Many Ascensions

Qui aedificat in caelo ascensionem suam, et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit: qui vocat aquas maris, et effundit faciem terrae: Dominus nomen ejus. LXX: Qui aedificat in caelo ascensionem suam, et promissionem suam super terram fundat, qui vocat aquas maris, et effundit faciem terrae: Dominus nomen ejus. Dominus Deus omnipotens, qui respicit, sive tangit terram, et commovet eam, ipse est qui quotidie aedificat in coelo ascensionem suam, et dicit in Evangelio: Pater meus usque modo operatur, et ego operor. Et non solum de costa Adam in typum Ecclesiae semel aedificavit Evam, sed quotidie credentes et membra corporis sui aedificat, et de terris ad coelum levat, ut in illis ipse conscendat. Ascendit Dominus in coelum cum Enoch, ascendit cum Elia, ascendit cum Moyse, cujus sepulturae locus, quia in coelum ascenderat, in terra non potuit inveniri. Ascendit cum Paulo qui vas electionis, in apostolum de persecutore mutatus est, er de humilibus raptus in sublimia, ita ut ascenderet in coelum tertium, et per Spiritum sanctum et Filium perveniret ad Patrem, et audiret verba ineffabilia, mysterii Trinitatis, quae hominibus audire non licitum est. Iste ergo qui quotidie ascendit in sanctis, fasciculum suum fundavit super terram, de quo in Evangelio loquitur: Ne timeas, grex parvule, quia complacuit Patri meo habitare in te. Iste fasciculus una Domini religione constrictus est. Unde et ipsa religio a religando, et in fascem Domini vinciendo nomen accepit. Porro juxta Septuaginta, repromissionem suam fundat super terram, ut omnes illius repromissiones quas sancti prophetae suo ore cecinerunt, non inanem sonum habeant, et cassa solius tropologiae nomina; sed fundentur in terra. Et cum historiae habuerint fundamenta, tunc spiritualis intelligentiae culem accipiant: ut vere Christus de Virgine natus sit, vere Lazarum mortuum suscitarit, vere ad tactum ejus a)imorrousa sanata sit, vere in adventu Domini caeci viderint, claudi cucurrerint, contractae manus extensae sint, lepra mundata sit; licet secundum tropoligiam quotidie de anima virginali nascatur sermo divinus, quotidie peccato mortui, et vitiorum funibus alligati, de sepulcro scelerum suorum jubeantur exire, quotidie sangunis opera constringantur, caeci in fidelitate Christi lumen ascpiciant, claudicantes prius fide, currant in via Domini, et aridae manus avaritia, extendantur ad eleemosynam, et lepra Mariae, quae contaminat quidquid attigerit, recipiat pristinam puritatem. Iste autem Dominus amarissimas quoque aquas maris vocat, et effudit eas super eos, qui faciem suam verterunt ad Dominum. Ideo autem vocat amaras aquas, ut dulces faciat et educat ventos de thesauris suis, et graves salsugine aquas sua in altum jussione suspendat, eliquansque eas, et aethero calore decoquens, dispenset in pluvias, et emittat super faciem terrae, ut arentia quaeque rigentur imbribus, et ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundet gratia. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Lib III, Cap IX Source: Migne PL 25.1089c-1890c

He who builds His ascension in heaven and has founded His bundle on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth, the Lord is his name. The Septuagint has: He who builds His ascension in heaven and has founded His promise on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them on the face of the land.' 1 The Lord God Almighty is He who looks on, or touches, the earth, and moves it. He is the one who every day builds His ascension in heaven, and He says in the Gospel, 'My father even now works, and I work.' 2 And not only did He once make Eve from the rib of Adam as a type of the Church, 3 but every day He makes the faithful into members of His own body, and He lifts them up from earth to heaven, that He rise up in them. The Lord ascends into heaven with Enoch 4 He ascends with Elijah 5 He ascends with Moses, he who because he ascended into heaven has no place on earth where his tomb can be found. 6 He ascends with Paul, that vessel of election, who was changed from a persecutor to an Apostle and from low things was translated to high things, so that he ascended to the third heaven, and through the Holy Spirit and Son came to the Father and heard ineffable words, the mystery of the Trinity, which men are not permitted to hear. 7 He, then, is the one who ascends every day in His holy ones, 'He has established His bundle on the earth,' concerning which it is said in the Gospel, 'Do not fear, little flock, because it has pleased the Father to dwell among you.' 8 And this bundle of the Lord is bound up with religion, whence the name religion is from 'religio', 'to tie up', and with the fasces of the Lord He receives the name of conquerer. However, according to the Septuagint we have: 'He establishes His promise', all His promises which the mouths of the prophets sang, which were not an empty cry, nor the inane name of a mere trope, but established on the earth, and when they had the foundations of the history, then they received the point of spiritual understanding, that truly Christ was born from a Virgin, that truly He rose up Lazarus from the dead, that truly He healed the bleeding woman with His touch, that truly with the advent of the Lord the blind saw, the lame walked, the withdrawn hand was extended, leprosy was cleansed, and, according to the tropological sense, that every day from the virginial soul the Divine word shall be born, that every day where there is death from sin and binding with the bonds of the vices, even from the tomb of crimes they shall be ordered to come out, that every day the works of blood shall be fettered, and the blind in the faith of Christ shall see the light, and those who were cripples by faith shall run in the way of the Lord, and the hand that was withered with avarice shall be held out with alms, and the leprous Miriam who contaminated everything she touched, shall receive her former purity. 9 This Lord also calls the waters of the sea most bitter, and He has poured them out over those who have turned their faces toward the Lord. Therefore He calls the waters bitter which He will make sweet, and He will release His winds from his treasury, and the heavy salty waters shall hang in the heights by His command, and He shall cleanse them and with heavenly heat boil them, and He shall distribute them as rain, and send them forth upon the face of the earth, that aridity be moistened with rain, and where sin abounds, grace be superabundant. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 3, Chap 9 1 Amos 9.6 2 Jn 5.17 3 Gen 2.21-23 4 Gen 5.24 5 4 Kings 12.11-12 6 Deut 34.6 7 2 Cor 12.1-4 8 Lk 12.32 9 Num 12

Bestirring Drunkards

Expergiscimini ebrii, et flete, et ululate, omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine: quoniam periit ab ore vestro. LXX: Evigilate, quo ebrii estis in vino vestro: et plorate et plangite, omnes qui bibitis vinum in ebrietate: quoniam ablatum est de ore vestro.   Quasi senes atque presbyteri audire debemus: nulla res ita inebriat ut animi perturbatio. Est tristitia quae ducit ad mortem: haec abominanda ebrietas est. Est ira quae justitiam Dei non operatur, et furori proxima,mentis suae impotem facit: in tantum ut labia tremant, dentes concrepent, vultus pallore mutetur. Recteque illud laudatur Archytae Tarentini, qui cum villico suo esset iratus: Iam te, inquit, occiderem, nisi iratus essem. Quid referam de gaudio et voluptate, et maxime amore, qui excaecat cordis oculos: et nihil aliud amantem, nisi id quod amat, cogitare permittit. An non est dicenda ebrietas, eum propter vile scortum, et ignominiosam corporis partem, animae libertas in serviles blanditias inclinatur? cum laborem suum alterius facit esse delicias? cum furto, scelere, atque perjuriis, opes futurae praeparet voluptatis? Et cum videatur ab omnibus, se existimat non videri: dummodo potiatur eo quod desiderat. Sed et avaritia excaecat animum ejus, cui nihil satis est: et muliebris timor, et dulcium cupido vitiorum. Unde dicitur ad eos: Evigilate et expergiscimini, qui ebrii estis: nequaquam vino, ut in solis LXX continetur, sed omni perturbatione vitiorum: Flete, et plangite, et agite poenitentiam: et assumite tristitiam quae ducit ad vitam, et ululate, omnes qui  bibitis vinum in dulcedine, sive, in ebrietate. Dulcia enim sunt vitia: quia mel distillat de labiis mulieris meretricis: et idcirco in Dei sacrificia non offertur: quoniam periit, sive ablatum est de ore vestro vinum, ebrietas atque dulcedo quae vos deceperat. Saepe quippe Dei fit providentia, ut qui non cognoverunt Deum in prosperis, cognoscant in adversis: et qui divitiis male abusi sunt, ad virtutes penuria corrigantur. Juxta hunc sensum audiant senes: habitatores autem terrae percipiant auribus, de illo vino nunc praecipi, in quo est luxuria, et quo qui inebriati fuerint, regnum Dei possidere non possunt. Qui vini ebrietate sopitus est, evigilet et ploret ebrium se fuisse, et ululet: ut postea ululatus ejus et fletus vertatur in risum, et gaudeat se ebrietatis materiam non habere, quae eum per abundantiam ebrium fecerat et vesanum. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarium in Joelem Prophetam, Cap I Source: Migne PL 25.953c-954b

