1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower; who [are] on the head of the rich valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 28, Verse 1) Woe to the pride of Ephraim's crown, to the fading flower of its glorious splendor, which is at the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine. See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 633. Woe to the crown. In this part, he threatens against those who disdain the predictions of the prophets, and first, against those who disdain in the present, second, against those to come in the time of Jeremiah, woe to you, apostate children (ch. 30). The first of these is divided into two parts.
2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, [which] as a tempest of hail [and] a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 635. Second, he threatens punishment: behold the Lord is mighty; and concerning this, he does two things. First, he sets out the strength of the enemy: behold, mighty, as to the strength of the enemy, whom he will send in; as a storm of hail, as to their multitude, above: nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters (Isa 17:13).
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out the inflicting of the punishment, namely, the casting down of pride: the crown of pride shall be trodden under feet: in your anger you will tread the earth under foot (Hab 3:12).
4 And the glorious beauty, which [is] on the head of the rich valley, shall be a fading flower, [and] as the early fruit before the summer; which, [when] he that looketh upon it, seeth while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And the emptying of glory, and the flower shall be as a hasty fruit, that is, ripe or early fruit, above: for before the harvest it was all flourishing (Isa 18:5); all your strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs (Nah 3:12).
5 In that day will the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people,
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 5 and following) On that day, the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of rejoicing to the remnant of his people, and a spirit of judgment to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 The prophet expounds on the destiny of those in Israel who believed in Christ, because Israel did not perish completely, as the remnant of Israel was saved, according to the prophecy. Quite a number of people believed in Christ, and his apostles were, so to speak, the first fruit.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 636. Third, he sets out the glory of the just, namely, of the just of the two tribes: in that day, namely, in the time of Ezechias, when the ten tribes had been destroyed; as to three things.
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 As to the justice of the king: and he, the Lord himself, shall be a spirit of judgment: a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5). As to the might of their soldiers: and strength, for the Lord will fight for them, above: because you have been my strength (Isa 25:4).
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are overwhelmed with wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.
Pachomius the Great · AD 348 In fact, our fathers passed their lives in hunger, thirst and great mortification, by which they acquired purity. Above all they fled the wine habit, which is full of every evil. Troubles, tumults and disorders are caused in our members through the abuse of wine; this is a passion full of sin, it is sterility and the withering of fruit.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 637. But these also. Here he threatens against those among the two tribes who disdain the predictions of the prophets; and first, against the princes, second, against the city or against the people, woe to Ariel (ch. 29). The first of these is divided into two parts. First, he sets out the threat; second, the consolation: give ear (Isa 28:23).
8 For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean].
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he sets out the manner of their ignorance: for all the tables were full of vomit, for they gorged themselves in their temples until they vomited, as if they were devoted entirely to idols; and filth, namely, of all their shameful vices: as a dog that returns to his vomit (Prov 26:11), and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk and drawn away from the breasts." We dispose ourselves to receive the gift of understanding through holiness of life.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 639. Second, he threatens the punishment of blindness: whom shall he teach? Hence the question is first set out, whom shall he teach knowledge? As if to say: why have you spurned knowledge? The hearing, namely, what I heard from the Lord.
10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 10 seqq.) Who will teach knowledge, and who will make understanding? Weaned from milk, pulled from the breasts: command, re-command; command, re-command; wait, re-wait; wait, re-wait; a little here, a little there.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 644. For command. Here he sets out their contempt of teaching, and first, through the blasphemy by which they derided the prophets, saying, command, for they used these words in threatening, above: I will command the army of heaven: I will command the clouds (Jer 3); expect, here, in promising: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come (Hab 2:3).
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
1 Corinthians · AD 55 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Someone might well ask how the apostles drew to themselves all these people. How did men who spoke only the language of the Jews win over the Scythian, the Indian, the Sarmatian and the Thracian? Because they received the gift of tongues through the Holy Spirit.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And he adds the punishment: for with the speech of lips, and with another tongue, that is, you shall so lack understanding of the prophets as if someone were speaking to you, with only the movement of the lips, and in a foreign tongue; or right away he will inflict wounds on you. And of this kind of speaking: let us examine him by outrages and tortures (Wis 2:19).
12 To whom he said, This [is] the rest [with which] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 645. Second, as to disobedience, to whom he said. Hence he first sets out the precept, this is my rest, refresh the weary: because you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me (Matt 25:40); second, their contempt, and they would not hear: but the house of Israel will not hearken to you: because they will not hearken to me (Ezek 3:7).
13 But the word of the LORD was to them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he threatens destruction: and the word shall be to them, that is, they will suffer this punishment for their own words: by your words, I judge you, you wicked servant (Matt 12:37); that they may go, to destruction.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.
Tertullian · AD 220 What, then, are the burdens that he censures? None but those which they were accumulating of their own accord, when they taught for commandments the doctrines of men; for the sake of private advantage joining house to house, so as to deprive their neighbor of his own; cajoling the people, loving gifts, pursuing rewards, robbing the poor of the right of judgment, that they might…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 14, 15). Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you mockers who rule over my people in Jerusalem. For you have said: We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we have made a pact. When the overwhelming whip passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made falsehood our refuge, and we have hidden behind deceit.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 646. Wherefore. Here he excludes remedy. And first, he sets out two remedies; second, he excludes both from them: and I will set (Isa 28:17). Concerning the first, he sets out two remedies.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not reach us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 One in which they trusted, namely, a covenant with idols; hence he places the covenant: we have entered into a league with death, that is, with the devil: will he make a covenant with you, and will you take him to be a servant for ever?
