, are made brilliant by him, for they have cried out in prayer, "And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us;" but those who have an uncleanness that is hard to wash away, and have remained in their blackness, will indeed feast upon the heads of the dragon; for the apostate dragon is their food; and they will be subject to the sword. And I think the power of the saying is most fitting for the unclean spirits, which Christ has wounded, having cast them out of their tyranny over us, and destroying with them the father of darkness, the inventor of all sin, the one who darkens "the minds of "the unbelievers, so that the light of the Gospel of the "glory of Christ might not shine." And this, I think, is what the wise Isaiah also said to us: "And it will be in "that day, God will bring his holy, great, and strong "sword upon the dragon, the crooked serpent, upon the "dragon, the fleeing serpent, and he will destroy the dragon. And I will stretch out my hand against the north and destroy the Assyrian, and I will make Nineveh a desolation, waterless as a desert. and flocks shall feed in the midst of it, and all the beasts of the earth, and chameleons and hedgehogs shall lodge in its carved ceilings, and beasts shall cry out in its breaches and ravens in its gateways. I will lay hold, he says, of the lands and cities to the east and north, and with the others I will destroy the Assyrians and the desolate cities, and I will add to them the renowned Nineveh, the metropolis of the Chaldeans. It will be waterless, like impassable and uninhabited lands. And it is likely again that the saying compares the multitude of inhabitants to waters; for this is a custom of the sacred writings. And indeed, concerning the attack of the Assyrians, which they made against Jerusalem, another of the holy prophets foretold, saying, "Behold, "waters are coming from the north, and will become a flooding "torrent." Therefore, when he says that Nineveh will be waterless, I would say that he means it will be empty of its inhabitants; but that flocks will feed in the midst of it he asserts, setting this I think as a sign of its complete desolation and of no one dwelling in it; for things of the fields do not grow in a city. But if indeed grasses should perchance grow even in a city, what is happening is a sort of clear admission that it is completely bereft of men. And he adds a not moderate number of other signs. For he says that all the beasts of the earth will lodge in it, and that chameleons and hedgehogs will lie down in its coffered ceilings; and indeed also in the burrows, that is, either in pits, or even in caves, the wild beasts will cry out, and ravens will lodge in its gateways. It is doubtful to no one of sound mind that neither would hedgehogs lodge in houses, nor indeed would beasts make their lairs in the middle of a city, nor would night-ravens frequent the gateways, unless there were the greatest possible leisure, very pleasing to those of such a nature. For somehow beasts, and indeed the other things of which we speak, do not like to lodge with men; how could they? but rather wherever there might be a great desolation, and the way of life is completely at leisure, and the breadth of the desolation all but guarantees safety, and removes it from all fear. But if it is necessary to say something more about these things, let us secure our own hearts, and with all our strength let us refuse to offend God in any way at all, so that we may not become a dwelling place for wicked and savage beasts, I mean of the unclean spirits, with all virtue having been removed from us. And this I think is what was spoken very well and wisely through the voice of Jeremiah to Jerusalem: "You shall be chastised with toil and scourge, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you an impassable land, which shall not be inhabited." For when our God removes virtue, abominable and unholy passions will by all means rush into the mind and heart, and will dwell there like certain beasts, and the wild multitude of unclean spirits will also rush in with them. Because her stature is a cedar. This is the scornful city, that dwells in hope, that says in her heart, "I am, and there is none after me." How has she become a desolation, a pasture for beasts; everyone who passes through her will hiss and shake his hands. As always choosing to be proud, and as arrogant and boastful, Nineveh is portrayed. And this was true, as she raised a most haughty brow against every nation and every power, and considered the strength of others to be of little worth at all. And the prophet Habakkuk also testified to this, saying of the king of the Assyrians, that "And he will revel among kings, and tyrants are his playthings, and he will mock every fortress." That the metropolis of the Chaldeans, then, was exceedingly haughty, and lifted up on high, and greatly tending toward insolence, he again makes clear, likening her to the stature of a cedar, and calling her scornful. And you may learn that this was said rightly and accurately from the words of the Rabshakeh; who, when he had come into Judea, and then attacked those on the wall, prattled on about the highest glory. For he said, "Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you with words, which will not be able to deliver you, and let not Hezekiah say to you that God will deliver you." and a little later, "Have the gods of the nations, each one, delivered his own land from the hand of the king of the Assyrians?" This, then, is the scornful city, that dwells and says, "I am, and there is none after me." Since, then, she loves to make such shameful and accursed arrogance a matter of glorious boasting, for this reason she will finally descend to such a state of misery, that it will be necessary to say of her, How have you become a desolation, a pasture for beasts; and the "how" would not be of one asking and wishing to learn, but rather of one marveling at the change beyond hope. For great and unexpected evils are not without wonder, and they are wont somehow to astound those who see them, or those who have learned of them. Thus also will everyone hiss at and will move his hands, striking them against each other, as I suppose, and applauding out of amazement, and sending forth a sound from his mouth, one with a hiss and rather indistinct. And through these things he depicts for us very well, as it were, one who is dumbfounded at unexpected calamities. "God therefore opposes the proud;" and I say that the command is wise and worthy of acceptance, "Do not exalt yourself, lest you fall," and again, "He who makes his house high seeks destruction." For just as buildings raised to a great height and beyond measure are somehow more prone to shaking, and are afflicted with the greatest suspicion of collapsing upon themselves; so also the soul of a man, swelling up to arrogance with the vanity of his thoughts, is unsound and easily overturned and quick to fall. But if indeed the matter were to be done against God, then at that point there is