1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Judah.

17. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos. This book is divided into two parts:

into a preface,

and a treatise, which begins where it says, hear, O you heavens (Isa 1:2).

first, from the genus of the work;

second, from the author, where it says, Isaiah;

third, from the matter, where it says, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem;

fourth, from the time, where it says, in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Judah.

The genus of the work is shown where it says the vision, in which it differs from historical books, because it is prophecy: I have multiplied visions, and it continues: I have used similitudes by the hands of the prophets (Hos 12:10).

18. Here it is necessary to see three things:

first, in what way vision relates to prophecy;

second, concerning the modes of prophetic vision;

third, concerning the difference of prophetic vision from other visions.

Concerning the first, it should be known that “prophecy” can have a double interpretation, in as far as it can come from phanos, which means “apparition,” or from for, faris (“to speak”).

According to the first derivation, a prophet is said to have an apparition of things which are far off; and hence, prophecy differs from vision in mode, because apparition signifies the relation of the visible thing to the one who sees, but vision signifies the converse. Again, prophecy and vision relate to each other by addition: because a vision may be of anything, but prophecy is of things which are far off. Things are said to be far off from our knowledge in two ways; simply, and relatively. Future things that are contingent on something are far off simply; determinate knowledge of them cannot be grasped either in themselves or in their causes, and prophecy is properly of these things. Things are far off relatively when knowledge of them is separated from the knower, as certain past and present things, and prophecy is of these things not simply, but with respect to those who are ignorant of them.

But according to the second derivation, a prophet is so called because he is speaking far off [procul fans], as it were. And thus prophecy adds upon vision an act of exterior declaration, and vision will be material in respect to prophecy.

19. Concerning the second, it should be known that the modes of prophetic vision are distinguished according to those things in which foreknowledge of future contingencies are received.

This, however, is either an image¹ made in the senses and is called corporeal vision, because the senses accept images from the present bodies whose images they are; or it is an image received in the imagination and is called spiritual vision, because, in it, act and property are first manifested spiritually, which is to know a thing abstracted from matter; or it is an image existing only in the intellect and is called intellectual vision.

And it should be known that prophecy is kept in these three as a potential whole in its parts, whose nature is that it is in one according its perfect power, and in the others there is a certain participation and mode of it; just as in the soul, because its whole power is preserved in the rational soul, the sensitive soul does not have the perfect power of the soul, and still less the vegetative soul. Because of this, Gregory says that plants do not live by soul but by vigor. Similarly, corporeal and spiritual (or imaginary) vision also are certain kinds of prophecy, but they cannot be called true prophecies unless intellectual vision is added, in which is the complete notion of prophecy: for there is need of understanding in a vision (Dan 10:1), which is preceded by: and he (that is, Daniel) understood the word. “Vision,” however, is first and properly applied to corporeal vision. And because all our knowledge comes from the senses, among which vision is the most powerful both in subtlety and universality, because it shows us more differences of things; therefore the name of seeing is transferred to other interior kinds of knowledge.

20. Concerning the third, it should be known that not every intellectual vision is prophetic vision.

For there is a certain vision for which the natural light of the intellect suffices, as the contemplation of invisible things by the principles of reason; and philosophers have placed the supreme happiness of man in this contemplation.

Again, there is a certain contemplation to which man is elevated sufficiently by the light of faith, as that of the saints while on earth.

There is also a certain contemplation of the blessed in heaven to which the intellect is elevated by the light of glory, seeing the essence of God, inasmuch as he is the object of beatitude; and this is only found fully or perfectly in heaven, although sometimes one is suddenly elevated to it while existing in this mortal life, as happened in the rapture of Paul, I know a man in Christ: above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not: God knows), such a one caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2). There the Gloss says that he saw as those who are from the third hierarchy.

However, none of these visions is prophetic vision, because neither natural light nor the light of faith suffices for this vision; but the intellect of the prophet is elevated to it by the light of a gratuitous grace, which is the gift of prophecy, for it does not attain to seeing God as he is the object of beatitude, but as he is the cause [ratio] of things which pertain to the disposition of men in the world. Similarly, not every corporeal or imaginary vision is called prophecy, but only that vision which is made by an image specially ordained by divine power to be a sign of some future thing, whether he who sees or another receives understanding.

21. The author is touched upon where it says, Isaiah the son of Amos. And although this Amos was a prophet, because he is placed in the title of a prophecy according to the rule of the Hebrews, nevertheless, he is not the Amos who is one of the twelve prophets, because they are written with different letters in Hebrew.

22. The matter is touched upon where he says, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, because of these things that pertain to Judah and Jerusalem, so that concerning [super] is given as of [de] in the translation of Symmachus or as against [contra] in the Septuagint. And Judah is taken for the land of the two tribes, and Jerusalem for the chief city of this region. Or Judah is taken for the lot of Judah and Jerusalem for the lot of Benjamin, because Jerusalem was in Benjamin’s lot as to the body of the city, which was on the slope; although as to the top of the mountain, where the tower of David and the temple were, it belonged to the house of God, as can be gathered from Joshua 15.

23. In the days. Here, the work is made known from the time, and four kings are named, in whose time Isaiah proclaimed this prophecy. Hence some divide this book according the times of the kings under whom he received revelation,

so that in the first part are placed the things that were seen in the time of Ozias;

in the second, those that were seen in the time of Joathan, in chapter 6, in the year that king Ozias died;

in the third, the things which were seen in the time of Achaz, from chapter 7 to the end of chapter 14, where is said, in the year that king Achaz died (Isa 14:28);

and from there to the end, the things which were seen in the time of Ezechias.

24. But it is asked: why does he not make mention of the kings of Israel, as Hosea in his title (Hos 1:1) makes mention of Jeroboam, the son of Joas, when they were contemporary?

To this is to be said that Isaiah prophesied principally against the two tribes, and therefore he only has their kings in the title, whereas Hosea prophesied against both Judah and Israel.

25. Likewise, it is asked why no mention is made of Manasseh king of Judah, under whom Isaiah also lived, when it is certain that he did not lose the spirit of prophecy.

To this is to be said that everything which was written in this book, he saw in the times of the prophets, but it was not fitting that a prophecy which is principally of consolation should be ended in a threat, or that the consolation of God should be preached in the time of a bad king who provoked the wrath of God: I will give them up to the rage¹ of all the kingdoms of the earth (Jer 15:4).

1:2 Hear, O you heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.

1:3 The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood.

1:4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.

1:5 For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.

1:6 From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness¹ therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.

1:7 Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.

1:8 And the daughter of Zion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste.

1:9 Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrah.

26. Hear, O you heavens, and give ear, O earth. Here begins the treatise of this book; hence will be accepted a division according to the necessities of the matter. However, it was said above that his intention principally concerns the coming of Christ and the calling of the gentiles; but it is evident that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Ps 24[25]:10). Thus, when Christ was born, it was said by Simeon, behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel (Luke 2:34), and, when the gentiles were entering, it was said by the Apostle, blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in (Rom 11:25). Therefore this book is divided in two parts:

in the first is set out the threat of divine justice for the overthrow of sinners;

in the second, the consolation of divine mercy for the resurrection of the just, where it says: be comforted (ch. 40).

27. The first of these is divided into three parts. For, while he principally speaks concerning Judah and Jerusalem,

in the first part, he threatens the two sinning tribes,

in the second, the others who persecute them: and it came to pass in the days of Achaz (ch. 7);

in the third, he frees them from the enemies who threaten them: behold a king shall reign in justice (ch. 32).

The first of these is divided into two parts:

in the first, he reproaches their fault and threatens corrective punishment;

in the second, he threatens punishment of condemnation to the incorrigible: in the year that king Ozias died (ch. 6).

The first of these is divided into two parts:

in the first, he denounces their fault on the part of what it turns away from;

in the second, on the part of what it turns toward: the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw (ch. 2).

The first of these is divided into two parts:

in the first, he denounces in them the fault of turning away from the worship of God;

in the second, the fault of turning away from justice for one’s neighbor, where it says, how is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? (Isa 1:21).

The first of these is divided into three parts:

in the first, he reproves the fault;

in the second, he threatens punishment for the fault, where he says, your land is desolate (Isa 1:7);

in the third, he seeks the remedy of the punishment, where he says, hear the word of the Lord (Isa 1:10).

The first of these is divided into three parts:

in the first, he seeks a witness of the judgment;

in the second, he argues the deformity of the sin, where he says, I have brought up children (Isa 1:2);

in the third, he shows the incorrigibility of the sinners, where he says, for what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? (Isa 1:5).

28. He asks creation to be witness to the judgment of the sin, which was also witness to the obligation of the precept: hear, O you heavens, the things I speak (Deut 32:1). For creation was witness of the obligation to the precept (Deut 32); now, however, it is invoked as judge of the transgression: he shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people (Ps 49[50]:4); but sometimes it is called as an instrument of divine vengeance: creation¹ serving its Creator,² will blaze in punishment³ against the unjust (Wis 16:24).

29. But it seems unsuitable that earth and heaven, which are insensible creatures, should be called to hear.

But it should be said that an insensible creature is called to things which are proper to a rational nature,

to show divine power: I set my bounds¹ around it (Job 38:10); and: he calls those things that are not, as those that are (Rom 4:17);

for evidence of a fact: I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun (2 Sam 12:12); and: I say to you that if these remain silent, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40);

to exaggerate malice: be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and you gates thereof, be very desolate (Jer 2:12);

to magnify joy: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad (Ps 95[96]:11);

to confound sadness: therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish (Hos 4:3), as if to say: your sin is so plain that it is convicted by irrational things, if such a thing could be; and similarly with the others.

Or it is a metonymy, so that heaven is placed for the angels, and earth for men.

30. Heavens, plural for the singular; or because there are literally many heavens and one center which is earth. The Lord has spoken: you should hear him speaking, who made you by speaking: he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created (Ps 148:5). Hear, O you heavens, as though they were distant; give ear, O earth, as though it were near.

31. I have brought up children. Here he shows the deformity of their sin. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he shows the contempt in their affections;

second, he shows the ignorance in their intellect, where he says, the ox knows his owner (Isa 1:3);

third, he shows the distraction in the effect of the deed, where he says, woe to the sinful nation (Isa 1:4).

And this order is followed so that their ignorance is made weightier by their contempt, not so that their ignorance excuse their contempt. He adds to the weight of their contempt by the benefit rendered them.

Hence, concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he brings to mind the benefit;

second, the vice of their ingratitude, where he says, but they have despised me.

He sets out, however, a threefold benefit:

first is the benefit of filial adoption, where he says, sons: Israel is my son, my firstborn (Exod 4:22);

second, the benefit of solicitous education, where it says, I have brought up [enutrivi]: you didst feed [nutrivisti] your people with the food of angels (Wis 16:20);

third, the benefit of their singular exaltation, where it says, and exalted them: showing by the thirst that was then, how you didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries (Wis 11:9).

First, as to the assumption and election of their fathers;

second, in the liberation of their children;

third, in the subjugation of their enemies.

But they have despised me. (Here he places the fault of ingratitude.) As a woman that despises her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me (Jer 3:20).

32. He adds to the weight of their ignorance, however, through the example of beasts; hence, concerning this, he does two things:

first, he introduces the knowledge of beasts,

second, the ignorance of sinners, where it says, but Israel has not known me.

The ox knows his owner, by a sort of custom of benefit. But Israel: he denounces in them a twofold ignorance,

namely, of the one who commands, when he says, has not known me, contrary to where he had said, his owner; and contrary to the signification of the name Israel—for Israel is interpreted as “seeing God”—they have not known the Father nor me (John 16:3);

and ignorance of the law, my people has not understood; contrary to where he had said, crib, and where he says, people, who are subject to a lawgiver who commands: I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign (Hos 8:12).

33. He adds to the weight of the effect of the deed, however, through its confirmed use:

hence he first shows the confirmation,

and second, shows their turning away: they have forsaken the Lord.

He shows the confirmation first through the custom of sin, which gives rise to habit: hence he says, the sinful nation; for a sinner is such out of habit just as a singer is such out of art or office, below: I have called you a transgressor from the womb (Isa 48:8).

Second, through the promptness of sin, which is like a sort of gravity in the sinner: Gregory: a sin which is not washed away by penance quickly draws to another by its own weight;¹ their feet are swift to shed blood (Ps 13:3).

Third, from the succession of sin, because, imitating the sins of their fathers, they have them as if from propagation; hence he says, a wicked seed, that is, seed of the worst, according to another translation: we have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity (Ps 105[106]:6).

Fourth, as to the magnitude of their sins, when he says, ungracious children: slanderers have been in you to shed blood, they have committed wickedness in the midst of you (Ezek 22:9); below, are not you wicked children, a false seed? (Isa 57:4).

34. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? Here he shows the incorrigibility of their sin, removing a threefold mode of correction.

First, that correction which is through a divine scourge, saying, for what, that is, to what end, you that increase, so that, namely, the greater the correction, the more you increase your sins: in vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction (Jer 2:30).

Second, that which is through the counsel or help of a neighbor, where he says, the whole head is sick, for no one is fit to succor another because of his own weakness.

And he shows this as to the person of the king or prince, saying, the whole head is sick: when you were a little one in your own eyes, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? (1 Sam 15:17).

As to the person of the priest, the whole heart is sad: for the heart receives life first from the soul and transfuses it into the body, as a medium between the soul and the body; just so the priest is a medium between God and the people: you will be to them¹ in those things that pertain to God (Exod 18:19).

As to the person of the private individual, when he says, from the sole of the foot, below: all have turned aside into their own way (Isa 56:11).

35. And it is to be noted that the unfitness of the king is shown in sickness, because he is not able to help by punishing through his power. Seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to extirpate iniquities (Sir 7:6).

The unfitness of the priest, however, is shown in sadness, through which he is made unfit for the sacrifices by which he expiated sins: how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart? (Lev 10:19). Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy (Ps 99[100]:2);

but the private individual is able to correct others by challenging through his example; and therefore he is shown to be unfit through his sin, which is designated in the privation of soundness: they are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together (Ps 15[14]:3); namely, for correction.

36. Third, where it says, wounds and bruises, he removes the manner of correction which is through human exertion, as when someone is disposed to grace, which blots out sins through good works. Hence he says, wounds, open fault, and bruises, hidden envy, and swelling sores, inflating pride, they are not bound up, by the bond of the law drawing them back: of old time you have broken my yoke, you have burst my bands, and you said: I will not serve (Jer 2:20), as to the first; nor dressed, with healing charity, as to the second: charity covers all sins (Prov 10:12); nor fomented with oil, with soothing humility: the prayer of the humble and the meek has always pleased you (Jdt 9:16); the greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things (Sir 3:20); a mild answer breaks wrath (Prov 15:1); can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of? (Judg 9:9).

37. Your land is desolate. Here he threatens punishment:

and first, he sets out the judgment of the one who punishes;

second, any solace of consolation, where it says, except the Lord of hosts had left us seed (Isa 1:9).

He sets out a threefold punishment.

First, as to the destruction of their possessions; hence he says, your land is desolate, as to the plains, which thus uncultivated will be as the desert, below: for briers and thorns shall be in all the land (Isa 7:24). Your cities are burnt with fire, as to the cities: and I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem¹ (Amos 2:2); I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation (Jer 4:26).

The second punishment is as to the destruction of the products of the soil: hence he says, your country strangers devour before your face, as to its fruit: it will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you be destroyed (Deut 28:49). It shall be desolate, as to the destruction of trees and vineyards: woe unto us, for we are laid waste (Jer 4:13).

Third, as to the captivity of men: hence he says, the daughter of Zion shall be left, that is, Jerusalem or the temple, from which came the protection of the whole province, as it was solitary and as a covert in a vineyard after the harvest, below: for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Judah, his pleasant plant (Isa 5:7); as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, after the last fruits have been collected, through which he signifies their fathers: I saw their fathers like the first fruits of the fig tree in the top thereof (Hos 9:10); as a city that is laid waste, because it was the metropolis: the city is laid waste (Ezek 33:21), said he who had come from Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression is in the midst of her (Jer 6:6).

38. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed. Here he sets out consolation from the promise to liberate their seed. The Lord, however, left to them the gathered seed of the flesh, below: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west (Isa 43:5); the promised seed of blessing: to Abraham were the promises made and to his seed (Gal 3:16); the scattered seed of preaching, below: when he shall rush out from¹ Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed (Isa 27:6); the new seed of the saints, below: as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, says the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name (Isa 66:22).

39. I have brought up children (Isa 1:2). Here three things are to be noted: the benefit of their upbringing, the privilege of their exaltation, and the contempt of their ingratitude. Indeed, he brought them up in the time of the law, when the heir was still a little child (Gal 4:1):

first, refreshing them with promises in the patriarchs: to Abraham were the promises made (Gal 3:16);

second, governing them with judgments in the lawgivers: he has not done in like manner to every nation, and his judgments he has not made manifest to them (Ps 147:20);

third, defending them with helps in the judges and kings: their God will defend them, and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth (Jdt 5:25);

fourth, he taught them with admonitions in the prophets: the Lord has been witness between you, and the wife of your youth (Mal 2:14);

fifth, he corrected them with scourges in their enemies: for it is a token of great goodness, when sinners are not suffered to go on in their ways for a long time, but are presently punished (2 Macc 6:13).

40. But he exalted them in the time of grace:

first, according to the assumption of flesh: for nowhere doth he take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham he takes hold (Heb 2:16);

second, through personal preaching: I was not sent but to the sheep, that are lost of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24);

third, through his own conduct: many good works I have showed you from my Father. For which of those works (John 10:32);

fourth, through the working of miracles: a great prophet is risen up among us: and, God has visited his people (Luke 7:16, John 5);

fifth, through the preaching of his disciples: instead of your fathers, sons are born to you: you shall make them princes over all the earth (Ps 44:17[45:16]).

41. But, on the contrary, they despise the descent of Christ: is not this the son of Joseph? (Luke 4:22);

they reject his teaching: beginning from Galilee to this place, we have found this man perverting our nation (Matt 26:59–68, Luke 23:2, 5);

they blaspheme his life: why doth your master eat with publicans and sinners? (Matt 9:11);

they pervert his miracles: by the prince of devils he casts out devils (Mark 3:22);

they kill his disciples: behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt 10:16).

1:10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, receive with your ears¹ the law of your God, you people of Gomorrah.

1:11 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, says the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.

1:12 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?

1:13a Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me.

42. Hear the word of the Lord. Here he gives the medicine for the punishment.

And first, he calls them together to hear;

second, he removes the useless remedy, where it says, to what purpose?;

third, salutary counsel is applied, where it says, wash yourselves, be clean (Isa 1:16).

However, he first calls together the great, saying, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom;

second, the lowly, where it says, people of Gomorrah. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city (Matt 10:15).

But why does he invite those of high degree to hear and those of low degree to receive? Because things which are heard by those of high degree are easily received by those of low degree.

Likewise, when he leaves seed to them, why does he compare them to Sodom and Gomorrah? And to this is to be said that as to the incorrigible he makes this comparison for two reasons:

first, because of the similarity of their sin, below: and they have adhered to strange children (Isa 2:6);

and because of its publication, below: they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it (Isa 3:9).

And while there were five cities, nonetheless he chiefly compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah, because they are chief among the others. And because of this he also compares their princes to the inhabitants of Sodom, because that city was a metropolis, as is evident from Genesis 14. It belongs to princes, however, to hear from the Lord his word and impose the law on the people; and therefore he invites them to hear the word and the people to receive the law.

43. To what purpose? Here he shows the uselessness of the remedy which they were applying;

and first, as to the offering of sacrifices;

second, as to the celebration of feasts, where it says, the new moons (Isa 1:13);

third, as to divine prayers, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands (Isa 1:15).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he rejects the sacrifice of living things;

second, the sacrifice of inanimate things, where it says, incense is an abomination to me (Isa 1:13).

In the sacrifices of animals, however, there was one which was allotted whole to the worship of God, as the holocaust, i.e., “all burnt”—from olon, which means “all,” and cauma, which means “fire” (Lev 1); the fat which was all offered in sacrifice (Lev 3:3); and the blood which was all poured out (Lev 17:6).

There were certain sacrifices, however, which were allotted partly to the worship of God, partly to the use of the ministers, as the sin offering, except when it was for the sin of a priest or for the multitude (Lev 4:3).

There were also certain other sacrifices from which something was offered to the worship of God, something to the use of the ministers, and something to one who offered, as in the peace offerings, which were offered for thanksgiving or for well-being (Lev 4).

And next, these three are divided in three parts.

44. First, he rejects the sacrifices distributed in three parts, namely, the peace offerings.

And first, he places the rejection, saying, to what purpose . . . to me, that is, for what do you offer to me, the multitude of your victims, as if they were not already mine? And they are called victims, either because the animal is led bound [vinctum] to the priest, or because it is offered for victory [victoria] had or to be had.

Next, he gives the reason for the rejection, saying, I am full, either because of weariness, because the offerings were not good: but to Cain and his offerings he had no respect (Gen 4:5); or because of his dominion: all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen (Ps 49[50]:10).

45. Second, he rejects the sacrifices which were offered wholly to God.

And first, he places the rejection of these three animals;¹ and he mentions only three animals, because the sacrifices which were from the herd were made only from these; holocausts were also made from turtledoves and the young of doves, but these were because of the deprivation of poverty, as is evident from Leviticus 1 and 4 and many other passages; and again the use of these was not universal in all sacrifices, since peace offerings were not offered from them.

Next he sets out the reason for the rejection, where it says, when you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts? As if to say, you offend me more walking in my courts and polluting them than your holocaust would please me, thus I do not accept this communion: burnt offering and sin offering you didst not require (Ps 39:7[40:6]); I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them, saying: hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people (Jer 7:22–23).

46. Third, he rejects the sacrifices which were owed to God and the priest, saying: offer sacrifice no more. Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes, in which you have boasted? (Jer 11:15); and: what shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? . . . Shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? (Mic 6:6–7).

47. Incense. Here he rejects offerings of inanimate things, for all of which he places incense, because, among all of them, it was worthier, as thymiama (Exod 30:35), and commoner, as to frankincense, which was set out and added to any such offering, and burned whole to God, below: he that remembers frankincense, as if he should bless an idol (Isa 66:3).

48. But it is objected concerning this that the Gloss says that God never loved their sacrifices, although he commanded that they should be made: and the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and he said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man (Gen 8:21).

And to this it is to be said that in any sacrifice there is something to be considered on the part of the offerer and something on the part of the thing offered.

On the part of the thing offered, our sacrifices please God of themselves, but not the sacrifices of the ancients. And this is because something is said to be pleasing or loved of itself because it has in itself something whence it may be loved, as a virtuous good; but something that is only loved for its relation to another is not said to be loved of itself, as, for instance, being cut or burned is said to be loved, in as far as it is related to the end of health. Our sacrifices, however, contain in themselves the grace of sanctification, according to which they are accepted by God; but the sacraments or sacrifices of the ancients were only signs of these, and therefore they were not loved of themselves.

On the part of the offerer, however, both ours and theirs were able to be accepted out of the devotion of the offerer.

49. Therefore, a fourfold time can be distinguished.

The first is the time before the written law and the idolatry of Israel; and at that time the ancient sacrifices made by the holy patriarchs were pleasing both because of the devotion of the offerer and because of the signification of the thing offered.

The second is the time under the written law; and at that time, after their idolatry, something was added which made the sacrifices displeasing in themselves, for it was not proper that God should be pleased and the devil worshipped at the same time; and on the other hand, one advantage on the part of the offerer was added, that it might be a remedy against idolatry for the people who were prone to it. Hence nothing was commanded concerning sacrifices before the fabrication of the idol, and thus the passage from Jeremiah brought in above is understood.

The third time was under the prophets, when, because of the sins of the people, the sacrifices were now not pleasing on the part of the offerer, but only insofar as they were signs. Hence, following this, they did not please God, but offended him more.

The fourth is the time under grace, when their use is now totally abolished, because with the coming of the reality, the figure has ceased.

1:13b The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.

1:14 My soul hates your kalends,¹ and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I labor² bearing them.

1:15 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

1:16 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely,

1:17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.

1:18 And then come, and accuse me, says the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.

1:19 If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.

1:20 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

50. The new moons, and the sabbaths. Here he removes the celebration of solemnities.

And first, as to the future, he sets out a proposition of prohibition, saying, the new moons: blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity (Ps 80:4[81:3]); sabbaths (Exod 20:8); other festivals: these are the feasts of the Lord which you shall call most solemn and most holy (Lev 23:37). Your assemblies are wicked, below: behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors (Isa 58:3).

Second, where it says, your kalends, as to the present, he sets out hatred, saying: kalends, which are called new moons above; hence, in another Psalm: take up the trumpet at the beginning of the month (80:4[81:3]).¹ The Lord has caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion: and has delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath (Lam 2:6).

Third, as to the past, he sets out weariness, saying, they are become troublesome to me, and he sets out two things:

the gravity of the weight, they are become troublesome: as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me (Ps 37:5);

second, the labor of the carrier: I labor bearing them. Below: you have given me labor¹ with your iniquities (Isa 43:24).

And he speaks of God according to human manner, because it is said to be heavy for man to labor in what does not please him.

51. And when you stretch forth. He rejects their prayers.

And first, he places the rejection;

second, the reason for the rejection, where it says, for your hands are full of blood.

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he rejects their prayers as to the sign of devotion, where it says, and when you stretch forth your hands: let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens (Lam 3:41); and below: I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good (Isa 65:2);

second, as regards the length of prayer: he that turns away his ear¹ from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination (Prov 28:9).

For your hands are full of blood, which you have shed: their feet are swift to shed blood (Ps 13:3); restrain your foot from their paths. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood (Prov 1:15–16).

52. Wash yourselves. Here he sets out salutary counsel. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he gives the efficacious remedy;

second, the effect of the remedy, where it says, come, and accuse me (Isa 1:18);

third, the punishment for contempt, where it says, but if you will not (Isa 1:20).

The remedy consists in two things:

in fleeing evil

and following good, where it says, learn to do well (Isa 1:17).

Evil is fled in two ways:

through the purgation of past evil; and as to this, he says, wash yourselves: wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you mayst be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in you? (Jer 4:14).

Second, through precaution against future evil, and this comes about in three ways:

that one not think evils in one’s heart: be clean: he that loves cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend (Prov 22:11);

that one not fulfill such imagined deeds: take away the evil, namely, the evil deed: woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it (Mic 2:1);

that one not finish evils already begun: cease to do perversely: keep your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst (Jer 2:25); as a swift runner pursuing his course (Jer 2:23).

53. Learn to do well. Here he gives the remedy as to the following of good.

And first, that they learn it;

second, that they fulfill it in deed, where it says, relieve the oppressed.

For someone does good in ordering himself, and as to this he says, learn to do well: be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land uninhabited (Jer 6:8); in regard to one’s neighbor, and he says, seek judgment: the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently (Job 29:16); stand on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths (Jer 6:16).

54. Relieve the oppressed. Here he places the fulfillment of the work in assisting the needy. However, one can be made needy either by violence, and as to this he says, relieve the oppressed: deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver (Prov 24:11); or the ignorance of youth: judge for the fatherless: in judging be to¹ the fatherless as a father (Sir 4:10); or the weakness of one’s sex: defend the widow: the ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me (Job 29:11).

55. And then come. Here he promises the effect, and concerning this he sets out three things.

First, the obligation of the one who promises, where he says, come, and accuse me, as if to say: if you do what I say, and what I promise does not follow, I oblige myself that you should accuse me. Job mourned this: there is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both (9:33).

Second, the ending of evils: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and he promises especially cleansing from sins. Because when the cause has ceased, the effect ceases, he touches on two kinds of sin:

that which is from burning love, which he indicates by scarlet because of its intense redness, against which he places the whiteness of cold snow: if I be washed, as it were, with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever clean (Job 9:30–31);

and that which is from deadening fear, which is indicated by crimson, whose color approaches whiteness, against which he places wool: in the multitude of diverse riches,¹ in wool of the best color (Ezek 27:18); his garment was like white snow,² and the hair of his head like clean wool (Dan 7:9).

Third, the restoration of good things is set out: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26[27]:13); you shall eat, below: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry (Isa 65:13).

56. But if you will not. He sets out the punishment for contempt.

And first, he sets out the contempt, saying: but if you will not: as I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath (Zech 8:14).

Second, he threatens the sword of vengeance: the sword shall devour you: I will draw out a sword after them. And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation to rest upon them (Ezek 5:12–13).

Third, he shows that the judgment is immutable: because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed (Num 23:19).

1:21 How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? Justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.

1:22 Your silver is turned into dross: your wine is mingled with water.

1:23 Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow’s cause comes not in to them.

1:24 Therefore says the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies.

1:25 And I will turn my hand to you, and I will boil away unto purity¹ your dross, and I will take away all your tin.

1:26 And I will restore your judges as they were before, and your counsellors as of old. After this you shall be called the city of the just, a faithful city.

1:27 Zion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice.

1:28 And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.

1:29 For they shall be confounded by¹ the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen.

1:30 When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.

1:31 And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.

57. How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? Here he shows their sin of turning away from justice towards one’s neighbor. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he describes the fault;

second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore says the Lord (Isa 1:24);

third, what follows the punishment, where it says, and I will restore (Isa 1:26).

Concerning the first, he first denounces the sin of the people;

second, the sin of the priest, where it says, your silver is turned into dross (Isa 1:22);

third, the sin of the princes, where it says, your princes are faithless (Isa 1:23).

In the people, he denounces two sins, adding to their weight by comparison to their prior state:

namely, he denounces their venality by comparison to their prior fidelity, hence how is the faithful city become a harlot? Under every green tree, and on every high hill you didst prostitute yourself (Jer 2:20);

and their cruelty by comparison to justice and to judgment, which is the execution of justice: until justice be turned into judgment (Ps 93[94]:15); hence he says, but now murderers: cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood has touched blood (Hos 4:2).

58. He denounces the sin of the priest in two matters.

In corrupting the truth of doctrine: hence he says, your silver is turned into dross: the words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times (Ps 11:7[12:6]). The prophets prophesied falsehood (Jer 5:31).

Second, in relaxing the severity of discipline, which is signified by wine, for this is the wine which the Samaritan poured in (Luke 10:34); hence he says, your wine is mingled with water: woe to them that sew cushions under every elbow (Ezek 13:18).

59. Your princes are faithless. Here he denounces the sin of the princes.

And first, he shows that they are unfaithful in executing their office, because they do so for their own advantage and not that of the people: that anoint themselves with the best ointments, that drink wine in bowls (Amos 6:6); woe to the shepherds of Israel, that feed¹ themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? (Ezek 34:2); and because of this, he says they are faithless.