Bestir yourselves drunkards and weep, and howl all you who drink wine in sweetness, because it has perished from your mouth. The Septuagint reads: Wake, you who are drunk on your wine, and weep and cry out, all you who drink wine in drunkenness, because it has been taken away from your mouth.1 As old men and elders we should hear: nothing inebriates like the troubled soul. It is a gloom that leads to death, and this is the drunkenness to be abominated. It is an anger that does not work the righteousness of God, 2 and it is near to fury, making the mind powerless, so that the lip trembles, the teeth ache, and the face blanches. And rightly praised is Archytas of Tarentum, who said to his steward, 'I would have already killed you if I had been angry.' What can I tell of joy and pleasure and especially love to him who has blinded the eyes of the heart and is permitted to think nothing else loveable unless it is that which he loves? But must it not be said of drunkenness, on account of vile prostitutes and the disgraceful parts of the body, that it inclines the freedom of the soul to servile charm? When all a man's labour is but to make himself dear to another? With the thief, amid crime and false oaths, will he not prepare the future wealth of his pleasure? And when it is observed by all, yet he does not judge himself so, provided that he drinks down what he desires. But as avarice blinds the soul, which is sated with nothing, so it is with fretfulness for a woman, and the desire of the sweetness of the vices. Whence it is said to them: Watch and wake, you who are drunk, and not now for wine, which is found  only in the Septuagint, but weep for every tribulation of the vices and cry out and make penance, and take up the sorrow which leads to life, and howl all you who drink wine in sweetness, or in drunkenness. Sweet indeed are the vices, because honey drips from the lips of a whorish woman, 3 and thus no sacrifice is offered to God, because your wine has perished, or has been taken away from the mouth, the drunkenness and the sweetness for which He reproves you. Often indeed the providence of God may be so, that those who do not know God in prosperity shall know him in adversity, and he who with wealth is vilely abused, may be led to virtue by poverty. According to this understanding let the old hear, let the ears of the dwellers on the earth attend, on that wine thinking, in which is luxury and by which they were made drunks, unable to possess the kingdom of God. 4 He who has been made insensible by wine, let him wake and weep over his drunkenness and howl, that after crying out and tears he may turn to smiles, and rejoice that he is no longer drunk, which through an abundance of drunkenness made him a madman. Saint Jerome, Commentary on The Prophet Joel, Chapter 1 1 Joel 1. 5 2 James 1.20  3 Prov 5.3  4 Ephes 5.5

Friendship And Judgement

Ἐπιγνώμων δίκαιος ἑαυτοῦ φίλος ἔσται αἱ δὲ γνῶμαι τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνεπιεικεῖς ἁμαρτάνοντας καταδιώξεται κακά ἡ δὲ ὁδὸς τῶν ἀσεβῶν πλανήσει αὐτούς Ὁ μὲν δίκαιος, εἰδὼς τὴν ἀνθρωπινην ἀσθένιαν, συγγινώσκει, κἂν ἁμάρτημα ᾗ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ φίλου· ἤ ὅτι κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐστιν ὁ φίλος, σύμφωνος ἑαυτοῦ ἐστι μετριοφρονῶν, καὶ φυλάσσων ἑαυτὸν, καὶ μηδὲν τῆς ἐχθρᾶς κακίας ἔχων, ἀστασιάστους ἔχει τοὺς λογισμούς. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμίας Σολομώντος Εξηγήσεων, Κεφ ΙΒ' Source: Migne PG 39.1636

A righteous arbitrator shall be his own friend; but the unjust judgements of the impious shall pursue sinners with evils; and the way of impious men shall deceive them. 1 The righteous man is conscious of human infirmities and sympathises even with the faults of a friend. Or because he knows a friend should be an image of God, he conducts himself prudently, guarding himself, and possessing no wickedness of the enemy, bears tranquil thoughts. Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment   1 Prov 12.26 LXX

Vanity, Utility And Avarice

In eo autem quod ita se habet, Inclina cor meum in justificationes tuas, et non in utilitatem; quidam transtulerunt, Inclina cor meum in testimonia tua et non in avaritiam. Id quod in hebraeis codicibus continetur, ambigua in definitione utrique intelligentiae opportunum est. Sed nos, sicut oportet, sequimur Septuaginta interpretum religiosam et antiquam auctoritatam, ex judicio tamen caeterorum translatorum proprietatem intelligentia cujusque desiderio coaptantes. Cum enim hi dixerint, in utilitatem illi dixerint, in avaritiam, per idipsum quomodo utilitas hoc nunc sit subjecta noscetur. Nam saeculi homines pecuniam, argentum, aurum, et caetera opum instrumenta utilitatem vocant. Ergo cum in Dei testimonia inclinari cor suum, et non in utilitatem propheta orat, inclinatum in Dei testimonia cor ab his sine dubio refert, quae humano judicio existimantur utilia. Et quidem intelligentiae nostrae sensum versus qui consequitur confirmat. Ait enim Averte oculos mei, ne videant vanitatem, et in via tua vivifica me; vanitatem eorum docens, quae ab hominibus existimantur utilia. Et quaerendum est quos oculos, et a qua vanitate oret averti. Orat autem et animi et corporis oculos, eos scilicet qui theatralibus ludis captivi incubant, eos qui Circensium certaminibus serviunt, eos qui vestium pretia mirantur, eos quos auri splendor et gemmarum varietas occupat. Nisi forte non magis equorum cursu astrorum cursus  est gratior; et obscoenis illis spectaculorum turpium fabulis, non amoenius divina illa humanae spei eloquia cantantur. Nisi forte huic terrenorum metallorum usui, non magis aeternitatis repositae divitiae, honor et gloria praeferetur: et blandior mihi erit auri species, quam hominis et terrae et lucis et coeli. Ab eorum igitur vanitatibus averti oculos et hos corporis sui, et illos animae deprecatur: de quibus obcaecatis beatus Apostolus docet, cum ait, In vanitate sensus eorum intenebrati, alienati a vita Dei. Et aversorum oculorum a vanitate quod praemium sit, non longe requirendum est. Sequitur enim, Et in via tua vivam. Declindani enim a vanitate sunt oculi, ut nobis in via Dei vita sit: non ea vita quae nunc est, sed ea quae in coelis reposita est, et in Christo absconsa. Ita enim in omni hoc psalmo locutus est, tamquam victurus sit, non modo vivat. Erigendi igitur oculi sunt, quibus Christi potius gloria, quam mundi hujus inania et vana cernantur. In via enim Dei, referentes oculos a vanitate, vivemus. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXVIII Source: Migne PL 9 539-541