no support left. O the glorious and redeemed city, the dove. He immediately proceeds to the remembrance of the Jews, I mean of Jerusalem, which, since the Assyrians captured it, has paid the penalty. And the rest of the nations have also been punished for mocking the glory of God, and he grieves, as it were, for her who suffered things beyond hope, and for the incurable calamity he does not ascribe the causes to anyone else, but says that she herself has been her own solicitor. He laments therefore and says, O the glorious and redeemed city, the dove. For why, he says, have you become altogether most dishonored, pitiable and captive, you who were so brilliant and illustrious, who ruled over every nation, and conquered without toil those who resisted, ever harsh and hard to encounter for those wishing to lead out against you, fully equipped according to the law of war; you who were redeemed from the bondage of the Egyptians by many signs and wonders and who loosened your neck from their unbearable oppression; for whose sake rivers were changed into blood, and hail and darkness ravaged the land of the Egyptians, with whom the sea also took up arms, drowning the pursuers, and countless other memorable things happened besides these? O city, the dove, that is, the most beautiful. For the divinely-inspired scripture somehow always takes the bird as a symbol for beauty; just as, for example, the bridegroom wished to dignify the bride depicted in the Song with the name of the dove, saying, "Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove." And Jerusalem was exceedingly beautiful, because it was illumined by the divine law, and was seen to be distinguished by the glories of the priesthood, and to practice righteousness, and to worship the God who is by nature, and to perform the services to him. And this is a spiritual beauty. But you might also understand Jerusalem to have been called a dove in another way. For it is always the custom for the bird, even if someone should carry it very far away from its beloved nest, and then give it the opportunity to fly, to run back home again and be brought back to its own. which indeed we will find happened in the case of Jerusalem itself. For having piety from its forefathers, it went down to Egypt; but departing, as it were, from the worship of its fathers, it worshipped idols there; but it was called through Moses, and flew away, in a certain manner, from the error in Egypt, returning back to God. But what, he says, is the reason that the redeemed city was captured at all, and came under others again? She did not listen to a voice. For she heard God on Mount Sinai saying, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth." But disregarding what was commanded, she foolishly slid into polytheistic error. Therefore, she did not listen to a voice, namely, the one that came to her on Mount Sinai; or rather, we shall take 'voice' to mean 'admonition'. She did not receive instruction. For treating with insolence the law that was a pedagogue and brought her to righteousness, she turned to "teachings, the commandments of men," and following her own opinions, outside has departed from the straight path, and has remained ignorant and without a share in the divine teachings. She has not trusted in the Lord. For when war was afflicting, and the contest was at hand, and dangers were hanging over, it was necessary for her to love and imitate the piety of her ancestors, and to trust in the one God who saves, she "called upon Egypt," according to what is written, "and they went to the Assyrians," and hired Syrians, that is, Arabians, almost dishonoring the divine power. And she has not drawn near to her God. We draw near to God through all reasonableness, and having chosen to do what is pleasing to him. and we draw near in another way, believing him alone to be by nature and in truth God and king of the universe and creator, and accepting no other at all besides him. Her rulers within her are like roaring lions. He enumerates the accusations, and brings forward the reasons for which he has been rightly moved and inclined to anger, so that he might then appear to be punishing in justice the impious who have sunk to this point of wickedness, so that the matter has become somehow unbearable even for God himself. Therefore, he says, her rulers were like lions. And what do they do? When hunger whets them, and calls them to a desire for food, they run strongly around mountains and valleys, roaring terribly and discordantly; and if they should see anything suitable for food, as if thundering, they bring about such fear that it seems to be paralyzed, and as if bound by fetters, to await the devourer. And some of the leaders in Israel were doing this, threatening at times to inflict the death prescribed by the law for transgressors even on those who had done nothing wrong, if they did not choose to do what was pleasing and dear to them, and they accuse others who yield, that is, those who are stepping away from their own possessions for the judges themselves. For he records such evils of theirs also through another prophet, saying; and this is Micah; "They became "those who devise troubles and work evil on their beds, "and with the daylight they accomplished them, because they did not "lift their hands to God. And they coveted fields, "and they plundered orphans, and oppressed houses, and "they plundered a man and his house, a man and his "inheritance." And in like manner do the inventors of heresies roar against those who have chosen to live in simple faith, and opening a mouth hateful to God, they almost devour those who know nothing, making them more ignorant, and instilling in them cold and perverted thoughts, and so telling them myths, and persuading them to think what is supposed by them to be right, so that those caught in their snares seem already to have perhaps died, and to differ little from senseless stones, to whom one might cry out, and very fittingly, "Awake, you who are sleeping, and arise from the dead, "and Christ will shine on you." But, as the blessed David says, "God will break their teeth in their "mouth, the Lord has shattered the molars of the lions." Her judges are like wolves of Arabia, they did not leave anything over for the morning. They say that the wolves in Arabia go beyond every beast in ferocity, and are exceedingly sick with insatiability for food, and are so swift in running as to easily escape every pursuer. For he said somewhere through another prophet concerning the horses from Babylon, "swifter than the "wolves of Arabia." He therefore takes for the present the greediness of the wolves as a type of the judges, as if with whole mouth and insatiable teeth consuming those being judged, by demanding very many things and things beyond their means for the perversion of justice, and so that what is pleasing to the divine law might be impiously bent to what is pleasing to certain others. But it were better for them to understand that, as the writer of Proverbs says, "For one who receives