Gioacchino da Fiore: GIOACCHINO DA FIORE ADVERSUS IUDEOS

[p. 3] CONTRA vetustam duritiam Iudeorum iccirco nonnulli agendum extimant auctoritatibus Scripturarum quia, si eis adversantibus fidei nostre non esset qui resisteret ex adverso, daretur occasio inimicis crucis Christi insultandi de simplicitate credentium nomini christiano, et hi, qui imbecilles essent animo, paterentur naufragium circa fidem. Michi autem non modo propter istud eorum contentioni et perfidie obviare pro viribus voti est, verum etiam quia adesse sentio tempus miserendi eis, tempus consolationis et conversionis eorum.

[p. 3] AGAINST the ancient hardness of the Jews, therefore, some think one must proceed by the authorities of the Scriptures, because if, with them opposing our faith, there were not someone to resist from the opposite side, an occasion would be given to the enemies of the cross of Christ to insult the simplicity of those believing in the Christian name, and those who were imbecile in mind would suffer shipwreck concerning the faith. For me, however, not only on account of this is it my vow to oppose, to the best of my strength, their contention and perfidy, but also because I feel that the time is present for having mercy upon them, a time of consolation and of their conversion.

Primo itaque producende sunt contra eos auctoritates prioris Testamenti, super eo quod negant Deum unum esse trinum in personis, deinde super eo quod negant incarnationem Filii Dei et, quod non minoris est periculi, spiritalem intellectum, statuentes litteram que occidit. Super quo tamen tunc melius convincuntur cum ostendimus [p. 4] in multis locis contrarietates Scripturarum seu etiam absurditates ipsius littere in qua ipsi confidunt. Igitur de prima questione, que est ceterarum principium, videamus.

Therefore, first, authorities of the prior Testament are to be produced against them, on the point that they deny that God, being one, is triune in persons; then, on the point that they deny the Incarnation of the Son of God and—what is of no lesser peril—the spiritual intellect, positing the letter which kills. On which, however, they are then better convicted when we show [p. 4] in many places the contradictions of the Scriptures, or even the absurdities of the letter itself in which they trust. Therefore concerning the first question, which is the principle of the others, let us consider.

Negant Iudei trinitatem personarum et tamen que scripta sunt in Genesi de ipsa trinitate negare non possunt.Namteste Moyse, in quo ipsi confidunt, Deus dicit: "Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram". Si una persona erat, non debuerat dicere: "Faciamus", sed: "Faciam"; non: "Ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram", sed potius: "Ad imaginem ed similitudinem meam". Item in eodem libro: "Apparuit Dominus Abrae in convalle Manbre sedenti in ostio tabernaculi sui in ipso fervore diei. Cumque elevasset oculos, apparuerunt ei tres viri stantes prope eum. Quos cum vidisset, cucurrit in occursum eorum de ostio tabernaculi et adoravit in terram et dixit: Domine, si inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, ne transeas servum tuum, sed afferam pauxillum aque et laventur pedes vestri et requiescite sub arbore.

The Jews deny the Trinity of persons, and yet they cannot deny the things that are written in Genesis about that very Trinity. For, with Moses as witness, in whom they themselves put their trust, God says: "Let us make man according to our image and similitude." If there was one person, he ought not to have said: "Let us make," but: "I will make"; not: "According to our image and similitude," but rather: "According to my image and similitude." Likewise in the same book: "The Lord appeared to Abraham in the valley of Mamre, as he was sitting at the door of his tent in the very heat of the day. And when he had lifted up his eyes, three men appeared to him, standing near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent and adored on the ground and said: Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, do not pass by your servant, but I will bring a little water, and let your feet be washed, and rest under the tree."

Ponam bucellam panis et confortate cor vestrum. Postea transibitis; iccirco enim declinastis ad servum tuum. Qui dixerunt: Fac ut loquutus es". Et infra: "Cum surrexissent inde viri, direxerunt oculos contra Sodomam; et Abraam simul gradiebatur deducens eos.

I will set a morsel of bread and strengthen your heart. Afterwards you will pass on; for this reason indeed you have turned aside to your servant. Who said: Do as you have spoken". And below: "When the men had risen from there, they directed their eyes toward Sodom; and Abraham at the same time was walking, escorting them.

Dixitque Dominus: Num celare potero Abraam que gesturus sum, cum futurus sit [p. 5] in gentem magnam ac robustissimam et benedicende sint in eo omnes nationes terre? Scio enim quod precepturus sit filiis suis et domui sue post se, ut custodiant viam Domini et faciant iustitiam et iudicium, ut adducat Dominus propter Abraam omnia que loquutus est ad eum. Dixitque Dominus: Clamor Sodomorum et Gomorreorum multiplicatus est et peccatum eorum aggravatum est nimis.

And the Lord said: Shall I be able to conceal from Abraham what I am going to do, since he will be [p. 5] to become a great and most robust nation, and all the nations of the earth are to be blessed in him? For I know that he will give precepts to his sons and to his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord and do justice and judgment, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that he has spoken to him. And the Lord said: The clamor of Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied, and their sin has been aggravated exceedingly.

Descendam et videbo utrum clamorem qui venit ad me opere compleverint an non est ita ut sciam. Converteruntque se inde et abierunt Sodomam; Abraam vero adhuc stabat coram Domino. Et appropinquans ait: Nunquid perdes iustum cum impio?". Et infra: "Venerunt duo angeli Sodomam vespere, sedente Loth in foribus civitatis.

I will descend and I will see whether they have fulfilled by deed the outcry that has come to me, or whether it is not so, that I may know. And they turned themselves from there and went away to Sodom; but Abraham was still standing before the Lord. And drawing near he said: Will you destroy the just with the impious?". And below: "Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, Lot sitting in the gates of the city.

Quos cum vidisset, surrexit et ivit obviam illis et adoravit pronus in terram et dixit: Obsecro, Domini, declinate in domum pueri vestri et manete ibi. Lavate pedes vestros et mane proficiscemini in viam vestram. Qui dixerunt: Minime, sed in platea manebimus.

When he saw them, he rose and went to meet them and bowed prostrate to the ground and said: I beseech you, my lords, turn aside into the house of your servant and stay there. Wash your feet, and in the morning you will set out on your way. And they said: By no means, but in the open square we will remain.

Compulit illos oppido ut diverterent ad eum, ingressique domum illius fecit convivium. Coxit azima et comederunt". Et post aliqua: "Habes, inquiunt, hic tuorum quempiam, generum aut filios aut filias? Omnes qui tui sunt, educ de urbe hac.

He compelled them strongly to turn aside to him, and when they had entered his house he made a banquet. He baked unleavened breads and they ate". And after some things: "Do you have here anyone of yours, a son-in-law or sons or daughters? All who are yours, lead them out from this city."

Delebimus enim locum istum eo quod increverit clamor eorum coram Domino, qui misit nos". Et infra: "Cum esset mane, cogebant ei angeli dicentes: Surge et tolle uxorem tuam et duas filias quas [p. 6] habes, ne et tu pariter pereas cum scelere civitatis. Dissimulante illo, apprehenderunt manum eius et manum uxoris ac duarum filiarum eius, eo quod parceret Dominus illi, et eduxerunt eum posueruntque extra civitatem. Ibi loquuti sunt ad eum: Salva animam tuam.

"For we will blot out this place, because the clamor of them has increased before the Lord, who sent us." And below: "When it was morning, the angels were compelling him, saying: Rise and take your wife and the two daughters whom [p. 6] you have, lest you also likewise perish with the crime of the city. As he lingered, they apprehended his hand and the hand of his wife and of his two daughters, because the Lord was sparing him, and they led him out and set him outside the city. There they spoke to him: Save your soul."

Noli respicere post tergum, nec stes in omni circa regione, sed in monte salvum te fac, ne et tu simul pereas. Dixitque Loth ad eos: Queso, Domine mi, quia invenit servus tuus gratiam coram te, et magnificasti misericordiam tuam, quam fecisti mecum, ut salvares animam meam, non possum in monte salvari, ne forte apprehendat me malum et moriar. Est civitas hic iuxta, ad quam possum fugere, parva, et salvabor in ea. Nunquid non modica est et vivet anima mea?

Do not look back behind, nor stand in any region round about, but on the mountain make yourself safe, lest you too perish together. And Lot said to them: I beg, my Lord, since your servant has found grace before you, and you have magnified your mercy which you have done with me, that you might save my soul, I cannot be saved on the mountain, lest perhaps the evil overtake me and I die. There is a city here nearby, to which I can flee, small, and I shall be saved in it. Is it not a little one, and will my soul live?

Dixitque ad eum: Ecce etiam in hoc suscepi preces tuas, ut non subvertam urbem pro qua loquutus es. Festina et salvare ibi, quia non potero facere quicquam donec ingrediaris illuc. Iccirco vocatum est nomen loci illius Segor. Sol egressus est super terram et Loth ingressus est Segor.

And he said to him: Behold, even in this I have received your prayers, that I may not subvert the city on behalf of which you have spoken. Hasten and be saved there, for I will not be able to do anything until you enter there. Therefore the name of that place was called Segor. The sun had risen over the land, and Lot entered Segor.

Igitur Dominus pluit super Sodomam et Gomorram sulphur, et ignem a Domino de celo, et subvertit has civitates et omnem circa regionem, universos habitatores urbium et cuncta terre virentia". [p. 7]

Therefore the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew these cities and the whole surrounding region, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all the green things of the land". [p. 7]

Si non trinitas ipsa Deus erat que apparuit Abrae in specie trium virorum, sed alius, ut fingitis, o Iudei, cur in occursum eorum ire et adorare dicitur Abraam, aut cur ei, quem singulariter vocat Dominum, non dicit: "Laventur pedes tui", sed: "Pedes vestri"; non: "Requiesce", sed: "Requiescite"; non: "Transibis", sed: "Transibitis", denique et cum subderet: "Iccirco declinastis", ut ipsos tres unum Deum esse monstraret, non a it: "Ad servum vestrum", sed: "Ad servum tuum", et ne forte dicens: "Ad servum tuum" uni persone loqui putaretur, destruit talem intellectum Scriptura, que subiungit: "Qui dixerunt, fac ut loquutus es"; et infra: "Cum surrexissent inde viri, direxerunt oculos contra Sodomam et Abraam simul gradiebatur ducens eos"; et ut ipsi tres unus Dominus esse intelligantur, protinus adiecit et ait: "Dixitque Dominus: Num celare potero Abraam que gesturus sum, cum futurus sit in gentem magnam ac robustissimam et benedicende sint in eo omnes nationes terre?"; et rursum: "Clamor Sodomorum et Gomorreorum multiplicatus est et peccatum eorum aggravatum est nimis. Descendam et videbo utrum clamorem qui venit ad me opere compleverint an non est ita ut sciam. Converteruntque se inde et abierunt Sodomam"? Verum hic fractus Iudeus resumit vires pertinacie sue propter illud quod sequitur: "Abraam adhuc stabat coram Domino", cum potius oporteret eum intelligere magnum misterium unitatis quo Pater est in Filio et Spiritu sancto, ita ut, quod facere una persona dicitur, hoc plerumque tota trinitas facere intelligatur.

If it was not the Trinity itself, God, who appeared to Abraham in the form of three men, but another, as you feign, O Jews, why is Abraham said to go to meet them and to adore, or why does he not say to him whom he singularly calls Lord, "Let your feet be washed," but, "Your (pl.) feet"; not, "Rest," but, "Rest (pl.)"; not, "You will pass by," but, "You (pl.) will pass by," and finally, when he subjoined, "Therefore you have turned aside," to show that those three are one God, he does not say, "To your (pl.) servant," but, "To your (sg.) servant"; and lest perchance by saying, "To your (sg.) servant," he be thought to speak to one person, Scripture destroys such an understanding, which subjoins: "And they said, Do as you have spoken"; and below: "When the men had risen from there, they directed their eyes toward Sodom, and Abraham was walking along with them, leading them"; and, that those three may be understood to be one Lord, immediately he added and said: "And the Lord said: Shall I be able to hide from Abraham the things I am about to do, since he will be to become into a great and most robust nation, and all the nations of the earth are to be blessed in him?"; and again: "The outcry of the Sodomites and Gomorrites has been multiplied, and their sin has been aggravated exceedingly. I will descend and I will see whether they have fulfilled by deed the outcry that has come to me, or whether it is not so, that I may know. And they turned themselves from there and went away to Sodom"? But here the broken Jew resumes the forces of his pertinacity because of that which follows: "Abraham was still standing before the Lord," when rather he ought to understand the great mystery of unity by which the Father is in the Son and the Holy Spirit, such that what is said that one person does, this for the most part the whole Trinity is understood to do.

Denique qui ait: "Descendam", mentiri nequit et tamen duos ex tribus venisse Sodomam Scriptura denuntiat quia in eis et ille abiit cum quo in monte stetit Abraam, quia videlicet et in eo illi steterunt qui abierunt. Verum quod duo tantum et non tres abisse Sodomam scribuntur, illud cause est quod Filius et Spiritus sanctus missi referuntur, Pater autem, qui a nullo est, [p. 8] nusquam legitur missus. Inde est ut qui supra dicuntur viri, hic angeli dicantur ut magni consilii nuntii esse intelligantur.

Finally, he who says: "I will descend" cannot lie, and yet Scripture declares that two out of the three came to Sodom, because in them He too went, with whom on the mountain Abraham stood, since indeed in Him those stood who went away. But the fact that only two and not three are written to have gone to Sodom has this cause: that the Son and the Holy Spirit are reported as sent, but the Father, who is from no one, [p. 8] is nowhere read to have been sent. Hence it is that those who above are called "men" are here called "angels," so that they may be understood to be messengers of great counsel.

At ne propter hoc alienos eos asserat Iudeus a natura Patris, perpendat eis eandem reverentiam exhibitam esse a Loth que prius, cum essent cum illo uno qui visus est remansisse in monte, exhibita est tribus ab Abraam. Subsequente Scriptura ac dicente: "Dixitque Loth ad eos", hoc est ad duos angelos: "Queso, Domine mi, quia invenit servus tuus gratiam coram te" et cetera; et infra: "Dixitque ad eum: Ecce etiam in hoc suscepi preces tuas" et cetera, verum et hic quoque advertere oportet non solum percussus pro peccatis cecitate Iudeus, verum etiam Sabellianus et singularista hereticus, quod et singula persona vocetur Dominus, quod aperte ostendit Scriptura, ubi duabus descendentibus Sodomam de una que stetit in monte dicit quod Abraam stabat adhuc coram Domino, et quod due simul persone dicantur unus Dominus sicut hic, et quod tres simul persone dicantur unus Dominus, sicut patuit luce clarius supra, cum primo Abraam dicitur occurrisse in occursum virorum. Ut autem ostendatur apertius pluralitas personarum et omnis impietas oppilet os suum: "Pluit", inquit, "Dominus super Sodomam et Gomorram sulphur, et ignem a Domino de celo". Quid est enim quod Dominus a Domino pluere dictus est, nisi ut non solum Pater Dominus esse intelligatur, verum etiam et Filius et Spiritus sanctus, qui ab ipso Domino missi referuntur?

But lest on account of this the Jew assert them alien from the nature of the Father, let him weigh that the same reverence was exhibited to them by Lot which earlier, when they were with that One who was seen to have remained on the mountain, was exhibited to the three by Abraham. Scripture following and saying: “And Lot said to them,” that is, to the two angels: “I pray, my Lord, because your servant has found grace before you,” and so forth; and below: “And he said to him: Behold, even in this I have received your prayers,” and so forth. Yet here too it must be observed not only by the Jew, smitten with blindness for his sins, but also by the Sabellian and the singularist heretic, that each Person is called Lord—something which Scripture openly shows, where, as two were descending to Sodom, of the One who stood on the mountain it says that Abraham was still standing before the Lord—and that two Persons together are called one Lord, as here, and that three Persons together are called one Lord, as appeared more clearly than light above, when Abraham is first said to have run to meet the men. But in order that the plurality of Persons may be shown more plainly and every impiety may stop its mouth: “The Lord,” he says, “rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” For what is it that the Lord is said to have rained from the Lord, except that not only the Father is understood to be Lord, but also the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are reported to be sent by the same Lord?

Ad quod pertinet et illud quod dicitur in psalmo: "Dixit Dominus Domino meo, sede a dextris meis", excepto quod ibi de Patre et Filio sermo est. Hic [p. 9] Dominus qui pluit Filius cum Spiritu sancto intelligendus est, a Domino scilicet qui est Pater. Hucusque communiter de trinitate.

To which pertains also that which is said in the psalm: "The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand," except that there the discourse is about the Father and the Son. Here [p. 9] the Lord who rained is to be understood as the Son with the Holy Spirit, from the Lord, namely, who is the Father. Thus far, in common, concerning the Trinity.

Nunc agendum est specialius de unaquaque persona. Quod is quem nos Christicole vocamus Patrem sit verus Dominus et verus Deus, communis est nobis et vobis fides et una utrorumque confessio, quia qui dixit et facta sunt, mandavit et creata sunt, ipse est utique cuius verbo celi firmati sunt et ipse cuius spiritu omnis virtus eorum; sed questio est de Filio et Spiritu sancto utrum sit in deitate Filius aut Spiritus sanctus; idem utrum sint alie due persone preter personam Patris et an inveniatur de eis aliquid scriptum in catholicis libris. Et quidem de Filio quod vere sit Deus multa scripta sunt in vestris codicibus, que iccirco non potestis capere, o Iudei, quia qui vere Deus esse et vere a Deo missus esse ostenditur in Scripturis, non Filius manifeste, sed Deus et angelus nominatur.

Now it must be handled more specially about each person. That he whom we, Christ-worshipers, call the Father is true Lord and true God, is a faith common to us and to you and one confession of both, because he who said and they were made, commanded and they were created, he is assuredly the one by whose Word the heavens were made firm, and he the one by whose Spirit is all their host; but the question is about the Son and the Holy Spirit, whether the Son or the Holy Spirit is in the Deity; likewise whether they are two other persons besides the person of the Father, and whether anything is found written about them in the catholic books. And indeed concerning the Son, that he is truly God, many things are written in your codices, which for this reason you cannot grasp, O Jews, because he who is shown in the Scriptures to be truly God and truly sent by God is not manifestly called Son, but is named God and angel.

Sed si is qui iccirco angelus dicitur, quia missus est a Deo magna misteria nuntiare, vere Deus et Dominus esse ostenditur, vere Deus et Dominus esse perhibetur, ea necessitate cogimur dicere esse eum de paterna natura, qua duos aut tres deos dicere ipsius Moysi, qui hoc dicit, auctoritate prohibemur. Neque enim alius dicit hoc, alius illud, sed ipse Moyses qui docet angelum Dei esse verum Deum, ipse dicit in Scripturis: "Audi,Israel, Deus tuus unus est", quatinus et illud intelligatur quod superius dictum est: vidisse scilicet Abraum tres viros, sed ipsos simul tres quasi unum hominem, immo non ut hominem sed sicut vere Dominum adorasse. Sed ad rem veniamus.

But if he who for this reason is called an angel, because he was sent by God to announce great mysteries, is shown to be truly God and Lord, is attested to be truly God and Lord, we are compelled by this necessity to say that he is of the paternal nature, while by the authority of Moses himself, who says this, we are forbidden to say two or three gods. For neither does one say this and another that, but the very Moses who teaches that the angel of God is true God, he himself says in the Scriptures: "Hear, Israel, your God is one," so that that too may be understood which was said above: namely, that Abraham saw three men, but that those very three together he adored as if one man—nay, not as a man but as truly the Lord. But let us come to the point.

[p. 10]

Affligente, inquit Scriptura, Agar, ancillam Saray, domina sua, fugam iniit. "Cum invenisset illam angelus Domini iuxta fontem aque, in solitudine que est in via Assur in deserto, dixit ad illam: Agar, ancilla Saray, unde venis aut quo vadis? Que respondit: A facie Saray domine mee ego fugio.

"With her mistress afflicting Agar, says Scripture, the handmaid of Saray, she took to flight. "When the angel of the Lord had found her beside a spring of water, in the solitude which is on the way of Assur in the desert, he said to her: Agar, handmaid of Saray, whence do you come or whither are you going? She answered: From the face of Saray, my mistress, I am fleeing.

Dixitque ei angelus Domini: Revertere ad dominam tuam et humiliare sub manu ipsius. Et rursum: Multiplicans, inquit, multiplicabo semen tuum et non numerabitur propter multitudinem". Et infra: "Vocavit autem nomen Domini qui loquebatur ad eam: Tu Deus qui vidisti me". Et post aliqua: "Dixit Deus ad Abraam: Non tibi videatur asperum super puero et super ancilla tua; omnia que dixerit tibi Sara, audi vocem eius, quia in Ysaac vocabitur tibi semen. Sed et filium ancille faciam in gentem magnam, quia semen tuum est".

And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hand. And again: “Multiplying, he said, I will multiply your seed, and it shall not be numbered because of the multitude.” And below: “She called the name of the Lord who was speaking to her: You God who saw me.” And after some things: “God said to Abraam: Let it not seem harsh to you regarding the boy and your handmaid; whatever Sara says to you, listen to her voice, for in Ysaac your seed will be called. But also the son of the handmaid I will make into a great nation, because he is your seed.”

Angelus Domini non ipse Dominus intelligitur cuius angelus est, hoc est ipsa persona, sed alia. Absurdum est enim ut ipse qui angelus alicuius est sui ipsius nuntius intelligatur, et tamen ipsum quoque, qui angelus Domini dictus est, et Deum esse fatetur Agar, que vocavit nomen eius: "Tu, Deus, qui vidisti me", et Dominum esse, cum testatur ipsa mult iplicandi potestas, qua dicitur: "Multiplicans multiplicabo semen tuum". Alioquin si hic angelus Deus et Dominus non est, cur sibi hoc ipse Dominus ascribit, ita ut dicat in sequentibus Scriptura: "Dixit Deus ad Abraam: In [p. 11] Ysaac vocabitur tibi semen. Sed et filium ancille faciam in gentem magnam, quia semen tuum est"? Absurdum est enim ut se creaturam facere promittat, quod soli competit creatori.

The Angel of the Lord is not understood as the Lord himself, whose angel he is—that is, the same person—but another. For it is absurd that he who is someone’s angel be understood as a messenger of himself; and yet Hagar also confesses that the very one who was called the angel of the Lord is God, who called his name: "You, God, who have seen me," and that he is Lord, since the very power of multiplying bears witness, by which it is said: "Multiplying I will multiply your seed." Otherwise, if this angel is not God and Lord, why does the Lord himself ascribe this to himself, so that Scripture says in what follows: "God said to Abraam: In [p. 11] Ysaac shall your seed be called. But also the son of the handmaid I will make into a great nation, because he is your seed"? For it is absurd that he should promise to make a creature, which belongs only to the Creator.

Non igitur hic angelus de aliorum est numero angelorum, sed ille est de quo dicit propheta: "Statim veniet ad templum sanctum suum Dominator quem vos queritis et angelus testamenti quem vos vultis". "Ecce angelus Domini de celo clamavit dicens: Abraam, Abraam. Qui respondit: Adsum. Dixitque ei: Non extendas manum tuam super puerum, neque facias illi quicquam.

Therefore this angel is not of the number of the other angels, but he is the one of whom the prophet says: "Straightway the Dominator whom you seek will come to his holy temple, and the angel of the testament whom you desire." "Behold, the angel of the Lord cried out from heaven, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he replied: Here I am. And he said to him: Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, nor do anything to him.

Nunc cognovi quod timeas Dominum et non pepercisti filio tuo unigenito propter me".

Now I have come to know that you fear the Lord and did not spare your only-begotten son on account of me".

Cum Abraam propter ipsum Deum, qui eum temptaverat, decreverit occidere filium, quid est quod dicit ei angelus Domini: "Non pepercisti filio tuo, unigenito propter me", nisi quia ipse angelus Deus erat et unus cum Patre Deus?

When Abraham, on account of God himself who had tested him, had resolved to slay his son, what is it that the angel of the Lord says to him: "You did not spare your son, your only-begotten, for my sake," unless it is because that angel himself was God, and God one with the Father?

"Cum venisset Iacob ad quendam locum et vellet in eo requiescere post solis ocubitum, tulit de lapidibus qui iacebant et supponens capiti suo dormivit in eodem loco. Viditque in sompnis scalam stantem super terram et cacumen illius tangens celum, angelos quoque Dei ascendentes et descendentes per eam et Dominum innixum scale dicentem sibi: Ego sum Domimus Deus Abraam patris tui et Deu Yssaac: terram in qua dormis tibi dabo [p. 12] et semini tuo. Eritque germen tuum quasi pulvis terre.

"When Jacob had come to a certain place and wished to rest in it after the sun’s setting, he took from the stones that were lying and, putting one beneath his head, slept in the same place. And he saw in dreams a ladder standing upon the earth, and its top touching heaven, and the angels of God also ascending and descending by it, and the Lord leaning on the ladder, saying to him: I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac: the land on which you are sleeping I will give to you [p. 12] and to your seed. And your offspring shall be as the dust of the earth.

Dilataberis ad occidentem et orientem et septentrionem et meridiem et benedicentur in te et in semine tuo cuncte tribus terre". Et infra: "Surgens Iacob mane, tulit lapidem quem supposuerat capiti suo et erexit in titulum fundens oleum desuper. Appellavitque nomen urbisBethel, que prius Luza vocabatur". Et post multa: "Misit Iacob et Rachel et vocavit Liam in agrum ubi pascebat greges dixitque eis: Video faciem patris vestri quod non sit erga me sicut heri et nudiustertius". Et infra: "Dixit angelus Domini ad me in sompnis: Iacob. Et ego respondi: Adsum.

You shall be dilated to the west and the east and the north and the south, and in you and in your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed." And below: "Jacob rising in the morning took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up as a title, pouring oil over it. And he called the name of the city Bethel, which previously was called Luz." And after many things: "Jacob sent and called Rachel and summoned Leah into the field where he was pasturing the flocks, and he said to them: I see your father’s face, that it is not toward me as yesterday and the day before yesterday." And below: "The angel of the Lord said to me in a dream: Jacob. And I answered: I am here."

Qui ait: Vidi omnia que fecit tibi Laban. Ego sum Deus Bethel, ubi unxisti lapidem et votum vovisti michi. Nunc ergo surge et egredere de terra hac, revertens in terram nativitatis tue". Et infra: "Loquutus est Dominus ad Iacob: Surge, ascendeBethelet habita ibi, facque altare Deo qui apparuit tibi quando fugiebas Esau fratrem tuum".

Who said: "I have seen all the things that Laban has done to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the stone and vowed a vow to me. Now therefore arise and go out from this land, returning to the land of your nativity". And below: "The Lord spoke to Jacob: Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar to God who appeared to you when you were fleeing Esau your brother".

Ecce hic videt Dominum Iacob innixum scale dicentem sibi: "Ego sum Deus Abraam" et cetera, et in sequentibus asserit idem Iacob vidisse se angelum Domini in sompnis dicentem sibi: "Ego sum Deus Bethel ubi unxisti lapidem et votum vovisti michi". Si ergo ipse Deus est qui et angelus Domini, liquet quod Deus ipse qui loquebatur ad Iacob nequaquam Deus Pater intelligendus est, sed is qui missus est a Patre pro salute mundi. Inde est quod in sequentibus loquitur Dominus ad Iacob, Pater scilicet iubens eum ascendere inBethelet edificare altare Deo qui apparuit sibi. "Loquutus est Dominus ad Moysen: Vade ascende de loco isto tu et populus tuus quem eduxisti de terra Egipti in terram pro qua iuravi Abraam, Ysaac et Iacob, dicens: Semini tuo dabo eam et mittam precursorem tui angelum ut eiciam Chananeum et [p. 13] Amorreum et Etheum et Pherezeum et Eveum et Iebuseum et intres terram fluentem lacte et melle". Et post aliqua: "Ecce ego mittam angelum qui precedat te et custodiat in via et introducat ad locum quem paravi.