The line that reads 'Incline my heart to your justifications and not to utility', 1 has also been translated, 'Incline my heart to your testaments and not to avarice.' That which is found in the Hebrew texts is ambiguous in its sense and either understanding is possible. But we, as befits, follow the pious and ancient authority of the Septuagint rendition, yet the judgement of other translators it has also pleased us to join to our own understanding. For when they say, 'to utility' and the others, 'in avarice,' how this utility should be grasped we should consider. Now men of the world call money and silver and gold and other such things useful instruments for works, therefore when to the testimonies of God the Prophet prays for his heart to incline, the inclination of the heart to the testimonies of God away from these things which are judged useful according to human measure he without doubt refers. And certainly our understanding of this sense the verse which follows shall confirm. It says, 'Avert my eyes lest they see vanity and in your way enliven me,' there teaching their vanity which by men is judged to be useful. And it must be asked what eyes and from what vanity he prays to be averted. He prays for the eyes of the soul and the body, those which are falls into captivity by the amusements of the theatres, those which are enslaved amid the struggles of the games, those which marvel at precious vestments, those which are possessed by the splendour of gold and a diversity of jewels. Unless perhaps not more pleasing is the horse track and the circuit of the stars, and those obscene tales of wretched shows is more melodious than the Divine eloquence for human hope. Unless perhaps the honour and glory of the use of the metals of the earth is preferred to the store of Divine eternity, and sight of gold shall be more charming to me, than of man and earth and light and heaven. From the vanity of these things, therefore, he prays that the eyes of the body and of the soul be averted, concerning which blinding the Apostle teaches when he says, 'In vanity their sense has been benighted, alienated from the life of God,' 2 and what the reward is of the aversion of eye to vanity is not too far to seek. For the line follows, 'And in your way I shall live.' For with the eyes turning from vanity, so for us is life in the way of God, not that life which now is, but that which is kept in the heavens, and which is hidden in Christ. 3 So about all this the Psalm speaks, how it shall be conquered, that it no longer live. Therefore directing the eyes, let them perceive rather the glory of Christ than the inanity and vanities of this world. For in the way of God, turning the eyes from vanity, we may live. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.36 2 Ephes 4.18 3 Colos 3.2-3

Faith And Wealth

Τοῦ πιστοῦ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων τοῦ δὲ ἀπίστου οὐδὲ ὀβολός Ὁ πιστὸς μὴ σπεύδων περὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ, ὡς πάντα ἔχων ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ περὶ ταῦτα σπεύδων, ὡς μηδὲν ἔχων ἐστίν· ἀγαπῶν γὰρ ἀργύριον, οὐ πλησθήσεται ἀργυρίοι· ἢ καὶ, Ὁ πιστὸς ὄψεται τοὺς λόγους τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, ὡς χρήματα τοῦ νοῦ τροπικῶς εἰρημένους· ὁ δὲ ἄπιστος, οὐδὲ τοῦ τυχόντος ἄψεται πράγματος τῶν λόγων δι' ἀκαθαρσίαν ψυχῆς.  Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμίας Σολομώντος Εξηγήσεων Migne PG 39.1637

For the faithful one is a whole world of treasure, but the faithless has not a penny. 1 He who is faithful has no care for sensible things but is as one who has all, and he who does desire these things is as one who has nothing, for he who loves material wealth will not be satisfied by it. Or we may say that the faithful man sees that whatever is said about this world is told as a figure of the wealth of the soul. But the faithless one grasps no teaching in the words on account of the impurity of his soul. Didymus the Blind, from the Commentary on Proverbs, fragment 1 Prov 17.6 LXX

Contending In Judgement

Quid vultis mecum judicio contendere? Omnes dereliquistis me, dicit Dominus.  Prona est ad excusationem sui humana perversitas, ut quidquid merito sustinent, injuste sustinere videantur, et propriam culpam referant ad judicium Dei. Frustra, igitur, ait, obtenditis querimonias, et iniquam causam in judicem, cum impietatis vestrae sit, quod patimini. Quodque sequitur: 'Et omnes inique egistis in me' a Septuaginta additum est. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Prophetam, Liber I, Caput II

Why do you wish to contend with me in judgement? You have all abandoned me, says the Lord. 1 Human perversity is prone to making excuses for itself, that whatever they deservedly suffer they seem to suffer unjustly and they ascribe fault to the judgement of God. Therefore it says, vainly do you offer excuses and claim an iniquitous judgement, when it is by your impiety that you suffer. And here in the Septuagint is added: 'And all of you have acted unjustly against me.' Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, Book 1, Chapter 2 1  Jer 2.29

An End Of Troubles

Haec dicit Dominus, si perfecti fuerint, et ita plures: sic quoque attondentur et pertransibit: afflixi te, et non affligam te ultra: et nunc conteram virgam ejus de dorso tuo, et vincula tua disrumpam LXX: Haec dicit Dominus regnans acquis multis, et sic dividentur, et auditus tuus non audientur amplius, et nunc conteram virgam ejus a te: et vincula ejus disrumpam.   Juxta litteram manifestus est sensus: Licet, inquit, robusti sint Assyrii, et fortitudo eorum numero augeatur cunctarum gentium: sic quoque angelo vastante, tondentur. Quomodo enim numerus capillorum acutae forcipi non repugnat: ita et numerus adversariorum Dei, facili succisione tolletur, et pertransibit Assur, vel esse desistet, sive, vastato exercitu suo, revertetur ad patriam, te sospitem dereliquens. Rursumque ad Judam et Jerusalem sermo dirigetur: Afflixi, te, et non affligam te ultra: non quod perpetuam securitatem polliceatur, sed illius tantum temporis, et ab illis hostibus a quibus tunc obsidebatur. Denique infert: Et nunc conteram virgam ejus, id est, Assyrii, de dorso tuo, et vincula tua disrumpam: vel per metaphoram potestatem ejus significans: vel certe, virgam qua percutere conabatur, et vincula quae captivis parabat: quanquam possit et obsidio clausae multitudinis pro vinculis accipi. Porro juxta LXX multo aliter est senus. Adhuc enim videtur adversus eos loqui, quibus supra dixerat: Quid cogitatis contra Dominum? Et: Ex te exibit cogitatio contra Domnium pessima, cogitans contraria. Haec ergo dicit Dominus regnans aquis multis, sive virtutibus, quae dicuntur aquae super caelos: et praecipitur eis, ut laudent Dominum: vel certe intellectibus et sapientiae et doctrinis Dei. Sicut enim flumina de ventre justi fluent, et fontes uberes in vitam aeternam, per varias multiplicesque sententias, quibus imperat sermo Domini: ita habent et haeresiarchae aquas sua, quibus imperant, et quae ex eorum primum fonte manarunt. Quod autem sequitur: Et sic dividentur, vel de coelestibus quae in supernis Deo serviunt virtutibus intelligi potest; quod unaquaeque in suo officio sit et ministerio, vel de multiplici varietate spaientiae. Ne quia dixerat, regnans aquis multis, confusus et indiscretus sensuum numerus putaretur: sed quod unaquaeque sententia divisos habeat inter se sensus et separatas materias propriasque ὑποθέσεις. Nam quod dicitur: Auditus tuus non audietur amplius, increpatio est in eos, qui adversus Deum contraria cogitaverant, quod ostensis sophismatibus et decipulis, quibus Dei populus irretiebatur, sermo eorum ultra non currat, nec suscipiatur a populis. Sed et hoc quod infert: Et nunc conteram virgam ejus a te, et vincula tua disrumpam, pro ipsis dicitur quibus fit comminatio, ut nequaquam caedantur a diabolo, et ei subjecti sint, quo auctore tanta excogitaverant atque confixerant. Conteretur ergo imperium ejus in eos: et vincula quibus peccantium animae ligabantur, disrumpentur a sermone Dei, dicente his qui in vinculis sunt, exite. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam

'These things the Lord says, 'Though they were great, even though so many, even so they will be cut off and pass. I afflicted you but I shall afflict you no more, and now I shall shatter his stick from your back and your chains I shall break.' The Septuagint has: 'These things the Lord says ruling with the many waters, and so they shall be divided, and your ears shall not hear any more, and now I shall shatter his stick from you and his chains I shall break.' 1 According to the letter the meaning is plain: It was allowed, it says, that the Assyrians became strong, and that their might exceed that of all the other nations, even so by the devastating angel they were cut off. As even the great number of hairs may not avoid the sharp pincers, so even the number of the enemies of God are easily cut off and taken away, and Assur he shall pass on, or, he shall desist, or, with his wasted army he shall return to his homeland, and you will be left unscathed. And again the speech is directed to Judah and Jerusalem: 'I afflicted you but I will afflict you no more.' It is not that perpetual safety is promised here, but only for a time and from those enemies by which they were besieged. Next comes: 'And now I shall shatter his stick,' that is, Assyria's, 'from your back, and your chains I shall break.' Either this is a metaphor for his power, or the stick with which he has tried to strike and the chains which he has prepared for captives; but whatever he may have tried to do, I give the end of the siege for a multitude of chains. However, according to the Septuagint the meaning is quite different. For it seems that against them it is spoken about whom it was said before this passage, 'Why do you think against the Lord?  And: 'From you will go out a most wretched thought against the Lord, plotting harm.' 2 These things thus says the Lord who rules with many waters, or powers, which they say are the waters above the heavens, and He commands them, that they praise the Lord, 3 certainly with understanding of the wisdom and the teaching of God. For as flow waters from the bosom of the righteous, 4 even abundant founts into eternal life, through various and many meanings the word of the Lord rules, and thus the heresiarchs have their own waters, by which they command, and which from the fount of them first flowed forth. And it follows, 'And so they shall be divided,' which is can be understood either as the high powers in the heavens serving God, each one in his office and ministry, or on account of the manifold variety of wisdom. Because he did not say, 'ruling with the many waters,' that this be thought to be a confused and indistinguishable mass of things, but that each among them has his different purpose and separate are his substance and hypothesis. Then it is said, 'Your hearing shall not hear any more,' which is a cry against those who have set their thoughts against God, that with its sophisms and deceptions, by which the people of God are entangled, their word will not go forth any more, nor will it be taken up by the people. But even this which is said: 'And now I shall shatter his stick from you, and your chains I shall break,'  about the same is said as a warning, that they shall not be slain by the devil and be subject to him, with which author such things they have plotted to do and struck. For He shall crush down his power upon them, and the chains by which they were binding the souls of sinners will be broken by the speech of God, saying to those who are in chains, come out! Saint Jerome, Commentary on Nahum  1 Nahum 1 12-13 2 Nahum 1. 11  3 Ps 148.4  4 Jn 7.38

Preparing The Way

Ecce ego mitto angelum meum et praeparabit viam ante faciam meam: et statim veniet ad templum suum dominator quem vos quaeritis, et angelus testamenti quem vos vultis. LXX: Ecce ego mittam angelum meum, et praeparabit viam ante faciem meam: et subito veniet ad templum suum Dominus quem vos quaeritis, et angelus justitiae quem vos vultis.   Hoc interpretatus est Dominus in Evangelio de Joanne Baptisa, dicens: Iste est de quo scriptum: Ecce ego mittam angelum meum ante faciem tuam, et praeparabit viam tuam coram me; nec eisdem usus est verbis, quae LXX interpretes transtulerunt. Marcus quoque evangelista duo testimonia Malachiae et Isaiae sub unius prophetae sermone contexens ita exorsus est: Initium Evangelii Jesu Christi, sicut scriptum est in Isaia propheta: Ecce ego mitto angelum meum ante faciem tuum, qui praeparabit viam tuam. Hoc licet verbis aliis in Malachia legimus. Quod autem sequitur: Vox clamantis in deserto, parate viam Domini, rectas facite semitas ejus, ab Isaia propheta dicitur: statimque utrumque testimonium de quo dicatur, exponens: Fuit, inquit, Joannes in deserto, baptizans, et praedicans baptismum poenitentiae, in remissionem peccatorum. Sed et evangelistae vaticinium prophetarum super Joanne interpretati sunt cumque in sensu consentiant, in verbis discrepant. Pro eo enim quod LXX transtulerunt: Rectas facite semitas Dei nostri, Marcus Lucasque dixerunt: Rectas facite semitas ejus. Joannes autem: Dirigite, ait, viam Domini. Ex quo perspicuum est, apostolos, et evangelistas, et ipsum Dominum Salvatorem non LXX interpretum auctoritatem sequi, qua Hebraeae linguae habentes scientiam, non indigent; sed ex Hebraeo transferre quod legerint: non curantes de syllabis punctisque verborum; dummodo sententiarum veritas transferratur. Quod quidem et in pluribus locis eos fecisse docuimus, et maxime in eo libro qui a nobis inscriptus est, de optimo genere interpretandi, multis simul testimoniis approbatum est. Hoc ergo quod dicitur: Ecce ego mitto angelum meum et praeparabit viam ante faciem meam, ex persona Christi dicitur, quod Joannem miserit in deserto Judaeae praedicare bapistmum poenitentiae, in remissionem peccatorum. Quod autem sequitur: Et statim veniet ad templum suum dominator quem vos quaeritis, et angelus testamenti quem vos vultis, ita de se quasi de altero loquitur, juxta consuetudinem Scripturarum. Nullisque dubium est quin Dominator iste salvator sit, qui Creator est ominum, et angelus testamenti, et magni consilii Angelus appellatur. Alii vero hoc quod dicitur: Ecce ego mitto angelum meum et praeparabit viam ante faciem meam , ex persona Patris dictum putant: et quod sequitur: Statim veniet ad templum suum dominator quem vos quaeritis, et angelus testamenti quem vos vultis, de Domnio Salvatore ab eo dictum intelligunt. Praeparat autem viam Joannes, et rectas facit semitas Dei nostri in cordibus credentium, in quibus propter pravitatem, et incredulitatem, prius Deus ambulare non poterat. Templum autem vel Ecclesiam interpretantur, vel unumquemque credentium in Ecclesia: Aedificamini domos spirituales, sacerdotium sanctum: offerentes spirituales victimas, et acceptabiles Deo per Christum Jesum. Eos vero qui crediderint: Nescitis quod templum Dei estis, et spiritus Dei habitat in vobis? Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarium In Malachiam Prophetam

