1 Onus deserti maris. Sicut turbines ab africo veniunt, de deserto venit, de terra horribili.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 21—Verse 1 and following) The burden of the desert of the sea. As hurricanes come from the south, it comes from the desert, from a fearful land. A harsh vision has been revealed to me: he who is unbelieving acts unfaithfully, and he who is a plunderer lays waste. Rise up, Elam, besiege Media: I have caused all their groaning to cease.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 507. The burden of the desert of the sea. Here he threatens against the enemies who oppressed them by taking away their goods, although they were joined to them by some treaty. And this is divided into three parts.
2 Visio dura nuntiata est mihi: qui incredulus est infideliter agit; et qui depopulator est vastat. Ascende, Ælam; obside, Mede; omnem gemitum ejus cessare feci.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 We receive the Son's light from the Father's light in the light of the Spirit: that is what we ourselves have seen and what we now proclaim—it is the plain and simple explanation of the Trinity. Let the treacherous deal treacherously, let the transgressor transgress—we shall preach what we know.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 510. Second, he designates the devastator. And first, as to the condition of their leader: in infidelity. Cyrus, he that is unfaithful, that is, unfaithful to his lord Baltasar, rebelling, and besieging Babylon, trusting in his effeminacy, deals unfaithfully, that is, he will deal unfaithfully, seeing that the city cannot be taken by force, fraudulently making peace and command…
3 Propterea repleti sunt lumbi mei dolore; angustia possedit me sicut angustia parturientis; corrui cum audirem, conturbatus sum cum viderem.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 3, 4.) Therefore my loins are filled with pain: anguish has taken hold of me, like the anguish of a woman in labor: I am bowed down when I hear it, I am troubled when I see it. My heart is faint, darkness has overwhelmed me. Babylon, my beloved, has become a wonder to me. The prophets are therefore obscured, because many individuals are changed in them.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 511. Third, he designates the compassion of the prophet himself, which he designates as to the body, to which the affections of the mind redound, and this as to the feeling of pain: therefore are my loins filled with pain, that is, I suffer thus like one who suffers pain in the kidneys: there were pains as of a woman in labor (Ps 47:7[48:6]); and as to falling: I fell down; and…
4 Emarcuit cor meum; tenebræ stupefecerunt me: Babylon dilecta mea posita est mihi in miraculum.
Jerome · AD 420 [Daniel 5:30-31] "On that same night Belshazzar, King of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius the Mede succeeded to his kingdom at the age of sixty-two." Josephus writes in his tenth book of the Jewish Antiquities that when Babylon had been laid under siege by the Medes and Persians, that is, by Darius and Cyrus, Belshazzar, King of Babylon, fell into such forgetfulness of his…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, as to the affections: my heart, that is, the affections, failed, in sadness: my bowels are in pain (Jer 4:19). Third, as to astounded understanding: darkness, that is, the troubles I have foreseen, amazed me, as if I were in darkness: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues (Jer 50:13).
5 Pone mensam, contemplare in specula comedentes et bibentes: surgite, principes, arripite clypeum.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 5.) Set the table, observe those who are eating and drinking: arise, leaders, take up the shield. This place is understood in two ways: o Medes and Elamites, of whom I spoke above: ascend, O Elam, besiege the Medes, take food, prepare yourselves for the coming battle, lest weariness hold you back once the time of conflict has arrived.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 512. Fourth, he designates the manner and condition of the destruction, saying: O Babylon, prepare the table, inviting Cyrus and Darius to the banquet, contemplate, that is, see, in the watchtower, that is, in the writing of the hand that writes, Mane, Thecel, Phares (Dan 5:25) in the clear light of the Lord; you princes, namely, O Cyrus, O Darius, that eat and drink, with him,…
6 Hæc enim dixit mihi Dominus: Vade, et pone speculatorem, et quodcumque viderit annuntiet.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 6.) For the Lord spoke these words to me: Go and set a watchman, and whatever he sees, let him announce. The reasons for the previous fear are given, why distress has taken hold of him like a woman in labor, and he has fallen down, hearing and trembling, and being surrounded by dark horror.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 515. For thus has the Lord said to me. Here he sets out the manner of accepting this vision, and concerning this, he does four things.
7 Et vidit currum duorum equitum, ascensorem asini, et ascensorem cameli; et contemplatus est diligenter multo intuitu.
Jerome · AD 420 [Daniel 5:1] "Belshazzar the king made a great feast for his one thousand nobles; and each one drank in the order of his age." It should be known that this man was not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, as readers commonly imagine; but according to Berosus, who wrote the history of the Chaldeans, and also Josephus, who follows Berosus, after Nebuchadnezzar's reign of forty-three years,…
Peter Chrysologus · AD 450 [In the Gospels it is said,] "And he began to send them forth two by two." He sent them two by two that no one of them, being abandoned and alone, might fall into a denial, like Peter, or flee, like John. Human frailty quickly falls if it proudly relies on itself, despises companions and is unwilling to have a colleague.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 516. Second, the vision is set out, and first, he sets out the thing that was seen: and he saw a chariot with two horsemen, which was usually pulled by two horses, signifying the army of two kingdoms; a rider, namely of chariots, upon an ass, the kingdom of the Persians, which formerly was ignoble, a camel, the kingdom of the Medes, which was always lofty: as if these two anima…
8 Et clamavit leo: Super speculam Domini ego sum, stans jugiter per diem; et super custodiam meam ego sum, stans totis noctibus.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 8.) I am a watchman of the Lord, standing continuously during the day, and I am a guard of my duty, standing all through the night. LXX: The Lord said: I have stood throughout the day, and I have stood over the camp throughout the night. The Prophet stands on the lookout of the Lord, and in his light, he sees what is to come.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 517. Third, the declaration is set out: and a lion cried out, a lion according to strength of soul, who formerly was a watchman through eminence of contemplation. And first, he declares his own diligence: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord: I will stand upon my watch (Hab 2:1).