Behold here Jacob sees the Lord leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: "I am the God of Abraham," and the rest; and in the following the same Jacob asserts that he saw the Angel of the Lord in dreams saying to him: "I am the God of Bethel where you anointed the stone and vowed a vow to me." If therefore He Himself is God who is also the Angel of the Lord, it is clear that the very God who was speaking to Jacob is by no means to be understood as God the Father, but as Him who was sent by the Father for the salvation of the world. Hence it is that in what follows the Lord speaks to Jacob, namely the Father, bidding him go up into Bethel and build an altar to God who appeared to him. "The Lord spoke to Moses: Go up from this place, you and your people whom you led out of the land of Egypt, into the land for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: To your seed I will give it, and I will send before you as precursor an angel, that I may drive out the Canaanite and [p. 13] the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and that you may enter a land flowing with milk and honey." And after some things: "Behold, I will send an angel who will go before you and will guard you on the way and will bring you into the place which I have prepared."

Observa eum et audi vocem eius. Nec contempnendum putes quia non dimittet te cum peccaveris et est nomen meum in illo. Quod si audieris vocem eius et feceris omnia que loquor, inimicus ero inimicis tuis et affligam affligentes te, precedetque angelus meus et introducet te ad Amorreum et Etheum et Chananeum et Eveum et Iebuseum, quos ego conteram". Hec in Pentateuco Moysi.

Observe him and hear his voice. Nor think him to be despised, because he will not remit you when you have sinned, and my name is in him. But if you will hear his voice and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to your enemies and I will afflict those afflicting you, and my angel will go before and will bring you into the Amorite and the Hittite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, whom I will crush". These things are in the Pentateuch of Moses.

Porro in libro Iudicum de hoc ipso angelo scriptum est: "Ascendit angelus Domini de Galgala ad locum flentium et ait: Eduxi vos de Egipto et introduxi in terram pro qua iuravi patribus vestris et pollicitus sum ut non facerem irritum pactum meum vobiscum in sempiternum, ita dumtaxat ut non feriretis fedus cum habitatoribus terre huius sed aras eorum subverteretis, et noluistis audire vocem meam. Cur hoc fecistis? Quam ob rem nolui delere eos a facie vestra ut habeatis hostes et dii eorum sint vobis in ruinam".

Furthermore, in the book of Judges concerning this very angel it is written: "The angel of the Lord went up from Galgala to the place of weeping and said: I led you out of Egypt and brought you into the land for which I swore to your fathers, and I promised that I would not make void my pact with you forever, only provided that you should not strike a covenant with the inhabitants of this land, but should subvert their altars; and you were unwilling to hear my voice. Why have you done this? For which reason I was unwilling to destroy them from before your face, so that you may have enemies, and their gods be to you for ruin".

Superius dixit Dominus ad Moysen: "Vade et ascende tu et populus tuus quem eduxi de terra Egipti in terram pro qua iuravi ad Abraam, Ysaac et Iacob", protinusque adiunxit: "Et mittam [p. 14] precursorem tui angelum". Sed ne forte idem angelus parvipendende auctoritatis esse putaretur, cum rursum de eodem angelo mittendo ante eum in sequentibus loqueretur, adiecit et ait: "Observa eum et audi vocem eius. Nec contempnendum putes quia non dimittet cum peccaveris et est nomen meum in illo". Ut enim iste angelus, qui per Malachiam dictus est Dominator et angelus testamenti, unigenitus Dei Filius intelligeretur, ipse utique Filius qui iudicaturus est orbem, non inquit: "Dimittet cum peccaveris et est nomen meum in illo". Quod est autem nomen Domini, quod in illo est, nisi Deus? Quod si nomen Domini in illo est, liquet quod ut Deus est Pater, ita et Filius Deus, qui bene quoque castraIsraelprecedere dictus est, quod ipse est profecto cui in psalmo cantatur: "Vineam de Egipto transtulisti, eiecisti gentes et plantasti eam; dux itineris fuisti in conspectu eius, plantasti radices eius et implevit terram". Neque enim eiusdem esse auctoritatis cum Deotantaverborum eminentia et idemptitate monstraretur si alienus a Domini natura et immensitate crederetur.

Above the Lord said to Moses: "Go up, you and your people whom I led out from the land of Egypt, into the land for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and immediately he added: "And I will send [p. 14] the angel, your forerunner." But lest perchance this same angel be thought to be of slight authority, when he again spoke in what follows about sending the same angel before him, he added and said: "Observe him and hear his voice. Do not think him to be contemptible, because he will not let you go when you have sinned, and my name is in him." For in order that this angel—who through Malachi is called the Dominator and the angel of the testament—might be understood to be the Only-begotten Son of God, he, surely the Son who is going to judge the world, did not say: "He will let you go when you have sinned, and my name is in him." But what is the name of the Lord, which is in him, if not God? And if the name of the Lord is in him, it is clear that just as the Father is God, so also the Son is God, who also rightly is said to precede the camp of Israel, for he is assuredly the one to whom it is sung in the psalm: "You transferred a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it; you were leader of the journey before it; you planted its roots and it filled the land." For neither would he be of the same authority, as such great eminence and identity of words shows, if he were believed alien to the Lord’s nature and immensity.

Cum enim in suprascriptis loquens Dominus ad Moysen iurasse se perhibeat Abraam, Ysaac et Iacob daturum se illis terram lacte et melle manantem, en in libro Iudicum loquitur angelus iste Domini ac dicit: "Eduxi vos de Egipto et introduxi in terram pro qua iuravi patribus vestris et pollicitus sum ut non facerem irritum pactum meum". Quis igitur angelus iste est nisi is qui dictus est superius "Deus Bethel", quique se promisit daturum semini Iacob terram istam? Verum quia angelus Domini dictus est, nequaquam Deus Pater, sed Filius intelligendus est. [p. 15]

Since indeed in the above-written the Lord, speaking to Moses, bears witness that he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, behold, in the book of Judges this angel of the Lord speaks and says: "I brought you out of Egypt and I brought you into the land for which I swore to your fathers, and I promised that I would not render my pact void." Who then is this angel except the one who was called above "God of Bethel," and who promised that he would give this land to the seed of Jacob? But in truth, because he is called the angel of the Lord, by no means is God the Father to be understood, but the Son. [p. 15]

"Venit angelus Domini et sedit sub quercu que erat in Ephra et pertinebat ad Ioas patrem familie Ezri. Cumque Gedeon filius eius excuteret atque purgaret frumenta in torculari ut fugeret Madian, apparuit ei et ait: Dominus tecum, virorum fortissime. Dixitque ei Gedeon: Obsecro, Domine, si Dominus nobiscum est, cur apprehenderunt nostantamala?

"The angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the oak which was in Ephra and belonged to Joas, father of the family of Ezri. And when Gideon his son was shaking out and purging the grain in the wine-press so that he might flee Midian, he appeared to him and said: The Lord with you, bravest of men. And Gideon said to him: I beseech, Lord, if the Lord is with us, why have such great evils overtaken us?

Ubi sunt mirabilia eius que narraverunt patres nostri atque dixerunt: De Egipto eduxit nos Dominus? Nunc autem dereliquit nos et tradidit in manibus Madian. Respexitque ad eum Dominus et ait: Vade in hac fortitudine tua et liberabisIsraelde manu Madian.

Where are his marvels which our fathers recounted and said: The Lord brought us out of Egypt? But now he has forsaken us and has delivered us into the hands of Midian. And the Lord looked upon him and said: Go in this your strength, and you will liberate Israel from the hand of Midian.

Scito quod miserim te. Qui respondens ait: Obsecro, Domine mi, in quo liberaboIsrael? Ecce familia mea infima est in Manasse et ego minimus in domo patris mei. Dixitque ei Dominus: Ego ero tecum et percuties Madian quasi virum unum.

Know that I have sent you. He, answering, said: I beseech, my Lord, how shall I liberate Israel? Behold, my family is the lowest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. And the Lord said to him: I will be with you, and you will strike down Midian as if a single man.

Et ille: Si inveni, inquit, gratiam coram te, da michi signum ut tu sis qui loqueris ad me, ne recedas hinc donec revertar portans sacrificium et offerens tibi. Qui respondit: Ego prestolabor adventum tuum. Ingressus itaque Gedeon coxit edum et de farine modio azimos panes, carnesque ponens in canistro et ius carnium mittens in ollam, tulit omnia sub quercu et obtulit ei". Et paulo post: "Videns Gedeon quod esset angelus Domini: Eu michi, Domine Deus, quia vidi angelum Domini facie ad faciem.

And he said: If I have found favor before you, grant me a sign that it is you who are speaking to me; do not withdraw from here until I return, bearing a sacrifice and offering it to you. He replied: I will await your coming. Entering, therefore, Gedeon cooked a kid, and from a modius of flour [he made] azyme loaves; and placing the meats in a basket and putting the broth of the meats into a pot, he brought everything under the oak and offered it to him". And a little later: "Seeing that it was an angel of the Lord, Gedeon [said]: Alas for me, Lord God, because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

Dixitque Dominus: Pax tecum, ne timeas, non morieris". Perpendite vel hic, o Iudei, et desinite negare aliam quam Patris in deitate personam. Ecce angelus Domini loquitur Gedeon, [p. 16] et ipsum angelum Domini esse Dominum Scriptura testatur; denique Gedeon mittit ad prelium et se cum eo esse promittit et ad petitionem ipsius eius prestolatur adventum, recipitque de manu eius quod Dei est proprium, oblatam sibi hostiam sacrificii, et tamen cum Deus esse noscatur, ut Filius esse monstretur, non Pater, angelus Domini dictus est.

And the Lord said: "Peace be with you; do not fear, you will not die." Weigh even here, O Jews, and cease denying any other person in the deity than the Father’s. Behold, the angel of the Lord speaks to Gideon, [p. 16] and Scripture bears witness that the angel of the Lord himself is the Lord; finally, he sends him to the battle and promises that he will be with him, and at his petition he awaits his coming, and he receives from his hand that which is proper to God—the victim of sacrifice offered to himself—and yet, although he is known to be God, in order that he may be shown to be the Son, not the Father, he is called the angel of the Lord.

"Erat vir quidam de Saraa et de stirpe Dan, nomine Manue, habens uxorem sterilem, cui apparuit angelus Domini et dixit ad eam: Sterilis es et absque liberis, sed concipies et paries filium". Et post aliqua: "Cum ascenderet flamma altaris in celum, angelus Domini in flamma pariter ascendit. Quod cum vidissent Manue et uxor eius, proni ceciderunt in terram et ultra non apparuit eis angelus Domini. Statimque intellexit Manue angelum esse Domini et dixit ad uxorem suam: Morte moriemur quia vidimus Deum.

"There was a certain man from Zorah and of the stock of Dan, named Manue, having a sterile wife, to whom the angel of the Lord appeared and said to her: You are sterile and without children, but you will conceive and bear a son." And after a while: "When the flame of the altar was ascending into heaven, the angel of the Lord likewise ascended in the flame. Which when Manue and his wife had seen, they fell prone to the ground, and the angel of the Lord appeared to them no more. And immediately Manue understood that it was the angel of the Lord, and he said to his wife: We shall die, because we have seen God."

Cui respondit mulier: Si Dominus nos vellet occidere, de manibus nostris holocaustum et libamenta non suscepisset, sed nec ostendisset nobis hec omnia, neque que suntventuradixisset". Hic quoque uxori Manue et ad ultimum ipsi Manue angelus Domini apparet et tamen et angelum Domini Manue intellexit et ipsum angelum Domini Deum esse testatus est dicens: "Morte moriemur quia vidimus Deum". Quod si dicis: Unde potuerunt antiqui patres intelligere Filium?: profecto unde potuerunt intelligere Patrem. Qui enim, illuminati Spiritu sancto, potuerunt intelligere Deum Patrem, etiam potuerunt, eadem gratia illuminati, intelligere Deum Filium, quin immo et Spiritum sanctum, totam videlicet trinitatem. [p. 17]

To whom the woman replied: "If the Lord had willed to kill us, he would not have accepted from our hands the holocaust and the libations, nor would he have shown us all these things, nor told us the things that are to come." Here too the angel of the Lord appears to the wife of Manoah, and at last to Manoah himself; and yet Manoah both understood him to be the angel of the Lord and testified that the angel of the Lord himself is God, saying: "We shall die by death, because we have seen God." But if you say: Whence were the ancient fathers able to understand the Son? assuredly from the same source whence they were able to understand the Father. For they who, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, were able to understand God the Father, also were able, illuminated by the same grace, to understand God the Son—nay rather, even the Holy Spirit—the whole Trinity, namely. [p. 17]

Ecce, ex his et similibus testimoniis veritatis excluditur singularis intellectus, a fide credentium, nec propterea quia creditur unus Deus negatur esse Deus angelus testamenti qui missus ostenditur a Patre, quia Abraam, ut supra monstratum est, tres vidit et tres quasi unum, immo ut vere unum adoravit. Quod si forte quia Scriptura non vocat Dei Filium angelum istum, qui utique et Deus et Dominus dictus est, esse Christum Dominum non putatis, non multum interest probare me velle hoc ad presens, cum utique non ad hoc simpliciter probandum his testimoniis usus fuerim, sed ad hoc tantum ut excludatur singularitas personarum. Probabitur autem melius, annuente Deo, esse videlicet et Christum Deum, cum de eius incarnatione inferius tractare ceperimus.

Behold, from these and similar testimonies of truth the singular understanding is excluded by the faith of believers; nor, for this reason—that one God is believed—is it denied that the Angel of the Testament, who is shown to have been sent by the Father, is God, since Abraham, as was shown above, saw three and the three as if one, nay rather he worshiped as truly one. But if, perhaps, because Scripture does not call the Son of God this angel—who indeed is called both God and Lord—you do not think him to be Christ the Lord, it is not of much moment for me to wish to prove this at present, since indeed I have not employed these testimonies simply for proving this, but only for this end: that the singularity of persons be excluded. It will, however, be better proved, God assenting, that Christ too is God, when we shall have begun to treat below concerning his incarnation.

Nunc locus est agere de Spiritu sancto quod vere ipse sit et quod non tacuerint de eo sancti Dei prophete.

Now is the occasion to treat of the Holy Spirit: that he truly is, and that the holy prophets of God have not kept silence concerning him.

"Dixit Dominus ad Moysen: Congrega michi septuaginta viros de senioribus Israel, quos tu nosti quod senes populi sunt ac magistri, et duces eos ad hostium tabernaculi federis, faciesque ibi stare tecum, ut descendam et loquar tibi et auferam de spiritu tuo tradamque eis, ut sustentent tecum onus populi et non tu solus graveris". Infra: "Descendit Dominus per nubem et loquutus est ad eum auferens de spiritu, qui erat in Moyse, et dans septuaginta viris. Cumque requievisset in eis spiritus, prophetaverunt nec ultra cessaverunt. Remanserunt autem in castris duo viri, super quos requievit spiritus.Namet ipsi descripti fuerant et non exierant ad tabernaculum.

“The Lord said to Moses: ‘Gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people and masters, and lead them to the entrance of the tabernacle of the covenant, and you shall make them stand there with you, that I may descend and speak to you, and I will take from your spirit and give to them, that they may sustain with you the onus (burden) of the people and you be not weighed down alone’.” Below: “The Lord descended through a cloud and spoke to him, taking from the spirit that was in Moses and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease thereafter. Now two men remained in the camp, upon whom the spirit rested.For even they had been enrolled and had not gone out to the tabernacle.”

Cumque prophetarent in castris, cucurrit puer et nuntiavit Moysi dicens: Eldaad et Medad prophetant in castris. Statimque Iosue, filius Nun, minister Moysi et electus e pluribus ait: Domine mi Moyses, prohibe eos. Et [p. 18] ille: Quid, inquit,emularis pro me? Quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet et det ei Dominus spiritum suum?".

And when they were prophesying in the camp, a boy ran and announced to Moses, saying: Eldaad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And immediately Joshua, son of Nun, minister of Moses and chosen out of many, said: My Lord Moses, forbid them. And [p. 18] he: Why, he said,are you jealous for me? Who would grant that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give his Spirit to them?".

"Descendit Sanson cum patre suo et matre in Thammatha. Cumque venissent ad vineas oppidi, apparuit catulus leonis sevus rugiens et occurrit eis. Irruit autem spiritus Domini in Sanson et dilaceravit leonem, quasi edum in frusta discerperet". Infra: "Cum venisset Sanson ad locum maxille et Philistiim vociferantes occurrissent ei, irruit spiritus Domini super eum, et, sicut solent ad odorem ignis ligna consumi, ita et vincula quibus ligatus erat dissipata sunt et soluta".

"Samson went down with his father and mother to Thamnatha. And when they had come to the vineyards of the town, there appeared a whelp of a lion, savage, roaring, and it ran to meet them. But the spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he tore the lion, as if a kid he would tear into pieces." Below: "When Samson had come to the place of the jawbone and the Philistines, shouting, had come out to meet him, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and, just as woods are accustomed to be consumed at the odor of fire, so too the bonds with which he had been bound were scattered and loosed".

Dixit Samuel ad Saul: "Venies in collem Domini ubi est statio Philistinorum et, cum ingressus fueris ibi urbem, obvium habebis gregem prophetarum descendentium de excelso, et ante eos psalterium et timpanum et tibiam et citharam ipsosque prophetantes. Et insiliet in eum spiritus Domini, et prophetabis cum eis et mutaberis in virum alium". Et infra: "Ecce cuneus prophetarum [p. 19] obvius ei, et insiluit in eum spiritus Dei, et prophetavit in medio eorum". Et post aliqua: "Insiluit spiritus Domini in Saul cum audisset verba nuntiorum Iabes et iratus est furor eius nimis".

Samuel said to Saul: "You will come to the hill of the Lord where there is a station of the Philistines, and, when you have entered the city there, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them a psaltery and a tympanum and a tibia and a cithara, and they themselves prophesying. And the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and you will be changed into another man". And below: "Behold, a band of prophets [p. 19] to meet him, and the Spirit of God leapt upon him, and he prophesied in the midst of them". And after some time: "The Spirit of the Lord leapt upon Saul when he had heard the words of the messengers of Jabesh, and his fury was very much inflamed".

"Tulit Samuel cornu Dei et unxit David in medio fratrum eius et directus est spiritus Domini in David a die illa et in reliquum. Surgensque Samuel abiit in Ramatha. Spiritus autem Domini recessit a Saul, et exagitabat eum spiritus nequam a Domino". Dixit Abdias ad Heliam: "Dicis michi ut dicam Domino meo: "Adest Helias.

"Samuel took the horn of God and anointed David in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord was directed into David from that day and thereafter. And Samuel, rising, went away to Ramah. But the spirit of the Lord withdrew from Saul, and a wicked spirit from the Lord harried him". Obadiah said to Elijah: "Do you say to me that I should say to my lord: "Elijah is present.

Cumque recessero a te, spiritus Domini asportabit te in locum quem ego ignoro; ingressus nuntiabo Achab et non inveniet te et interficiet me".

"And when I have withdrawn from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to a place which I do not know; once I enter, I will announce to Ahab, and he will not find you, and he will kill me".

"Videntes filii prophetarum qui erant in Iherico de contra signum quod fecit Heliseus, dixerunt: Requievit spiritus Helie super Heliseum. Et venientes in occursum eius, adoraverunt eum proni in terram, dixeruntque illi: Ecce cum servis tuis sunt quinquaginta viri fortes, qui possunt ire et querere Dominum tuum, ne forte tulerit eum spiritus Domini et proiecerit in uno montium aut in una vallium". [p. 20]

"Seeing, the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, opposite, the sign which Elisha had done, said: The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha. And coming to meet him, they worshiped him, prone upon the ground, and they said to him: Behold, with your servants there are fifty strong men, who can go and seek your master, lest perhaps the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys". [p. 20]

"Egredietur virga de radice Iesse, et flos de radice eius ascendet, et requiescet super eum spiritus Domini".

"A rod will go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will ascend from his root, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him".

"Quis audivit spiritum Domini, aut quis consiliarius eius fuit et ostendit illi? Cum quo iniit consilium et instruxit eum, et docuit eum semitam iustitie, et erudivit eum scientiam et viam prudentie ostendit illi?".

"Who has heard the Spirit of the Lord, or who was his counselor and showed to him? With whom did he enter into counsel and instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and educated him in knowledge, and showed him the way of prudence?".

"Spiritus Domini super me, eo quod unxit me, ad annuntiandum mansuetis misit me".

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me, to announce to the meek he has sent me".

"Effundam spiritum meum super omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii vestri et filie vestre, senes vestri sompnia sompniabunt et iuvenes vestri visiones videbunt; sed et super servos meos et super ancillas meas in diebus illis effundam de spiritu meo et prophetabunt. Et dabo prodigia in celo et in terra, sanguinem et ignem et vaporem fumi. Sol convertetur in tenebras et luna in sanguinem ante quam veniat dies Domini magnus et terribilis.

"I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your elders will dream dreams, and your youths will see visions; and even upon my servants and upon my handmaids in those days I will pour out from my spirit, and they will prophesy. And I will give prodigies in heaven and on earth: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

Et erit, omnis qui invocaverit nomen Domini salvus erit".

And it shall be, everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved".

In his que hactenus notata sunt testimonia veritatis satis aperte ostenditur veritas personarum, quandoquidem et is qui dicit in principio: "Fiat lux" et cetera his similia, non nisi Deus Pater intelligendus est. Ipse enim dixit et facta sunt, et utique verbo suo dixit; et is qui tam frequenter angelus Domini dictus est, et nichilominus, Scriptura teste, Dominus et Deus et creator esse monstratur, Filius profecto intelligendus est, qui in assumpta forma fragilitatis nostre mittendus erat in mundum; et spiritus Domini, qui talia operatus [p. 21] est in prophetis qualia nec homo nec angelus poterat operari, ipse est quem nos confitemur tertiam in deitate personam. Quia vero audientes vos, Iudei, sed non intelligentes illud Moysi: "Audi Israel, Deus tuus unus est", abhorretis penitus et detestamini confessores trinitatis, nosque velud cultores alienorum deorum seductos asseritis et delusos, que causa maxime scandalizat vos et alienos efficit a fide Christi, oportet nos ostendere in hoc loco quam pura et catholica sit in Christo confessio fidei christiane, si quomodo per hoc intelligatis ipsum esse illud semen Abrae in quo, deleta multitudine idolorum, benedictionem accepture erant omnes gentes et de quo dictum est in psalmo: "Benedicentur in ipso omnes tribus terre, omnes magnificabunt eum", quod solus facere potuit qui de celo descendit.

In those things which up to now have been noted as testimonies of truth, the truth of the persons is shown quite openly, since both he who says in the beginning, "Let there be light," and the rest like to these, is to be understood as none other than God the Father. For he himself spoke and they were made, and assuredly he spoke by his Word; and he who so frequently is called the angel of the Lord, and nonetheless, Scripture bearing witness, is shown to be Lord and God and creator, is surely to be understood as the Son, who, in the assumed form of our fragility, was to be sent into the world; and the Spirit of the Lord, who wrought such things [p. 21] in the prophets as neither man nor angel could work, he himself is the one whom we confess to be the third person in the deity. Because indeed you, Jews, hearing but not understanding that word of Moses: "Hear, Israel, your God is one," utterly abhor and detest the confessors of the Trinity, and you assert that we, as worshipers of alien gods, are deceived and deluded—which thing most of all scandalizes you and makes you strangers to the faith of Christ—it is needful for us to show in this place how pure and catholic in Christ is the confession of the Christian faith, if in any way through this you might understand that he himself is that seed of Abraham in whom, the multitude of idols having been destroyed, all the nations were to receive blessing, and of whom it was said in the psalm: "In him all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed; all will magnify him," which only he could do who descended from heaven.

Igitur attendant filii quod non est datum percipere patribus eorum, quia et nos Christiani id intelleximus quod non fuerunt digni intelligere patres nostri. Nec mirum cum legamus in Pentateuco Moysi ob incredulitatem suam corruisse patres in deserto, filios vero, miserante Domino, introisse pro patribus in terram promissionis. Audite ergo et intelligite quam sit auro purior fides nostra et cognoscite fidelem esse magistrum eum qui nos vocavit de tenebris ad admirabile lumen suum.

Therefore let the sons attend to that which it was not given their fathers to perceive, for we Christians also have understood that which our fathers were not worthy to understand. Nor is it a marvel, since we read in the Pentateuch of Moses that on account of their incredulity the fathers fell in the desert, but the sons, the Lord having mercy, entered in place of the fathers into the land of promise. Hear therefore and understand how our faith is purer than gold, and know the Master to be faithful—he who called us out of darkness into his admirable light.

Adoravit Abraam Deum unum, Deum qui creavit cuncta ex nichilo, Deum qui fecit celum et terram, et nos ipsum adoramus, [p. 22] colimus, veneramur; ipse enim fecit nos et non ipsi nos. Credimus autem ei in omnibus que dicit tamquam Domino universorum, credimus et prophetis eius qui loquuti sunt in nomine eius. Audio Moysen dicentem michi: "Audi,Israel, Deus tuus ignis consumens est". Audio David dicentem: "Si ascendero in celum, tu illic es; si descendero in infernum, ades". Audio Salomonem id ipsum apertius proferentem: "Si celum et celi celorum te capere non possunt, quanto magis domus hec quam edificavi". Audio et Ysaiam eadem de Altissimo sub admiratione proferentem: "Quis mensus est pugillo aquas et celos palmo ponderavit?

Abraham adored the one God, the God who created all things out of nothing, the God who made heaven and earth, and we adore him, [p. 22] we worship, we venerate; for he himself made us and not we ourselves. Moreover, we believe him in all the things that he says as the Lord of the universe, and we believe also his prophets who have spoken in his name. I hear Moses saying to me: "Hear,Israel, your God is a consuming fire." I hear David saying: "If I shall ascend into heaven, you are there; if I shall descend into hell, you are present." I hear Solomon bringing forth this same thing more openly: "If heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built." And I hear Isaiah likewise uttering the same things concerning the Most High in astonishment: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and weighed the heavens with a span?"

Quis appendit tribus digitis molem terre et libravit in pondere montes et colles in statera?". Et infra: "Cui ergo similem fecistis Deum aut quam imaginem imponetis ei? Nunquid sculptile conflavit faber aut aurifex auro figuravit illud, et laminis argenteis argentarius?". Et post pauca: "Cui assimilastis me et adequastis me? Dicit sanctus. Levate in excelsum oculos vestros et videte quis creavit hec". Et infra: "Deus sempiternus Dominus, qui creavit terminos terre, non deficiet neque laborabit, nec [p. 23] est investigatio sapientie eius". Hoc et David dicit: "Quis Deus magnus sicut Deus noster? Tu es Deus qui facis mirabilia". Ex his ergo et aliis testimoniis Scripturarum intelligimus supra modum capacitatis nostre inextimabilem esse Deum, ita ut, cum ei imponitur humana vel angelica forma vel aliquid simile humane fragilitatis, totum sit non carnaliter set spiritaliter intelligendum.

"Who has weighed with three fingers the mass of the earth and balanced in a weight the mountains and the hills in a scale?" And below: "To whom therefore have you made God like, or what image will you impose upon him? Has the craftsman cast a graven thing, or has the goldsmith shaped it with gold, and the silversmith with silver plates?" And after a little: "To whom have you likened me and equaled me? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these." And below: "The sempiternal God, the Lord, who created the boundaries of the earth, will not faint nor will he labor, nor [p. 23] is there investigation of his wisdom." This also David says: "What god is great like our God? You are the God who makes wonders." From these therefore and other testimonies of the Scriptures we understand God to be inestimable beyond the measure of our capacity, such that, when a human or angelic form is imposed upon him, or anything like to human fragility, the whole is to be understood not carnally but spiritually.

Super quo vos quoque, o Iudei, nobiscum in hac parte concordare non dubito. Quo circa cum a nobis Christianis habere Deus Filium predicatur, nichil humanum aut corporeum fingere debetis in corde vestro, quia nos ut ineffabilem virtutem credimus Deum Patrem, ita et Filium eius non nisi Dei virtutem esse pensamus, et illam utique virtutem de qua dicit psalmista: "Magnus Dominus noster et magna virtus eius et sapientie eius non est numerus". Nec putare debetis novam fidem tradidisse nobis sanctos evangelistas que sit aliena a prophetis et contraria fidei patrum vestrorum, sed quod illi in enigmate sunt loquuti, hoc isti nobis manifestius tradiderunt. Et quid nobis tradiderunt?

