(Verse 12.) And the deserts of the ages will be built in you: you will raise the foundations of generation after generation: and you will be called the builder of walls, turning paths into peace. LXX: And the deserts will be built for you from the age and your foundations will be everlasting for generations and generations: and you will be called the builder of walls, and you will make paths rest in the middle. Not only, he says, will your light arise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like midday, and the Lord will give you rest always, and you will be like a well-watered garden, and so on; but what has long been deserted will be rebuilt in you, and the foundations of your buildings will remain for many generations: so that either you yourself will be called the builder of walls and ramparts, or someone will arise in you who will be the builder of walls, and he will turn the paths into peace, or according to the Septuagint, he will make the roads in the middle to rest. These Jews and their friends in the western provinces are referring to the restoration of the cities of Palestine. They argue that either these things were done under Zorobabel and Ezra, and Nehemiah, or they will happen in the future: the highest foundations must be laid for the restoration of Jerusalem and the surrounding cities, and such high walls must be built that no enemy can enter, and the entrance of all enemies into them must be prohibited. But we, following the order of the explanation that has been begun, say that what was deserted among the Jews is being built in the Church, not for a short time, but forever, and its foundations must be raised from both peoples, that is, in two generations. Where the Apostle says: Like a wise architect, I laid the foundation; another builds upon it. But let each one see how he builds upon it (1 Corinthians 3:10). And in another place: We are God's field, God's building (Ephesians 2:20). And it is to be called, or when someone is born in it, the builder of fences. About this we read in the psalm: Man is born in it, and the Most High has founded it (Psalm 87:5). The Scripture mentions that fields and vineyards are surrounded by hedgerows and walls, which is signified by the Greek term φραγμοῦς. You have transferred a vineyard from Egypt: you have uprooted the nations and planted it. And a little later: Why have you destroyed its walls? And let all who pass by pluck its grapes (Ps. LXXXIX, 9 and 13). And in the same Prophet: A vineyard has been made for the beloved; describing it in beautiful language, he says: I have built a tower and surrounded it with a wall (Eccles. II, 4). According to Ecclesiastes, whoever destroys her will be bitten by a snake. She is surrounded so that the access of all animals to the vineyard of God is prohibited. This snake is the crafty one who deceived Eve in paradise. Because she had destroyed God's commandments, she was exposed to his bites, and she heard from the Lord: You will watch his head, and he will watch your heel (Genesis 3:15). In that place where we have translated according to the Septuagint, so as not to seem to be innovating anything, because the testimony is well-known, and you will be called the builder of fences, in Hebrew it is written, and you will be called Goder Pheres, which Aquila interpreted as περιφράκτης διακοπῆς, which, according to the meaning, we can say opposes God's fierce anger. Finally, Symmachus translated, opposing a wall to the one who was killing (1 Kings 7), like Moses and Aaron, and Samuel, who resisted the anger of the Lord, and as if by building a wall, they set a limit to his indignation. This is also said to Jeremiah: Do not meet the Lord, do not want to resist His anger, and block the indignation with prayers as if with a wall (Jeremiah 7): and to Moses, as if the Lord was holding him: Let me go, he said, and I will strike down this people (Exodus 32, 10). Therefore, this builder of walls, fences, and hedges will transform paths into tranquility, so that the anger of God may not rage, but the Lord may be appeased and all the pathways of indignation may find rest.
