The LORD’s Vineyard 1 In that day the LORD will attend, with his hard and great and strong sword, to Leviathan the fleeing serpent, and to Leviathan the twisting serpent; and he will kill the sea-monster that is in the sea.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 Let us earnestly endeavor, therefore, to flee every crooked and tortuous act, and let us keep our mind and the judgment of our soul as straight as a rule, in order that the praise of the Lord may be permitted to us since we are upright.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For "Leviathan" is interpreted to be "their addition." Whose "addition," then, but the "addition" of people? And it is properly styled "their addition," for since by his evil suggestion he brought into the world the first sin, he never ceases to add to it day by day by prompting to worse things.Or indeed it is in reproach that he is called Leviathan, that is, styled "the additi…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 620. In that day. In this part he recalls divine and paternal correction, and first, by foreign scourges, second, by their own scourges: in that day (Isa 27:2); hence it said in Wisdom 11:11: for you didst admonish and try them as a father.
2 In that day — a vineyard of delight! Sing to her.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 2, 3.) On that day, the vineyard of wine will sing for him. I am the Lord who tends it, and I will suddenly water it, lest anyone harm it. LXX: On that day, her desire will be a good vineyard, that she may be a prince. I am a strong city, a city that is besieged: in vain will I give her drink. For they will be captured at night, but the wall will fall during the day.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 621. In that day. Here correction by their own scourges is set out. Hence he first describes the chastisement; second, the consolation: and it shall come to pass, that in that day (Isa 27:13). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he foretells the chastisement; second, the manner is examined: there is no indignation in me (Isa 27:4).
3 I, the LORD, am her keeper; every moment I water her. Lest anyone attend to her, night and day I keep her.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Therefore let us flee these evils and elevate our soul to the image and likeness of God. The flight from evils is the likeness of God, and the image of God is gained through the virtues. And so, like a painter, he has painted us with the colors of the virtues.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out the intention of the one who punishes: I am the Lord that keep it, below: you have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath (Isa 51:17). Third, he sets out the benefit, for which they were ungrateful: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day: your word, O Lord, which heals all things (Wis 16:12).
4 Wrath is not mine. Who would give me briers and thorns in battle? I would stride against her, I would set her ablaze all at once.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 4, 5.) Indignation is not mine: who will give me a thorn and a thistle in battle? I will march over it: I will set it on fire together. Or rather, shall I hold onto my strength? It will bring me peace, it will bring me peace. LXX: There is nothing that does not seize it. Who will appoint me as a keeper of the straw in the field?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 622. There is no indignation in me. Here he examines the manner of punishment, and first, the deliberation of the judge is set out; second, the execution of the result of deliberation: for the strong city shall be desolate (Isa 27:10). Concerning the first, he does three things.
5 Or let him take hold of my stronghold, let him make peace with me — peace let him make with me.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 623. Second, he sets out the moderation of the sentence: or rather shall I take hold of my strength? As if to say: I will restrain my wrath; by way of contrast: the Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation (Jer 30:24).
6 In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and bud, and they will fill the face of the world with produce.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 6) Those who come out from the root of Jacob will flourish and grow Israel: and they will fill the face of the world with their offspring. LXX: The sons of Jacob who come: Israel will flourish and bloom, and its fruits will fill the earth.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 In relation to himself, Israel shall blossom, in faith, or in good intention, and bud, in completion of the work, below: Jerusalem shall flourish like the lily (Isa 35:1); and in relation to his neighbor: they shall fill the face of the world with seed, who shall rush in, namely, the Apostles, above: the law shall come forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (I…
7 Has he struck him as he struck those who struck him? Or was he killed as those he killed were killed?
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 7.) Did he strike him according to the blow of the one striking himself: or as he killed his killers, so was he killed? This place is understood in two ways.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 624. And he sets out the supplementing of the punishment as to the ungrateful: has he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? Here he reproaches the benefit of the moderated punishment: he has not dealt with us according to our sins (Ps 102[103]:10).
8 By driving her away, by sending her off, you contended with her; he removed her with his hard blast in the day of the east wind.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 8) When it has measured out against the measure, you shall judge it. LXX: He will send them out, quarreling and reproaching. According to the Hebrew sense here: As Jerusalem has done, so she will receive, and according to the measure with which she has measured, it will be measured to her in return.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 In measure: here he threatens judgment adequate to their sin; when it shall be cast off, from the worship of God through faithlessness, not believing in Christ: according to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be (Deut 25:2); he has meditated: here he shows the support of the sentence, with his severe spirit, because it cannot be placated, above: cease…
9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be atoned for, and this is all the fruit of removing his sin: when he makes all the stones of an altar like chalkstones smashed to pieces, and no sacred poles or incense stands stand up again.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 9) Therefore, because of this, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be forgiven, and all this fruit will be removed, so that its sin may be taken away. For they have set up all the stones of the altar like scattered ashes; neither the lights nor the shrines will stand.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 625. Third, he explains the motive for moderating the punishment, so that he would not destroy them entirely at that time, namely, because Christ and the Apostles were to descend from that people, and through their preaching the worship of idols was to be abandoned; and this is what is meant by, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in piec…
10 For the fortified city is solitary, a pasture cast off and forsaken like the wilderness. There a calf will graze, and there it will lie down, and it will finish off its branches.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 10) The fortified city will be deserted; the beautiful city will be abandoned and left like a wilderness. There the calf will graze, and there it will lie down and consume its branches.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 626. The strong city, namely, Jerusalem: how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people? (Lam 1:1); as to the power of the enemy: there the calf, the army of the enemy, shall feed, as though resting without fear; branches, metaphorically, that is, ears of wheat, which signify princes, above: wild beasts shall rest there (Isa 13:21); or literally, it may be a sign of des…
11 When its boughs are dry they are broken off; women come and set them alight. For it is not a people of understanding; therefore its Maker will not have compassion on it, and the one who fashioned it will not show it favor.
Tertullian · AD 220 The women, returning from the sepulcher and from this vision of the angels, were foreseen by Isaiah, when he says, "Come, you women, who return from the vision," that is, "come" to report the resurrection of the Lord.
Tyrannius Rufinus · AD 411 That the women were to see his resurrection, while the scribes and Pharisees and the people disbelieved, this also Isaiah foretold in these words, "You women, who come from beholding, come: for it is a people that has no understanding."
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And the destruction of men: its harvest shall be destroyed with drought; this is a metaphor: that is, as ears of wheat are crushed in the drought of summer; women shall come and teach it, by whom the people were thrown greatly into sin, above: as for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women have ruled over them (Isa 3:12); or because the women themselves taught…
12 And it will be, in that day, that the LORD will thresh out from the flowing River to the Wadi of Egypt; and you will be gleaned one by one, sons of Israel.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 12) And it shall be on that day, the Lord shall strike from the channel of the river to the torrent of Egypt. LXX: And it shall be on that day, the Lord shall shut off from the channel of the river to Rhinocorura.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 628. Third, the magnitude of the destruction, both as to universality of place: and it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, that is, from one end to the other, above: from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein (Isa 1:6); and as to the small number of men who w…
13 And it will be, in that day, that a great horn will be blown, and those perishing in the land of Assyria and those banished in the land of Egypt will come, and they will bow down to the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 13) And it shall be in that day: the great trumpet shall sound, and those who were lost from the land of Assyria and those who were cast out into the land of Egypt shall come, and they shall worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 629. And it shall come to pass. Here he sets out the consolation, through return to their land. A great trumpet, the precept of the king, above: he shall set up a sign unto the nations, and shall assemble the fugitives of Israel (Isa 11:12).