On which point I do not doubt that you also, O Jews, agree with us in this matter. Wherefore, when by us Christians it is preached that God has a Son, you ought to fashion nothing human or corporeal in your heart, because just as we believe God the Father to be an ineffable power, so also we reckon his Son to be nothing but the Power of God—and that, namely, the power of which the psalmist says: "Great is our Lord, and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number." Nor ought you to think that the holy evangelists have handed down to us a new faith which is alien to the prophets and contrary to the faith of your fathers, but what those spoke in an enigma, this these have delivered to us more manifestly. And what have they delivered to us?

"In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud eum, et Deus erat Verbum; omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nichil". Hec de Verbo Dei quod vos cognominatis dibur. Quid de Spiritu sancto, quem vos dicitis rua? "Ego, inquit Christus, rogabo Patrem, et [p. 24] alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, spiritum veritatis quem mundus iste non potest accipere". Quod si forte de hoc ipso turbatur cor vestrum, putantes hec contraria traditionibus vestris, tunc iam non arbitror remanere vobis locum contradicendi manifestissime veritati, cum vobis ostendemus de hoc Verbo et de hoc Spiritu loquutos fuisse patribus vestris sanctos Dei prophetas.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with him, and the Word was God; all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made." These things about the Word of God, which you surname dibur. What about the Holy Spirit, whom you call rua? "I," says Christ, "will ask the Father, and [p. 24] he will give you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth which this world cannot receive." But if perhaps your heart is troubled about this very point, supposing these things to be contrary to your traditions, then now I do not think there remains for you any place for gainsaying the most manifest truth, when we shall show you that the holy prophets of God spoke to your fathers about this Word and about this Spirit.

Ecce, enim, de hoc Verbo et de hoc Spiritu longe ante precinerat psalmista David: "Verbo Domini celi firmati sunt, et spiritu oris eius omnis virtus eorum". De hoc Verbo et de hoc Spiritu dixit Ysaias propheta: "Revelabitur gloria Domini, et videbit omnis caro pariter quod os Domini loquutum est. Vox dicentis: Clama! Quid clamabo?

Behold, indeed, concerning this Word and this Spirit the psalmist David had long before prophesied: "By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their host." Concerning this Word and this Spirit the prophet Isaiah said: "The glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice of one saying: Cry out! What shall I cry?"

Omnis caro fenum, et omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri. Exsiccatum est fenum, et cecidit flos, quia spiritus Dei nostri insufflavit in eo. Vere fenum est populus; exsiccatum est fenum, et cecidit flos; verbum autem Domini manet in eternum".

All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field. The grass has been dried up, and the flower has fallen, because the Spirit of our God has breathed upon it. Truly the people is grass; the grass has been dried up, and the flower has fallen; but the word of the Lord remains forever".

Et rursum de hoc Verbo idem Ysaias: "Quomodo, inquit, descendit imber et nix de celo et illuc ultra non revertitur, sed inebriat terram et infundit eam et germinare eam facit et dat semen serenti et panem comedenti, sic erit verbum meum quod egredietur de ore meo: non revertetur ad me vacuum, sed faciet quecumque volui et prosperabitur in his ad que misi illud". Si igitur Verbum quod egreditur de ore Domini aliquid facere dictum est, immo non aliquid, sed quecumque voluit Deus, quis audet dicere Verbum Domini, quod manet in eternum, non esse rem viventem et omnipotentem, immo prebentem vitam omnibus qui suscipiunt illud? Quod si queris a me quam formam habet Verbum istud, dic tu michi quam formam Deus Pater habet, cuius est ipsum Verbum, et ego tibi assignabo formam Verbi eius, quod utrumque sicut impossibile ita et ineffabile est. Sufficit michi credere quod Deus ipse [p. 25] testatur; non est meum discutere arcana maiestatis ipsius.

And again concerning this Word the same Isaiah: "Just as, he says, the rain and the snow descend from heaven and do not return thither any further, but soak the earth and pour into it and make it sprout, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be which will go out from my mouth: it shall not return to me empty, but it shall do whatever I have willed, and it shall prosper in those things for which I sent it." If therefore the Word which goes forth from the mouth of the Lord is said to do something—indeed not something, but whatever God has willed—who dares to say that the Word of the Lord, which remains unto eternity, is not a living and omnipotent thing, nay rather one proffering life to all who receive it? But if you ask of me what form this Word has, you tell me what form God the Father has, whose the Word itself is, and I will assign to you the form of His Word—both of which are as impossible as they are ineffable. It suffices me to believe what God Himself [p. 25] attests; it is not mine to scrutinize the arcana of His majesty.

Hoc solum scire vos cupio, o Iudei, quad illum verum Deum colimus nos Christiani, illum nos colere confitemur, quem coluit Abraam, et Verbum eius quo celi firmati sunt, Verbum scilicet quod procedit ineffabiliter ex ore eius, esse dicimus Filium Dei, dicente Salomone de eo qui potest omnia, in libro parabolarum suarum: "Quod nomen est eius, et quod nomen Filii eius, si nosti? Omnis sermo Domini ignitus clipeus est sperantibus in se". Igitur quod vos Iudei vocatis dibur, ipsum est quod nos dicimus Filium, et quod vos vocatis rua, ipsum nos dicimus Spiritum sanctum. Non igitur, sicut vos putatis, alienos nos Christiani predicamus deos, sed unum Deum colimus quem coluit Abraam, ipsum scilicet cum Verbo suo et Spiritu sancto, quamvis non frustra ad insinuandam hanc trinitatem personarum dixerit Moyses: "Scito et cogita in corde tuo Ky Adonay hu ha Heloym", quod est dicere: quod Dominus ipse est Deus, ut per hoc quod dixit: hu ha unus intelligatur in natura, et per hoc quod dixit Heloym trinus credatur in personis, Pater scilicet et Verbam et Spiritus sanctus.

This one thing I desire you to know, O Jews: that we Christians worship that true God, we confess that we worship him whom Abraham worshiped, and his Word by which the heavens were made firm—namely the Word which proceeds ineffably from his mouth—we say is the Son of God; Solomon speaking of him who can do all things, in the book of his Proverbs: “What is his name, and what is his Son’s name, if you know? Every word of the Lord is fire-tried, a shield to those who hope in him.” Therefore what you Jews call dibur, this is what we call the Son; and what you call rua, this we call the Holy Spirit. Not, then, as you suppose, do we Christians preach alien gods, but we worship one God whom Abraham worshiped, that very one with his Word and the Holy Spirit; although not without purpose, to intimate this trinity of persons, Moses said: “Scito et cogita in corde tuo Ky Adonay hu ha Heloym,” which is to say that the Lord himself is God, so that by this which he said hu ha, “one” be understood in nature, and by this which he said Heloym he be believed triune in persons, namely the Father and the Word and the Holy Spirit.

Quod si forte, audito nomine Verbi Dei, scandalizat te prolatio huius verbi materialis, quod procedit ex ore nostro, pro eo scilicet quod vox prolata perit, puto quod hoc ipsum verbum quod loquimur male intellexisti, id ipsum prave extimans esse verbum quod vocem; at non esse ita ratio apertissima docet. Omnis etenim vox que caret intellectu sonus quidem est, sed verbum non est, et ob [p. 26] hoc prolata perit ipsa: et post ipsam nullum remanet verbum. Si autem quod dicitur non caret intellectu, etsi vox ipsa perit que pervenit ad aures exteriores, verbum tamen quod voce est intimatum ipsa scilicet sapientia que procedit ex ore sapientis plene manet in corde loquentis et in corde audientis, dicente Moyse: "Prope est verbum in corde tuo", et psalmista: "Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum". Si enim, Scriptura teste, et in corde est verbum et de corde procedit, tunc posset in hamine perire verbum cum, deficiente in eo memoria, traderetur quod sapitur oblivioni.

But if perchance, on hearing the name of the Word of God, the prolation of this material word which proceeds from our mouth scandalizes you—namely because the uttered voice perishes—I think that you have misunderstood this very word which we speak, wrongly estimating that the word is the same thing as the voice; but most evident reason teaches that it is not so. For every voice which lacks intellect is indeed a sound, but it is not a word, and on account of this [p. 26] the uttered thing itself perishes; and after it no word remains. If, however, that which is said does not lack intellect, even if the voice itself which reaches the outer ears perishes, nevertheless the word which has been intimated by the voice—namely the wisdom itself which proceeds from the mouth of the wise—remains fully in the heart of the speaker and in the heart of the hearer, Moses saying: "Near is the word in your heart," and the psalmist: "My heart has poured forth a good word." For if, Scripture being witness, the word is both in the heart and proceeds from the heart, then the word could perish in man when, memory failing in him, that which is apprehended is handed over to oblivion.

Igitur verbum bonum ipsa sapientia est, teste psalmista qui dicit: "Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam". Sed hoc solum differt inter nomen verbi et nomen sapientie quod differre videtur inter nomen fluminis et nomen aque: siquidem aqua quelibet aqua est, et flumen nichilominus aqua est, sed in hoc tantum differt quod aqua potest dici et que fluit et que non fluit, fluvius autem non dicitur nisi sit aqua fluens. Quemadmodum ignis dici potest et qui flamma est et qui flamma non est, flamma autem dici non potest nisi illa corpulenta substantia que nascitur, ut sic dicam, de igne, eodem modo sapientia dicitur et que in corde latet et que de corde procedit, verbum autem non dicitur nisi sapientia que de corde procedit, induens, ut ita dixerim, in ore vocem, ut possit per auditum concipi in cordibus auditorum. Verum hec iccirco dico ut, exempli gratia, intelligatis esse Verbum Dei ipsam Sapientiam Dei Patris, que iccirco dicta est Verbum Dei quia, qui dixit et facta sunt, Verbo suo dixit quod dixit et Verbo suo fecit quod fecit, quandoquidem [p. 27] nichil legitur fecisse nisi quod dixit ut fieret.

Therefore the good word is Sapience itself, with the psalmist as witness who says: "The mouth of the just will meditate sapience." But this alone differs between the name of word and the name of sapience, which seems to differ between the name of river and the name of water: for indeed any water is water, and a river is nonetheless water, but it differs only in this, that water can be said both of what flows and of what does not flow, whereas a river is not said unless it be flowing water. Just as fire can be so called both which is flame and which is not flame, but flame cannot be so called except that corporeal substance which is born, so to speak, from fire, in the same way sapience is said both of what lies hidden in the heart and of what proceeds from the heart, but word is not said except of the sapience which proceeds from the heart, putting on, so to speak, a voice in the mouth, so that it can be conceived through hearing in the hearts of the hearers. Truly I say these things for this reason, by way of example, that you may understand the Word of God to be the very Sapience of God the Father, which for this reason is called the Word of God because he who "spoke and they were made," by his Word said what he said and by his Word did what he did, since [p. 27] nothing is read to have been done by him except what he said should be made.

Sed cum rursum dicat Scriptura: "Dominus sapientia fundavit terram, et sapientia ipsius eruperunt abissi", non potest aliud intelligi: "Sapientia qua fundavit terram et qua eruperunt abissi" et aliud: "Verbum quo celi firmati sunt", sed idem. Quod si forte arbitramini a me esse conficta hec verba, non autem sic credere Christianos nec ita nobis traditum ab apostolis Christi, audite apostolum Paulum natum de gente vestra, sed non in ignorantia vestra relictum, concordantem cum psalmista ac dicentem: "Nos predicamus Dei Filium, Dei virtutem et Dei sapientiam". Quod si eum, quem Iohannes nominat Verbum Dei, Paulus esse testatur Dei Virtutem et Dei Sapientiam, liquet quod ille est quem nos dicimus Filium Dei, quem psalmista eque nominat Dei Virtutem et Dei Sapientiam dicens ita: "Magnus Dominus noster et magna virtus eius, et sapientie eius non est numerus". Quod si dicitis: Que causa est ut Sapientia Dei dicatur Filius?: illa utique est qua eam ex Deo Patre natam esse Scriptura testatur, quin immo ipsamet loquens de se ipsa testimonium sibi perhibet in Scriptura divina, cui ea necessitate fidem tenemini adhibere, qua ipsi quoque verba ipsa non humano spiritu sed divino edita esse testamini. Loquitur ergo ipsa de se, si forte verbis eius, de se sibi ipsi testimonium perhibentis, credere velitis et suscipere spiritum eius, qui est vite, et audire verba eius improperantis vobis duritiam vestram ac dicentis: "Convertimini ad correptionem meam: en proferam vobis spiritum meum et ostendam vobis verba mea.

But since Scripture again says: "The Lord by Wisdom founded the earth, and by his Wisdom the abysses burst forth," it cannot be understood that one thing is "the Wisdom by which he founded the earth and by which the abysses burst forth" and another "the Word by which the heavens were made firm," but the same. And if perchance you suppose these words have been fabricated by me, and that Christians do not so believe nor was it delivered to us thus by the apostles of Christ, hear the apostle Paul, born of your nation, yet not left in your ignorance, agreeing with the psalmist and saying: "We preach the Son of God, God’s Power and God’s Wisdom." Now if him whom John names the Word of God Paul bears witness to be God’s Power and God’s Wisdom, it is clear that he is the one whom we call the Son of God, whom the psalmist likewise names God’s Power and God’s Wisdom, saying thus: "Great is our Lord and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number." And if you say: What is the cause that the Wisdom of God is called Son?: that surely is the one by which Scripture bears witness that she is born from God the Father; indeed, she herself speaking about herself bears testimony to herself in divine Scripture, to which you are bound to give faith with that same necessity with which you yourselves also testify that the very words were issued not by a human spirit but by a divine. Therefore she herself speaks about herself, if perchance you are willing to believe her words, of her giving testimony about herself to herself, and to receive her spirit, which is of life, and to hear her words reproaching you for your hardness and saying: "Be converted to my correction: behold, I will pour forth to you my spirit and I will show you my words."

Quia vocavi, et renuistis, extendi manum meam et non fuit qui aspiceret, despexistis omne consilium meum et increpationes meas neglexistis; ego quoque in interitu vestro ridebo et subsannabo, cum vobis quod timebatis [p. 28] advenerit, cum irruerit repentina calamitas et interitus quasi tempestas ingruerit, quando venerit super vos tribulatio et angustia" et cetera que sequuntur. Verum hec contra eos qui non audierunt vocem eius. Quid de audientibus?

"Because I called, and you refused; I stretched out my hand and there was no one who would regard; you despised all my counsel and you neglected my reproofs; I also will laugh at your destruction and will deride, when that which you feared [p. 28] shall have come upon you, when sudden calamity shall have rushed in and destruction like a tempest shall have borne down, when tribulation and anguish shall have come upon you" and the rest which follow. But these things are against those who did not hear his voice. What of the hearers?

"Qui, inquit, me audierit, absque terrore quiescet et abundantia perfruetur, malorum timore sublato".

"Whoever, says he, will have listened to me will rest without terror and will enjoy abundance, the fear of evils having been removed."

Audite ergo et intelligite, et primoquidem quod dicit de se ipsa, ut intelligatis aperte Dei prolem esse Sapientiam, deinde eruditricem omnium et creatricem cum Deo omnium creaturarum. Sic enim ipsa dicit in eodem libro: "Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum, ante quam quicquam faceret a principio. Ab eterno ordinata sum et ex antiquis, ante quam terra fieret.

Hear therefore and understand, and first indeed what she says about herself, that you may understand plainly that Wisdom is the progeny of God, then the instructress of all and the creatress, together with God, of all creatures. For thus she herself says in the same book: "The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. From eternity I was ordained and from ancient times, before the earth was made.

Necdum erant abissi, et ego concepta eram, necdum fontes aquarum eruperant, necdum montes gravi mole constituti erant, ante omnes colles ego parturiebar; adhuc terram non fecerat et flumina et cardines orbis terre. Quando perpetrabat celos aderam; quando certa lege et giro vallabat abissos, quando ethera firmabat sursum, et librabat fontes aquarum, quando circumdabat mari terminum suum et legem ponebat aquis, ne transirent fines suos, quando appendebat fundamenta terre, cum eo eram cuncta componens et delectabar per singulos dies ludens coram eo, omni tempore ludens in orbe terrarum, et delitie mee esse cum filiis hominum. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Beati qui custodiunt vias meas". Certe audistis, o Iudei, conceptam et genitam ante omnia ab ipso qui fecit omnia sapientiam assistentem sibi et cum ipso omnia componentem, ut non putetis nos errare cum Filium Dei esse dicimus Sapientiam Dei, quia nos alium Filium habere Deum nec credimus nec fatemur, sed ipsam Dei Sapientiam, que omnia que supra scripta sunt loquitur de se ipsa.

The abysses were not yet, and I had been conceived; nor had the fountains of waters burst forth; nor had the mountains been established with a heavy mass; before all the hills I was being brought forth; as yet he had not made the earth and the rivers and the hinges of the orb of the earth. When he was completing the heavens, I was present; when with fixed law and circle he was walling round the abysses; when he was making firm the aether above and was balancing the springs of waters; when he was encircling the sea with its terminus and setting a law for the waters, that they should not pass their bounds; when he was hanging the foundations of the earth, I was with him composing all things, and I delighted day by day, playing before him, at every time playing in the orb of the lands, and my delights were to be with the sons of men. Now therefore, sons, hear me: “Blessed are they who keep my ways”. Surely you have heard, O Jews, Wisdom conceived and begotten before all things by him who made all things, assisting him and with him composing all things, so that you may not think that we err when we say that the Son of God is the Wisdom of God, because we neither believe nor profess that God has another Son, but that the Wisdom of God herself is she who says about herself all the things that are written above.

Igitur Dei Filius ipsa Sapientia Dei est, qui tamen pro diversis effectibus diversa est sortitus vocabula. Dicitur [p. 29] enim Sapientia quia novit omnia ante quam fiant; dicitur verbum, quia per ipsum innotuit Deus generi humano; dicitur virtus, quia omnia potest; dicitur brachium, quia verbo ipso Domini celi firmati sunt; dicitur manus, quia per eum facta sunt omnia; dicitur fons vite, quia sitienti Deum populo fluenta gratiarum infundit; dicitur lux, quia illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum; dicitur angelus, quia missus est pro mundi salute, et sic de ceteris. Verum hec iccirco dicimus ut sciatis quid nos esse credamus Filium Dei, ne nos aliquid novum credere arbitremini nomine Filii Dei quod non sit scriptum in codicibus vestris, et per hoc patientes scandalum in fide nostra tardetis adhuc accedere ad convivium Dei.

Therefore the Son of God is the very Wisdom of God, who nevertheless, on account of diverse effects, has been allotted diverse names. He is called [p. 29] Wisdom because he knows all things before they come to be; he is called the Word, because through him God became known to the human race; he is called Virtue (Power), because he can do all things; he is called the Arm, because by the very Word of the Lord the heavens were made firm; he is called the Hand, because through him all things were made; he is called the Fountain of life, because he pours streams of graces into the people thirsting for God; he is called Light, because he illumines every human being coming into this world; he is called Angel, because he was sent for the salvation of the world, and so concerning the rest. But we say these things for this reason, that you may know what we believe the Son of God to be, lest you suppose that we believe something new under the name “Son of God” which is not written in your codices, and by this, taking offense at our faith, you still delay to come to the banquet of God.

Non ignoramus, o Iudei, quod, quando nos superius loquebamur vobis de verbo Dei dicentes ipsum Verbum esse Filium Dei, scandalum erat vobis forma ipsa corporalis, secundum quam confitemur Dei Filium natum esse secundum carnem de Virgine Maria; et primo quidem admiramini quod eum dicimus natum de Deo et ex Virgine Matre, quod eum dicimus Deum et hominem, quasi impossibile sit unam eandemque personam esse hominem et Deum, esse tam magnum et tam parvum, esse eternum et temporalem. Deinde abhorretis vel audire voluisse tantam maiestatem visitare corpus femineum et infirmi corpusculi contineri cubili. Oportet autem vos primo intelligere quid de hoc teneat fides nostra, deinde hoc ipsum asserere testimoniis Scripturarum.

We are not ignorant, O Jews, that, when we were above speaking to you about the Word of God, saying that this Word is the Son of God, the very bodily form was a scandal to you, according to which we confess the Son of God to have been born according to the flesh from the Virgin Mary; and at first indeed you marvel that we say he was born of God and from a Virgin Mother, that we say he is God and man, as though it were impossible that one and the same person be man and God, be so great and so small, be eternal and temporal. Then you shrink from even wishing to hear that so great a majesty visited a woman’s body and was contained in the bed of a feeble little body. But it is needful for you first to understand what our faith holds about this, then to assert this very thing with testimonies of the Scriptures.

Nos credimus in utero Virginis sine viri semine formatum Christum et ab ipsa prima hora vel momento conceptionis sue adhesisse illi dibur, hoc est Verbum Dei, ac si flamma ignis adhereret candele, quin immo, ut vobis loquar de vestro, sicut flamma ignis adherebat illi rubo qui ardebat in oculis Moysi et non comburebatur. Atque ex hoc iam cepit [p. 30] esse una persona Dei et hominis, ac si una arbor oleastri et olive inserte in eo manu artificis et unione coniuncte, ita ut Deus et homo unus sit Christus. Et quod ita sit, non a philosophis huius mundi et a sapientibus seculi, sed ab ipsis prophetis vestris, qui infra scripti sunt, certa perpendimus documenta.

We believe that in the womb of the Virgin Christ was formed without a man’s seed, and that from the very first hour or moment of his conception the dibur, that is, the Word of God, adhered to him, as if a flame of fire adhered to a candle—nay rather, to speak to you from your own, as the flame of fire adhered to that bush which was burning in the eyes of Moses and was not consumed. And from this he already began [p. 30] to be one person of God and of man, as if one tree of the wild-olive and of the olive grafted into it by the hand of an artificer and joined in union, so that God and man is one Christ. And that it is so, we do not weigh sure documents from the philosophers of this world and the wise of the age, but from your own prophets, who are written below.

Sane de bonitate et misericordia Dei nostri, qua non est dedignatus visitare misericorditer corpus femine et induere ineffabiliter limum nostrum, non necesse est plura loqui, quia, si credimus Dei spiritum visitare prophetas in utroque sexu, homines utique seminantes et concipientes immundum semen ad propagationem carnis, noli tu mirum ducere si dignatus est visitare aulam virginalem ad formandam mansionem sancti corporis Filio Dei, maxime ut compleretur illud quod dixit David: "Secundum nomen tuum, Deus, sic et laus tua in fines terre". Que enim potest esse maior laus cuilibet potestati, quam si se exhibeat humilem quasi unum de servis suis? Utique etsi digna maiestas, timorem tamen incurrit, non amorem; humilitas tamen etsi despecta, amorem plus ingerit quam timorem. Quod si maius mandatum est diligere Deum et ipsum est quod commendat precipue Script ura veritatis, quod melius opus esse potuit quam illud per quod homines optinent diligere Deum?

Surely, concerning the goodness and mercy of our God, by which He did not disdain mercifully to visit the body of a female and ineffably to put on our clay, it is not necessary to speak more; because, if we believe the Spirit of God to visit prophets in either sex, people, to be sure, sowing and conceiving unclean seed for the propagation of the flesh, do not you count it a marvel if He deigned to visit the virginal hall for the forming of a dwelling of the holy body for the Son of God—especially that that might be fulfilled which David said: "According to your name, O God, so also your praise unto the ends of the earth". For what greater praise can there be to any power than if it exhibit itself humble as one of its servants? Surely, even if it be a worthy majesty, nevertheless it incurs fear, not love; humility, however, even if despised, instills love more than fear. And if the greater commandment is to love God, and this is what the Script ura of truth especially commends, what better work could there be than that by which human beings obtain to love God?

Igitur et ad Dei laudem et ad nostram pertinuit felicitatem ut verus Deus et verus homo nasceretur de Virgine, et quod ita esset futurum, [p. 31] testatus est Dei spiritus in Scripturis prophetarum, ex quibus aliqua certiora capitula huic sunt opusculo subnectenda. "Speciosus forma pre filiis hominum" et cetera; "Accingere gladio tuo super femur tuum potentissime: specie tua et pulcritudine tua intende, prospere" et cetera; "Propter veritatem et mansuetudinem et iustitiam" et cetera; "Sagitte tue acute, populi sub te cadent in corde inimicorum regis, sedes tua, Deus, in seculum seculi, virga directionis virga regni tui. Dilexisti iustitiam et odisti iniquitatem, propterea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus oleo letitie, pre consortibus tuis mirra et gutta et cassia a vestimentis tuis, a domibus eburneis" et cetera; "Astitit regina a dextris tuis in vestitu deaurato" et cetera; "Audi, filia, et vide et inclina aurem tuam; et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui; et concupiscet rex decorem tuum, quoniam ipse est Dominus Deus tuus".

Therefore, both for the praise of God and for our happiness it pertained that true God and true man should be born of a Virgin; and that it would be so, [p. 31] the Spirit of God bore witness in the Scriptures of the prophets, from which some more certain chapters are to be subjoined to this little work. “Fairer in form than the sons of men,” and the rest; “Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty; with your aspect and your comeliness set forth, prosper,” and the rest; “For the sake of truth and meekness and justice,” and the rest; “Your arrows are sharp; peoples will fall under you, in the heart of the king’s enemies; your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of rectitude is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions; myrrh and stacte and cassia are from your garments, from ivory houses,” and the rest; “The queen stood at your right hand in gilded apparel,” and the rest; “Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear; and forget your people and your father’s house; and the king will desire your beauty, for he himself is the Lord your God.”

Eia nunc, Iudee, dic michi: Quis est iste homo qui est speciosus forma pre filiis hominum? Quin immo, quia non necesse est ut tu dicas quod Scriptura testatur, qui enim unctus esse describitur esse [p. 32] Messias non dubitatur, illud magis dicas: Quomodo, si non est Deus et homo, et Deum illum psalmista vocat dicens: "Sedes tua, Deus, in seculum seculi", et tamen is qui Deus est a Deo suo unctus esse narratur? Denique, ut ipsum qui unctus est secundum humanitatem Deum verum esse non dubites, audisti quid de eo dictum sit eidem regine: "Audi, filia, et vide et inclina aurem tuam et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui; et concupiscet rex decorem tuum, quoniam ipse est Dominus Deus tuus". "Descendet sicut pluvia in vellus" et cetera; "Orietur in diebus eius iustitia" et cetera; "Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare" et cetera; "Et adorabunt eum omnes reges", et cetera; "Quia liberabit pauperem a potente" et cetera; "Et vivet et dabitur ei de auro Arabie" et cetera; "Erit firmamentum in terra in summis montium" et cetera; "Sit nomen eius benedictum in secula, ante solem permanet nomen eius; et benedicentur in eo omnes tribus terre" et cetera.

Come now, Jew, tell me: Who is this man who is fair in form beyond the sons of men? Nay rather, since it is not necessary that you say what Scripture testifies—for he who is described as anointed is not doubted to be the Messiah—say rather this: How is it, if he is not God and man, that the psalmist calls him God, saying: "Your throne, O God, forever and ever," and yet he who is God is related to have been anointed by his God? Finally, that you may not doubt that he who is anointed according to humanity is true God, you have heard what was said concerning him to that same queen: "Hear, daughter, and see and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father; and the king will desire your beauty, for he himself is the Lord your God". "He shall descend like rain upon the fleece" and the rest; "Justice shall arise in his days" and the rest; "And he shall rule from sea unto sea" and the rest; "And all kings shall adore him", and the rest; "For he will free the poor man from the mighty one" and the rest; "And he shall live, and there shall be given to him of the gold of Arabia" and the rest; "He shall be a firmament on the earth on the summits of the mountains" and the rest; "May his name be blessed unto ages; before the sun his name endures; and in him all tribes of the earth shall be blessed" and the rest. [p. 32]

Cum ille Salomon, qui regnavit in Ierusalem secundum carnem, obscurum exitum habuisse legatur, vide quis et quantus sit iste qui descensurus erat sicut pluvia in vellus et quem adoraturi sunt omnes reges et cuius nomen benedictum asseveratur in secula, presertim cum et ante solem permanere dicatur nomen eius; profecto ille est qui dicit in Evangelio: "Ante quam Abraam fieret, ego sum". "Dixit Dominus Domino meo: sede a dextris meis" et cetera; "Tecum principium in die virtutis tue" et cetera; "Iuravit [p. 33] Dominus, et non penitebit eum" et cetera; "Iudicabit in nationibus" et cetera.