58:13
(Verse 13.) If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, and do your own will on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and holy to the glorious Lord, and honor him by not doing your own ways, nor finding your own will, nor speaking idle words. LXX: If you turn your foot away on the Sabbaths, so as not to do your own desires on the holy day. And you shall call the Sabbaths delightful and holy to the Lord: you shall not lift up your foot for work, nor shall you speak a word ÷ in anger from your mouth. To whom he had said above: Is not this the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, and the like: even now he promises rewards if he will do what follows (Exod. 20); that is, that he restrain his foot on the sabbaths, and not do his own will, and that he profane not the holy day of the Lord with his own will (or lusts). It is written in the law, that we should not do servile work on the sabbaths, nor kindle fire, nor sit in one place only, but that we should do those works only which pertain to the salvation of the soul. But if we take it literally, it cannot be completely fulfilled. For who can do this, that sitting all day and night on the Sabbath, does not move from one place, indeed, does not even move slightly? And if he does, would he not be a transgressor of the law? Therefore, from one commandment, which is impossible to be taken literally, we are compelled to understand the rest in a spiritual sense, so that we do not perform servile work and lose the freedom of the soul. For whoever commits sin is the servant of sin (John 8): let us not bear the burden on the Sabbath, such as the burden borne by him who says, My iniquities are raised above my head: they are like a heavy burden pressed down upon me (Psalm 38, 5). Let not the wickedness that sits upon the talent of lead have power over us; nor let bodily pleasure and lust prevail. (Zech. 5); For they all commit adultery, and their hearts are like an oven. (Hosea 7); And the fiery darts of the devil are cast, to shoot straight at those with a righteous heart in darkness. (Ps. 10); It is also commanded to us that, having taken hold of the plow, we do not look back; that, ascending the height of the roofs, we do not wish to come down to remove the garments of the world. (Luke 9); but rather that we hear with Moses, 'But you stand here with me' (Exod. 34, 2); and that we sit with the Lord, weary on the way of this world, by the well of the Samaritan woman, desiring the conversion and salvation of the erring. (John 4); that we hear the Apostle admonishing, 'Stand firm and immovable' (1 Cor. 15, 58); that we not suffer what Judas, the traitor, suffered, who lost his place of ministry, and became a transgressor, and that we always remember his words: 'If the spirit of the one who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place' (Eccles. 10, 4). Here lies one who rests on the Sabbath, washing his hands among the innocent, not moving his feet to carry out his own desires: this person celebrates the delicate Sabbath of the Lord. Sabbath-keeping, as written in the Letter to the Hebrews, is promised to us in heaven, and glory is prepared (Hebrews 4): so that while we do not follow our own ways on the Sabbath, and our own will is not found, we may speak words by which we do not sin in deed or in speech. Otherwise, if these things are only prohibited on the Sabbath, then on the other six days freedom is given to us to commit wrong. But if it is foolish to believe this, it remains that the Sabbath, which is interpreted as rest, should be sanctified at all times by the faithful, while they do the will of not the flesh, but the soul. And what is added, according to the Septuagint, 'in wrath from your mouth', is not found in the Hebrew. For this Sabbath, to be celebrated with all festivity, the Savior calls us in the Gospel, saying: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28); for this signifies 'I will refresh you', so that laying aside the burdens of sins, we may rest in Christ, and say: He has set my feet upon a rock (Psalm 40:3), and avoid that which the holy one says he almost endured: My feet were almost moved (Psalm 73:2).
58:14
(Verse 14.) Then you will delight in the Lord [Vulg. the Lord); and I will lift you up above the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. LXX: And you will trust in the Lord: and he will exalt you above the good things of the earth, and he will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. After you have called the delicate Sabbaths and have not moved your foot on the Sabbath to do servile work, nor have you spoken a word, that is, you have always been silent, and have fulfilled what is commanded: Restrain your tongue from evil, and let your lips not speak deceit (Psalm 34:14): then you will delight in the Lord and see that you are fulfilled: Delight in the Lord, and he will grant the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). Whether you have confidence in the Lord, according to what is written: Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. And in Jeremiah: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will be his hope (Jeremiah 17:7). And elsewhere: It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man (Psalm 118:8). And the Lord will lift you up and exalt you above the heights and the good things of the earth. For the earth is soft, and the earth of the living is not downwards, but upwards. Finally, to Lot fleeing from the valley of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is said: Make yourself safe on the mountain (Genesis 19). And when he reached there, the sun rose for him in Segor. Concerning this land, the Lord said: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:4): and many other things that we have frequently mentioned, among which is this: Honor your father and your mother, and you will live long on the earth that the Lord your God has given you (Exodus 20:12). Which cannot be completely true according to the letter. For many honor their parents and die quickly, while others who are parricides live for a long time. But that the land is situated in the heights, let us briefly recall the 36th Psalm, in which it is written: The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. After this, it is added: Wait for the Lord, and keep his ways: and he will exalt you, that you may possess the earth (Psalm 