Second, he shows that they are transgressors in receiving evildoers: companions of thieves, defending them and pleading their causes: like the jaws of highway robbers are the princes of the priests¹ (Hos 6:9); son, walk not you with them (Prov 1:15).

Third, he shows that they are corrupt in receiving bribes, below: woe to you that justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him (Isa 5:23); hence he says, they all love bribes, received, they run after rewards, promised or hoped for.

Fourth, he shows that they are unjust in spurning the poor, saying, they judge not for the fatherless: they have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless (Jer 5:28).

60. Therefore says the Lord. Here he threatens punishment:

and first, the punishment of the superiors;

second, of the subjects, where it says, and I will turn my hand to you (Isa 1:25).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things.

First, the power of the one who punishes in authority, saying, the Lord: if I be a master, where is my fear, says the Lord (Mal 1:6); in the multitude of his ministers: the God of hosts: is there any numbering of his soldiers? (Job 25:3); in multitude,¹ the mighty one: he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has resisted him, and has had peace? (Job 9:4).

Second, he sets out the will of the one who punishes: ah, namely, to them, I will comfort myself, because my comfort will be their punishment. Below: the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my retribution¹ is come (Isa 63:4).

Third, he sets out the harshness of the punishment, where it says, and I will be revenged of my enemies, as if to say, I will punish you like enemies: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me (Deut 32:41).

61. And I will turn my hand to you. Here he threatens the punishment of the subjects.

And first is set out the preparation of the one who punishes, where it says, and I will turn my hand to you, to punish, which, in sparing you, I had held as though folded: the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job 19:21).

Second, the completion of the punishment: I will boil away, by the fire of tribulation, unto purity, as long as there is something to be purged: you shall not go out from thence till you repay the last farthing (Matt 5:26).

Third, the multitude of punishments: I will take away all your tin, because [I will punish you] for every sin, below: she has received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins (Isa 40:2).

62. And I will restore your judges. Here he places what follows the punishment.

And first, as to those corrected, renewal;

second, as to the obstinate, consumption, where it says, and he shall destroy the wicked (Isa 1:28): for by the same fire, as Augustine says, gold is tested and chaff smokes.¹

Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, he promises renewal as to the amendment of the superiors;

second, as to the restoration of their reputation, where it says, after this you shall be called;

third, as to the observation of justice, where it says, Zion shall be redeemed in judgment (Isa 1:27).

Therefore, he says, I will restore your judges, as to the secular princes, to whom it belongs to judge the people, and your counselors, that is, the priests, to whom it belongs to manifest the counsel of God to the people: the lips of the priests¹ shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the Angel of the Lord of hosts (Mal 2:7); as they were before, as Moses and Joshua, who pleased God: I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine (Jer 3:15). You shall be called, that is, you will recover your reputation, so that you are said to be as you had been before, the city of the just, that is, the city in which justice is observed, below: you shall no more be called Forsaken: and your land shall no more be called Desolate: but you shall be called my pleasure in her (Isa 62:4); Zion shall be redeemed, from oppressors, in judgment, through the execution of justice; and they shall bring her back in justice, because judgment is the restoration of the equality in which justice consists: to judge your people with justice, and your poor with judgment (Ps 71[72]:2); a king shall reign and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5).

63. And he shall destroy¹ the wicked. Here he places the destruction of the obstinate. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he proclaims their destruction;

second, the manner of their destruction, where it says, for they shall be confounded (Isa 1:29);

third, he takes away the hope of escape, where it says, and your strength shall be as the ashes of tow (Isa 1:31).

And because the punishment is ordered against the fault, therefore, concerning the first, he touches on the fault in two ways.

On the part of turning toward, as to the wickedness of idolatry; hence he says, the wicked; and as to the sin of pleasure and of lust; hence he says, sinners, because men are most prone to such things; against which he ordains the punishment of destruction,¹ in which the punishment is noted for the infliction: with a double destruction, destroy them (Jer 17:18), as if for a double sin.

Second, on the part of turning away, because they have forsaken the Lord; against which he ordains the punishment of consumption, saying, they shall be consumed; in which he indicates the punishment of desertion, because that which is consumed, goes into nothing, and all things would tend towards nothing, unless the hand of the Lord preserved them, as Gregory says.¹ O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake you shall be confounded: they that depart from you, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters (Jer 17:13).

64. For they shall be confounded. Here he places the manner of destruction:

and first, as to the confusion of sin;

second, as to the subtraction of good, where it says, when you shall be (Isa 1:30).

Concerning the first, against idolatry, he ordains confusion, saying, they shall be confounded by the idols, that is, because of the idols: let them be all confounded that adore graven things (Ps 96[97]:7);

against pleasure, he ordains shame, when he says, you shall be ashamed of the gardens, that is, the places of pleasure, which you have chosen, of your lust: what fruit had you in those things of which you are now ashamed? (Rom 6:21).

For confusion relates more to evil; but shame to fault, for carnal sins, as Gregory says,¹ are of lesser fault and greater dishonor; and the reason is that they concern the faculties that are less honorable and most material; and nevertheless these faculties are innate and connatural and passible.

65. When you shall be. Here he places the subtraction of good.

And first, of that which pertains to protection and adornment, which is signified by the removal of leaves; second, of that which pertains to fruit, where it says, as a garden, which is barren without water. And on the contrary, it is said of the just man: he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters (Ps 1:3).

66. And your strength shall be. Here he takes away from them the hope of escape; and he sets out three things.

First, he takes away the support of their own strength; hence he says, your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, which are quickly consumed: the congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together (Sir 21:10[9]).

Second, he takes away the help of idols, saying: your work, namely, of idols, which were made by your hands, as a spark, which is of no importance: where are their gods, in whom they trusted? (Deut 32:37); and nevertheless it is burned up: hence it follows, and both shall burn. Below: walk in the light of your fire (Isa 50:11).

Third, he takes away the help of men: and there shall be none to quench it: the flame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched (Ezek 20:27–28).

2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2:2 And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.

2:3 And many people shall go, and say: come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

67. The word that. Here he begins to rebuke their fault on the part of turning toward. And this is divided into three parts:

in the first part, he denounces them for the fault which they were committing in the worship of idols;

in the second, for the fault which they were committing in the oppression of men: for behold (ch. 3);

in the third, for the fault which they were committing in the abuse of things: I will sing to my beloved (ch. 5).

The first of these is divided into two:

into a title

and a treatise, the second beginning where it says, and in the last days (Isa 2:2).

And he sets out this word in the beginning of the chapter because it is a prophecy especially of the Incarnate Word: for the Lord God will do¹ no word² without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).

68. And it shall be. Here he carries out the intention. And this is divided into three parts:

in the first part, he promises the remedy of salvation, lest the weight of the following fault leads to despair;

in the second, he shows the guilt of the fault, where it says: for you have cast off your people (Isa 2:6);

in the third, he threatens the lash of punishment, where it says: therefore forgive them not (Isa 2:9).

Concerning the first, three things are set out:

first, the preparation of salvation;

second, the conversion of the gentiles, where it says, and all nations shall flow unto it (Isa 2:2);

third, the calling of the Jews in the end, where it says, O house of Jacob, come (Isa 2:5).

69. Concerning the first of these, three things are set out.

First, the time of salvation; hence he says, and it shall be. And he connects this to the preceding prophecy, or to that which he heard from the Lord, as Gregory says¹ about the beginning of Ezekiel. In the last days, that is, in the time of grace, which is called the last, because the observance of another religion will not succeed it: behold I am with you . . . even to the consummation of the world (Matt 28:20); gather yourselves together, [sons of Israel,] that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days (Gen 49:1).

70. But it seems that this salvation which is through the Incarnation of the Son of God ought to have been prepared from the beginning of the human race, because the more quickly a disease is remedied through medicine, the easier it is cured.

To this it is to be said that medicine ought to be offered according to the condition of the disease. And because the sin of man occurred through pride, which scorned the precepts of God, it is fitting that the medicine for attaining salvation was prepared through humility, so that man might know the weakness of his powers: for by neither natural law nor written law was he able to provide help to himself; and thus, he would more ardently and humbly seek the medicine, the more he found no help in himself.

71. Second, he puts forth the power of the savior, when he says, the mountain of the house of the Lord, on which the house of the Lord was founded: he set me upon a very high mountain (Ezek 40:2).

Third, the position of the savior: on the top of mountains, that is, greater princes, and it shall be exalted above the hills, that is, lesser princes. Below: behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high (Isa 52:13).

72. And all nations shall flow unto it. Here he places the conversion of the gentiles. And concerning this, he sets out three things:

first, the conversion itself;

second, he declares the order of conversion, where it says, and many people shall go (Isa 2:3);

third, he promises peace to the converted, where it says, and he shall judge the Gentiles (Isa 2:4).

Therefore as to the first, he says, and all nations, that is, from all other nations, shall flow, in which is noted their multitude and haste: I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way, and they shall not stumble in it (Jer 31:9).

73. The order of conversion was that the gentiles were converted through the calling of those who were from the Jews. And therefore he sets out three things concerning the second:

first, those who call,

second, the calling, where it says, come,

third, the reason for this order, where it says, for the law shall come forth from Zion.

Therefore he says, many, not all, people, that is, who are from the Jews: in which is noted the small number of Jews who converted in respect to the multitude of gentiles; shall go, by steps of faith believing, and say: we also believe. For which cause we speak also (2 Cor 4:13).

74. Come. Here he places the calling. And they are called to three things.

To eminence of faith; hence he says, come, through consensus, let us go up, through faith, to the mountain of the Lord, that is, to Christ, and to the house of the God of Jacob, that is, to the Church: arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God. For thus says the Lord: rejoice in the joy of Jacob (Jer 31:6–7); ascent to mount Zion (Heb 12:22).

Second, to teaching, when he says, he will teach us his ways, that is, the precepts by which one goes to him: there you shall teach me, and I will give you a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates (Song 8:2).

Third, to obedience: and we will walk, after him, in the paths, of his counsels: ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk in it (Jer 6:16).

75. For the law shall come forth from Zion. Here he places the reason for the order of the calling, saying, for the law shall come forth, understood spiritually, from Zion, not from Mount Sinai, and the word of the Lord, that is, the Gospel, from Jerusalem, for the contemplation of peace: for salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22), and below: when they rush out from¹ Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud (Isa 27:6).

2:4 And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war.

2:5 O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord our God.

2:6 For you have cast off your people, the house of Jacob: because they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the Philistines, and have adhered to strange children.

2:7 Their land is filled with silver and gold: and there is no end of their treasures.

2:8 And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made.

2:9a And man has bowed himself down, and man has been debased.

76. And he shall judge. Here he promises peace to the converted. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he sets out that which brings about peace;

second, the sign of peace: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares;

third, the fruit of peace: nation shall not lift up sword.

That which brings about peace is the judgment of a king, and therefore, first, he says, he shall judge the Gentiles, giving them laws, and rebuke many peoples, correcting their faults, below: he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity the meek of the earth (Isa 11:4).

The sign of peace is that the instruments of war are turned to the cultivation of the field; hence he says, and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares. He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons (Ps 45:10[46:9]).

The fruit of peace is in the removal of enemies; hence he says, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, below: the old error is passed away: you will keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in you (Isa 26:3).

77. On the contrary, afterwards, there were many wars. The Gloss responds that these were not as large as before; hence in the time of the antichrist, however great the future persecution of the saints, nevertheless they will have great peace among themselves, as it was in the time of Diocletian. Or, better, it may be said that this refers to the peace made through Christ, which will be completed in the future.

78. O house of Jacob. Here he places the calling of the Jews after the conversion of the gentiles has occurred: speaking either in the person of the prophet or in the person of the gentiles, that they may be in the tail who were in the head: blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in (Rom 11:25). Let us walk, at the same time and in agreement, that there may be one sheepfold: and there shall be one fold and one shepherd (John 10:16). In the light. Walk whilst you have the light (John 12:35).

79. For you have cast off. Here he shows their guilt.

And first, in general,

second, in particular, at: and have had soothsayers.

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he shows their separation from God, when he says, for you have cast off, and, as the Gloss continues, rightly are they to be called, because you have cast off. Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? (Jer 22:28).

Second, he places the reason for their separation, because, namely, they are filled, with iniquity, as in times past, in Egypt. The land is full of adulterers (Jer 23:10). For there is no cause of separation from God except sin; hence below: your sins¹ have divided between you and your God (Isa 59:2).

80. And soothsayers. Here he sets out their fault in particular, and especially concerning idolatry, which he denounces in them in three ways.

First, as to the gentile way of life;

second, as to the occasion of idolatry, where it says, their land is filled with silver and gold (Isa 2:7);

third, as to the observation of worship, where it says, and their land is filled (Isa 2:8).

81. He censures them for the gentile way of life in two matters.

First, as to the diviners and soothsayers that they had: hence he says: soothsayers,¹ that is, those who foretell the future from the cry and chirping of birds, as the Philistines, among whom this superstition flourished most, against what is commanded in Deuteronomy 18:9: beware lest you have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations, and immediately below this, let there be not found among you any one . . . that consults soothsayers, or observes dreams and omens (Deut 18:10).

82. But it seems that augury is not a sin. For birds have a better estimation than fish who are more aquatic; but mariners obtain predictions of a coming storm from the movement of certain fish: therefore something also may be foretold concerning the future through birds.

And to this is to be said that God foresaw what was necessary for each thing to be preserved in being, according to the capacity of its nature; and therefore to man he gave reason, through which, by comparing, he is able to devise for himself remedies against harmful things. And because reason is lacking in brute animals, he ordained that nature should supply what is lacking from reason; and therefore weapons and coverings, which man must acquire for himself through art, are given to animals by nature. Similarly, a certain power of natural estimation was also created for them, impelling them to carry out the activity of their species; hence it is better to say that they are acted upon than that they act, as John Damascene¹ says; and when an inferior nature is regulated by a superior nature and is moved, impressions are left in them of superior movements rubbing such movement by which they are moved to provide for themselves in necessities. And obtaining a prediction in such things from birds or the movements of birds or of other animals is not a sin, but only about those things which have their cause from free will, which does not operate by the necessity of the stars.

83. Second, he censures them as to unnatural passions, in which they were subject: hence he says: to strange children, that is, foreign, or strange to God, have adhered, through filthy abuse. Men with men, working that which is filthy (Rom 1:27). In 2 Maccabees 4:13, it is said of this vice, now this was . . . an increase, and progress of heathenish and foreign manners, through the abominable and unheard of wickedness of Jason, that impious wretch, and no priest.

84. Their land is filled. Here he sets out the occasion of idolatry, which is avarice or its likeness: or covetousness . . . which is a serving of idols (Eph 5:3–5).

First, therefore, he shows their avarice as to the multiplication of things which pertain to the necessities of life, when he says, their land is filled, in which is indicated the abundance of things; and there is no end, in which is indicated the insatiability of the covetous man, who is not satisfied with money. A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loves riches shall reap no fruit from them (Eccl 5:9), and: I gave them corn, and wine, and oil, and silver, and I multiplied for them,¹ and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal (Hos 2:8).

Second, he shows their avarice as to things which pertain to transportation, where he says, filled with horses. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord, our God (Ps 19:8[20:7]).

85. Their land also is full of idols. Here he denounces in them the worship of idolatry; and he adds to the weight of this from three things.

First, from its multitude, where he says, also is full: Ephraim has made many altars to sin (Hos 7:11); under every green tree, and on every high hill you didst prostitute yourself (Jer 2:20).

Second, from the worthlessness of the idols: for they are the work of their own hands, and still more, which their own fingers have made. The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men (Ps 113:12[115:4]).

Third, from the dignity of man: and therefore he says: man, who was made to the image of God, has bowed himself down, in putting himself under idols; man, who seems powerful as to acquired things, has been debased: man when he was in honor did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them (Ps 48:13[49:12]). Below: he bows down before it, and adores it, and prays unto it, saying: deliver me (Isa 44:17).

2:9b Therefore forgive them not.

2:10 Enter you into the rock, and hide you in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.

2:11 The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the height¹ of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

2:12 Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and high-minded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be humbled.

2:13 And upon all the tall and lofty cedars of Libanus, and upon all the oaks of Basan.

2:14 And upon all the high mountains and upon all the elevated hills.

2:15 And upon every high tower, and every fenced wall.

2:16 And upon all the ships of Tharsis, and upon all that is fair to behold.

2:17 And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

2:18 And idols shall be utterly destroyed.

2:19 And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.

2:20 In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he had made for himself to adore, moles and bats.

2:21 And he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.

2:22 Cease therefore from the man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for he is reputed high.

86. Therefore forgive them not. Here he threatens them with punishment. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first part, he shows them that danger is imminent;

in the second part, he closes the remedy of escape, where it says, cease therefore from the man (Isa 2:22).

He shows them that danger is imminent, by taking away three things:

first, presumption of divine mercy;

second, confidence in their own power, where it says, the lofty eyes of man are humbled (Isa 2:11);

third, the remedy which remained in confidence in other [gods], where it says, in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver (Isa 2:20).

And because divine mercy has no measure, but always exalts itself above judgment (Jas 2:13), he does not remove it by foretelling that it will fail but by calling it down as just. Therefore he does two things.

First, he places the calling down, saying: since they do such filthy evils, therefore forgive them not, as if to say: would that there were justice, that you might have mercy on them in nothing: shall I not visit for these things, says the Lord? And shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation? (Jer 5:9).

87. Second, he places, ironically, the counsel to escape, saying, enter you; as if to say, since he himself does not send you away, it remains that you should hide yourself from his face. Enter you into the rock, literally, into the fissures of the rocks to remain there; hide you in the pit, that is, in the caverns of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord, that is, from the face of those through whom God proves that he is to be feared and glorified: leave the cities (Jer 48:28); but this does not avail them, hence in Psalm 138[139]:7: whither shall I go from your spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your face?

88. Bernard explains this as referring to Christ. And the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4); one must enter him through the affection of devotion. Therefore, Bernard says: that which is lacking to me I usurp from the heart of Jesus Christ. For out of his heart mercies overflow, and there is no lack of fissures by which they flow out: for they dug holes in his hands, pierced his feet.¹ Arise, make haste, my love, and come . . . in the clefts of the rock (Song 2:13–14).²

89. The lofty eyes. Here he takes away from them confidence in their own power, and concerning this, he does two things:

first, he excludes the power of resistance;

second, he rejects the precaution of hiding, where it says, and they shall go into the holes of rocks (Isa 2:19).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he sets out the intention;

second, he explains the manner, where it says, because the day of the Lord of hosts (Isa 2:12);

third, he concludes the proposition: and the loftiness of men shall be bowed down (Isa 2:17).

He sets out two things to exclude the power of resistance.

First, their lowering, both as to pride of heart, when he says, the eyes, that is, pride, of the lofty, that is, of powerful men, are humbled, that is, they will be humbled: the past tense is used for the future because of the certitude of the prophecy: a generation, whose eyes are lofty, and their eyelids lifted up on high (Prov 30:13); he will look¹ on all that are proud, and confound them, and crush the wicked in their place (Job 40:7). Then also as to nobility of ancestry; hence he says, the height of men, that is, their nobility of ancestry: yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was like the height of cedars (Amos 2:9).

Second, he places the exaltation of the one who punishes: the Lord alone shall be exalted, that is he who seemed weak in expectation, will appear high in punishing: the Lord shall be known when he executes judgments (Ps 9:17[16]); below: the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment (Isa 5:16).

90. Because the day of the Lord. Here is set out the manner of fulfillment of the things that have been predicted.

And first, as to the lowering of men;

second, as to the subtraction of things, where it says, and upon all (Isa 2:13).

Thus he says first: therefore this will be which was said, because the day of the Lord, that is, the time of vengeance, below: the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redemption is come (Isa 63:4); of hosts, that there be no doubt about victory of him, under whom there is such a multitude of servants; he will come as heavy weight to compress, upon every one that is proud and high-minded, that is, upon him who is raised up more from the great things he has; and upon every one that is arrogant, who is elevated because of that which he does not have. The arrogant man is he who attributes to himself what he does not have (Gregory).¹ I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue (Prov 8:13). And he shall be humbled: he that exalts himself shall be humbled (Luke 14:11).

91. And upon all the tall and lofty cedars. Here he places the subtraction of things which make for defense.

And first, as to things that pertain to preparing machines of war: either because of their height, and thus he says, upon all the cedars; or because of their strength, and thus he says, upon all the oaks: open your gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour your cedars (Zech 11:1); and below this: howl, you oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut down (Zech 11:2).

Second, as to things which pertain to the fortification of places, either from nature: and upon all the high mountains: thus says the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the rocks, and the valleys (Ezek 6:3); or from art: and upon every high tower: a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks. And I will distress men (Zeph 1:16–17).

Third, as to things which pertain to abundance of provisions, and thus he says: and upon all the ships, in which provisions are borne, of Tharsis, that is, of the sea, below: howl, you ships of the sea, for the house is destroyed, from whence they were wont to come (Isa 23:1).

And upon all that is fair to behold: this pertains to the placating of enemies, or the increase of fighters: who can despise the people of the Hebrews, who have such beautiful women? (Jdt 10:18).

92. Shall be bowed down. Here it is as if he concludes the proposition; and it is entirely the same as what was said before, except that something is added about the destruction of idols, so that he alone may be shown to be the highest, when he says, and idols (Isa 2:18). Your idols shall be broken in pieces and shall be no more, and your temples shall be destroyed (Ezek 6:6).

93. And they shall go into the holes of rocks. Here he places the precaution of hiding; and it is the same as before, except that here it is foretold as in the future, because he had also explained by foretelling and not by calling down that their power was to be thrown down; they shall go into the lower parts of the earth: they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be the portions of foxes (Ps 62:10–11[63:9–10]).

94. In that day. Here he removes the third, namely confidence in idols.

And first, he takes away their help; to adore. And I went in and saw, and behold every form of creeping things, and of living creatures, the abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were painted (Ezek 8:10). Below: in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin (Isa 31:7).

Second, he returns to the protection of hiding, where it says, and he shall go into the clefts of rocks: every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains (Rev 6:15).

95. Cease therefore. Here he places sound counsel for escape; therefore since all these things do not avail you, cease therefore from the man, that is, cease from what is offensive to him, namely Christ, whose breath is in his nostrils, that is, who breathes with his nostrils and lives like other men as to his humanity; for he is reputed high, as to his divinity, by the saints and angels: the Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above all¹ the heavens (Ps 112[113]:4).

96. Or otherwise: it speaks of God in likeness to man through an anthropopathic figure: from the man, that is, from God, whose breath is in his nostrils; this speaks in likeness to an angry man, who because of the multiplication of his breaths, breathes out through his nostrils; hence Homer says that strong men breathed out harsh power through each of their nostrils.¹ At the blast of the breath² of your wrath (Ps 17:16[18:15]). Below: his wrath burns, and is heavy to bear (Isa 30:27), and again: his breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing (Isa 30:28). And this refers to the first, in which he takes away presumption of the mercy of God. For he is reputed high, separately, as if alone, against the second.

3:1 For behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah the valiant and the strong, the whole strength of bread, and the whole strength of water.

3:2 The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet and the diviner,¹ and the ancient.

3:3 The prince¹ over fifty, and the honorable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skillful in mystical² speech.

3:4 And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them.

3:5 And the people shall fall¹ one to² another, and every man to³ his neighbor: the child shall make a tumult against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.

3:6 For a man shall take hold of his brother, one of the house of his father, saying: you have a garment, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.

3:7 In that day he shall answer, saying: I am no healer, and in my house there is no bread, nor clothing: make me not ruler of the people.

97. For behold the sovereign. Here begins the second part, in which he denounces their sin as to the oppression of neighbors. And it is divided into two parts:

in the first is the confutation of the oppressors;

in the second, the consolation of the oppressed: and in that day seven women shall take hold of one man (ch. 4).

And because violent dominion is not only the fault of man, but also is the punishment of God judging the sins of the people, as it says in Job 34:30: who makes a man that is a hypocrite to reign for the sins of the people? Therefore the first part is divided into two parts:

for in the first, it is predicted as far as it is a punishment inflicted by God;

in the second, it is denounced as far as it is a fault committed by man, where it says, O my people (Isa 3:12).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, the overthrow of the government is threatened;

in the second, he assigns the reason, where it says, for Jerusalem is ruined (Isa 3:8).

The first of these is divided into three:

in the first, he takes away men suitable for the office of government;

in the second, unworthy men are set over them, where it says, and I will give children to be their princes (Isa 3:4);

in the third, those who are called are refused, where it says, a man shall take hold of his brother (Isa 3:6).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, he takes away the man suitable for the office of government;

in the second, he takes away the man who is useful for the help of the ruler, where it says, and the counselor (Isa 3:3).

The first of these is divided into three, according to three things which are required for the suitability of superiors:

for first, he takes away the man who is suitable as to power;

in the second, as to sagacity, where it says, the judge (Isa 3:2);

in the third part, as to authority, where it says, the ancient (Isa 3:2).

98. Power is required in a leader or king for directing the wars of the people and for restraining insolence: seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to extirpate iniquities (Sir 7:6).

This power consists in three things, according to which the first part is divided into three parts, namely, in strength of body, which consists in three things, namely, in vigor of constitution, and as to this, he says: I warn you to cease, for, that is, because, behold, it is near, he shall take away the valiant, that is, he who is strong in health of constitution; in strength of limbs, and thus, he says, the strong, because strength consists in bones and sinews, as the Philosopher says.¹ Again, in plenty of food, and thus he says, the whole strength of bread, in which all food and drink is signified: the chief thing for man’s life is water and bread, and clothing (Sir 29:28[21]).

Second, power consists in constancy of heart, and thus he says, the strong man, as far as it comes from the strength which is a power of the soul.

Third, it consists in the exercise of the art of war, and thus he says, the man of war.

99. Wisdom is required for the exercise of judgment: because of which Solomon asked for wisdom from God: give therefore to your servant an understanding heart . . . to discern between good and evil (1 Kgs 3:9).

And this may be had in three ways: either by human institution; and as to this he says, the judge, as it were, the expert in the law; or by divine inspiration, and as to this he says, the prophet; or by the revelation of a demon, and as to this he says, the diviner [ariolus], because they divined on the altars [aris] of demons, and they sometimes spoke truths.

100. Authority is necessary for reverence, and this also consists in three things:

in dignity of office, and as to this he says, the prince; and by these he understands all other princes, as the Gloss says;

in uprightness of morals: the ancient in morals;

in maturity of countenance: the honorable in countenance.

101. Some princes are useful for the government of the people, or for dealing with doubtful affairs, and as to this he says, and the counsellor; or for constructing buildings: the architect, which comes from archos, which means “prince,” and techne, which means “art,” especially mechanical art. The architect is said to be the principal artist, who directs the other artists to introduce the form and prepare the matter, according to the consideration of the end, which he has knowledge of in use or reason.

102. But wisdom, according to the Philosopher, is said to be twofold: namely, universal and particular.¹

In defining particular wisdom, he says that it is the virtue through which man is placed in the utmost of any art, such as medicine, and that doctor is called wise who is most certain in things that pertain to medicine; and a builder is called wise similarly, and thus for others. And it is in this way that it is understood here.

Universal wisdom is that which is the utmost in all arts and sciences, and it is by this that man is raised to knowledge of the noblest things, that is, of separated, or spiritual, substances; and this, according to the Philosopher,¹ is metaphysics, and, according to us, is theology.

103. Third, someone is necessary for teaching divine things, and as to this, he says: and the skillful in mystical speech; “mystical” comes from mystim, which means “secret,” that is, pertaining to divine words which are secret. And concerning all these things it is stated in 2 Kings 24:15 that they were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon: and he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity.

104. And I will give children. Here he shows the subversion of the government as to unworthy men being placed over them. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first is placed the authority of unworthy men;

in the second, the consequent disturbance of the people, where it says, and the people shall fall one upon another (Isa 3:5).

Now, they are unworthy as to lack of wisdom and of age, and thus he says I will give children to be their princes; and as to lack of virtue, and thus he says: and the effeminate shall rule over them, that is, the lustful and the weak: I will give you kings¹ in my wrath (Hos 13:11).

105. The effect of the government in the disturbance of the people is touched on in three ways.

First, universal dissension, hence he says: the people shall fall, from the unity of peace through which they are a people, one to¹ another, that is, one against² another: where there is no governor, the people shall fall (Prov 11:14); they were led away as a flock: they shall be afflicted, because they have no shepherd (Zech 10:2).

Second, dissolution of friendship: every man to his neighbor, that is, against his neighbor: every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully (Jer 9:4).

Third, confusion of rank: the child shall make a tumult against the ancient, and the base against the honorable: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had they pity on the ancient (Lam 4:16).

106. Shall take hold. Here he shows the subversion of the government as to the refusal of office of those invited to rule, as if it were something ruinous. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, the invitation of the electors is set out;

in the second, the refusal of the one elected, where it says, and in that day he shall answer (Isa 3:7).

Concerning the first, three things are set out, namely, the election itself, the occasion of the election, and the charge of office.

The election is irregular, because it is by only one; hence he says, there will be a tumult, for, that is, because, they did not elect in common; but a man shall take hold of his brother, that is, one joined by blood, one of the house of his father, that is, one accepted in familiarity, even though he is base: he that builds up¹ Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity (Mic 3:10). And this is against the form observed in Numbers 1 in the election of princes done by the precept of the Lord, the authority of the superior, and the consent of the multitude.

But the occasion is base, because it is on account of riches; hence he says: you have a garment, for he hopes for temporal assistance; and this is against the form handed on in Exodus 18:21–22: and provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, in whom there is truth, and that hate avarice, and appoint of them rulers of thousands, and of hundreds . . . who may judge the people at all times.

But the charge is dangerous; hence he says: be you our ruler, and let this ruin, that is, danger, be under your hand, that is, under your keeping and defense. Keep this man: and if he shall slip away, your life shall be for his life (1 Kgs 20:39).

107. He shall answer. Here the refusal of the one elected is set out.

And first, his reasonable excuse is shown;

second, his renunciation of office is concluded where it says, make me not ruler of the people.

In excuse, he brings forward three things, namely, his impotence to repel harmful things: I am no healer, namely, that I might heal your miseries: is there no balm in Galaad? Or is there no physician there? (Jer 8:22); to supply need: and in my house there is no bread, by which I might supply the need of your hunger: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them (Lam 4:4); to foster or preserve what is necessary: nor clothing, by which heat is preserved: she shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for all her domestics are clothed with double garments (Prov 31:21).

108. Make me not ruler of the people. Here his renunciation of office is concluded, where a threefold reason is placed, namely, the impediment of devout contemplation: can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of? (Judg 9:9); of sweet affection: can I leave my sweetness? (Judg 9:11); and of spiritual exultation: can I forsake my wine, that cheers God and men, and be promoted among the other trees? (Judg 9:13).