gifts in his bosom, his ways do not prosper." "For gifts blind the eyes of the wise and ruin "just words," according to the it is written. For what at all is the excess from bribery? And how will shameful little gain profit those who love it? Rather, what loss would it not work for them? For blessed Paul is true in saying, "But those who want to be rich fall into temp- "tation and a snare and many foolish and "harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin "and destruction." "A good name is therefore to be chosen rather than great "riches," and the saying is truly very wise and precise. Her prophets are spirit-bearing men, despisers. It is well said "her" prophets here, because they have not become God's, speaking perilously the things "from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord," according to what is written. But the saying speaks ironically, calling them spirit-bearers; not as if they had truly been partakers of the Holy Spirit, but as daring to feign the business of prophecy, and not hesitating to say that they are full of the Holy Spirit. Wishing therefore to be, he says, both prophets and spirit-bearers, and thus fashioning the august name around their own heads, they have become so contemptuous as not even to know what moderation is, but also to destroy others to whom they spoke things from the heart, and this, the wretches, for some small and most worthless gains, and as the prophet Ezekiel says, "for a handful of barley and "a piece of bread." And to this they have slid into madness, so as to say that their own counsels are those of the ineffable glory, and to insist that the words bubbling forth from their own opinion are divine oracles. And so He said of them through the voice of Jeremiah, "I did not send the "prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, "yet they prophesied;" and when the prophet himself cried out clearly and said, "O Sovereign Lord, behold, "their prophets prophesy to them and say, ‘You shall not see "the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, for I will give truth and "peace on the land and in this place;’" God of all all but cried out in response, saying, "The prophets prophesy lies "in My name; I did not send "them, and I did not command them, and I did not speak to "them; for they prophesy to you false visions and divinations and omens "and the preferences of their own heart. "If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is in them, "let them meet with Me. What is the chaff to the wheat? So "are my words, says the Lord. Are not my words like a "burning fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock?" For the word from God reaches to the depth of the mind, and all but breaks the heart of the hearers; but cold and weak is the word from human counsel, such as was that of the unholy false prophets. Her priests profane the holy things and do violence to the law. Nor has the chosen race itself been found blameless, that is, the one from the tribe of Levi; for he says that they too profane the holy things and do violence to the law. For it is written, "For the lips of a priest will guard judgment, and they will seek "the law from his mouth." But as the Master of all says somewhere again, "The priests did not say, ‘Where is "the Lord?’" For not wishing to make the law clear to those who do not know it, nor indeed hastening to lead the people under their hand to what is pleasing to God, this, I think, is what it means to do violence to the law. And their offenses do not stop here; for he also says that they profane the holy things. For the law through Moses has much observance concerning sacrifices and offerings, both when each should be offered and in what manner it must be completed; but they, as was likely, offered the sacrifices, but carelessly and negligently, not deigning to observe the proper time or the prescribed forms, but perhaps not even purified, nor indeed arrayed in their proper vestments and performing the sacred rites in an orderly manner, but dishonoring as something useless the so venerable and admirable liturgy. Therefore it must be guarded by those of the to the ministers of the Church, not to profane the holy things; and the manner of profanation is not one, but varied and many. For it is necessary to be purified in both soul and body, and to shake off every form of loathsome pleasure, and rather to be adorned with zeal for good works, remembering the words of the inspired Paul "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out "the desire of the flesh." But the Lord is righteous in her midst, and He will not do wrong; morning by morning He will give His judgment, and not unto victory, injustice. The righteous is somehow always incompatible with the unrighteous, and the pure would not go together with the profane. "For what "communion can light have with darkness?" For such things are in conflict, and one might see them as far removed from friendship with one another. Since, therefore, God who rules over all has loved righteousness and has not known injustice, how were the utterly wicked crimes of the Jews to prevail always, that is, to be carried through to the end, without being checked completely? And it seems somehow to be a kind of injustice, not to subject the sinner to penalties, and not to demand justice of one who has chosen to live wantonly and unholily, who has cared nothing for the laws, but has so inclined to injustice as to consider nothing better, and to make a brilliant boast of things for which it was fitting to be seen blushing. Since, therefore, the Lord is righteous in her midst and will not do wrong; for He would not tolerate those accustomed to do wrong; morning by morning He will execute His judgment, that is, at dawn and openly and as in the day at last, no longer holding back the things that come from His wrath, but bringing them into the open, and making them manifest, and, as it were, placing in sight the things that were foretold. For he will not allow injustice to run on to victory. And "unto victory" signifies unto complete victory, that is, to the uttermost. For when the impious have been punished, the way of injustice will certainly cease; for it no longer has those who practice it. It is necessary, therefore, for those who are truly sound of mind to consider that the Master loves justice, and would not tolerate those who sin unrestrainedly. But if one should turn to repentance, and shed a tear over his own sins, he will meet with a most gentle one, and will ask for amnesty, and will escape the snares and the necessity of being punished. But if one should be unyielding, and have a mind difficult to change towards choosing what is more fitting, he will sit in his own failings, or rather he will be destroyed at last, and will be under the master's movement, because He does not tolerate sinners forever. In corruption I have torn down the proud, their corners have vanished; I will make their ways desolate altogether, so that no one passes through; their cities have failed, because there