The Wages of the Harlot 1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Scripture designates the children of adulterers as imperfect. Such a soul, to be sure, that prostrates itself totally to the tendencies of the flesh and bodily desires, has forsaken union with the spirit, and as if turned away from God will shamelessly hear, "You have the face of a harlot.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter III - Verse 1) It is commonly said (for which the Seventy have translated 'only said'). If a man divorces his wife and she goes and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be considered defiled and polluted?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Hence again under the figure of Judea it is said to every sinful soul: "If a man puts away his wife, and she departs and marries another man, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But you have fornicated with many lovers; nevertheless return to me, says the Lord." Behold, he gave the example of a shameful woman.
2 Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see where you have not been lien with. In the ways have you sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 2, 3.) And you have polluted (or killed) the land with your fornications, and in your evils (Alternative: in malice): therefore the drops of rain have been withheld, and the late rain has not come (or you have had many shepherds to stumble). The land has been killed (or polluted), because of the killing of those who perished in idolatrous fornication.
3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a prostitute’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 Accusation is censure of wrongdoers.… Of this help the divine Instructor made use by Jeremiah, saying, "You have a prostitute's forehead. You were shameless toward all.
Jerome · AD 420 No, a widow must take every precaution not to overstep by an inch the bounds of chastity. For if she once oversteps them and breaks through the modesty that becomes a matron, she will soon riot in every kind of excess. So much so that the prophet's words shall be true of her, "You have a whore's forehead, you refuse to be ashamed."
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 For their own misery has taught them, which happiness had made negligent, alas, what an evil thing it is to fornicate against the Lord by presuming upon themselves; oh how good it is to cling to the Lord, always thinking humbly.
4 Will you not from this time cry to me, My father, you are the guide of my youth?
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 4, 5.) Therefore, at least from now on, call me, my Father, you are the leader of my virginity: will you be angry forever, or will you persist until the end? Let the heretics be ashamed who do not want to convert to better things, nor return to their Father and Creator, and let them hear: At least from now on, call me, my Father, you are the leader of my virginity.
5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Look, you have spoken and done evil things as you could.
Judah Follows Israel’s Example 6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 The very wording of the passage that has been read has something obscure in it, which must first be understood; and after this, if God grants it, we shall come to know his mystical intent.
John Cassian · AD 435 It is written in the law: "You shall not commit adultery." This is rightly observed according to the simple meaning of the letter by one who is still in bondage to foul passions.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn you to me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "And she played the harlot there. And I said, after she had committed all this fornication: Turn back to me; and she did not turn back, and the faithless Judah saw her faithlessness." We too have been reproached — I mean those of us who sin and do not keep the covenants of God, nor look to the fact that those others destroyed the covenant though they were nobly born, being of A…
John Chrysostom · AD 407 For these two indeed are chief sins, engendered of violent lust, the one of sexual desire, the other of the desire of money.… Let no man then of them that live in vice despair; let no man who lives in virtue slumber. Let neither this last be confident, for often the harlot will pass him by; nor let the other despair, for it is possible for him to pass by even the first.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there.
8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the prostitute also.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "Go," therefore, "and read these words toward the north." If the wording has been understood, let us see what it means to make plain in these things.
9 And it happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 Admonition, then, is loving care's censure and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, "How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you would not!" And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, "And they committed adultery with stock and stone and burned incens…
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 It is not only bodily sin that is called fornication and adultery, but any sin you have committed, and especially transgression against that which is divine. Perhaps you ask how we can prove this. "They prostituted themselves," it says "with things they made." Don't you see an impudent act of fornication?
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says the LORD.
Jerome · AD 420 "And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly." It is a smaller sin to follow evil that you think is good than not to venture to defend what you know for certain is good. If we cannot endure threats, injustice and poverty, how shall we overcome the flames of Babylon?
A Call to Repentance 11 And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11.) And the Lord said to me: He has justified his soul, the one who turned away from Israel, by the comparison of the one who acted treacherously in Judah. Israel is more just, he said, in comparison to Judah: because she perished immediately in the beginning, while the other could be corrected by her sufferings.
