(Vers. 6, 7.) In the land of trouble and distress there will be a lioness and a lion: there will also be venomous snakes and flying serpents. They will carry their riches on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a people who cannot help them. Egypt will be useless and in vain for assistance. LXX: In trouble and distress there will be a lion and a lion's cub: then there will be asps and flying snake offspring. They will carry their riches on donkeys and camels to a nation that will not help them. The Egyptians will be empty and useless for your benefit. For the lion, in Hebrew it is written Leis () (also Lehis), and for the flying ruler, which the Seventy translated as flying asps, in Hebrew it is called ἐμπρηστὴς and flying, which we can call the burner, and in Hebrew it is called Saraph (). Again, in that place where we have translated, carrying on the shoulders of the beasts, they have uniformly translated all the animals as foals, that is, the young of donkeys. But the land of tribulation and anguish signifies the very wide desert, through which the remnants of Jerusalem, along with John the son of Careah and the daughters of King Zedekiah, having taken away all they could have, fled to Egypt. Likewise, understand metaphorically the lioness and the lion cub as Jerusalem and its people, as Balaam says in Numbers: Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion; it shall not rest until it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. XXIII, 24). In Ezekiel it is also written: Take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel, and say: Why has your mother the lioness lain down among lions, and reared her whelps in the midst of young lions? (Ezek. 19:1-2). And lest we think that Holy Scripture truly speaks of the lioness and the lion contrary to the nature of things, that a viper and a flying basilisk should be born of a lioness and a lion, that is, that worse offspring should be generated from evil parents, of whom the Gospel also spoke: Brood of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matt. 3:7). And to the land of Israel it is said: You are a land where it does not rain, nor does the rain come upon you in the day of anger, whose rulers are in its midst, like roaring lions, seizing prey, devouring souls by their power (Above, V). These offspring of vipers, or flying asps, that is, the rulers of the people and the whole crowd of the wicked, went to the people who could not help them, as Jeremiah says (Jer. LVI), that the Lord delivered Pharaoh, the crafty king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into the hands of those seeking his life, and all the men of Judah, who were in the land of Egypt, were consumed by sword and famine, to the point that the Hebrews delivered Jeremiah and Baruch, before Nebuchadnezzar captured Egypt, from the imminent captivity, avoiding death. A certain lioness and her lion cub, a celestial lion, were deceived by Jerusalem and exposed the people. And a flying king, and vipers, and offspring of asps, of whom we read above (Above. XIV and XXVII), a twisted serpent, and of whom the Savior spoke in the Gospel: I saw Satan, like lightning falling from heaven (Luke X, 19): who is called the dragon in the Apocalypse (Rev. XII), he drew with him a third part of the stars to the earth, who, by the perversity of their judgement, lost their former riches, abandoning them to the Egypt of this age.
Therefore I cried out concerning this: it is only pride: be silent. For this reason, I do not know what the Seventy Interpreters intended: Proclaim these things, because your consolation is in vain. Furthermore, Symmachus interpreted it as 'turbulence is to dwell', that is, they are tumultuous in their habitation. The Hebrew word Reeb, or Reheb according to some, is translated by Aquila as 'impetus and pride', by Symmachus as 'disturbance', by the LXX as 'vanity', and by Theodotion as 'latitudinarianism'; which is written with three letters, Res (ר), He (ה), and Beth (ב), and it is the same as what is read in the Psalms: 'I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon, those who know me' (Ps. XXVI, 3). And the meaning is: Since the Egyptians offer empty help, I commanded him, that is, Jerusalem, or I exclaimed, that the Egyptians only have the name of a kingdom, and without power they boast; and Israel should sit or dwell in their own land, and not seek help in vain from the weak.
30:8
(Verse 8.) Now, write for them on a tablet. Carefully inscribe it in the book: and it shall be a testimony until the last day. The Hebrews say that in the Prophets there is one spirit, and all times are connected before the Lord. Jeremiah commands, and it is God's command, that he writes on a tablet when entering Egypt, which is made of imperishable wood. Or, as Symmachus translates, on a wide board. But to the Jews, without a doubt: and he had explained it carefully in the book, so that there is no difficulty in reading it, so that when the prophecy is fulfilled, they will then understand that the speech of the prophets was true. We will quickly run through the obvious points, so that we can dwell on the more obscure ones.
30:9-11
(v. 9 et seq.) For the people provoke to anger, and the sons are liars, sons unwilling to listen to the law of God. They say to the seers, “Do not see”; and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us pleasant words; see us errors. Depart from me the way; turn aside from me the path; let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us.” It is clear that they have provoked the Lord to anger, not wanting to hear the words of Jeremiah (Jer. 43). And they said to Him, 'Do not show us what we do not want to see; do not forbid us from the way of Egypt, nor tell us what is right; but speak what pleases us, so that we may go to Egypt and accumulate sins upon sins. Why do you impose on us what we do not willingly hear? Why do you show us the way which we do not want to enter? Why do you repeatedly proclaim to our ears, 'Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel'? Let this preaching cease from us.' According to allegory, all heretics are called lying sons. For they went out from us, but they were not of us (1 John 2); they do not listen with the ears of the inner man to the Law of God, and they speak to the teachers of the Churches: Do not show us what is right, nor threaten us with the flames of hell; but promise us the kingdom of heaven, so that after indulgence and pleasures, paradise may be opened to us. Why do you show me the way of the Lord, which I do not willingly enter? What does the title Holy Israel or the word 'Israelis' mean, which does not penetrate the secrets of my heart? Indeed, it is also said to the negligent people of the Church if they turn away from the severity of the teachers and favor flatterers.