3:8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue, and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty.

3:9 The show of their countenance has answered them: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it: woe to their souls, for evils have been rendered¹ to them.

3:10 Say to the just man that it is well, for he shall eat the fruit of his devices.¹

3:11 Woe to the wicked unto evil: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

3:12 As for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women have ruled over them. O my people, they that call you blessed, the same deceive you, and destroy the way of your steps.

3:13 The Lord stands up to judge, and he stands to judge the people.

3:14 The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and its princes: for you have devoured my vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your house.

3:15 Why do you consume my people, and grind the faces of the poor, says the Lord the God of hosts.

109. For Jerusalem is ruined. Here he sets out the cause of this renunciation.

And first, he sets out the proximate cause, namely, the punishment of universal ruin; hence is said on the part of the prophet: therefore he will refuse, for, that is, because, Jerusalem is ruined, that is, the city itself, and Judah, the province itself, is fallen, from its integrity through punishment, below: they have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity, they have destroyed the houses thereof, they have, brought it to ruin (Isa 23:13).

110. Second, he sets out the remote cause, namely, their fault. And this is divided into three parts:

in the first part, he adds to the weight of the fault,

in the second, he ordains the punishment for the fault, where it says, woe to their souls (Isa 3:9);

in the third, he shows the justice of the one who punishes, where it says, say to the just man (Isa 3:10).

He adds to the weight of their sin from three things:

from the species of their sin, because it is blasphemy against God; hence he says: therefore it is fallen because their tongue is against the Lord, below: upon whom have you jested? Upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? (Isa 57:4).

Second, from the novelty of their sin; hence he says: their devices are against the Lord: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face (Hos 7:2).

Third, from the publication of their sin, whence he says: the show of their countenance, because by their countenance they make their sin to be shown to others; has answered them, in punishment as to their bearing; and as to the commendation of their sin, he says: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, that is, they have praised it: you had a harlot’s forehead, you would not blush (Jer 3:3).

111. This is explained otherwise in the Gloss: the show of their countenance, that is, the knowledge of their sins, which they will have in their intellect, because the senses are in the countenance, has answered them, who ask why they are punished.

Or otherwise: the show of their countenance, that is, the remorse of conscience, has answered them, as punishment. And mystically, this refers to the sin of those who saw Christ and did not wish to know him, because of which their conscience reproves them, as the Gloss says. And because the justice of God does not allow such grave evils to be unpunished, therefore woe to their souls, not only to their bodies, for evils have been rendered to them, in the foreknowledge of God; or the past tense is used here for the future.

112. And lest the punishment be supposed to envelop everyone, to this is added the justice of God in the separation of the good from the wicked; and concerning this, he does two things.

First, he places the recompense of the good, saying, say to the just man, to any just man, that it is well, it will be for him, when the others are condemned, for the fruit, that is, his reward, he shall eat of his devices, as if taking the fruit of his good inventions. For just as the wicked are solicitous to find ways to sin, so the good are solicitous to find how they might please God: he that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord: how he may please God (1 Cor 7:32); for you shall eat the labors of your hands: blessed are you (Ps 127[128]:2).

Second, he places the punishment of the wicked, saying, woe to the wicked unto evil, that is, for the evil which threatens them, the reward of his hands shall be given him: the sinner has been caught in the works of his own hands (Ps 9:17[16]).

113. As for my people. Here the oppression of the people is denounced, in as far as it is the sin of the man who oppresses them, and this divided into two parts:

in the first, the vice of oppression is set out;

in the second, the judgment of punishment is introduced, where it says, the Lord stands up to judge (Isa 3:13).

Now, certain people were oppressing them in three ways.

First, princes were oppressing them by pillaging them through violence, and as to this he says, as for my people, their oppressors have stripped them of their goods: the people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor (Ezek 22:29).

Second, women, by drawing them to sensual desire and even to idolatry, as is told of Solomon in 1 Kings 11, and as to this he says: their women have ruled over them: give not the power of your soul to a woman, lest she enter upon your strength (Sir 9:2).

Third, prophets, by deceiving through the cunning of flattery, and as to this he says: O my people, as if to say: I had been accustomed to speak to you through the prophets, but because they are deceitful, I will speak to you myself, lest he not seem credible because one prophet is against another.

The same deceive you, in promising security; and destroy, in offering an occasion of sin: thus says the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace (Mic 3:5); the prophets say to them: you shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, but he will give you true peace in this place (Jer 14:13).

114. The Lord stands up to judge. Here the judgment for punishing the oppressors is introduced, and this is divided into two parts:

in the first, the judgment against the oppressing princes is set out,

in the second, the judgment against the women, where it says, and the Lord said (Isa 3:16).

The false prophets were deceiving the people to despoil them, and therefore they have the same judgment as the princes: they violated me among my people, for a handful of barley, and a piece of bread (Ezek 13:19).

Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, the judge is introduced; hence he says: the Lord stands up to judge: he shall judge¹ many peoples (Mic 4:3); the judgment sat, and the books were opened (Dan 7:10).

Second, the matter is introduced; hence he says: the Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, namely, with the priests, and its princes, kings and leaders: behold I will judge¹ between cattle and cattle, between rams and he goats (Ezek 34:17).²

Third, the cause is set out: and first, the accusation of the plaintiff is introduced, when he says, you have devoured: they have eaten the flesh of my people (Mic 3:3); second, the rebuke of the judge is set out, when he says: why do you consume my people, afflicting them, and grind the faces of the poor, weakening them by hunger? You that oppress the needy, and crush the poor (Amos 4:1). For God himself will be both plaintiff and judge.

115. It should be noted on verse 10 above, say to the just man that . . . he shall eat the fruit, that the fruit of the just man is:

first, that which he returns, and this is the fruit of his activity: you should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain (John 15:16); of his preaching: let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to his name (Heb 13:15); of his confession.

Second, that which he receives, and this is the fruit of remission of fault, below: the iniquity of the house of Jacob shall be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away (Isa 27:9); of participation of grace: but the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy (Gal 5:22); of contemplation of wisdom: the purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and her fruit than the chief and purest gold (Prov 3:14).

Third, that which he seeks: in the delight of the Lord: his fruit was sweet to my palate (Song 2:3); in the society of the heavenly choir: O mountains of Israel, shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel (Ezek 36:8); in the reception of the divine gift: your plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard (Song 4:13).

3:16 And the Lord said: because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and have walked with stretched out necks, and wanton glances of their eyes, and made a noise as they walked with their feet and moved in a set pace:

3:17 the Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their hair.

3:18 In that day the Lord will take away the ornaments of shoes, and little moons,

3:19 and chains and necklaces, and bracelets, and bonnets,

3:20 and bodkins, and ornaments of the legs, and tablets, and sweet balls, and earrings,

3:21 and rings, and jewels hanging on the forehead,

3:22 and changes of apparel, and cloaks,¹ and fine linen, and crisping pins,

3:23 and looking-glasses, and lawns, and headbands, and fine veils.

3:24 And instead of a sweet smell there shall be stench, and instead of a girdle, a cord, and instead of curled hair, baldness, and instead of a stomacher, haircloth.

3:25 Your fairest men also shall fall by the sword, and your valiant ones in battle.

3:26 And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall sit desolate on the ground.

116. And the Lord said. Here the divine judgment against the women is set out.

And first, their fault is laid bare,

second, their punishment is foretold, where it says, the Lord will make bald (Isa 3:17).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, he denounces them for their pride,

in the second, for their lasciviousness, where it says, and wanton glances of their eyes.

Concerning the first, he does two things.

In the first, he denounces pride in the heart, when he says: because the daughters of Zion are haughty, in their pride: Lord, my heart is not exalted (Ps 130[131]:1).

Second, he denounces the sign of pride in the body: they have walked with stretched out necks, which is a sign of pride: he has run against him with his neck raised up, and is armed with a fat neck (Job 15:26).

117. And wanton glances. Here he denounces their lasciviousness in four things, by which they provoke men to sensual desire.

First, in sight itself; hence he says, and wanton glances: let not your heart covet her beauty, be not caught with her winks (Prov 6:25).

Second, in play: and made a noise, the Gloss adds: in playing: use not much the company of her that is a dancer . . . lest you perish by the force of her charms (Sir 9:4).

Third, in walking, as they walked: a woman talkative and wandering, not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home (Prov 7:10–11).

Fourth, in lascivious adornment: in a set pace, the Gloss adds, adorned with the plunder of the poor. Behold a woman meets him in harlot’s attire, prepared to deceive souls (Prov 7:10).

118. The Lord will make bald. Here he threatens punishment:

and first, as to the removal of adornments;

second, as to the comfort of men, where it says, your fairest men also shall fall by the sword (Isa 3:25).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he takes away from them their adornments, which are signs of foolish joy and lasciviousness;

in the second, he repays them with the signs of sadness and misery, where it says, and instead of a sweet smell there shall be stench (Isa 3:24).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he takes away the natural adornment of hair from them;

second, artificial adornment, where it says, in that day (Isa 3:18).

Therefore, he first says, will make bald, as to true hair, below: on all their heads shall be baldness (Isa 15:2). Will discover, as to false hair, which is like clothing: of the captivity, of the bare head of the enemies (Deut 32:42).

119. In that day. Here he takes away artificial adornments from them:

and first, things which pertain to the adornment of their members,

second, things which pertain to the care of adornments, where it says, crisping pins, and looking-glasses (Isa 3:22).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he takes away things which pertain to the adornment of parts;

second, things which pertain to the adornment of the whole, where it says, and changes of apparel (Isa 3:22).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he takes away things which pertain to the members of the body;

second, things which pertain especially to the sense organs, where it says, sweet balls (Isa 3:20).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he takes away things which pertain to the lower parts of the body;

second, things which pertain especially to the parts of the head, where it says, and headbands (Isa 3:23).

120. Therefore, he first says, as to the feet, the ornaments of shoes, of any kind, and especially, little moons, that is, certain pictures on shoes made from gilded leather: how beautiful are your feet¹ in shoes, O prince’s daughter (Song 7:1).

Second, as to the neck: chains, certain adornments of the neck, which hang down to the breast and are given in honor of a victory: that grace may be added to your head, and a chain of gold to your neck (Prov 1:9).

Third, as to the breast, he says, necklaces, any adornments, but especially buckles by which the breast is secured, lest a garment be opened: the joints of your thighs are like necklaces,¹ that are made by the hand of a skillful workman. (Song 7:1).

Fourth, as to the arms, he says, bracelets [armilla], adornments of the arms, named from armus (“shoulder,” usually of an animal): both men and women gave bracelets . . . to make the work of the tabernacle of the testimony (Exod 32:21–22).

121. And bonnets.¹ Here he places adornments of the head;

and first, those for the top of the head: bonnets, adornments of the head like a crown: she put a bonnet upon her head (Jdt 10:3).

Second, as to the hair, he says, bodkins,¹ certain instruments of silver or gold made like sharpened sticks, by which women divide the hair before their brows, as is said of Judith in the same place: she plaited² the hair of her head (Jdt 10:3).

122. Third, as to the neck, he touches on two things.

First, ornaments of the legs [periscelides], from peri, which means “around,” and colon, which means “member,” as if to say, “adorned around a member.” Haymo says that it is made from gold, similar to bracelets, and it is placed around the neck.¹ The Gloss says that it is worn above the foot, like a bracelet; others says that they are certain adornments placed around the borders of garments like golden fringe, or some hides, or something of this kind. And this can stand with either of these meanings, because thus they are both around the neck and around the feet; for garments have such adornments both on the hood and on the lower edges, and thus they adorn the neck mediately: therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in ornaments of the legs² and bracelets,³ rings (Num 31:50).

123. Second, he places immediate adornments of the neck, when he says, tablets,¹ namely, certain chains, with gold and silver rods like the larvae of a moray eel,² which are placed around the neck: we will make you tablets of gold, with larvae of silver (Song 1:10).³ And because the neck is between the head and the body, its adornment redounds to both, and therefore it may be placed with either.

124. And sweet balls.¹ Here is placed things which pertain to the sense organs,

and first, as to smell: sweet balls, certain small boxes in which they placed musk and things of this kind; or also certain vessels, like an apple made from silver, perforated like a thurible, in which is placed fire and something odiferous: we will run after you to the odor of your ointments (Song 1:3).

Second, as to hearing, earrings, that is, certain rings of gold or silver, placed in the ears of women, which have been pierced for this purpose: she decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels, and went after her lovers (Hos 2:13).

Third, as to touch, which is strongest in the fingers: rings: therefore we offer . . . rings (Num 31:50).

Fourth, as to sight: jewels hanging on the forehead, with which the women of Egypt were adorned: you shall take onyx stones, and precious stones to adorn the ephod and the rational (Exod 25:7). He makes no mention of taste, because its instrument is interior and is not adorned.

125. And changes of apparel. Here he places adornments pertaining to the whole body,

and first, those for clothing the body, and thus he says, changes of apparel, that is, various pairs of garments: have clothed you with change of garments. And he said: put a miter (Zech 3:4–5).

Second, those for covering the body, and thus he says, cloaks: but she quickly took her cloak, and covered¹ herself (Gen 24:65).

Third, those for lying in, and thus he says, fine linen: then comes Peter . . . and went into the sepulcher: and saw the linen cloths lying (John 20:6).

126. And crisping pins.¹ Here he places things which pertain to the care of adornments.

And first, things for arranging them: crisping pins: it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle,¹ than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:24).

Second, things for discerning them, and looking-glasses, by which women discern whether they are well adorned: he made also the laver of brass, with the foot thereof, of the looking-glasses¹ of the women that watched at the door of the tabernacle (Exod 38:8).

Third, things for covering adornments;

and first, things for covering adornments of the shoulders: and lawns,¹ fine-spun veils with which the shoulders are covered, as are made by women in Campania: she made fine linen, and sold it, and delivered a girdle to the Chanaanite (Prov 31:24).

Second, for covering the adornments of the head: headbands, that is, pepla;¹ or better, what are called ligamenta, with which women bind² their hair, made like a net; and thus may be taken Exodus 28:37: and you shall tie it with a violet headband,³ namely, a plate of purest gold (Exod 28:36), where was written the holy name of the Lord.

Third, for covering the adornments of the whole body, he says, fine veils [therista]. The Gloss says, the most fine of feminine garments, pervious to sight, suitable for summer, from which it gets its name, for “theria” means “summer”. And women were especially accustomed to carry such things over silk garments: she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil¹ (Gen 38:14). About many of these, it is said in Ezekiel 16:10–12: I clothed you with embroidery, and shod you with violet colored shoes: and I girded you about with fine linen, and clothed you with fine garments . . . and put bracelets on your hands, and a chain about your neck, and I put a jewel upon your forehead and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.

127. And instead of a sweet smell there shall be. Here, the adornments of lasciviousness having been taken away, he exchanges them for the care of misery.

And first, as to that which is without, he says: instead of a sweet smell there shall be stench: for smell comes from without: his stench shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he has done proudly (Joel 2:20).

Second, as to that which is around, he says, instead of a girdle, a cord: he looses the belt of kings, and girds their loins with a cord (Job 12:18).

Third, as to that which is above, he says, instead of curled hair, baldness.

Fourth, as to that which is within: instead of a stomacher, according to the Gloss, with which the breasts are bound together, that is, squeezed together, lest from their size they convey shamefulness.

128. Your fairest men. Here he takes away the comfort of men from them as to four things.

Women delight in the beauty of men, and as to this, he says: your fairest men also shall fall by the sword: her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire (Lam 4:7).

Second, in their fortitude, and as to this, he says, and your valiant ones, below: they have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity (Isa 23:13).

Third, delight in their dignity, and as to this, he says: her gates, that is, the judges sitting in the gates, shall lament, inwardly, and mourn, outwardly: her gates are destroyed¹ in the ground: he has destroyed, and broken her bars, her king (Lam 2:9).

Fourth, they delight in the joyfulness of men, and as to this, he says: and she shall sit desolate on the ground: he has made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long (Lam 1:13).

Concerning this chapter, we first consider where it says, the diviner (Isa 3:2).

According to this it seems that it may be lawful to inquire into future things by diviners: for taking away something unlawful is not a punishment, but rather a benefit.

129. To this is to be said that divination, by its name, signifies a usurpation of a divine act, and this especially in the knowledge of future things which cannot be known naturally.

For there are certain future things which have determinate causes in nature, from which they arise necessarily, like an eclipse of the sun; and divination does not concern these things.

Other things also have determinate causes, from which they arise, as in many things, like drought in the dog days of summer;¹ hence, divination does not concern these things (for such are the prognoses of doctors concerning health or death, and of mariners concerning a coming storm), unless perhaps they are foretold as if coming in immovable truth, for this belongs only to God.

There are also certain future things which do not have determinate causes in nature, and especially those which come to be from free will; and of these causes no one has foreknowledge except God, to whom all things are present because of the stability of his eternity, or someone who learns them from God. And if indeed such things are predicted by divine inspiration, it is prophecy, not divination; if, however, someone predicts by his own devising, deceptively, for the sake of some profit, as little old women do, it is called divination; and it is a sin, because it is a lie, since they assert uncertainties as true, and because it is deception, and because it is a usurpation of divinity.

130. Similarly, a prediction is called divination if it comes to be in any way whatsoever from the counsel of demons, who indeed are able to predict some future things, either because they themselves are the causes of them, or because they themselves know them through the revelation of good angels, or because they foreknow by natural knowledge in those things which have determinate causes in nature that are hidden from us and known to them because of the perspicacity of their intelligence and because of their long experience.

And nevertheless it is always a sin to inquire from them, and apostasy from faith, as Augustine says.¹ And this is so for three reasons: first, because, although they may speak truths, nevertheless their intention is always to deceive; second, because they are not able to have certain knowledge, except of those things which they know through revelation; third, because we are not able to be at the same time sharers in the gifts of God and of the devil; and among all these, this last reason is foremost. And although it may be a benefit simply, nevertheless it is a punishment to those who follow such things, because it is contrary to their will.

131. Next we consider dancing games: whether they may be practiced without sin, because of what it says in 3:16, and they made a noise as they walked with their feet and moved in a set pace: for he denounces it as sin.

To this is to be said that a game is not evil in itself; for otherwise there would not be in games the virtue which is called eutrapelia; but in as far as it is ordered to a different end, and is clothed in different circumstances, it can be an act of virtue or vice. For because it is impossible to always work in the active or contemplative life, therefore it is proper sometimes to interpose joys among our cares, lest the soul be broken by excessive severity, and so that afterwards man may more promptly be free for works of the virtues. And if the games occur for such an end and with other [proper] circumstances, it will be an act of virtue, and it can be meritorious if it is informed by grace. However, it seems that these circumstances especially are to be observed in a dancing game: that the person not be unbecoming, as a cleric or religious; that it be in a time of joyfulness, as in gratitude for liberation, or weddings and things of this kind; that it be with decent persons and with decent songs; and that the gestures not be too lascivious, and so forth. If, however, they occur for provoking lasciviousness, and according to other improper circumstances, it is certain that it will be a vicious act.

132. Next we consider the adornment of women: whether it be lawful for women to adorn themselves. And it seems that it is not, from what is said here and from 1 Timothy 2:9–10: not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire: but, as it becomes women professing godliness, with good works.

And to this is to be said that adornment is to be measured to the manner and measure of the person and to the intention. For if women wear appropriate adornments according to their dignity and status so that they bear themselves with moderation in their deeds according to the custom of their native land, it will be an act of the virtue of modesty, which prescribes one’s manner in walking, standing, dress, and all exterior motions; and it can be meritorious, if it be with grace; similarly, if she acts to decently please her husband (whom she already has or whom she is bound to accept), and so that he be drawn back from other women. If, however, they wear adornments that are more precious than suits them, it will be arrogance, or even something deformed by the vice of lust, if they act to provoke sensual desire for themselves.

4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let your name be called upon us¹ take away our reproach.

133. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man. After he denounces the calumny of the oppressors in chapters 2 and 3, in this chapter, the prophet sets out the consolation of the oppressed. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he consoles them against the oppression of women;

in the second, against the oppression of tyrants, where it says, in that day (Isa 4:2).

134. Now women are accustomed to be troublesome to men in three matters, namely, in contempt of men, and as to this, he says: and in that day seven women shall take hold: which the Gloss explains literally, that it could have been that after the captivity, many men having been killed, there remained more women than men, so that seven women sought to have one man, below: a man shall be more precious than gold, yea a man than the finest of gold (Isa 13:12).

Second, they were accustomed to be troublesome in superfluous food and clothing, and as to this he says: we will eat our own bread, as if to say: it will not be necessary that he give expenses to them: she is like the merchant’s ship, she brings her bread from afar. She has sought wool and flax, and has wrought by the counsel of her hands (Prov 31:13–14).

Third, they are troublesome in the haughtiness of pride, and as to this he says: only let your name be called upon us, that we may be called your wives, take away our reproach, namely, of barrenness. No one shall be barren among you of either sex, neither of men nor cattle (Deut 7:14).

135. But from this it seems that it may be lawful to have many wives, because the Lord never consoles through something unlawful. Moreover, every sin is unnatural; but for one man to have many wives is natural, because one man can impregnate many women.

To this is to be said that, as the Philosopher says,¹ the joining of male and female among men is not only for the sake of generation, as in brute animals, but also for advantage of life: hence male and female have different operations, by which they give help to each other. Therefore, as far as something is otherwise ordered to these ends, so far is it otherwise called natural or unnatural. For that which in no manner can stand with the stated end is entirely unnatural, and never can be good, as the vice of sodomy, and as when one woman has many husbands, since one woman cannot be impregnated by many men, and as regards civil life, because one woman is not ruled by many men, but the contrary. However, something can, considered in itself, stand indifferently in relation to the stated end; and this can be determined in various times in various ways according to various cases by a lawgiver: and it will be the positive just, as with the degrees of consanguinity.

136. There is, however, something through which someone can pursue the end, but which nevertheless impedes the end in the majority of cases. And this is, of itself, unnatural, but it can be lawful according to the dispensation of a lawgiver attending to special cases. And such is it for one man may have wives: for one man can rule many women according to civil life, and one man can impregnate many women; but, nevertheless, something presents an impediment to generation, since it is necessary for the seed of a man to be prepared, and this cannot happen with those engaging frequently in intercourse, because of which such men are frequently sterile. And yet more does it impede common life, because the perfect friendship of the sort which exists between a man and his wife, for whom man even leaves his father and mother (Gen 2:24), cannot be had with many wives.

4:2 In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel.

4:3 And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall be left in Zion, and that shall remain in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written in life in Jerusalem.

4:4 If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

4:5 And the Lord created¹ upon every place of mount Zion, and where he is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a protection.

4:6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and from rain.

137. In that day. Here he promises exaltation against the oppression of tyrants.

And first, as to prosperity in temporal things;

second, as to holiness in spiritual things, where it says, and it shall come to pass, that every one (Isa 4:3);

third, as to security from enemies, where it says, and the Lord created (Isa 4:5).

And he promises prosperity in three things.

First, as to the honor of men, when he says, in that day, namely, after the return from captivity, the bud of the Lord, that is, the sons of Judah, of whom it says, below: the men¹ of Judah, his pleasant plant² (Isa 5:7); shall be in magnificence, as to the great things which they will do, and especially in the time of the Maccabees, and glory, as to the honor which they will receive: he saw the glory of Simon and his magnificence in gold, and silver, and his great equipage, and he was astonished (1 Macc 15:32).

Second, as to abundance of fruits: and the fruit of the earth shall be high, that is, products of the soil in abundance: the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that sows seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness (Amos 9:13); our earth shall yield her fruit (Ps 84:13[85:12]).

Third, as to joyfulness of hearts, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped, returning from captivity, below: joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise (Isa 51:3).

138. And it shall come to pass, that every one. Here he promises holiness in spiritual things, and concerning this he does three things.

First, he promises to spread among the people the name of holiness, which to a greater extent drew those desiring glory; hence he says, and it shall come to pass, this which follows, in those times, every one that shall be left in Zion, in life, and that shall remain, of those conquered by death, shall be called holy, below: you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: you ministers of our God (Isa 61:6); below: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed (Isa 6:13).

Second, he places the sign of those made holy: every one that is written in life in Jerusalem, that is, all whose procession of life and generation from their parents was written in the annals, as we read in Ezra 2:59–63 concerning some who usurped an office to themselves, and whose genealogy was not enumerated.

Third, the manner of sanctification: if the Lord shall wash away, that is, if yet before he shall wash away, the filth, of vices, and the blood, of the prophets poured out, out of the midst thereof, not in a corner, by which the public nature of their sin is noted, by the spirit of judgment, as to the equity of the punishment, and by the spirit of burning, that is, of tribulation as to its harshness. By the spirit, that is, the wind, metaphorically, by which an area is purged: a burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the daughter of my people (Jer 4:11), supply: to fan and to cleanse.

139. And the Lord created. Here he shows their security from enemies, and he continues the metaphor: for because he had compared tribulation to burning, he compares security to a cloud and to a tabernacle, by which one is defended from the burning heat. And this is divided into two parts.

First, he promises divine protection, under the similitude of a cloud;

in the second, under the similitude of a tabernacle, where it says, and there shall be a tabernacle (Isa 4:6).

140. Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, he places the reason for their protection, and the Lord created, already in his foreknowledge, or because of the certitude of the prophecy, he uses the past tense for the future; and he says created because he promoted them from the basest state into such glory, just as what is created is made from nothing; upon every place of mount Zion, that is, Jerusalem, which lies below the stronghold of Zion and the temple, where he is called upon: behold the reason for their protection: but you, O Lord, are among us, and your name is called upon by us (Jer 14:9).

Second, the protection itself is set out: a cloud; and it is set out according to a comparison to the benefit furnished when the sons of Israel came forth from Egypt, about which it is said in Exodus 13:22: there never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people. And therefore he sets out here a cloud by day, as to the first, and a smoke, as to the second, because of the twofold benefit of fire: namely, of heat against the cold, and as to this, he says, smoke, in which is noted the flame, which is smoke set on fire, or because it is the effect of heat; and of brightness against the darkness, and as to this, he says, and the brightness, below: and the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame (Isa 10:17).

Third, he places the magnitude of their protection: over all the glory, because the protection which protects them is God, it will be over all the glory previously presented to you as if exceeding it: great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first (Hag 2:10).

141. And there shall be a tabernacle. Here he describes the same benefit through the metaphor of a tabernacle. Hence he places the things for which a tabernacle is useful: for it protects against the heat by its shade, and as to this, he says, for a shade in the daytime from the heat, that is, in the day; second, it protects against the attack of the storm, providing security, and as to this he says, and for a security . . . from the whirlwind: for a whirlwind arises from a certain wrestling of winds; third, it protects against the falling of the rains by giving cover, and as to this, he says, and for a covert . . . from rain.

And according to these three things persecution is designated according to the different degrees of its kind, below: and a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hides himself from a storm (Isa 32:2).

142. The Gloss, however, touches on a twofold mystery. Some explain the seven women (Isa 4:1) as churches, and according to this, this chapter is divided into three parts:

first is placed the espousal;

second, the exaltation of the bridegroom, where it says, in that day (Isa 4:2);

third, the government of the bridegroom, where it says, and it shall come to pass (Isa 4:3).

Now the espousal is through faith: I will espouse you to me in faith (Hos 2:20). Hence he puts forth three things.

First, the communication of faith, seven women (Isa 4:1), the seven churches, of which Revelation 1:4 says: John to the seven churches which are in Asia, in which are contained all churches according to the fifth rule of Tyconius,¹ shall take hold, through faith; one man, that is, Christ: I will take hold of you, and bring you into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that bore me (Song 8:2).²

Second, the manifestation of hope, which is from receiving the sacrament: we will eat our own bread, the body of Christ given to us: the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:52); and which is from receiving the gift of virtue: we will wear our own apparel, that is, the virtues: I clothed you with embroidery, and shod you with violet colored shoes: . . . and clothed you with fine garments, and I decked you also with ornaments (Ezek 16:10–11).

Third, the desire or the petition of charity, which is from the attainment of the name Christian: only let your name be called upon us, as from Christ we are called Christians: there is no other name under heaven . . . whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12); and from the removal of guilt: take away our reproach, which we suffer from the Jews, who say we are without the law: this day have I taken away from you the reproach of Egypt (Josh 5:9).

143. Note on words, we will eat our own bread (Isa 4:1). That bread gives pardon for our faults: give us this day our supersubstantial bread, and forgive us our debts (Matt 6:11–12); it gives us the life of grace: the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:52); it strengthens us for battle: bread strengthens¹ man’s heart (Ps 103[104]:15); it strengthens us for the journey: he walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights (1 Kgs 19:8); it gives us a foretaste of glory itself: you gave them bread from heaven, prepared without labor; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste (Wis 16:20).

144. According to other glosses, it is divided thus:

in the first part is noted the fullness of grace;

in the second, the exaltation of grace, in that day (Isa 4:2);

in the third, the good government of subjects is set out, where it says, and it shall come to pass (Isa 4:3).

Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, he places the abundance of gifts, seven women (Isa 4:1), that is, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are called women because, through them, one is begotten and nourished in God; one man, that is, Christ singularly, who alone is without sin: we saw him as it were of the only begotten, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Second, the sufficiency of the gifts in perfect enjoyment: we will eat our own bread, namely, of heaven, which the Holy Spirit, to whom the gifts belong, enjoys perfectly, just as the Son does: my meat is to do the will of him that sent me (John 4:34); in the testimony of the Scriptures: and we will wear our own apparel, that is, the word of God, by whom the gifts are furnished.

Third, the perfection of the gifts through Christ as to the conferring of salvation: let your name, that is, the thing signified by your name, namely, salvation,¹ be called upon us, that is, upon those—us—who have been filled up, for of his fullness we all have received: grace for grace (John 1:16); for before Christ, the gifts did not lead to the kingdom. As to the removal of errors: take away our reproach, which we suffer from false virtues, which steal our good name: the night is passed and the day is at hand. Let us, therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Rom 13:12); catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines (Song 2:15); or the reproach which we suffer in the rejection of men, who, in sinning, reject us. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful (Wis 1:5), and added to this, he shall not abide when iniquity comes in.

145. In that day (Isa 4:2). Here the exaltation is set out.

And first, as to the working of miracles: in magnificence: magnificent¹ in holiness, terrible and praise-worthy, doing wonders (Exod 15:11);

second, as to his glorious resurrection, and glory, below: arise, arise, put on your strength, O Zion (Isa 52:1);

third, as to his ascension: and the fruit of the earth, that is, the son of the virgin, shall be high, below: behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high (Isa 52:13);

as to the veneration of the whole world, about which Philippians 2:10 says: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And a great joy, below: they shall rejoice before you, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey (Isa 9:3).