is no one and no inhabitant. For since, as I said, the priests were profaning the holy things, and some were acting impiously even against the law itself, "but the Lord is "righteous in her midst; morning by morning He will execute His judgment." And what is this? He tore down the proud in corruption, that is, He delivered the arrogant and insolent to destruction. For are they not arrogant, who are accustomed to fight against God, and who, as it were, set their own will against the ordinances given through Moses; and who have cared very little for the divine laws, but turn aside to what is excessively unbridled and say to the Lord, "Depart from me, I do not want to know Your ways"? Then how could one doubt, if he is poor in spirit and humble in heart, according to what is written, that the one who is bright and well-reined and looking much to obedience is the one whom He deems worthy of His oversight? And indeed, through one of the holy prophets the God of all said, "And upon whom will I "look, but upon him who is humble and quiet and "who trembles at My words?" Therefore, the arrogant race was torn down to destruction, and their corners also vanished. And by corners I think the walls are now meant, and the enclosures of the cities. For the corners are somehow always high, having very prominent towers. It is therefore perhaps as if he were to say again, The cities among them will be bereft of walls. And in addition to these things, he threatened to make his ways desolate, clearly those of Israel, so that no one would pass through at all. And it seems to me that he wishes to indicate something of this sort: the law which he commanded through Moses, that if the feast of tabernacles were celebrated at the proper times, they were to go up to Jerusalem from all the land of the Jews, and fulfill the customary rites there. Therefore, when the cities were shaken, those in them perished, then we say that the ways were made desolate, as no one was any longer coming through them, and especially for the purpose of fulfilling the feast appointed for them, as they had formerly done, speeding along. For the companies of the Jews have fallen into such misery that there are no feast-goers, nor can those who have barely been saved and have survived the war be in good spirits. And so the prophet Jeremiah made this matter a part of his laments, saying, "The ways of Zion mourn because there are none who come to the feast." But that the word is true, the text before us will again make clear to us; for it immediately adds, "The cities have failed, because there is no one and no inhabitant." "It is therefore a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." For when we provoke him by choosing to transgress, and this without restraint, then indeed, and very justly, being as it were entangled in the accusations of arrogance, we are dragged down to destruction, and we will be naked of the garment from above, and we will find our heart in ourselves as easily captured and unwalled, and in addition to these things, we will not find the ways of righteousness; but one who has chosen to follow the Lord's will, and who submits to him the tender neck of his soul, would easily turn away from such evils. I said, “Surely you will fear me and receive instruction, and you will not be destroyed from her sight, all that I have executed upon her.” That they would again be caught pouring out the things of wrath upon their own heads, he tries to teach. For He has often admonished, having commanded that it is necessary to live in the fear of God, and that it is fitting to receive instruction, that is, clearly, the instruction through the law and the prophets. For it was in this way, and not otherwise, that they could shake off wrath and ward off what had happened. But since Israel was unbending, hard, and intractable, he has fallen away from instruction, that is, he has become outside of being wise, and has been destroyed as if from her sight, although it was necessary to always linger among good instructions and to be ready for anything whatever that is pleasing to God. For in this way, he says, it was possible to turn aside all the things that I have executed upon her. Therefore, when we cast out the divine fear from our own mind, when we refuse instruction and consider being wise of little or no account at all, then we will surely suffer those things which would befit those who are accustomed to show contempt; then God will also take vengeance, and will demand an account for the acts of unholiness. It is necessary, then, to remember someone saying that "The fear of the Lord makes life." "The fear of the Lord is glory and a boast." And it is also "pure," that is, purifying, "enduring forever and ever," according to the voice of the psalmist. Prepare, arise early, all their gleaning has been destroyed. For since you did not receive, he says, instruction from me, but have rejected and hated both living in fear and in equity, prepare yourself for flight and to suffer now the things which it was possible to escape, if you had been a lover of virtue and wise. And indeed he commanded to rise early, showing that the time of the calamity was at the gates, and as it were coming tomorrow, and that it would certainly be present at the beginning of dawn. And this was to cut off the hope of postponement, and not allowing them to think that there will be some truce and delay and that a long time will pass in between, perhaps passing on the things of wrath to their descendants. Therefore, as for a necessary matter, prepare yourself and rise early for flight. For you will go as a captive to your enemies, and having left the land that bore you, you will be miserable among others. Then the God of all says to the Prophet, all but scowling at those who have been captured: all the gleaning has been destroyed of them. What this might also mean, we will say as we can. The tyrants of the Babylonians have sacked Samaria and other cities of Judea besides, first Pul, then after him Shalmaneser, and third Sennacherib. And just as if having harvested a vineyard, they returned again to their own land, leaving Israel with very few remnants, and as it were having left them only a gleaning. We say a gleaning is the small clusters of grapes, consisting of a few berries, which, being hidden in the leaves, often escape the eye of the one gathering. And another of the holy prophets says something like this: "Woe is me, my soul, for I have become as one gathering stubble in the harvest, and as a gleaning in the vintage, there being no cluster to eat the first-ripe fruit." Therefore they indeed harvested, but Nebuchadnezzar, having arrived after them, destroyed even the gleaning itself, and having gleaned the small remnant of Israel, he returned home, and continued boasting greatly. And so the prophet Jeremiah lamented captured Jerusalem, saying of those who had laid it waste, "Let all their wickedness come before thy face; and glean them as they have gleaned me;" and again, "Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? The