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone], a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Romans · AD 56 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep?
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 The foundation of justice therefore is faith, for the hearts of the just dwell on faith. And the just man that accuses himself builds justice on faith, for his justice becomes plain when he confesses the truth. So the Lord says through Isaiah: "Behold, I lay a stone for a foundation in Zion." This means Christ as the foundation of the church.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second is the remedy which God prepares for the saints, namely Christ: behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Zion: the stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner (Ps 117[118]:22); he that believes, let him not hasten, but wait for it: if it make any delay, wait for it (Hab 2:3), and this against the blasphemies of the wicked.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 The Judge wishes to have mercy on you and to share his own compassion, but on condition that he finds you humble after sin, contrite, lamenting much for your evil deeds, announcing publicly without shame sins committed secretly, begging the brothers to labor with you in reparation. In short, if he sees that you are worthy of pity, he provides his mercy for you ungrudgingly.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verses 17-18). And I will put judgment in the balance, and justice in the measure: and hail will overthrow the hope of lies, and the covering waters will flood. And your covenant with death shall be abolished, and your pact with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, you shall be trampled.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 647. And I will set. Here he excludes both of these remedies, and first, the first remedy, second, the second remedy: for the bed is straitened (Isa 28:20).
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only [to] understand the report.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 Every time is suitable for your ablution, since any time may be your death. With Paul I shout to you with that loud voice, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation";56 and that now does not point to any one time but is every present moment. And again "Awake, you that sleep, and Christ shall give you light," dispelling the darkness of sin.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Now righteous people conceive a dread of God before his indignation is stirred up against them; they fear him at rest, lest they should feel him as moved. But, on the other hand, the wicked then for the first time fear to be smitten when they are under the rod, and terror then rouses them from the sleep of their insensibility when vengeance is troubling them.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, the fruit of the exclusion, and vexation alone, above: Lord, they have sought after you in distress (Isa 26:16).
20 For the bed is shorter than that [a man] can stretch himself [on it]: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself [in it].
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 20). For the bed is too narrow for one to stretch out on, and the covering is too small to wrap oneself in. And what follows: For the bed is made narrow, so that one falls out, and the short cloak cannot cover both, it has the sense which we read in the Apostle: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 648. For the bed is straitened. Here he excludes the second remedy. And first, he sets out the impediment, which makes it so that the remedy will not profit them: straitened; he speaks according the likeness of an adulteress, who cannot have her husband and her lover in the same bed; just so, they cannot maintain the worship of idols and obtain divine help: you cannot be partak…
21 For the LORD will rise as [on] mount Perazim, he will be wroth as [in] the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 21, 22.) For just as the Lord will stand on the mountain of divisions, and will be angry in the valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his strange work, to carry out his task, his alien task. And now do not mock: lest perhaps your chains be tightened. For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a conclusion and an abbreviation over all the earth.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Hence Isaiah, contemplating our salvation and [Christ's] passion, well said: "That he may do his work, his strange work; that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him." For the work of God is to gather the souls that he created and call them back to the joys of the eternal light.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out the coming of the liberator, as in the mountain of divisions. He refers to the history which is found in 2 Kings 5; as in the valley, Joshua 10.
22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
Isidore of Seville · AD 636 They do not understand that God grants to each period of time what is appropriate. As he commanded marriage in the law, so in the gospel does he recommend virginity. In the law, an eye is to be offered for an eye, but in the gospel, the other side of the cheek is to be offered to one's assailant.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 649. And now do not mock. Here he draws, as a conclusion, sound and wholesome counsel, and first, he prohibits mocking: do not mock; bonds, of captivity: he shall scorn the scorners (Prov 3:34); and he assigns the reason: for I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.
23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 23 seqq.) Pay attention and listen to my voice: listen and hear my speech. Does the plowman plow all day to sow, break up the soil, and harrow it? When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow dill, scatter cumin, plant wheat in rows, barley, millet, and rye in their proper place? For his God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 650. Give ear. Here he sets out consolation. And first, he arouses their attention: hear: hear, O you heavens, the things I speak (Deut 32:1).
24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
Jerome · AD 420 I praise wedlock, I praise marriage, but it is because they give me virgins. I gather the rose from the thorns, the gold from the earth, the pearl from the shell. "Does the plowman plow all day to sow?" Shall he not also enjoy the fruit of his labor? Wedlock is the more honored, the more what is born of it is loved. Why, mother, do you grudge your daughter her virginity?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out the consolation under the likeness of a farmer: shall the ploughman plough all the day, through which he shows three things, namely, the intention of God to punish like the ploughman, that they might bear fruit, to sow. Gith, a kind of legume similar to cumin.
25 When he hath made even the face of it, doth he not cast abroad the vetches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye in their place?
26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth teach him.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, the discretion of his judgment, for he punishes some in one way and others in a different way, just as a farmer beats out wheat in one way and cumin in another, and he indicates this where it says: for he will instruct him in judgment. Bread, that is, grain.
27 For the vetches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the vetches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread-[corn] is bruised; because he will not always be threshing it, nor break [it with] the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it [with] his horsemen.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, the ending of punishments as to those who are corrected: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever: he that ploughs, should plough in hope, and he that thrashes, in hope to receive fruit (1 Cor 9:10).
29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, [who] is wonderful in counsel, [and] excellent in operation.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he sets out the explanation: this also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful: wonderful are your works (Ps 134[135]:14).