23:10
(Verse 10) Because the earth is filled with adulterers (or adulteresses), because the face of the earth mourns because of a curse (or oath), the fields (or pastures) of the desert are dried up, and their course is evil, and their strength is dissimilar. This that we have put from Hebrew: because the earth is filled with adulterers, is not found in the Septuagint, who have spoken an oath, instead of a curse. And they give the reasons, that because of adulteries and curses, or excessive oath, or rather perjuries, there has been a result of the sterility of crops. Whatever you understand from the land of Judaea according to the written word, report it to the congregation of believers, because due to adultery, lies, or perjury, the churches are barren of the virtues and gifts of God.
23:11-12
(Vers. 11, 12.) For the prophet and the priest have become polluted, and in my house I have found their evils," says the Lord. "Therefore, their way will be like a slippery path in the darkness. They will be pushed and fall in it, for I will bring upon them the year of their visitation," says the Lord. "When evils are found in the Church of God, especially in its leaders, let us know that the prophecy and the priesthood have become polluted. In my house I have found their evils," says the Lord. But the house of Christ is the Church, of which the Apostle writes to Timothy: That you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. III, 15). In the prophet, receive a teacher; in the priest, the dignity of the ministry. If they consent with a perverse mind, their way will be slippery and dark; and they will not have the Lord speaking to them: I am the light of the world; he who believes in me shall not remain in darkness (John XII, 46). Where the Saint says, fleeing all darkness: Signet is upon us the light of your face, O Lord; you have given joy in my heart. But when they are in darkness and on a slippery path, namely the path of heresy, they will be driven to every movement and will fall. And the Lord brings evils upon them, not because evils are theirs, so that the Lord may bring evils, but evils are for those who endure punishment. Otherwise, the same things are both evil and good. Evil, according to those who are tormented; good, according to those who are corrected. And this must be noted, that the year of the Lord's visitation, the correction of sinners is called and the torment, according to that which is written: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes: but my mercy I will not scatter away from him (Psalm 88:33-34).
23:13
(Verse 13) And in the prophets of Samaria I saw foolishness (or wickedness (Vulgate: foolishness))); they prophesied in Baal and deceived my people Israel. I think that the prophets of Samaria, according to mystical understanding, are properly called heretics, and all who boast of false knowledge. However, just as the prophets of Samaria prophesied in Baal, that is, an idol consecrated to demons, so heretics speak whatever they say in the Church or outside the Church, in order to deceive the people of Israel, who previously beheld God, they speak in demons. And significantly it says: And I have seen foolishness in the Prophets of Samaria (I Cor. I, 24): for they do not possess him of whom it is said, the power of God and the wisdom of God, Christ.
23:14
(Verse 14.) And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a likeness (or dreadful things), adultery and the path of lies, and they strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that each one would not turn away from their evil ways. They have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. Not only, he says, are these things found in the assemblies of heretics, but also in the prophets of Jerusalem, that is, the teachers of the Church, I saw similar things, or dreadful things, the adulterating of the word of God and the walking in the way of lies, so that they might acquiesce in the deceits of heretics and strengthen the hands of the wicked, adding their evils to their own sins, and leading those whom they should have corrected to destruction. Let those who have done this not consider themselves unpunished. For they and those who support them will be like Sodom, and all those who dwell with them will not depart from such evil, like Gomorrah. Therefore, let the worst doctrine rejoice as much as it wants, and let the prophets of Jerusalem boast that they have obtained through lies and strengthened the hands of the wicked. Their end will be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
23:15
(Verse 15.) Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood (or sorrow, and according to Symmachus, bitterness) and give them gall to drink (or bitter water), because from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone out into all the land. Let us use this testimony against those who disseminate letters full of lies, deceit, and perjury throughout the world, so that they may defile the ears of those who hear them and harm the reputation of the innocent. Thus, may what is written be fulfilled in them: Pollution has gone out from the prophets of Jerusalem to all the land. For it is not enough for them to devour their own iniquity and harm their neighbors, but they strive to defame those whom they once hated throughout the world, and spread blasphemies everywhere.
23:16-17
(Verse 16, 17.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, and deceive you. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those who despise me (or reject my word), the Lord has spoken, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. So that the people may not think they are innocent if they follow the wicked teachers, do not listen, he says, to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you deceit, and deceive you. For there will be punishment for both the master and the disciple. They do not speak from the Lord's mouth, but rather things they have concocted in their own hearts. They say to those who blaspheme against me, namely heretics and perverted individuals, or those who reject my message: what do they say? The Lord has spoken, there will be peace for you. Do not fear harsh punishments, nor be frightened by empty threats. There will be peace and tranquility for you, and whatever we say and announce to you, the Lord has spoken; nor will any evil come upon you that you fear out of a guilty conscience; but rather the good that the Lord has spoken to you will come.