Since that Solomon, who reigned in Jerusalem according to the flesh, is read to have had an obscure outcome, see who and how great is this one who was going to descend like rain upon the fleece, and whom all kings are going to adore, and whose name is asserted blessed into the ages, especially since his name is also said to endure before the sun; assuredly he is the one who says in the Gospel: "Before Abraham came to be, I am." "The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand" and so forth; "With you is the beginning (principium) in the day of your power" and so forth; "Has sworn [p. 33] the Lord, and it will not repent him" and so forth; "He will judge among the nations" and so forth.

Si hoc non de Christo dicit David, sed, sicut fingunt aliqui, de Saule, quomodo in sequentibus dicitur: "Iuravit Dominus, et non pertinebit eum: tu es sacerdos in eternum", presertim cum dicat ipse Dominus de Saule: "Penitet me quod constituerim Saulem regem".

If David does not say this about Christ, but, as some feign, about Saul, how is it said in the following: "The Lord has sworn, and it shall not repent him: you are a priest in eternity," especially since the Lord himself says about Saul: "It repents me that I have constituted Saul king."

"Lapidem, quem reprobaverunt edificantes" et cetera. "A Domino factum est istud" et cetera; "Hec est dies quam fecit Dominus" et cetera; "O Domine, salvum me fac; o Domine, bene prosperare. Benedictus qui venturus es in nomine Domini". Si Dominus iste tam magnus est ut possit salvos facere invocantes, et ipsemet venturus est in nomine Domini, frustra sic confitentur Iudei unum Dominum et unum Deum, ut per hoc velint negare Messiam esse Dominum et salvatorem mundi, quia Pater Dominus et ipse Dominus et ambo simul unus Dominus.

"The stone which the builders rejected" and so forth. "By the Lord this has been done" and so forth; "This is the day which the Lord has made" and so forth; "O Lord, save me; O Lord, do prosper well. Blessed are you who are to come in the name of the Lord." If this Lord is so great that he can save those who invoke him, and he himself is going to come in the name of the Lord, in vain do the Jews thus confess one Lord and one God, so that by this they wish to deny that the Messiah is Lord and savior of the world, because the Father is Lord and he himself is Lord and both together are one Lord.

[p. 34]

"Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium, et vocabitur nomen eius Hemmanuel". Et post aliqua: "Dominum exercituum ipsum sanctificate, ipse pavor vester et ipse terror vester; et erit vobis in sanctificationem, in lapidem autem offensionis et in petram scandali erit duabus domibusIsrael, et in laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus Ierusalem. Et offendent ex eis plurimi et cadent et conterentur et irretientur et capientur. Liga testimonium, signa legem in discipulis meis.

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." And after some things: "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; let him be your fear and let him be your terror; and he shall be for you for sanctification, but for a stone of offense and for a rock of scandal he shall be to the two houses of Israel, and for a snare and for a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many of them shall stumble and fall and be crushed and be ensnared and be taken. Bind the testimony; seal the law among my disciples."

Et exspectabo Dominum, qui abscondit faciem suam a domo Iacob, et prestolabor eum".

And I will wait for the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will wait for him".

"Parvulus natus est nobis, filius datus est nobis, et factus est principatus super humerum eius, et vocabitur nomen eius admirabilis, consiliarius, Deus fortis, pater futuri seculi, princeps pacis. Multiplicabitur eius imperium, et pacis non erit finis; super solium David et super regnum eius sedebit, ut confirmet illud et corroboret in iudicio et iustitia amodo et usque in sempiternum.

"A little child has been born for us, a son has been given to us, and the principate has been made upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of the age to come, Prince of Peace. His empire will be multiplied, and of peace there will be no end; upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom he will sit, that he may confirm it and corroborate it in judgment and justice from now and unto everlasting.

Zelus Domini exercituum faciet hoc. Verbum misit Dominus in Iacob et cecidit inIsrael". [p. 35]

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The Lord sent a word into Jacob and it fell inIsrael". [p. 35]

"Egredietur virga de radice Iesse, et flos de radice eius ascendet, et requiescet super eum spiritus Domini" et cetera; "Non secundum visionem oculorum iudicabit neque secundum auditum aurium arguet, sed iudicabit in iustitia pauperes et arguet in equitate pro mansuetis terre et percutiet terram virga oris sui et spiritu labiorum suorum interficiet impium, et erit iustitia cingulum lumborum eius, et fides cinctorum renum eius. Habitabit lupus cum agno, et pardus cum edo accubabit". Et infra: "In die illa radix Iesse, qui stat in signum populorum, ipsum gentes deprecabuntur, et erit sepulchrum eius gloriosum".

"A rod will go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will ascend from his root, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him" and so forth; "He will not judge according to the vision of the eyes nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears, but he will judge the poor in justice and will argue in equity on behalf of the meek of the earth; and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the spirit of his lips he will slay the impious, and righteousness will be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with a kid." And below: "On that day the root of Jesse, who stands as a sign of the peoples, him the nations will beseech, and his sepulcher will be glorious".

"Ecce servus meus, suscipiam eum, electus meus, complacuit sibi in illo anima mea, dedi spiritum meum super eum, iudicium gentibus proferet. Non clamabit neque accipiet personam, neque audietur foris vox eius. Calamum quassatum non conteret et linum fumigans non extinguet, in veritate educet iudicium.

"Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my chosen one, my soul has been well-pleased in him; I have given my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth judgment to the nations. He will not cry out nor show partiality, nor will his voice be heard outside. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not extinguish; in truth he will bring forth judgment.

Non erit tristis neque turbulentus, donec ponat in terra iudicium; et legem eius insule exspectabunt".

He will not be sad nor turbulent, until he sets judgment in the earth; and the islands will await his law".

"Rorate, celi, desuper et nubes pluant iustum; aperiatur terra et germinet Salvatorem, et iustitia oriatur simul. Ego Dominus creavi eum". [p. 36]

"Drop down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One; let the earth be opened and let it germinate the Savior, and let justice arise together. I, the Lord, have created him". [p. 36]

"Audite, insule, et attendite, populi de longe: Dominus ab utero vocavit me, de ventre matris mee recordatus est nominis mei et posuit os meam quasi gladium acutum, in umbra manus sue protexit me et posuit me sicut sagittam electam, in pharetra sua abscondit me et dixit michi: Servus meus es tu,Israel, quia in te gloriabor. Et ego dixi: In vacuum laboravi, sine causa et vane fortitudinem meam consumpsi; ergo iudicium meom cum Domino est, et opus meum cum Deo meo. Et nunc, dicit Dominus formans me ex utero servum sibi, ut reducam Iacob ad eum, et Israel non congregabitur, et gloriatus sum in oculis Domini, et Deus meus factus est fortitudo mea.

"Hear, O islands, and attend, peoples from afar: the Lord has called me from the womb, from the belly of my mother he has remembered my name, and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he has protected me, and he has made me like a chosen arrow; in his quiver he hid me, and he said to me: You are my servant, Israel, for in you I will glory. And I said: In vain I have labored, without cause and vainly I have consumed my strength; therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, says the Lord, forming me from the womb a servant to himself, that I might bring Jacob back to him, and Israel will not be gathered, and I have been gloried in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.

Et dixit: Parum est ut sis michi servus ad suscitandas tribus Iacob et fecesIsraelconvertendas: ecce dedi te in lucem gentium ut sis salus mea usque ad extremum terre".

And he said: It is too little that you should be my servant to rouse the tribes of Jacob and to turn back the dregs of Israel; behold, I have given you as a light of the nations, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth".

"Attendite ad me, populus meus et tribus mea; me audite, quia lex a me exiet, et iudicium meum in lucem populorum requiescet. Prope est iustus meus, egressus est Salvator meus, et brachia mea populos iudicabunt, me insule exspectabunt et brachium sustinebunt". "Paravit Dominus brachium sanctum suum in oculis omnium gentium, et videbunt omnes fines terre pariter salutare Dei nostri".

"Attend to me, my people, and my tribe; hear me, because a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment will rest as a light of the peoples. My justice is near, my Savior has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples; the islands will await me and will sustain the arm." "The Lord has prepared his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall together see the salvation of our God."

"Ecce intelliget servus meus, exaltabitur et elevabitur et sublimis erit valde. Sicut obstupuerunt super te multi, sic ingloriosus erit inter viros aspectus eius, et forma eius inter filios hominum. Iste asperget gentes multas, super ipsum continebunt reges os suum, quia quibus non est narratum de eo viderunt, et qui non [p. 37] audierunt contemplati sunt.

"Behold, my servant will act intelligently; he will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very sublime. Just as many were astonished over you, so inglorious will be his appearance among men, and his form among the sons of men. This one will sprinkle many nations; over him kings will hold their mouth, because those to whom it has not been narrated about him have seen, and those who have not [p. 37] heard have contemplated.

Domine, quis credidit auditui nostro? et brachium Domini cui revelatum est? Et ascendet sicut virgultum coram eo et sicut radix de terra sitienti.

Lord, who has believed our hearing? and the arm of the Lord to whom has it been revealed? And he will ascend like a shoot before him, and like a root from a thirsty earth.

Non est species ei neque decor, et vidimus eum, et non erat aspectus et desideravimus eum; despectum, et novissimum virorum, virum dolorum et scientem infirmitatem et quasi absconditus vultus eius et despectus, unde nec reputavimus eum. Vere langores nostros ipse tulit et dolores nostros ipse portavit, et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum et percussum a Deo et humiliatum. Ipse autem vulneratus est propter iniquitates nostras et attritus est propter scelera nostra, disciplina pacis nostre super eum, et livore eius sanati sumus.

He has no form nor comeliness, and we saw him, and there was no appearance to make us desire him; despised, and the lowest of men, a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity, and as it were his face hidden and despised, wherefore we did not reckon him. Truly our languors he himself bore and our pains he himself carried, and we supposed him as if a leper and stricken by God and humbled. But he himself was wounded on account of our iniquities and crushed on account of our crimes; the discipline of our peace was upon him, and by his bruise we have been healed.

Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, unusquisque in viam suam declinavit, et Dominus posuit in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum. Oblatus est quia ipse voluit, et non aperuit os suum, sicut ovis ad occisionem ducetur et quasi agnus coram tondente se obmutescet et non aperiet os suum de angustia et iudicio sublatus est. Generationem eius quis enarrabit?

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned into his own way, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because he himself willed, and he did not open his mouth, like a sheep he will be led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer he will be mute, and he will not open his mouth, from anguish and judgment he was taken away. His generation—who will recount it?

Quia abscisus est de terra viventium; propter scelus populi mei percussi eum. Et dabit impios pro sepultura et divitem pro morte sua, eo quod iniquitatem non fecerit, nec dolus inventus est in ore eius. Si posuerit pro peccato animam suam, videbit semen longevum et voluntas Domini in manu eius dirigetur.

Because he was cut off from the land of the living; for the crime of my people I struck him. And he will give the impious for a sepulture, and the rich man for his death, because he did not commit iniquity, nor was guile found in his mouth. If he shall set his soul for sin, he shall see a long‑lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be directed in his hand.

Pro eo quod laboravit anima eius, videbit et saturabitur. In scientia sua iustificavit ipse iustus servus meus multos et iniquitates eorum ipse portavit. Ideo dispertiam ei plurimos, et fortium dividet spolia, pro eo quod tradidit in mortem animam suam et cum sceleratis reputatus est, et ipse [p. 38] peccatum multorum tulit, et pro transgressoribus rogavit ut non perirent".

Because his soul labored, he shall see and be satiated. By his knowledge the just one, my servant, has justified many, and he himself bore their iniquities. Therefore I will apportion to him the very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he handed over his soul to death and was reckoned with the criminals; and he himself [p. 38] bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors that they might not perish".

"Pro eo quod fuisti derelicta et odio habita, et non erat qui pertransiret, ponam te in superbiam seculorum, gaudium in generationem et generationem, et sugges lac gentium et mamilla regum lactaberis et scies quia ego Dominus salvans te et redemptor tuus, fortis Iacob. Pro ere adferam aurum et pro ferro adferam argentum et pro ligno es et pro lapidibus ferrum, et ponam visitationem tuam pacem et prepositos tuos iustitiam. Non audietur ultra iniquitas in terra tua, vastitas et contritio non erit in terminis tuis, et occupabit salus muros tuos, et portas tuas laudatio.

"Because you were forsaken and held in hatred, and there was no one who passed through, I will set you for the pride of ages, a joy for generation and generation, and you shall suck the milk of nations and at the breast of kings you shall be suckled, and you shall know that I am the Lord saving you and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For bronze I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood bronze, and for stones iron, and I will make your overseers peace and your prefects righteousness. Iniquity shall no longer be heard in your land; devastation and destruction shall not be within your borders, and Salvation shall occupy your walls, and Praise your gates.

Non erit tibi amplius sol ad lucendum per diem, nec splendor lune illuminabit te; sed erit tibi Dominus in lucem sempiternam et Deus tuus in gloriam tuam. Non occidet ultra sol tuus et luna tua non minuetur, quia erit tibi Dominus in lucem sempiternam, et complebuntur dies luctus tui. Populus autem tuus omnes iusti, in perpetuum hereditabunt terram, germen plantationis mee, opus manus mee ad glorificandum.

You will no longer have the sun to shine for you by day, nor will the splendor of the moon illuminate you; but the Lord will be to you for a sempiternal light and your God for your glory. Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not be diminished, because the Lord will be to you for a sempiternal light, and the days of your mourning will be completed. But your people, all righteous, shall inherit the land in perpetuity—sprout of my plantation, the work of my hands—for glorification.

Minimus erit in mille et parvulus in gentem fortissimam. Ego Dominus, in tempore eius subito faciam istud. Spiritus Domini super me, eo quod [p. 39] unxerit me, ad annuntiandum mansuetis misit me, ut mederer contritos corde et predicarem captivis indulgentiam et clausis apertionem, ut predicarem annum placabilem Domini et diem ultionis Dei nostri, ut consolarer omnes lugentes et ponerem fortitudinem lugentibus Syon et darem eis coronam pro cinere, oleum gaudii pro luctu, pallium laudis pro spiritu meroris, et vocabuntur in ea fortes iustitie plantatio Domini ad glorificandum". "Propter Syon non tacebo et propter Ierusalem non quiescam, donec egrediatur ut splendor iustus eius, et salvator eius ut lampas accendatur et videbunt gentes iustum tuum et cuncti reges inclitum tuum".

The least will become a thousand, and the very small one a most mighty nation. I, the Lord, in its time will suddenly do this. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because [p. 39] he has anointed me; he has sent me to announce to the meek, that I might heal the broken in heart and proclaim to captives remission, and to the shut-in an opening; that I might proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; that I might comfort all who mourn and set strength for those mourning Zion, and give them a crown instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of gloom, and they shall be called in it strong ones of justice, the planting of the Lord, for glorifying." "For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her justice goes forth like splendor, and her Savior is kindled like a lamp, and the nations shall see your justice, and all kings your renowned one."

"Dicite filie Syon: Ecce Salvator tuus venit, ecce merces eius cum eo, et opus illius coram ipso. Et vocabunt eos populus sanctus redempti a Domino; tu autem vocaberis civitas quesita et non derelicta. Quis est iste qui venit de Edon tinctis vestibus de Bosra?" et cetera.

"Say, daughters of Zion: Behold, your Savior is coming, behold, his recompense is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them a holy people, redeemed by the Lord; but you shall be called a city sought-out and not forsaken. Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" and so forth.

"Ante quam parturiret peperit, ante quam veniret partus eius peperit masculum. Quis audivit unquam tale? Et quis vidit huic simile?

"Before she was in labor she bore; before her delivery came, she bore a male. Who has ever heard such a thing? And who has seen the like of this?

Nunquid parturiet terra in die una, aut parturietur gens simul, quia parturivit et peperit Syon filios suos? Nunquid ego, qui alios parere facio, ipse non pariam? dicit Dominus, si ego, qui generationem ceteris tribuo, sterilis ero?

Shall the earth be in labor in one day, or shall a nation be born at once, because Zion has labored and borne her sons? Shall I, who cause others to give birth, not give birth myself? says the Lord, if I, who grant generation to others, shall I be sterile?

ait Dominus Deus tuus". [p. 40]

says the Lord your God". [p. 40]

Etsi iuxta consuetudinem lingue nostre nequaquam viri parturire dicantur, sed femine, hic tamen propheta indifferenter se accipere ostendit cum dicit: "Nunquid ego, qui alios parere facio, ipse non pariam? dicit Dominus; si ego qui generationem ceteris tribuo, sterilis ero?". Verum hoc pro filiis adoptionis dictum esse videtur. Hoc est pro illis quos voluntarie genuit Deus verbo veritatis, super quorum generatione arguit sermo Domini Syon que putabat se parturisse omnes filios suos quando Christus venit in mundum, et ignorabat quod in loco ubi dictum erat eis: "Non plebs mea vos", ibi vocarentur "filii Dei vivi"; verum quia ille unus qui precedit magnitudine et gloria omnem creaturam distinctus est a numero aliorum, merito de eo precesserat sermo dicens per prophetam: "Ante quam parturiret peperit, ante quam veniret partus eius, peperit masculum": nimirum, quia ipse est, ut ait Iohannes, "principium creature Dei", utpote per quem omnia facta sunt.

Although according to the custom of our tongue men are by no means said to be in labor, but women, yet here the prophet shows that he takes it indifferently to himself when he says: "Shall I, who make others give birth, myself not give birth? says the Lord; if I, who grant generation to others, shall I be barren?". Truly, this seems to have been said on behalf of the sons of adoption. That is, on behalf of those whom God voluntarily begot by the word of truth, over whose begetting the word of the Lord reproves Zion, who supposed that she had borne all her sons when Christ came into the world, and did not know that in the place where it had been said to them: "You are not my people," there they would be called "sons of the living God"; yet because that one who precedes every creature in magnitude and glory is distinguished from the number of the others, with good reason a word had gone before about him, saying through the prophet: "Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pang came, she bore a male": clearly, because he is, as John says, "the beginning of the creation of God," as being the one through whom all things were made.

"Ve pastoribus qui disperdunt et dilacerant gregem pascue mee, dicit Dominus: ideo hec dicit Dominus DeusIsraelad pastores qui pascunt populum meum: Vos dispersistis gregem meum, eiecistis eos et non visitastis eos: ecce ego visitabo super [p. 41] vos malitiam studiorum vestrorum, ait Dominus. Et ego congregabo reliquias gregis mei de omnibus terris, ad quas eiecero eos illuc, et convertam eos ad rura sua, et crescent et multiplicabuntur, et suscitabo super eos pastores, et pascent eos; non formidabunt ultra et non pavebunt, et nullus queretur ex numero, dicit Dominus. Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo David germen iustum; et regnabit rex et sapiens erit et faciet iudicium et iustitiam in terra.

"Woe to the pastors who destroy and tear apart the flock of my pasture, says the Lord: therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to the pastors who pasture my people: You have scattered my flock, you have cast them out, and you have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon [p. 41] you the malice of your endeavors, says the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands to which I have driven them there, and I will turn them back to their own pastures, and they shall grow and be multiplied, and I will raise up over them pastors, and they will pasture them; they shall not fear any longer and shall not be dismayed, and none shall be missing from the number, says the Lord. Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will raise up for David a righteous shoot; and a king will reign and will be wise and will do judgment and justice in the land.

In diebus illis salvabitur Iuda etIsraelhabitabit confidenter, et hoc est nomen quod vocabunt eum: Dominus iustus noster".

In those days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell confidently, and this is the name by which they will call him: The Lord our Just One".

Reprobantur pastores veteres, filii Aaron, et suscitantur pro eis apostoli et episcopi; quibus dictum est in Petro, principe apostolorum: "Si diligis me, pasce oves meas". Verum ut hoc fieri posset secundum Scripturas, venit David germen iustum, qui est "rex et sacerdos secundum ordinem Melchisedec". Quod autem dicitur: "In diebus illis salvabitur Iuda etIsraelhabitabit confidenter", vel ideo dictum est quia in Iuda intelliguntur confessores veritatis, vel quia dies Christi intelligendi sunt a primo Christi adventu usque ad secundum, et infra istos dies "salvabitur Iuda etIsraelhabitabit confidenter".

The old shepherds, the sons of Aaron, are reprobated, and in their place apostles and bishops are raised up; to whom it was said in Peter, the prince of the apostles: "If you love me, feed my sheep." But, that this might be done according to the Scriptures, there came David, the just shoot, who is "king and priest according to the order of Melchizedek." But as for what is said: "In those days Judah will be saved andIsraelwill dwell confidently," either it is said for this reason, because in Judah the confessors of truth are understood, or because the days of Christ are to be understood from the first advent of Christ up to the second, and within these days "Judah will be saved andIsraelwill dwell confidently."

"Hec dicit Dominus Deus: Sumam ego de medulla cedri sublimis et ponam de vertice ramorum eius tenerum, distringam [p. 42] et plantabo super montem excelsum et eminentem. In monte sublimiIsraelplantabo illud, et erumpet in germen et faciet fructum et erit in cedrum magnam, et habitabunt sub ea omnes volucres, et universum volatile sub umbra frondium eius nidificabit, et scient omnia ligna regionis quia ego Dominus humiliavi lignum sublime et exaltavi lignum humile et siccavi lignum viride et frondescere feci lignum aridum".

"Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take from the marrow of a sublime cedar and will set a tender one from the summit of its branches; I will pluck it off [p. 42] and I will plant it upon a high and eminent mountain. On a sublime mountainIsraelI will plant it, and it will burst forth into a shoot and will make fruit, and it will become into a great cedar, and all the birds will dwell beneath it, and every winged creature will nest under the shade of its fronds; and all the trees of the region shall know that I, the Lord, have humbled the high tree and have exalted the low tree and have dried up the green tree and have made the dry tree to put forth leaves".

Cedrus sublimis est Deus Pater; medulla eius Filius et Spiritus sanctus; quia vero incarnationem Christi Spiritus sanctus operaturus erat, dicit se sumere de medulla cedri sublimis et ponere de vertice ramorum eius, distringere tenerum et plantare in monte sublimiIsrael, quia Verbum Dei Patris cum semine patriarcharum vivendo distrinxit ut esset una persona Dei et hominis Christi Ihesu. Verum ut hoc fieri posset, servata utriusque veritate nature, facta est velud quedam plantatio in utero sacre Virginis, que propter excellentiam vite dicta est mons sublimisIsrael, nimirum quia eo sublimior quo apud semetipsam humilior; erupit autem quod plantatum est in germen nascendo, crevit predicando et producendo ex se ramos ad protectionem fidelium, qui velud quedam volatilia celi nidificarent sub umbra frondium illius, procreando pullos spiritales in Ecclesia Dei.

The sublime cedar is God the Father; its marrow is the Son and the Holy Spirit; and because indeed the Holy Spirit was about to effect the Incarnation of Christ, he says that he takes from the marrow of the sublime cedar and sets from the top of its branches the tender shoot, draws off the tender and plants on the lofty mount Israel, because the Word of God the Father, with the seed of the patriarchs, by living bound together so that there might be one person of God and man, Christ Jesus. But in order that this could be done, with the truth of each nature preserved, there was made, as it were, a certain planting in the womb of the sacred Virgin, who, on account of the excellence of her life, is called the sublime mount Israel—namely, the more sublime the more she was humble in her own regard; moreover, that which was planted burst forth into a shoot by being born, grew by preaching, and by producing from itself branches for the protection of the faithful, who, like certain birds of heaven, might nest under the shadow of its fronds, begetting spiritual offspring in the Church of God.

"Tu, rex, videbas et ecce quasi statua grandis" et cetera. Et infra: "Videbas ita, donec abscisus est lapis sine manibus et percussit [p. 43] statuam in pedibus eius ferreis et fictilibus et comminuit eos. Tunc contrita sunt pariter ferrum, es, testa argentum et aurum et quasi in favillam redacta, que rapta est a vento, nullusque locus inventus est eis; lapis autem, qui percusserat statuam, factus est magnus mons et implevit universam terram". Et infra: "In diebus autem regnorum illorum suscitabit Deus celi regnum quod in eternum non dissipabitur, et regnum eius populo alteri non tradetur; comminuet autem et consumet universa regna hec et ipsum stabit in eternum.

"You, O king, were seeing, and behold as it were a great statue" and so forth. And further on: "You were seeing thus, until a stone was cut out without hands and struck [p. 43] the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, bronze, potsherd, silver, and gold were together broken, and, as if reduced to cinders, were snatched away by the wind, and no place at all was found for them; but the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." And further on: "But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom that will not be dissipated forever, and its kingdom will not be handed over to another people; rather, it will crush and consume all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand forever."

Secundum quod vidisti, quod de monte abscisus est lapis sine manibus et comminuit testam et ferrum et es et argentum et aurum. Deus magnus ostendit regi queventurasunt postea; et verum est sompnium et fidelis interpretatio eius".

According to what you saw, that from the mountain a stone was cut without hands and it crushed the clay and the iron and the bronze and the silver and the gold. The great God has shown the king what things are to come afterward; and the dream is true and its interpretation is faithful".

De regnis designatis in statua diversi pro tempore diversa dixerunt. Nos autem, qui iam multa colligimus de fine mundi et consummatione visionis, arbitramur in auro accipi regnum Nabuchodonosor, [p. 44] quod, licet mutatis regibus de loco et loco, perseveravit tamen in oriente usque ad Darium, quem expugnavit Alexander. In argento vero regnum ipsius Alexandri et successorum eius usque ad tempora Machabeorum.

Concerning the kingdoms designated in the statue, different men at different times have said different things. But we, who already gather many things about the end of the world and the consummation of the vision, judge that in the gold is to be taken the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, [p. 44] which, although the kings were changed from place to place, nevertheless persisted in the East down to Darius, whom Alexander subdued. In the silver, indeed, the kingdom of Alexander himself and of his successors down to the times of the Maccabees.

In ere Romanum imperium quod imperavit toti mundo. In ferro regnum Sarracenorum, per quod domata sunt et domantur cotidie multa regna. Sed inter hec inchoatum est regnum Christi, qui sine humanis viribus de celo descendit, per quod ad ultimam oportet destrui omnia regna ista, ut ipsum solum dilatetur in terra et dilatatum undique maneat in eternum.

In bronze, the Roman Empire, which exercised imperium over the whole world. In iron, the kingdom of the Saracens, through which many kingdoms have been subdued and are subdued daily. But among these the kingdom of Christ has been begun, who, without human forces, descended from heaven, through which, at the last, it is necessary that all these kingdoms be destroyed, so that it alone may be enlarged upon the earth and, enlarged on every side, may remain into eternity.

"Angelus Domini descendit cum Azaria et sociis eius in fornacem et excussit flammam ignis de fornace et fecit medium fornacis quasi ventum roris flantem". Et infra: "Tunc Nabuchodonosor rex obstupuit et surrexit propere et ait optimatibus suis: Nonne tres viros misimus in medio ignis compeditos? Qui respondentes regi dixerunt: Vere, rex. Respondit rex et ait: Ecce video viros quattuor solutos et deambulantes in medio [p. 45] ignis, et nichil corruptionis in eis est, et species quarti similis filio Dei".