37:11): concerning which it is sung in another place, The righteous shall inherit the earth, and shall dwell on it forever and ever (ibid., 34). Which in itself is also impossible. For if the earth shall pass away, how can the righteous dwell on it forever and ever? From this we learn that there is a land that is situated in the heights. After this, it is added: And I will feed, or rather, the Lord will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For just as he who has faith is called the son of Abraham, so he who suppresses vices and sins is called the son of Jacob. And the one who imitates someone's virtue is called their son. But the good things of the land, which is situated in the heights, with which the son of Jacob is satisfied, must be understood as those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man (1 Corinthians 2). Concerning these, it is written in the Letter to the Hebrews: For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland: and if, indeed, they sought one, from which they had departed, they would have had an opportunity to return to it. But now they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 11:14 et seqq.). From this we learn that the fable of a thousand years, in which again marriages and food and the conversation of earthly life are promised, must be rejected. For if in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels; for they are sons of the resurrection (Matthew 22); and concerning the belly and food, the Apostle says: Food for the belly, and the belly for foods: but God will destroy both it and them (1 Corinthians 6:13), how can we seek the vices of the former mortal and corrupt flesh again, with an incorrupt and spiritual and immortal body? And we say these things, not because we deny the substance of the glorified body, but in order to completely remove the former works in those who are like the angels. Otherwise, even in this still existing body, through fasting and continence, and perpetual chastity and charity, we imitate the angelic virtues, and yet we do not lose the substance of our bodies. In order to believe that all these things will come to pass, let us know that they have been promised by God, whose mouth has spoken: so that just as in the hands there is activity, and in the feet there is movement, and in the belly there is generation, and in the ears and eyes there is hearing and seeing: so in the mouth let us understand the word of God.
59:1-2
(Chapter 59, Verses 1, 2) Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. (Chapter 70) Is the Lord's hand shortened, that He cannot save, or His ear heavy, that He cannot hear? But your sins have separated you from your God, and because of your sins, He has turned His face away from you, so that He will not show mercy. I could do what I said I would do: You will be confident in the Lord, and He will lift you up to the good things of the land, and He will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, before the completion. For my hand is not shortened, nor is it contracted, that I cannot stretch it out to deliver my people: nor do I have deaf ears, that I cannot hear. From this it is shown that the ears of the Lord, which listen to the righteous and do not listen to sinners, are in no way similar to our ears, which equally hear the spoken word of either justice or injustice; but your sins, like a certain wall in the middle, separate you and God. And so, the Savior in His passion made both one (Ephesians 2), and by breaking down the middle wall of partition, He destroyed enmity in His flesh, so that the blood of Christ might unite those whom the wall of sin had divided. He opened the door of paradise, which had been closed for a long time (Genesis 3), and He extinguished the fiery sword with His own blood, so that the thief might hear: Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). And what follows: And because of your sins, He turned His face away from you; to not hear, or to not show mercy, he demonstrates this, that he was not able to bear the stench of sins and their iniquities, but he turned his face away, so as to not see their shamefulness, and he would immediately be forced to strike. In the psalm, when the sinner desiring to see the face of the Lord says: How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? (Ps. XII, 1). And elsewhere: Show your face, and we shall be saved. (Ps. LXXIX, 4).
59:3-4
(V. 3, 4.) For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wickedness. There is no one who calls for justice, nor is there anyone who truly judges: but they trust in nothingness, and speak vanities. LXX: For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with sins. Your lips are polluted with iniquity, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks the truth: there is no fair judgment. They trust in empty things, and speak worthless words, injustices and sins. What he has mentioned generally above, he now explains in detail. And it should be considered that he does not accuse them of idolatry, which they were practicing in the time of Isaiah, but rather of shedding blood, about which he had already spoken: The righteous is perishing, and there is no one who takes it to heart. The upright are taken away, and no one understands in his heart. For the righteous man is taken away from the face of wickedness: his grave shall be in peace, and his tomb shall be with honour. Though their hands have not injured in any wise the Lord, yet they take upon them to cry out with blasphemous voices, saying: His blood be upon us and upon our children. His death shall therefore bear witness against them, and their hands shall be defiled. Of whom the same Prophet testifies, saying: If ye stretch forth your hands against me, I will not hear you. Your hands are full of blood. Your lips and tongue speak iniquity and lies, claiming to be Christ's chosen ones but behaving as Antichrists. There is no one among your people who cries out for justice and judges according to truth, or in the Hebrew language, faith in Christ. Instead, they trust in nothingness and speak empty words. Therefore, the Apostle commands us not to pay attention to Jewish fables and the commandments of those who turn away from the truth. For truly they trust in nothing, and they follow vanities, in which is fulfilled the prophecy of the Lord: I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. (John 5:43).