Behold I send my angel and he shall prepare the way before my face. And suddenly he shall come to his temple, the ruler whom you seek and the angel of the testament for whom you long. The Septuagint has: Behold, I shall sent my angel and he shall prepare my way before my face, and suddenly the Lord shall come to his temple, he whom you seek, and the angel of righteousness for whom you long. 1 The Lord interpretated this in the Gospel to be about John the Baptist, when He said, 'This is the one of whom it is written, 'Behold I shall send my angel before your face, and he shall prepare your way before me.' 2 But the same words are not used by the Septuagint translators. Also Mark the Evangelist combines two testimonies of Malachi and Isaiah within one prophetic speech, beginning: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in the Prophet Isaiah, Behold I sent my angel before your face, who shall prepare your way. 3 And this we read in somewhat different words in Malachi. And then follows: 'A voice crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make right his paths.' 4 which is spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, and once both testimonies have been given, he expounds them: 'John was in the desert, baptizing and preaching the baptism of penance for forgiveness of sins.' 5 But even the Evangelists understand the prophecy of the Prophets about John in a harmonious sense, though in different words. For what the Septuagint translates as: 'Make straight the paths of our God,' Mark and Luke have as: 'Make right His paths.' And John says, 'Make straight the way of the Lord.' From which it is easy to see that the Apostles and the Evangelists and the Lord Saviour Himself did not follow the authority of the Septuagint since they did not lack the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, but from the Hebrew they translated what they read, not caring about the syllables and punctuation of words, but translating the meaning of truth. For certainly in many places we have taught this, and greatly in that book which by us was written concerning the best method of translation, confirmed with many testimonies. Thus when it is said, 'Behold I send my angel and he shall prepare a way before my face,' it is the person of Christ speaking, that He sent John into the Judean desert to preach baptism for penance for forgiveness of sins. Then follows, 'And suddenly he shall come to his temple, the ruler whom you seek and the angel of testament for whom you long.' Thus as concerning another He speaks, as is a custom in the Scriptures. And there is no doubt that the ruler is the Saviour who is the creator of everything, and he is named the angel of testament and the angel of great counsel . Others, however, concerning this which is said, 'Behold I send my angel and he shall prepare a way before my face,' think that it is spoken in the person of the Father, and also what follows, 'Suddenly he shall come to his temple, the ruler whom you seek and the angel of testament for whom you long,' they understand as being spoken by Him about the Lord Saviour. John prepares the way and makes straight the paths of our God in the hearts of believers, which on account of depravity and incredulity was not able to walk before God. The temple they would understand as the Church, or any one of the faithful in the Church: 'Build yourselves spiritual houses , a holy place of priests, offering spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ .' 6 And to those who truly believe: 'Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?' 7 Saint Jerome, Commentary on The Prophet Malachi 1 Mal 3.1 2 Mt 11.10 3 Mk 1.2 4 Is 40.3 5 Mk 1.4 6 1 Pet 2.5 7 1 Cor 3.16

Final Thoughts

Cum angustiaretur in me anima mea, Domini recordatus sum. LXX: Cum deficeret ex me anima mea, Domini recordatus sum.  Cum, inquit, nullum aliud sperarem auxilium, recordatio Domini mihi saluti fuit, juxta illud: Recordatus sum Domini, et laetatus sum. Et in alio loco: Recordatus sum dierum antiquorum, et annos aeternos in mente habui. Ego cum desperarem salutem, et carnis fragilitas in medio ventre ceti nihil me de vita sperare permitteret, quidquid impossibile videbatur, Domini recordatione superatum est. Videbam me clausum in utero ceti, et tota spes mea Dominus erat. Ex quibus discimus juxta Septuaginta eo tempore quo deficit anima nostra, et a corporis compage divellitur, non nos debere alio cogitationem vertere, nisi ad eum, qui et in corpore et extra corpus noster est Dominus. Sanctus Hieronimus, Commentarius In Jonam Prophetem

'When my soul was in torment in me, I remembered the Lord.' The Septuagint has: 'When my soul forsook me, I remembered the Lord.' 1 When, he says, I had hope of nothing else, I recalled to myself the salvation of the Lord, according to which, 'I remembered the Lord and I was joyful 2 And in another place: ' I remembered the days of old, and the endless years I had in my mind. 3 When I was desperate for salvation, and the weakness of the flesh in the belly of the whale allowed me no hope of life, however impossible it seem, by recollection of the Lord, I was saved. I saw myself closed up in the body of the whale and all my hope was in the Lord. From which learn from the Septuagint that it is that time when the soul passes away and breaks away from the bond of the body that we should turn to no thought but to him who is Lord in and outside of the body. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jonah 1 Jonah 2.8  2 Ps 76.4. 3 Ps 76.6

Seeking Causes

Et dedi cor meum ad inquirendum et considerandum in sapientia de omnibus quae fiunt sub sole. Hanc occupationem malam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut occuparentur in ea.   Verbum Anian Aquila, Septuaginta, et Theodotio περιπασμὸν similiter transtulerunt, quod in distentionem Latinus interpres expressit, eo quod in varias sollicitudines mens hominis distenta lanietur. Symmachus vero ἀσχολίαν, id est, occupationem transtulit. Quia igitur saepius in hoc volumine nominatur, sive occupationem, sive distentionem, sive quid aliud dixerimus, ad superiorem sensum cuncta referantur. Dedit ergo Ecclesiastes primo omnium mentem suam ad sapientuam requirendam, et citra licitum se extendens, voluit causas rationesque cognoscere: quare parvuli corriperentur a daemone, cur naufragia et justos et impios pariter absorberent; utrum haec et his similia casu evenirent, an judicio Dei. Et si casu, ubi provendentia? si judicio, ubi iusitia Dei. Haec, inquit, nosse desiderans, intellexi superfluam curam et sollicitiudinem per diversa cruciantem a Deo hominibus datam, ut scire cupiant, quod scire non licitum est. Pulchre autem causa praemissa, a Deo data distentio est. Quomodo enim in Epistola ad Romanos scribitur: Propter quod tradidit eos Deus in passiones ignominae. Et iterum: Propter quod tradidit eos Deus in reprobum sensum, ut faciant quae non oportet. Ac deinde: Propterea tradidit eos Deus in desideria cordis in immunditiam. Et ad Thessalonicenses: Propterea mittet eis Deus operantionem erroris. Et prius causae ostenduntur, quare vel passionibus ignominae, vel sensui reprobo, vel cordis sui desideriis concedantur, aut quid fecerint, ut operationem erroris accipiant. Ita et in praesentiarum idcirco Deus distentionem malam dedit hominibus, ut distendantur in ea, quia prius sponte sua et propria voluntate haec vel illa fecerunt. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Liber I

'And I gave my heart to enquiring and considering in wisdom all the things that are beneath the sun. This evil occupation God has given to the sons of men, that they be occupied by it. 1  The Hebrew word 'Anian' Aquila, the Septuagint and Theodotion translate similarly as περιπασμὸν, which is expressed in our language as pursuit, that is, when by the various cares the mind of man is stretched and torn. Symmachus has ἀσχολίαν, which is translated as occupation. And so what is often named in this book as occupation or pursuit, or some other name, all refer to the meaning given. Ecclesiastes thus first gives his mind to the seeking of wisdom and as far as he may he stretches himself, wishing to know causes and reasons, why little ones are taken by death, why both the righteous and the impious are destroyed in a shipwreck, whether there are similar matters of chance determining these things, or whether it is a matter of the judgement of God. And if it is by chance, then where is providence? And if it is by judgement, then where is the justice of God? These things, he says, desiring to know, I understand as an overwhelming care and anxiety through the different troubles God has given to man, that they long to know what it is not permitted to know. Beautiful is a cause given in advance, God gives the pursuit of it. It is written in the Letter to the Romans, 'On account of which God gave them to disgraceful passions 2 And again 'On account on which God gave them to a depraved mind, that they do what they should not 3 And then 'Thus God gave them to the uncleanliness in the desires of their heart.' 4 And to the Thessalonians it is said: 'Therefore God sent to them the working of error.' 5 And what is said before these lines I have quoted show the causes, that is, why they fall into disgraceful passions, or into depraved minds, or to the desires of their heart, or whatever they may do when they take to the doing of wrong. Thus in this giving God gives men to evil pursuits, that they pursue them, because before man out of his own accord and his own will this or that would do. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Book 1 1 Eccl 1.13 2. Rom 1.6 3 Rom 1.28  4 Rom 1.24  5 2 Thes 2.10

Bad Sacrifices, Bad Prayers

Si offeratis caecum ad immolandum, nonne malum est? Et si offeratis claudum et languidum, nonne malum est? offer illud duci tuo, si placuerit ei, aut si susceperit faciem tuam, dicit Dominus exercitum. LXX: Quia si offeratis caecum in sacrificium, nonne malum est? Et si offeratis claudum et languidum, nonne malum est? offer illud duci tuo, si susceperit te, si acceperit faciem tuam, dicit Dominus omnipotens.  De diversitate victimarum, et quae vel offerri debeant, vel non offerri, in Levitico plenius discimus. Reversi itaque de Babylone sacerdotes et Levitae, janitores atque cantores, et Nathinnaei servique Salomonis, quorum Ezras scribit katalogon, illicitas Deo victimas offerebant, caecas videlicet et claudas, ac varia debilitate confectas; hoc est enim quod dicit languidum, uno cuncta sermone comprehendens. Si istius modi, inquit, duci tuo offeres munera, nonne respueret? nonne sibi factam putaret injuriam? et hoc audetis offerre Deo, quod dare hominibus non audetis? Longum est nunc omnium victimarum aperire mysteria: de his tantum loquar quae praesenti capitulo continentur. Caeca est animae victima, quae non illustratur Christi lumine, nec habet oculum de Evangelio contuentem. Clauda est rogantis oratio, quae duplici mente accedit ad precandum, et audit eum populo Judaeorum: 'Usquequo claudicatis utroque pede? Et languida, et omni infirmitate cooperta, quae non habet Christi Dei virtutem, Deique sapientiam. Istius modi preces, quae sine lumine veritatis sunt, et non habent sapientiae firma vestigia, et debilitatibus variis contabescunt, si offerantur Ecclesiarum principi, aut cuilibet erudite sapientique doctori, nonne repudiabuntur, et in contumeliam ejus recident, qui talia est ausus offerre?  Sanctus Hieronymous,Commentarium In Malachiam Prophetam

If you offer something blind for sacrifice, is it not an evil? And if you offer something lame and weak, is it not an evil? Offer that to your leader, if it would be pleasing to him, or if he would lift up your face, says the Lord of Hosts. The Septuagint has: Because if you offer something blind as sacrifice, is it not an evil? And is you offer something lame and weak, is it not an evil? Offer that to your leader, if he would take you up, if he would lift up your face, says the Lord Almighty. 1 Concerning the diversity of victims, and what should be offered and not offered we learn much in Leviticus. 2 Coming back from Babylon the priests and levites, the doorkeepers and singers, and the Nathinaeans 3 and servants of Solomon, whom Ezra catalogues, 4 offered illicit things to God, that is, things blind and lame and oppressed by many infirmities, 5 for this what is meant by weak, one word containing everything. If such things, he says, you offer, as your best, will it not be spurned? Will he not think it a harmful deed? And this you offer to God which you would not dare offer to man? A long thing it is to reveal the mystery of every victim, so I shall speak now only of things here mentioned. Blind is the victim of the soul which is not enlightened with the light of Christ, which does not have its eye cleansed by the Gospel. 6 Lame is the prayer of the petitioner which comes forth from a duplicitous mind, and he hears with the people of the Jews, 'How long will you hobble with both feet lame?' 7 And weak is that which is overwhelmed with every infirmity, that which does not have the virtue of the Divine Christ and the wisdom of God. The prayers of these, which do not have the light of truth, and lack the firm way of wisdom, and are withered by various debilities, if they are offered by the leaders of the Churches, or by whatever learned and wise teacher, will they not be rejected and thrown back to the disgrace of those who dare offer such things? Saint Jerome, Commentary on The Prophet Malachi  1 Mal 1.8  2 Lev 21, 22  3 Ezra 8.20  4 Ezra 2.70  5 1ez 2  6 Mt 6.22  7 3 Kings 18.21

Righteousness and Faith

Quoniam autem in lege nemo justificatur apud Deum, manifestum est, quia justus ex fide vivit. Lex autem non est ex fide, sed qui fecerit ea, vivet in illis.  Exemplum quo probatur justus ex fide vivere, et non ex operibus, de Abacuc tulit, quod ita Septuaginta interpretes ediderunt: Justus autem ex fide mea vivit Aquila et Theodotio: Justus autem ex fide ejus vivit, id est, Dei. Considerandum itaque quia non dixerit, homo aut vir ex fide vivit, ne occasionem tribueret ad virtutum opera contemnenda; sed, justus ex fide vivit: ut quicumque fidelis esset, et per fidem victurus, non aliter posset ad fidem venire, vel in ea vivere, nisi prius justus fuisset, et puritate vitae quasi quibusdam ad fidem gradibus ascendisset. Potest ergo fieri, ut sit aliquis justus, et tamen non vivat absque fide Christi. Si legenti scrupulus commovetur, Pauli verba suscipiat, in quibus de se ait: Secundum justitiam, quae in Lege est, sine reprehensione. Erat igitur Paulus tunc justus in Lege, sed necdum vivere poterat, quia non habebat in se Christum loquentem: Ego sum vita. In quem credens postea coepit et vivere. Faciamus et nos aliquid simile huic quod dicitur, justus ex fide vivit; et dicamus: castus ex fide vivit, sapiens ex fide vivit, fortis ex fide vivit, et a caeteris virtutum partibus vicinam sententiam proferamus adversum eos, qui in Christum non credentes, fortes et sapientes, temperantes se putant esse, vel justis: ut sciant nullum absque Christo vivere, sine quo omnis virtus in vitio est. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber II

That no one is justified before God by the Law is made clear because, 'The righteous man lives by faith.' The law is not from faith, but, 'The man who does these things will live by them.' 1 To prove that the righteous man lives by faith and not by works Paul has taken an example from the prophet Habakkuk, which the  translators of the Septuagint have given as, 'The righteous man lives by faith in me.' 2 The translators Aquila and Theodotion have it as, 'The righteous man lives by faith in Him,' that is, in God. It should be observed that he did not say that a man lives by faith, lest he give excuse for the condemnation of virtuous deeds, but rather he said that the righteous man lives by faith, that he who would be faithful and through faith victorious cannot come to faith or in it live unless first he be righteous and by the purity of life have climbed certain steps to faith. It is therefore possible that someone may be righteous and yet not live by faith in Christ. If this troubles the reader, let him ponder the words of Paul, when he spoke about himself saying: 'As for righteousness according to the Law, I was blameless.' 3 So then Paul was righteous in the Law, but he was not yet able to live because he did not have Christ in him saying 'I am the Life,' 4 in whom  later believing he began to live. Let us make some similar expressions to, 'The righteous man lives by faith.' And so we may say: 'The chaste man lives by faith,' 'The wise man lives by faith,' 'The courageous man lives by faith,' and for the rest of the virtues let us apply a similar principle against those who do not believe in Christ, who think themselves to be courageous, wise, temperate, or righteous, that they may know that without Christ no one lives and that without Him every virtue is as vice. Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 2  1 Gal 3. 11-12 2 Hab 2.4  3 Philip. 3.6  4 Jn 9.25

Rushing Into Danger

Dominus autem misit ventum magnum in mare, et facta est tempastas magna in mari et navis periclitabatur conteri. LXX: Et Dominus suscitavit spiritum magnum in mare, et facta est tempestas magna in mari, et navis periclitabatus conteri.   Potest fuga propetae et ad hominis referri in communi personam, qui Dei praecepta contemnens recessit a facie ejus, et se mundo tradidit, ubi postea malorum tempestate, et totius mundi contra se saeviente naufragio, compulsus est sentire Deum, et reverti ad eum quem fugerat. Unde intelligimus etiam ea quae sibi homines aestimant salutaria, Deo nolente, verti in perniciem et non solum non prodesse auxilium his, quibus praebetur, sed et ipsos qui praebent, pariter conteri. Sicut legimus victam ab Assyriis Aegyptum, quia opitulabatur Israeli contra Domini voluntatem. Periclitatur navis quae periclitantem susceperat: vento maria concitantur, in tranquillitate tempestas oritur, nihil, Deo adversante, securum est. Sanctus Hieronimus, Commentarius In Jonam Prophetem, Lib I, Cap I

'The Lord sent a great wind upon the sea and made a great storm in the sea and the ship was in danger of being destroyed.' The Septuagint has: 'And the Lord caused to rise a great spirit in the sea and there a great storm in the sea and the ship was in danger of being destroyed.' 1 One is able to refer the flight of the prophet to the person of the common man, he who, spurning the commands of God, withdraws from His face and gives himself to the world, and after a storm of evil, with all the world wildly against him and making his shipwreck, he is compelled to attend to God and return to Him whom he fled. Whence we may understand that even when men judge themselves to be safe, if God is unwilling, a man is thrown into ruin and not only does the help of those who offer it not avail, but even those who would assist are buffeted with him. So we read of the defeat of Egypt by the Assyrians, because it was aiding Israel against the will of the Lord. The ship imperiled is the one overtaken by danger, where the sea is troubled by the wind, where a storm arises in peace, where nothing, with God unwilling, is secure.  Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jonah, Book 1, Chapter 1 1 Jonah 1.4

Seeking and Doing Good

'Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum sicut dixistis: Odite malum et diligite bonum et constituite in portis judicium, si forte misereatur Dominus Deus exercituum reliquiis Joesph. LXX: Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit sic Dominus Deus omnipotens vobiscum, sicut dixistis: Odio habuimus mala et diliximus bona et reddite in portis judicium, ut misereatur Dominus Deus his qui reliqui sunt de Joesph.' Dicitis Deum esse vobiscum, quia sitis filii Abraham, audite quod sequitur: 'Si filii estis Abrahae, opera patris vestri facite.' Quae sunt opera patris vestri Abrahae? 'Diligite bonum et non malum.' Grande peccatum est, non solum facere malum, sed et diligere. Multi peccant, et expleto voluptatos ardore, mordentur conscientia sua, et poenitet eos peccati sui. Qui autem non solum non dolet se fecisse quod malum est, sed in suo scelere gloriatur, iste implet illud quod scriptum est: Peccator cum venerit in profundum impietatis, contemnit. Quaerite ergo bonum et non malum. Si enim quaesieritis bonum, in eo quod quaeritis bonum, statim repellitis malum. Numquam autem quaeritis bonum, nisi prius repelleretis malum, implentes verba Psalmistae dicentis: Declina a malo et fac bonum. Cumque quaesieritis bonum et vitaveritis malum, tunc vivetis in eo qui dicit: 'Ego sum vita.' Bonum quaerit, qui credit in eum qui in Evangelio loquitur: Ego sum pastor bonus. Repellit malum, qui fugit eum de quo scriptum est: Mundus in maligno positus est. Et in oratione Dominica dicit: 'Libera nos a malo.' Cumque quaesieritis, inquit bonum et non malum, et vixeritis, tunc erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum, sicut dixeratis ideo eum esse vobiscum quia nati essetis de Abraham. Nec sufficit bonum quaerere, malumque non quaerere, nisi ἐπίτασις habeatis in utroque, ut primum oderitis malum, deinde diligatis bonum. Odit malum, qui non solum voluptate non vincitur sed odit opera voluptatis: et diligit bonum qui non invitus, aut necessitate, aut metu legum facit quod bonum est; sed idcirco quia bonum est, ut mercedem boni operis habeat conscientiam suam, et dilectionem quam erga bonum possidet. Unde et Apostolus: Hilarem, inquit, datorem diligit Deus. Non enim omnis eleemosyna placet Deo, nisi quae cum hilaritate profertur. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II

'Seek good and not evil that you might live and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you like you say: Hate evil and love good and establish in the gates righteousness that perhaps The Lord God of Hosts will be merciful to a remnant of Joseph.'   The Septuagint has: 'Seek good and not evil that you might live and The Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said, ' We have hated evil and we have loved good and restored righteousness in the gates that The Lord God may be merciful to those who are a remnant from Joseph.'   You who say God is with you because you are the sons of Abraham, hear what follows, ' If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of your father.' What are the works of Abraham? 'Love good and not evil' Grave is the sin not only to do evil but to delight in it. Many commit sin and are filled with pleasure and yet, bitten in their conscience, even they do penance for the sin. He who does not only not grieve for that evil he has done but glories in the crime, this one fulfills what is written: 'The sinner has come into the depths of impiety, he is scornful.' Seek therefore good and not evil. If indeed you seek good, in that very seeking of the good, instantly you shall drive out evil but never shall you seek good unless you have expelled evil, fulfilling the words of the Psalmist who says, 'Decline from evil and do good.' And when you seek the good you shall have driven out evil, and then you shall live in Him who said, 'I am the life.' He seeks the good who believes in Him who says in the Gospel, ' I am the good shepherd.' He drives away evil who flees the one concerning whom it is written, ' I have placed the earth in wickedness.' And in the Lord's prayer He says, 'Free us from evil.' And when you seek, he says, good and not evil, and you have lived, then the Lord God of hosts shall be with you as you have said Him to be with those who are born of Abraham. It is not enough to seek the good and not to seek evil unless you exert yourself in both, that first you detest evil and then love the good. He hates evil who not only is unconquered by pleasure but detests the works of pleasure, and he loves the good who not unwillingly, or by necessity, or through fear of the law does good, but he does it because it is good, that his conscience have the reward of the good and that the delight of the good he might possess. Whence the Apostle says, 'God loves a joyful giver,' For not every act of mercy pleases God unless it is given with joy.   Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2

The Blood Drinkers

'Super tribus sceleribus Damasci, et super quatour non convertam eum,' et secundum Septuaginta, 'non adversabor eum,'  Id est, Damasci populum, sive Aram, id est, Syrum, hunc sensum juxta historiam habere potest: Si semel meum esset popoulum persecutus, aut secundo, darem veniam; nunc vero cum tertio et quarto crudelis exstiterit, ut captivam multitudienm plaustris ferreis fereret: nonne debeo eum plagis corripere? nonne clementiae meas vultum avesare ab eo? Juxta tropologiam vero hoc possumus dicere: Primum peccatum est, cogitasse quae mala sunt. Secundum, cogitationibus acquievisse perversis. Tertium, quod mente decreveris, opere complesse. Quartum, post peccatum non agere poenitentiam, et in suo sibi complacere delicto. Hoc omnes faciunt haeretici, qui non solum cogitant, et faciunt mala, sed doctrina sua quosque simplices decipiunt, et in morem Damascenorum, qui interpretantur, sanguinem bibentes, eorum quos deceperint, sanguinem bibunt. Super hujuscemodi, inquit, peccatis Dominus: nonne dignum est, ut eos plagis corripiam, et avertam ab eis faciem meam? ut qui veritatem dogmatum meorum non vident, aversione vultus mei tenebris obruantur. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam

'For the crimes of the tribe of Damascus and because of four, shall I not oppose him?' or as the Septuagint has it, 'shall I not be averse to him?'  That is, the people of Damascus, or Aram, that is, Syria. In the historical sense the meaning of this is: If once my people you had persecuted, or twice, I could have forgiven it, but now indeed three and four times you have cruelly oppressed so that a captive multitude in iron bonds is made, and should I not then correct with blows? Should I not turn the clemency of my face from them? In a figurative sense we are able the meaning is this: The first sin is to have thought some evil, the second is to acquiesce in perverse thoughts, the third is that the mind resolves the work is to be done, the fourth is a lack of penitence after sin and pleasure in the crime. This is what heretics do, who not only think and do evil but even deceive the simple with their own teachings and in the manner of the Damascenes, who are interpreted drinkers of blood, they are the drinkers of the blood of those who they deceive. On account of such sins, says the Lord, is it not right that I should correct them with blows and avert my face from them? Thus they who did not see the truth of my teaching, by the turning away of my face, are overwhelmed by darkness.  Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos.

A Useful Infidel

Πᾶσαι αἱ θεῖαι Βίβλοι τῆς Παλαιᾶς Διαθήκης τῇ Ἐβραίων γλώττῃ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἧσαν συντεθειμέναι, καὶ τοῦτο πάντες ἄν ἡμῖν συνομολογήσαιεν. Οὐ πρὸ πολλῶν δὲ ἐτῶν τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας βασιλεύς τις Πτολεμαῖος περὶ τὴν τῶν βιβλίων συναγωγὴν πολλήν τινα σπουδὴν ποινσάμενος, καὶ ταύτας τὰς βίβλους συναγαγεῖν. Μεταπεμψάμενος οὖν τινας τῶν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις Ἰουδαίωμ, μεταβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν Ἡλλάδα γλῶτταν προσέταξε· καὶ δὴ τοῦτο εἰς ἔργον αὐτῷ ἐξενήνεχται. Ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκονομίας ἔργον, ὥστε μὴ μόνον τοὺς τὴν Ἑβραίων γλῶτταν ἠσκημένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς τὴν οἰκουμένην οἰκοῦντας τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν ὠφέλειαν καρπώσασθαι. καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστὸν καὶ παράδοξον, ὁτι οὐ τῶν τὰ Ἰουδαῖκὰ φρονούντων τις τὴν σπουδὴν ταύτην ἐποιήσατο, ἀλλ' ἀνὴρ τοῖς εἰδώλοις προστετηκὼ, καὶ ἀπεναντίας τῇ θρησκείᾳ διακείμενος. Τοιαῦτα γάρ ἐστιν ἄπαντα τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Δεσπότου τοῦ ἡμετέρου οἰκονομούμενα· αἐὶ διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων αὔξει τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας προστὰγματα. Ὁμῖλία Δ'  Εἰς Την Γενεσιν, Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος

All the Divine Books of the Old Testament were from the beginning composed in the Hebrew tongue, and to this everyone agrees. Now not many years before advent of Christ a certain King Ptolemy was an eager collector of books, having many diverse volumes and he thought that these books also were worthy collecting. And so he sent to the Jews of Jerusalem that they translate them into the Greek tongue and it was done and completed. And this is a work of the Divine Dispensation, that not only those skilled in the Hebrew tongue but even all the inhabitants of the earth may read these texts. And how wonderful and glorious it is that he who did so was not of the religion of the Jews but a follower of the cult of the idols and opposed to them in thought. But all things have been disposed by our Lord so that even through opposition the teaching of truth grows. From The Fourth Homily on Genesis, Saint John Chrysostom

Counsel in Trials

Unusquisque se a proximo suo custodiat: et in omni fratre suo non habeat fiduciam, quia omnis frater supplantatione supplantabit, et omnis amicus fraudulenter incedet; et vir fratrem suum deridebit et veritatem non loquentur. Docuerunt enim linguam suam loqui mendacium, sive didicit enim lingua eorum loqui mendacium, ut inique agarent, laboraverunt. sive inique egerunt et non intermiserunt ut converterentur. Habitation tua in medio doli, in dola, sive usura super usuram et dolus in dolo, renuerunt, sive noluerunt, scire me, dicit Dominus.  Hoc loco utendum est in tempore persecutionis et angustiae, quando aut rara, aut nulla fides est: quando nec fratri nec proximo credendum est et inimici hominis domestici eius, quando juxta Evangelium: Tradet pater filium, et filius patrem, et dividentur duo in tres et tres in duo. Quodque infert, 'Docuerunt linguam suam loqui mendacium', sive 'didicit lingua eorum loqui mendacium,' ostendit consuetudinem mentiendi quodamodo in naturam verti: studioseque eos agere, ut agant iniqua. Quodque sequitur, Habitatio tua in medio doli, in dolo, proprie ad Prophetam sermo dirigitur, quod habitet in medio populi mentientis; sive ut Septuaginta transtulerunt: Usura super usuram et dolus super dolum: et quod quotidie augeant scelera, et nequaquam eos prioris facti poeniteat, sed novis praeterita cumulent. Haec facientes, omni aguat studio, ut nesciant Dominum, qui haec non facienda praecepit. Propterea haec dicit Dominus exercituum: Ecce ego conflabo, sive, igne examinabo et probabo eos. Quid enim aliud faciam a facie filiae populi mei, sive quid faciam a facie malitiae filiae populi mei?   Quotiescumque angustiis subjacemus, mala recipimus a Deo, et examinamur persecutionibus, ut quidquid in nobis adulterinae materiae est, tribulationum et miseriarum exuratur ardoribus: 'Argentum enim Domini igne examinatum probatum terrae, purgatum septuplim.' Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Propheta, Lib II, Cap IX

Let everyone guard himself against his neighbour and have no trust in any brother, for every brother is a supplanter and every friend walks along with deceit, every man derides his brother and no one speaks the truth; they have shown their own tongues to speak lies, or they have taught their tongue to speak lies; 'they exert themselves so that they may do iniquity, or they do iniquity and do not cease, so as to repent. Your habitation is in the midst of deceit, in deceit, or usury on usury and deceit on deceit, they refuse, or they do not wish, to know me, says the Lord. This passage should be used in time of persecution and distress, when faith is either rare or does not exist at all, when neither brother nor neighbour can be trusted, when a man's enemies are of his own house, when, in accordance with the Gospel: Father deliverers up son, and son father, and two are divided against three and three against two. And by adding 'They have shown their own tongues to speak lies,' or 'They have taught their own tongues to speak lies,' he shows that their habit of lying turns into a lying nature, and that they are diligent to act, that is, iniquitously. And as for what follows, 'Your habitation is in the midst of deceit,' properly this word is addressed to the Prophet since he dwells in the midst of a lying people, or, as the Septuagint has translated: ' Usury on usury and deceit on deceit,' because every day they augment their crimes and they will not repent of what they have done but heap new evils on the old. They do such things, as they do all things with eagerness, so that they do not know the Lord, who commanded that these things should not be done. Therefore the Lord of Hosts says this: 'Behold I will burn them 'or 'I will examine them with fire, 'and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people,' or 'because of the evil of my people?' Whenever we are subject to trials, receive evil from God, and are tested by persecutions, it is so that whatever in us is impure material  may be burnt away by the fires of tribulation and mercy:  'We are silver examined by the fire of the Lord, refined on the ground, purified seven times.' Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, Book 2