146. And it shall come to pass (Isa 4:3). Here the government is set out:

and first, as to sanctification;

second, as to the order of sanctification, where it says, if the Lord shall wash away (Isa 4:4);

third, he sets out the protection of those who are sanctified: and the Lord created (Isa 4:5).

147. Three things are required for someone’s sanctity.

First, distinction with faith; and as to this, he says: that shall be left, cast out from the unbelieving, as distinct, in Zion, which is a looking-glass, because faith sees through a glass and in a dark manner (1 Cor 13:12), below: in truth, the remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God. If your people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted (Isa 10:20–22).

Second, tranquility for peace: that shall remain, as if resting, in Jerusalem, which is a vision of peace, below: Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One (Isa 52:1).

Third, predestination for glory: every one that is written: rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). I will not blot out his name out of the book of life (Rev 3:5).

148. If the Lord shall wash away (Isa 4:4). Here the order of sanctification is set out.

And first, through the washing of baptism: the filth, of actual faults, and the blood, of original sin; or the filth, of venial sins, the blood, of mortal sins: I washed you with water, and cleansed away your blood from you (Ezek 16:9).

Through the distinction of penance: the spirit of judgment: but if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged [by the Lord] (1 Cor 11:31); but by his loving passion: the spirit of burning, that is, of his love, which none is greater than: greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13); for this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins (Matt 26:28).

149. And the Lord created (Isa 4:5). Here the protection of the sanctified is set out. And he sets out universality of the protection as to those protected: hence, upon every; diversity as to the things protecting them, a cloud; and authority as to the things afflicting them: hence, by day. But there are three things in those who are protected: eminence of contemplation in the heart: mount Zion: they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwells in Jerusalem (Ps 124[125]:1–2); praises of confession in the mouth, he is called upon: whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom 10:13); honesty of conduct in work, glory: our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience (2 Cor 1:12).

150. Furthermore, he protects through four things: through his overshadowing Spirit: a cloud: the power of the Most High shall overshadow you (Luke 1:35); through humbling compunction: a smoke: I will show wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke (Joel 2:30); through illuminating truth: brightness: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel (Luke 2:32); through the living Church: a tabernacle: behold the tabernacle of God with men: and he will dwell with them (Rev 21:3).

151. There are three things that oppose: prosperity that elevates: day; adversity that breaks constancy: night: the sun shall not burn you by day: nor the moon by night (Ps 120[121]:6); persecution that afflicts: heat, through affliction: and the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun (Rev 16:8); and following this, and it was given unto him to afflict men with heat and fire. The whirlwind, through assault, below: as whirlwinds come from the south, it comes from the desert from a terrible land (Isa 21:1). From rain, because of its multitude: the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell (Matt 7:27).

5:1 I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. A vineyard was made for my beloved¹ on a horn² in a son of oil.³

5:2 And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

5:3 And now, O you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

5:4 What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it has brought forth wild grapes?

5:5 And now I will show you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.

5:6 And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be dug: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.

5:7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the men¹ of Judah, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.

5:8 Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?

5:9 These things of the Lord of hosts are in my ears:¹ unless many great and fair houses shall become desolate, without an inhabitant.

5:10 For ten jugera¹ of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels.

152. I will sing to my beloved. Here he denounces the third sin of the two tribes, which they committed in abuse of things, under a certain metaphor; and this is divided into two parts:

in the first, the metaphor is set out;

in the second, it is explained: for the vineyard of the Lord (Isa 5:7).

153. Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he sets out the title, saying, I will sing, that is, I will proclaim loudly and openly, below: lift up your voice with strength (Isa 40:9): to my beloved, that is, to the people of the Jews, the canticle of my cousin, that is, of the son of my uncle, concerning his vineyard, that is, what he did concerning his vineyard. For sometimes the prophets take up similitudes to their prophecies from such deeds, as is evident in Jeremiah 32:7 concerning the sale of the field, behold, Hanameel the son of Sellum your cousin shall come to you, saying: buy you my field, which is in Anathoth, for it is your right to buy it. So also it may have happened that literally some cousin of his had composed a similar song concerning his vineyard.

154. Or it may be understood otherwise: I will sing the canticle in the beloved,¹ namely, in God, that is, in the person of God, I will sing to his vineyard.

Or otherwise, to the beloved, namely, to God, the canticle of my cousin, that is, concerning my cousin, namely the people of the Jews, for we descend from the same ancestors, concerning his vineyard, that is, he who is my cousin is the vineyard of God the beloved.

Or mystically, of my cousin, that is, of Christ, who is from the same people as I am, concerning his vineyard, that is, he laments concerning his vineyard, that is, the synagogue, which bore bitter fruits to him in his passion.

And note that a canticle is properly a song of exultation. Hence this is improperly called a canticle, since it is a song of mourning; David sang such a canticle concerning the death of Saul: the illustrious of Israel are slain upon your mountains: how are the valiant fallen? . . . You mountains of Gelboe, let neither dew, nor rain come upon you (2 Sam 1:19, 21); sing a mournful song (Ezek 32:18).

155. Second, where it says, a vineyard was made, he sets out the canticle itself, which contains the metaphor; in which three things are set out:

first, the recitation of the cause;

second, the questioning of the court, and now, O you inhabitants of Jerusalem (Isa 5:3);

third, the pronouncement of the sentence: now I will show you what I will do to my vineyard (Isa 5:5).

Concerning the first, he sets out forth two things.

First, on the part of the one who laments, the diligence of his cultivation;

second, on the part of the vineyard, the wickedness of its fruit: and I looked that it should bring forth grapes (Isa 5:4).

And the diligence of his cultivation is shown from three things: in preparation of the location, in choosing of branches, and in costly building.

156. Now the preparation of the location is shown in three ways.

First, as to the richness of the location; hence he says: a vineyard, of which it says in Psalm 79:9[80:8]: you have brought a vineyard out of Egypt: you have cast out the Gentiles and planted it; was made for my beloved, that is, for God, acquisitively, or by God,¹ on a horn, that is, in a prominent location, in which is noted the mountainous nature of land for establishing a good vineyard, because it is shined upon by the sun; a son of oil, that is, land so rich that it would suffice for a multitude of oil. It is an idiom of the Hebrew language that someone is said to be the son of a thing in which he abounds, as is said in 1 Samuel 26:16: as the Lord lives, you are the sons of death. And in this is designated the goodness of the land that was given to the Jews, of which Ezekiel 20:6 says: I lifted up my hand for them to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which excelled amongst all lands.

Second, the diligence of his preparation is set out as to the fortification of the location; hence he says, and he fenced it in: I will hedge up your way with thorns (Hos 2:6), in which is signified the guardianship of angels and good men.

Third, as to its purification: and picked the stones, that is, collected them diligently, out of it: you have cast out the Gentiles and planted it (Ps 79:9[80:8]).

157. As to choosing of branches is said: and planted it with the choicest, that is, from the choicest branches; hence another translation has, soreth vine, which is the noblest kind of vine, in which the goodness of their fathers is signified: I planted you a chosen vineyard, all true seed (Jer 2:21).

As to the cost of the building, which pertains to defense, he says: and built a tower in the midst thereof; in which is shown royal dignity: you were made exceeding beautiful: and were advanced to be a queen (Ezek 16:13); the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks (Song 4:4). Or the temple, according to others. A tower is used for the preservation of fruit and for looking out to keep guard.

As to the gathering of fruit, he says: and set up a winepress therein: and your barns shall be filled with abundance, and your presses shall run over with wine (Prov 3:10); in which the altar of holocausts is noted because of the outpouring of blood.

158. And he looked that it should bring forth. Here the wickedness of the fruit is set out; hence he says, and he looked, following the order of benefits, that it should bring forth grapes, the fruit of good works, and it brought forth wild grapes (labruscas), so called because in they grow on the lips (labiis) of the roads, namely on fences: in which the bitterness of their vices is noted: how are you turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard? (Jer 2:21); he that is best among them, is as a brier, and he that is righteous, as the thorn of the hedge (Mic 7:4).

159. And now, O you inhabitants. Here the questioning of the court is set out, and concerning this, he does two things.

First, he beseeches the judges, saying: therefore, because I did what I ought to have done, now, my reason having been heard, judge between me and my vineyard: judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband (Hos 2:2). In 2 Samuel 12, a similar judgment is sought by David of himself, as if of another man, upon the sin committed by him, namely, concerning his adultery and murder of Uriah the Hittite.

160. Second, he seeks judgment; and he asks two things.

First, whether he had sinned from negligence; hence he says: what is there that I ought to do more, beyond what has been said? O my people, what have I done to you, or in what have I molested you? Answer you me (Mic 6:3).

Second, whether he had sinned in the cultivation of the vineyard from excessive care; hence he says: perhaps I seem to have done contrary to what was due in that I looked, tending it well, that it should bring forth grapes, and it has brought forth wild grapes? As if to say: in this I seem rather to be excessive, that I have applied such cultivation to my vineyard, below: O Lord, you have been favorable to the nation: are you glorified? (Isa 26:15); and: I have called you a transgressor from the womb¹ for my name’s sake (Isa 48:8–9); at the noise of a word, a great fire was kindled in it, and the branches thereof are burnt (Jer 11:16).

161. Note on the words, my beloved had a vineyard (Isa 5:1), that the vineyard is manifold.

First, the vineyard of carnal concupiscence: their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrah (Deut 32:32):

and the first wine of this vineyard is the wine of wrath: their wine is the gall of dragons (Deut 32:33);

second, the wine of lust: all nations have drunk of the wine . . . of her fornication (Rev 18:3);

third, the wine of unseemly joy: it turns every mind into security and cheerfulness (3 Esdras 3:20).

162. Second is the vineyard of the faithful soul: our vineyard has flourished (Song 2:15):

the first wine in this vineyard is the wine of penance: going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine (Luke 10:34);

second, the wine of bodily purity: for what is the good thing of him, and what is his beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins? (Zech 9:17);

third, the wine of spiritual joy: and that wine may cheer the heart of man (Ps 103[104]:15).

163. Third is the vineyard of the Church militant: the peaceable had a vineyard, in that which has people (Song 8:11):

and the first wine of this vineyard is the wine of the holy washing: and wine for libations of the same measure (Num 15:5);

second, the wine of fruitful preaching: by the fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, they rest (Ps 4:8[7]);

third, the wine of devout confession: your throat like the best wine (Song 7:9).

164. Fourth is the vineyard of heaven: Naboth the Jezrahelite had at that time a vineyard (1 Kgs 21:1):

and the first wine of this vineyard is the wine of divine enjoyment: I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk (Song 5:1);

second, the wine of inner fullness: wine also in abundance and of the best was presented, as was worthy of a king’s magnificence (Esth 1:7);

third, the wine of the fellowship of joy of the saints: I will give you a cup of spiced wine (Song 8:2).

165. And now I will show you. Here the sentence is pronounced.

And first, he calls for attention or a hearing, saying: now, because you do not want to pronounce sentence, I myself will show you what I will do to my vineyard, below: I foretold you of old, before they came to pass I told you, lest you should say: my idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded these things which you have heard (Isa 48:5–6).

166. Second, he pronounces the just sentence that he should take away from the ungrateful the benefits he has furnished, when he says, I will take away the hedge thereof.

And first, he takes away the benefit which pertains to protection, which is twofold: that of the angels, and as to this he says, I will take away the hedge thereof, that is, the help of the angels, by whom it was protected against enemies, and it shall be wasted, by the gentiles: where there is no hedge, the possession shall be spoiled (Sir 36:37[30]); there is also the protection of superiors, and as to this he says, I will break down the wall thereof, that is, the garrisons of the kingdom, of which it says above: and all loftiness of men shall be bowed down (Isa 2:17): and it shall be trodden down, that is, made base: you have broken down the hedge thereof (Ps 79:13[80:12]).

167. Second, he takes away the benefit which pertains to diligence of cultivation; hence he says: and I will make it desolate, that is, I will leave it uncultivated like a desert; it shall not be pruned, by the lash of admonition or correction when they sin, and it shall not be dug, that occasions of evil might be taken away from them like weeds; but briers and thorns shall come up, that is, major and minor sins; or briers of sins, thorns of tribulations, below: for briers and thorns shall be in all the land (Isa 7:24).

168. Third, he takes away the benefit of fertility, against which he sets out lack of rain; hence he says: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it, literally; or the clouds represent preachers,¹ below: who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows? (Isa 60:8); therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward rain (Jer 3:3).

169. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. Here he explains the metaphor:

and first, as to the vineyard,

second as to the trial of the vineyard, where it says, I looked that he should do judgment.

Concerning the first, he explains the vineyard saying, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, either all of Israel, or as to the ten tribes, which were called Israel after the separation of the kingdom because of their multitude (1 Kgs 12; 2 Chr 10).

Second, as to the plant¹ or branches, men of Judah, that is, the two tribes in which the worship of God was still observed: if you play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Judah offend (Hos 4:15); or because the princes came from Judah: but of the race of Judah, who was the strongest among his brethren, came² the princes (1 Chr 5:2).

170. I looked that he should do judgment. Here he explains the trial of the vineyard, which consists in the fault and the punishment that follows upon the fault. Hence it is divided into three parts:

in the first, the fault in general is set out;

in the second, the punishment and the fault together in particular, where it says, woe to you that join house to house (Isa 5:8);

in the third, the punishment in general, where it says, for after this (Isa 5:25).

He denounces the fault in general as to their superiors, to whom it belongs to do judgment, where he says: I looked, following the order of benefits, that he should do judgment, judging justly; and behold iniquity, as inequality of judgment: I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity (Eccl 3:16).

Second, as to their subjects, to whom it belongs to hold to the justice appointed to them by their superiors: and do justice, which is through comparison to the precepts of the law; and behold a cry, the tumult of quarrelers, or of the lamentation of the poor, below: what ails you also, that you too are wholly gone up to the housetops, full of clamor, a populous city, a joyous city? (Isa 22:1–2).

171. Woe to you that join house to house. Here he sets out their fault in the abuse of things in particular, going through it part by part. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he denounces them as to the fault itself,

in the second, as to their obstinacy in sinning, where it says, woe to you that draw (Isa 5:18).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he denounces them as to the abuse of possessions, which occurs through avarice;

in the second part, as to the abuse of food, which occurs through gluttony, where it says, woe to you that rise up (Isa 5:11).

172. Concerning the first, he sets out three things.

First, their superfluous multiplication of possessions is denounced, whence he says: woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end¹ of the place, as to the public road: the princes of Judah are become as they that take up the bound² upon them (Hos 5:10); woe to him that builds up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages. Who says: I will build me a wide house, and large chambers (Jer 22:13–14); and they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance (Mic 2:2).

173. Second, the interpretation of the judge is set out: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth, which is broad and spacious and given in possession to many: increase and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen 1:28).

174. Third, the threat of punishment is set out, and concerning this, two things are set out.

First, the authority and power of the one who punishes; hence he says: these words of the Lord of hosts, who is able to punish, are in my ears; these words, which I will speak to you, are still sounding in my ears, within: in which the certitude of the words is noted, below: in the morning he wakens my ear, that I may hear him as a master. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I do not resist (Isa 50:4–5).

175. Second, the severity of the punishment is set out, where it says, unless many great and fair houses.

And first, as to desertion of their houses; hence he says, unless many great and fair houses shall become desolate, as to guardianship, and without inhabitant, as to desertion of their houses, as if to say: unless this happens, my wrath will not rest. And this is an aposiopesis, which is the failing of speech. And he sets out those things in which the riches of houses consist: namely, in multitude, and as to this, he says, many; in beauty, and as to this, he says, fair; in size: great: and their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a desert (Zeph 1:13).

Second, as to the barrenness of the vineyard, he says: for ten jugera (a jugerum is 120 feet in length) of vineyard shall yield one little measure. Another reading has one bath, which is the same volume in liquids as an ephah is in dry goods.

Third, as to the loss of seed: and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels, because you will harvest less than you sowed: when you went to a heap of twenty bushels, and they became ten (Hag 2:17). Other readings have cors, or ephahs, which is one tenth of a cor: the ephah and the bath shall be equal, and of one measure: that the bath may contain the tenth part of a cor, and the ephah the tenth part of a cor (Ezek 45:11).

5:11 Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink until¹ the evening, to be inflamed with wine.

5:12 The harp, and the lyre, and, the timbrel and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.

5:13 Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst.

5:14 Therefore has hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it.

5:15 And man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.

5:16 And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice.

5:17 And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.

5:18 Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart.

5:19 That say: let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.

176. Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness. Here he denounces their fault as to the abuse of food.

And first, he denounces the fault,

second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore is my people led away captive (Isa 5:13).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he denounces gluttony as to its species,

second as to its effect, where it says, and the work of the Lord you regard not (Isa 3:13).

177. Now the species of gluttony are five, which are contained in the verse: hastily, sumptuously, too much, greedily, daintily.

Therefore, he first says: woe to you that rise up early in the morning, as to “hastily”: woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and when the princes eat in the morning (Eccl 10:16); when shall I awake and find wine again? (Prov 23:35).

As to “greedily,” he says, to follow.

As to “too much,” he says, and to drink until the evening: who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has contentions? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups (Prov 23:29–30); to be inflamed with wine, with lust, and to all the vices.

As to “daintily,” he says, the harp and wine, sought out daintily,¹ with great eagerness² because they prepare for themselves pleasure in food.

As to “sumptuously,” he says, in your feasts, in which there were great pomps and choice foods: you that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd; you that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought themselves to have instruments of music like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments (Amos 6:4–6).

178. The effect is thoughtlessness, and as to this he says, and the work of the Lord you regard not, that which you ought to do, nor the works of his hands, which he himself has done: wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous (Prov 20:1).

179. Therefore is my people led away captive. Here he sets out the corresponding punishment:

and first, as to the affection of the will; hence he says, therefore, just as their knowledge was taken captive by drunkenness, so will they themselves be taken captive: my people have been silent, because they had no knowledge (Hos 4:6).

180. But it seems that ignorance does not merit punishment, because it excuses fault.

And to this is to be said that ignorance can mean merely the negation of knowledge; and thus it merits neither punishment nor pardon, like ignorance of geometry among peasants. It can also mean the privation of knowledge, so that it neglects the aptitude one ought to have in the subject; and thus it is evident that it is vicious to not know those things which someone is able and bound to know.

181. Second, he sets out the punishment opposed to the five species of gluttony: and thus he sets out hunger and thirst, which correspond, as to cause, to what is “hastily,” for hunger is caused by someone excessively postponing the taking of food; as if he were saying: you used to eat too quickly, but you only postponed your going hungry.

Again he answers the species of gluttony that is “greedily” as to its genus, for hunger is the desire for food. Hence he says: and their nobles; and he sets out thirst in opposition to the multitude of the common people, who at least were accustomed to quench their thirst with water; but against the nobles, who abounded in provisions sometimes weighed down with thirst, he sets out hunger: it was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger (Lam 4:9).

182. Second, against another species of gluttony which is “too much,” he sets out the insatiability of those who take them captive in subjugation; hence he says, therefore has hell, that is, death or the devil, enlarged her soul, as to affection, and opened her mouth, as to effect. And he speaks according to a human manner, for hell does not have a soul: hell and destruction are never filled (Prov 27:20). Or hell may be said to be Nabuchodonosor: who has enlarged his desire like hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied (Hab 2:5).

183. Third, as to dainty preparation of food, which arises from a certain vanity, he sets out the punishment of humiliation, where it says, and shall go down. And he shows that they are going to be humiliated as to three things.

First, as to subjugation; hence he says: their strong ones, as to the powerful, and their high ones, as to the rich and others prominent in wealth, who are prideful about it, glorious ones, as to the noble and famous, shall go down, as if humiliated, into it, namely to the hell of captivity: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters, to be carried to Babylon (Jer 39:6–7); and below that in the same place: and Nabuzardan the general of the army carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the people that remained (Jer 39:9).

Second, as to the lowering of the captives: and man shall be brought down, being in captivity, as to the high ones, and man shall be humbled, as to the powerful, and the eyes of the lofty, as to the glorious ones: neither shall you be quiet, even in those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of your foot (Deut 28:65).

Third, as to the exaltation of God who punishes them: and the Lord of hosts shall be exalted, he will appear high, who was first despised, in just judgment, and the holy God, holy in himself, shall be sanctified, that is, he will appear holy; above: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day (Isa 2:11).

184. Fourth, against the species of gluttony which is “sumptuously,” he sets out the devouring of their goods by their enemies: and the lambs shall feed, that is, they shall be consumed by your enemies, according to their order, for the better are first, as to animals; and as to products of the soil, strangers shall eat the deserts, that is, the fields deserted by you, turned into fruitfulness, that is, made more fertile: the Lord shall bring you, and your king, whom you shall have appointed over you, into a nation which you and your fathers know not (Deut 28:36); and below this in the same place: the stranger that lives with you in the land, shall rise up over you, and shall be higher (Deut 28:43).

Mystically: the lambs, that is, the saints, shall feed, shall be refreshed by the teaching of God the Father, according to their order, that is, their capacity; strangers, the Gentiles; and deserts, what has been deserted by the Jews, namely the Sacred Scriptures, turned into fruitfulness, of spiritual understanding.

185. Woe to you that draw. Here he denounces the pertinacity of their sinning:

and first, he denounces their fault,

second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore as the tongue of the fire devours the stubble (Isa 5:24).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he denounces the fault in general,

second, he explains it in particular, where it says, that say (Isa 5:19).

Therefore, he first says: woe to you that draw, that is, draw out, iniquity with cords of vanity, that is, with the vain occasions by which man is drawn to sin, while the fault is prolonged by increase: his own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins (Prov 5:22). And this is said as to common sins; as to grave sins, however, he adds: and sin as the rope of a cart, that is, the rope by which a cart is bound and drawn, which is larger than a cord. And he designates the weight of the sin in the cart, below: loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress (Isa 58:6).

186. That say. Here he shows those vanities in particular, from which they drew sin upon themselves. And this as to three things:

first, as to their contempt of the judge;

second, as to their excusing of sin, where it says, woe to you that call evil good (Isa 5:20);

third, as to the presumption of their sinning, where it says, woe to you that are wise (Isa 5:21).

And this is the threefold cord, which is not easily broken (Eccl 4:12).

187. They have contempt for the threat of the judge because of two things,

namely because of the delay of the sentence; hence he says: let him make haste, and let his work, of captivity, which you threaten, come quickly: for because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear (Eccl 8:11).

Second, because of the distance of the judge; hence he says, let him come near, as if to say: he is in heaven and cannot see, but let him be near: for they have said: the Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord sees not (Ezek 9:9).

188. Note on the words above, and sin as the rope of a cart (Isa 5:18), that sin is first called a cord:

and this is because it draws us, first, to the pattern of sin: immediately he follows her as an ox led to be a victim . . . and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds (Prov 7:22);

second, it draws us to the custom of sinning: a wild ass accustomed to the wilderness in the desire of his heart, snuffed up the wind of his love (Jer 2:24);

third, to the destruction of eternal death: deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver (Prov 24:11).

189. Second, sin is called vanity: and this is because it falls short

first, of the imitation of divine truth: all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God (Wis 13:1);

second, of the attainment of the end we hope for: but to the sinner he has given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that has pleased God: but these¹ also are vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind (Eccl 2:26);

third, of long length of time: the son of man is not immortal, and they are delighted with the vanity of evil (Sir 17:29); all those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runs on (Wis 5:9).

190. Third, sin is called a bond: and this is because it binds

first, the intellect so that it may not see: for while the wicked thought to be able to have dominion over the holy nation, they themselves being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and a long night, shut up in their houses, exiled, they pleased the eternal providence.¹ And while they thought to lie hid in their obscure sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness (Wis 17:2–3);

second, it binds the hand so that it may not do good;

third, the feet so that they may not advance.

Concerning these two, Matthew 22:13 says: bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness.

191. Fourth, sin is called a cart, and this is because it oppresses

first, with the burden of servitude: and there you shall serve strange gods day and night, which shall not give you any rest (Jer 16:13);

second, with fear of the heart: for whereas wickedness is fearful, it bears witness of its condemnation (Wis 17:10);

third, with uneasiness of conscience, below: but the heart of the wicked is like¹ the raging sea, which cannot rest (Isa 57:20).

5:20 Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

5:21 Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits.

5:22 Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at drunkenness.

5:23 That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him.

5:24 Therefore as the tongue of the fire devours the stubble, and the heat of the flame consumes it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up as dust: for they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel.

5:25a Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he has stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung in the midst of the streets.

192. Woe to you that call evil good. Here he sets out vanity as to the excusing of sin.

And first, as to the effect: that call evil good: the evil of their hands they call good (Mic 7:3);

second, as to the intellect: that put darkness for light, truth for error: men loved darkness rather than the light (John 3:19);

third, as to the affections: that put bitter for sweet, thinking the life of sin to be sweet: and it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but whereas they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and so great evils peace (Wis 14:22).

193. Woe to you that are wise. Here he sets out the third vanity as to the presumption of their sinning, which concerns three things.

First, wisdom of heart, both in speculative things: you that are wise: be not wise in your own conceit (Prov 3:7); and in practical things: prudent: be not prudent¹ in your own conceits (Rom 12:16).

Second, as to the power of the body for sinning: you that are mighty to drink; they boast that they are able to drink much and to become drunk, because of the custom of the land in which mixed wine is drunk, below: let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new strength (Isa 41:1); they are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in the most wicked things (Prov 2:14).

Third, as to authority: that justify, that is, you say that you have such authority that at your will you are able to justify the wicked, so that whatever pleases you may have the force of law, below: woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice (Isa 10:1); he that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just (Prov 17:15); and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him (Mic 3:5).

194. Therefore as the tongue of the fire devours. Here he threatens punishment.

And first, he sets out the punishment of consumption under the metaphor of fire, therefore, because you draw iniquity placing a root for yourself in your sins, as the flame of fire consumes the stubble which it touches, and the heat of the flame consumes that which is at a distance—for persecution slayed the captives and afflicted the others: without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within (Deut 32:25), so shall their root be as ashes, as to the things in which they trusted, whether their fathers or their kindred, and their bud, that is, their sons, shall go up as dust. In which is noted the strength coming forth from these causes: and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and it comes shall set them on fire (Mal 4:1).

195. Second, he places the process and order of the punishment.

And first, he sets out the cause of punishment, and especially as to the first vanity; hence he says: for they have cast away the law, having contempt for it in their heart, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel, mocking with their mouth: they obeyed not your voice, and they walked not in your law (Jer 32:32).

Second, the wrath of the one who punishes: therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled; he speaks after the manner of the process of wrath in men. And the Lord was exceedingly angry (Ps 105[106]:40).

Third, the infliction of the punishment: and he has stretched out his hand, the hand of his power to strike them, which, in sparing them, he had kept folded: and he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness (Zeph 2:13).

Fourth, the effect of the punishment in the massacre of souls: the mountains, that is, the great, were troubled, because of their fear.

196. The Gloss says that this is said hyperbolically.

And to this is to be said that in some writings this is taken to mean going beyond the truth simply, but in Holy Scripture, it is taken for going beyond the truth according to the opinion of men; as if to say: the trouble will be beyond what can be believed. Or otherwise: hyperbole is a certain trope, and in tropological speech, one thing is said and another is understood; hence there is no falsehood in regard to the sense which it intends to make, just as in metaphor; as if to say: the trouble will be so great that the mountains, if such a thing were possible, shall be troubled: the mountains were troubled with his strength (Ps 45:4[46:3]). And, as to baseness of their bodies, their carcasses became as dung: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth (Jer 8:2); they shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth (Jer 16:4).

5:25b For after this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

5:26 And he will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly.

5:27 There is none that shall faint, nor labor among them: they shall not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.

5:28 Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the flint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest.

5:29 Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea they shall gnash their teeth,¹ and take hold of the prey, and they shall keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it.

5:30 And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.

197. For after this his anger is not turned away. Here he places the common and ultimate punishment, as to their captivity by the Romans. And concerning this, three things are set out:

first, the preparation of the army;

second, the disposition of the army, where it says, and behold they shall come with speed swiftly (Isa 5:26);

third, the infliction of the punishment, where it says, and they shall keep fast hold of it (Isa 5:29).

Concerning the first, three things are set out.

First, the indignation of the one who gathers the army together: for after this, as if to say: just as you add sins to sins, so he will add punishment to punishment, below: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled (Isa 9:19–20).

Second, the raising of the standard, and he will lift up a sign, that is, a standard: set up the sign¹ in Zion. Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction (Jer 4:6).

Third, the calling together of the army, and will whistle, that is, he will blow upon, below: and it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall whistle¹ for the fly, that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall all of them rest in the torrents of the valleys (Isa 7:18–19). And to frighten them more, he adds the foreignness of the people, as to cult: to the nations, so that they do not revere your holy things; and as to language, afar off, lest they be appeased by words; and as to customs: from the ends of the earth, lest they make an alliance with them.

198. Behold they shall come with speed swiftly. Here the disposition of the army is set out.

And first, he shows that they are unencumbered for coming;

second, that they are armed for fighting: their arrows (Isa 5:28);

third, that they are cruel for punishing: their roaring (Isa 5:29).

Concerning the first, two things are set out.

First, their swiftness: behold, for certainly, they are swift: our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air (Lam 4:19); for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that makes haste to eat (Hab 1:8); behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles (Jer 4:13).

199. Second, the cause of their swiftness, following the removal of a threefold impediment:

first, that which may occur from infirmity of nature, against which he says: there is none that shall faint, who would have to stay behind, nor labor among them, who would have to come late, below: but they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isa 40:31).

Second, against that impediment which may arise from the will, he says: they shall not slumber, through laziness, so that, namely, they would go lazily, nor sleep, so that they would recover their senses: slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger (Prov 19:15).

Third, he removes the impediment that arises from the need for things: neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, and he sets out those things by which travelers are usually impeded from their journey; as though all these things will last longer than usual: I have brought¹ you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age (Deut 29:5).

200. Their arrows are sharp. Here he shows that they are armed for fighting.

And first, as to the goodness of their arms; and he sets out the arms that are customary in those lands: their arrows are sharp, in which the goodness of their arrows is noted; their bows are bent, in which the preparation of their arms is noted, lest they be impeded by preparing: the sharp arrows of the mighty (Ps 119[120]:4).

Second, he places their transport: the hoofs of their horses shall be like the flint, which is not easily broken, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest, making a great noise because of their multitude and great speed: behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest (Jer 4:13).