cook has made a gleaning." Whenever, therefore, we provoke God, then deprived of all help and stripped of mercy, we will be given over to our enemies, and no remnant of virtue or goodness will remain in us, as Satan gleans all that is good in us, and as it were gathering up a gleaning, perhaps even the very desires in the mind that lead it to choose to practice virtue. Therefore wait for me, says the Lord, until the day of my resurrection for a testimony. For since, having disregarded the divine commandments, they have been given over to their enemies, and have fallen into the hand of him who destroyed even the gleaning itself, he commands them now to wait and to endure, suffering their servitude with strength, until he should be roused to help them, which help he, through the holy prophets, almost testified to and clearly foretold, that it would be in due season. Therefore, "the day of resurrection for a testimony" signifies the time of help, which he testified beforehand would surely come. And this is the historical account; but we say that the contemplation of the preceding things has turned out to be a declaration of the mystery concerning Christ, and that it intends to make clear the time of redemption, that which is universal and most general, that is, the one through Christ. For long ago, when the seventy years were completed, the God of all was raised up for the help of those who had suffered those things, but in the last times of the age the Only-begotten became man, not only to deliver Israel, but so that, leading away all the nations from slavery under the devil, he might declare them free, and release them from corruption and filth and sin, and above all else from worshipping creation rather than the creator. And since he became man, "He endured the cross, despising the shame," so that by his own blood he might acquire for God the Father both those still living, and those whom "death had already swallowed up," according to what is written. "For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Reasonably, therefore, was it said to the ancients, Therefore wait for me, says the Lord, until the day of my resurrection for a testimony. and Christ's coming back to life is like a testimony that death has been abolished, with whom we ourselves have also been raised, justified through faith, and escaping together with death the mother of death, sin. Because my judgment is for the gatherings of nations, to receive kings, to pour out upon them all the wrath of my anger; because in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. To those of the Chaldeans He threatens the nations with devastation, that which came about through Cyrus and all who were his fellow soldiers and invaded with him, overrunning the cities of the Babylonians and having a most dreadful assault against all. Therefore, He says, My judgment will be for the assembly of nations, so as to receive kings; it is clear that He means those named; to punish through them also the assemblies of nations, which were very much defeated by their hand and strength, and enduring every kind of cruelty; for I will pour out upon them, He says, all the anger of My wrath. For it is true that God does not punish great and excessive transgressions with moderate movements; but for whatever transgressions one might be caught, He always brings punishments of equal weight. And that the affairs of the Chaldeans were about to be almost utterly burned, He made clear by saying, For in the fire of My jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. And what kind of jealousy, or over whom at all, the prophet Zechariah will clarify by saying, "Thus says the Lord Almighty: I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and with great anger I am angry against the nations that are at ease; for whereas I was but a little angry, they furthered the disaster." Thus indeed we will approach the preceding things historically; but they might also be understood otherwise, with the contemplations transferred to the mystery of Christ. For He said, through what has already been read before, Therefore wait for Me, says the Lord, for the day of My resurrection as a testimony; because My judgment is for the assemblies of nations, to receive kings, to pour out upon them all the anger of My wrath. For Christ rose again, having despoiled Hades, since it was not possible, being Life by nature, for Him to be held by death, according to what is written. Indeed, He did not leave under the hands of the devil those who were accepting faith in Him; but He makes a holy and God-befitting judgment upon the assemblies of nations, that is, the herds of demons, and those very ones who once held power and reigned over the lost, as it were receiving and shutting them up, and casting them into the lowest abyss, that is, into Hades, and pouring out all His wrath upon them, and almost consuming them with fire, by His ineffable and divine power, moved by great jealousy. For He Himself was angry a little, because of the transgression in Adam; "but they furthered the disaster," at once turning all under heaven away from God, and stifling the mind of those under their hand with the wages of sin. Therefore the Word of God was jealous for the spiritual Zion, that is, the Church. For He delivered her, and He Himself "presented her to Himself," as the blessed Paul writes, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but rather holy and blameless." For then I will turn to the peoples a language for its generation, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him under one yoke. From the ends of the rivers of Ethiopia they will bring sacrifices to Me. He says, that when that of the Babylonians has been ravaged, and the arrogant have been cast down in destruction, the nations will recognize the power of God that shakes them. And those who once laughed at Israel falling and perishing, when they see him going home brilliantly, and returning again to the holy city, while those who formerly ravaged him have utterly perished, then they will change their tongue and will henceforth dedicate it to praises for God, although they formerly shook their heads, thinking and saying that Judea was captured, because the tyrant of the Babylonians perhaps prevailed over the one helping them, that is, God. When therefore they see the turn of events to the opposite, then they will convert their tongues according to their generations, that is, according to tribes and races, to doxologies to God; and they would choose, I think, to serve under one yoke, and to offer sacrifices, even if they were situated far away in the position of their countries, and inhabited the lands of the Ethiopians. And let these things, for now, be said again concerning the letter; but we say that the has come to pass A word concerning the times of the visitation, and he sets forth a clear sign of the change of tongues. for it is written in the Acts of the holy Apostles, that during the days of the holy Pentecost they were all gathered together "in