31:10-14
(Verse 10 and following) Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and proclaim it in distant islands, and say: He who scattered Israel will gather him and will watch over him as a shepherd does his flock. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and delivered him from the hand of the stronger (or the hand of the more powerful). And they will come and praise on Mount Zion, and they will gather to the good things of the Lord, abundant with grain, wine, oil, and the offspring of cattle and sheep. And their soul shall be like a well-watered garden (or like a fruitful tree), and they shall never hunger again. Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance (or the virgins) and the young men and the old men together, and I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will make the souls of the priests drunk with fatness (or the sons of Levi), and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. Clearly the calling of the nations is shown, with the Scripture saying: Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it on the islands far away, and say. What do the islands that are far away announce? It is the Lord, who dispersed Israel, who will gather them together. Therefore, it was not by the power of their enemies that they were scattered, but by the will of the Lord. And He will guard them as a shepherd guards his flock. For a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10). Because the Lord has redeemed Jacob with the price of His own blood and has liberated him from the hand of the more powerful or stronger one. By these things are shown the stronger opposing powers of the nature of human frailty. And as far as strength is concerned, they are stronger by nature, but we are stronger by faith, if indeed we deserve to be freed from him who can bind the strong and plunder his house. And they will come, he says, without a doubt, that when freed from the hand of the powerful, they will praise their liberator on Mount Zion, that is, in the Church, and they will gather to the good things of the Lord, the abundance of all things, which is felt not in the fruits and food of this flesh, but in the variety of virtues. He said, 'With wheat, and wine, and oil, from which the bread of the Lord is made, and the type of His blood is filled, and the blessing of sanctification is shown, as the Scripture says: 'God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions' (Psalm 45:8). And with the offspring of livestock, which are simple in the Church, and with cattle, which are horned, they drive away adversaries. But so that we may know that these blessings pertain not to the body, but to the soul, it follows: 'Their soul will be like a well-watered garden, or like a fruitful tree, which is planted by the flowing waters, and the Lord's paradise in delights' (Psalm 1). And furthermore, he says, you shall not hunger. In no way will you be hungry, of which it is written: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6); but that which is changed by satiety, and excludes the scarcity of all things. Then the virgin will rejoice in the choir, of whom the Apostle writes: For I have betrothed you to one husband to present a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). And to the young men, to whom John speaks: I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one; and to the elders, to whom he testifies in mystical language: I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning (1 John 2:14). And, he says, I will turn their mourning into joy, so that the cross that had terrified them may bring joy through the resurrection. And I will console them and make them glad from their sorrow, according to what the Lord says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And I will gladden the souls of the Priests, who have knowledge of God, from whose mouths they seek the law of the Lord, those who believe in Him, of whom the Prophet sings: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). But what follows according to the Septuagint: Of the sons of Levi, it is not found in Hebrew. And it is clear that it is not said of those priests who are sons of Levi, but of those in whose type Melchizedek preceded. And the drunkenness of the priests is also proven in the Apostles, when they were fervent in faith and were said to be full of must (Acts 2). Hence, the place in which the Lord was apprehended is called Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36), which in our language means the valley of fatness. And when the priests, who are rich with the teachings of the Lord, have been intoxicated at the feast, they will say to Joseph: How splendid is your intoxicating cup (Gen. 43 and 44)! Then this promise of the Lord will also be fulfilled: And my people will be filled with my blessings (Ps. 22:5). All these things are now given in part, but then they will be given in full, when we see face to face, and our humble bodies will be transformed into the glory of resurrection.