201. Their roaring. Here he shows that they are cruel for punishing.

And first, as to their vehemence: roaring: they shall walk after the Lord, he shall roar as a lion: because he shall roar, and the children of the sea shall fear (Hos 11:10).

Second, as to their rapacity: they shall roar like young lions: the young lions roaring after their prey (Ps 103[104]:21).

Third, as to their cruelty, they shall gnash their teeth, which is characteristic of a boar: they gnashed upon me with their teeth (Ps 34:16[35:15]); the boar out of the wood has laid it waste: and a singular wild beast has devoured it (Ps 79:14).

202. And take hold. Here the infliction of punishment is set out, and, finally, the despair of those who are punished, where it says, we shall look (Isa 5:30).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things.

First, he threatens capture, take hold of the prey, as if to say: they will capture you like prey: the lion caught enough for his whelps, and killed for his lionesses: and he filled his holes with prey, and his den with rapine (Nah 2:12).

Second, careful detention: and they shall keep fast hold of it, lest you escape through their carelessness; and there shall be none to deliver it, through their lack of power: the Lord has delivered me into a hand, out of which I am not able to rise (Lam 1:14).

Third, rigid domination, and they shall make a noise, with threats and terrors: behold a people comes from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth. They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea (Jer 6:22–23).

203. We shall look towards the land. Here he sets out their despair.

And first, as to help from earth: we shall look towards the land, everywhere, and behold darkness, because everyone persecutes them.

Second, as to help from heaven: and the light, of divine hope, is darkened with the mist thereof: I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them (Jer 4:23). And the prophet numbers himself among them by compassion.

6:1 In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne exalted¹ and elevated: and the house was filled with his majesty,² and what was beneath him³ filled the temple.

6:2 Upon it stood the seraphim:¹ the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they flew.

6:3 And they cried one to another, and said: holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory,

6:4 And the lintels of the hinges¹ were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

6:5 And I said: woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.

6:6 And one of the seraphim¹ flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar.

6:7 And he touched my mouth, and said: behold this has touched your lips, and your iniquities shall be taken away, and your sin shall be cleansed.

204. In the year that king Ozias died. After he denounces the fault of the two tribes, adding the corrective punishment, here he threatens the punishment of final condemnation, namely, the punishment of hardness of heart; and therefore that punishment is foretold in the manner of a sentence and with the solemnity of a judgment. Therefore, this chapter is divided into three parts:

in the first, the author of the sentence is described, namely, the judge;

in the second, the one who announces the sentence, the minister of the judge, where it says, and I said: woe is me (Isa 6:5);

in the third, the sentence itself is set out, where it says, hearing, hear (Isa 6:9).

Concerning the first, two things are set out:

first, the time of the vision;

second, the vision itself, where it says, I saw the Lord sitting.

205. As to the first, he says: in the year that king Ozias died. Ozias, who is called Azaraias in 2 Kings 15:5, was struck with leprosy by the Lord because he wanted to usurp the priestly office, as it says in 2 Chronicles 26:21; but after he was struck, his son Joatham governed the house of the king and the kingdom until his death; but nevertheless, he is not said to have reigned then, but rather to have been the vice-regent of his father; but then he first reigned when his father died. Thus this vision was revealed when Joatham reigned, and the preceding vision, when Ozias reigned.

206. I saw the Lord sitting. Here the vision is set out.

And first, he describes the throne of the judge;

second, the ministry of his assistants where it says, upon it stood the seraphim (Isa 6:2).

Now this vision is said by some to have been imaginary, by others to have been intellectual. And thus the figure is taken up by the prophet himself from something similar, as Dionysius says,¹ in his letter to Titus, that figures are placed around things which the prophets see plainly and without figures in order to guide those who hear the prophecy, who can more easily receive what the prophet has seen plainly through sensible figures. But however it may be, it is necessary to see two things here.

First, the imagination of the figure, either seen by the prophet or composed by him;

second, the signification of this figure: for sensible figures are introduced in Holy Scripture to signify something spiritually, as Dionysius says,¹ and that will be the literal sense, just as in metaphorical speech the literal sense is not that which is signified by the words, but that which the speaker wishes to signify by the words.

207. Concerning the first, therefore, it should be known that the temple built by Solomon was one-hundred-twenty cubits in height, as is said in 2 Chronicles 3:3–4, and this height was divided into three houses, the highest of which was sixty cubits, while both lower ones were thirty cubits. And of these is said in 1 Kings 6:8: by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third. Therefore, he saw the throne of the Lord in the highest room, because of which is said, exalted, that is, high,¹ as it is elevated, above all rooms; and the middle room shines from the brightness of his face, because of which is said, the house was filled with his majesty, that is, his glory; and what was beneath him, that is, the adornments of his throne or also the splendor of his garments, or the ranks of his subjects, filled the lower room, in which the priests entered: because of which he says, the temple.

Others say otherwise, that he saw the high throne in the middle room, which is called the house, which was filled with the middle members and arms of the Lord; the lower room, which is called the temple was filled with his feet and legs, but his head and neck stuck up into the third story: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on the right hand and on the left (1 Kgs 22:19); the king, that sits on the throne of judgment, scatters away all evil with his look (Prov 20:8).

208. Concerning the second, it should be known that the signification of this vision is assigned in three ways by various interpreters.

For some say that the sitting on the throne signifies the coming oppression of their captivity; the filling of the house with majesty signifies that their enemies, who were under his direction, were to fill the temple; and the Histories touch on this.

Jerome, however, explains, and better, that the seat signifies the majesty of the son of God, because of which it is said in John 12:41: these things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spoke of him; the throne signifies the angels, on whom God sits: you that sit upon the cherubims (Ps 79:2[80:1]); the house signifies the Church triumphant, which is full of his glory; the temple signifies the Church militant, which is full of miracles, or the ranks of angels, like guards.

Dionysius explains this otherwise in the Celestial Hierarchy 13.4, and better, as it seems. The throne signifies eminence of the divine nature, and it is called exalted, because of its nobility, elevated, as if raised above others, insofar as it exceeds all things infinitely; and he is said to sit in this because of his immovability; hence Dionysius says in the Divine Names 9.8: what also do we say concerning the divine standing other than that he remains in himself singularly fixed in immovable identity? And the house is said to signify all creation, which is full of his majesty, insofar as it is filled according to its capacity by participation in his goodness; and by the temple he seems to understand the superior creatures, which are filled by those things which are beneath him inasmuch as goods received in them fall short of the goodness of God, which they nevertheless seem to approach.

209. On the contrary, it is objected that, according to Exodus 33:20: for man shall not see me, and live, that is, living in this mortal flesh; and 1 John 4:12: no man has seen God at any time. Therefore, neither did Isaiah see God.

To which is to be said that neither interior nor exterior vision is able to see unless it is moved by the visible object; and insofar as it is more perfectly changed by the visible object, it sees better; and then it sees most perfectly when it receives the action of the visible object according to its whole power: and hence it occurs that the same thing is seen differently by different persons, both interiorly and exteriorly, and better by some, and worse by others.

Therefore, nothing can see this visible object, which is God, perfectly, except what grasps it whole, and therefore God alone sees himself thus. Hence, according to Chrysostom,¹ the heavenly secret is not seen in its essence without medium by some men who attain to it according to the perfection which they have from the divine light they have received, as by the blessed in heaven and by those who are elevated by rapture to that mode of vision. By those, however, who have a less perfect vision, God is seen according to certain similitudes of his goodness, whether in sensible things or images, or intelligible species: and of this kind is the vision which the prophets saw by the light of prophecy, and which we see by faith, and which is seen by the light of reason and even by philosophers, who know God, as is said in Romans 1:19–20.

210. But then the question remains whether the prophets perceived such a vision immediately from God, or by the mediation of angels. And it seems that it was immediately from his very manner of speaking, for he says, I saw the Lord, and not, I saw an angel. Likewise, of Moses, Exodus 33:11 says, the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend. Likewise, they saw in the mirror of eternity, as is commonly said: therefore some men have seen God.

To which is to be said, according to Dionysius in the Celestial Hierarchy 4.3, that no mere man, neither of the fathers of the New nor the Old Testament, received any revelation from God except by the mediation of angels. And he says that it is an inviolable law that the middle should be restored through the first [and] the lower [through the middle];¹ and he proves this by an argument from the greater,² for even Moses received the law through the mediation of angels, though he saw most excellently; which is proved by that which is said in Galatians 3:19: why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, and Acts 7:53: who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it.

211. To the first, therefore, is to be said that this reason can be on the part of the end of the vision and on the part of the principle.

On the part of the end, because the revealing angel intends to lead man to knowledge of God, and not to knowledge of himself: and therefore he forms a vision of God, just as out of things which are seen figuratively, something of God is understood.

On the part of the principle, however, because all power which angelic light has to manifest something comes from God as its author, who is the font of light, just as in matters of demonstration all power of light or manifestation comes from first principles. Hence Gregory, in the Gloss on Exodus 3 says: the angel who is described as having appeared to Moses is sometimes reported as the Lord, sometimes as an angel. An angel, because he serves in speaking outwardly; the Lord, because inwardly the director gives the efficacy of speaking. For since the speaker is directed from within, he is recounted both as an angel from his subservience, and as the Lord from his inspiration.¹

212. To the second is to be said that this is said because of the eminent manner of clear vision by which Moses, above all the prophets, saw, as is said in Numbers 12:6–8.

213. To the third is to be said that God himself is not called the mirror of eternity, but those species which are in the soul of the prophet; and they are called a mirror insofar as the disposition of eternal wisdom is reflected in them.

214. Stood the seraphim. Here he sets out the office of the ministers.

And first, he describes the order of the ministers;

second, their praise, and they cried one to another, and said: holy (Isa 6:3).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things.

First, he sets out the grade of the ministers, saying: upon it, namely the temple, stood the seraphim, because the order of seraphim is supreme among all, as Dionysius says in the Gloss here.¹

Likewise note that “seraphim,” written with an “m,” is plural in number and masculine in gender and signifies many in that order; written with an “n,” however, it is neuter in gender and signifies the whole rank of this order; but “seraph” is singular in number and masculine in gender and signifies only one member of this order. Below: upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace (Isa 62:6). And he says they stood, upright in contemplation as if assisting.

Second, he sets out the adornment of the ministers, in the number six of their wings: six wings.

Third, the use of their wings: with two they covered his face. In Hebrew, this is said ambiguously, and it can be explained that they covered the face of God, and thus Jerome understands it; or that they cover their own face, and thus Dionysius understands it,¹ according to whom the sense is that their head was covered and their feet and the middle of their body, with two they flew, namely, the middle two: every one with two wings covered his body (Ezek 1:23), and below this: and I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters (Ezek 1:24).

215. The signification of this vision is understood in three ways.

The Hebrew says¹ that by the twelve wings are understood the twelve kings who were over the people from Ozias, under whom the vision began, and following; only four of whom were just, namely Ozias, Joatham, Ezechias and Josias: and therefore they flew with four wings. The others, however, were ashamed in the sight of God, and therefore they covered their face; four of these possessed the kingdom freely, namely, Achaz, Manasses, Amon and Joatham, because they were made kings by the people; and these are signified by the wings which were on the head. The other four, in truth, possessed the kingdom under the servitude of others; hence also they were made kings by others and not by the people, as Joachin, made king by Pharaoh, Jechonias and Sedecias and Godolias, about whom Jeremiah 41:2 says: Ismahel and the ten men that were with him slew Godolias whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. For these last three were made king by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

216. Jerome says that the seraphim are said to be winged either because they dwell above or because of the swiftness of their ministry; and he understands by the twelve wings the ministry of perfection, which is betokened in the number twelve, as the twelve gems in the crown of the priest, and thus concerning the others. And with two they fly, because they conceal from us those things which were before the world or after the world, and they show the things that happen in the six ages of the world; or because the past and the future are unknown to us, but we know the present: so thus this refers to the act of their ministry, and they stand, in order to assist God.

217. Dionysius explains this otherwise in the Celestial Hierarchy 13 and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 4, and he says that they are said to be winged because, similar to something that flies, they have deep and free contemplation. Three pairs of wings are described, moreover, because the seraphim see those things which pertain to themselves, who are of the first hierarchy, and those things which pertain to the other two hierarchies more eminently than they who belong to them: so that by one wing is understood their natural capacity, and by the other, the light from God which they participate in, for by these two things they are elevated.

Now those things which pertain to the hierarchies come from God as from a beginning and are ordered to God as to an end, and by neither manner can they be perfectly understood by the angels: which the veiling signifies. And they are also in themselves like a medium between the beginning and end, and they have perfect and free knowledge of them in this way, and therefore with the two middle wings they flew.

218. And they cried one to another. Here he sets out their praise: and concerning this, he does three things.

First, he sets out the manner of praising as to their devotion, for they cried from the greatness of their affection; as to their concord, for both cry out; and as to their order, for they cry out one to another: for one receives from the other, as Dionysius holds.¹ Where were you . . . when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody? (Job 38:4, 7).

219. Second, he sets out their song of praise, where it says, holy, holy, holy. And they praise three things: the Trinity of persons: holy, holy, holy; the unity of majesty: the Lord God of hosts, who is before all things: holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was and who is and who is to come (Rev 4:8); the liberality of his providence: all the earth is full of his glory, for he also extends the diffusion of his goodness to the last creature, which is understood by the earth: do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord? (Jer 23:24). And this is according to Dionysius in the Celestial Hierarchy 7.4. Jerome: all the earth is full, through the knowledge of faith.¹ Sirach 42:16–17: full of the glory of the Lord is his work. Has not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful works, which the Lord almighty has firmly settled to be established for his glory?

220. Third, where it says, and the lintels, he sets out the effect of their praise, namely, the punishment of sinners, below: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty . . . Behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit (Isa 65:13–14). And the destruction of the temple is signified: the lintels of the hinges were moved: strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook (Amos 9:1); and the burning of the temple: and the house was filled with smoke of burning by the Romans after the faith of Christ was known. Or by smoke the infidelity of the Jews is signified; by the movement of the hinges, the removal of their legal observances or ceremonies, which were like shadows enclosing the entrance to the truth.

221. And I said. Here the announcer of the sentence is set out.

And first, his humility is shown;

second, his purity: and one of the seraphim flew to me (Isa 6:6);

third, his authority: and I heard (Isa 6:8).

His humility shown in confession of sin. And he confesses a threefold sin.

In his speech, sin of omission: woe is me, because I have held my peace, in not denouncing Ozias the king, and thus he laments the fault; I have held my peace, from praising God, and thus he laments the harm, below: his watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams (Isa 56:10). Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner (Sir 15:9); sin of commission: because I am a man of unclean lips: let not your mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for therein is the word of sin (Sir 23:17[13]).

Second, the sin of association with wicked men: and I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips: evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor 15:33).

Third, the sin of presumption: I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts, as if to say: he who is impure cannot enter the Lord’s temple; how much more can he not see the Lord himself? We shall certainly die, because we have seen God (Judg 13:22); and this was from reverence. But Jacob said: I have seen the Lord¹ face to face, and my soul has been saved (Gen 32:30); and this is from confidence. Jerome: happy conscience which has sinned in speech, not by his own vice, but only of a people that has unclean lips.²

222. And one of the seraphim flew to me. Here he shows his purity from the cleansing of his sins. And concerning this he sets out three things.

The minister of the cleansing: one of the seraphim flew to me.

The instrument of cleansing: and in his hand was a live coal . . . off the altar of holocausts. The inner altar was made of earth as is said in Exodus 20:24: you shall make an altar of earth unto me; all around, however, was made of stone, where the fires of sacrifice were assembled; from these he took the coal. With the tongs, that is, with an instrument having two arms, by which receptive virtue may be signified, and by the altar, divine light itself or goodness, and by the coal, the gift received for the office of cleansing. Or by the fire tribulation may be signified; by the seraphim, Christ; by the tongs, the two testaments; by the coal, charity, which is in his hand, that is, his works.

Third, the manner of cleansing: and he touched my mouth, and said, just as in the sacraments there is an action and a form of words; behold this has touched your lips, he expresses the act, and your iniquities, against men, shall be taken away, and your sin, against God. And he does not say, “I shall take away,” for to forgive sins belongs to God alone, below: I am he that blot out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isa 43:25). Concerning all these things, Daniel 9:21–22 says: behold the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. And he instructed me, and spoke to me.

223. But against this it is objected that Dionysius says,¹ that those who belong to the higher orders are not sent in service; but it is certain that the seraphim are the highest; therefore it does not seem true that they came to cleanse the prophet.

To which is to be said that Gregory touches on this question in a certain homily concerning the hundred sheep, and he leaves it in doubt.¹ Dionysius, however, expressly holds that only the inferior orders are sent to us; and he says this is by the order of divine law that lower things are restored through the middle.² But he explains what is said here in two ways.³ In one way, he says that this cleansing angel is called a seraph equivocally, not from his order, but from the act which he was then carrying out, because he cleansed with fire, and “seraph” means “fire”; in another way, he explains it saying that he is called a seraph properly because he is of this order, and he is said to cleanse, not because he himself immediately cleanses, but because by his authority, or by an illumination received from him, a lower angel cleansed; and he gives an example: it is just as a bishop is said to absolve when another absolves by his authority. And therefore because of reverence, the lower angel, who formed the vision, restores to God first, and to the seraph second, as if he were saying: “I cleanse you by light received from God, by the mediation of a seraph.” In verse 6, instead of live coal, the Septuagint has carbuncle, because of their similarity to fire, for they have a flaming color.

6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: whom shall I send? And who shall go for us? And I said: lo, here am I, send me.

6:9 And he said: go, and you shall say to this people: hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.

6:10 Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.

6:11 And I said: how long, O Lord? And he said: until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.

6:12 And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the land.¹

6:13 And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreads its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.

224. And I heard the voice of the Lord. Here the authority of the minister is shown from his charge of office, and concerning this he does three things.

First, the consent of the one to be sent is sought; hence he says, whom shall I send, in which the authority on the part of the sender is noted: and how shall they preach unless they be sent? (Rom 10:15). And who shall go? The will of the one who is sent, for us, acquisitively, that he may not seek vain honor and may not seek profit; conversely: for all seek the things that are their own not the things that are Jesus Christ’s (Phil 2:21). I send, in which the unity of essence is noted, for us, in which the plurality of persons is noted.

225. Second, the subservience offered by the prophet is set out: and I said: lo, here am I, send me, below: and I do not resist: I have not gone back (Isa 50:5).

But it seems that this would be presumptuous, because Moses declined his office: who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exod 3:11); and I said: ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child (Jer 1:6).

And to this is to be said, as Gregory says in his Book of Pastoral Rule¹ (and in the Gloss at the beginning of Jeremiah): each arose from the root of charity: for the one [Jeremiah] for the love of God did not wish to lose the solace of contemplation; the other [Isaiah] for the love of neighbor wished to be sent that he might be useful; and nevertheless, the one did not decline the command pertinaciously, nor did the other offer himself until he was cleansed and sought for.

226. Third, the office is enjoined on him; as to the double act he foretells to discuss: and he said: go: behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt 10:16); and you shall say to this people: and you will separate the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth (Jer 15:19).

227. Hearing, hear. Here the sentence is set out.

And first, the sentence of hardness of heart is set out; he does not, however, harden hearts by sending malice into them, but by not imparting grace, and this is because they do not wish to be converted to grace.

Second, the length of the sentence is sought, where it says, and I said: how long, O Lord? (Isa 6:11).

Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, the pronouncement of the sentence by the Lord is set out, as to the two senses that produce knowledge: namely hearing, which serves instruction; hence he says hear, with the outer ears, hearing, Christ, or another who preaches, and understand not, as if to say: because you do not wish it, you do not understand. This is permissive. And as to sight, which serves discovery: and see the vision, Christ, corporeally, or the mighty works of God; and know it not; this is permissive and not imperative, below: who is blind, but my servant? (Isa 42:19).

228. Second, the acceptance of the sentence is set out. And these are the words of prophet; hence he says: O Lord, from that by which the Gentiles shall come in, strike Israel with blindness (Rom 11:25): blind the heart, inwardly, and make their ears heavy, lest they perceive, and shut their eyes, lest they understand: for judgment I am come into this world: that they who see not may see; and they who see may become blind (John 9:39). Or these are the words of the Lord, and the sense is: blind, that is, proclaim them blind.

Third, the reason for their blindness is set out: lest, for the sake of goods, they be converted and I heal them, when they are unworthy of health: but if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he has committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities (Ezek 18:21–22), below: if you return and be quiet, you shall be saved (Isa 30:15).

229. And I said. Here the length of the sentence is set out.

And first, the question of the prophet is set out: how long will they be blinded? How long shall the vision . . . be trodden under foot? (Dan 8:13);

second, the answer of the Lord: and he said.

And a twofold ending is set out:

first, as to the punishment of the wicked,

second as to the holiness of the good, where it says, a holy seed (Isa 6:13), as if to say: how long will those who are in filth be filthy? He that hurts, let him hurt still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still (Rev 22:11).

And he touches on a threefold punishment.

First, as to subjugation, which is designated in the desolation of their cities: until the cities be wasted: they have changed my delightful portion into a desolate wilderness (Jer 12:10); he has made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long (Lam 1:13); as to the cultivation of their fields: the land shall be left desolate, above: your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire (Isa 1:7); as to the exile of men: and the Lord shall remove men far away: and I will send you, and your mother that bore you, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die (Jer 22:26). And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn (Ezek 20:38).

230. Second, as to the length of their captivity: and she shall be multiplied, that people, that was left in the midst of the land, in which she will be held captive: thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: build houses, and dwell in them (Jer 29:4–5), and below this: and be multiplied there, and be not few in number. And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away (Jer 29:6–7).

231. Third, as to repeated persecution:

and first, he places their small number: and there shall be still a tithing therein, that is, barely a tenth will be left by Titus in the land of Judea, or in the whole world, because of the Jews killed: and you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude (Deut 28:62);

second, repeated destruction: and she shall turn, again subjugation shall overcome you, under the emperor Hadrian, above: for after this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still (Isa 5:25);

third, their baseness and contempt or dispersion: and shall be made a show, of derision, as a turpentine tree;¹ a certain tree, which is large in the regions of Damascus and small in Greece, and as an oak that spreads its branches: in which their dispersion is signified: I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree (Sir 24:22).

232. A holy seed. Here he sets out the ending as to the holiness of the good. Hence he says: a holy seed, that is, of grown men, who obey the divine vision, and of other saints of the Jews; which shall stand, not falling through infidelity, below: for as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, says the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your name (Isa 66:22).

Others explain this to their good: and she shall be multiplied (Isa 6:12), after her return from captivity, in the midst of her own land (Isa 6:13); and there shall be still a tithing therein, who will be left for the worship of God after the murder of many, and she shall turn, to God, and shall be made a show, of glory.

7:1 And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, the son of Ozias, king of Judah, that Rasin king of Syria and Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem, to fight against it: but they could not prevail over it.

7:2 And they told the house of David, saying: Syria has rested upon Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

7:3 And the Lord said to Isaiah: go forth to meet Achaz, you and Jasub your son that is left, to the end of the¹ conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller’s field.

7:4 And you shall say to him: see you be quiet: fear not, and let not your heart be afraid of the two tails of these firebrands, smoking with the wrath of the fury of Rasin king of Syria, and of the son of Romelia.

7:5 Because Syria has taken counsel against you, unto the evil of Ephraim and the son of Romelia, saying:

7:6 Let us go up to Judah, and rouse it up, and draw it away to us, and make the son of Tabeel king in the midst thereof.

7:7 Thus says the Lord God: this shall not be, and it shall not stand.¹

7:8 But the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rasin: and within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be a people:

7:9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Romelia. If you will not believe, you shall not continue.

233. And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan. Here the threat against the enemies of the two tribes is set out. And it is divided into two parts:

in the first, the threat against the persecutors of the people is set out;

in the second, the threat against those who are contemptuous of the prophecies of the prophets: woe to the crown of pride (ch. 28).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, he threatens the overthrow of the enemies;

in the second, he sets out the exultation of thanksgiving: O Lord, you are my God (ch. 25).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, the overthrow of each enemy in particular;

in the second, of all of them in general: behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth (ch. 24).

The first of these is divided into three:

in the first, against enemies who persecute them bodily;

in the second, against enemies who furnish power: the burden of Damascus (ch. 17);

in the third, against enemies who oppress them in things: the burden of the desert of the sea (ch. 21).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, against persecutors of the same nation;

in the second, against foreign persecutors: woe to them that make wicked laws (ch. 10).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, he threatens the frustration of the impious through the liberation of the two tribes;

in the second, their destruction: and the Lord said to me (ch. 8).

The first part, which is contained in this chapter, is divided into three:

in the first, the imminent danger is described;

in the second, the benefit of liberation is promised: and the Lord said to Isaiah (Isa 7:3);

in the third, the sign of liberation is conferred, where it says, and the Lord spoke again to Achaz (Isa 7:10).

234. To understand the first part, it should be known that Achaz was impious and an idolater, as we read in 2 Kings 16:2–4 and 2 Chronicles 27; and therefore, the Lord gave him into the hand of the kings of Syria and Samaria, who first came against him and, besieging Jerusalem and finally conquering it, captured the greater part of his army and the chief of his army. Confident from that victory, they came again to deprive him of the kingdom entirely, and substitute another in his place. And in this second coming, Isaiah consoled him.

235. Three things, therefore, are set out in the first part.

First, the gathering of the enemies is described; hence he says: and it came to pass in the days of Achaz. And he takes the genealogy back to Ozias, perhaps because it was when Ozias was struck with leprosy by the Lord (2 Chr 26:19–23), though he had once been just, that they received the daring to invade as though disdaining divine help. Came up, this is said because of the position of the land, for Judah is in the mountains; Phacee, who killed Phaceia king of Israel, whose chief of military he was, and reigned in his place;¹ but they could not prevail over it, the first time, although they conquered the king in the battlefield. Or this is said by anticipation, as to the second time they came up.

236. Second, he sets out the declaration of this: and they, his scouts, told the house of David, that is, the royal house, saying: Syria has rested upon Ephraim, that is, the king of Syria with the king of the ten tribes, which are called Ephraim, because of their first king, who belonged to the tribe of Ephraim (1 Kings 13¹) or because of honor; they were joined in friendship although they were formerly enemies, as is read in 1 Kings 22.² And he says, Syria has rested upon Ephraim, that it be noted that the kingdom of Syria held the first place in the alliance, because it was stronger.

237. Third, the effect of the declaration is set out, namely disturbance of the king and his people: and his, namely, the king’s, heart was moved, and the heart of his people: so also¹ a fearful heart in the thought of a fool (Sir 22:23); and dread to them that work iniquity (Prov 21:15); and king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him (Matt 2:3).

238. And the Lord said to Isaiah. Here liberation is promised.

And first, the manner of the promise is set out;

second, the promise itself: and you shall say to him (Isa 7:4).

And the manner is set out

first, as to the person announcing it: the Lord said to Isaiah, inspiring him inwardly, or speaking through a subordinate creature: go forth to meet Achaz, who perhaps because of fear of the enemy had gone to prepare himself to resist.

Second, as to the witness: and Jasub your son that is left, to you, the other brother, namely, Rabsaces, who was born from a more noble mother, having fled to the king of the Assyrians, because he was not received well by Achaz: about whom, see below (Isa 36:2); in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand (Deut 19:15).

Third, as to the place, to the end. To understand this, it should be known that because Jerusalem is in the mountains, it does not abound in flowing waters, and therefore, they had water in pools, collected either from the rain or from remote springs via aqueducts. Now there were three pools in Jerusalem: one which was for the use of the priests and sacrifices, which was called the Probatica pool, about which, see John 5:2; the second was lower in the city and was kept clean for the general use of the city; the third was outside the city and had unclean water; in it fullers would wash wool, and it was for this kind of use: and from that pool is named the whole fuller’s field. And thus is made clear what is said in the text.

239. And you shall say to him. Here he sets out the promise:

and first, he sets out strengthening;

second, the reason for strengthening: of the two tails of these firebrands;

third, the condemnation of the unbelieving, where it says, if you will not believe, you shall not continue (Isa 7:9).

And he strengthens them, prohibiting the sign of fear: see you be quiet, that is, beware lest you outwardly reveal the fear of your heart, below: in silence and in hope shall your strength be (Isa 30:15), and in the same place: and the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness, and security for ever (Isa 32:17). And he also shows the passage of fear: fear not, the evils to come, and let not your heart be afraid, because of the memory of the evils which you have suffered, below: fear not, for I am with you: I will bring¹ your seed from the east, and gather you from the west (Isa 43:5).

240. Of the two tails. Here he sets out the reason for strengthening.

And first, he shows the vanity of the proposers, who propose great things, though they can sustain nothing or very little: the two tails, because the kingdom was ended in them. For Rasin was killed by Theglathphalasar (2 Kings 16:9), and led his people into captivity; but Phacee was made subject, and afterwards was killed by an enemy, who a little later was captured by Salmanasar, and the ten tribes were taken captive (2 Kings 17:3–6). Smoking: for they were then near to being extinguished. Rouse it up, like someone resting in sleep, and draw it away, that is, let us draw it into our power. The son of Tabeel, literally, a certain man, or an idol of our god; Tabeel means “God is good.”

241. Second, as to the frustration of the proposal: thus says the Lord, who can do all things, this shall not be, because it will not be carried into effect, and it shall not stand, because they will not last long in such a proposal, with greater evils rushing in upon them, below: take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us (Isa 8:10).

242. Third, as to the destruction of the enemies; and first, as to the Assyrians: but the head of Syria, as if to say: but in the meantime, and before they are destroyed, the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rasin, as if to say: the Damascenes and their king will be contained in their borders. And within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be a people, because they will be taken captive. These years should not be computed from the time of this prophecy, but from the time when Ozias was struck with leprosy, because it was then that they received the daring to invade, in the twenty-sixth year of his reign. And from that time Joathan his son reigned twenty-seven years, while his father still lived, and afterwards sixteen years; then Achaz reigned sixteen years, and then Ezechias, in the sixth year of whose reign, the people were taken captive (2 Kings 17:5). And these taken together are sixty-five years. And the head of Ephraim, as above.

243. If you will not believe. Here he places the condemnation of the unbelieving. If you will not believe, namely in the promises of the Lord, you too shall not continue in your land, but you will be taken captive: behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself (Hab 2:4). And he says this because Achaz, not believing the prophecy, called upon the support of the king of Assyrians, Theglathphalasar, that he might help him; Theglathphalasar came at his petition and destroyed Damascus and killed its king; and though he had given him tribute, nevertheless it profited him nothing, as is said in 2 Chronicles 28:21.

7:10 And the Lord spoke again to Achaz, saying:

7:11 Ask you a sign of the Lord your God, either unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above.

7:12 And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord.