59:5-6
(Verse 5, 6.) They conceived labor and gave birth to iniquity: they broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and what is hatched will break out into a viper. Their webs will not be turned into clothing, nor will they be covered with their works. LXX: For they bring forth pain and generate iniquity. They broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. And whoever wants to eat their eggs, breaking them open, will find something rotten, and in the end a viper; their webs will not be used for clothing, nor will they be covered with their works. Those who await the coming of the Antichrist cannot say: 'We have conceived and brought forth from fear of you, O Lord, and we have made the spirit of your salvation come upon the earth' (Isaiah 26:18), they conceive pain correctly, and give birth to wickedness, so that they receive iniquity instead of what they seek with much effort; of whom it is written in the Psalms: 'They conceived pain, and brought forth wickedness' (Psalm 7:15). They break and shatter the eggs of asps, so that they may receive their venom in their own minds, of whom it is said in the Gospel: 'You offspring of vipers' (Matthew 3:7). And beautifully they have laid the eggs of asps and serpents, which eggs are said to generate first. And because they not only retain the poisons of malice in their hearts, but also meditate on old wives' fables day and night, they are therefore said: And they weave webs of spiders: by which they catch flies and mosquitoes and small creatures; to which when something happens by chance, it flies through the empty air. Whoever eats, he says, of their eggs, will die, that is, whoever agrees with their counsels, as Abel agreed to Cain when he said, Let us go into the field (Genesis IV, 8), will instantly be killed: or as the Seventy have translated it: Whoever wants to eat of their eggs, he will find decay when crushed, and in it a ruler. For whoever, being deceived by mere appearance, thinks that the eggs of hens and other birds, the consumption of which is harmless, if he breaks them before eating, will immediately recognize the most foul odor and stench, and will find what is cooked, the rule. Or according to Symmachus and Theodotion, the asp. But the eagle put the viper; for which in Hebrew it is read Ephee (). Therefore, whoever, hearing the Jewish traditions, wishes to prepare himself for the pleasures of a thousand years, and being ensnared by the promises, reaches out his hand to the egg: if before he eats, that is, he agrees with deadly words, he wishes first to consider what is said, and to examine each word, and to handle their meaning, he will immediately discover that the Antichrist is being prepared in them. Therefore, according to the Hebrew text, whoever eats from their eggs will die. But according to the Septuagint, whoever breaks them beforehand and carefully looks and sees what lies hidden will discover a most foul stench and the prince of all serpents, the devil, lurking in their traditions. And because he had said above, 'They weave spider webs,' he explains that the weaving of these webs is not profitable. Their labor, he says, and all their teaching does not make the garment of Christ, nor the cloak by which the nakedness of the soul is protected, but they sweat in vain labor, as the same Prophet says: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.' But they worship me in vain, teaching doctrines and precepts of men (Isaiah 29:13): which following, they neglect the law of God. And that we may know that their works are like a spider's web, he added: Neither shall their works cover them. Some have explained this passage thus: They have crushed, or broken, the eggs of asps, that is, they have disregarded all the words of the prophets and have woven for themselves the flattering words of false prophets: of whom whoever partakes, shall be bitten by the serpent; and he will understand that the words of lies have profited him nothing.