one place, and behold, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and behold, there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." At that time, therefore, he says, I will change the tongue for the peoples. For they all heard them speaking "in his own language," "Parthians and Medes and Elamites," and the other nations. But observe the careful wording. For he said he would change the tongue for its generation, that is, remaining thus with those who once spoke until the end of their life, or generation. For the sign came to them, on whom the sacred writing also said the tongues rested; for this reason he says that I will change the tongue for its generation. For this thing has not happened again to those after them. For what reason, let the wise Paul teach us. For he said that "Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers. For it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet for all that they will not believe." In what way, then, is it profitable, that the tongue be changed for its generation, he himself again clarifies for us, saying That all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him under one yoke, from the ends of the rivers of Ethiopia they shall bring sacrifices to me. For since they saw the Apostles speaking with other tongues, holding the strange event in no small wonder, they have believed in Christ, and many and innumerable of those at that time called upon the name of the one who is by nature and truly God; they submitted their neck to the evangelical decrees; they have served Christ. And they offer sacrifices from the ends of the rivers of Ethiopia. And the race of the Ethiopians extends from east to west, and they drink from the Gihon; "For it is the one that encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia." And so the word finally arrives at the truth of the prophecy. For not only in the land of the Romans has the Gospel been preached, but it also now goes about among the barbarian nations. And indeed there are churches everywhere, shepherds and teachers, guides and mystagogues and divine altars, and the lamb is sacrificed spiritually by the holy ministers both among Indians and Ethiopians. And this was what was clearly spoken through the voice of another prophet, "For I am a great King, says the Lord; and because my name has been glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name and a pure offering." In that day you shall not be ashamed of all your practices in which you acted impiously against me; for then I will take away from you the vileness of your arrogance, and you shall no longer presume to boast upon my holy mountain. The God of all speaks again to two persons at the same time. But it is necessary, I think, to apply a subtle mind to what is being said, for thus we will find the contemplation within them unconfused. Therefore he promises an amnesty for transgressions, and the forgiveness of past offenses to those of Israel, affirming and saying that they would no longer be ashamed because of their practices and the impieties formerly committed against God; but he threatens, as it were, the Babylonian and says that he would no longer be proud, having ravaged the holy city dedicated to him, that is, Zion, which he also calls a mountain. For after the return, I mean from the captivity, Jerusalem remained unravaged, and henceforth inexperienced still of the inhumanity of the Babylonians. That at the time of the visitation an amnesty and forgiveness has come to all who have believed, no one would doubt. For we have been justified "not because of works of righteousness "which we have done, but according to his great mercy." And we have been delivered from shame; for he who honored faith said somewhere to us, "Do not fear, because you were put to shame; "nor be confounded, because you were reproached." For he has restored us to confidence, who for our sake was among the dead, and for our sake is in heaven, in the sight of the Father. For Christ ascended as a forerunner for us, "now to appear in the presence of God." Therefore he has removed the accusations of all, and has delivered believers from the shame and disgrace of their offenses. And it has been said by him to Satan, who long held sway, That I will take away from you the vileness of your insolence, and you shall no more boast upon my holy mountain. For he will no longer despise those on earth, as being very sick with weakness, nor will he insult the sanctified, easily shaking them to what seems good to him. For the old things have passed away, and nature has passed over into a newness of things, Christ reconstituting them for this, making what was sick quite strong, strengthening for piety what was susceptible to sins, and making firm what was shaken. Therefore the vileness of insolence, that is, of the devil, has been removed, and he will no longer think great things against the holy mountain, that is, the spiritual Zion, "which is the church of the living God." For it has been founded on the "rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail "against it." And the prophet Isaiah also called the Church a mountain for us, saying, "That in the last "days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God "on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the "hills, and all the nations shall come to it, and many nations "shall go and say, Come, let us go up to "the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and "he will declare to us his way, and we will walk in "it." And I will leave in you a meek and humble people, and the remnant of Israel shall be in awe of the name of the Lord, and they shall not do injustice, nor shall they speak vain things, and a deceitful tongue shall not be found in their mouth. He speaks again to Zion, that is, the holy city, I mean Jerusalem, in which he also promises that a most meek and humble people will be left. For the Synagogue of the Jews acted insolently toward the Savior of all, Christ, and was revealed as the slayer of the Lord, and it pays the penalties for this, but not all of it has perished; for the remnant has been kept and the remainder has been saved. For no small number of them have believed. And these were the meek, not staking themselves out for the angers against Christ, just as indeed those who then brought him to Pilate, crying out and saying, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him;" and adding to this, "If you do not kill this man, you are not "a friend of Caesar." For what could be more harsh than such things, or what more savage in anger? They who, having drawn even the righteous blood upon their own heads, said without concern, "His blood be on us and "on our children." Meek then is the people, that has not partaken of their savagery; and humble again, in that it is subject to Christ, and has submitted the necks of its mind to the yokes under him, and has obeyed most gladly out of love him who says, "Come to me, all you who labor and "are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke "upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and "humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Therefore, they are conformed in this also to Christ, who for our sakes became poor, and not only that but also disregarded God-befitting glory and natural preeminence, in order to undergo the measure of servitude according to the economy. Therefore, those who are instructed by his laws are humble-minded according to him. These also will be in awe of the name of the Lord. For they have become of the very of the most God-contemplative, and before all others, the divine disciples, who have also been set as a light of the world. But the God-loving and good, he says, will renounce injustice and idle speech; for they will not speak vain things; and a tongue that is not true; for this is the deceitful one. But this is a spiritual adornment, and like a crown very distinguished indeed for the boasts that come from virtues. For where there is gentleness and humility, and indeed a longing for justice, and a tongue that has unlearned idle talk, and is least of all given to sinful speech, but is rather upright and a worker of truth, there, surely, has virtue appeared bright and most perfect. Such would be fitting for those in Christ; because the beauty of piety is not seen in law, but rather flashes forth as in the power of evangelical instruction. Because they themselves will pasture and lie down, and there will be no one to make them afraid. For of old the flocks of the Jews were tended inactively by the scribes and Pharisees. for they had been appointed by the law to lead the peoples, because they had been honored with the dignities of the priesthood. therefore, they were indeed shepherds, but hirelings nonetheless, and as if set over the livestock of others, they saw the wolf coming, and left the sheep, according to the voice of the Savior. But that they were very unsparing of the rational livestock and abandoned them to wild beasts, they would be caught, or rather having become wolves themselves, one could easily perceive from the things spoken through the voice of the prophets. For one said, as from the person of God, "O shepherds, "who scatter and destroy the sheep of their pasture," and another again "Thus says the Lord Lord, O "shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds feed themselves? Do not "the shepherds feed the sheep? behold, you eat the milk "and clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the fat one, "and you do not feed my sheep. The weak you have not "strengthened, and the broken you have not bound up, and the "wandering you have not brought back, and the lost you have not "sought, and the strong you have worn down with toil; and "my sheep were scattered because there were no shepherds, and "they became food for all the beasts of the field and "for the birds of the sky;" and he says somewhere to the shepherds themselves "Feed the sheep for slaughter, which "their possessors slaughtered, and did not repent; and those "who sold them said, Blessed be the Lord, for we have become "rich." Therefore the shepherds were destroying the flocks of the rational livestock, not needing wild beasts, but rather themselves imitating the ways of wild beasts. But when at last Christ shone forth, the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep, we have been pastured in gardens, and have been fed among the lilies, according to what is written; and we have lain down in pens; for we have been sheltered in churches and holy temples, with no one terrifying and snatching us away, no wolf leaping upon us, no lion trampling us, no thief digging through, no one coming upon us any longer, "to steal and kill and destroy." but we continue rather in safety and security, and in participation of every good thing, having him as our overseer, the Savior of all, I mean Christ. And this God the Father made clear to us through the voice of Ezekiel, saying "Thus "says the Lord, I will save my sheep, and I will judge "between ram and ram, and I will raise up over them "one shepherd, my servant David, and he will be their "shepherd." Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem, be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your iniquities, he has redeemed you from the hand of your enemies; the Lord will reign in your midst, you will not see evil any more. Insofar as it pertains to the historical account, it clearly promises peace to them after the return from Babylon, when their ancient accusations were forgotten, God promises both to be with them and to defend them; but insofar as it pertains to the innermost meaning, both to rejoice greatly, and to be exceedingly glad, and indeed also with all He has commanded the heart to rejoice necessarily, since its sins have been taken away, that is, through Christ. For the spiritual and holy Zion has been justified, that is, the Church, or the holy multitude of those who have believed, in Christ indeed and alone, and we have been saved through Him and from Him, escaping the harm of the invisible enemies, and having in our midst Him who has appeared in a form like ours, the king and God of all, that is, the Word from God the Father; through whom we have no longer seen evils, that is, we have been delivered from everything that has the power to do evil. For he is the weapon of good pleasure, the peace, the wall, the bestower of incorruption, the giver of crowns, the one who drives out the war of the spiritual Assyrians, and lightens the plots of the demons; the one who gives us "to tread "upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the "enemy," through whom we have stepped on the asp and the basilisk, and we trample on the lion and the dragon; through whom we have come to have good hopes of incorruption and life, of adoption and of glory; through whom we shall no longer see evils. In that time the Lord will say to Jerusalem, "Be of good courage, Zion, let not your hands be slack. The Lord your God is in you; the Mighty One will save you. He will bring joy upon you, and He will renew you in His love, and He will rejoice over you with delight as on a day of festival; and I will gather your broken ones." Clear, then, is the proclamation that we must be of good courage; and He who promised is true; and we have heard this from Christ Himself speaking, as if renewing the ancient oracle, or rather, placing before our eyes what had been promised. For He said, "In the world you will have tribulation; but "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." For when He was "in "our midst," then we no longer had slack hands, nor paralyzed knees; but we have rather been turned to works and labors for good accomplishments and of which it is said and is the "glorious fruit;" then we have also taken courage, because Christ in us, being all-powerful as God, rescues and saves those who believe in Him; for He has dwelt in our hearts through the Spirit, and He has brought upon us this spiritual, that is, and precious joy. For what else could it be to partake of the Holy Spirit, than