7:13 And he said: hear you therefore, O house of David: is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also?

7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.¹

7:15 He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.

7:16 For before the child know to refuse the evil and to choose the good, the land which you abhor shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings.

7:17 The Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Judah with the king of the Assyrians.

7:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall whistle¹ for the fly, that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

7:19 And they shall come, and shall all of them rest in the torrents of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all places set with shrubs, and in all hollow places.

7:20 In that day the Lord shall shave with a sharp razor¹ by them that are beyond the river, by the king of the Assyrians, the head and the hairs of the feet, and the whole beard.

7:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep.

7:22 And for the abundance of milk he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that shall be left in the midst of the land.

7:23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines, at a thousand pieces of silver, shall become thorns and briers.

7:24 With arrows and with bows they shall go in thither: for briers and thorns shall be in all the land.

7:25 And as for the hills that shall be raked with a rake, the fear of thorns and briers shall not come thither, but they shall be for the ox to feed on, and the lesser cattle to tread upon.

244. And the Lord spoke again to Achaz. Here the sign of liberation is set out.

And first, the liberty to choose a sign is given;

second, the sign for believing is conferred: therefore the Lord himself shall give (Isa 7:14).

Concerning the first, three things are set out.

First, the liberty of choosing a sign is conceded: and the Lord said to Achaz—because he disdained the prophets, the Lord himself spoke: because it seems hard that such powerful kings would be destroyed so quickly—ask you a sign, that you might believe, of the Lord your God. From this it seems that these may be the words of the prophet; and to this is to be said that it is a custom of Hebrew speech to use a noun for a pronoun: hence, of the Lord your God, that is, “of me.” Or they are the words of the Lord through inspiration, and of the prophet through declaration, below: should not the prophet¹ seek of his God? (Isa 8:19). Unto the depth of hell, that the earth be opened and hell be exposed, as in the destruction of Dathan and Abiron (Num 16:31–33); or by hell is meant the lower elements, as Moses brought forth locusts and gnats from the earth (Exod 8:16–19, 10:1–20); or unto the height above, as Joshua, when the sun stood still (Josh 10:1–15): for the Jews seek signs (1 Cor 1:22).

245. Second, the refusal of the offer: and Achaz said: I will not ask, either because he was trusting in idols or in the king of the Assyrians, or because he was jealous of the glory of God, or because, being placed in distress, he feared to offend God, below: Lord, they have sought after you in distress (Isa 26:16). Hence he says, I will not tempt, for he relied on what is said in Deuteronomy 6:16: you shall not tempt the Lord your God. But he understood badly, for by the authority of the Lord he was allowed to seek a sign, as Gideon with the fleece (Judg 6:36–40).

246. Third, the rebuke of the one who refuses is set out: and he, namely, Isaiah, said: therefore, since you are so rebellious, hear you therefore, O house of David, because of its consent in the malice of the king, or because the promised Christ is given as a sign to David: of the fruit of your womb I will set upon your throne (Ps 131[132]:11). Is it a small thing for you, to merit divine wrath, to be grievous to men, whom you plunder, or to the prophets, in whom you do not believe; that you are grievous, through rebellion, to my God, not yours, whom you did not obey: why is this a burden to you?¹ for I will cast you away, says the Lord (Jer 23:33).

247. Therefore. Here the sign for belief is given.

And first, the sign of liberation is conferred;

second, he threatens the unbelieving with the punishment of destruction: the Lord shall bring upon you (Isa 7:17).

Now this is the sign of the Incarnation of Christ. But the Jews object against this in many ways.

First, that the Lord was giving a sign of the liberation of the Jews at that time, with which the Incarnation of Christ agrees in nothing.

To which is to be said that the Incarnation of Christ signifies that liberation by an argument from the greater:¹ for if God will give his son for the salvation of the whole world, much more can he save you from these enemies? He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all (Rom 8:32); or as a motive cause, for this moves the Lord, as it were, since many good things are conceded to this people, however unjust they were, because he had provided for his Son to be made incarnate from them.

248. Likewise they object that the sign that follows is given to those who are present, but the Incarnation did not happen in their time, and so it would appear that no sign was given.

To which is to be said that, although the Incarnation did not happen in the presence of those men, it nevertheless did happen in the presence of the abiding house of David: hence he says, hear, O house of David (Isa 7:13), but not, “hear, Achaz.”

249. Likewise they object that a sign ought to precede the thing signified; but the Incarnation happened long after this liberation; therefore it was not a sign of it.

To which is to be said that sometimes a sign follows the thing signified, as Deuteronomy 18:22: you shall have this sign: whatsoever that same prophet foretells in the name of the Lord, and it comes not to pass: that thing the Lord has not spoken; sometimes it occurs at the same time: when you shall hear the sound of one going in the tops of the pear trees, then shall you join battle (2 Sam 5:24); sometimes the sign precedes the thing signified, as with Gideon in Judges 7:5–7, when the sign was given that he ought to conquer with those who had lapped up water with their hands. And it is necessary that this sign should follow the thing signified, even as they themselves explain: for if it preceded it, then the child was born before the death of Phacee, who reigned twenty years; in the seventeenth year of his reign, Achaz began to reign, and Achaz reigned sixteen years; therefore, Achaz reigned thirteen years after the death of Phacee. And in the twelfth year of Achaz, Osee began to reign. In the ninth year of his reign, Samaria was captured, which was six years after the death of Achaz. Therefore, at the capture of Samaria, the child would have been at least nineteen years old; and thus what is said below in 8:4, that the child did not know to call his father and mother, would be false.

250. Likewise they object that in Hebrew it does not say virgin, but alma, which, according to them, signifies a marriageable young girl,¹ as is found in Genesis 24:16 concerning Rebecca; where we have an exceeding comely maid,² they also have alma.³ And even if it said bethula, which, according to them, signifies a virgin, this does not necessarily mean that she conceives while remaining a virgin, because it may be that she who was a virgin at the time of the prophecy, should conceive afterwards, having been corrupted by the seed of a man.

To which is to be said that it would be no sign at all if a young woman should conceive, and even a corrupted virgin. The Lord, however, wished to signify something great, when he said: unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above (Isa 7:11). Therefore, according to us, alma is used rather than young girl, because alma signifies a virgin, according to the origin of the word, and still more, it means one who is protected, about whom there can be no suspicion of evil. But bethula signifies virgin according to a later manner of speaking.

The Jews, however, explain this verse in two ways. Some say it concerns Ezechias; some say it concerns the son of Isaiah, whom they imagine to have been called Emmanuel.

But that the first cannot stand is thus shown, because Ezechias was twenty-five years old when he began to reign (2 Kgs 18:2), and Achaz reigned sixteen years (2 Kgs 16:2); therefore Ezechias was ten years old when his father began to reign; and thus he could not be promised to be born here. Moreover, how would he not know to call his father and mother, when, in the sixth year of his reign, Samaria was captured?

Likewise, that the second cannot stand is shown because this would be no sign at all. And moreover the son of Isaiah was not Lord of Judea, and yet, in Isaiah 8:8, the land of Judea is spoken of as a possession of Emmanuel. And therefore it is necessary to understand this to be speaking of the son of God.

252. Following this, therefore, he does three things.

First, he promises the sign: therefore, because you do not wish to ask, the Lord himself shall give you a sign, of your liberation. This sign is also given to the shepherds in Luke 2:12: and this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes.

253. Second, the sign itself is set out, behold a virgin.

And first, the miraculous conception is set out: behold a virgin, remaining a virgin, shall conceive, in giving birth, bear a son.

Second, the naming of the miraculously begotten child; and first, as to his divinity: shall call, namely, the virgin shall call, or you yourself, Judah, shall call, in danger; his name Emmanuel, which is translated: “God with us.” You shall call¹ his name Emmanuel (Matt 1:23). And this entire occurrence has nothing like it elsewhere, for it is a new thing: the Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: a woman²—or a female³—shall compass a man⁴ (Jer 31:22); hence, a man⁵ perfect in conception itself, although not according to perfection of quantity, as Augustine says⁶ on John 2:20: six and forty years was this temple in building; and therefore, it is above man, for there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:10). Hence there cannot be found another event that corresponds to this prophecy besides this story: behold you shall conceive and shall bring forth a son (Luke 1:31). This is signified in Ezekiel 44:2: this gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel has entered in by it.

254. Second, as to his humanity: he shall eat butter and honey, literally, manly foods, because from infancy he held himself to the manner of other men: and being born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do (Wis 7:3).

Or from the part to the whole, according to the rules of Tyconius:¹ for through these he understands all human foods. That he may know. The that is consecutive, for, feeding on such things, the child still knows to refuse the evil, without experience, and to choose the good, without counsel, having all perfect knowledge. The devil had promised this, but did not fulfill it (Gen 3:5); but God gave it freely: for he has given me the true knowledge of the things that are: to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements (Wis 7:17).

Or, that is causal: that he may know, that is, that he may show himself to know, because he is led through the foods to the perfect quantity of years, in which he shows himself to know. Augustine¹ on Song of Songs 4:11, honey and milk, says that humanity is signified by butter, because it comes from the nourishment of the earth; divinity is signified by honey, because it is collected from the dew of heaven. He had, moreover, a nature without corruption, like butter without curd; and he carried consolation without judgment, like honey without the sting. Bernard: our little one chose to be newly conceived, because he took the nature of our flesh without corruption. Similarly, the bee brings us honey without mingling in the sting.² He came not to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him (John 3:17).³ And thus, that is also causal. And this is a sign from below on the part of the virgin giving birth, and from above on the part of God being born: the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit (Ps 84:13[85:12]).

255. Third, the adaptation of the sign is set out: for before the child know, that is, before he assumed created knowledge in being born; the land, of Samaria and Syria (2 Kgs 16:9, 17:3–5).

256. The Lord shall bring upon you. Here he sets out the threat against those who do not believe the sign.

And first, he shows the gravity of the punishment:

second, the order of punishment: and it shall come to pass in that day (Isa 7:18);

third, the effect of the punishment: and it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow (Isa 7:21).

And he shows the gravity of the punishment from the authority of the one who commands: the Lord, who is powerful, shall bring: the Lord Almighty is his name (Exod 15:3); from the universality of the punishment: upon you, through Theglathphalasar, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, as to your descendants, through his sons that are tyrants; from comparison with what preceded it: days, so evil, and the days are called evil because of their fault: sufficient for the day is the evil thereof (Matt 6:34); redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Eph 5:16); and because of the punishment: that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Judah (1 Kgs 12); the gravity of the punishment is shown further from of the power of those who execute it: with the king of the Assyrians, Nabuchodonosor, because the kingdoms of the Chaldeans and the Assyrians were one under him, and had been one from the beginning; for the Assyrians had come forth from the Chaldeans (Gen 10): I will take Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant (Jer 25:9).

257. And it shall come to pass. Here he sets out the manner and order of punishment; and he sets out three things.

First, the calling together of their enemies: shall whistle, that is, blow upon, for the fly, that is, for the king of Egypt, who killed Josias (2 Kgs 23:29); and he is compared to a fly because of the uncleanness of idolatry and lust which thrives in Egypt; in the uttermost parts of the rivers, because they come even from the farthest parts of Egypt, and for the bee, namely, for the Chaldeans and the Assyrians, because from the former they had the honey of defense, and from the latter the sting of persecution, above: he will whistle to them from the ends of the earth (Isa 5:26).

258. Second, the multitude of their enemies: and they shall come, and shall all of them rest in the torrents of the valleys, for the benefit of water, which usually runs in valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, for fortification, and upon all places set with shrubs, for wood, and in all hollow places, for locations of homes, below: and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land (Isa 8:8).

259. Third, their captivity: in that day the Lord shall shave with a sharp razor, that is, through the king, by them, that is, through them, namely, the Assyrians; concerning a sharp razor, see Ezekiel 5:1: take you a sharp knife that shaves the hair: and cause it to pass over your head. The head, the king, the feet, craftsmen, the beard, soldiers who are for the adornment of the king (2 Kgs 25), above: every man of war, judge, and prophet (Isa 3:2). Or this is said against the Egyptians, who were their helpers: by them, that is, the Egyptians, that is hired.¹ And he shall rifle the spoils thereof: and it shall be wages for his army. And for the service that he has done me against it (Ezek 29:19–20).

260. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow. Here he sets out the effect of the punishment, or the sign of destruction.

First, in the scarcity of animals: a young cow, and two sheep, because the animals are few, above: and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness (Isa 5:17).

Second, from the slightness of provisions: butter and honey, because of the lack of bread: they that were fed delicately have died in the streets (Lam 4:5).

Third, from the scarcity of men.

First, in the worthlessness of their property: every place where there were a thousand vines: buy a field for money, and take witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans (Jer 32:25); I passed by the field of the slothful man, and by the vineyard of the foolish man: and behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered the face thereof (Prov 24:30–31).

In the multitude of thieves: with arrows and with bows, namely, when you flee, they will enter, below: fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon you and upon the inhabitants of the earth (Isa 24:17).¹

Fourth, in the fear of their enemies, for they will tend the mountains and abandon the plains: and as for the hills: and all her cities shall be wastes (Jer 49:13), and: you endeavor to lay hold on the height of the hill (Jer 49:16).

261. It is to be noted on the words, his name shall be called Emmanuel (Isa 7:14), that is, “God with us,” that Christ is with us in many ways.

First, as a brother, through fellowship of nature: who shall give you to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find you without, and kiss you? (Song 8:1).

Second, as a bridegroom, through the bond of love: if any one love me, he will keep my word (John 14:23).

Third, as a shepherd, through the solace of inner consolation: behold, I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him (Rev 3:20).

Fourth, as a savior, through the help of defense: therefore fear you not, my servant Jacob, says the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save you from a country afar off (Jer 30:10).

Fifth, as a leader, through the example of his work: the Lord alone was his leader (Deut 32:12).

262. It is to be noted on the words, behold a virgin (Isa 7:14), that behold is said because of her singular eminence:

first, because she is above women because of her virginity: hence he says, behold a virgin;

second, she is above virgins because of her fruitfulness: hence he says, she shall conceive;

third, she is above all angels because of the worthiness of her fruit: hence he says, she shall bear a son: never doth he take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham he takes hold (Heb 2:16).

8:1 And the Lord said to me: take you a great book, and write in it with a man’s pen. Take away the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey.

8:2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zachariah the son of Barachias.

8:3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: call his name, hasten to take away the spoils: make haste to take away the prey.

263. And the Lord said to me: take you a great book. Here he foretells the destruction of the ten tribes, insofar as it pertains to their punishment. This was carried out by the Assyrians: first, in the reign of Phacee, by Theglathphalasar, who captured the two and a half tribes which were across the Jordan, and many people from the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali (2 Kgs 15); afterwards, by Salmanasar, who reduced the remaining tribes to captivity (2 Kgs 18:9–12). However, the two tribes also shared in this tribulation, for they were afflicted by Theglathphalasar, as is said in 2 Chronicles 28:20, and by Sennacherib, as is said below in chapter 36. Nevertheless, they were not entirely subjugated. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he foretells the tribulation;

in the second, its mode and order: at the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched (ch. 9).

264. This chapter, moreover, is divided into three parts:

in the first, he threatens the ten tribes with destruction by the Assyrians;

in the second, he foretells the affliction of the two tribes in this, where it says, and shall pass through Judah, overflowing (Isa 8:8);

in the third, he strengthens them with their future liberation, where it says, gather yourselves (Isa 8:9).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

in the first, the sign of destruction is set out;

in the second, the deed itself is described, where it says, and the Lord spoke to me again (Isa 8:5).

Concerning the first, he sets out two things:

first, he sets out the prefiguration of the punishment;

in the second, the expression of the sign, where it says, for before the child know (Isa 8:4).

The Jews, however, interpret this sign literally as the son of Isaiah, through whose name the Lord wished to signify the destruction of the ten tribes. And according to this, he confirmed the sign in three ways:

first, by writing;

second, by testimony, where it says, and I took (Isa 8:2);

third, by the deed itself, where it says, and I went (Isa 8:3).

265. Concerning the first, he sets out three things,

namely, that in which it is to be written: a great book, for, literally, the book is large to signify the magnitude of the tribulation: take you a roll of a book, and you shall write in it all that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah (Jer 36:2).

Second, that with which it is to be written: with a man’s pen, that is, plainly, that it may be understood, and that what is written will remain: write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that reads it may run over it (Hab 2:2).

Third, that which is to be written, namely, the name of him who will lay waste, signifying in brief the future destruction: take away the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey, that is, ravage. These may be words of the Lord spoken to the prophet, and thus they are taken materially; or they are spoken to the enemies, and thus, significatively, below: and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey (Isa 10:6).

266. And I took unto me. Here the sign is confirmed by testimony; faithful witnesses: in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word stand (Deut 19:15).

267. And I went to the prophetess. Here it is confirmed by the deed, for sometimes the prophets announced a future thing also by the deed itself, as below: go, and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and take off your shoes from your feet. And he did so, and went naked, and barefoot (Isa 20:2). Hence this is understood literally that he went to his wife. Hence two things are set out:

first, the begetting of the child: and I went;

second, the naming of the begotten, call his name, hasten, as if to say: make haste to do it; take away the spoils,¹ as above (Isa 8:1).

Or according to another version of Jerome: hasten, the spoils take away;¹ and this is better, since, according to this, there is nothing more in the name than in what was written in the book.

268. Against this, some object in many ways that it should not be understood literally,

first, because, since the words commanded to be written are few, it is not necessary for the book to be large;

second, because it is not probable that the prophet, a decent man, would have brought in witnesses when he went to his wife;

third, because Urias made an altar of idols like the altar of Damascus in the temple of the Lord (2 Kgs 16:15–16), and thus he was not a faithful witness;

fourth, because Zachariah was not alive then, for Zachariah the son of Joiada had been killed long before by Joas, king of Judah (2 Chr 24:22); another man is called Zachariah, who was one of the twelve prophets, and he lived long after, during the return of the people from captivity, as is clear from Zechariah 1:1 and through the whole book: therefore, the prophet could not have taken Zachariah as a witness; and moreover there remains a similar objection as exists with the first sign,¹ that the child himself was born before the death of Phacee: therefore, as was proved above, he was at least nineteen years old at the capture of Samaria, and therefore what is said in 8:4 is false: before the child know to call his father and his mother.

269. And thus they hold that this is understood only of Christ, just as the first sign; that, by the great book, Sacred Scripture is signified, about which it says in Baruch 4:1: this is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, that is for ever; by the man’s pen, the manner of prophecy, that it is not altogether clear to everyone, but only to the rational, who can conceive things signified from figures: I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets (Hos 12:10).

Take away the spoils with speed, the name of Christ, that is, a circumlocution for his name, because Jesus is savior, in that he took away spoils, that is, sinners, from the power of the devil, and plundered hell, about which it says below: therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong (Isa 53:12).

By Urias, which means “light of the Lord,” the law is signified: because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light (Prov 6:23). By Zachariah, which means “memory of the Lord,” the son of Barachias, which means “blessing of the Lord,” prophecy is signified, for the prophets received divine knowledge through the blessing of a divine gift. And these, namely, the law and the prophets, are the witnesses of the Incarnation of Christ: all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms, concerning me (Luke 24:44). The prophetess, moreover, is the blessed Virgin, who prophesied saying: my soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46), to whom the prophet went through prophetic understanding and through faith; or the prophetess is said to be the Holy Spirit, who is the principle of all prophecy: for prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21). For in Hebrew, the word for “spirit,” namely, ruah, is feminine in gender, and according to this, she conceived, that is, the Spirit made Mary to conceive: for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:20). Call his name, O Isaiah, that is, foretell his name, as above.

270. This interpretation, however, is not of such authority as that above on 7:14, concerning the other sign, because it is more forced and does not have authority from the Scriptures, as the other does from Matthew 1:22–23. Hence some say that it is not unreasonable if this be understood literally, in such a way, however, that this child may be a figure of Christ, as is also said above in a certain gloss on 7:14: behold a virgin.

Hence, according to this, a reply can be made to the objections that were made at first.

And to the first is to be said that the book was great, not because the writing required it, but to signify the magnitude of the tribulation.

271. It is to be noted on the words, a great book (Isa 8:1), that the Sacred Page is a book that is said to be,

first, great, as to the greatness of its content: hear me,¹ for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things (Prov 8:6).

Second, it is sealed, as to vision, below: and the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed (Isa 29:11).

Third, it is rolled up because of its multiple senses: and I looked, and behold, a hand was sent to me, wherein was a book rolled up (Ezek 2:9).

Fourth, it is bitter because of the labor of study: and I took the book from the hand of the angel and ate it up: and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter (Rev 10:10); they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me (Prov 8:17).

Fifth, it is sweet, as to its effect: eat this book: and I did eat it: and it was sweet as honey in my mouth (Ezek 3:1–3).

Sixth, it is flying, as to its meaning: I saw, and behold a volume flying (Zech 5:1); will the eagle mount up at your command, and make her nest in high places? (Job 39:27).

Seventh, it is life-giving, as to its fruit: all these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the Most High, and the knowledge of truth (Sir 24:32); he that shall find me, shall find life (Prov 8:35).

8:4 For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians.

8:5 And the Lord spoke to me again, saying:

8:6 Forasmuch as this people has cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and has rather taken Rasin, and the son of Romelia:

8:7 Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks.

8:8 And shall pass through Judah, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Emmanuel.

8:9 Gather yourselves together, O you peoples,¹ and be overcome, and give ear, all you lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome.

8:10 Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us.

8:11 For the Lord says these things to me:¹ as he has taught me, with a strong hand,² that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

8:12 Say not: a conspiracy: for all that this people speaks, is a conspiracy: neither fear their fear, nor be afraid.

8:13 Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your dread,¹ and let him be your terror.²

272. For before the child know. Here the interpretation of the sign is set out; and it is already clear according to the literal interpretation. According to the other interpretation, however: for before the child know, by created knowledge, his father, his putative father Joseph, or God; the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away, according to this, this can also be referred to the captivity of Samaria.

273. And the Lord spoke to me again. Here the deed of destruction itself is described. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he sets out the fault of those to be punished;

second, the power of those who punish them: behold the Lord will bring upon them (Isa 8:7);

third, he sets out the punishment itself: he shall come up over all.

Therefore, he first says, and the Lord spoke to me again. After the sign was given, the waters of Siloe. Siloe is a certain spring which arises at the foot of mount Zion, whose waters bubble up for hours and flow evenly; hence they signify the kings of Judah, who were sometimes good and powerful and sometimes evil and weak but nevertheless reigned lawfully and quietly in comparison to the kings of Israel, who all drove the people to idols.

274. But it seems that this should not be imputed to them as a fault, because it was done by the will of the Lord, as it says in 1 Kings 12:24: this thing is from me. And to this is to be said that the Lord justly willed that the kings of Judah should suffer this harm because of the fault of Solomon, about which, see 1 Kings 11; but Israel did this wickedly and because of their pride of heart, for they did not wish to pay the customary taxes, as is read in 1 Kings 12:4. Or otherwise: this people has cast away, that is, they disdained and persecuted, following the malice of two kings. And this seems to be the intention from what follows: and has rather taken Rasin.

275. Therefore. Here the power of the enemy is described.

And first, a metaphor is set out as to four things, namely, as to divine help: behold the Lord will bring upon them; as to the impulse: the waters of the river; as to their strength: strong; as to their number, and many, below: nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters overflowing (Isa 17:13).

Second, he explains the metaphor: the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory, that is, his army: behold a people comes from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up (Jer 6:22). The Gloss says that this is understood to be Sennacherib.

And therefore it is to be said that, with Salamanasar reigning but already aged, his son was in the army, and perhaps was at the head of it; and therefore the same army can be said to belong to either one. Hence he speaks of all the destruction which was done by those kings of the Assyrians as if it were from one persecutor, because of the unity of their reign.

276. And he shall come up. Here he places the punishment itself; and he preserves the metaphor, for overflowing waters are higher: hence he says: and he shall come up over all his channels, that is, his princes, and over all his banks, his lands: my indignation shall come up in my wrath, and in my zeal (Ezek 38:18–19).

277. And shall pass through Judah. Here he foretells the tribulation running over into the two tribes.

And first, he sets out the running over of the tribulation: and shall pass, namely, the impulse of water, through Judah, that is, through the land of Judea, overflowing; he preserves the metaphor: for when waters overflow, they send out waves beyond their bed into the neighboring fields. And he says, shall pass, because they will not have complete dominion, below: as the violence of many waters overflowing (Isa 28:2); behold there come up waters out of the north, and they shall be as an overflowing torrent, and they shall cover the land, and all that is therein, the city and the inhabitants thereof (Jer 47:2).

Second, the overflowing of the persecution: and going over shall reach even to the neck. He speaks metaphorically, as if he were saying: they shall run over in such abundance that if anyone wished to cross the waters, they would come up to his neck, as he would almost be submerged in them: in which it is signified that they will be near captivity, as is shown below (ch. 36). And behold there ran out waters on the right side (Ezek 47:2); the waters were risen so as to make a deep torrent, which could not be passed over (Ezek 47:5).

Third, the multitude of the army: and the stretching out of his wings, that is, its princes, shall fill, by its multitude, the breadth of your land, that is, Judea, O Emmanuel, Christ, who came to be born from it; for Sennacherib sent his princes to capture Jerusalem, below (Isa 36:3). Of these wings, Ezekiel 17:3–4 says, a large eagle with great wings, long-limbed, full of feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and took away the marrow of the cedar and the top of the twigs thereof: and carried it away into the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of merchants.

278. Gather yourselves together, O you peoples. Because he had said that the persecution of the Assyrians would run over in some manner into the two tribes, here he strengthens them, because they were not to be finally captured in that persecution, nor even be subjugated by the ten tribes and the Syrians. And this is divided into two parts:

in the first, he sets out divine strengthening;

in the second, he removes the communication of diviners: and when they shall say to you (Isa 8:19).

Concerning the first, he sets out two things:

first, he sets out the ridicule of the enemy,

second, the instruction of the people: for thus says the Lord (Isa 8:11).

Concerning the first of these, he does two things:

first, he sets out the ridicule or insult;

second, the reason for the ridicule: because God is with us (Isa 8:10).

And he ridicules the army of those who fight, the counsel of the wise, and the command of the lords: for wars are fought by these three.

279. Now an army grows strong by three things:

namely, by multitude, and as to this, he says: O you peoples, of Syria and Samaria, gather yourselves together, that you may be many, and be overcome, by God fighting against you through whomsoever of his ministers; and not only you, but give ear to this same thing all you lands. And this is sarcasm, a certain species of trope, which is said to be a sort of ridicule that is hostile and full of hatred: break forth, and come, all you nations from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all your strong ones to fall down (Joel 3:11).

Second, it grows strong in the fortitude of body and soul of those who fight, and as to this he says, strengthen yourselves: let the weak say: I am strong (Joel 3:10).

Third, it grows strong in the protection of arms: gird yourselves, which pertains properly to swords, but is taken from there to apply to all arms: gird yourselves, and be valiant men, and be ready against the morning, that you may fight with these nations that are assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary (1 Macc 3:58).

280. As to counsel: take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: who catches¹ the wise in their craftiness, and scatters² the counsel of the wicked (Job 5:13); there is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord (Prov 21:30).

281. As to the commands of lords concerning these things which are chosen after counsel: speak a word, and it shall not be done, above: let us make him king in the midst thereof (Isa 7:6). For the kings would announce what they chose to the people, as Homer says.¹

282. He sets out the reason by translating the name Emmanuel, because God is with us: if God be for us, who is against us? (Rom 8:31); and they shall fight against you, and shall not prevail: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you, says the Lord (Jer 15:20).

283. For the Lord says these things to me. Here the instruction of the people is set out:

and first, he teaches them what is not to be feared,

second, what is to be feared: sanctify the Lord of hosts (Isa 8:13).

The first is divided into two parts:

namely, into the proof of the teaching

and its handing on, where it says, say not: a conspiracy (Isa 8:12).

And he proves in two ways that enemies are not to be feared.

First, through the precept of the Lord; hence he says: you will be overcome thus, O enemies, for, that is, because, the Lord says these things, which have been spoken, to me, and therefore, do not fear: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed (Num 23:19).

Second, by his own example: he says: the Lord says, I say, to me; saying to you what follows to teach you, as he has taught me, that is, that I not imitate them in their malice; and this with a strong hand, that is, with tribulation. Or not only teaching what is to be done, but also giving the grace of virtue to carry it out: from above he has sent fire into my bones, and has taught¹ me (Lam 1:13).

284. Say not. Here the teaching itself is set out.

And first, he prohibits the word of fear: say not: a conspiracy, of two nations, as if it is to be feared by us; for all that this people speaks, is a conspiracy, against me. Hence if they join me to you in conspiracy, they will know that I am joined to you in defense: your murmuring is not against us, but against God¹ (Exod 16:8); below: let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me (Isa 50:8).

Second, he prohibits the movement of passion: neither fear their fear. Fear¹ and dread² differ as more and less: for fear causes movement of the heart by way of contraction, but dread, as it were, immobilizes the heart: if armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear (Ps 26[27]:3).

285. Sanctify the Lord of hosts. Here he instructs them how the Lord is to be feared:

and first, he sets out the law;

second, the hiding of the law: seal the law (Isa 8:16).

Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, he places the precept of the law;

second, the fruit of obedience: and he shall be a sanctification to you (Isa 8:14);

third, the punishment of rebels: but for a stone of stumbling.

And the precept is that God be honored: sanctify the Lord of hosts, in yourselves, and serve him in holiness; let him be your dread, inasmuch as he is Lord: blessed is the man that fears the Lord (Ps 111[112]:1); let him be your terror, inasmuch as he is punisher: fear not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt 10:28). Peter explains this as concerning Christ: and be not afraid of their fear: and be not troubled (1 Pet 3:14). This also seems to be the intention of the prophet because of what follows.

286. Note on the words, as he has taught me, with a strong hand (Isa 8:11), that there is a threefold divine hand.

First is the hand of divine power, and this is threefold:

first, the hand of God creating: your hands have made me, and fashioned me (Job 10:8);

second, containing: in your hand, Lord,¹ are all the ends of the earth (Ps 94[95]:4);

third, protecting, below: in the shadow of his hand he has protected me (Isa 49:2).

The second hand is the hand of justice, and this is threefold:

first, touching to test: the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job 19:21);

second, scourging to cleanse: for though, for the present time, I should be delivered from the punishments of men, yet should I not escape the hands¹ of the Almighty neither alive nor dead (2 Macc 6:26);

third, crushing to condemn: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31).

The third hand is the hand of mercy, and this is threefold:

first, healing: he wounds, and cures: he strikes, and his hands shall heal (Job 5:18);

second, pasturing: the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand (Ps 94[95]:7);

third, crowning: they shall receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty at the hand of the Lord (Wis 5:17).