Who indeed was present in the counsel of the Lord, and saw, and heard His word? Who considered His word, and heard it? Where we have interpreted, in the counsel, and in Hebrew it is written Basod (): Aquila, secretum: Symmachus, sermonem: Septuagint and Theodotion, substance or essence. And the sense is: Do not believe, O uninformed crowd, the false prophets who announce to you, saying, 'The Lord has spoken this, peace will be upon you; no evil will come upon you.' For where can the secrets of God be known, or by whom have we learned the counsel of God? How does the word of divine arrangement reach them? Some of our people think they have found this place, where the substance of God is described.
23:19-20
(Verse 19, 20.) Behold, a whirlwind (or a storm, and commotion) of the Lord's indignation will go forth, and a bursting storm will come upon the head of the wicked, and the Lord's fury will not turn back until He has done, and until He has fulfilled the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days, you will understand His plan. Those who previously said, 'The Lord has spoken to us, there will be peace for you,' and those whom He corrected because they could not know the future or understand God's judgment, now He reveals the opposite, that they do not know at all. For the sake of peace and security, the storm will come to Babylon, and it will not come upon just anyone, but upon the heads of the wicked, whether the entire people or those who falsely reported to the people. Not like in past times when God's anger and fury were appeased, but what he foretold and threatened many times must be fulfilled by action, and the thoughts and intentions of the wicked must be proven by punishments. When, he says, the end of captivity comes and the triumphant conqueror takes hold of you, and the hands bind you with the clanking of chains, then you will understand his plan, which you now boast of knowing in vain.
23:21-22
(Verses 21, 22). I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in my council and had made my words known to my people, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their actions. This sentiment is explained by the Apostle to the Romans: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. (Rom. 1:28, 29), and so on. For when false teachers have once surrendered themselves to lies and perjuries and the deaths of the deceived, they do not run slowly, nor with careful steps, but headlong into destruction, both their own and those whom they have deceived. The Lord does not speak to them, but they themselves speak as if from the mouth of the Lord, concerning whom it is also said: If they had stood in my counsel, that is, if they had been willing to acquiesce to my will, and had made my words known to my people, not flattering them and corrupting them with flattery, so that they would say, you have no sins; you possess perfect justice; holiness and chastity and righteousness are found only in you: and I would not have given them over to uncleanness and shame, to do what is not fitting, and to follow their wicked thoughts. Let us consider the heretics, how once despairing of salvation, they surrender themselves to gluttony and pleasures, feast on meats, frequently visit baths, smell of perfume; being adorned with various ointments, they seek bodily beauty. For they do not hope for things to come, nor do they believe in the resurrection. Although they do not speak of these things in words, they show them in their actions. For if they believed, they would not do such things. And in this passage where it is written: if they had stood in my counsel, let Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotio, and the Seventy, likewise translated it above.
23:23-24
(Ver. 23, 24.) Do you think that I am a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God from afar? If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. LXX: I am a God who approaches, says the Lord, and not a God from afar. If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord; do I not fill heaven and earth? The Lord says, 'Am I a God who is near, and not a God who is far away?' Aquila and Symmachus likewise interpreted it: 'Am I a God who is near, and not a God who is far away?' But the Septuagint and Theodotion translated it in the opposite sense, saying: 'I am a God who is approaching,' says the Lord, 'and not a God who is far away.' The latter meaning asserts that God not only knows what is near, but also what is far away; and not only sees what is present, but also what is future. Truly, they consider God to be present everywhere, and there is no place where God is not. For God is close to all, especially the saints, as if a garment were adhering to the skin. But sinners who distance themselves from Him will perish. We read this meaning in the Psalms as well: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10). Amos also agrees with these words, saying: If they descend to the grave, from there my hand will bring them out; and if they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search for them and take them away. And if they hide from my eyes in the depths of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them (Amos 9:2-3); and again in the previous psalm: For darkness will not hide from you; and night will be as bright as day: as its darkness, so its light (Psalm 139:12). But what is frequently said in the Prophets, 'Thus says the Lord,' is always added, so that the words of the Prophets are not despised, but rather, it is constantly reminded that they are the words of God that they speak.