31:15
(Verse 15.) Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in the heights, lamentation, weeping, and mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted over her children, because they are no more. LXX: Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Rama, lamentation, weeping, and mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they are no more. Neither according to the Hebrew, nor according to the Seventy, did Matthew take testimony. For we read in it: Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not (Matthew 2:17-18). From which it is clear that the Evangelists and Apostles did not follow the interpretation of any Hebrew, but rather expressed in their own words, as if Hebrews, what they read in Hebrew. Rachel, the mother of Joseph, when she was coming to Bethlehem, suddenly seized with the pain of childbirth, gave birth to a son, whom the midwife, because she was dying in childbirth, called Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow. But Jacob the father changed the name and called him Benjamin, that is, the son of his right hand (Gen. XXXV, 18). Therefore, it is questioned how the evangelist Matthew transferred the testimony of the Prophet to the killing of the infants: when it is clearly written about the ten tribes, of which Ephratha was not the leader, and it is by no means in the tribe of Ephraim, but in the tribe of Judah: for it is itself, and Bethlehem with two names. And the names of both correspond. Bethlehem is called the house of bread. Ephrata, which we can call fertility. Therefore, since Rachel was buried in Ephrata, that is, in Bethlehem, as both the Holy Scripture and her tombstone testify to this day, it is said that she weeps for the children who were killed nearby and in their own regions. Some Jews interpret this place as meaning that when Jerusalem was captured under Vespasian, countless thousands of captives were sent to Rome through this road, Gaza, and Alexandria. But others, because in the final captivity under Hadrian, when the city of Jerusalem was also destroyed, an innumerable people of various ages and both sexes were sold in the market of Terebinth. And therefore it is detestable for the Jews to visit that renowned market. Let them say whatever they want, we will rightly say that the Evangelist Matthew took testimony for the place where Rachel was buried, so that she mourned the sons of neighboring villages as if they were her own.
31:16-17
(Verse 16, 17.) Thus says the Lord: Let your voice be still from weeping, and your eyes from tears: for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord. And the enemies (or of the enemies) will return from the land, and there will be hope for your future, says the Lord: and the children will return to their borders. This has not yet happened literally, for we do not read of the ten tribes who were exiled in the cities of the Medes and Persians returning to the land of Judah: but it has been fulfilled according to the spirit, and in the passion of the Lord, and it continues to be fulfilled: when all Israel is saved from the whole world, and Rachel is said: Let your voice be still from weeping, and your eyes from tears. And there is a sense: Stop weeping, for the Lord has considered your previous works. And your children will return from the land of the enemy, so you may not be held back by present sorrow. For there is hope for your future, says the Lord. And your children will return to their borders, which their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had. But we understand better concerning little ones, that they shall receive the reward of shedding blood for Christ: and for the land of Herod's enemies, they shall hold the kingdom of heaven: and they shall return to their former dwelling place, when, for the body of humility, they shall receive a glorious body. This is the ultimate hope, when the just will shine like the sun (Wis. III), and once little infants and nursing babies, without any increase in age, and without injury or physical labor, will rise again as fully grown men, to the measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. IV).
31:18-19
(Verse 18, 19.) Hearing, I heard Ephraim passing through (or lamenting); you chastised me, and I was instructed like an untamed heifer (or like a calf, and I did not learn); turn me, and I will be turned; for you are the Lord my God. For after you converted me (or I was captured), I repented. And after I knew (or you showed me), I struck my thigh (or I groaned), I was ashamed and embarrassed (or from the day of confusion, and I saw you), because I endured the reproach of my youth. God speaks, having heard Ephraim speaking and lamenting. There is no doubt that it signifies the ten tribes, over whom Jeroboam son of Nabath first ruled, who also made golden calves in Dan and Bethel, so that, deceived by this error, the people would cease to worship and adore the God of Israel. You have chastised me, he says, and I have been chastised. Every correction leads to salvation, which for the present seems to be sadness; and afterwards it brings forth peaceful fruits. And he says: 'Just as an untamed calf or a young bull, and I have not learned, this signifies that I have been trained with much labor and beatings in order to be converted, and I have not progressed. Convert me,' he says, 'and I will be converted.' Therefore, we cannot fulfill the same thing that we are doing penance for unless we rely on God's help. For after you have converted me and I have been converted to you, then I will know that you are the Lord my God, and my mistakes and sins will not destroy me. And after you converted me, I repented. See how great is the help of God, and how fragile is the human condition: that even this very thing, that we repent, we cannot accomplish unless the Lord converts us beforehand. And after, he says, you showed me, either repentance itself, or knowledge of you, or I recognized you, I struck my thigh. Which is an indication of one who is in pain and lamenting, and weeping over their previous error, that they would strike their thigh with their hand, and confess that they were foolish before. Confucius, he said, I am confused and embarrassed, or from the day of confusion. For what time is not our confusion, if we remember the ancient sins, and all the things we have done wrong, let us recapitulate them? And what LXX said, and I showed you, means that after he groaned and recognized his own sins, he has come to such progress that he has also shown God to others who were ignorant, according to what the repentant David says: I will teach the wicked your ways, and the impious will turn to you (Psalm 50:15). And when he says, 'Because I endured the reproach of my youth,' he confesses that he sinned in his ignorance of youth, so that he may more easily obtain forgiveness, according to what David sings: 'Remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorance' (Psalm 25:7). Therefore, in the following passages, God calls him a little child and full of delights. He says this because of the greatness of the riches and the fertility of the land in which the tribe of Ephraim luxuriates even to this day.