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 12 onwards) Go, and cry out (or read) these words against the North, and say: Return, O backsliding Israel, declares the Lord, and I will not turn away (or strengthen) my face from you (or against you), for I am holy (or merciful), declares the Lord, and I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.
14 Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Cyprian · AD 258 Brethren and especially priests, if God rebukes whom he loves, and rebukes him for the very purpose of amending him, do not hate, but love those whom you rebuke, that you may amend them.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 God, who gave the word to those who preach the gospel with great power for the perfection of the gospel, may he himself hold me by my right hand, and guide me with his counsel and receive me with glory.
Jerome · AD 420 (V. 14 seqq.) Turn to me, O sons, returning (or wandering and straying), says the Lord: for I am your husband (or master), and I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and bring you to Zion, and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
15 And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The Lord does not say: I will appoint other good shepherds, to do these things, but I, He says, will do; I will commit my sheep to no one. Be secure, Brothers; you sheep, be secure. ...Here I find all good shepherds in one shepherd. For truly good shepherds are not lacking, but they are in one. There are many who are divided. This one is proclaimed, because unity is commended.
16 And it shall happen, when you be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that are done any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 17) In that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather unto it in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the stubbornness of their wicked heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 18.) In those days, the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the North to the land that I gave to your fathers.
19 But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a fine heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall not turn away from me.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 19) But I said: How shall I put you among the children, and give you a desirable land, an excellent heritage of the armies of the nations? And I said, you shall call me father, and you shall not cease to follow me.
John Cassian · AD 435 Our obstinacy and scorn, reflecting our spirit of rebellious disdain for him when he urges us to return and be saved, is described in the following comparison. He says, "And I said you shall call me Father and shall not cease to walk after me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 20) But as a woman may despise her lover, so the house of Israel has despised Me, says the Lord. The voice of Christ is near the people of Judah, to whom He said: I will make you as sons, and I will give you a desirable land. And you shall call Me Father, and you shall not cease to go after Me.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verses 21, 22.) A voice was heard in the streets (or on the lips), the weeping and wailing of the children of Israel, for they have done wickedness, they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, O returning children, and I will heal your turnings (or contritions): for which Symmachus translated as conversions.
22 Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Look, we come to you; for you are the LORD our God.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 It is clearly written in the Acts of the apostles that the apostles first went into the synagogue of the Jews, proclaiming to them, as to kinsmen through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the things written concerning the coming of Jesus Christ.
Oresiesis-Heru-sa Ast · AD 380 Let us return to the Lord our God, and whenever we pray, he, who daily urges us to pause and get to know him, will hear us. And in another place he says, "Return to me, and I will return to you." And again, "Return to me, my backsliding children, and I will rule over you." Ezekiel likewise calls on us, saying, "Why will you die, O house of Israel?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Through the prophet the Lord speaks and declares with his own gracious words how much mercy and goodness he wishes to bestow on humankind. He says, "But if the wicked do penance for all his sins, which he has committed, and keeps all my commandments and does justice and mercy, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done.
23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Then, having condemned our former evils — when we thought the idols great and lofty things, and worshipped and regarded as wonderful the things we served; but now have condemned them, judging that all those things were false and were nothing — we say, turning back: "Truly the hills were for a lie," we too having condemned our former lofty things and our former wonders.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 23.) Behold, we come to you: for you are the Lord our God. Truly the hills were deceitful, and the multitude (or strength) of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Therefore we who are of the nations say, concerning ourselves, repenting over the false things which we thought to be true: "Truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains"; and concerning Israel who shall be saved after us: "yet through the Lord our God is the salvation of the house of Israel." Then, confessing concerning the sins in which both our fathers came…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 24.) The confusion devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth: their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 After these things, these who make confession say: "We have lain down in our shame"; and after this they say: "and our dishonor has covered us over." Concerning the veil that lies upon the face of those who do not turn back to the Lord it has often been said by us.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 25) Let us sleep in our confusion, and let our disgrace cover us: for we have sinned against our God, both we and our fathers, from our youth until this day, and we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God.