"An Angel of the Lord descended with Azariah and his companions into the furnace and shook the flame of fire out of the furnace and made the middle of the furnace as if a wind of dew were blowing." And below: "Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose quickly and said to his Optimates: Did we not send three men fettered into the midst of the fire? They, answering the king, said: Truly, O king. The king answered and said: Behold, I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst [p. 45] of the fire, and there is nothing of corruption in them, and the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Hic est ille angelus, qui supra Deus et Dominus dictus est, nimirum quia Filius Dei, vel certe quia Filius videri non poterat in maiestate sua is qui a rege visus est, nequaquam ipse Filius, sed similis eius dictus est, ut in forma illa visibili invisibilis Filius intelligeretur. Quod si dicis: Quis est ille qui docuit regem impium et alienigenam agnoscere Filium Dei?, ille profecto est qui ostenderat illi verissimam statue visionem et qui docuit Balaam dicere de eodem Christo: "Orietur stella ex Iacob et exurget homo de Israel". "Aspiciebam in visione noctis, et ecce cum nubibus celi quasi Filius hominis veniebat et usque ad antiquum dierum pervenit. Et in conspectu eius obtulerunt eum, et dedit potestatem et honorem et regnum et omnes populi tribus et lingue ipsi servient: potestas eius, potestas eterna que non auferetur, et regnum eius quod non corrumpetur". Et in fine visionis: "Regnum et potestas et magnitudo regni, que est subter omne celum detur populo sanctorum Altissimi: cuius regnum regnum sempiternum est, et omnes reges servient ei et obedient". [p. 46]

This is that angel who above was called God and Lord, namely because he is the Son of God; or certainly because the Son could not be seen in his own majesty, the one who was seen by the king was by no means the Son himself, but was said to be like him, so that in that visible form the invisible Son might be understood. But if you say: Who is he who taught the impious and foreign king to recognize the Son of God?, assuredly he is the one who had shown to him the most true vision of the statue and who taught Balaam to say concerning that same Christ: "A star will arise from Jacob and a man will arise from Israel." "I was looking in a vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there was coming as it were a Son of Man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days. And in his sight they presented him, and he gave power and honor and kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues will serve him: his power, an eternal power which will not be taken away, and his kingdom, which will not be corrupted." And at the end of the vision: "The kingdom and power and magnitude of the kingdom which is under the whole heaven be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings will serve him and obey." [p. 46]

Quis est iste tam magnus et tam sublimis, qui pervenit usque ad antiquum dierum, nisi Christus, qui venturus est ad faciendum iudicium in gloria Patris sui, ut omnes honorificent Filium sicut honorificant Patrem, quasi enim ei usque ad antiquum dierum pervenire est in presentia eorum qui contempserunt eum usque ad paterne glorie celsitudinem sublimari? Sane hi qui offerunt illum in conspectu eius superne virtutes sunt et angelice potestates, que ei in conspectu Dei Patris et totius multitudinis exhibendo reverentie famulatum dignum esse cum gloria et honore ostendent. Unde et promissum sibi a Patre regnum recepturus asseritur circa finem mundi, dicente Apostolo: "Oportet illum regnare, donec ponat inimicos sub pedibus suis" Erit autem regnum eius non super filios huius mundi, sed super populum sanctorum qui simul regnaturus est cum eo, dicente in eadem visione angelo Danieli: "Regnum autem et potestas et magnitudo regni que est subter omne celum dabitur populo sanctorum Altissimi, cuius regnum regnum sempiternum est, et omnes reges servient ei et obedient". "Septuaginta ebdomade adbreviate sunt super populum tuum et super urbem sanctam tuam, ut consummetur prevaricatio et finem accipiat peccatum, et deleatur iniquitas, et adducatur iustitia sempiterna, et impleatur visio et prophetia, et ungatur sanctus sanctorum.

Who is this so great and so sublime, who has come even to the Ancient of Days, if not Christ, who is to come to do judgment in the glory of his Father, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father? For to arrive even to the Ancient of Days is, in the presence of those who have contemned him, to be exalted to the loftiness of paternal glory. Indeed, those who offer him in his sight are the supernal virtues and angelic powers, who, by exhibiting a service of reverence to him in the sight of God the Father and of the whole multitude, will show him to be worthy with glory and honor. Whence also he is asserted to be about to receive, around the end of the world, the kingdom promised to him by the Father, the Apostle saying: "It is necessary that he reign, until he puts his enemies under his feet." But his kingdom will be not over the sons of this world, but over the people of the saints who together are to reign with him, the angel saying to Daniel in the same vision: "But the kingdom and the power and the magnitude of the kingdom which is under all heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and all kings shall serve him and obey." "Seventy weeks have been abbreviated over your people and over your holy city, that transgression may be consummated and sin may receive an end, and iniquity may be blotted out, and everlasting justice may be brought in, and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled, and the Holy of holies may be anointed."

Scito ergo et animadverte: Ab exitu sermonis ut [p. 47] iterum edificetur Ierusalem usque ad Christum ducem, ebdomade septem et ebdomade sexaginta due erunt, et rursum edificabitur platea et muri in angustia temporum. Et post ebdomadas sexaginta duas occidetur Christus, et non erit eius populus qui eum negaturus est; et civitatem et sanctuarium dissipabit populus cum duce venturo, et finis eius vastitas, et post finem belli statuta desolatio: confirmabit autem pactum multis ebdomada una, et in dimidio ebdomadis deficiet hostia et sacrificium, et in templo erit abominatio desolatio nis, et usque ad consummationem et finem perseverabit desolatio".

Know therefore and take note: From the going forth of the word that [p. 47] Jerusalem be built again unto Christ the leader, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, and again the street and the walls will be built in the straitness of times. And after the sixty-two weeks Christ will be killed, and the people that are going to deny him shall not be his; and the city and the sanctuary the people with a leader to come will devastate, and its end shall be desolation, and after the end of the war a decreed desolation: but he will confirm a pact with many for one week, and in the half of the week the victim and sacrifice will fail, and in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, and until the consummation and end desolation will persist".

Sermo egressus est a rege Artarserse, postulante hoc Neemia, ut liceret populo Iudeorum edificare iterum muros Ierusalem. Ab illo ergo anno usque ad adventum Domini fuere ebdomade septem et sexaginta due, idest simul sexaginta novem. Sunt autem he [p. 48] ebdomade annorum, non dierum, deputatis singulis ebdomadis septem annis.

A decree went forth from King Artaxerxes, at the request of Nehemiah, that it be permitted to the people of the Jews to build again the walls of Jerusalem. From that year, therefore, up to the Advent of the Lord there were seven and sixty-two weeks, that is, in all sixty-nine. Now these [p. 48] weeks are of years, not of days, with seven years allotted to each week.

Quod autem distinguit inter septem ebdomadas et sexaginta duas, ideo factum puto quia fortassis infra septem ebdomadas edificata est civitas Ierusalem in angustia temporum et exinde post ebdomadas sexaginta duas, idest post annos quadringentos triginta quattuor occisus est Christus. Ex qua videlicet occisione factum est ut populosIsraelnon esset populus eius, pro eo scilicet quod negavit illum in conspectu Pilati, dicens: "Nos non habemus regem nisi Cesarem". Inde est quod, effectus cecus secundum maiorem sui partem, recepturus est Antichristum, dicente Domino: "Ego veni in nomine Patris mei et non recepistis me; si alius venerit in nomine suo, ipsum recipietis". Et in subiecto capitulo: "Filii prevaricatorum populi tui extollentur, ut impleant visionem, et corruent". Igitur Antichristus, qui dicitur hic dux venturus assumens prevaricatores Iudeorum adherentes sibi, congregabit eos in Ierusalem, iubens eos servare legem Moysi, atque hoc modo populus Iudeorum dissipaturus est civitatem et sanctuarium, hoc est Ecclesiam Christi cum venturo duce; erit autem "finis eius vastitas, et post finem belli statuta desolatio", quia, fugato Deo et populo fideli, non erit qui audeat manifeste invocare nomen Domini cunctis diebus quibus regnaturus est super terram. Qualiter autem istud fiat, demonstratur in sequenti cum [p. 49] dicitur: "Confirmabit autem pactum multis ebdomada una", quia cum multis componet in frude per septempnium ut possit destruere sanctam Ecclesiam, cunctis auxiliis destitutam; "et in dimidio ebdomadis", noc est completis tribus annis et dimidio, "deficiet hostia et sacrificium, et in templo erit abominatio desolationis", illa utique quam ostendit Apostolus cum dicit: "Revelabitur filius iniquitatis qui extollitur et adversatur supra id quod dicitur Deus, aut quod colitur, ita ut in templo Dei sedeat, ostendens se tamquam sit Deus". Et quod sequitur: "Usque ad consummationem et finem perseverabit desolatio", non est intelligendum "usque ad consummationem et finem seculi", sed usque ad finem illius temporis in quo regnaturus est Antichristus.

But that he distinguishes between seven weeks and sixty-two, I think was done because perhaps within seven weeks the city of Jerusalem was built in the straitness of the times, and thereafter, after sixty-two weeks, that is, after 434 years, Christ was slain. From which slaying, namely, it came about that the people of Israel was not his people, for this reason to wit: that it denied him in the sight of Pilate, saying, "We have no king except Caesar." Hence it is that, having become blind in its greater part, it will receive Antichrist, as the Lord says: "I came in the name of my Father and you did not receive me; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive." And in the following chapter: "The sons of the transgressors of your people will be exalted, that they may fulfill the vision, and they will fall." Therefore Antichrist, who is here called the coming leader, taking to himself the transgressors of the Jews who cling to him, will gather them in Jerusalem, ordering them to keep the Law of Moses, and in this way the people of the Jews, together with the coming leader, will lay waste the city and the sanctuary, that is, the Church of Christ; but "its end will be desolation, and after the end of war a fixed desolation," because, with God and the faithful people put to flight, there will be none who dares openly to invoke the name of the Lord all the days during which he will reign over the earth. But how this comes about is shown in what follows when [p. 49] it is said: "And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week," because with many he will make an arrangement in fraud for a seven-year period so that he may be able to destroy the holy Church, bereft of all helps; "and in the half of the week," that is, when three years and a half have been completed, "the offering and sacrifice will fail, and in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation," namely that which the Apostle shows when he says: "The son of lawlessness will be revealed, who exalts himself and opposes himself above that which is called God or that which is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as though he were God." And what follows: "Until the consummation and end desolation will persist," is not to be understood "until the consummation and end of the age," but until the end of that time in which Antichrist is going to reign.

"Ecce adhuc tres reges stabunt in Perside" et cetera. Et infra "Filia regis austri veniet ad regem aquilonis facere amicitiam, [p. 50] et non optinebit fortitudinem brachii nec stabit semen eius, et tradetur ipsa, et qui adduxerunt eam adolescentes eius, et qui confortabant eam in temporibus. Et stabit de germine radicum eius plantatio, et veniet cum exercitu et ingredietur provinciam regis aquilonis et abutetur eis et obtinebit.

"Behold, yet three kings will stand in Persia," and so on. And below "The daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make amity, [p. 50] and she will not obtain the strength of the arm, nor will her seed stand; and she herself will be handed over, and those who brought her, her adolescents, and those who were fortifying her in those times. And from a shoot of her roots a planting will stand, and he will come with an army and will enter the province of the king of the north, and he will make an end of them and will obtain.

Insuper et deos eorum et sculptilia, vasa quoque pretiosa argenti et auri captiva ducet in Egiptum, ipse prevalebit adversus regem aquilonis et intrabit in regnum rex austri". Et paulo post: "Convertetur rex aquilonis et preparabit multitudinem multo maiorem quam prius, et in finem temporum annorumque veniet properans cum exercitu magno et opibus nimiis. Et in temporibus illis multi consurgent adversus regem austri, filii quoque prevaricatorum populi tui extollentur, ut impleant visionem, et corruent". Dicite nunc, o Iudei, qui usque in presentem diem carnalem defenditis intellectum, qui sunt isti duo reges quorum unus qui austri dicitur bonus est, alter qui aquilonis malus, qui incipientes confligere a tempore Alexandri usque ad finem temporum perseverant inbello? Nonne is qui electos habere dicitur Deus est, is autem, cuius cor erit contra testamentum sanctum, ille est qui est auctor mendacii et inventor malorum?

Moreover, even their gods and their carved images, and likewise the precious vessels of silver and gold, he will lead captive into Egypt; he himself will prevail against the king of the North, and the king of the South will enter into the kingdom.” And a little after: “The king of the North will turn back and will prepare a multitude much greater than before, and at the end of the times and years he will come hastening with a great army and with excessive resources. And in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; likewise the sons of the prevaricators of your people will be lifted up, so as to fulfill the vision, and they will fall.” Say now, O Jews, you who even to the present day defend a carnal understanding: who are these two kings, of whom the one who is called “of the South” is good, the other who is “of the North” evil, who, beginning to clash from the time of Alexander even to the end of times, persist in war? Is not he who is said to have the elect God, but he whose heart will be against the holy testament—that one is he who is the author of mendacity and the inventor of evils?

Quod si ita est, quid est quod filia regis austri facere dicta est amicitiam cum rege aquilonis, nisi quia Synagoga Iudeorum misit ad Romanos, apud quos illo in tempore regnabat in superbia rex aquilonis, facere amicitiam et componere cum eis, ut per ipsos obtineret fortitudinem brachii? [p. 51] Quod tamen, quia cor eius recesserat a rege austri non est ut voluit consecuta, quin potius tradita est ipsa, et adolescentes sensibus sacerdotes eius promittebant ei regnum temporale in manu principis Romanorum, de quo dixerant: "Nos non habemus regem nisi Cesarem?". At ne fingat Iudeus filiam regis austri esse personaliter et secundum litteram mulierem, attendat quod sequitur et desinat puerilibus adherere doctrinis: "Et stabit de germine radicum eius plantatio". Quid est hoc? Nunquid mulier radices habet ut de germine radicum eius plantatio conservetur?

But if it is so, what is the meaning that the daughter of the king of the south is said to make amity with the king of the north, unless because the Synagogue of the Jews sent to the Romans—among whom at that time the king of the north was reigning in superbia—to make amity and to compose terms with them, that through them she might obtain the strength of the arm? [p. 51] Which, however, because his heart had withdrawn from the king of the south, she did not obtain as she wished; rather, she herself was delivered up, and her priests, adolescents in their senses, were promising her a temporal kingdom in the hand of the prince of the Romans, of whom they had said: “We have no king except Caesar?” But lest the Jew feign the daughter of the king of the south to be personally and, according to the letter, a woman, let him attend to what follows and cease to cleave to puerile doctrines: “And a planting shall stand from the shoot of her roots.” What is this? Does a woman have roots, that a planting might be conserved from the shoot of her roots?

Sed radices eius illi iusti viri fuere, de quorum semine processit plantatio illius vitis qui dicit in Evangelio discipulis suis: "Ego sum vitis et vos palmites", que videlicet vera vitis ut sciatis quod omnino equalis sit Patri secundum deitatem. Quod et quale sit nomen eius de sequenti lectione colligite; nam sequitur: "Et intrabit provinciam regis aquilonis et abutetur eis" et cetera; et infra: "Ipse prevalebit adversus regem aquilonis et intrabit in regnum rex austri". "Tu, Bethleem Effrata, parvulus es in milibus Iuda: ex te michi egredietur qui sit dominator inIsrael, et egressus eius ab initio, a diebus eternitatis".

But its roots were those just men, from whose seed there proceeded the planting of that vine who says in the Gospel to his disciples: "I am the vine and you the branches," which, namely, is the true vine, so that you may know that he is altogether equal to the Father according to divinity. What his name is and of what sort, gather from the following lection; for it follows: "And he will enter the province of the king of the north and will abuse them," and so forth; and below: "He himself will prevail against the king of the north, and the king of the south will enter into the kingdom." "You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are little among the thousands of Judah: from you for me shall go forth the one who is to be a dominator in Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity."

Res mira et vehementer stupenda nascitur in Bethleem et tamen egressus eius a diebus eternitatis esse perhibetur, nimirum quia et secundum quod homo natus ex tempore et secundum quod Deus ab eterno.

A wondrous and exceedingly stupendous thing is born in Bethlehem, and yet his going-forth is held to be from the days of eternity, namely because both, inasmuch as he is man, he was born in time, and inasmuch as he is God, from eternity.

"Quis in vobis est relictus, qui vidit domum istam in gloria sua prima? Et quid vos videtis hanc nunc? Nunquid non ita est, [p. 52] quasi non sit, in oculis vestris?". Et infra: "Adhuc modicum est, et ego movebo celum et terram et mare et aridam et movebo omnes gentes, et veniet Desideratus cunctis gentibus, et implebo domum istam gloria, dicit Dominus exercituum.

"Who among you is left who saw this house in its first glory? And what do you see it now? Is it not so, [p. 52] as though it were not, in your eyes?". And further on: "Yet a little while, and I will move heaven and earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will move all nations, and the Desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

Meum est argentum et meum est aurum, dicit Dominus exercituum. Magna erit gloria domus istius novissime plus quam prime, dicit Dominus exercituum".

Mine is the silver and mine is the gold, says the Lord of hosts. Great will be the glory of this house in the latter more than in the former, says the Lord of hosts".

Si de gloria temporali sermo erat, falsa esse probatur promissio prophete dicentis: "Magna erit gloria domus istius novissime plus quam prime", quia nec in auro nec in argento materiali nec in aliqua temporali magnificentia potuit equari domus illa novissima prime domui usque ad tempus destructionis sue, que facta est subito, set profecto illa fuit maior gloria quod eam Desideratus cunctis gentibus sua presentia illustravit.

If the discourse was about temporal glory, the promise of the prophet saying: "Great shall be the glory of this house in the last more than in the first," is proven to be false, because neither in gold nor in material silver nor in any temporal magnificence could that latest house be equated to the first house, up to the time of its destruction, which came to pass suddenly; but indeed that was the greater glory, that the Desired One of all nations illumined it by his presence.

"Lauda et letare filia Syon, quia ecce ego venio et habitabo in medio tui, dicit Dominus. Et applicabuntur gentes multe ad Dominum in die illa et erunt michi in populum, et habitabo in medio tui".

"Give praise and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord on that day and they shall be to me for a people, and I will dwell in your midst".

Cum dicat Salomon omnipotenti Deo: "Celum et celi celorum te capere nequeunt", quid est quod dicitur: "Ecce ego venio et habitabo in medio tui", nisi quia verus Deus est Filius qui per misterium incarnationisdignatus est corporaliter habitare in populo Iudeorum, presertim cum completum videamus quod sequitur: "Et applicabuntur gentes multe ad Dominum in die illa et erunt michi in populum, et habitabo in medio tui"? [p. 53]

Since Solomon says to the omnipotent God: "Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you," what is the meaning of what is said: "Behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," unless that the Son is true God, who through the mystery of the Incarnation deigned to dwell bodily among the people of the Jews—especially since we see fulfilled what follows: "And many nations shall be joined to the Lord on that day and shall be to me for a people, and I will dwell in your midst"? [p. 53]

"Ecce ego adducam servum meum Orientem. Quia ecce lapis, quem dedi coram Ihesu: super lapidem unum septem oculi sunt; ecce, ego celabo sculpturam eius, ait Dominus exercituum, et auferam iniquitatem terre illius in die una".

"Behold, I will bring my servant, the Orient. For behold the stone which I have set before Jesus: upon one stone there are seven eyes; behold, I will conceal its sculpture, says the Lord of hosts, and I will take away the iniquity of that land in one day".

Ipse vir qui Oriens dictus est, lapis datus coram Ihesu sacerdote magno intelligendus est, et ipse utique lapis de quo dicit psalmista: "Lapidem, quem reprobaverunt edificantes, hic factus est in capud anguli". Qui iccirco coram Ihesu datus esse perhibetur, quia omnino vicinus erat adventus eius, et domus ipsa, que tunc construebatur, illustranda erat presentia claritatis ipsius. Septem vero oculi futuri erant super ipsum lapidem, quia septem dona illa Spiritus requieverunt super eum, de quibus dicit Ysaias propheta: "Et requiescet super eum spiritus Domini, spiritus sapientie" et cetera.

The very man who was called the Orient is to be understood as the stone given before Jesus the great priest; and he is surely that stone of whom the psalmist says: "The stone which the builders rejected, this has been made into the head of the corner." He is therefore reported to have been given before Jesus because his advent was altogether near, and the house itself, which was then being built, was to be illumined by the presence of his brightness. And there were to be seven eyes upon that very stone, because those seven gifts of the Spirit rested upon him, of which the prophet Isaiah says: "And there shall rest upon him the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom," and so forth.

"Ecce vir, Oriens nomen eius, et subter eum orietur et edificabit templum Domino. Et ipse extruet templum Domino et ipse portabit gloriam et sedebit et dominabitur super solio suo, et erit sacerdos super solio suo et consilium pacis erit inter illos duos, et corone erunt eis qui sustinent eum, et Tobie et Iudaie et Hieu, filio Sophonie, memoriale in templum Domini, et qui procul sunt venient et edificabunt in templo Domini". [p. 54]

"Behold the man—‘Rising’ is his name—and beneath him it shall rise, and he will build the temple to the Lord. And he himself will build the temple to the Lord, and he will bear the glory and will sit and will rule upon his throne, and he will be priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace will be between those two; and the crowns will be for those who sustain him, and for Tobiah and Jedaiah and Hieu, the son of Zephaniah, a memorial in the temple of the Lord; and those who are far off will come and will build in the temple of the Lord." [p. 54]

Quando verbum istud factum est Zacharie, Zorobabel iam inceperat edificare templum Domini, et dictum est de eodem Zorobabel: "Manus Zorobabel ceperunt edificare domum istam et manus eius perficient eam". Quis igitur est iste vir cui nomen est Oriens, qui promittitur edificare templum Domino, quique non solum sicut rex verum etiam sicut sacerdos sedere promittitur super solio suo, nisi is cui dicitur a Deo Patre: "Sede a dextris meis", et: "Tu es sacerdos in eternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech"? Utique et templum, quod edificare dictus est, non est templum materiale sed spiritale, non de insensibilibus sed de vivis lapidibus. Quod autem sequitur: "Et consilium pacis erit inter duos illos et corone erunt eis qui sustinent eum", profecto indicat futuram pacem inter duos populos, iudaicum videlicet et gentilem et coronandos plurimos pro fide Christi. Verum quod Tobie et Iudaie et Hieu, filio Sophonie memoriale in templo Domini esse dicit, idest quod sui temporis nominavit personas, argamentum est contra vos, o Iudei, qui non spiritus sectatores estis sed littere.

When this word was made to Zechariah, Zerubbabel had already begun to edify the temple of the Lord, and it was said about that same Zerubbabel: "The hands of Zerubbabel have begun to edify this house, and his hands will complete it." Who then is this man whose name is Oriens, who is promised to edify the temple to the Lord, and who is promised to sit upon his throne not only as king but also as priest, if not he to whom it is said by God the Father: "Sit at my right hand," and: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek"? Surely also the temple which he is said to build is not a material temple but a spiritual one, not of insensate things but of living stones. But what follows: "And the counsel of peace shall be between those two, and crowns shall be for those who sustain him," clearly indicates a future peace between the two peoples, namely the Jewish and the Gentile, and that very many will be crowned for the faith of Christ. But the fact that he says that for Tobiah and for Judah and for Hieu, the son of Zephaniah, there is a memorial in the temple of the Lord—that is, that he named persons of his own time—is an argument against you, O Jews, who are followers not of the spirit but of the letter.

Si enim secundum litteram incedendum est, ostendite ubi completa sunt hec in diebus nominatorum virorum. Si autem non omnia fuere completa [p. 55] in diebus eorum, discite in tribus viris designari tria genera discipulorum Christi, hoc est apostolorum, evangelistarum et doctorum, quorum doctrina et exemplo etiam qui procul erant a Domino venerunt fide et operibus ad auctorem vite, ita ut ipsi quoque effecti pastores et doctores haberent verbum vite ad edificationem Ecclesie.

If indeed one must proceed according to the letter, show where these things were fulfilled in the days of the named men. But if not all were completed [p. 55] in their days, learn that in the three men are designated the three kinds of disciples of Christ, that is, of the apostles, the evangelists, and the doctors, by whose doctrine and example even those who were far from the Lord came by faith and works to the author of life, so that they themselves also, having been made pastors and doctors, might have the word of life for the edification of the Church.

"Exulta satis, filia Syon, iubila, filia Ierusalem; ecce Rex tuus venit tibi iustus et salvator ipse pauper et ascendens super pullum asine. Et disperdam quadrigam ex Effraym et equum de Ierusalem, et dissipabitur arcus belli, et loquetur pacem gentibus, et potestas eius a mari usque ad mare et a fluminibus usque ad finem terre".

"Exult exceedingly, daughter of Zion; jubilate, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes to you, just and a savior, he himself poor and mounting upon the colt of an ass. And I will destroy the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be dissipated, and he shall speak peace to the nations, and his dominion shall be from sea unto sea, and from the rivers unto the end of the earth".

Si sic venturus erat Christus pauper et humilis ut ascenderet super pullum asine, quid est quod de eo dicit idem propheta: "Ecce venit, dicit Dominus exercituum", et quis poterit cogitare diem adventus eius aut quis stabit ad videndum eum, nisi quia primum dictum est de adventu humilitatis, secundo de adventu glorie et maiestatis? Ceterum quod dicit: "Loquetur pacem gentibus, et potestas eius a mari usque ad mare", in primo eius adventu consummatum est.

If Christ was going to come thus poor and humble so as to mount upon the colt of an ass, what is it that the same prophet says about him: "Behold, he comes, says the Lord of hosts," and who will be able to consider the day of his advent, or who will stand to see him, unless because the first is said of the advent of humility, the second of the advent of glory and majesty? Moreover, as to what he says: "He will speak peace to the nations, and his dominion from sea to sea," in his first advent it was consummated.

"Ecce ego mitto angelum meum, et preparabit viam ante faciem meam; et statim veniet ad templum sanctum suum Dominator, quem vos queritis, et angelus testamenti, quem vos vultis. Ecce venit, dicit Dominus exercituum, et quis poterit cogitare diem adventus eius?". [p. 56]

"Behold, I send my angel, and he will prepare the way before my face; and straightway the Dominator, whom you seek, will come to his holy temple, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire. Behold, he comes, says the Lord of armies, and who will be able to consider the day of his advent?". [p. 56]

Audite hoc, viri Iudei, et cognoscite angelum Domini esse agnum illum de quo dicit Ysaias: "Emitte agnum, Domine, dominatorem terre", uniusque eum perpendite dignitatis cum Deo Patre, quem "negare non potestis Dominum esse templi, quandoquidem ad templum sanctum suum venire promittitur, et saltim per hoc perpendite eum districtum esse a cetera multitudine filiorum Adam et angelorum Dei, quorum dies adventus sui homines vidisse leguntur, cum diem adventus istius cogitare homines no n sufficiant. In omnibus his auctoritatibus, o Iudei, non tam laboravi ostendere vobis eum esse Christum qui natus est de Virgine Maria, quam esse Christum Deum et hominem secundum vaticinia prophetarum, prestantem vitam mortuis secundum divinitatem, mortuum et sepultum secundum humanitatem; nimirum quia et si ipsum qui receptus est a nobis non creditis esse Christum, passionem tamen Christi et mortem seu iam preteritam seu adhuc futuram, convicti testimoniis tantorum prophetarum, Ysaie videlicet et Danie lis, penitus negare nequitis, quin immo et psalmiste qui ait in tipo eius; "Dederunt in escam meam fel" et Zacharie qui dicit: "Plangent eum quasi unigenitum et dolebunt super eum sicut doleri solet in morte primogeniti". Denique et in tipo resurgentis dicit in psalmo quintodecimo idem psalmista: "Non derelinques animam meam in inferno, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem". Cum igitur multis et tam magnis auctoritatibus vera esse probetur fides nostra in confessione trinitatis, vera in misterio incarnati Verbi Dei, hoc iam solum restat videre utrum ipse fuerit quem nos recepimus an alium secundum vos oporteat exspectare. Quod autem ipse fuerit qui venturus erat, omitto testimonium Iohannis [p. 57] Baptiste, omitto testimonium operum que vos negatis ; sufficiat vel illud quod scriptum est in Daniele vestro: "Septuaginta ebdomade adbreviate sunt super populum tuum et super urbem sanctam tuam, ut consummetur prevaricatio, et finem accipiat peccatum, et deleatur iniquitas, et adducatur iustitia sempiterna, et impleatur visio et prophetia, et ungatur sanctus sanctorum".