59:7-8
(V. 7, 8.) Their deeds are useless deeds: and the work of iniquity is in their hands. Their feet run towards evil: and they hasten to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are worthless thoughts: destruction and ruin are in their ways. They have not known the way of peace: and there is no justice in their steps. Their paths are crooked for them: whoever walks on them does not know peace. LXX: For their deeds are the deeds of iniquity: and their feet run towards malice. They are swift to shed innocent blood, and their thoughts are the thoughts of fools. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and they do not know the way of peace. There is no justice in their ways. Their paths are twisted and they do not know peace. Therefore, their deeds are not hidden, for their actions are the works of wickedness, which the Apostle calls unfruitful, that is, having no fruit (Ephesians 5). And their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood (Prov. 1). For they also had the custom of killing the prophets. To whom Stephen was speaking: Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted (Acts 7:52)? And the Lord in the Gospel: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you (Matt. 23:37); and again: On you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar (Ibid., 35). And it is said above to them: Your hands are polluted with blood: and your tongue speaks wickedness (Isaiah 1:15). And through this meditation of cruelty and blasphemy, they came to the death of the Lord. Likewise, Judas came to murder through the path of greed, rather sacrilege coupled with greed. And what follows: Their thoughts are the thoughts of foolish ones: destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and they have not known the way of peace. And above: Their feet are swift to shed blood, the Apostle placed in Romans (Ch. III): which many ignorant people think is taken from the thirteenth psalm, which verses are added in the Vulgate edition and are not found in Hebrew. We have spoken more fully about this at the beginning of this volume. But those who have refused to accept its author have rightly ignored the way of peace. For he himself is our peace, who speaks to the Apostles: Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you (John XIV, 27). And to Jerusalem: If you knew the things that are for your peace, for the days shall come upon you when your enemies shall cast a trench about you, and encompass you round, and straiten you on every side, And beat you flat to the ground, and your children who are in you. It follows: Their paths are perverse, not by nature, but by their own will. For whatever is distorted and curved, is twisted from straight to crooked. Every teaching of the Pharisees is a subversion of truth, through which one who follows it not only does not find peace, but also does not even know it, so as to know what they should seek.
59:9-11
(Verse 9 and following) Because of this, judgment has been far from us: and justice does not overtake us. We waited for light, and behold darkness: for brightness, and we have walked in gloom. We have groped like the blind against a wall: and we have touched as if without eyes: we have stumbled at noonday, as if in darkness: we are in dusky places as dead. We roar like bears, all of us: and we moan like doves, meditating. We waited for judgment, and it does not come: for salvation, and it is far from us. LXX: Therefore judgment has withdrawn from them, and justice does not apprehend them. While they wait for light, darkness shall come upon them. They shall grope in the dark and feel their way like blind men; they shall stumble at noonday as in the twilight; they shall be like those who die in the midst of their groaning. They shall be like a bear and a dove walking together. We hoped for judgment, but there is none; salvation has far from us. After the accusation of the Jewish people, their Prophet responded, advising what repentant individuals should say if they wish to receive healing after their wounds. And I am amazed why the Seventy, as if speaking on behalf of the Prophet, do not respond to the words of the Prophets themselves, but instead weave together a prayer, when later, overcome by the truth, they themselves do the same, saying: We have waited for judgment, and it has not come; salvation has moved far from us. For our iniquities are many in your sight; and our sins testify against us, and we know them. In this present time, everything is being fulfilled. Judgment has been delayed for the Jews, which has been announced to the Gentiles. And justice, which has been embraced by the nations, will not seize them. They have waited for the light, saying: Send forth your light and your truth (Ps. 42:3), which had been promised to them through the prophets, and they are occupied with the darkness of error. They sustained splendor; and they walked in darkness. Thus they handle the holy Scriptures, like blind people feeling the wall, seeking only words and leaves, not understanding the meaning and fruit that is held within the letters. Finally, the author joins and says: We stumble, or we fall at midday, as if in darkness: in the shadows, as if dead. For in the whole world, with the sun of righteousness shining brightly, they dwell in darkness, namely because they are dead in sin. He says, let us roar like bears, and let us moan like doves; that they may be equally cruel and miserable: fierce and savage towards the humble and submissive: fearful and trembling before those who are stronger, whom they dread like hawks. We also read in another place: Like a bear robbed of her cubs. And in Daniel, a bloody kingdom compared to the fiercest bears (2 Kings 17:8; Dan. 7). And, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory. But just as the doves, of which it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea VII, 11); and just as in the Gospel, simplicity is set against the malice of serpents (Matthew X): so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to foolishness, is shown in the meditation on words alone. They will await judgment, and it will not come. Salvation is implied: they will wait and it will not come, because she has migrated far away to the nations. In this, it should be noted that everything is said in the future tense, so that what the Jews are now enduring is indicated.