31:20
(Vers. 20.) If Ephraim is an honorable son (or beloved) to me: if he is a delicate child, since I spoke of him (or my words about him), I will still remember him; therefore my heart is troubled for him: I will have mercy on him, says the Lord. As Ephraim repents and says: In the beginning you taught me, and I was instructed like a young untamed bull; and in the end: Because you endured the reproach of my youth; the Lord responds, and with a full mind turned towards him, he sustains with the following oracle: Beloved son Ephraim (Gen. XLVIII), whom I have loved so much from the beginning, that I preferred him to Manasseh. The honorable son, who, contrary to the order of nature, has received the honor of the firstborn by the grace of the Lord. A delicate boy, of whom it is written: The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle (Psalm 78:9). Against whom and for whom, the entire book of Hosea is the prophet, whom Jacob blessed. But let us understand delights in this place, according to what is said in the psalm: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). In Greek and Hebrew, it is referred to as pleasure. Thus, the paradise in Eden is called the paradise of delights. For, he says, my words were in him, and I will be mindful of him even now. Lest it be thought a gratuitous blessing, and rather a gift of the indulgent giver than a reward for his merit, to whom it was granted, he therefore says: I will remember him, because my words were in him. Not in his mouth, not on his lips, but in the deepest affection of the heart. Because of this, my guts are troubled over it. To whom he speaks, through Hosea: What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Israel? I will make you like Adam, and like Seboim (Hos. 6:4; 11:8). My heart is turned within me; my guts are troubled. I will not carry out the fury of my anger, and I will not destroy Ephraim. I will have compassion on him, says the Lord. Truly, my words were in him, and he received all my commands with an eager spirit, and he kept them in his heart; but nevertheless, I will have compassion on him, says the Lord, to show that all human righteousness needs the mercy of God.
31:21-22
(Vers. 21, 22.) Set up watchmen for yourself, make for yourself bitternesses: direct your heart to the straight path in which you have walked. Return, O virgin Israel, return to your cities. How long will you indulge in pleasures, wandering daughter? For the Lord has created something new on the earth: a woman will encompass a man. LXX: Set up watchmen for yourself, do penance, put your heart on your shoulders, the way in which you have walked. Return, O virgin Israel, return to your mourning cities. How long will you turn away, despised daughter? For the Lord has created you for salvation in a new plantation: men will surround you in your salvation. Where we say, how long will you dissolve in pleasures, Symmachus set forth, how long will you sink into the depths? But I have presented both editions in their entirety, so that I may show the most obscure passage, containing the sacraments of the Church, either unknown or omitted, from the Septuagint (or anyone else who has interpreted this prophet). The Hebrew word 'Sionim' can be translated as either 'watchers' or 'watchtowers', as Aquila and Symmachus have interpreted. I am puzzled by what the Vulgate edition intended by replacing 'Sionim' with 'Sion', which confuses the reader's understanding, making them think that after Ephraim, suddenly God's word happened to Sion and the tribe of Judah, even though the continuous speech is directed towards Ephraim, as mentioned earlier: 'I have surely heard Ephraim.' And: Son, honorable to me Ephraim, or delicate boy, to whom even now he speaks: Set up for yourself watchtowers, or spies, who may inform you of the coming of such great happiness in all things. And what follows, the bitternesses, which in Hebrew are called Themrurim (), for which Symmachus interpreted, the transformations, this indicates that he should weep either for past sins or for the greatness of joy, and with the whole mind turn to the Lord, and set, or direct, his heart on the path along which it has gone, for from there it will return. And what the Seventy said about this: 'Put your heart on your shoulders', signifies that thoughts should be joined to actions, or contemplate the shoulders of those who bear themselves, from the captivity of those bringing them back. This is more fully expressed by Isaiah in regard to camels, chariots, and dromedaries, stating that they are to be brought back (Isa. 60). 