9 Ecce iste venit ascensor vir bigæ equitum; et respondit, et dixit: Cecidit, cecidit Babylon, et omnia sculptilia deorum ejus contrita sunt in terram.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 9.) Behold, here comes a chariot rider, a man riding in a pair of horses, and he answered and said: Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and all the idols of its gods are shattered on the ground. LXX: And behold, here comes a chariot rider, and answering he said: Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and all its idols, and its manufactured things, are shattered on the ground.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he declares what he has seen: behold this man comes, as above; third, the punishment of Babylon: Babylon is fallen: you are taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware of it (Jer 50:24).
10 Tritura mea et filii areæ meæ, quæ audivi a Domino exercituum, Deo Israël, annuntiavi vobis.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 Notice how in this passage he does not call those of the circumcision to hear the un-speakable words, but only those whom he calls "forsaken and tortured." These were those of the time of the apostles who regretted and lamented the evil of humanity.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 10.) My threshing floor and my sons of the barn, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you. LXX: Listen, you who have been forsaken, and mourn: listen to what I heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who has announced to us.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 518. Fourth, the declaration of the prophet to the people is set out: O my thrashing, the words of the prophet, or of Christ, that Jerusalem is to be thrashed with many tribulations, children of my floor, that is, the temple, which is located on the thrashing floor of Ornam (2 Sam 24:18); whatsoever thing he shall answer me, I will declare it to you (Jer 42:4).
11 Onus Duma. Ad me clamat ex Seir: Custos, quid de nocte? custos, quid de nocte?
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11, 12.) Oracle concerning Dumah. One calls to me from Seir: 'Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?' The watchman says: 'Morning comes, and also the night.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Again he says, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, 'The morning comes, and also the night.' " For "the watchman came by night," in that the guardian of the human race even showed himself manifest in the flesh, and yet Judea, being close pressed by the darkness of its faithlessness, never knew him.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 519. The burden of Duma. Here he threatens against their friends and relatives. And first, against the Idumeans, who belong to the descendants of Esau the brother of Jacob (Gen 25), and were sometimes friends, as it says in 2 Kings 3:9; I have heard all your reproaches, that you have spoken against the mountains of Israel (Ezek 35:12); second, against the Arabs, who are of the…
12 Dixit custos: Venit mane et nox; si quæritis, quærite; convertimini, venite.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 520. Second, the refusal of their petition is set out: and the watchman, namely, God, said: the morning comes, the time of liberation for the Jews, also the night of captivity still remains for the Idumeans: but over them only was spread a heavy night (Wis 17:20). 521.
13 Onus in Arabia. In saltu ad vesperam dormietis, in semitis Dedanim.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 13.) Burden in Arabia. This is not found in the edition of the Seventy Interpreters: but what follows is: In the evening you shall sleep in the paths of Dodanim, which is connected with the previous vision, so that it is read, if you seek, seek: and dwell with me in the woodland.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 524. The burden in Arabia. Here he threatens against the Arabs. And first, he indicates the cause of destruction: that when they offered bread to the fleeing sons of Israel, they took away their water.
14 Occurrentes sitienti ferte aquam, qui habitatis terram austri; cum panibus occurrite fugienti.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 14, 15.) Bring water to the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of the South; meet the one fleeing with bread. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the severity of battle.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Again, by bread is set forth the instruction of heavenly doctrine, as is said by the prophet, "You who dwell in the land of the south, meet with bread him that is flying away." For they dwell in the land of the south who, placed within [the] holy church, are breathed upon by the love of the Spirit from on high.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He exhorts them to mercy: meeting, you Arabs; the land of the south, that is, of the noon, below: deal your bread to the hungry (Isa 58:7).
15 A facie enim gladiorum fugerunt, a facie gladii imminentis, a facie arcus extenti, a facie gravis prælii.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And he places the cause of mercy: for they are fled from before the swords, that they might be moved to mercy: at the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is fled away (Jer 4:29).
16 Quoniam hæc dicit Dominus ad me: Adhuc in uno anno, quasi in anno mercenarii, et auferetur omnis gloria Cedar.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 16, 17.) For thus saith the Lord to me: Within one year, as the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away, and the residue of the number of archers of the mighty men of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 525. Second, because they refuse to do this, he threatens punishment: for thus says the Lord. And first, by the Assyrians, from whom was authority of destruction of the Jews, and the destruction itself: within a year, according to the years of a hireling, which seems brief to him, in his hope for pay.
17 Et reliquiæ numeri sagittariorum fortium de filiis Cedar imminuentur; Dominus enim Deus Israël locutus est.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, by the Chaldeans: the residue, left behind by the Assyrians, shall be diminished, by the Chaldeans; Cedar, the son of Ishmael; archers, following the art of their father, where it is said of Ishmael that he became an archer (Gen 21:20).