30:12-14
(vv. 12-14) Therefore thus says the Holy Lord of Israel: Because you have rejected this word and have put your trust in oppression and in deceit, and have relied on it, therefore this iniquity shall be for you like a breach in a high wall that is sought after and cannot be found, like a jar of clay that is broken beyond repair, so that no fragment of it is found for taking fire from the hearth or for drawing water from the cistern. For, as you have said above, 'Let the Holy One of Israel cease from our presence,' or as the Seventy translated it, 'Take away from us the word Israel'; therefore, thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and to those who are unwilling to listen, He approaches, so that you may feel the punishment of the one whom you have neglected, warning you. You have put your trust in the deceit and lies of the Egyptians, and you have relied on their tumult, their contradiction and pride, as Symmachus and Theodotion have interpreted, therefore this injustice or sin will turn against you, so that you may be like a suddenly falling wall of a strong and captured city, whose ruin will come suddenly, for thus the Seventy translated it. And the sense is similar to the Hebrew: Just as the interruption of a very high wall that has brought about a long ruin is difficult to restore and regain its former beauty, so sudden destruction will come upon you. And let me use another comparison: Just as the vessel of a potter, if it is broken by a very strong crushing, is shattered into fragments, such that only a tiny piece remains to carry a spark or a little water is drawn from a small hollow, so you, when you go to Egypt, pursued by Nebuchadnezzar, will perish completely. Heretics also rely on deceit and falsehood, and they mutter against their Creator according to the Septuagint. Therefore, their impious city will be destroyed, which Cain built, and it will face sudden destruction when it is captured by the men of the Church. It will be so completely destroyed and crushed that nothing will remain in it to reignite the extinguished fire and provide even muddy and meager water to the thirsty people.
30:15-16
(Verse 15 and following) For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: If you return and rest, you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you were unwilling, and you said, 'No! We will flee upon horses'; therefore you shall flee away, and, 'We will ride upon swift steeds'; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. One thousand at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee. LXX: Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: When you turn to me and groan, then you shall be saved, and you shall know where you have been: for you trusted in idols, your strength became vain; and you were unwilling to hear, but you said, 'We will flee upon horses'; therefore you shall flee; and, 'We will ride upon swift steeds'; therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. A thousand will flee at the threat of one, and at the threat of five, many will flee. The Holy One, whom I had kept silent about his name, is the Lord God, who speaks to you and through me and through Jeremiah (Jeremiah XII): If you repent and either abandon vices or the error of evil counsel, and remain in Judah, fearing not the attack of the Babylonians, but my commandments, you will be saved. Rest and hope in the Lord, and take hold of the strength of faith in my promises. You, who have despised the commandments of life and have said in despair, it will not be as you speak; instead, we will flee to the Egyptian horses and go swiftly to them in haste. Since you have said these things, you will indeed flee and enter Egypt with destructive haste; but the Babylonians will be faster, as they will pursue you all the way to Egypt, and such great terror and fear will hold Egypt that a thousand Egyptians will not be able to resist a single Chaldean, and the multitude of fleeing enemies, five against one, as we read in Deuteronomy: The Lord will cause you to fall before your enemies' eyes. By this passage, you will depart from them and flee through seven ways from their presence, and you will be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth (Deut. XXVIII, 25, 32). According to the allegorical and Septuagint edition, the divine word encourages all sinners, especially heretics, to repent, so that when they have turned away from vices and have repented, they may be saved; and then they will understand where they were before, and that they had hoped in vain things. And when they are encouraged to repent, on the contrary, they trust in false teachers and in the uncertainties of the world: not wanting to hear the words of God, they long for Egyptian horses and rejoice in their swiftness, which the Lord has forbidden to be multiplied (Deuteronomy 17). Therefore, the men of the church will pursue them swiftly, and one warrior's voice, or five fighters (which we should understand to refer to the mind and the five senses), will not be able to withstand a thousand men and an undisciplined crowd fleeing.
30:17
(Verse 17.) Until you are left like a bad ship on the top of a mountain, and like a signal on a hill. Jeremiah also writes that after those who had taken refuge in Egypt had been killed by the sword and famine, few remained who returned to Judah (Jeremiah 46). And just as if a ship is broken and its structure is dissolved, only a tree, which is called a mast, remains, and is set as a signal on the top of the mountain or on a high hill, so as a sign and a trace, hardly one or two remain, to demonstrate the power of God. And then, he says, all the remnants of Judah, who are now entering the land of Egypt to dwell there, when they return to the land of Judah, will know whether my word or theirs shall be fulfilled.