23:25-27
(Verse 25 onwards) I have heard what the prophets have said, prophesying in my name lies and saying: I had a dream (or I saw a vision). How long will this deceit be in the hearts (or minds) of the prophesying prophets, who desire (or think) to make my people forget my name because of their dreams, which each one tells to their neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name for Baal (or in Baal). Because the previous title is against the Prophets, or to the Prophets, whom we clearly understand to be false prophets (and there are many types of prophesying: one of which is dreams, such as in Daniel), therefore the prophetic discourse is directed towards those who believe in dreams and think that everything they see is a divine revelation, which is properly revealed to the saints and servants of God. And if we read about Pharaoh (Gen. XLI) and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. II) seeing true dreams, it was not because of their merit that they saw them; but rather so that through their occasion the holy men Joseph and Daniel might shine forth, and the hard and unyielding hearts of the tyrants might feel the majesty of the Lord through their own conscience. Today there are also dreamers in the Church, and especially in our flock, who boast their own errors as the prophecy of the Lord, and frequently insert, 'I dreamed, I dreamed.' These the Lord rebukes, saying, 'How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? For they do these things, that, as the ancient people, that came out of Egypt, forgot my name,' However, this prophecy is not in the name of the Lord, but in the name of Baal, which is properly the idol of the Sidonians or Babylonians, and is also called Bel.
23:28-29
(Verse 28, 29.) The prophet who has a dream, let him tell the dream, and the one who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is straw compared to wheat? says the Lord. Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer (or an axe) shattering rock? It is for them to interpret the dream who are deserving of having the word of God, and to say: Thus says the Lord; to whom the Lord has spoken, in whom there is truth, and not deceitful lies. What do the heretics' chaff have to do with the wheat of the Church? about which John the Baptist speaks more fully (Matt. III), that the Lord may cleanse his threshing floor, and by the winnowing fan scatter the chaff to be burned by the winds, and leave it to be consumed by fire; but may store the wheat in the barns, that it may become heavenly bread; and let each believer say: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet (Ps. XXXIII, 9). And fittingly is false doctrine compared to chaff, which has no substance, nor can it nourish the people of believers, but it is crushed by empty husks. And because heretics usually promise prosperity and open the kingdoms of heaven to sinners, saying, 'The kingdoms of heaven are prepared for you', you can imitate the majesty of God, so that you may be without sin; for you have received the power of free will and the knowledge of the law, by which you may attain what you desire. And they deceive the wretched with flatteries, especially the women burdened with sins, who go about listening to every wind of doctrine, always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth, and they deceive all their hearers with adulation (Ephesians 4); therefore the Lord, comparing his words to the chaff of heretics, says: Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock? For my part, he said, my speech announces future punishments so as to deter people from sinning; and he threatens the fire of sinners to the chaff, so that the hardened hearts of heretics, like flint, may be crushed by the hammer of his word: taking away a heart of stone, so that he may put in its place a heart of flesh, namely, one that is soft and capable of receiving and understanding God's commands. The Lord speaks of such a thing through Ezekiel as well (Ezek. 13), because false prophets smear the wall with their seductions and without mortar, which is later destroyed by a violent rain and the truth of judgment. And the false prophets may sew pillows under every arm to make sinners rest, and by no means soothe the wrath of God with tears. For a hammer, they have interpreted the axe of the Seventy, which undoubtedly John the Baptist speaks of: Now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees (Matthew 3:10). This axe cuts down unfruitful trees, and this hammer crushes the hardest stones. Therefore, the Prophet Nahum also speaks: His fury, undoubtedly God's, will consume the principalities and the rocks will be crushed by Him (Nahum 1:6). This is against heretics. Moreover, it is written about Ecclesiastical men, that the hammer and axe are not heard in the house of the Lord (3 Kings 6).
23:30-32
(Verse 30 and following) Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who steal my words from each other (or from their neighbor). Behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who use their own tongues and say, "declares" (or who sleep and dream). Behold, I am against the prophets who dream lies,' declares the Lord, 'and tell them, and lead astray (or have led astray) my people with their lies and with their miracles (or with their wonders and terrors), when I did not send them or command them; they are of no benefit to this people,' declares the Lord. Always does a lie imitate truth: and unless it has some resemblance to what is right, it cannot deceive the innocent. Therefore, in the olden days, the prophets used to deceive the people and say: Thus says the Lord. And, I saw the Lord; and, the Word of the Lord that came to him, or to her: in the same way, heretics assume testimonies of the Scriptures from the old and new Testaments, and steal the words of the Savior from one another, from the Prophets and Apostles, and the Evangelists: and they use their tongues to pronounce the poison of their hearts, and they sleep a deep sleep, about which it is truly said: They have dozed off, and have found nothing (Psalm 76:5). Or according to the Hebrew: And they say, so that the Lord may be understood, or certainly (alternatively), divine speech. Therefore, the Lord threatens (alternatively, adds now) that He Himself will come against such masters, who deceive His people with their lies and with stupors and miracles. For they promise great and incredible and enormous (alternatively, imperceptible) things, in order to deceive the miserable ones who have done nothing to benefit the people of God. And they fulfill this Apostolic teaching, teaching that it is not necessary for the sake of shameful gain: those who are accustomed to announce prosperity to the wicked and adversity to the righteous.