Hear this, men of the Jews, and recognize that the angel of the Lord is that lamb of whom Isaiah says: "Send forth the lamb, Lord, the dominator of the earth," and weigh that he is of one dignity with God the Father, whom "you cannot deny to be Lord of the temple, since he is promised to come to his holy temple," and at least from this, weigh that he is set apart from the rest of the multitude of the sons of Adam and the angels of God, whose day of their coming men are read to have seen, whereas men do not suffice even to conceive the day of this one’s coming. In all these authorities, O Jews, I have not so much labored to show you that he is the Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary, as that he is Christ, God and man, according to the vaticinations of the prophets—bestowing life to the dead according to his divinity, dead and buried according to his humanity; for indeed, even if you do not believe that the very one who has been received by us is the Christ, nevertheless the Passion of Christ and his death, whether already past or yet future—convicted by the testimonies of such great prophets, namely Isaiah and Daniel—you are utterly unable to deny; nay rather, also by the psalmist, who says in his type, "They gave gall for my food," and by Zechariah, who says: "They shall lament him as an only-begotten, and they will grieve over him as one is wont to grieve in the death of a firstborn." Finally, and in the type of one rising, in the fifteenth psalm the same psalmist says: "You will not abandon my soul in hell, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption." Since therefore by many and so great authorities our faith is proved true in the confession of the Trinity, true in the mystery of the Incarnate Word of God, this alone now remains to see: whether he was himself whom we have received, or whether, according to you, one ought to expect another. But that he was himself who was to come, I omit the testimony of John [p. 57] the Baptist, I omit the testimony of the works which you deny; let even that suffice which is written in your Daniel: "Seventy weeks have been shortened upon your people and upon your holy city, so that transgression may be consummated, and sin may come to an end, and iniquity may be blotted out, and everlasting justice may be brought in, and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled, and the Holy of Holies may be anointed."

Scimus autem quod ebdomade secundum legem dierum sunt tantummodo vel annorum. Sunt autem septuaginta ebdomade dies dierum quadringenti et nonaginta, ebdomade annorum totidem anni. Quod si in fine quadringentorum et nonaginta annorum ungendus erat sanctus sanctorum, et sicut ostenditur in sequentibus eiusdem loci ipsemet, Christus Domini occidendus, videte quantus post hec lapsus sit annorum numerus, et Christus quem queritis non apparet, et saltim vel isto modo pertimescite ne inveniamini in societate illorum qui dissipaturi sunt sanctuarium et civitatem cum duce venturo, hoc est cum Antichristo, dicente angelo eidem Danieli in ultima visionum suarum: "Filii prevaricatorum tuorum extollentur ut impleant visionem, et corruent". Putantes enim se recipere Christum suscipient Antichristum.

But we know that hebdomads according to the law are only either of days or of years. Now, as hebdomads of days, seventy hebdomads are 490 days; as hebdomads of years, the same number of years. And if, at the end of 490 years, the Holy of Holies was to be anointed, and, as is shown in what follows of the same passage, he himself, the Christ of the Lord, was to be slain, see how great a number of years has slipped by after these things, and the Christ whom you seek does not appear; and at least, even in this way, be afraid lest you be found in the fellowship of those who are going to lay waste the sanctuary and the city with the leader to come, that is, with Antichrist, as the angel says to that same Daniel in the last of his visions: "The sons of your transgressors will be exalted that they may fulfill the vision, and they will fall." For thinking that they are receiving Christ, they will welcome Antichrist.

Quod si dicitis iccirco: Non credimus istum esse Christum quia non est in adventu eius consummata prevaricatio, nec finem in eo accepit peccatum, nec adducta est iustitia sempiterna, multo magis hoc dicendo prosternitis vosmet ipsos prave interpretando Scripturas et ostendendo falsa et inania verba omnium prophetarum. Si enim deceptus est propheta in numero annorum, utique decipi potuit et in aliis que predixit. Quod si de uno aliquo dubitare licet ne forte decipi potuisset, restat ut de omnibus dubitemus, quia quis verius dixerit ignoramus, sicque fit ut nos cum Patarenis hereticis totum vetus Testamentum, in [p. 58] quo radix est fidei, oporteat confutare, et quod promittit de reversioneIsraelin fine temporum, totum sit ambiguitati obnoxium et nichil sit certum de omnibus promissis que facta sunt nobis a prophetis, [p. 59] tam in hoc seculo quam in futuro.

But if you say for that reason: We do not believe this man to be the Christ because at his advent the transgression was not consummated, nor did sin receive its end in him, nor was everlasting justice brought in, by saying this you cast yourselves down much more, by perversely interpreting the Scriptures and by showing the words of all the prophets to be false and empty. For if the prophet was deceived in the number of years, he could of course be deceived also in the other things which he foretold. But if it is permitted to doubt about some one matter, lest perhaps he could have been deceived, it remains that we doubt about all, since we do not know who has spoken more truly; and thus it comes to pass that we, together with the Patarene heretics, must confute the whole Old Testament, in [p. 58] which is the root of faith; and that what it promises concerning the return of IsraeI at the end of times be wholly liable to ambiguity, and that nothing be certain about all the promises which have been made to us by the prophets, [p. 59] both in this age and in the future.

Sed absit ut vel unum iota immutari queat ex omnibus que scripta sunt in autenticis libris; absit ut vel minima eius particula falsitatis crimine denigretur! Nunc igitur consummata est prevaricatio, quia finita est lex et servitus legis, et data nobis libertas gratie et adoptio filiorum, dicente Apostolo his qui sunt Christi: "Vos autem, fratres, non estis sub lege sed sub gratia", ubi non est, inquit, lex nec prevaricatio, sed et peccatum in adventu Christi finem veraciter accepit, non quidem actuale peccatum, sed originale. Vultis scire quod ita sit?

But far be it that even one iota could be changed from all the things that are written in the authentic books; far be it that even its smallest particle be denigrated by the charge of falsity! Now therefore prevarication has been consummated, because the law and the servitude of the law have been ended, and the liberty of grace and the adoption of sons has been given to us, the Apostle saying to those who are Christ’s: "But you, brothers, are not under law but under grace"; where, he says, there is neither law nor prevarication. But also sin at the advent of Christ truly received an end—not indeed actual sin, but original. Do you wish to know that it is so?

Audite prophetam: "In tempore illo non dicetur: Patres comederunt uvas acerbas, et dentes filiorum obstupescunt, sed qui comederit uvas acerbas, obstupescent dentes illius". Porro iustitia sempiterna illa est quam Dominus ostendit: "Qui credit, inquiens, in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet; et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in eternum". Si ergo spiritaliter possetis intelligere id quod spiritaliter dictum est, nulla vobis remaneret dubietas, quin minus confiteremini nobiscum Christum dicentes: "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini". Sed quid mirum si non intelligitis qui credere non potestis? Quid mirum si non capitis spiritalia verba, qui necdum purificati fonte baptismatis Spiritum sanctum accepistis? Quid si voluit Dominus abscondere ad horam faciem suam a vobis ob superbiam patrum vestrorum et celare consilia sua a genere vestro sicut et aliquando a nobis, ut discat omnis mundus subditus esse Deo?

Hear the prophet: "In that time it will not be said: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge; but whoever shall have eaten sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge." Moreover, the everlasting justice is that which the Lord showed: "He who believes in me, even if he has died, will live; and everyone who lives and believes in me will not die unto eternity." If therefore you could understand spiritually that which was said spiritually, no doubt would remain for you, nay rather you would confess with us Christ, saying: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." But what wonder if you do not understand, who are not able to believe? What wonder if you do not grasp spiritual words, you who, not yet purified by the font of baptism, have received the Holy Spirit? What if the Lord has willed to hide for an hour his face from you on account of the pride of your fathers, and to conceal his counsels from your race, just as at some time from us also, so that the whole world may learn to be subject to God?

Vultis scire quod ita sit? [p. 60] Audite quid dixerit vobis super hoc egregius ille prophetarum Ysaias, et sustinete adhuc parum increpationem Domini, donec quiescat furor eius et reddat vobis gratiam quam promisit patribus vestris.

Do you wish to know that it is so? [p. 60] Hear what that outstanding Isaiah among the prophets has said to you on this matter, and endure yet a little the Lord’s rebuke, until his fury grows quiet and he renders to you the grace which he promised to your fathers.

"Obstupescite, inquit, et admiramini, fluctuate et vacillate, inebriamini et non a vino, movemini et no n ebrietate. Quoniam miscuit vobis Dominus spiritum soporis et claudet oculos vestros, prophetas vestros et principes vestros, qui viderunt visiones, operiet. Et erit vobis visio omnium sicut libri signati, quem cum dederint scient litteras dicent: Lege istum, et respondebit: Non possum, signatus est enim.

"Be stupefied, he says, and marvel; surge and vacillate, be inebriated and not from wine, be moved and not by inebriation. For the Lord has mixed for you a spirit of slumber and will shut your eyes; your prophets and your princes, who have seen visions, he will cover. And the vision of all will be to you like a sealed book, which, when they give to one who knows letters, they will say: Read this; and he will answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.

Et dabitur liber nescienti litteras et dicetur ei: Lege, et respondebit: Nescio litteras. Et dixit Dominus: Eo quod appropinquat populus iste ore suo et labiis suis glorificat me, cor autem eius longe est a me, et timuerunt me mandato hominum et doctrinis; ideo ecce ego addam, ut admirationem faciam populo huic miracolo grandi et stupendo; peribit enim sapientia a sapientibus eius, et intellectus prudentium eius abscondetur". Non autem ut confundam vos, o Iudei, testimonium hoc Ysaie statui contra vos, sed ut ostendam vobis ex indignatione Domini accidisse ut non possitis usque nunc intelligere Scripturas, sicut et cetera mala que acciderunt vobis iuxta quod predixerunt vobis sancti Dei prophete. Sed quare non potestis intelligere Scripturas?

"And the book will be given to one not knowing letters, and it will be said to him: Read; and he will answer: I do not know letters. And the Lord said: Because this people draws near with its mouth and with its lips glorifies me, but its heart is far from me, and they have feared me by the mandate of men and by doctrines; therefore behold I will add, so that I may perform for this people a great and astonishing miracle; for the wisdom will perish from its wise men, and the understanding of its prudent men will be hidden." Not, however, in order to confound you, O Jews, have I set this testimony of Isaiah against you, but to show you that it has happened from the indignation of the Lord that you are not able up to now to understand the Scriptures, just as the other evils which have happened to you according to what the holy prophets of God foretold to you. But why are you not able to understand the Scriptures?

Quia Spiritus sanctus, qui loquutus est in prophetis, sicut ipse spiritus est, ita in eis spiritalem occultavit intellectum, quem quidem carnales homines percipere nequirent; spiritales autem [p. 61] qui subtile habent ingenium absque difficultate sentirent. Alioquin si carnalem et non spiritalem sequimur intellectum, quid faciemus ubi tam contraria proferuntur ut quod alibi dicitur alibi destruatur? Sed ne quis vestrum audeat negare quod dicimus, oportet nos aliqua horum capitula huic opusculo annotare.

Because the Holy Spirit, who spoke in the prophets, just as he himself is spirit, so he concealed in them a spiritual intellect, which indeed carnal men could not perceive; but the spiritual [p. 61] who have a subtle wit sense it without difficulty. Otherwise, if we follow a carnal and not a spiritual understanding, what shall we do where such contraries are brought forward that what is said elsewhere is overthrown elsewhere? But lest any of you dare to deny what we say, it behooves us to annotate some chapters of these in this opuscule.

Scriptum est, ut ipsi legitis, in libro psalmorum: "Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet qui custoditIsrael". Et tamen in eodem libro dicit idem psalmista: "Exurge, quare obdormis, Domine? Exurge et ne repellas in finem".

It is written, as you yourselves read, in the book of Psalms: "Behold, he who guards Israel will not slumber nor sleep." And yet in the same book the same psalmist says: "Arise, why do you sleep, Lord? Arise and do not repel unto the end."

Aut igitur verum est quod dormitat aut verum est quod non dormitat. Si autem verum est quod non dormitat, falsum est quod dormitat qui non dormit, nisi spiritaliter accipietur. Item scriptum est in Ysaia propheta: "Deus sempiternus Dominus, qui creavit terminos terre, non deficiet neque laborabit; nec est investigatio sapientie eius". Et tamen ex voce ipsius Domini dictum est in eodem propheta: "Laboravi sustinens". Et eidem Domino ex voce Ieremie propheta: "Dabis eis, Domine, scutum cordis, laborem tuum". Et Malachias: "Laborare fecistis Dominum in sermonibus vestris".

Either therefore it is true that he dozes, or it is true that he does not doze. But if it is true that he does not doze, it is false that he dozes who does not sleep, unless it be taken spiritually. Likewise it is written in the prophet Isaiah: "An everlasting (sempiternal) God, the Lord, who created the boundaries of the earth, will not fail nor will he labor; nor is there investigation of his wisdom." And yet from the voice of the Lord himself it is said in the same prophet: "I have labored in sustaining." And to the same Lord from the voice of Jeremiah the prophet: "You will give them, O Lord, the shield of the heart, your labor." And Malachi: "You have made the Lord to labor in your words."

Igitur et laborare dictus est is qui numquam laborat, et non laborare is qui laborare describitur. Aut igitur aliud verum est, aliud falsum, aut horum quidem unum simpliciter verum est, alterum non simpliciter, sed cum intelligentia sua. Precepit etiam Moyses filiis suisIsraelofferri sacrificia Domino pro peccatis, et inter cetera iussit eis ut sacerdos statueret [p. 62] duos hircos in ostio tabernaculi coram Domino et eum, cuius sors exiret, Domino offerret pro peccato; cuius autem in caprum emissarium, statueret eum vivum coram Domino et funderet precem super eum et emitteret illum in solitudinem, deinde offerret vitulum pro peccato, et faceret cetera que ibi sunt per ordinem instituta et ad ultimum imponeret utramque manum super capud viventis hirci, confitereturque omnes iniquitates filiorum Israel et peccata eorum, que imprecans capiti eius emitteret illum super hominem qui paratus esset ire in desertum.

Therefore both he is said to labor who never labors, and not to labor he who is described as laboring. Either, then, one is true and the other false, or indeed of these one is simply true, the other not simply, but with its own understanding. Moses also commanded the sons of Israel to offer sacrifices to the Lord for sins, and among other things he ordered them that the priest should set [p. 62] two he-goats at the doorway of the tabernacle before the Lord, and that the one whose lot came out he should offer to the Lord for sin; but the one whose lot was for the emissary goat, he should set him alive before the Lord and pour forth a prayer over him and send him into the solitude; then he should offer a bull-calf for sin, and do the other things which are there instituted in order, and at the last he should impose both hands upon the head of the living he-goat, and confess all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and their sins, and, invoking them upon his head, he should send him out by a man who was prepared to go into the desert.

Ubi et mox subditur: "Cumque portaverit hircus omnes iniquitates eorum in terram solitariam et dimissus fuerit in desertum, revertetur Aaron in tabernaculum testimonii", et cetera. Dixit hoc, et in fine subiunxit. "Eritque hoc vobis legiptimum sempiternum". Sic et in diebus tabernaculorum, precepit septem diebus offerri sacrificia Domino et ad ultimum subiunxit "Legiptimum sempiternum erit in generationibus vestris". Si autem legiptimum, sempiternum est quod precipitur de sacrificiis et holocaustis, quomodo David dicit: "Sacrificium et holocaustum noluisti, aures autem perfecisti michi", aut quare dicit Deus ipse qui precepit offerri sacrificia: "Audi,Israel, et loquar et testificabor tibi, Deus Dominus tuas ego sum, non in sacrificiis tuis arguam te, holocausta" et cetera que sequuntur?

Where also it is presently subjoined: "And when the he-goat shall have carried all their iniquities into a solitary land and shall have been sent away into the desert, Aaron will return into the tabernacle of testimony", and so forth. He said this, and at the end he subjoined, "And this shall be for you a legitimate sempiternal ordinance." So also, in the days of the Tabernacles, he commanded that for seven days sacrifices be offered to the Lord, and at the end he subjoined, "A legitimate sempiternal ordinance it shall be in your generations." But if it is a legitimate, sempiternal thing which is prescribed concerning sacrifices and holocausts, how does David say: "Sacrifice and holocaust you did not will, but ears you perfected for me," or why does God himself, who commanded that sacrifices be offered, say: "Hear,Israel, and I will speak and I will bear witness to you; God the Lord I am yours; not for your sacrifices will I reprove you, your holocausts," and the rest that follow?

Certe etenim frequens est in ore Moysi dicentis de sacrificiis: "Offeretis hoc vel illud in odorem suavissimum Domino"; [p. 63] et tamen David dicit: "Si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis"; et Ysaias: "Quo michi multitudinem victimarum vestrarum? dicit Dominus: plenus sum: holocausta arietum et adipem pinguium et sanguinem vitulorun et agnorum nolui"; et paulo post: "Neomenias et sabbatum et festivitates alias non feram; iniqui sunt cetus vestri; kalendas vestras et sollempnitates vestras odit anima mea, facta sunt michi molesta, laboravi sustinens". Hinc et per Micheam dicitur: "Quid dignum offeram Domino? Curvabo genua mea Deo excelso?

Certainly indeed it is frequent on the lips of Moses, speaking concerning sacrifices: "You shall offer this or that as a most sweet odor to the Lord"; [p. 63] and yet David says: "If you had willed a sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: in holocausts you will not take delight"; and Isaiah: "What is the multitude of your victims to me? says the Lord: I am full: the holocausts of rams and the fat of fatlings and the blood of calves and lambs I have not willed"; and a little after: "The new moons and the sabbath and other festivals I will not bear; your gatherings are iniquitous; your calends and your solemnities my soul hates, they have become burdensome to me, I have wearied in bearing [them]." Hence also through Micah it is said: "What worthy thing shall I offer to the Lord? Shall I bend my knees to the Most High God?"

Nunquid offeram ei holocaustomata et vitulos anniculos, nunquid placari potest Dominus in milibus arietum, aut in milibus hircorum pinguium? Nunquid dabo primogenitum meum pro scelere meo, fructum ventris mei pro peccato anime mee? Iudicabo tibi, o homo, quid sit bonum et quid Dominus querat a te: utique facere iudicium et diligere misericordiam et sollicitum ambulare cum Deo tuo". Que cum ita se habeant, quero nunc a vobis, o Iudei, cur imputata sunt vobis aut parentibus vestris peccata et iniquitates vestre, si vere caper emissarius deferre ea poterat in desertum?

Shall I offer to him holocausts and yearling calves, can the Lord be placated with thousands of rams, or with thousands of fat he-goats? Shall I give my firstborn for my crime, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul? I will show you, O man, what is good and what the Lord seeks from you: assuredly, to do judgment and to love mercy and to walk solicitously with your God. Since these things stand thus, I now ask you, O Jews, why have your sins and your iniquities been imputed to you or to your parents, if truly the emissary goat could carry them into the desert?

Aut si vere, sicut dicit ad litteram Moyses, hostiis sacrificiorum dimittebantur peccata, quero cur is qui precepit offerri sacrificia per ora tantorum prophetarum se ea amplius nolle dicit, aut cur dicat David non delectare Dominum quod testatus est Moyses esse omnipotenti Deo in suavem odorem? Rursum, si neomenie et sabbata et alie festivitates vestre eternam vobis poterant impetrare salutem, quero cur se dicit Dominus nolle amplius ferre ea aut cur ea dicit odisse animam suam? Quod si dicitis: Hoc dicit Dominus propter peccata que faciebant patres nostri et quia non faciebant misericordiam et iudicium et non erant solliciti ambulare cum Deo suo, et nos fatemur: Hoc si feceritis, vivetis, etiam si non observaveritis secundum litteram illa exteriora que tantopere vobis facienda [p. 64] mandavit, quia ipse Dominus, qui vobis illa mandavit observanda per Moysen, ipse dicit nunc per prophetas nolle se huiusmodi sacrificia, et odire sabbata et alias sollempnitates vestras.

Or if truly, as Moses says according to the letter, by the sacrificial victims sins were remitted, I ask why he who commanded sacrifices to be offered says through the mouths of so many prophets that he no longer wills them, or why David says that the Lord is not delighted by that which Moses testified to be to the omnipotent God into a sweet odor? Again, if your new moons and sabbaths and other festivities could obtain for you eternal salvation, I ask why the Lord says that he is unwilling to bear them any longer, or why he says that his soul hates them? But if you say: The Lord says this on account of the sins which our fathers were committing, and because they were not doing mercy and judgment and were not solicitous to walk with their God, we also confess: If you do this, you will live, even if you do not observe according to the letter those externals which he so greatly commanded to be done by you [p. 64], because the Lord himself, who commanded you those things to be observed through Moses, he himself now says through the prophets that he does not will such sacrifices, and that he hates your sabbaths and other solemnities.

Aut si dicitis: Non hoc dixit Dominus reprobando mandata Moysi, immo sua ‚ ipso enim iubente preceperat illa Moyses ‚, sed in ira furoris sui loquutus est tamquam si diceret iratus pater filio suo: Nolo amplius ministerium et servitium tuum, quia non servasti precepta mea, talem et tam frivolum intellectum destruunt sequentia prophete verba, cum subditur: "Lavamini, mundi estote, auferte malum cogitationum vestrarum ab oculis meis, quiescite agere perverse, discite benefacere, querite iudicium, subvenite oppresso, iudicate pupillo, defendite viduam et venite, arguite me, dicit Dominus. Si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur, et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus, velud lana alba erunt". Ecce destruxit illa ut statueret ista; illa ostendit vacua, ut ista fertilia demonstraret. Non igitur in ira sua recusavit ea, sed reprobavit illa quasi puerilia et ostendit que perfectis et viris pro tempore convenirent.

Or if you say: The Lord did not say this by reprobating the mandates of Moses, nay, his own ‚ for Moses prescribed those things at his own bidding ‚, but he spoke in the anger of his fury, as if an angry father should say to his son: I do not want your ministry and service any longer, because you have not kept my precepts, such and so frivolous an understanding the following words of the prophet destroy, when it is subjoined: "Wash yourselves, be clean, remove the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes, cease to act perversely, learn to do good, seek judgment, succor the oppressed, judge for the orphan, defend the widow; and come, argue with me, says the Lord. If your sins shall be like scarlet, they shall be made white like snow, and if they shall be red like cochineal, they shall be as white wool." Behold, he destroyed those things in order to establish these; he showed those to be empty, in order to demonstrate these as fertile. Therefore not in his anger did he refuse them, but he reprobated them as puerile, and he showed what would be fitting for the perfect and for men according to the time.

Vultis scire quod ita sit? Audite Ieremiam id ipsum apertius asserentem: "Ecce venient dies, dicit Dominus, et feriam domui Israel et domui Iuda fedus novum, non secundum pactum, quod pepigi cum patribus vestris in die qua apprehendi manum eorum ut educerem eos de terra Egipti, pactum quod irritum fecerunt, et ego dominatus sum eorum, dicit Dominus, sed hoc erit pactum, quod feriam cum domo Israel post dies illos, dicit Dominus; dabo legem meam in visceribus eorum et in corde eorum scribam eam". Quod si dicitis: Quare dedit Dominus patribus nostris precepta que non erant perpetue observanda?, dico quod ad duritiam cordis eorum. Vultis scire quod ita sit?

Do you wish to know that it is so? Hear Jeremiah asserting this very thing more openly: "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they made void, and I was Lord over them, says the Lord; but this will be the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will give my law in their inward parts, and on their heart I will write it." And if you say: Why did the Lord give to our fathers precepts which were not to be observed perpetually?, I say that it was on account of the hardness of their heart. Do you wish to know that it is so?

Audite non me sed prophetam vestrum: cum enim reduceret Dominus ad memoriam prevaricationes filiorumIsrael, qui egressi sunt de Egipto, per Iezechielem [p. 65] prophetam, quomodo scilicet preceperit eis ut ambularent in mandatis suis et ipsi contempserunt eum et quomodo voluerit eos disperdere in deserto et pepercerit eis propter nomen suum, adiecit et ait: "Dixi autem ad filios eorum in solitudine: In preceptis patrum vestrorum nolite incedere, nec iudicia eorum custodiatis, nec idolis eorum polluamini: ego Dominus Deus vester. In preceptis meis ambulate et iudicia mea custodite et facite ea et sabbata mea sanctificate, ut sit signum inter me et vos et sciatis quia ego sum Dominus Deus vester. Et exacerbaverunt me, inquit, filii eorum et in preceptis meis non ambulaverunt et iudicia mea non custodierunt ut facerent ea que cum fecerit homo vivet in eis, et sabbata mea violaverunt.

Listen not to me but to your prophet: for when the Lord was bringing back to memory the transgressions of the sons of Israel, who went out from Egypt, through Ezekiel [p. 65] the prophet—namely, how he had commanded them to walk in his precepts and they despised him, and how he had willed to destroy them in the desert and spared them for his name’s sake—he added and said: "But I said to their sons in the wilderness: In the precepts of your fathers do not go, nor keep their judgments, nor be defiled by their idols: I am the Lord your God. In my precepts walk, and my judgments keep and do them, and my sabbaths sanctify, that it may be a sign between me and you and you may know that I am the Lord your God. And," he says, "their sons exasperated me, and in my precepts they did not walk, and my judgments they did not keep to do them—those which, when a man shall have done, he shall live in them—and they violated my sabbaths."

Et comminatus sum, ait, ut effunderem furorem meum super eos et averti manum meam et feci propter nomen meum ut non violaretur coram gentibus de quibus eieci eos in oculis eorum". Cumque iterato id diceret, adiecit et ait: "Ergo et ego dedi eis precepta non bona et iudicia in quibus non vivent, et pollui eos in muneribus suis, cum offerrent omne quod aperit vulvam propter delicta sua". Heia nunc dicite, o Iudei, cur dederit Dominus patribus vestris precepta non bona et iudicia in quibus non viverent, nisi ad duritiam cordis eorum, ut videlicet quia nolebant portare precepta vite, illa scilicet que data sunt fidelibus in adventu Christi, saltim talia reciperent observanda, que essent in figura preceptorum spiritalium exhibentium vitam, de quibus dicitur in Evangelio: "Nisi abundaverit iustitia [p. 66] vestra plus quam scribarum et fariseorum non intrabitis in regno celorum"?

And I threatened, he says, that I would pour out my fury upon them, and I turned away my hand, and I acted for my name’s sake, that it might not be profaned before the nations out of which I had cast them in their sight." And when he said this again in turn, he added and said: "Therefore I also gave to them not-good precepts and judgments in which they shall not live, and I polluted them in their gifts, when they were offering everything that opens the womb, on account of their delicts." Come now, say, O Jews, why did the Lord give to your fathers not-good precepts and judgments in which they would not live, unless on account of the hardness of their heart—namely, that because they were unwilling to bear the precepts of life, those, to wit, which were given to the faithful at the advent of Christ, at least they might receive such things to be observed as would be in a figure of the spiritual precepts exhibiting life—of which it is said in the Gospel: "Unless your justice abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens"? [p. 66]

Sed iam nunc videamus que sint illa precepta que non sunt bona simpliciter eo quod observatoribus suis non exhibeant vitam, et que sint illa precepta bona quibus acquiritur vita eterna. Sacrificare Domino vitulos et arietes, hircos, agnos, capras et his similia, etsi aliquando fuit licitum, iam non licet, quia non fuit hoc preceptum datum ad vitam, sed ut per istud perveniretur ad illud sacrificium quod est ad vitam; et ideo non simpliciter bonum fuit, quia non ad vitam, sed tantum pro tempore utile, quia datum fuit in signum illius sacrificii quod est ad vitam. Et quod est illud?

But now let us see what those precepts are which are not simply good, for the reason that they do not exhibit life to those who observe them, and what those good precepts are by which eternal life is acquired. To sacrifice to the Lord calves and rams, he-goats, lambs, goats, and things of this kind, although at one time it was licit, now it is not licit, because this precept was not given unto life, but in order that through this one might come to that sacrifice which is unto life; and therefore it was not simply good, because not unto life, but only useful for a time, because it was given as a sign of that sacrifice which is unto life. And what is that?

"Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non despiciet"; et illud: "Offeremus Domino vitulos labiorum nostrorum". Hoc autem sacrificium quale sit, ostendit ipse Dominus per psalmistam cum dicit: "Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me et illic iter quo ostendam illi salutare Dei".

"A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit: a broken and humbled heart God will not despise"; and this: "We shall offer to the Lord the bullocks of our lips." But what sort of sacrifice this is, the Lord himself shows through the Psalmist when he says: "The sacrifice of praise will honor me, and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God".

Rursum circumcidere preputium carnis non fuit preceptum ad salutem, sed quod esset in signum illius circumcisionis que est ad salutem, de qua dicitur per Moysen: "Circumcidite preputium cordis vestris", sane quod ad hanc circumcisionem non potuerit venire genus humanum usque ad adventum illius qui scripsit legem suam in cordibus electorum suorum. Non quidem atramento, sed [p. 67] spiritu Dei vivi testatur ipse Moyses, de quo ipsi confiditis; etenim cum prediceret per eum Dominus patribus vestris mala que ventura erant super vos in novissimo tempore, ait inter cetera: "Affligentur filii Israel donec confiteantur iniquitates suas et malorum suorum recordentur quibus prevaricati sunt in me, et ambulaverunt ex adverso michi. Ambulabo igitur et ego contra eos et inducam illos in terram hostilem, donec erubescat incircumcisa mens eorum; tunc orabunt pro peccatis suis.

Again, to circumcise the prepuce of the flesh was not a precept unto salvation, but in order that it might be a sign of that circumcision which is unto salvation, of which it is said through Moses: "Circumcise the prepuce of your hearts"; indeed, that to this circumcision the human race could not come until the advent of him who wrote his law in the hearts of his elect. Not indeed with ink, but [p. 67] by the Spirit of the living God, Moses himself, in whom you yourselves trust, bears witness; for when the Lord through him foretold to your fathers the evils that were to come upon you in the last time, he said among other things: "The sons of Israel will be afflicted until they confess their iniquities and remember their evils by which they transgressed against me, and walked contrary to me. I also therefore will walk against them and will bring them into a hostile land, until their uncircumcised mind is ashamed; then they will pray for their sins."

Et recordabor federis mei quod pepigi cum Iacob, Ysaac et Abraam". Igitur testis est ipse Deus, qui dedit patribus vestris carnalem circumcisionem, quod tam diu dimissurus est vos in dispersionem, quam diu non erubescit incircumcisa mens vestra, ut oretis pro peccatis vestris et confiteamini peccata vestra. Itaque etsi circumcisi carne, mente tamen incircumcisi estis, o Iudei, quam diu videlicet littere corticem observare nitimini, dicente propheta: "Omnes gentes habent preputium, omnis autem domusIsraelincircumcisi sunt corde".

"And I will remember my covenant which I struck with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham." Therefore God himself, who gave to your fathers carnal circumcision, is witness that he is going to leave you in dispersion for as long as your uncircumcised mind does not blush, in order that you may pray for your sins and confess your sins. Therefore, though circumcised in the flesh, yet you are uncircumcised in mind, O Jews, so long, namely, as you strive to observe the bark of the letter, with the prophet saying: "All the nations have a foreskin, but the whole house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."

Sabbatum quoque custodire ab opere manuum cotidiano non fuit preceptum ad salutem, sed magis ad iram, quia cum inhibeat in eo faciendum omne opus et cum rursum scriptum sit: "Maledictus qui non permanet in omnibus mandatis legis", restat ut maledictus sit et prevaricator qui solvit die sabbati asinum et ducit ad aquam, qui ponit potum in scipho aut cibum in parapside, ut manducet, qui accipit vel deponit vestem seu calciamentum, qui [p. 68] omnino quippiam operis fecerit, in eo dicente Domino. "Nichil ergo operis facietis in eo". Sane spiritale sabbatum, quod est in spiritu, nulla debet ex quo incipit interpolatione fuscari, nullo servili opere peccati criminalis denigratione fedari. Sicut enim nunquam habet sabbatum qui, dominante sibi peccato, opere implicatur servili, ita perpetuum habet sabbatum qui, liberatus servitute criminis, operibus iustitie indesinenter insistit.

To keep the sabbath also from the daily work of the hands was not prescribed unto salvation, but rather unto wrath, because while it forbids any work to be done in it and since it is again written: "Cursed is he who does not remain in all the mandates of the law," it follows that he is accursed and a prevaricator who on the sabbath day loosens an ass and leads it to water, who sets a drink in a cup or food on a platter, to eat, who takes up or puts down a garment or a shoe, who [p. 68] has done absolutely anything of work, the Lord saying in it: "Nichil ergo operis facietis in eo." Indeed, the spiritual sabbath, which is in the spirit, ought to be dimmed by no interruption from the time it begins, nor befouled by the denigration of any servile work of criminal sin. For just as he never has a sabbath who, with sin dominating him, is entangled in servile work, so he has a perpetual sabbath who, freed from the servitude of crime, persists unceasingly in works of justice.

Quia igitur ad duritiam cordis eorum dedit Deus patribus vestris precepta non bona et iudicia in quibus non viverent, merito promittit Deus fedus novum, quod esset dissimile a veteri pacto, quandoquidem illud datum est ad figuram, istud ad veritatem, illud scriptum est in tabulis lapideis et pellibus mortuorum animalium, istud in tabulis cordis carnalibus, non, ut dixi, atramento, sed spiritu Dei vivi. Oportet vos igitur, o Iudei, redire ad cor et audire nobiscum apostolum Paulum, hominem scilicet de gente vestra progenitum, sed a cecitate gentis vestre misericorditer liberatum, nobis pariter ac vobis dicentem: "Littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat". Debet autem vos vel absurditas ipsa littere ad hoc ipsum movere et que multum obesset fidei dissonantia Scripturarum.Namquid absurdius esse potest si textum ipsum littere pueriliter pensamus, quam quod filie Loth, que egresse cum patre de Segor ascenderunt in montem et manserunt in spelunca, putasse traduntur deletum esse in subversione Sodomorum totum genus humanum, cum constet ipsam Segor remansisse intactam? Sed etsi totum genus [p. 69] humanum putabant exterminatum, unde panem et vinum et cetera corpori necessaria habere poterant ut, amore servande prolis, patrem inebriarent?

Since therefore, on account of the hardness of their heart, God gave to your fathers precepts not good and judgments in which they should not live, rightly does God promise a new covenant, which would be dissimilar to the old pact, since that was given for a figure, this for truth; that was written on stone tablets and on the skins of dead animals, this on the tablets of fleshy hearts—not, as I said, with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. You ought therefore, O Jews, to return to the heart and to hear with us the apostle Paul, a man, to wit, born of your race, but mercifully freed from the blindness of your nation, saying to us as well as to you: "The letter kills, but the spirit makes alive." Moreover, the very absurdity of the letter ought to move you to this very thing, and the dissonance of the Scriptures which would greatly harm faith. For what could be more absurd, if we weigh the very text of the letter childishly, than that the daughters of Lot, who, having gone out with their father from Zoar, went up into the mountain and remained in a cave, are reported to have supposed that in the overthrow of Sodom the whole human race had been destroyed, whereas it is clear that Zoar itself remained untouched? But even if they thought the whole race [p. 69] of men exterminated, whence could they have bread and wine and the other things necessary for the body, so that, out of love for preserving offspring, they might make their father drunk?

Quid absurdius esse potest quam quod Scriptura Abraam centenarium genuisse sub admiratione commemorat et non eum admiratur genuisse plures filios cum iam ferme centum et triginta sive quadraginta esset annorum? Quid absurdius esse potest quam quod Abraam, cum iret ad prelium, dinumerasse discribitur trecentos vernaculos domus sue expeditos ad pugnam, et qui dives erat valde in possessione auri et argenti non potuerit aut voluerit dare puerum cum asino filio suo Hismaeli et Agar matris eius, sed imponens utrem aque super scapulas suas emisit eam velud exulem cum filio in deserto? Aut si dicitis quod ira fecit hoc Abraam eo quod contristaretur super filio suo, consequens videretur si non audiendam vocem coniugis Dominus precepisset.

What could be more absurd than that Scripture recounts with admiration that Abraham begot at one hundred, and does not marvel that he begot several sons when he was already nearly one hundred and thirty or forty years old? What more absurd than that Abraham, when he was going to battle, is described as having counted out three hundred homeborn servants of his house, ready for combat, and yet he who was very rich in the possession of gold and silver could not or would not provide a boy with a donkey for his son Ishmael and for Hagar his mother, but, placing a water-skin upon her shoulders, sent her away like an exile with the son into the desert? Or if you say that Abraham did this in anger because he was grieved over his son, it would seem consequent, if the Lord had not commanded that the voice of his wife be heeded.

Sed ad maiora transeamus.

But let us pass on to greater matters.

Benedicens Ysaac Iacob filio suo ait: "Incurventur ante te filii matris tue", et quidem Iacob, paterna benedictione firmatus, audivit Dominum dicentem sibi: "In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes"; sed si littere ipsius promissionem exspectas, frustraris penitus spem promissi, quia nequaquam Esau incurvatus est ante [p. 70] Iacob, sed potius Iacob cum filiis ante Esau fratrem suum. Quod ergo ad litteram non fuit completum, necesse erat omnino consummari in spiritu, ut non videatur deceptus esse spiritus qui loquebatur in Ysaac. Sed et quid dixerimus de Ioseph qui se a sole, luna et stellis undecim adorari conspexit, et quod Iacob interpretatus dixerit: "Num ego et mater tua et fratres tui adorabimus te super terram?". Nonne mater sua mortua erat?

Blessing Jacob his son, Isaac said: "Let the sons of your mother bow down before you"; and indeed Jacob, strengthened by the paternal benediction, heard the Lord saying to him: "In your seed all nations will be blessed"; but if you await the letter of that promise, you utterly frustrate the hope of the promise, because by no means did Esau bow down before [p. 70] Jacob, but rather Jacob with his sons before Esau his brother. Therefore what was not fulfilled according to the letter had to be entirely consummated in the Spirit, so that the Spirit who was speaking in Isaac might not seem to have been deceived. But also what shall we say about Joseph, who saw himself adored by the sun, the moon, and eleven stars, and that Jacob, interpreting, said: "Shall I and your mother and your brothers adore you upon the earth?" Was not his mother dead?

Et si materteram pro matre accipiendam dicitis, scitis ipsi quod Lia non est numerata inter eos qui descenderunt cum Iacob in Egiptum, et cum ipsa Lia cum Sara et Rebecca in sepulcro Abrae et Ysaac referatur sepulta, multaque ostendatur Iacob obtinuisse prece a Ioseph ut ibi eam faceret sepeliri, eo necesse est hanc adorationem matris accipiendam esse in spiritu, quo nulla ratione iuxta litteram liquet esse completam. Sed et quale esse dicemus, o Iudei, quod se promisit Deus illos filiosIsraelintroducturum in terram promissionis, qui egressi sunt de Egipto, quorum prius gemitum et clamorem audivit, et tamen omnes ipsi preter duos viros prostrati sunt in deserto, [p. 71] et repugnante illorum iniquitate promissis Dei prius defecerunt in via quam obtinerent promissa? Quod si dicitis: Non est irrita promissio Dei, quia filii eorum meruerunt obtinere quod patres non fuerunt digni, quod verum est, nec in eo est utique irritata promissio, quod dicit propheta de diebus Christi: "In diebus illis salvabitur Iuda etIsraelhabitabit confidenter", quia et nunc habituros scimus filios circa finem quod obtinere patres non fuerunt digni; ut enim illi induraverunt corda sua ut non mererentur intrare in terram promissionis, et tamen filii intraverunt, ita et post illud tempus usque ad presens clamat vobis Scriptura divina: "Hodie, si vocem eius audieritis, nolite obdurare corda vestra sicut in exacerbatione, secundum diem temptationis in deserto", et tamen, sicut accidit tunc, ita et nunc nimirum quia et patres usque ad presens vidimus induratos et filios intraturos in requiem Domini docet manifeste pagina utriusque Testamenti.

And if you say that an aunt is to be taken in place of a mother, you yourselves know that Lia was not numbered among those who went down with Iacob into Egiptum; and since this same Lia is reported to have been buried with Sara and Rebecca in the sepulcher of Abrae and Ysaac, and much is shown that Iacob obtained by prayer from Ioseph that he might have her buried there, for that reason this adoration of the mother must be taken in spirit, in which in no way, according to the letter, does it plainly appear to have been completed. But also what shall we say, O Iudei, about this: that Deus promised He would bring into the land of promise those filii Israel who went forth from Egiptum, whose groaning and cry He had previously heard, and yet all those themselves, except two men, were laid low in the desert, [p. 71] and, their iniquity resisting the promises of Deus, they failed on the way before they obtained the promises? But if you say: The promise of Deus is not void, because their sons deserved to obtain what the fathers were not worthy of—which is true—neither herein is the promise made void, that which the prophet says about the days of Christus: “In those days Iuda will be saved and Israel will dwell confidently,” because even now we know the sons will have, around the end, what the fathers were not worthy to obtain; for just as they hardened their hearts so that they did not deserve to enter into the land of promise, and yet the sons entered, so also after that time even to the present the divine Scriptura cries out to you: “Today, if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the exacerbation, according to the day of temptation in the desert,” and yet, just as it then happened, so also now assuredly, for we have seen the fathers hardened even to the present, and the page of both Testaments plainly teaches that the sons will enter into the rest of the Lord.

Quid dicam de David cui promittit Dominus filios sedere super sedem suam usque in eternum dicens: "Si peccaverint filii tui in me, non auferam misericordiam meam ab eis, sicut abstuli a Saul, quem amovi a facie mea, et fidelis erit domus tua et regnum tuum usque in eternum ante faciem meam et thronus tuus erit firmus iugiter?". [p. 72]

What shall I say about David, to whom the Lord promises sons to sit upon his seat unto eternity, saying: "If your sons should sin against me, I will not take away my mercy from them, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before my face, and your house shall be faithful and your kingdom unto eternity before my face, and your throne shall be firm continually?" [p. 72]

Sed dicite, queso, nunc, dicite, o Iudei: Quot anni et quot tempora evoluta sunt ex quo civitas Ierusalem, que fuit sedes regni David, non habuit sedentem super solium ipsius David de semine eius et quemadmodum veram dixerimus promissionem Dei, si non secundum spiritum sed secundum litteram ambulamus? Quod si hoc nulla ratione colorare potestis, desinite sperare promissa Dei secundum litteram esse complenda, ut videlicet credatis convertendum secundum litteram Libanum in Chermel, aut colles fluere lac et mel, aut habitare lupum cum agno, leonem, pardum, vitulum et ursum morari simul, aut omnia ligna silvarum plaudere manibus, aut lunam lucere sicut solem, et solem septempliciter, aut congregandos omnes filiosIsraelin illa terrestri Ierusalem que contaminatur a gentibus, aut vivere in ea longo tempore ut secundum dies ligni longa sit ibi vita vestra, et mille talia, quia [p. 73] qui paravit regnum celi ordinibus angelorum et locavit in paradiso Adam et Evam, pro minimo est dare populo suo terram aridam et inaquosam, cum sint multe provincie mundi longe meliores et fertiliores pre ipsa; sed revera promisit Deus fidelibus civitatem suam, non utique civitatem illam que ut sepe sepius polluta est sordibus et cruore, sed illam que sursum est Ierusalem, de qua in spiritu dicit David: "Beati qui habitant in domo tua, Domine: in secula seculorum laudabunt te", et rursum: "Gloriosa dicta sunt de te civitas Dei". Alioquin cum infinitum esse testetur Scriptura numerum electorum, qua ratione capiet templum illud quod est in Ierusalem tam innumerabilem multitudinem beatorum? Sic et regem Christum promittit Scriptura regnaturum super sedem David, et tamen in sede David regnum accipimus electorum et utique illud regnum de quo dicit angelus Danieli: "Regnum quod est subter omne celum dabitur populo sanctorum Altissimi".

But say, I beg, now, say, O Jews: How many years and how many seasons have rolled by since the city of Jerusalem, which was the seat of the kingdom of David, has not had one sitting upon the throne of that David from his seed; and how shall we call the promise of God true, if we walk not according to the spirit but according to the letter? But if you can in no wise color this over, cease to hope that the promises of God are to be fulfilled according to the letter—namely, to believe that Lebanon is to be turned, according to the letter, into Carmel, or the hills to flow with milk and honey, or the wolf to dwell with the lamb, the lion, the leopard, the calf, and the bear to abide together, or all the trees of the forests to clap their hands, or the moon to shine like the sun, and the sun sevenfold; or that all the sons of Israel are to be gathered into that earthly Jerusalem which is defiled by the nations; or to live in it for a long time, so that, according to the days of a tree, your life be long there; and a thousand such things, because [p. 73] He who prepared the kingdom of heaven with the orders of angels and placed Adam and Eve in paradise, it is the least thing to give to His people a dry and waterless land, since there are many provinces of the world far better and more fertile than it. But truly God promised to the faithful His city, assuredly not that city which, as very often, has been defiled with filth and blood, but that which is above, Jerusalem, of which in spirit David says: "Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord: for ages of ages they will praise you," and again: "Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God." Otherwise, since Scripture testifies the number of the elect to be infinite, by what reckoning will that temple which is in Jerusalem contain so innumerable a multitude of the blessed? Thus also Scripture promises that Christ the king will reign upon the seat of David, and yet on the seat of David we understand the kingdom of the elect—and assuredly that kingdom of which the angel says to Daniel: "The kingdom which is under all heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High."

Sic et ipsum Christum filium esse asserit Abrae et David, ac si non esset filius omnipotentis Dei, sed tantum filius Abrae et David. Qualis esset hec commutatio ut Deus ipse, qui conqueritur Samueli de populoIsraelquod petierit dari sibi regem, cum Dominus ipse regnaverit super eum, nequaquam Filio suo sed ei qui esset a sua natura alienus concederet regnum suum usque in eternum, maxime cum ex aliis locis Scripturarum Deus ipse in populo suo regnaturus esse monstretur? Et rursum: si filii David per successionem [p. 74] usque in eternum sedere super sedem suam generaliter promittuntur, quomodo id specialiter promittitur uni Christo?

Thus also he asserts that Christ himself is a son of Abraham and David, as if he were not the Son of the omnipotent God, but only the son of Abraham and David. What sort of change would this be, that God himself, who complains to Samuel about the people of Israel that they asked to have a king given to them, although the Lord himself had reigned over them, would by no means concede his kingdom unto eternity to his own Son, but rather to one who was alien from his nature—especially since from other places of the Scriptures God himself is demonstrated as about to reign in his people? And again: if the sons of David by succession [p. 74] are generally promised to sit upon his throne unto eternity, how is that promised specially to Christ alone?

Aut si usque ad Christum regem accipienda est filiorum successio, et ipse ad extremum regnaturus est in regno David et sessurus super sedem suam usque in eternum iuxta illud patriarche Iacob: "Non auferetur sceptrum de Iuda et dux de femore eius donec veniat qui mittendus est et ipse erit exspectatio gentium", quomodo dicit Iezechiel propheta coniungendas esse in fine seculi tribus Israel cum tribu Iuda ut sint in unum populum et unum regnum et servum Domini David esse solum regem super eos usque in eternum? Verum hec ut sciatis, o Iudei, quanta sit contrarietas et absurditas in Scripturis, si non secundum spiritum sed secundum litteram ambulamus, quandoquidem credere necesse sit immutabilis propositi esse Dominum et tamen ob mutabilitatem creature videatur esse mutabilis, ita ut quod alibi dicitur alibi destruatur. Ecce enim qui constituit per Moysen antiqua illa precepta ipse est qui dicit per Ysaiam prophetam: "Ne memineritis priorum et antiqua ne intueamini.

Or if the succession of the sons is to be accepted up to Christ the king, and he himself at the last will reign in the kingdom of David and sit upon his seat forever, according to that of the patriarch Jacob: "The scepter shall not be taken away from Judah and the leader from his thigh until he who is to be sent comes, and he himself shall be the expectation of the nations," how does the prophet Ezekiel say that at the end of the age the tribes of Israel are to be joined with the tribe of Judah so that they may be one people and one kingdom, and that David, the servant of the Lord, shall be the only king over them forever? Truly, know this, O Jews: how great a contrariety and absurdity there is in the Scriptures if we walk not according to the spirit but according to the letter, since it must be believed that the Lord is of immutable purpose and yet, on account of the mutability of the creature, he seems to be mutable, so that what is said in one place is destroyed in another. Behold indeed, he who established through Moses those ancient precepts, he it is who says through the prophet Isaiah: "Do not remember the former things, and do not gaze upon the ancient things."

Ecce ego facio nova et nunc orientur", et iterum: "Ecce ego creo celos novos et terram nova et non erunt priora in memoria et non ascendent super cor". Queritis, o Iudei, que sit ista terra nova? Ipsa est spiritalis Ierusalem, ipsa est terra promissionis [p. 75] quam vobis spiritaliter annuntiamus, in qua et spiritale sabbatum et spiritales hostie et spiritalis circumcisio et spiritalia festa constituta sunt, ita ut qui ista perpendit, illa mox despiciat et contempnat et veluti nullam causam habentia rationis cogatur tradere oblivioni, presertim cum contraria de his et illis proferat quam multa Scriptura, si tamen quod ibi dicitur secundum litteram et non secundum spiritum intelligitur.Namquod maius contrarium esse potest quam quod dicit is qui novit omnia ante quam fiant: "Penitet me fecisse hominem" et "Penitet me constituisse Saulem regem", maxime cum e contrario dicat Samuel: "Porro triumphator inIsraelnon parcet et penitudine non flectetur, neque enim homo est ut agat penitentiam"? Porro in eodem Samuelis volumine ostenditur aperte Deus immutasse sententiam et utique quam se promiserat servare in eternum; sic enim ait ad Hely de Sylo per virum quem misit ad illum: "Loquens loquutus sum ut domus tua et domus patris tui ministraret in conspectu meo usque in eternum; nunc autem absit hoc a me, sed quicumque glorificabit me, glorificabo ego eum; qui autem contempnunt me erunt ignobiles".

"Behold I make new things and now they shall spring forth," and again: "Behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be in memory and shall not ascend upon the heart." You ask, O Jews, what this new earth is? It is the spiritual Jerusalem, it is the land of promise [p. 75] which we announce to you spiritually, in which both a spiritual sabbath and spiritual sacrifices and a spiritual circumcision and spiritual feasts have been established, so that whoever weighs these things at once may despise and scorn those things and be compelled to consign them to oblivion as though having no cause of reason, especially since very many passages of Scripture bring forward contraries about these and those, if indeed what is said there is understood according to the letter and not according to the spirit.For what greater contrariety can there be than what He says who knows all things before they come to be: "It repents me that I have made man" and "It repents me that I have appointed Saul as king," most of all since on the contrary Samuel says: "Moreover the triumphator inIsraelnon will spare and will not be bent by penitence, for he is not a man that he should do penance"? Moreover in the same volume of Samuel God is shown openly to have changed the sentence, and assuredly that which He had promised to keep forever; for thus He says to Hely of Shiloh through the man whom He sent to him: "Speaking I have spoken that your house and your father’s house should minister in my sight unto eternity; but now let this be far from me; but whoever will glorify me, I will glorify him; but those who despise me shall be ignoble."

Certe qui dicit istud, ille est qui dedit mandatum circumcisionis et sabbati, et tamen aliquid in hoc loco sese statuisse testatur ut maneret [p. 76] in eternum, quod se, ut iam dixi, retractasse innuit cum dicit: "Nunc autem absit hoc a me"; quod si istud, quia sic placuit, voluit, qui verax est, immutare ut melius statueret decretum, quid si alia et alia immutare voluit, ut puerilibus pro tempore mandatis precepta succederent digniora? Igitur quod translatio facta est et sacerdotii et tabernaculi et regni, et maxime quod Samuel, qui non erat de tribu levitica, contra preceptum Moysi obtulit Domino sacrificium, signum erat future translationis, que facta est in adventu Messie, de sacerdotio et sanctuario et templo ad populum qui vocatur gentilis, ut interim, dum vos, Iudei, maneretis in dispersione pro peccatis vestris, Gentiles, qui ob culpam protoplastorum per tot generationes seculorum passi erant longum exilium, gustarent prius vobis exhibita misericorditer dona Dei, maxime ut complerentur Scripture prophetarum et non blasphemaretur amplius Dei nomen in gentibus, qui videbatur quasi crudelis tante multitudinis adversari saluti; ut autem sciatis quod et nobis Gentilibus, quos in ira furoris sui expulisse Dominus visus est, cum essemus et nos de semine benedicti Iaphet sicut et vos de semine benedicti Sem, reposita esset misericordia summi Dei, et utique in semine Abrae, quod est Christus, oportet nos hoc ipsum ostendere de vestrarum oraculis Scripturarum. Neque enim tristari debetis super salute nostra cum nos desideremus et vestram, tamquam misericordiam consecuti, [p. 77] ut simus ambo pariter in Christo nostro et vestro unum sacerdotium et unum regnum, sed gaudere quia et vobis sicut et nobis reposita est in Domino spes salutis, si tamen, audita voce Domini, non vultis usque in finem obdurare corda vestra; oportet autem nos prius ostendere quomodo reposita fuerit gentibus spes salutis, quando erant sine lege et prophetis, sine fide veri Dei et confessione salutis, deinde quemadmodum reposita sit et vobis, ut et vos simul nobiscum et nos vobiscum gaudeamus in uberibus consolationis ipsius.

Surely he who says this is the one who gave the mandate of circumcision and of the sabbath, and yet in this place he testifies that he had established something to remain [p. 76] forever, which, as I have already said, he intimates that he has retracted when he says: "Now, however, far be this from me"; but if he who is truthful wished to immutate that thing—because it so pleased him—in order to establish a better decree, what if he wished to immutate other and other things as well, so that precepts more worthy might succeed, in place of the childish mandates for the time? Therefore, that a translation was made both of the priesthood and of the tabernacle and of the kingdom, and especially that Samuel, who was not of the Levitical tribe, offered sacrifice to the Lord against the precept of Moses, was a sign of the future translation, which was made at the advent of the Messiah, of the priesthood and the sanctuary and the temple to the people who are called Gentile, so that meanwhile, while you, Jews, remained in dispersion for your sins, the Gentiles, who on account of the fault of the protoplasts through so many generations of the ages had suffered a long exile, might first taste the gifts of God mercifully exhibited to you, especially that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled and the Name of God be no longer blasphemed among the nations, he who seemed, as though cruel, to oppose the salvation of so great a multitude; and that you may know that for us Gentiles also, whom the Lord seemed to have expelled in the wrath of his fury—since we too were of the seed of blessed Japheth just as you are of the seed of blessed Shem—the mercy of the Most High God had been laid up, and assuredly in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, we must show this very thing from the oracles of your Scriptures. Nor ought you to be saddened over our salvation, since we desire yours as well, as having obtained mercy, [p. 77] that we both together may be in Christ, ours and yours, one priesthood and one kingdom; but rejoice, because for you, as for us, the hope of salvation has been laid up in the Lord—if indeed, having heard the voice of the Lord, you are not willing to harden your hearts unto the end; but we must first show how the hope of salvation has been laid up for the nations, when they were without law and prophets, without the faith of the true God and the confession of salvation, and then how it has been laid up for you also, so that both you together with us and we with you may rejoice upon the breasts of his consolation.