59:12-15
(Ver. 12 seqq.) Our iniquities have multiplied before you, and our sins have answered us: for our crimes are with us, and we know our iniquities. To sin and lie against the Lord: and we turned away, so as not to go after the back of our Lord, to speak calumny, and we conceived transgression, and we spoke deceitful words from the heart. And judgment has been turned away backwards, and justice has stood far off, for truth has fallen down in the street, and equity could not enter. And truth has been turned into forgetfulness, and those who have turned away from evil have become a prey. LXX: For our iniquity is great in your sight, and our sins have held us back. For our iniquities are within us, and we have acknowledged our injustices. We have acted impiously, and we have lied, and we have turned away from our God. We have spoken wickedly and we have been disobedient. We have conceived and contemplated wicked words in our hearts. And we have gone away from judgement, and justice stands far away, because truth has been consumed in their ways, and they were not able to pass through the straight path. And truth has been taken away, and they have turned their mind so that they do not understand. They roar like bears; they meditate like doves; they wait for judgment that is not there, and salvation has passed on to the nations. For our iniquities have multiplied, saying, our iniquities are before you, from whom you have turned away your face for a long time, so that you would not see them, nor strike us. And our sins have answered against us, so that we receive what we deserve. And our crimes are with us: we have recognized our injustices, which we used to think were righteousness for a long time. But what are these injustices? To sin and to lie against God: or as Aquila translated according to the Hebrew, to deny God: which refers to the Savior. And they say: We have abandoned our God, saying: We know that God spoke to Moses: but we do not know where this one comes from (John 9:29), so that we may speak false accusations, If this man were from God, he would not break the Sabbath (Ibid., 16). And he cast out devils from the prince of devils (Luke 11:15). And transgression, which is more significantly called apostasy in Greek, is when someone denies God and is accused of rebellion. We have conceived and spoken words of falsehood from the heart, despising the law of God and following the traditions of men, which they call second commandments, and which we have pretended in our heart. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off. For what part does justice have with iniquity? What fellowship does Christ have with Belial? Righteousness has stood among the nations and has departed from us, for truth has fallen in the squares. For the way that leads to death is wide and spacious (Matthew 7), for they refused to enter the narrow path where truth resides. And truth has been forgotten, as it is written: Truth has sprung up from the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven (Psalm 85:12). It should be noted that the truth is frequently mentioned in order to show the person of Christ, whom they abandoned and followed falsehood. And he who departed from evil was exposed to plunder. Although this may seem obscure, it can be explained as follows: when we fabricate lies from our own hearts and abandon God's law, righteousness remains far away, and truth falls in the streets, and fairness cannot enter us, and the Son of God, who is the truth, is forgotten: to such an extent that whoever desires to depart from the traditions of the Jews immediately becomes exposed to snares and persecutions, so that they expelled the man blind from birth who received sight from the synagogues (John 9). And after the resurrection of the Lord Savior, all those who believed in him were persecuted and stripped: to whom the ministries of the Church were directed, which were distributed through the hands of the Apostles to the whole world of the nations.
59:16-17
(Verse 16, 17.) And the Lord saw, and evil appeared in his eyes: because there is no justice, and he saw that there is no man, and he was astonished, because there is no one to oppose. And his own arm will save him: and his righteousness itself will strengthen him. He is clothed with righteousness as with a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head. He is clothed with garments of vengeance, and covered with a cloak of zeal. As for revenge, it is like retaliation for his enemies, and retribution for his foes; he will repay the islands. LXX: The Lord saw, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle, repaying his enemies with their just deserts. Up to this point, the prophetic discourse has been from the perspective of the people: now the prophet speaks from his own perspective. While they were saying these things, the Lord saw that they were professing repentance with their mouths, but not acting with their hearts, and this did not please Him. For He sought truth in judgment among them, which had been transferred to the nations, but He did not find it. He desired a righteous man who could meet Him in anger, but He did not find one; as He had previously said: 'I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to hear.' (Isaiah 50:2) And because those who persist in wickedness, not even one righteous person is found: but all have turned away, and together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Psalm 14). But God has strengthened him with his arm and righteousness, and confirmed him with mercy, so that those who desire to turn from error may be saved not by their own merit, but by God's mercy. Finally, he has put on the armor of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation, and the garments of vengeance, and has wrapped himself in the cloak of zeal. Thus, armed, he has gone forth to battle, to exact vengeance upon his enemies. Without a doubt, this signifies the Jews, who persist in blasphemies, and the Roman army surrounding their enemies. When they are conquered, the Lord is shown to have fought. Paul used this testimony when writing to the Ephesians, and wanting us to put on the armor of Christ, by which we may be able to resist the fiery darts of the devil (Ephesians 6). And this is not found in the Septuagint: He will repay the islands, that is, he means the cities of Judea, which the Roman army devastated. For also above (Chapter 20), the Lord speaks to the inhabitants of the island, that is, to Jerusalem, through the Prophet.