8:14 And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of offense,¹ and for a rock of scandal² to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

8:15 And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.

8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

8:17 And I will wait for the Lord, who has hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

8:18 Behold I and my children, whom the Lord has given me for a sign, and for a portent¹ in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Zion.

8:19 And when they shall say to you: seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living and the dead?¹

8:20 To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.

8:21 And it¹ shall pass by them,² they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards.

8:22 And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.

287. And he shall be. Here he sets out the fruit of obedience: sanctification to you, I will make you holy: I am the Lord who sanctify you¹ (Lev 22:9). For a stone, he sets out the punishment of impeding rebels under the metaphor of travelers;

and first, he sets out the occasion,

second, the reception of the punishment: and very many of them shall stumble (Isa 8:15).

And he sets out the occasion

first, as to the people;

second, as to the princes: for a snare.

He shows the first under the metaphor of a stone lying in the way, which impedes the traveler in two ways: namely, by injuring his foot, and by being an occasion of his falling; and similarly, Christ was to the unbelievers among the Jews an occasion of injury and falling, not from his fault but from theirs. Therefore he says: to the two houses of Israel, that is, to the unfaithful of the ten and the two tribes, or to the scribes and Pharisees, for a stone of offense, as to injury: for they were offended at the stone of offense¹ (Rom 9:32); and for a rock of scandal, on which the foot strikes, leading to a fall: in Greek, scandal means a stumbling of the foot: but we preach Christ crucified: unto the Jews indeed a scandal,² and unto the Gentiles foolishness (1 Cor 1:23).

288. And because the princes resisted Christ more, he weighs down regarding them: to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which was the city of their princes, for a snare—like animals they are captured by a snare—and this is weightier than offense, below: he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare (Isa 24:18); and a ruin, which is more than a simple fall: behold this child is set for the ruin¹ (Luke 2:34).

289. And because sometimes someone avoids occasions and does not run into them, he therefore removes this and shows the reception of the punishment and says, and very many of them shall stumble, against the offense he spoke of above, through faithlessness; indeed against the scandal they fall from worthiness of the kingdom: but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness (Matt 8:12). They shall be broken in pieces, as to the ruin of punishment, famine and sword, Matthew 21:44: whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall break him to pieces.¹ As to the snare he says, they shall be snared, by the ropes of sins and perplexities, which shall not be broken, and so they shall be taken by the Romans: he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins (Prov 5:22).

290. Bind up the testimony. Here he sets out the closing of the law,

and first, he sets out the hiding of the law, where it says, bind up the testimony, that is, roll up the prophecy of Christ in obscurity, lest the Jews see, for they are unworthy. Seal the law. To seal¹ signifies two things:

sometimes it signifies to close under a seal, and thus he says: seal the old law, under figures, among my disciples, that is, until my disciples open it by preaching throughout the world: shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time appointed (Dan 12:4); or hide it among my disciples.

Sometimes it signifies the expression of a figure: the light of your countenance, O Lord, is sealed¹ upon us (Ps 4:7). And thus seal in the soul of my disciples.

Second, the awaiting of what is hidden, and I will wait: but I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God (Mic 7:7).

Third, the presentation of what is awaited, behold I, namely, Christ, and my children, the apostles, whom the Lord has given me: thine they were: and to me you gave them (John 17:6); for a sign, that is, that they may do signs, and for a portent, a wonder, which by its magnitude portends; and this comes to be from the Lord, who dwells, by worship or by faith, in Zion, the Church: hear, O Jesus you high priest, you and your friends that dwell before you, for they are portending men (Zech 3:8).

291. Some explain this as concerning Isaiah: and my children, the prophets, according to this, below: as my servant Isaiah has walked, naked and barefoot, it shall be a sign and a portent¹ of three years upon Egypt, and upon Ethiopia (Isa 20:3). Others explain this as the sons of Isaiah, and this is false.

292. And when they shall say to you. Here he removes the communication of diviners; and concerning this, he does three things.

First, false communication is set out: and when they, your enemies, shall say: seek of pythons, which foretell evil things for you and good things for us. The word for python in Hebrew means “mouth of the abyss.” And Jerome¹ says that they are named after Pythian Apollo, because he invented this kind of magical art, through which the dead seem to be raised and things about the future seem to be predicted, as is read in 1 Samuel 28:8. Rabanus² says that it is the name of a malign spirit; likewise, Jerome³ says that one is called a python who has a devil in his belly. And of diviners, because they claim for themselves an act of God in predicting future things, and especially as to the worship of false gods; who mutter, as though insane: so they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood (1 Kgs 18:28); let there be no wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consults pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeks the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhors all these things (Deut 18:10–12).

293. Second, the response is taught: should not the faithful people seek of their true God, for the living and the dead, that is, for the salvation of the living and the dead: is it because there was no God in Israel, that you send to Beelzebub, the god of Accaron? (2 Kgs 1:6). Or for the living and the dead, that is, in place of your gods, who were made in imitation of men, both dead and living. Or we seek a vision for the living and the dead, just as you do, namely, from your gods, who are like the dead. To the law rather, which prohibits such things, or which teaches what is to be awaited; the testimony of Scripture.

294. Third, he sets out the threatening of the disobedient: and if they speak not. And he does three things:

first, he threatens punishment;

second, impatience in punishment: and when they shall be hungry (Isa 8:21);

third, the sadness of despair: and they shall look upwards (Isa 8:21).

Therefore, he first says: and if they speak not according to this word, namely, responding to it, we shall make it so that they shall not have the morning light, that is, Christ expelling the darkness: that was the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world (John 1:9). And it shall pass by them, the congregation, to others, not remaining among them, below: here I am (Isa 58:9), for I the Lord your God am merciful; they shall fall into condemnation, and they shall be hungry for the word of God: behold I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of God¹ (Amos 8:11). Or the light of consolation; and they shall fall into condemnation, above: Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen (Isa 3:8); and be hungry, for bread.

295. And when they shall be hungry. Here he threatens impatience in punishment, as to wrath of the heart: they will be angry: they shall murmur if they be not filled (Ps 58:16[59:15]); as to blasphemy of the mouth, and curse: and they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds: and did not penance for their works (Rev 16:11).

296. And look upwards. Here he sets out the sadness of despair,

and first, the expectation of help: look upwards, seeking help from heaven. And they shall look to the earth, to help from earth; above: they shall look¹ towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation (Isa 5:30).

Second, the imminence of danger: and behold trouble, foreseen, and darkness, as to counsel of resistance, weakness, against strengthening, and distress, as to perplexity, and a mist following them, as to persecution: and his kingdom became dark (Rev 16:10).

Third, the impossibility of liberation, like a captured bird: and they cannot fly away from their distress. On the contrary is it with the just: the snare is broken, and we are delivered (Ps 123[124]:7).

9:1 At the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched: and at the last the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded.

9:2 The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.

9:3 You have multiplied the nation, and have not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before you, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils.

9:4 For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the scepter of their exactor¹ you have overcome, as in the day of Madian.

9:5 For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment mingled with blood, shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire.

297. At the first time the land of Zabulon. Here he sets out the mode and order of destruction:

and first, according to the diversity of punishers;

second according to the diversity of punishments, where it says, the Lord sent (Isa 9:8).

The first of these is divided into three, according to the three persecutions made by the Assyrians into the land of the promise.

298. For first, Theglathphalasar, in the reign of Phacee in Samaria, captured the two and half tribes which were across the Jordan in respect to Jerusalem, and from the tribes of Zabulon and Nephtali, which were on the near side of the Jordan, only what could equal a half tribe. And as to this he says, at the first time, that is, at the time of the first captivity, the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched, that is, was reduced in its inhabitants, which was perhaps not too grave for those who remained because more possessions remained for them. And this is spoken of in 2 Kings 15:29.

299. Second, Salmanasar came in the ninth year of Osee and captured the rest of the ten tribes, who were on the near side of the Jordan in respect to Judaea. And as to this he says, at the last, that is, at the last general captivity of the ten tribes, the way of the sea, that is, the region through which one goes to the sea of Genesareth; of the Galilee, that is, which is in Galilee, of the Gentiles, which is across the Jordan, in respect to the Assyrians, although on the near side in respect to Judaea; was heavily loaded, that is, pressed by the heavy weight of tribulation. Now Galilee is divided in two: one part in the tribe of Zabulon, the other in the tribe of Nephtali, near Tyre, and it is said to be of the Gentiles, either because of the many gentiles which lived there, or because it was ruled by gentiles, for Solomon had given it to the king of Tyre (2 Kings 17).¹

300. Third, Sennacherib came and took the cities of Judah and besieged Jerusalem, as is said in 2 Kings 18:13, 17. And the prophet speaks here of this third persecution saying, the people, and he promises salvation to the Jews. Hence he does two things:

first, he promises the grace of salvation,

second, he assigns the cause: the zeal of the Lord of hosts (Isa 9:7).

Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, he promises salvation;

second, he describes the order of salvation, where it says, you have multiplied (Isa 9:3);

third, he describes the savior himself, where it says, for a child is born to us (Isa 9:6).

301. And he promises them salvation from two things:

from confusion, and as to this he says: the people, of Judaea, that walked, that is, that proceeded in their affairs, in darkness, of doubt, have seen a great light, the day of comfort;

and from gravity of punishment: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, that is, Judaea, which because of grave persecution was a similitude of death, light is risen, of divine comfort, below: arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you (Isa 60:1).

302. You have multiplied the nation. Here he sets out the process and order of salvation as to four things.

First, as to the frustration of the enemy, and as to this he says, you have multiplied the nation, in the army of Sennacherib, and have not increased, in them, the joy, that they might complete what they had proposed: he disappoints the counsels of the wicked (Job 5:13).

Second, the plundering of the enemy, which happened when the people went out to collect their spoils after they had been killed by the angel, as is said below (Isa 37:36); hence they are compared to harvesters and victors: they shall rejoice, below: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away from them (Isa 35:10).

Third, the liberation of slaves: for tyrants burden with precepts, and as to this he says, for the yoke of their burden, that which Sennacherib laid on them; they afflict with punishments, and as to this he says, and the rod of their shoulder, that is, with which they beat their shoulders; they plunder goods, and therefore he says, the scepter of their exactor, below: how is the exactor¹ come to nothing, the tribute has ceased? (Isa 14:4); this may happen so easily, as in the day of Madian, that is, as Gideon overthrew the Madianites (Judg 7:19–22).

Fourth, as to the punishment of the enemy: and these things happen, for every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, that is, violent despoilers, as to the damage which they inflict on goods, and garment mingled with blood, of those whom they killed, as to damage inflicted on persons, shall be burnt, for, literally, they were burnt, below: and under his glory shall be kindled a burning, as it were the burning of a fire (Isa 10:16).

9:6 For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful, counsellor, God the mighty, the father of the world to come, the prince of peace.

9:7 His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it in¹ judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

303. For a child is born to us. Here he describes the Savior.

And first, as to his reception;

second, as to his naming, where it says, and his name shall be called (Isa 9:6);

third, as to his power, where it says, his empire shall be multiplied (Isa 9:7).

For we receive him in our nature in his birth: for a child is born to us: I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people: for, this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David (Luke 2:10–11).

We receive him in our knowledge in the testimony of the Father: this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear him (Matt 17:5). Bernard: lightly the boy is pleased, easily he pardons: we are poor and can give little; nevertheless for that child we can be reconciled to Christ the child if we wish.¹ And a son is given.

We receive him also in divine reverence through his passion, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Phil 2:10). And the government is upon his shoulder, that is, the cross, through which he is raised up into government: and bearing his own cross, he went forth to the place which is called Calvary (John 19:17).

304. And his name shall be called. Here he sets out his naming,

and first, a name expressing divine wisdom: wonderful: your knowledge is become wonderful to me (Ps 138[139]:6); hence all his works were wonderful, and especially in the union of natures in one person; as to human wisdom: counsellor, adding counsels to precepts: let one of a thousand be your counsellor (Sir 6:6).

Expressing divine power: God: below, verily you are a hidden God (Isa 45:15); human power: mighty, in power:¹ he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength (Job 9:4).

Third, a name expressing abundance of goodness as to his divine nature: father of the world to come, that is, begetting sons into glory: for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, who had brought many children into glory, to perfect the author of their salvation, by his passion (Heb 2:10); below: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Isa 22:21); as to his human nature, prince of peace, inasmuch as he is mediator: for he is our peace, who has made both one (Eph 2:14); you are a prince of God among us (Gen 23:6).

305. His empire shall be multiplied. Here he describes his power,

and first, as to the magnitude of his kingdom;

second, as to the nobility of his kingdom: he shall sit upon the throne;

third, as to its eternity: from henceforth and for ever.

Concerning the first, he sets out two things.

First, the magnitude of his kingdom: his empire shall be multiplied: and all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him (Dan 7:27); as to the quiet of peace: and there shall be no end of peace, below: you will keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in you (Isa 26:3).

306. Upon the throne of David. Here he describes the nobility of his kingdom. Upon the throne of David, that is, upon the Church, which is signified by the kingdom of David: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father (Luke 1:32); as to the effect of his kingdom: to establish it, for resistance, and strengthen it, also for fighting, in judgment, that is, through judgment: a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5); as to the eternity of his kingdom, from henceforth, that is, from the time of the Incarnation, and for ever: his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:14).

307. Finally, he places the motive for giving this, the zeal, that is, the love, of the Lord, the Father: God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son (John 3:16). The Jews interpret this as Ezechias. But clearly his kingdom was not made strong eternally, nor do the names in 9:6, which signify divine eminence, fit him. Because of this, the Septuagint omits these names and puts in their place, angel of the great council.

308. It is to be noted on the words, a child is born to us (Isa 9:6), that Christ is called a child,

first, in birth, because of his age: entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother (Matt 2:11);

second, in possessions, because of his poverty: you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes (2 Cor 8:9);

third, in heart, because of his humility: learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart (Matt 11:29);

fourth, in death, because of the baseness of his death: let us condemn him to a most shameful death (Wis 2:20).

309. It is to be noted on the words, is given to us (Isa 9:6), that Christ is given to us

first, as a brother: who shall give you to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother? (Song 8:1);

second, as a teacher: O children of Zion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he has given you a teacher of justice (Joel 2:23);

third, as a watchman: O son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel (Ezek 33:7);

fourth, as a defender, below: he shall send them a Savior and a defender to deliver them (Isa 19:20);

fifth, as a shepherd: and I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them (Ezek 34:23);

sixth, as an example of action: for I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also (John 13:15);

seventh, as food for the journey: the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:52);

eighth, as the price of redemption: the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many (Matt 20:28);

ninth, as a reward: to him that overcomes I will give to eat the hidden manna (Rev 2:17).

310. Likewise, it is to be noted on the words, upon his shoulder (Isa 9:6), that God laid upon the shoulder of Christ

first, sins, as upon one who makes satisfaction: the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6);

second, a key, as upon a priest: and I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut (Isa 22:22);

third, the government, as upon a ruler: the government is upon his shoulder (Isa 9:6);

fourth, glory, as upon a conqueror: and I shall hang¹ upon him all the glory of his father’s house (Isa 22:24).

9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.

9:9 And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart.

9:10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with square stones: they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars.

9:11 And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and shall bring on his enemies in a crowd.

9:12 The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west: and they shall devour Israel with their whole¹ mouth. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

9:13 And the people are not returned to him who has struck them, and have not sought after the Lord of hosts.

9:14 And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel the head and the tail, him that bends down, and him that corrupts,¹ in one day.

9:15 The aged and honorable, he is the head: and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.

9:16 And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err: and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down, headlong.

9:17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young:¹ neither shall he have mercy on their orphans,² and widows: for every one is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth has spoken folly. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

9:18 For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in the pride of smoke.¹

9:19 By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

9:20 And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shall eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses, and they together shall be against Judah.

9:21 After all these things his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

311. The Lord sent a word into Jacob. Here he describes the order of punishment according to the diversity of punishments.

And first, he recalls the fault,

second, he describes the punishment: and the Lord shall set up (Isa 9:11).

And he denounces the fault in them in two ways.

First, as to the transgression of divine precept; hence he says, the Lord sent a word into Jacob, that is, into Judah, or into the whole people, as the leaders were appointed from Judah: the scepter shall not be taken away from Judah, nor a ruler from his thigh (Gen 49:10; cf. Judg 9; 1 Sam 15). And it has lighted upon Israel, that is, it was frustrated in Israel, that is, in the ten tribes, who rejected the house of David (1 Kgs 12:19–20). Or the word of the law universally: if you play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Judah offend (Hos 4:15).

312. Second, as to the excusing of the deed, inasmuch as they said that they had done well, being blinded by pride, for swelling of the mind is an obstacle to the truth,¹ and therefore he says, and all the people of Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes, and the inhabitants of Samaria, as to the princes of the people, shall know, that is, they shall recollect themselves and their fault in the punishment, for punishment opens the eyes which fault closes. That say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart, inasmuch as in their heart they supposed that they were above others, and haughtiness, as to the presumption of the great things they proposed. The bricks, that is, the kings of Judah, who were weak, are fallen down, away from us, but we will build our kingdom with square stones, that is, strong kings from among ourselves. They, namely, our enemies, as the Syrians, have cut down the sycamores, that is, the unfruitful kings of Judah; we will change them, that is, set up in their place, cedars, that is, lofty men from among ourselves, above: and make the son of Tabeel king in the midst thereof (Isa 7:6). On their pride, below: woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim (Isa 28:1).

313. And the Lord shall set up. Here he describes the diversity of punishments as to three things which they trusted in.

First, he threatens against the alliance of neighbors;

second, against the use of persons whom they suppose that they have: and the Lord shall destroy (Isa 9:14);

third, against the multitude of peoples: for wickedness is kindled (Isa 9:18).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, the punishment is set out;

second, the preparation of further punishment: for all this (Isa 9:12).

And he threatens two things:

first, future destruction: and the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin, that is, the Assyrians, in a crowd, of war, concerning which, see 2 Kings 16:9;

second, the attack of persecution: and the Lord will lead the Syrians, who were friends, from the east, according to the location of their land, and the Philistines from the west, who attacked Judah, and they shall devour Israel, they shall destroy, with their whole mouth, that is, all their affections: their joy was like that of him that devours the poor man in secret (Hab 3:14).

314. For all this his indignation is not turned away. Here the preparation of the punishment is set out,

and second, the reason is assigned: and the people (Isa 9:13).

Now the preparation is placed in the will: his indignation is not turned away: but yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great indignation, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah (2 Kgs 23:26); and as to his power: his hand; he speaks in a human manner, above: and I will turn my hand to you, and I will clean purge away your dross (Isa 1:25).

The reason for adding punishment to punishment is the incorrigibility of the people, and this is what he says, and the people are not returned to him who has struck them: in vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction (Jer 2:30).

315. The Lord shall destroy. Here he threatens against trust in the use of persons;

and first, the punishment is set out;

second, the preparation of further punishment: for all this (Isa 9:17).

Now persons seemed useful either for defense, and against these he threatens first;

or for provoking divine mercy, and he threatens against these where it says, therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men (Isa 9:17).

Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, their dignity is set out and their fault, and the fault under a metaphor, him that bends down, as to the prince, against the rectitude of justice, and him that corrupts or holds back, namely, the prophet: and they violated me among my people (Ezek 13:19).

Second, he explains the metaphor: the aged, that teaches lies: and her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar, seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them (Ezek 22:28).

Third, he sets out the punishment: and they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err, and those who are led astray, that are called blessed, shall be thrown down, above: O my people, they that call you blessed, the same deceive you (Isa 3:12). You shall fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with you (Hos 4:5).

316. Therefore. Here he threatens against persons who are useful for provoking mercy, either because of integrity of the flesh: their young, namely, virgins; or because of age: their orphans; or because of weakness, widows.

And first, the punishment is set out: neither shall he have mercy;

second, the reason is set out as to dissimulation in works: for every one is a hypocrite; as to malice in the heart: and wicked; as to falsehood in the mouth: and every mouth has spoken folly: the hope of the hypocrite shall perish (Job 8:13).

317. For all this: as explained above.

318. For wickedness is kindled. Here, against trust in the multitude of the people, he threatens dissension,

then the preparation of further punishment: after all these things (Isa 9:21).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, the metaphor of fire is set out;

second, of famine: and he shall turn to the right hand (Isa 9:20).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he sets out the metaphor;

second, the explanation: by the wrath of the Lord (Isa 9:19).

319. He threatens the punishment of dissension under the metaphor of burning;

hence, he first sets out the efficient cause of the burning: for wickedness is kindled, as if to say: your impiety is like a fire kindled to burn you up, below: behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk in the light of your fire (Isa 50:11);

second, the material cause: it shall devour the briar, that is, a vicious people, above: briers and thorns shall come up over it (Isa 5:6).

Second, the burning itself: it shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, that is, in the woods in which there are many trees, signifying the multitude of the people; and the effect: and it shall be wrapped up in the pride, that is, the height, of smoke: for smoke ascending from fire enwraps the tops of trees, and the tribulation of dissension darkens the vision of men: fire has devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame has burnt all the trees of the country (Joel 1:19). By the wrath of the Lord, which is like fire: his indignation is poured out like (material) fire (Nah 1:6); and the people shall be as fuel for the fire, below: walk in the light of your fire (Isa 50:11); no man shall spare his brother: this is explained as to the burning itself.

320. And he shall turn to the right hand. Here he threatens the same punishment under the metaphor of famine.

And first, he sets out the metaphor, and he shall turn, as if his deeds are seen, to the right hand, by which friends are signified, and shall be hungry, to do evil still; on the left hand, enemies; the flesh of his own arm, kinsmen.

Second, he explains this metaphor as to kinsmen: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses, who were both sons of Joseph.

Third, as to enemies: they together shall be against Judah: every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully (Jer 9:4). Above: and the people shall rush one upon another, and every man against his neighbor (Isa 3:5).

321. After all these things his indignation is not turned away, but his hand. Explain all this as above.

10:1 Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice:

10:2 to oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob orphans.¹

10:3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?

10:4 That you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the slain? In all these things his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

10:5 Woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod and the staff of my anger, and my indignation is in their hands.

10:6 I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

10:7 But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so: but his heart shall be set to grind to pieces,¹ and to cut off nations not a few.

10:8 For he shall say:

10:9 are not my princes as so many kings? Is not Calano as Charcamis: and Emath as Arphad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?

10:10 How¹ my hand has found the kingdoms of the idol, so also their images² of Jerusalem, and of Samaria.

10:11 Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?¹

10:12 And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.

10:13 For he has said: by the strength of my own hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom I have understood: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have taken the spoils of the princes, and as a mighty man has pulled down them that sat on high.

10:14 And my hand has found the strength of the people as a nest; and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or whimpered.¹

10:15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that cuts with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? As if a rod should lift itself up against him that lifts it up, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood.

10:16 Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones: and under his glory shall be kindled a burning, as it were the burning of a fire.

10:17 And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire, and shall be devoured in one day.

10:18 And the glory of his forest, and of his beautiful hill, shall be consumed from the soul even to the flesh, and he shall run away through fear.

10:19 And they that remain of the trees of his forest shall be so few, that they shall easily be numbered, and a child shall write them down.

10:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean no more upon him that strikes them: but they shall lean upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

10:21 The remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God.

10:22 For if your people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted, the end¹ abridged shall overflow with justice.

10:23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make an end,¹ and an abridgment in the midst of all the land.

10:24 Therefore, thus says the Lord the God of hosts: O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike you with his rod, and he shall lift up his staff over you in the way of Egypt.

10:25 For yet a little and a very little while, and my indignation shall cease, and my wrath shall be upon their wickedness.

10:26 And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him, according to the slaughter of Madian in the rock of Oreb, and his rod over the sea, and he shall lift it up in the way of Egypt.

10:27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall putrefy at the presence of the oil.

10:28 He shall come into Aiath, he shall pass into Magron: at Machmas he shall lay up his carriages.

10:29 They have passed in haste, Gaba is our lodging: Rama was astonished, Gabaath of Saul fled away.

10:30 Whinny with your voice,¹ O daughter of Gallim, attend, O Laisa, poor Anathoth.

10:31 Medemena is removed: you inhabitants of Gabim, take courage.

10:32 It is yet day enough, to remain in Nobe: he shall shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

10:33 Behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall break the earthen vessel with terror, and the tall of stature shall be cut down, and the lofty shall be humbled.

10:34 And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with iron, and Libanus with its high ones shall fall.

322. Woe to them that make wicked laws. Here he begins to threaten against foreign enemies who persecute them bodily:

and first, against those who lay waste,

second, against those who rejoice in this laying waste: in the year that king Achaz died (Isa 14:28).

The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, he threatens against the Assyrians who were taking the ten tribes captive and afflicting the two tribes;

in the second, against the Babylonians who take the two tribes captive: the burden of Babylon (ch. 13).

The first of these is divided into three:

in the first, he threatens the destruction of the enemies;

in the second, he promises the restoration of the people: and there shall come forth (ch. 11);

in the third, he places their thanksgiving: I will give thanks (ch. 12).

323. And this chapter is divided into two parts:

in the first, he threatens against the princes of the two tribes, who trusted in the help of the Assyrians, namely Achaz, under whom this vision was written, as is read in 2 Kings 16:7;

in the second, against the Assyrians themselves: woe to the Assyrian (Isa 10:4). However, some begin chapter 10 there, and then it would be easier, because this part would thus not be distinguished from the preceding chapter.

324. The first of these is divided into two:

in the first, the threat is set out;

in the second, the preparation of further punishment is shown: in all these things (Isa 10:4).

The first is divided into two:

in the first, he denounces their fault,

in the second, he threatens punishment: what will you do? (Isa 10:3).

He denounces the fault of the princes as to two things.

As to perverse lawgiving: woe to them that make wicked laws, in as far as the law is established by the decree of the prince, and when they write, in as far as it is confirmed in writing: for they, not knowing the justice of God and seeking to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the justice of God (Rom 10:3); why do your disciples transgress (Matt 15:2).

Second, as to the intention of oppressing those who are powerless, either because of poverty: the poor, or because of low rank: humble: they crush as the dust (Amos 2:7); or because of weakness of sex: widows; or because of age: orphans. Above: they judge not for orphans¹ (Isa 1:23).

325. What will you do? Here he threatens punishment,

and first, he takes away the remedy of escape. And this is threefold:

confidence in their own power: what will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which comes from afar, as to the fortifying of their enemies or as to the prediction of the prophets: what will you do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the Lord? (Hos 9:5). Who can stand before the face of his indignation? (Nah 1:6).

Second, as to the friendship of the powerful: to whom will you flee for help? Behold there is no help for me in myself, and my familiar friends also are departed from me (Job 6:13).

Third, as to the glory of riches: and where will you leave your glory, as if to say: which will not profit you. What has pride profited us? Or what advantage has the boasting of riches brought us? (Wis 5:8).

326. Second, he expresses the manner of punishment,

and first, the punishment of captivity: that you be not bowed down under, above: and the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled (Isa 2:17);

second, of killing: and fall with the slain: all of them slain, fallen by the sword (Ezek 32:24).

327. In all these things. Here the preparation of further punishment is set out: this is explained as above.

328. Woe to the Assyrian. In this part, he threatens against the Assyrians themselves, and this is divided into two parts:

in the first part the threat against the enemies who oppress them is set out;

in the second, the strengthening of the oppressed people: therefore, thus says the Lord (Isa 10:24).

The first of these is divided into three:

in the first, he denounces their fault;

in the second, he threatens punishment: therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send (Isa 10:16);

in the third, he shows the effect of the punishment: and he shall run away (Isa 10:18).

And their fault consists in transgression of precept or in abuse of authority; hence, the first part is divided into three:

in the first, their commission of authority is set out;

in the second, their abuse of authority: but he shall not take it so (Isa 10:7);

in the third, the vainglory of the abuser: and it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed (Isa 10:12).

329. Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, the office of scourging is committed to the Assyrians;

second, he designates the one who is deserving of scourges: I will send him to a deceitful nation (Isa 10:6);

third, he sets out the manner of scourging: to take away the spoils (Isa 10:6).

Concerning the first, he designates three things:

the one who scourges: woe, it nears you, the Assyrian, you who are the rod of my anger;

the power of scourging: the staff, by which I myself scourge, is in their hands, that is, their power, that is, in execution;

and the scourging: my indignation is fulfilled through them, below: the Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, that struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound (Isa 14:5–6).

330. I will send him to a deceitful nation. Here he describes the one who is deserving of scourges, both as to the fault: a deceitful nation, because it does not keep its promise: all that the Lord has spoken, we will do (Exod 19:8); and as to the sentence, the people of my wrath, that is, whom I have already judged fit to be punished, I will send, I will inspire you to be fit to be punished: the Lord said to me: go up to this land, and destroy it (2 Kgs 18:25); to, that is, against.

331. To take away. Here he sets out the mode of scourging as to the taking away of their things: take away spoils; as to detention, lay hold; as to the oppression of men: tread them down like the mire, for their baseness: I shall bring them to naught, like the mire¹ in the streets (Ps 17:43).

332. But he shall not take it so. Here the abuse of the power conceded to the Assyrian is set out, insofar as he exceeded the ends of the mandate;

and first, his intention is set out;

second, the motive of his intention is set out: for he shall say (Isa 10:8).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he dismisses the fixed measure of the mandate, both as to the judgment of reason: but he shall not take it so, and as to the intention of the heart: his heart shall not think so, that is, he will assess the punishment;

second, he increases the punishment both as to manner: to grind to pieces, that is, utterly destroy everything, and as to number: nations not a few, but rather many, not only those to whom he was sent: you have devised confusion to your house, you have cut off many people, and your soul has sinned (Hab 2:10).

333. For he shall say. Here his motive is set out;

and first, he argues,

second, he concludes: so shall I do to Jerusalem and her images (Isa 10:11).

Concerning the first, he first argues the servitude of kings: are not my princes as so many kings? He shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock (Hab 1:10).

Second, the subjugation of cities: is not Calano as Charcamis, below: for of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste lands, and their countries (Isa 37:18).

Third, the destruction of idols: how my hand has found the kingdoms of the idol: wonderingly, as if to say: how was it that their gods did not resist me: who are they among all the gods of the nations that have delivered their country out of my hand, that God¹ may deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? (2 Kgs 18:35).

334. So shall I do to Jerusalem and her images. Here he concludes

first, from the nations to the entire people of Israel: so also their images of Jerusalem, and of Samaria;

second, from the ten tribes to the two: shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?