delight and joy and every kind of gladness? When, therefore, He brought upon us gladness through the Spirit, then He also renewed us in His love, that is, at the time of His advent in the flesh, when "one died for all," truthfully saying, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone "lay down his life for his friends." And since He laid down His life, and was among the dead for our sake, being life by nature, He lived again, reforming the nature of man to newness of life, and reforging it to its original state. "For if anyone," he says, "is in Christ, he is a new creation." For God the Father was pleased, in Him "to sum up all things," according to what is written. But that which is summed up is in a way taken up again and, as it were, brought back to its original state. And since He renewed us, then Christ also rejoiced over us, as with delight, and as on a day of festival; for how could the divine not be gladdened by our affairs, when we have been delivered from sin, and have become superior to death and corruption, and are in participation of the Spirit and of sanctification. Then He also gathered the broken ones. For as the wise Paul writes, "Christ came into the world to save sinners;" and He Himself somewhere says, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to "repentance." Therefore, Christ gathered those whom Satan, having crushed through sin, had rendered slack, and who knew not how to walk uprightly, nor to go on the paths of righteousness; but though he crushed them, Christ bound them up. For He has healed the sick, and "He Himself takes "away our infirmities," according to what is written. Woe, who has received reproach against her? That of the Savior the cross raised for the life and incorruptibility of the world, we who have chosen to think rightly will affirm to be the boast of the Church; and the most wise Paul himself confesses, having written thus: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of Christ, "by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Yet he himself said again that the cross has become "a stumbling block to Jews "and foolishness to Gentiles." For the wretched ones laugh broadly, being completely ignorant of the power of the mystery; but they will not be outside of justice; how could they be? Nor indeed will they laugh back at Christ, that is, at the churches; but in due time they will be food for untamed fire, and the work of a long and unquenchable flame. For some among the Greeks have arrived at such a point of madness and foolishness of mind as to sharpen a licentious tongue against the divine and evangelical proclamation, and to leave behind their denunciation written in books; so that not only might their sins go before them to judgment, but might even follow them when they are dead, on account of having left behind their sin as if it were a living thing. He therefore deems wretched, and very rightly so, those who have received reproach against the holy Church, to whom the 'Woe' would indeed very fittingly apply. Behold, I am doing in you for your sake in that time, says the Lord, and I will save her that was oppressed, and her that was cast off I will receive, and I will make them a praise and renowned in all the earth. And they shall be ashamed in that time, when I shall do well by you, and in the time when I shall receive you. Again the discourse has turned to the person of Zion, and it promises the things wonderfully accomplished through Christ, concerning both the flocks from the Gentiles and the rejected Israel. For he says, "in you for your sake I will do [it]." For since some were carried away by greed into drunkenness, while others were ignorant of the God who became man for the salvation of all, the Creator of all lavishes his mercy on both, and for our sake has worked wonders in us. For she who was oppressed has been saved, that is, the multitude of the deceived, once afflicted, and brought to such a point of misery by the oppressing Satan as to lose all vital moisture; for a wandering mind is dead; and she who was cast off, the Synagogue of the Jews, will also be received. For she had behaved insolently toward Christ; for this reason she was justly sent away, and had slipped from hope, and was estranged from intimacy with Christ; yet she too has been shown mercy; for she will be called to repentance and to purification through faith in the last times of the age. They will therefore be a boast and renowned and as far as possible from shame. And who are they, but that by all means the two peoples are no longer divided, and holding incompatible opinions with one another, and parted into different beliefs concerning God, as they were of old; but rather tightly bound by the unity that is through the Spirit to one mind and one faith. For it is written that "Of the multitude of believers, "the heart and soul were one." And Christ also created "the two peoples into one new man, "making peace, and reconciling both in one "Spirit," as it is written. If, then, they become objects of emulation, then he says the enemies will surely be put to shame, being astonished at the greatness of the glory given, and the unshakeable nature of their prosperity, and the steadfastness of their hope. And one might see the promise to be true already from the events themselves. For the Church of Christ has been glorified, and being full of splendid boasts is admired by all. Yet he also defines the time in which such things will happen; for he says, "in the time when I receive you." For the things that come after faith do not come before faith, but rather would reasonably be understood to come after it. We have been called, therefore, in the times of the economy in the flesh of the Only-Begotten. For then, indeed, then the fulfillment of the promise came to pass in truth. Because I will make you renowned and a boast among all the peoples of the earth, when I turn back your captivity of you before you, says the Lord. He recapitulates in a way the purpose of the God-befitting munificence, and in what things the believers will surely be, through these He clearly shows us. For He says they will be renowned, and within splendid boasts, and in better things than every nation. And again He adds at what times such things will be, everywhere mindful of the economy in the flesh of the Only-Begotten, when, as I just said, the manifestation of every good thing, and whatever of the things marveled at, has come forth to us. For then, then He paradoxically delivered those acting under the devil's hand and yoked to the passions of the flesh; then He freed them from polytheistic error and transferred them to the truth; then He delivered them from the bonds of death, giving Himself as a ransom for us, and acquiring for God the Father the world under heaven. For we have been called through Him, and we have been enriched with access and intimacy in the Spirit through Him, I mean Christ, through whom and with whom to God the Father be the glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages, Amen.