30:18
(Verse 18) Therefore the Lord waits, to have mercy on you, and therefore he will be exalted in showing mercy to you, because the Lord is a God of justice: blessed are all they that wait for him. Great is the mercy of God, that he waits for our repentance, and until we turn away from our vices, he restrains his mighty hand, so as not to be forced to strike. But he shows mercy and spares, so that his mercy may be exalted, and the goodness of the Creator may be known to all. Certainly, as it is said in the Gospel (John 12:32): 'And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.' Therefore, he is lifted up on the cross, so as to spare all. He himself is the God of judgment; and blessed are all who wait for the Lord, waiting for his conversion. But whose conversion it is, and what that conversion is, the following words will show.
30:19
(Verse 19) For the people of Zion will dwell in Jerusalem. The Jews refer these things to the time of Cyrus, when the people returned from Babylon to Judaea under Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua. But we, as we have often said already, refer all the promises that surpass the mediocrity of that time to the coming of Christ, in which the once captive people, freed by the passion of the Lord, dwelled in Zion and Jerusalem, namely, in the watchtower and vision of peace, that is, in the Church. Furthermore, that which is added in the Septuagint as a word of sanctity, they said: 'For a holy people dwells in Zion' (alternative: will dwell), we can interpret it to mean that no one dwells in Zion unless they are holy and hear the Lord saying, 'Be holy, for I am holy' (Leviticus 11:44).
30:20
(Verse 20.) Crying, you will not weep in vain, showing compassion, he will have compassion on you: at the sound of your cry, as soon as he hears, he will answer you. When you return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem, you will not weep as you wept before, but your mourning will turn into joy: For blessed are those who weep, for they themselves will laugh (Luke VI, 21). And after you have called out and said to the Lord. I cried out with all my heart, hear me, O Lord (Psalm CXVIII, 145). And again: I cried out, have mercy on me, and I will keep your commandments (Psalm 85). And elsewhere: I waited for the morning and cried out (Psalm 118, 147), and your voice was so clear that it penetrated the heavens: immediately the Lord will answer you, and you will be like Moses, of whom it is written: Moses spoke, and the Lord answered him (Exodus 19, 20).
30:21
(Verse 21.) And the Lord will give you tight bread and brief water. If we refer these times to Zerubbabel, the interpretation is easy; that under him there was not perfect joy, as David says: When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion, we were made like those who are comforted: so that they would receive not full and perfect consolation, but a likeness of consolation. But if we refer it to the coming of the Savior, tight bread and brief water, according to the Apostle Paul and the same prophet Isaiah, are predicted in the Gospel message, which, summarizing in one word all the tattered observances and commandments of the Law, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. For the Lord has made his word complete and concise upon the earth (Galatians 5).
30:22
And your teacher will not fly away from you anymore, and your eyes will see your instructor, and your ears will hear the word behind you, saying: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left. LXX: And those who deceive you will never come near you again, for your eyes will see those who have deceived you, and your ears will hear the words behind you of those who deceive, saying: This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left. In this place there are many disagreements between the 70th edition and the Hebrew. Therefore, we will first discuss the edition of the Vulgate, and then we will follow the order of truth. When they understand and perceive with the eyes of their hearts the truth, and when they fully understand those who have deceived them before and discern the words of those who deceive from behind with educated ears, for they always hurry to deceive the blind part of the body, according to the psalm that we read: 'They shoot in the dark the upright in heart' (Ps. X, 2), they assume such authority for themselves that they do not want to examine the disciples with reason, whether they teach with their right hand or their left, that is, whether they teach good or evil, but they want to follow their predecessors. Then those who previously deceived will never again be able to approach them once they realize they have been understood. Moreover, the explanation according to Hebrew is both easy and true. For when the Lord gives those who believe a narrow path and a short distance, he will never allow that person who teaches knowledge to fly away from them; but they will always see their teacher with their eyes, and they will hear the word of the one who admonishes them from behind, saying: This is the right way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left, according to what is read elsewhere: We will not turn to the right or the left, we will walk on the royal road (Numbers 20:17). For whatever is excessive in either direction is a fault. And concerning the right side it is said: Be not too just (Eccl. 7:17). But there is no doubt that on the left side they should be placed among the goats and the perishable.
30:23
(Verse 23.) And you shall defile the plates of your carved silver, and the garment of your molded gold, and scatter them like the impurity of a menstruating woman: go forth, you shall say to it. LXX: And you shall defile the silver and the gold idols: you shall break them and scatter them like the water of a menstruating woman, and you shall cast them away like feces. When you understand the truth, and those who deceive do not approach you, but your eyes have seen your teacher, and your ears have always heard him: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left; then you shall break and scatter all errors and idols, and the likenesses of truth, which the skilled tongue has composed in the splendor of eloquence, which is translated as silver, and in the reasoning of wisdom, which sounds like gold, and you shall judge them as unclean, like the most filthy blood of a menstruating woman, which the Seventy translated into other words for the water of a menstruating woman.
30:24