'Return,' he says, 'O virgin of Israel, return to your cities which you have deserted as a captive. How long will you be dissolved in neglect and wander in profound error?' Consider what I am about to say, and carefully consider where such great happiness is to be expected. Listen to what you have never known before. The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth. Without the seed of a man, without any sexual intercourse and conception, a woman will enclose a man in the chamber of her womb, who, as it were, by the cries of infancy and the progress of wisdom and age, will appear to grow in size; but the perfect man will be contained within the female womb for the usual months. Where Symmachus and Aquila have been interpreted according to our edition. However, what the Vulgate edition wanted to convey in this place, I could say, and find some meaning, if it were not sacrilegious to argue about the words of God with a human sense; but Theodotius, following the Vulgate edition itself, has interpreted: The Lord created a new salvation, in which salvation man will go around, using the singular instead of the plural. And at the same time, it should be noted that the nativity of the Savior and the conception of God are called creation.
31:23-24
(Verse 23, 24) Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Again they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: ‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!’ And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who move about with the flocks. According to the Hebrew text, it is clear that upon the return of Israel and the conversion of their captivity, the cities of Judah will be inhabited, and it will be said to them individually: 'May the Lord bless you, who is the true beauty of righteousness and the holy mountain, in which whoever dwells will fear no plots.' And Judah will dwell in its cities without iniquity: there will be farmers and a multitude of livestock, which seems to have been fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel and Ezra. However, the fullness of the prophecy refers to the times of Christ: either in his first coming, when these things were fulfilled spiritually, or in his second coming, when everything will be fulfilled both spiritually, according to the Jews and our carnal-minded judaizers. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, this is the meaning: 'This word will still be spoken in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their captivity.' What will be said? 'Blessed is the Lord upon his holy mountain, the mount of Zion.' There is no other mountain that deserves the meaning of justice and holiness except the Savior. However, it is foolish to believe that the mountain, which is irrational and insensible, is just and holy due to Jewish error. He is the one about whom it is written in the following: 'And in every city of his, the Savior is implied.' When the farmer is mentioned, there is no doubt that it signifies the Lord, about whom it is written in the Gospel: 'I am the vine, you are the branches. My Father is the farmer' (John 15:1). And the Apostle also says: You are God's field, you are God's building (1 Corinthians 3:9). And what follows: And he will be exalted in the flock, it shows that the righteous and holy Lord himself is exalted in each flock, and ascends to heights in his servants and believers.
31:25-26
Because I have made the weary soul drunk (or because I have made every thirsty soul drunk) and I have satisfied (or filled) every hungry soul: therefore I am awake and I have seen, and my sleep has been sweet to me. The change of persons makes the understanding of the Prophets obscure. The Lord had said, 'Yet they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn their captivity.' But what will they say? No doubt this follows: May the Lord bless you, the beauty of righteousness, the holy mountain, etc. And again, when they said these things, the Lord responded: Because I have refreshed the weary soul, whether thirsty or hungry, and I have satisfied every hungry soul. And when he said this, the people responded, those who came from captivity: Therefore I awakened and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me. For the Lord refreshes the weary soul, whether thirsty or hungry, and he says in the Gospel: Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37). And he said: 'Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.' (Ibid., 38). And he satisfies every hungry soul and thirsty soul. Regarding this hunger and thirst, the same is testified in the Gospel: 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.' (Matthew 5:6). And it should be noted that intoxication is being portrayed positively in this passage, as it is mentioned in the Song of Solomon: 'Eat, friends, drink, and become intoxicated, my beloved.' (Song of Solomon 5:1). Joseph was intoxicated with wine along with his brothers at noon (Gen. XLIII). And being intoxicated and satisfied, those who had been tired and hungry give thanks, responding: I have awakened and seen the Lord, namely raising up and saying: Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Ephes. V, 14). And my sleep, he said, was sweet to me, so that I might imitate the words of my Lord saying: I slept, and was filled with sleep, and I arose, because the Lord will receive me (Psal. III, 6).