59:19-20
(Verse 19, 20) And those from the West shall fear the name of the Lord, and those from the East, His glory, when He comes like a rushing river, driven by the breath of the Lord. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those who turn from wickedness in Jacob, says the Lord. This is my covenant with them, says the Lord: My spirit, which is in you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, says the Lord, from now on and forever. LXX: And those from the west shall fear the name of the Lord, and those from the east, the glorious name. For he shall come like a violent river, the wrath of the Lord. He shall come with fury and he shall come from Zion to deliver. And he shall turn away wickedness from Jacob, and this shall be a covenant to them from me, says the Lord. My spirit, which is in you, and my words, which I have given in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, and from the mouth of your seed, says the Lord, from now and forever. After the Lord is clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, and the garments of vengeance, and is clad with the cloak of zeal for battle, and comes to the contest and vindication, in order to repay the enemies and render to his adversaries, and to subvert their islands, that is, their cities and villages, then the foreigners who come from the West and the East, in order to rest in the bosom of Abraham (Matthew 8), of whom it is also said above (Isaiah 49:12), 'Behold, these will come from far away, some from the West, and some from the North, and some from the land of the Persians, they will fear the Lord with that fear which is the beginning of wisdom (Sirach 1).' Of which we read in many places, from which let us put a few: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord (Psalm 111:1). And: There is no want for those who fear Him (Psalm 34:10). And: The fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom (Proverbs 15:33). And: Come, my children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Psalm 34:12). And: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord (Psalm 127:4). And: The fear of the Lord prolongs days (Proverbs 10:27). But that after Israel is rejected, a multitude of Gentiles succeeds, the prophet Malachi teaches more fully, in which it is said to the Jews: My will is not in you, says the Lord Almighty. And I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands (Malachi 1:10,11). And again from the multitude of nations: From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is glorified among the nations. The author of this blessing is the one who will come like a violent river, whom the spirit of the Lord forces. Whether as the eagle carries, like a narrow river, the spirit of the Lord is his seal. Or as Theodotio, like a river attacking, the spirit of the Lord is sealed. In this passage, which the Seventy have translated, the anger of the Lord will come with fury, like a violent river. The last part is not found in the Hebrew. For in the promises of God, anger and fury should not be placed, since in the other things that follow, there is the blessedness of the future and the threat and punishment of sinners. However, according to Aquila and Theodotion, the Spirit of the Lord, who is sealed in Christ, confirms that example which is read in the Gospel of John: 'For him, God the Father has sealed' (John 6:27); about whom it was previously said: 'A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord' (Isaiah 11:1-2). Therefore, we also say: 'The light of your face, O Lord, has shone upon us' (Psalm 4:7). And in Ezekiel, the foreheads of weeping men are marked with the letter Thav, the last Hebrew letter among them, by an imprint (Ezek. 9). But if we want to know how the Holy Spirit is a violent river, let us turn to the Acts of the Apostles, in which it is written: When they were all together in one place, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:2-3). It follows: 'A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from wickedness in Jacob,' says the Lord. For this reason, the Seventy translated it: 'A Deliverer will come from Zion, and will turn away wickedness from Jacob.' Therefore, if He will come from Zion to turn away wickedness from Jacob, we understand that a man will be born in Zion, and the Most High will establish it, He who turns away the crimes of Jacob. But if the Redeemer of Zion shall come and those who return from iniquity in Jacob, says the Lord, this is the meaning: Christ will come who will redeem Zion with his blood. Or according to Hebrew custom, who is near to Zion and born of the lineage of Israel, for this is what Goel (i.e., άγκιστεὺς) means. And lest we think that all of Zion is redeemed and delivered from the bloody sins of the Lord, he significantly adds: those who return from iniquity, if they are willing to repent, in whom the Lord's prayer is fulfilled: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). Therefore their redemption is in Zion: and the one who receives him from Jacob, and he promises to them, saying: This is my covenant with them, whether the agreement, as all others transferred, or the testament, as the Seventy have set forth. But what the covenant, agreement, and testament are, the following verse shows: My spirit, he says, who is in you, and my words that I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, from now on and forever. What is said either to Isaiah, as it seems to me, or to the Lord, as most people think. Therefore, the order is connected to Isaiah in this way: This is the everlasting covenant of the Gospel, that my spirit