He speaks the truth concerning Samaria, because they worshipped idols, but Ezechias had removed the idols from Jerusalem (2 Kgs 18:4); also perhaps some idols secretly remained, which he found in the part of the city that Sobna the scribe handed over to him; or he calls the ark and the other things that adorned the temple images: behold the house of Judah is like all other nations (Ezek 25:8).

335. And it shall come to pass. Here he denounces his pride.

And first, his proud boasting is set out,

second, the occasion of his boasting: for he has said (Isa 10:13);

third, the rebuke of the boaster: shall the axe boast? (Isa 10:15).

Therefore he says: and it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Zion, namely, the punishments by which he wishes to correct them, the proud heart, as to presumption of his doing, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes, as to his vainglory over his deeds, above: the lofty eyes of man are humbled (Isa 2:11).

336. For he has said. Here he sets out the occasion of his glory from the great things which he had done,

and first, as to the condition of the doer;

second, as to the greatness of the deed: and I have removed;

third, as to the ease of doing: and my hand has found (Isa 10:14).

He shows the condition of the doer as to the power of wars: by the strength of my own hand, as to the wisdom of counselors, and by my own wisdom: but for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest perhaps their enemies might be proud, and should say: our mighty hand, and not the Lord, has done all these things (Deut 32:27).

337. The greatness of the deed is measured from three things:

from the multitude of kingdoms; hence he says, and I have removed the bounds of the people: he speaks like someone who acquires many fields and removes the bounds by which the separate possessions were divided;

as to the plundering of princes: and have taken the spoils of the princes;

as to the subjugation of kings: and as a mighty man has pulled down them that sat on high, namely, on the seat of the king: whom he would, he set up: and whom he would, he brought down (Dan 5:19).

338. The ease of doing is determined as to three things:

as to absolute subjection: and my hand has found the strength of the people as a nest, which is in the power of the finder, below: and it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as young ones flying out of the nest (Isa 16:2);

as to easy destruction: and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth, it was so easy: but he will gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all people (Hab 2:5);

as to the removal of all contradiction: and there was none that moved the wing, that is, the hand—for a bird defends itself with its wing—or opened the mouth, to contradict, or whimpered, which is how wolves or birds lament: son of man, behold I take from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke, and you shall not lament, nor weep; neither shall your tears run down (Ezek 24:16).

339. Shall the axe boast itself? Here the rebuke of the boaster is set out, because he is like an instrument, which cannot work except by the movement of the craftsman: the axe, for killing the wicked; shall the saw, for separating the good from wicked, exalt itself; a rod, for correcting; a staff, for supporting those corrected: why doth your spirit swell against God, to utter such words out of your mouth? (Job 15:13).

340. Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send leanness. Here he threatens punishment. And concerning this, he does three things:

first, he threatens the judgment of punishment;

second, he determines the manner of punishment: and under his glory;

third, the effect of punishment: and he shall run away through fear (Isa 10:18).

Among his fat ones, the powerful and the rich, below: and the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things (Isa 25:6).

341. And under. Here the manner of punishment is determined, which was through burning; and three things are set out.

First, the species of punishment: his glory, that is, the multitude of his host; under, that is, under his clothes, for bodies were cremated in intact clothing, above: and your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark (Isa 1:31).

Second, the one bringing the punishment, the Holy One of Israel, God, or the angel Michael, to whom that people was committed: behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me (Dan 10:13); as a fire, for he will punish them through fire: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the land (Zeph 1:18).

Third, the one suffering the punishment, both as to the lowly, his thorns and his briers, which do not grow much; and the glory of his forest, of Lebanon, as to the great, whom he compares to high trees of Lebanon because of their dignity; from the soul even to the flesh, for they died both in soul and in body, above: for wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high (Isa 9:18).

342. And he shall run away through fear. Here the effect of the punishment is set out.

And first, the effect on the enemy as to their flight: and he shall run away through fear. As to their small number, and they that remain of the trees, for Sennacherib literally fled with few, namely, with ten: you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude (Deut 28:62).

343. Second, the effect on the people: and it shall come to pass, as to three things in which they offended, namely,

in their trust in the nations: upon him that strikes them, because even those from whom they sought help sometimes afflicted them, they that shall escape, either to Ezechias or to other nations: they leaned upon you (Ezek 29:7).

344. Second, as to their worship of idols, both as to manner, for in truth, the remnant, against what is said in 1 Kings 18:21: how long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him; and as to the converted, the remnant of Jacob, who were left by the Assyrians: save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel (Jer 31:7). And he confirms the promise: for if your people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore (Gen 22:17).

345. Third, as to the justice of their works;

and first, he sets out the promise: the end abridged, that is, the destruction made brief in the army of Sennacherib, shall overflow with justice, that is, he will make justice overflow in the people, below: let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he has done wicked things (Isa 26:10).

Second, he places the confirmation: for the Lord God of hosts shall make an end: with a flood that passes by, he will make an utter end of the place thereof (Nah 1:8); in the midst of all the land, that is, in Jerusalem, which is in the middle of the land: this is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the lands¹ round about her (Ezek 5:5). Romans 9:27 interprets this as concerning the remnant of those to be saved; and the abridged word, as the Septuagint reads,² is the word of the Gospel: on these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets (Matt 22:40); or the Word incarnate.

346. Therefore, thus says the Lord. Here the strengthening of the people is set out, and concerning this, he does two things.

First, he sets out the strengthening: be not afraid, below: fear not, you worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel (Isa 41:14).

Second, he explains their escape,

and first, in general,

second, in particular: he shall pass into Magron or he shall come into Aiath (Isa 10:28).

Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, the affliction is set out: with his rod, that is, with the affliction of siege and plunder, and his staff, breaking into pieces, in the way of Egypt, for, hearing that the king of Ethiopia had come out from his land (as it says in 2 Kings 19:9), the king of Assyria left the land, and on his return, destroyed the cities which he found coming by the way of Egypt: how is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod? (Jer 48:17).

347. Second, the destruction of those who afflict them: for yet a little.

Concerning which is first noted hastening: yet a little in relation to eternity or in relation to the time in which they will afflict them: very shortly I will pour out my wrath upon you (Ezek 7:8);

second, the magnitude of the punishment: my indignation shall cease, as to punishment, wrath, as to vengeance;

third, the ease of punishing, my < . . . >¹ (Judg 7:25); and over the sea, the Red Sea: and he shall lift it up (Exod 14:21–29), against you, first, in the way of Egypt, because you trusted in the Egyptians.

348. Third, the liberation that follows is set out,

and first, the liberation: his burden shall be taken away: and it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst his bands (Jer 30:8);

second, the reason for the liberation: at the presence of the oil, of divine mercy, above: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil (Isa 1:6).

349. He shall come into Aiath. Here their escape is described in particular.

And first, the oppression is set out, numbering the cities through which he passed coming from Egypt to Jerusalem: he shall come from Egypt, into Aiath, he shall pass, in haste, into Magron; at Machmas, a certain city, he shall lay up his carriages, he shall send away part of his goods so that he might come unencumbered. They have passed in haste, unimpeded by the resistance of those cities; Gaba is our lodging, the voice of the army which rested there; Rama was astonished, that is, it feared, because he was near; Gabaath of Saul, the royal city in the time of Saul. Whinny, in the manner of horses; attend, O Laisa, how you may flee, and similarly, you, poor Anathoth, for it was a little village. Medemena is removed; it fled, and similarly, the inhabitants of Gabim; the voice of Sennacherib to his army: take courage: it is yet day enough, to remain in Nobe, which is a village near Jerusalem; as if to say: there is yet enough of the day that we can pitch our tents there, for it had been foretold to him that, if he drove to that point on that day, it would be conquered. Or: you inhabitants of Gabim, take courage, for the enemy is near. He shall shake his hand, like someone threatening, below: against the Holy One of Israel. By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord (Isa 37:23–24).

350. Second, the destruction of the enemy: behold the sovereign.

And first, ease on the part of the one who punishes: he shall break the earthen vessel, like what was done by Gideon (Judg 7:19–20);

second, universality on the part of those who are punished: the tall, as to those strong in body, the lofty, as to princes, the thickets of forest, as to the multitude of the people, that is, the shrubs which make a forest dense, and Libanus, Sennacherib himself, who was killed by his sons, below (ch. 27).

The Gloss interprets this verse mystically: he shall break the earthen vessel, in the passion of Christ.

351. Note on the words, and the light of Israel shall be as a fire (Isa 10:17): that our God is called a fire,

first, because he is subtle; and as to this, he is called subtle as to substance, because he is called spirit: God is a spirit (John 4:24);

second, as to knowledge, because he is piercing: for the word of God is living and effectual and more piercing than any two edged sword (Heb 4:12);

third, as to appearance, because he is invisible: whence then comes wisdom? (Job 28:20); and below this: it is hid from the eyes of all living (Job 28:21), or: all men (Job 36:25).

Second, because he is full of light: but that he is full of light is evident

first, because he manifests as to the intellect: in your light we shall see light (Ps 35:10[36:9]);

second, because he delights as to the affections: what manner of joy shall be to me, who sit in darkness and see not the light of heaven? (Tob 5:12);

third, because he directs as to action, below: the Gentiles shall walk in your light, and kings in the brightness of your rising (Isa 60:3).

Third, because he is hot:

and this is so, first, because he vivifies: you perhaps will warm them in the dust? (Job 39:14); from above he has sent fire into my bones, and has chastised me (Lam 1:13);

second, because he cleanses: the vapor of the fire wastes his flesh, and he fights with the heat of the furnace (Sir 38:39);

third, because he devastates: a fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell (Deut 32:22).

Fourth, because he is light:¹

and this is so, first, because of his motion, for the Lord has made all things for himself (Prov 16:4);

second, because of his position, for he dwells on high (Ps 112[113]:5);

third, because of his unmixed manner: wisdom reaches everywhere, by reason of her purity. For she is a vapor of the power of God (Wis 7:24–25).

11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.

352. And there shall come forth a rod out of the root. The destruction of their adversary having been set out, the restoration of the people, who had been divided into the two tribes and the ten tribes, is promised. And this is divided into two parts.

In the first part, the restorer is described,

in the second, the restoration is promised: and it shall come to pass in that day (Isa 11:11).

Now this chapter is interpreted in three ways.

For Jerome and all our saints interpret it as concerning the restoration made through Christ and concerning Christ, so that it was spoken figuratively;

some teachers interpret it as concerning Ezechias or Josias, similarly taking the passage figuratively;

the Jews interpret it as concerning their messiah, whom they await, wishing to understand all of it literally.

But this last interpretation is foolish and fabulous;

the second is tortured;

but the first is straightforwardly true, and therefore, following this first interpretation, we shall touch on the others indirectly.

The first part therefore is divided into three:

in the first, Christ the restorer is described as to his nativity;

in the second, as to his sanctity: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Isa 11:2);

in the third, as to his dignity: in that day the root of Jesse (Isa 11:10).

353. Concerning the first, he touches on two things;

the procession of his mother from the royal line or lineage: and there shall come forth a rod, a rod to which no shrubbery adhered, out of the root of Jesse: literally, from the lineage of Jesse, who was the father of David: a star shall rise out of Jacob and a rod¹ shall spring up from Israel (Num 24:17);

as to the procession of the son from the virgin mother, and a flower, Christ: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys (Song 2:1), shall rise up, for he that comes from heaven is above all (John 3:31); hence, below: behold the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud, and will enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved (Isa 19:1).

354. Out of the root of Jesse: I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5). Where he ought to say, out of the rod, he says, out of the root, in order to exclude two heresies:

one of which said that Christ did not have true flesh;

another which said that Christ had true flesh but that it was not propagated from Adam and from his ancestors and others, but was created by God in the Blessed Virgin; or that it came from our first parents separately like a kind of light, never infected by the contagion of original sin.

This heresy is wholly excluded by this where he said to rise up from the parents of the Virgin, like a flower from a root. The Jews say that the flower and the rod refer to the Christ; and he is called a rod because of his power and his scourging of the wicked, and a flower because of his honesty and consolation of the good. Jerome says that it is from this verse that what is said in Matthew 2:23 is taken: he shall be called a Nazarene, which means flowery. Those who explain this chapter as concerning Josias and Ezechias explain this similarly, and they say that Josias and Ezechias are said to descend from Jesse and not from their nearer ancestors because to David was made the promise of the confirmation of the kingdom in his sons.

355. It is to be noted on the words, and there shall come forth a rod, that the Virgin is called a rod:¹

first, consoling in tribulations: but lift you up your rod, and stretch forth your hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground (Exod 14:16);

second, bearing fruit: Moses found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it hid bloomed blossoms (Num 17:8);

third, satisfying: and when Moses had lifted up the rod, striking the rock twice,¹ there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank (Num 20:11);

fourth, scourging: a star shall rise out of Jacob and a rod¹ shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab (Num 24:17);

fifth, watching: I see a rod watching (Jer 1:11).

356. Note on the words, and a flower out of his root, that Christ is called a flower:

first, because of the purity of Mary: behold you are fair, O my love (Song 1:14); behold you are fair, my beloved (Song 1:15); and below this: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys (Song 2:1);

second, because of the ease of injury by the wind: he shall be blasted as a vine when its grapes are in the first flower (Job 15:33);

third, because of sweetness of smell: send forth flowers, as the lily, and yield a smell (Sir 39:19);

fourth, because of comeliness of beauty: and as the rainbow giving light in bright clouds, and as the flower of roses in the days of the spring (Sir 50:8);

fifth, because of certitude of fruit: as the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor: and my flowers are the fruit of honor and riches (Sir 24:23).

11:2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.

11:3 And the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him.¹ He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.

11:4 But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.

11:5 And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins.

11:6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them.

11:7 The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

11:8 And the child sucking at the breast¹ shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk.

11:9 They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.

11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who stands for a sign¹ of the peoples,² him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulcher shall be glorious.

11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to possess the remnant of his people, which shall be left from the Assyrians, and from Egypt, and from Phetros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Sennaar, and from Emath, and from the islands of the sea.

11:12 And he shall set up a sign¹ unto the nations, and shall assemble the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.

11:13 And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, and the enemies of Judah shall perish: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not fight against Ephraim.

11:14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines by the sea, they together shall spoil the children of the east: Edom, and Moab, the precept of their hand,¹ and the children of Ammon shall be obedient.

11:15 And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and shall lift up his hand over the river in the strength of his spirit: and he shall strike it in the seven streams, so that men may pass through it in their shoes.

11:16 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of my people, which shall be left from the Assyrians: as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

357. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Here he describes him as to his sanctity, as to three things:

first, as to habits of necessity;

second, as to rectitude of works: he shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes (Isa 11:3);

third, as to the effect of this rectitude: the wolf shall dwell with the lamb (Isa 11:6).

His perfection as to gratuitous habits is shown in three things.

First, as to their rest: shall rest, for grace was not increased in him: a woman shall compass a man (Jer 31:22); nor was it interrupted by fault: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth (1 Pet 2:22); nor was it troubled by the battle of the flesh, for it was without the original fault: let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day (Job 3:9); he upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizes (John 1:33).

358. As to multitude in all the gifts: the spirit of wisdom. For although all the gifts of sanctifying grace are infused at the same time, nevertheless, no one else has perfect use of them all, because of which, concerning all these, it is now said: there was not found the like to him (Sir 44:20); nor again all gratuitous graces: to one indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom: and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:8–9). But Christ had all of these perfectly, for God doth not give the Spirit by measure (John 3:34).

359. As to fullness, for he was perfect in every grace, which is noted where it says, the spirit of the fear of the Lord filled¹ him: we saw him full of grace (John 1:14). Concerning all these things: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead corporeally (Col 2:9).

360. To understand these things which are said here it necessary to see five things concerning these gifts:

first, how they differ from the virtues, the beatitudes, and the fruits;

second, their number;

third, their order;

fourth, how they exist in Christ;

fifth, in what manner they are attributed to the Holy Spirit.

361. Concerning the first, it is to be known that, as Gregory says,¹ the gifts are given to assist the virtues, by which the powers of the soul are perfected for acts that are proportionate according to a human manner, as faith, which makes us to see in a glass and obscurity. Now there is a twofold defect of virtue: one accidental, from the indisposition of the one who has the habit, from which the virtue remains imperfect in the subject, and this defect is removed through the increase of the virtue; the other defect is essential on the part of the habit itself, as faith is continually imperfect according to its disposition, because it is obscure, and this defect is removed through a higher habit, which is called a gift, for as it exceeds the manner of human operation, it is given by God: as the gift of understanding, which in some manner makes things of faith to be seen clearly and distinctly. An operation, however, proceeding from a virtue perfected by a gift is called a beatitude, which is nothing other than operation according to perfect virtue, as the Philosopher says,² as is said in Matthew 5:8: blessed are the clean of heart: they shall see God. But delight necessarily follows such operation, for delight is the unhindered operation of a proper habit, as the Philosopher says;³ and according to this, it is called a fruit; hence Ambrose on the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), says that they are called fruits in as much as they renew minds with sincere delight.

362. Concerning the second, it is to be known that the number of the gifts can be understood in three ways, because gifts are perfected either through retreat from evil, and thus is fear; or through approach to good, and thus either according to the contemplative life or according to the active life: if according to the contemplative, either according to the end of contemplation, and thus is wisdom, which concerns the highest causes; or according the means to the end, and thus is understanding, as of created spiritual substances and of what pertains to them. If according to the active life, either as to those things to which all are held, and thus the executive gift is piety, which is benevolence to those who are joined by faith or the image of God, and the directing gift is knowledge; or of those things to which not all are held, and the executive gift is fortitude, as it exposes itself to difficulties, and the directing gift is counsel.

363. From this the response to the third is now evident, because the gifts are ordered first in as far as they are perfections, and this order is considered according to the emanation of the gifts from the giver, and not in as far as they are received. Again it is evident that wisdom directs understanding, because the wise man sets things in order,¹ and, through first things, someone is regulated in secondary things, as metaphysics regulates the other sciences, counsel regulates fortitude, knowledge regulates piety, fear regulates in all, because it directs to approach the good and in retreat from evil.

364. Concerning the fourth, it is to be known that Christ had these gifts according to their most excellent uses, according to which they are had in heaven. For he did not have servile fear as if he feared punishment or filial fear as if he feared to sin but the chaste fear which belongs to reverence: he was heard for his reverence (Heb 5:7). And it is similarly evident concerning the other gifts. However, it is said especially that the spirit of fear filled him lest, from the greatness of his gifts, he be thought to be proud, like the first angel, about whom it is said in Ezekiel 28:16:¹ by the multitude of your wisdom or merchandise, your inner parts were filled with iniquity; or because he came to save through humility; or because he wished to be imitated in this: learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart (Matt 11:29).

365 Concerning the fifth, it is to be known that if these gifts are considered according to their own natures, as knowledge in as much as it is knowledge, then some of them are appropriated to the Son, which pertain to the perfection of the intellect, some to Holy Spirit, which pertain to the perfection of the affections, although all of them together are gifts of the entire Trinity. If, however, they are considered in as much as they have the nature of a gift, they are thus all attributed to the Holy Spirit, who is the first gift in whom all gifts are given. Similarly too if they are considered as to the principle of motion of such gifts, which is love: for the goodness of God, as Dionysius says, is diffusive of all things which are received in creatures from God, which are appropriated to the Holy Spirit.¹ Others, however, refer this to the holiness of Josias and Ezechias; the Jews refer it to the antichrist.

366. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes. Here he shows his holiness as to rectitude of works, and especially in judging, because this is the work of a king. Hence he shows three things:

first, his shrewdness in discerning;

second, his justice in executing: but he shall judge;

third, his constancy in persevering, and justice shall be (Isa 11:5).

Therefore he says, as to the first, he shall not judge according to the sight of the outward eyes, nor according to the hearing of the outward ears, as if to those who say in Matthew 22:16, master, we know that you are a true speaker. Because he needed not that any should give testimony of man: for he knew what was in man (John 2:25). And this cannot be explained as of a mere man, as is said in 1 Samuel 16:7: man sees those things that appear, but the Lord beholds the heart. And therefore they said separately,¹ now we know that you know all things (John 16:30). Nevertheless, others explain this in a tortured way as concerning the just kings, for they did not judge things that appear at first glance according to flatteries, but diligently sought the truth of the case.

367. But he shall judge. Here his justice in executing is shown.

And first, as to the good, in distributing their rights: he shall judge, in the day of judgment and even now: the Father has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22); the Poor, about whom it says in Matthew 5:3: blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Second, as to the wicked, and first, as to the members: he shall strike the earth, that is, the earthly, with the rod of his mouth: go, you cursed, into everlasting fire (Matt 25:41); woe to you, scribes and Pharisees (Matt 23:13); as to the head: with the breath of his lips, that is, his indignation expressed with words; he shall slay the wicked, that is, the antichrist: the man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped (2 Thess 2:3–4); or the devil: now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:31). And all this can be explained literally of the just kings, and who slew the impious with their precepts.

368. And justice shall be. Here his constancy in persevering is set out: and justice, which he shall observe in his judgments, shall be the girdle of his loins, that is, the sword with which he shall fight, and faith, confidence from God by which he will prevail; and this can be applied to Christ and to the just kings. Or the girdle of his loins which strongly adheres to man, and girdles the whole man on all sides. Or justice, in the equity of the deed, faith, faithfulness in the mode of doing: stand, having your loins girt about (Eph 6:14); or justice, the just; faith, the faithful; and thus these words are only referred to Christ: as the girdle sticks close to the loins of a man, so have I brought close to me all the house of Israel (Jer 13:11). From this Jerome argues against the Hebrews that all these things cannot be understood literally.

369. The wolf shall dwell. Here the effect of his rectitude is set out, which is in the multitude of peace, which he shows as to two things:

first, as to the meekness of the great,

second, as to the security of the lowly: and the sucking child (Isa 11:8).

The meekness of the great is shown as to three things:

first, as to dwelling: the rapacious wolf with the innocent lamb, and on the contrary, for the wolf will follow the lamb’s innocence; the crafty leopard with the simple kid; the calf, a kind of animal that is strong, and the lion, a kind of animal that is strong and fierce; the sheep, a kind of animal that is weak, together they will all be in unity, where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all and in all (Col 3:11). This is signified in Noah’s ark, where there were all animals of each kind (Gen 7:1–3).

370. Second, as to government: a little child: Peter the fisherman. Above: behold I and my children (Isa 8:18); the foolish things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the wise and the contemptible things that he may confound the strong¹ (1 Cor 1:27); shall lead, that is, he shall lead them to the kingdom, like a general.

371. Third, as to eating, in two ways:

as to conformity of food: the calf, who eats grass and is a clean animal, the bear, who tears meat and is not a clean animal, shall feed together, on the same food of the Word of God; their young ones, that is, their families, together, that is, in conformity, shall rest to eat, or the food of the sacraments: they ate the same spiritual food (1 Cor 10:3).

Second, as to humility of food, the lion, the king, like the ox, the rustic, straw, rough doctrine, or, literally, abstinence from food: shall the rhinoceros be willing to serve you, or will he stay at your crib? (Job 39:9).

But this seems to be more expressly preserved in religion, where men of different ages and conditions live with one mind, that is, in conformity: who makes men of one mind¹ to dwell in a house (Ps 67:7[68:6]). Others say that this was fulfilled in the time of the good kings, when the great lived in peace with the lowly. The Jews say all these things are to happen literally in the times of the antichrist.

372. And the sucking child shall play. Here he shows the security of the young, and he sets out three things:

their confidence, where against horror he sets out joy: on the other hole of the asp, that is, on the trials which the devil or a tyrant will send, and immediately, because he has begun to be nourished by the milk of the doctrine of faith: and not only so: but we glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation works patience (Rom 5:3); or in converting the wicked: he that hears, let him say: come (Rev 22:17). Against flight, which is indicative of fear, he sets out the daring of invasion; the weaned child, now eating solid food, shall do more, for he shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk,¹ that is, the devil, who is king over all the children of pride (Job 41:25); for he will confidently expose himself to the persecutions of tyrants, as did many martyrs: he exults² boldly, he goes forward to meet armed men (Job 39:21); or this refers to preachers, who thrust the hand of preaching for the conversion of sinners; or at the breasts, of newness and delight, for the newly converted rejoice at this.

373. Second, he sets out inability to hurt them: they shall not hurt; in my holy mountain, that is, the Church, except the willing: behold, I have given you power (Luke 10:19); and these signs shall follow them that believe: they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them (Mark 16:17–18).

374. Third, he sets out the cause of both: for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord: their sound has gone forth into all the earth (Ps 18:5[19:4]); I, wisdom, have poured out rivers (Sir 24:40).

The Jews explain all of this literally. Others say that it signifies that, in the times of the good kings, all the young boldly committed themselves to those who were previously plunderers and cruel men.

375. In that day. Here he places the dignity of the restorer. For a sign, the sign of the cross; those who take up this sign will be saved: I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself (John 12:32); below: behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my sign¹ to the people; him the Gentiles shall beseech (Isa 49:22). All kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him (Ps 71[72]:11). His sepulcher shall be glorious: it shall be venerated by all; hence it is signified by the sepulcher which he built in Modin for an everlasting monument, that it might be seen by all passing by (1 Macc 13:25–30). Others explain this as concerning Josias, for he was buried in the sepulchers of the kings.

376. And it shall come to pass in that day. In this part he promises the restoration of the people as to three things:

first, as to their liberation;

second, as to the condition of the liberated, where it says, and the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away (Isa 11:13);

third, as to the preparation of their liberation, where it says, and the Lord shall lay waste (Isa 11:15).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he promises their liberation;

second, he describes the manner of their liberation: and the Lord shall set up a sign (Isa 11:12).

Some explain this as concerning the liberation from captivity in Babylon, when the Lord took possession of them, snatching them out of slavery in Babylon; and it is called second in relation to the first liberation, by which he led them out of slavery in Egypt: for when Nabuchodonosor was ravaging them, different nations led them into captivity and slavery, and, many of them having been killed, those remaining were congregated by the command of king Cyrus, as we read in Ezra 1. But this is better explained as concerning the liberation accomplished by Christ: for thus it agrees with what precedes it.

377. In that day, namely, when he shall stand as a sign of the peoples, the Lord shall set his hand the second time, through the apostles, for he himself preached the first time; the remnant, for a remnant shall be saved: in which is noted the holiness of the Jewish converts, and the multitude of the gentiles, about which, it says in Micah 7:1: I am become as one that gleans in autumn the grapes of the vintage. Phetros is a region which has its name from one of the sons of Abraham; Elam, a city of Persia; Emath, Antioch; Sennar, a place in Chaldea (Jer 30). Or, the second time, in the second coming, when the hearts of children will be turned to their fathers by the preaching of Elias (Mal 4:6). Blindness in part has happened in Israel (Rom 11:25).

378. And he shall set up. Here he places the manner of liberation, as to the first explanation: a sign, that is, the edict of king Cyrus; the fugitives of Israel, literally, those who went to Ezechias in Jerusalem, and joined themselves to the two tribes, and were captured with them and liberated with them. Or the sign of the Cross, as to the second explanation; he shall assemble the fugitives: to you it behooved us first to speak the word of God: but because you reject it . . . behold we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). Or the sign of some miracle by which they will be converted to the preaching of Elias, below: behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my sign¹ to the people (Isa 49:22); you shall proclaim (Ezek 34).²

379. And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away. Here the condition of the liberated is shown,

and first, as to concord, in contrast to the hatred which had existed between Ephraim and Judah: and the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, that is, their hatred; this was fulfilled in the return from captivity, according to the first explanation; or as to the unity of faith, according to the second; or it will be fulfilled in the future, as to the third explanation. Of this concord: the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers (Jer 3:18).

380. Second, as to power in the subjugation of enemies, either that which occurred literally in the time of the Maccabees, as to the first explanation; or through the preaching of the apostles, as to the second; or as to the prosperity which the Lord will also give them in the future. They shall fly, as if to say, they shall fall quickly, upon the shoulders of the Philistines, to scourge them, by the sea, because they are near the sea, and this as to the first and third explanation; together, with those already conquered, they shall spoil the children of the east, the Assyrians: this is not said to have happened in the time of the Maccabees; or they shall spoil by the sea, because the Philistines abounded in ships. Edom, and Moab, who at first were enemies, shall fulfill the precept of their hand, not expecting the other to act according to the command: in which is noted their great exaltation; and the children of Ammon: all these were great adversaries, below: behold these shall come from afar (Isa 49:12). Or, they shall fly, because of their desire to preach, by the sea, for the apostles reached many nations by ship through the sea. Or by the nations which he names he understands all nations, below: who are these, that fly as clouds? (Isa 60:8); the precept of their hand, for they taught by word and example.

381. And the Lord shall lay waste. Here the preparation of their liberation is set out. And concerning this two things are set out:

first, the preparation,

second, the attainment of the benefit: and there shall be a highway (Isa 11:16).

And the preparation is promised according to the likeness of the twofold benefit which was shown to their fathers who came out of Egypt:

first, in the parting of the sea, which we read about in Exodus 14, and as to this, he says, the tongue of the sea; and it is called the tongue of the sea because, as the Master says in the Histories,¹ when the sons of Israel came out of Egypt, the sea was not parted from one shore, but like a tongue of land which surrounded a mountain. The tongue of the sea, that is, the middle of the sea, in the manner of Hebrew speech, which calls anything that is in the middle the tongue, because the tongue is in the middle of the mouth. This indeed never happened literally; but it signifies the removal of all impediments that detained them, as to the first explanation; or the tongue of the sea refers to Egypt, whose shore the sea licks. But as to the second explanation, the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt, that is, the tongue by which they praised idols.

382. The second benefit was in the parting of the Jordan, which we read about in Joshua 4; and as to this, he says: he shall lift up his hand, that is, his power, over the river, as to the first explanation; and this is metaphorical speech, so that by the division of the sea and the river the removal of all impediments is understood; as to the second explanation, it literally signifies a river: the Nile, which was divided into seven streams by Alexander, who was the preparation for the Romans; and it was broadened so much that, with the water passing through streams and channels, it could be forded in shoes by the apostles, about whom Ephesians 6:15 says, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Or by the river is signified the kingdom of Egypt, which was divided by the Romans into many senates. In the strength of his spirit, the army of Alexander, or of the Romans; or the spirit, that is, the wind, like what is said in Exodus 14:21: by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night.

383. And there shall be a highway. Here the benefit is set out, and it is already evident from what has been said; as there was: renew your signs, and work new miracles. Glorify your hand, and your right arm. Raise up indignation, and pour out wrath (Sir 36:6–8).

12:1 And you shall say in that day: I will confess¹ to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your wrath is turned away, and you have comforted me.

12:2 Behold, God is my savior, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he is become my salvation.

12:3 You shall draw waters with joy out of the savior’s fountains: