1 Dicite fratribus vestris: Populus meus; et sorori vestræ: Misericordiam consecuta.
Jerome · AD 420 "Tell your brothers and sisters, my people, that they have attained mercy." LXX: "Say to your brother, my people, and to your sister, having obtained mercy." Because the day of Jezrael is great, on which Judas and Israel will have one prince, and it will not be said of Israel, "you are not my people," but on the contrary they will be called the children of the living God.
2 Judicate matrem vestram, judicate, quoniam ipsa non uxor mea, et ego non vir ejus. Auferat fornicationes suas a facie sua, et adulteria sua de medio uberum suorum;
Jerome · AD 420 "Judge your mother, judge her, for she is not my wife and I am not her husband: let her remove her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts: lest perhaps I strip her naked, and make her as on the day of her birth." This is a message directed towards the Israelite people, that is, the ten tribes.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 She has not preserved the genuineness of love toward me, but rather she denied the intimacy and underestimated the purity of spiritual communion with me. Nor was she willing to bring forth the fruits of my will.
3 ne forte expoliem eam nudam, et statuam eam secundum diem nativitatis suæ, et ponam eam quasi solitudinem, et statuam eam velut terram inviam, et interficiam eam siti.
4 Et filiorum illius non miserebor, quoniam filii fornicationum sunt.
Jerome · AD 420 "And I will not have pity on her sons, for they are the sons of fornication, because their mother has committed fornication: she is confounded that conceived them, because she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me bread, and water, and clothes, and oil, and drink." LXX: "And I will not have mercy on her sons, because they are the children of fornication.
5 Quia fornicata est mater eorum, confusa est quæ concepit eos; quia dixit: Vadam post amatores meos, qui dant panes mihi, et aquas meas, lanam meam, et linum meum, oleum meum, et potum meum.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 They, therefore, who are wicked, evildoers, carnal, fleshly, devilish, think that they receive at the hands of their seducers what are the gifts of God alone, whether sacraments, or any spiritual workings about present salvation.
6 Propter hoc ecce ego sepiam viam tuam spinis, et sepiam eam maceria, et semitas suas non inveniet.
Jerome · AD 420 Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will fence it with a wall, and she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them: and she shall seek them, and shall not find, and she shall say: I will go, and return to my first husband, because it was better with me then, than now.
John Cassian · AD 435 Through the prophet Hosea the divine word well expressed God's concern and providence toward us. He speaks of the image of Jerusalem as a prostitute who is drawn with wicked ardor to the worship of idols.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For hence is that which the Lord says, under the character of every soul, to Judaea who is weak, and walking in evil ways; "Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will hedge it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths, and she shall follow after her lovers, and she shall not overtake them, and she shall seek them, and not finding them shall say, I will go an…
7 Et sequetur amatores suos, et non apprehendet eos; et quæret eos, et non inveniet: et dicet: Vadam, et revertar ad virum meum priorem, quia bene mihi erat tunc magis quam nunc.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 So, therefore, understand that there were also many lovers of your soul who have been seduced by its splendor with whom it has been a prostitute.
8 Et hæc nescivit, quia ego dedi ei frumentum, et vinum, et oleum, et argentum multiplicavi ei, et aurum, quæ fecerunt Baal.
Jerome · AD 420 And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal." LXX: "And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver: but she turned these things which were made for her into silver and gold for Baal." She responded to her lovers, for she said: "I will go aft…
9 Idcirco convertar, et sumam frumentum meum in tempore suo, et vinum meum in tempore suo. Et liberabo lanam meam et linum meum, quæ operiebant ignominiam ejus.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "And if [the adulterous spirit] comes and finds the house vacant, clean, and furnished, it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself and enters that house and lives in it. And the last of that man is worse than the first." If we give attention to these words, how can we give place to carelessness even in a small matter?
Jerome · AD 420 "Therefore, I will return and take my grain in its time, and my wine in its time, and I will free my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace." LXX: "Therefore I will return and take my wheat in its time, and my wine in its time, and I will take away my garments, and my coverings, not to cover her nakedness." A heavier punishment is when, in the time of harvest and the exp…
10 Et nunc revelabo stultitiam ejus in oculis amatorum ejus; et vir non eruet eam de manu mea;
Jerome · AD 420 "And now I will reveal her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand: and I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times.
11 et cessare faciam omne gaudium ejus, solemnitatem ejus, neomeniam ejus, sabbatum ejus, et omnia festa tempora ejus.
12 Et corrumpam vineam ejus, et ficum ejus, de quibus dixit: Mercedes hæ meæ sunt, quas dederunt mihi amatores mei; et ponam eam in saltum, et comedet eam bestia agri.
13 Et visitabo super eam dies Baalim, quibus accendebat incensum, et ornabatur in aure sua, et monili suo. Et ibat post amatores suos, et mei obliviscebatur, dicit Dominus.
Jerome · AD 420 "And I will visit upon her the days of the Baals, wherein she burnt incense to them, and adorned herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers: and she forgot me, saith the Lord." LXX: "And I will take vengeance upon her during the days of the Baals, when she sacrificed to them and adorned herself with her earrings and necklaces.
14 Propter hoc ecce ego lactabo eam, et ducam eam in solitudinem, et loquar ad cor ejus.
Jerome · AD 420 "Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope." LXX: "Therefore, behold, I will seduce her, and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart." Because we have said "to open hope," and the Septuagint translated "to open…
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 Since she [Israel] is accessible like a well-watered land to the herds of demons, he [the Lord] promises to treat her as a wilderness.… He will display it to their desires as an austere, untrodden and waterless place, so that finding no resting place they will despise it and depart.
Julian of Eclanum · AD 455 Speaking directly to the heart indicates the promulgation of the law, which shaped the hearts of the listener.
15 Et dabo ei vinitores ejus ex eodem loco, et vallem Achor, ad aperiendam spem; et canet ibi juxta dies juventutis suæ, et juxta dies ascensionis suæ de terra Ægypti.
Jerome · AD 420 "And I will give him its vineyards, from the same place." Because He had previously spoken of flattery and the loneliness of those who left from Egypt, providing it as a similar example. In this example Moses and Aaron had stood as leaders of the Jews, who came from the same people. Now, He promises that he will give him the vineyards from the same place.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 [Israel] will be humble and obedient just as in the beginning, when she was born to the knowledge of God through the law and gladly received the decree of the divine adoption. Accordingly, he calls the regeneration to the knowledge of God through the law the "days [of her youth]."
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 Just as those at that early time have learned through Achan's punishment how serious is the transgression of the law, in the same manner these will come to the realization of their own trespasses through the captivity.
16 Et erit in die illa, ait Dominus: vocabit me, Vir meus, et non vocabit me ultra Baali.
Jerome · AD 420 And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, I will call my servant, and I will not call him any more Baalim: and I will take away the names of Baalim out of his mouth, and he shall no more remember their names." Similarly the LXX.
17 Et auferam nomina Baalim de ore ejus, et non recordabitur ultra nominis eorum.
18 Et percutiam cum eis fœdus in die illa, cum bestia agri, et cum volucre cæli, et cum reptili terræ; et arcum, et gladium, et bellum conteram de terra, et dormire eos faciam fiducialiter.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 For He hath come as a Physician, not as a Judge. Therefore in like manner as those of old took harlots for wives, even so God too espoused unto Himself the nature which had played the harlot: and this also prophets from the beginning declare to have taken place with respect to the Synagogue.
Jerome · AD 420 And I will strike a deal with them in that day, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the sky and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will shatter from the land, the bow, the sword, and war. And I will cause them to sleep with security.
19 Et sponsabo te mihi in sempiternum; et sponsabo te mihi in justitia, et judicio, et in misericordia, et in miserationibus.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 You have wisely thought it a subject of inquiry, whether there be any difference in God's love towards those who have believed from their childhood, and those who have believed in the course of their youth or more advanced age; for this also has not been past over nor left unnoticed in the sacred Scriptures.
John Cassian · AD 435 The sixth degree of chastity is that he not be deluded by the alluring images of women even when asleep. For although we do not believe that this delusion is sinful, nonetheless it is an indication of a desire that is still deeply ingrained. It is evident that this delusion can occur in a number of ways.
Peter Chrysologus · AD 450 A betrothed woman was chosen, so that Christ's church might already be symbolically indicated as bride, according to the words of the prophet Hosea: "I will make you my bride in justice and right; I will make you my bride in mercy and benevolence, and I will espouse you in fidelity." Thus John says, "He who has a bride is the bridegroom." And blessed Paul: "I have promised you…
20 Et sponsabo te mihi in fide; et scies quia ego Dominus.
Jerome · AD 420 "And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezrael. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy.
21 Et erit in die illa: exaudiam, dicit Dominus, exaudiam cælos, et illi exaudient terram.
22 Et terra exaudiet triticum, et vinum, et oleum, et hæc exaudient Jezrahel.
23 Et seminabo eam mihi in terra, et miserebor ejus quæ fuit Absque misericordia.
Romans · AD 56 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 And not only is the operation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit everywhere one but also there is one and the same will, calling, and giving of commands, which one may see in the great and saving mystery of the Church.
Bede · AD 735 "You who were once not a people but now are the people of God, who did not seek after mercy but now have received mercy." By these verses he indicates clearly that he has written this letter to those who had come from the Gentiles to the faith, who were once separated from the way of life of the people of God but then through the grace of faith were joined to his people and obt…
24 Et dicam Non populo meo: Populus meus es tu; et ipse dicet: Deus meus es tu.