which is in you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, by which you will foretell the future, may not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your sons and grandsons, and your descendants, so that every generation may be shown: that is, that the grace of the Prophets may come in the Apostles, and through them, to those who will believe in Israel through the Apostles. But what He adds is in perfect harmony with this testimony: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35). Expounding this passage carefully, Paul writes to the Romans that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, but the Lord is the Lord of all, rich unto all that call upon him. (Romans 10). And that the Gentiles have not so believed, as that Israel should be entirely rejected. For I also, says He, am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew (Romans. XXII). And after a little while, when he had set an example with Elijah, who complained to the Lord that he alone was left, and heard from Him that the Lord had reserved for Himself seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings. XIX), he brought it to this: Even so now, at this time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. What therefore is it? What Israel was seeking, this it has attained: but the elect have obtained it, and the rest have been blinded. And if they shall remain not in unbelief, they shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the wild olive tree, which is natural to thee; and contrary to nature, were grafted into the good olive tree; how much more shall they that are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you should be wise in your own conceits)... Because blindness has happened in part to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles enters, and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins (Rom. 11:25-27). We have explained this in more detail so that whatever promises we read and will say, we understand them to be said specifically to Zion and Jerusalem, not generally to all Jews, but specifically to those who were chosen in the Apostles and through the Apostles from Israel.
Book Seventeen
Book Seventeen.
I would like to briefly go through with the virgin of Christ, Eustochium, how many mysteries the seventeenth number contains, to which now the book of Explanations has come in Isaiah in the holy Scriptures. But because I cannot say everything in every place, I strictly admonish this: that the psalm, which is noted with the title of this number, is of the Son of David, and he sang the words of the Canticle on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, and he said, 'I will love you, Lord, my strength,' and so on. But this is the servant of the Lord, of whom the Father speaks in Isaiah: 'It is a great thing for you to be called my servant' (Isaiah 44). And in another place: 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased' (Isaiah 42, 2). This servant, who is interpreted as 'mighty in hand,' on the day when the Lord freed him from the hand of Saul; who in our language, sounds like 'desirable' or 'inferno,' and from all his enemies, who cried out against him: 'Crucify, crucify such a man' (Luke 23), when he ascended as the victorious one to the Father in glorious apparel from Bosra, among other things he spoke the words of a triumphant one: 'Deliver me from the contradictions of the people: you shall make me the head of the nations.' The people that I have not known, has served me: at the hearing of the ear, they have obeyed me (Ps. XVII, 44, 45). And again of the people of Juda: The strange children have lied to me: strange children have grown old, and have halted from their paths (Ibid., 46); to whom Elias also said: How long do you halt on both sides (II Reg. XVIII, 21)? Finally, what is difficult to find in others, this psalm is contained both in Samuel and in the Chronicles (II Reg. XXII). He who, progressing from one number to seven, comes to the twenty-eighth psalm, which is also titled David, in the completion of the tabernacle, when the Angels are commanded: Bring to the Lord sons of God: bring to the Lord sons of rams. And all the saving waters of baptism and mysteries of the Church are sung: The voice of the Lord is over the waters: The God of majesty has thundered: The Lord is over many waters, the voice of the Lord is with power (Ps. 28:1): And after a little while: The voice of the Lord preparing his servants, and has revealed the depths, and in his Temple, all shall declare his glory (Ibid., 3, 10). And in order to demonstrate the multitude of believers, he introduced: The Lord made the flood to inhabit, and the Lord will sit as king forever. And again, by adding the eighth sacrament, he creates the written thirty-sixth psalm, the beginning of which is: Do not be envious of evildoers, nor be jealous of those who do iniquity. The explanation of this, not of the preface, but of the proper volume. And lest we now repeat many things, until the fifteenth number by increasing additions, in which there are degrees of psalms, and the vessel of election resides with Peter in Jerusalem, it makes the one hundred and twentieth number, who were the first believers in Christ and ascended with the Apostles to the upper room of faith (Acts 5): and the Holy Spirit descended upon them (Galatians 1). And going up to the seventeenth number in order, and possessing the dignity of the Gospel, at the Lord's command from the right side, he catches one hundred and fifty-three large fish and places them in the Church (John 21). To whom now the prophet Isaiah speaks.
60:1-3