31:27-30
(Verse 27 and following) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of animals. And as I have watched over them to uproot, demolish, scatter, and afflict, so I will watch over them to build and plant, says the Lord. In those days, they shall no longer say, 'The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge,' but each one shall die for his own iniquity. Every person who eats a sour grape, their teeth will be stunned. The phrase 'domum et domum' or 'house and house', that is, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, is not found in the Septuagint, but only Israel and Judah, so it says: and I will sow Israel and Judah. And what he brought: we must understand that it refers to the seed of humans and animals, to rational and simple beings. And as it is said in the beginning of Jeremiah: Behold, I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant; and I watched over them to do what I threatened, so, he says, I will now watch over them to build and to plant. For the cultivation of God, for the building up of God (1 Corinthians 3:9). All such promises are thought by the Jews and our Judaizers to be fulfilled in the thousand-year kingdom. But we, as the Apostle says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (Ibid., 6), and as the prophet Isaiah mentions that the Savior is the builder of walls and houses (Isaiah 58), we defend that these were spiritually fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, but only partially fulfilled: for now we see in a mirror, dimly, and we do not know as we ought to know (1 Corinthians 13). But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with. Or certainly, we believe that in the second coming, when the Lord appears in His majesty and the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved, and not partially by individuals, but God will be all in all (Romans 11 and 1 Corinthians 15). And what is implied by: In those days they shall no longer say, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge, and so on, we have explained more fully in the explanations of Ezekiel, when we interpreted that passage: Son of man, what do you mean by these proverbs of the children of Israel, saying, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Thus says the Lord: 'As I live, if there is beyond this parable in Israel, for all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die' (Ezekiel 18:1-4). From this, we learn that it is not death that the Lord does, but sin. For the soul that sins, it shall die. And in this present place, it is said that Israel will by no means be condemned eternally for the sins of their fathers; but through their own merits and faith in Christ, they will be saved after many ages. And it should be noted that vices and sins are called sour grapes, so that the teeth of those who eat them are stunned, and they cannot taste its sweetness, of which it is said: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet (Psalm 33:9). Whoever does not understand the Scriptures as the truth of the matter has eaten sour grapes. Hence all heretics who believe perverse things cannot eat the bread that comes down from heaven, but their teeth are stunned, not by the harshness of food, but by the vice of their teeth.
31:31-32
(Verse 31, 32.) Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will strike (or establish) the house of Israel and the house of Judah with a new covenant (or testament), not like the covenant (or testament) that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. The covenant (or testament) that they broke, though I was their master (or I disregarded them), says the Lord. And ((Vulg. but)) this will be the covenant (or testament) that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach ((Vulg. man and man)) his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. The apostle Paul, or someone else, wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, and all subsequent Ecclesiastical men say that everything was fulfilled in the first coming of the Savior, and that the new Testament, that is, the Gospel, succeeded the old Testament, from which the law of the letter was changed to the law of the spirit, so that all sacrifices, circumcision, and the Sabbath were spiritually fulfilled. But as for the covenant we set forth as Testament, it is of Hebrew truth, although it is correctly called a Testament, because the will and testimony of those who enter into the covenant are contained in it. When Israel was brought out of the land of Egypt, there was such a familiarity with God in that people that it is said that their hand was held and a covenant was made, which they made void, and therefore the Lord neglected them. But now in the Gospel after the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, he promises to give the covenant not on stone tablets, but on fleshy tablets of the heart. And when it is written that the Testament of the Lord is in the minds of the believers, it means that he is their God and they are his people, so that they should not seek Jewish teachers, traditions, and human commands, but be taught by the Holy Spirit, if they are worthy to listen: You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3:19). But the Spirit breathes where He wishes, and He has various graces. And the knowledge of one God is the possession of all virtues. And this, He says, will come to pass, because I will be propitious to their iniquity, and I will no longer remember their sins. From which it is clear, according to the understanding of this passage, that the things above are to be understood in the first coming of the Savior, when both peoples, Israel and Judah, were joined together. But if anyone finds difficulty in understanding why He said: I will make a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, let him first understand that the Church of Christ came from the Jews, and that the Lord and Savior came to them and said: I came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24); and the apostles themselves confirmed this: It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). For it was not fitting to give the bread of the children to the dogs, but because the sons did not want to receive their father coming to them, He gave power to all, so that those who receive Him may become children of God (Matthew 15; John 1).
31:35-36
(Verse 35, 36) Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, the order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar: The Lord of hosts is his name. If these laws (or statutes) depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever. And in the beginning of Genesis, we read that the sun was placed in the sky for light by day, and the moon and stars for light by night (Gen. 1). And in the psalm it says: Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge (Psalm 19:2), meaning that night and day succeed each other. Just as, he says, the order of things, especially the celestial spheres, cannot be changed, and the waves of the sounding sea roll toward the shore, and the terrifying noise of the swelling waves is heard, but it cannot go beyond what is commanded by God, according to that: You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth (Psalm 104:9). Similarly, he says, the offspring and lineage of Israel will be perpetual by the will of the Lord, and will never fail. However, here the laws are not to be understood as Mosaic, but as the constitution and order of nature. Let us ask the Jews, if the heavens will perish, and all will become old like a garment; and to the Lord it is said: But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail (Ps. CI, 28), how can the seed of Israel be perpetual? For if the heavens perish, the seed of Israel will perish; but if it is perpetual, then the heavens will not perish. But if the Scriptures cannot lie, and the heavens are perishable, then the seed of Israel will perish as well, especially since Jacob speaks to his sons, saying: Come, and I will tell you what will happen in the last days (Gen. XLIX, 1). When it is said, in the last days, therefore the world will cease to exist, and there will be a different arrangement of things (or dispensation). This is against them. Furthermore, the Gospel also shows that this world is not everlasting, saying: Heaven and earth will pass away (Matth. XXIV, 35). And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world (Matt. XXVIII, 20). Let us also say it differently: As long as this world exists, the seed of Israel and the Jewish nation will remain, not in those who are now unbelievers, but in those who believed with the Apostles and through the Apostles, so that the remnants may be saved.
31:37
(Verse 37) Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will reject all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: If the heavens are raised high above and the floor of the earth is humbled below, then I will not reject the nation of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done. The Hebrew text in this passage differs greatly from the Vulgate edition. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew: If the heavens above can be measured and their height known, or the foundations of the earth investigated and their outermost limits understood, then I will reject the whole offspring of Israel because of all that they have done, says the Lord. Just as it is impossible for us to know the height of the heavens and the foundations of the earth, so it will also be impossible for me to reject the whole offspring of Israel. But if I reject the entire seed of Israel, the summit of the heavens will be shaken, and the ends of the earth. This syllogism is woven in the Gospel: when the impossible is compared to the impossible: Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matth. XIX). For just as that ((or: the impossible)) cannot be done, so neither can this be done; but if this is done, then that which was thought to be impossible will be done. Therefore, those who interpret this passage differently, also placing that testimony, that the Son might be able to seek help from the Father and summon twelve legions of angels to His aid. The Septuagint translated this meaning in opposition, saying: 'If heaven is exalted higher and the pavement of the earth is lowered below;', and I, says the Lord, will not reject the seed of Israel because of all they have done. But if that is the case, the Israelite people will be rejected. For just as the sky cannot be higher than what it is, nor the earth lower than what it is, so too the people of Israel will by no means be rejected. If we see the Jews boasting according to this Hebrew testimony, we agree with them that the entire seed of Israel is not cast away. For not all are cast away, but only those who were unbelieving.
31:38