Loquens Deus onnipotens ad Abraam patrem vestrum, inter cetera magnalia que promisit ei, "Possidebit", inquit, "semen tuum portas inimicorum tuorum, et benedicentur in semine tuo omnes gentes terre". Ecce, in semine Abrae benedictio est gentibus repromissa, que tamen benedictio sine fide que est in uno Deo non posset hereditari. Unde aperte liquet quod tunc in semine Abrae benedictio gentibus data est, cum credentes in illum Deum, in quem credidit Abraam, receperunt in capud structure sue lapidem quem reprobaverunt edificantes, hoc est: "benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini". At ne parva aut infirma videatur esse promissio, dictum est hoc ipsum ad Ysaac, replicatum est itidem ad Iacob: ad Ysaac: "Tibi", inquit, "et posteris tuis dabo universas regiones has, et benedicentur in semine tuo omnes gentes terre, eo quod obedierit Abraam voci mee"; ad Iacob: "Dilataberis ad occidentem et orientem et septentrionem et meridiem, et benedicentur in te et in semine tuo cuncte tribus terre". Sed quare dicit Scriptura Iacob: "In te et in semine tuo", nisi quod ex tunc iam ceperant gentes occultam saltim hereditare benedictionem, quando ancille, que non erant ex illo semine, iuncte sunt matrimonio Iacob, et [p. 78] exinde filiis suis unicuique iuncta est uxor de populo gentili, presertim cum non adessent femine que de illo genere caperentur uxores, ita ut non possitis negare vos quoque, o Iudei, ex parte feminarum adherentium semini Abrae de gentili quoque populo descendisse Messiam? Verum hoc quomodolibet; ceterum quod magna illa benedictio reposita esset in Christo, testatur idem Iacob, qui benedicens inter ceteros fratres Iudam filium suum, ait: "Non auferetur sceptrum de Iuda et dux de femore eius, donec veniat qui mittendus est; et ipse erit exspectatio gentium". Queritis quis sit iste qui mittendus erat?

God Omnipotent, speaking to Abraham your father, among the other great things which he promised him, said, “Your seed shall possess the gates of your enemies, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Behold, in the seed of Abrae the blessing is re-promised to the nations, which blessing, however, could not be inherited without the faith which is in the one God. Whence it is clearly evident that then the blessing was given to the nations in the seed of Abrae, when those believing in that God in whom Abraham believed received, as the head of their structure, the stone which the builders rejected, that is: “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But lest the promise seem small or weak, this very thing was said to Isaac, and likewise repeated to Jacob: to Isaac: “To you,” he says, “and to your descendants I will give all these regions, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice”; to Jacob: “You shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and in your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.” But why does Scripture say to Jacob, “In you and in your seed,” unless that from then already the nations had begun at least secretly to inherit the blessing, when the handmaids, who were not from that seed, were joined in marriage to Jacob, and [p. 78] thereafter for his sons each one had a wife joined to him from a Gentile people, especially since there were not present women who could be taken as wives from that stock, so that you cannot deny that you also, O Jews, from the side of the women adhering to the seed of Abraham, that from the Gentile people as well the Messiah has descended? Be that as it may; moreover, that that great blessing was laid up in Christ, the same Jacob bears witness, who, blessing Judah his son among his other brothers, said: “The scepter shall not be taken away from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he comes who is to be sent; and he himself shall be the expectation of the nations.” Do you ask who is this who was to be sent?

Ille de quo dicit Moyses: "Obsecro, Domine, mitte quem missurus es"; ille de quo dicit Malachias propheta: "Statim veniet ad templum sanctum suum Dominator quem vos queritis et angelus testamenti quem vos vultis"; ille de quo dicitur in psalmo: "Et benedicentur in illo omnes tribus terre, omnes gentes magnificabunt eum", et ex voce Patris eidem Filio: "Postula a me et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam, et possessionem tuam terminos terre" et in alio loco de confessione et fide gentium: "Omnes gentes plaudite manibus, iubilate Deo in voce exultationis"; et iterum: "Confiteantur tibi populi, Deus, confiteantur tibi populi omnes. Letentur et exultent gentes, quoniam iudicas populos in equitate et gentes in terra dirigis"; et rursum: "Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, laudate eum omnes populi"; et Ysaias propheta: "Gentium populus qui ambulabat in tenebris vidit lucem magnam, habitalitibus in regione [p. 79] umbre mortis lux orta est eis", et in eo loco ubi dicit idem propheta de Christo: "Ecce servus meus, suscipiam eum", quibusdam interpositis, adiecit et ait: "Non erit tristis neque turbulentus donec ponat in terra iudicium; et legem eius insule exspectabunt"; et in sequentibus ipsius libri: "Ecce dedi te in lucem gentium ut sis salus mea usque in extremum terre"; et iterum: "Lex a me exiet et iudicium meum in lucem populorum requiescet"; et infra: "Me insule exspectabunt et brachium meum sustinebunt"; et rursum: "Paravit Dominus brachium sanctum suum in oculis omnium gentium, et videbunt omnes fines terre salutare Dei nostri"; et in eo loco ubi dicit per eum Dominus: "Ecce facio nova, et tunc orientur; ponam, inquit, in deserto viam et in invio flumina. Glorificabit me bestia agri, dracones et structiones, quia dedi in deserto aquas et flumina in invio, ut darem potum populo meo electo meo.

He is the one of whom Moses says: "I beseech, Lord, send whom you are going to send"; he is the one of whom the prophet Malachi says: "Straightway there will come to his holy temple the Ruler whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire"; he is the one of whom it is said in the psalm: "And in him all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, all nations will magnify him," and by the voice of the Father to the same Son: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession"; and in another place, about the confession and faith of the nations: "All nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of exultation"; and again: "Let the peoples confess you, O God, let all the peoples confess you. Let the nations be glad and exult, because you judge the peoples in equity and you direct the nations on the earth"; and again: "Praise the Lord, all nations; praise him, all peoples"; and the prophet Isaiah: "The people of the nations who walked in darkness has seen a great light; to those dwelling in the region [p. 79] of the shadow of death a light has arisen for them," and in that place where the same prophet says of Christ: "Behold my servant, I will take him up," after some things interposed, he added and said: "He will not be sad nor turbulent until he sets judgment in the earth; and the islands will await his law"; and in the following of the same book: "Behold, I have given you as a light of the nations, that you may be my salvation unto the extremity of the earth"; and again: "Law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest as a light of the peoples"; and below: "The islands will await me, and they will uphold my arm"; and again: "The Lord has prepared his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God"; and in that place where through him the Lord says: "Behold, I am making new things, and then they shall spring forth; I will put in the desert a way and in the trackless place rivers. The beast of the field will glorify me, the dragons and the ostriches, because I have given in the desert waters and rivers in the trackless place, that I might give drink to my people, my elect."

Populum istum formavi michi, laudem meam narrabit"; et ut hoc de populo gentili dictum intelligatur, dicit alibi idem propheta: "Ecce Deus noster ultionem adducet retributionis: Deus ipse veniet et salvabit nos. Tunc aperientur oculi cecorum, et aures surdorum patebunt; tunc saliet sicut cervus claudus, et aperta erit lingua mutorum; quia scisse sunt in deserto aque et torrentes in solitudine. Et que erat arida erit in stagnum et sitiens in fontes aquarum.

"This people I have formed for myself; my praise it will narrate"; and that this may be understood as said of the gentile people, the same prophet says elsewhere: "Behold, our God will bring the vengeance of retribution: God himself will come and will save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be opened; then the lame will leap like a stag, and the tongue of the mute will be opened; because waters have burst forth in the desert and torrents in the solitude. And that which was dry will become a pool, and the thirsty land into springs of waters."

In cubilibus, in quibus prius dracones habitabant, orietur viror calami et iunci". Si autem dicitis, o Iudei, non fuisse Christum Ihesum filium Marie, quia non salvat filiosIsraeliuxta promissum, dicimus: Quod non fecit tunc faciet adhuc in fine, cum consummati fuerint anni captivitatis vestre, designati in quadraginta diebus quibus iacuit propheta super latus suum dextrum, sed tamen et tunc salvabit aliquos [p. 80] sicut dicit Ysaias propheta: "Si fuerit numerus Israel sicut harena maris, reliquie salve fient", et rursum: "Quomodo si inveniatur granum in botro et dicatur: Ne dissipes illud, quoniam benedictio est, sic faciam propter servos meos, ut non disperdam totum". Si autem dicitis: Qui sunt ceci et claudi qui curati sunt? Dicimus quia hi sunt Gentiles qui ambulabant in tenebris et nesciebant Deum verum, sed erant quasi bestie silvestres, nescientes ad dexteram vel sinistram, manentes absque eo qui rigat prata cordium fonte sapientie et scientie sue. Quod si adhuc nitimini adversari intellectui spiritali, nolentes intelligere spiritalem sed tantum corpoream cecitatem, nunquid patres vestri corporaliter surdi erant et ceci, quibus dicitur: "Surdi audite et ceci intuemini ad videndum", aut populus vester corporaliter cecus erat, de quo dicitur: "Quis cecus, nisi servus meus"? Denique ut spiritalis cecitas aperte intelligeretur, adiecit et ait: "Qui vides multa, nonne custodies?

“In the lairs in which before dragons dwelt, there will arise the greenness of reed and rush.” But if you say, O Jews, that the Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was not, because he does not save the sons of Israel according to the promise, we say: What he did not do then he will yet do at the end, when the years of your captivity shall have been consummated, designated in the forty days in which the prophet lay upon his right side; but yet even then he will save some [p. 80] as Isaiah the prophet says: “If the number of Israel should be like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved,” and again: “As when a grain is found in a cluster and it is said, Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servants, that I may not destroy the whole.” But if you say: Who are the blind and the lame who have been cured? We say that these are the Gentiles who were walking in darkness and did not know the true God, but were as wild beasts, not knowing the right hand or the left, remaining without him who waters the meadows of hearts with the fountain of his wisdom and knowledge. But if you still strive to oppose the spiritual understanding, unwilling to understand a spiritual but only a bodily blindness, were your fathers bodily deaf and blind, to whom it is said: “Deaf, hear; and blind, look so as to see,” or was your people bodily blind, of whom it is said: “Who is blind, if not my servant”? Finally, that a spiritual blindness might be clearly understood, he added and said: “You who see many things, will you not keep them?”

Qui apertas habes aures, nonne audies?". Verum hoc pro spiritali intellectu; ceterum quia de gentili populo quod et ipsi reposita esset spes salutis sermo erat, sequentia que occurrunt et que sponte se ingerunt percurramus. Cum diceret Dominus Ierusalem per eundem prophetam: "Affer filios meos de longinquo et filias meas ab extremis terre", adiecit et ait: "Et omnem, qui invocat nomen meum, in gloriam meam creavi eum, formavi eum et feci eum"; et infra: "Deus iustus et salvans non est preter me. Convertimini ad me et salvi eritis , omnes fines terre", et paulo post: "In memetipso iuravi; egredietur de ore meo iustitie verbum et non revertetur; quia michi curvabitur omne genu, et confitebitur omnis [p. 81] lingua"; et rursum: "Quesierunt me qui ante non interrogabant, invenerunt qui non quesierunt me. Dixi: Ecce ego, ecce ego ad gentem, que non invocabat nomen meum". Quis est autem qui hoc dicit nisi ille de quo dicit idem propheta: "Iste asperget gentes multas, super ipsum continebunt reges os suum, quia quibus non est narratum de eo viderunt, et qui non audierant contemplati sunt"? Hec inter cetera Ysaias. Neque illa infero que in tipoIsraelde gentili populo dicta sunt, que non potestis audire, o Iudei, sed illa tantum loquor etsi pauca de multis que iuxta superficiem ipsam littere Scriptura sacra commemorat.

You who have open ears, will you not hear?". Truly, this is for spiritual intellect; moreover, because the discourse was that for the Gentile people also a hope of salvation was laid up, let us run through the things that follow which occur and thrust themselves forward of their own accord. When the Lord said to Jerusalem through the same prophet: "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the extremities of the earth", he added and said: "And everyone who calls upon my name, for my glory I created him, I formed him and I made him"; and below: "A just and saving God there is none besides me. Convert to me and you shall be saved , all the ends of the earth", and a little after: "I have sworn by myself; a word of justice shall go forth from my mouth and shall not return; because to me every knee shall bend, and every [p. 81] tongue shall confess"; and again: "Those who before were not asking sought me, those who were not seeking found me. I said: Behold I, behold I to a nation that was not calling upon my name". But who is it that says this except the one of whom the same prophet says: "He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth over him, because those to whom it had not been told about him saw, and those who had not heard contemplated"? These things among other things Isaiah. Nor do I bring in those which in the type of Israel were spoken to the Gentile people, which you cannot bear, O Jews, but I speak only those—though few out of many—which, according to the very surface of the letter, sacred Scripture commemorates.

Ut autem transeamus ad alios prophetas qui de hoc manifestius sunt loquuti, cum loqueretur Dominus in furore suo contraIsraelpropter peccata dicens ad prophetam: "Voca nomen pueri: Non populus meus, quia vos non populus meus, et ego non ero vester Deus. Et erit numerus filiorumIsraelquasi harena maris, que sine mensura est et non numerabitur", protinus de gentili populo adiecit et ait: "Et erit, in loco ubi dictum est eis: Non populus meus vos; ibi dicetur eis: Filii Dei viventis". Quod si dicitis: Non est hoc dictum de populo gentili sed de populoIsrael, verum est quidem in sequentibus libris, sed non in isto loco, alioquin falsum esset quod [p. 82] dixerat superius: "Voca nomen filie: Absque misericordia, quia non addam ultra facere misericordiam domui Israel, sed oblivione obliviscar eorum et domui Iuda miserebor", sane quia futurum erat circa finem seculi ut decem tribus convertantur ad Dominum. Post multa que loquutus est super fornicationib usIsrael, adiecit et ait: "Et erit in die illo, ait Dominus, vocabit me: Vir meus, et non vocabit me ultra: Bahalim.

But in order that we may pass to other prophets who spoke more manifestly about this, when the Lord was speaking in his fury against Israel on account of sins, saying to the prophet: "Call the name of the boy: Not my people, because you are not my people, and I will not be your God. And the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which is without measure and will not be numbered," immediately he added concerning the Gentile people and said: "And it will be, in the place where it was said to them: You are not my people; there it will be said to them: Sons of the living God." But if you say: This was not said about the Gentile people but about the people of Israel, it is true indeed in the following books, but not in this place, otherwise what he had said above would be false: "Call the name of the daughter: Without mercy, because I will not add further to show mercy to the house of Israel, but with oblivion I will forget them; and I will have mercy on the house of Judah," assuredly because it was to be, around the end of the age, that the ten tribes would be converted to the Lord. After many things which he had spoken about the fornications of Israel, he added and said: "And it will be in that day, says the Lord, she will call me: My husband, and she will no longer call me: The Baals."

Et auferam nomina Bahalim de ore eius". Et post pauca: "Et sponsabo te michi in sempiternum, et sponsabo te michi in iustitia et iudic io"; et infra: "Miserebor eius, que fuit Absque misericordia, et dicam Non populo meo: Populus meus es tu; et ipse dicit: Deus meus es tu".

And I will take away the names of the Baals from her mouth". And after a few words: "And I will betroth you to myself for everlasting, and I will betroth you to myself in justice and in judgment"; and below: "I will have mercy on her who was Without mercy, and I will say to Not my people: You are my people; and he himself says: You are my God".

Igitur in isto loco populusIsrael, qui colligendus est ad Dominum circa finem, populus Domini dictus est, supra vero nonIsrael, sed populus gentilis. Quod autem circa finem convertendi sunt ad Dominum filiiIsrael, in sequentibus ipsius libri apertius declaratur cum dicitur: "Dixi ad eam, hoc est ad mulierem fornicariam, dies multos exspectabis me, non fornicaberis et non eris viro, sed et ego exspectabo te. Quia dies multos sedebunt filii Israel sine rege et sine principe et sine sacrificio et sine altari et sine ephod et sine teraphin; et post hec revertentur ad Dominum Deum suum et ad David regem suum, et pavebunt ad Dominum et ad bonum eius in novissimo dierum". Igitur in novissimo dierum eritIsraelpopulus Domini; nunc vero ubi aliquando dicebatur: "Non populus meus vos", hoc est in populo gentili: ibi dicuntur: "Filii Dei vivi". [p. 83]

Therefore in this place the people of Israel, who are to be gathered to the Lord around the end, are called the people of the Lord; but above, not Israel, rather the gentile people. But that the sons of Israel are to be converted to the Lord around the end is more openly declared in the following parts of this very book, when it is said: "I said to her, that is, to the fornicating woman, You will wait for me many days; you will not fornicate and you will not be to a husband; but I too will wait for you. For many days the sons of Israel will sit without a king and without a prince and without a sacrifice and without an altar and without an ephod and without teraphim; and after these things they will return to the Lord their God and to David their king, and they will fear toward the Lord and toward his good in the last of days." Therefore in the last of days Israel will be the people of the Lord; but now, where it was once said, "You are not my people," that is, among the gentile people, there they are called, "sons of the living God." [p. 83]

Quia vero non propter Gentiles, sed propter vos hec dicimus, o Iudei, ut credatis quod Ihesus, qui potuit convertere ad Deum viventem gentes infedeles, ipse sit Messias quem exspectaverunt patres vestri, ut et vos credentes in eum vitam habeatis in nomine eius, sufficiat in conclusione vel unum Malachie testimonium, ostendentis commotionem Domini contra patres vestros in adventu Messie et misericordiam circa gentes longo iam ex tempore in gravi cecitate relictas, quatinus et illud iustum Dei iudicium cognitum fieret universo mundo quo dicitur in libro psalmorum: "Deus iudex est: hunc humiliat et hunc exaltat". Audite ergo patienter quid dixerit et sustinete humiliter iudicium potestatis, ut possitis et ipsi post tam longam confusionem invenire misericordiam, quia et nobis in novo Testamento minatur terribiliter sermo divinus si non permanserimus in timore; terribilis est enim in consiliis super filios hominum. Quia vero illo tempore in quo venturus erat Messias indignatus erat Dominus Israel, pro eo quod manens intus ambulabat in tumore superbie, quam maxime cavendam ostendebat psalmista cum dicebat: "Nolite extollere in altum cornu vestrum, nolite loqui adversu Deum iniquitatem", et cetera; inclinatus autem ad misericordiam circa gentes, pro eo quod manentes extra desierant in Dominum superbire, missus est prophetarum ultimus Malachias, qui superbientes in Dominum patres vestros eo quod omnipotentem Deum nec sicut Dominum timerent, nec sicut patrem honorarent, plaga novissima et insanabili desperaret dicens: "Non est michi voluntas in vobis, dicit Dominus exercituum, et munus non suscipiam de manu vestra. Ab ortu solis usque ad occasum magnum est nomen meum in gentibus, et in omni loco sacrificatur nomini meo oblatio munda, quia magnum est nomen meum in [p. 84] gentibus, dicit Dominus exercituum, et polluistis vos illud in eo quod dicitis: Mensa Domini est contaminata".

Because indeed not on account of the Gentiles, but on account of you we say these things, O Jews, so that you may believe that Jesus, who was able to convert to the living God the unfaithful nations, is himself the Messiah whom your fathers expected, so that you also, believing in him, may have life in his name, let even one testimony of Malachi suffice in conclusion, showing the indignation of the Lord against your fathers at the advent of the Messiah and the mercy toward the nations long now left in grave blindness, so that that just judgment of God also might be made known to the whole world, where it is said in the Book of Psalms: “God is judge: this one he humbles and this one he exalts.” Therefore listen patiently to what he said and endure humbly the judgment of authority, so that you also may be able after so long a confusion to find mercy, because the divine word also threatens us terribly in the New Testament if we do not remain in fear; for he is terrible in counsels over the sons of men. But because at that time in which the Messiah was about to come the Lord was indignant with Israel, for this reason, that, remaining within, he was walking in the swelling of pride—which the psalmist was showing must most of all be guarded against when he said: “Do not lift up your horn on high, do not speak iniquity against God,” and the rest—yet inclined to mercy toward the nations, for the reason that, remaining outside, they had ceased to be proud against the Lord, Malachi, the last of the prophets, was sent, who, despairing of a very last and incurable plague for your fathers who were being proud against the Lord, because they neither feared Almighty God as Lord, nor honored him as a father, said: “I have no will in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not receive an offering from your hand. From the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrificed to my name a clean oblation, because my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord of hosts, and you yourselves have polluted it in that you say: The table of the Lord is contaminated.” [p. 84]

Huic testimonio Malachie concordat Ysaias in fine prophetie sue, cum dicit: "Pro eo quod vocavi, et non respondistis, loquutus sum, et non audistis et faciebatis malum in oculis meis et que nolui elegistis, propter hoc hec dicit Dominus meus: Ecce servi mei comedent, et vos esurietis; ecce servi mei bibent, et vos sitietis; ecce servi mei letabuntur, et vos confundemini; ecce servi mei laudabunt pre exultatione cordis, et vos clamabitis pre dolore cordis et pre contritione spiritus ululabitis, et dimittetis nomen vestrum in iuramentum electis meis, et interficiet te Dominus Deus tuus et servos suos vocabit nomine altero, in quo qui benedicendus est super terram benedicetur in Domino amen, et qui iurat in terra iurabit in Domino amen; quia oblivioni tradite sunt angustie priores, et quia abscondite sunt ab oculis eorum. Ecce enim ego creo celos novos et terram novam; et non erunt in memoria priora et non ascendet super cor. Sed gaudebitis et exultabitis in sempiternum in his que ego creo.

To this testimony of Malachi Isaiah agrees at the end of his prophecy, when he says: "Because I called, and you did not answer; I spoke, and you did not hear; and you were doing evil in my eyes, and you chose the things I did not will, for this cause my Lord says these things: Behold, my servants will eat, and you will hunger; behold, my servants will drink, and you will thirst; behold, my servants will rejoice, and you will be confounded; behold, my servants will praise for the exultation of heart, and you will cry out for the pain of heart, and for the contrition of spirit you will howl, and you will leave your name as an oath for my elect, and the Lord your God will slay you, and he will call his servants by another name, in which he who is to be blessed upon the earth will be blessed in the Lord, amen, and he who swears in the earth will swear in the Lord, amen; because the former distresses have been consigned to oblivion, and because they have been hidden from their eyes. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be in remembrance, and they will not ascend upon the heart. But you will rejoice and exult forever in the things that I create."

Quia ecce creo Ierusalem in exultationem et populum eius in gaudium. Et exultabo in Ierusalem et gaudebo in populo meo, et non audietur ultra vox fletus et vox clamoris". Et hec quidem Ysaias.

For behold I create Jerusalem for exultation and her people for joy. And I will exult in Jerusalem and I will rejoice in my people, and no longer shall the voice of weeping and the voice of clamor be heard." And these things indeed Isaiah.

Porro Aggeus propheta, qui non longe prophetaverat ante Malachiam, loquens de adventu Christi desideratum eum cunctis gentibus indicat dicens: "Veniet Desideratus cunctis gentibus et implebo domum istam gloria, dicit Dominus exercituum". Et hec quidem de populo gentili. Nunc de iudaico videamus. [p. 85]

Furthermore Haggai the prophet, who had prophesied not long before Malachi, speaking of the advent of Christ, points him out as desired by all the nations, saying: "The Desired One will come to all the nations and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts." And these things indeed are about the gentile people. Now let us consider the Judaic. [p. 85]

Ostensum est vobis, o Iudei, multis anctoritatibus Scripturarum quod omnino erat venturus Christus pro salute gentium etsi vobis fuerit quasi propriis specialiter promissus; qui tamen, quia venientem non cognovistis nec recepistis verbum eius, conversus est ad gentes, ut complerentur Scripture, sive in eo quod gentes receperunt eum, sive in eo quod patres vestri respuerunt illum. Et hoc quidem ostendere de Scripturis locus est. Sed ne forte fiant vobis in scandalum verba vite, annuntio vobis adesse tempus consolationis vestre tantum ut afflicti pro peccatis vestris agnoscatis et confiteamini iniquitates vestras, scientes et intelligentes quod non absque causa abstulerit vobis Deus sacerdotium et regnum et ventilaverit vos in terras inimicorum vestrorum.

It has been shown to you, o Jews, by many authorities of the Scriptures that Christ was altogether going to come for the salvation of the nations, even if he was to you as if promised specially as your own; who nevertheless, because you did not recognize him when he came nor receive his word, has turned to the nations, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, whether in that the nations received him, or in that your fathers spurned him. And this indeed is to be shown from the Scriptures. But lest perhaps the words of life become to you a scandal, I announce to you that the time of your consolation is at hand—only that, afflicted for your sins, you may acknowledge and confess your iniquities, knowing and understanding that not without cause God has taken from you the priesthood and the kingdom and has winnowed you into the lands of your enemies.

Novi enim causam indurationis vestre illam esse precipuam quod non videtur vobis completas esse in populo vestro promissiones prophetarum, ex quibus est illud: "Ecce mittam vobis Heliam prophetam ante quam veniat dies Domini magnus et manifestus", et: "Exulta et iubila, filia Syon, quia ecce salvator tuus veniet tibi mansuetus", et: "Tu Bethleem terra Iuda nequaquam minima es in principibus Iuda, quia ex te michi nascetur dux, qui regat populum meum Israel", et: "Ecce [p. 86] dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo David germen iustum et regnabit rex et sapiens erit, et faciet iudicium et iustitiam in terra. In diebus illis salvabitur Iuda etIsraelhabitabit confidenter". Dicitis enim in corde vestro: Si hic esset Christus, qui promissus est nobis per prophetas, complerentur utique in nobis queque promissiones prophetarum. Sed in omnibus his et similibus omitto allegoricum intellectum, quem vos difficile potestis audire, ut in Helia dicam accipiendum Iohannem, in filia Syon Ecclesiam, in populo Israel populum christianum, in Iuda confessores veritatis; illud tantum inferam, quod possit probari secundum litteram auctoritatibus Scripturarum.

For I know that the cause of your hardening is chiefly this: that it does not seem to you that the promises of the prophets have been fulfilled in your people, among which is that: "Behold, I will send to you Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes, great and manifest," and: "Exult and jubilate, daughter of Zion, for behold your savior will come to you meek," and: "You, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the princes of Judah, for from you there shall be born for me a leader who shall rule my people Israel," and: "Behold [p. 86] days are coming, says the Lord, and I will raise up for David a just shoot, and a king will reign and he will be wise, and he will do judgment and justice in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell confidently." For you say in your heart: If this were the Christ who was promised to us through the prophets, then indeed all the promises of the prophets would be fulfilled in us. But in all these and the like I omit the allegorical understanding, which you can scarcely bear to hear—so that in Elijah I would say John is to be taken, in the daughter of Zion the Church, in the people Israel the Christian people, in Judah the confessors of the truth; I will only add that which can be proved according to the letter by the authorities of the Scriptures.

Dicitis vos venturum Heliam ante quam veniat dies Domini magnus et manifestus; et nos fatemur. Sed prius oportebat Christum nasci in Bethleem secundum Micheam, et venire super pullum asine secundum Zachariam, et reprobari quasi leprosus a populo suo secundum Ysaiam, et occidi secundum Danielem, et compleri universa oracula que scripta sunt in lege [p. 87] Moysi et psalmis et prophetis de eo. Que omnia cum sint completa in reliquiis populi vestri, quia tamen completa esse non credunt aliqui de populo vestro et facta sunt corda eorum dur iora lapidibus, ad credendum, venturus est profecto Helias ut convertat corda eorum indurata vetustate ad innocentiam puerorum, ut credant Dei Filium iam venisse in mundum. Denique quorum corda convertenda sunt in diebus Helie, liquet quod usque ad tempus illud minus erunt conversa.

You say that Elijah will come before the great and manifest Day of the Lord comes; and we confess it. But first it behooved Christ to be born in Bethlehem according to Micah, and to come upon the colt of an ass according to Zechariah, and to be reprobated as though leprous by his own people according to Isaiah, and to be killed according to Daniel, and that all the oracles written in the Law [p. 87] of Moses and in the psalms and the prophets concerning him be fulfilled. All which, since they have been fulfilled in the remnant of your people, yet because some of your people do not believe them to have been fulfilled and their hearts have been made harder than stones for believing, Elijah will indeed come to convert their hearts, hardened by antiquity, to the innocence of children, so that they may believe that the Son of God has already come into the world. Finally, as to those whose hearts are to be converted in the days of Elijah, it is clear that up to that time they will be the less converted.

Quorum autem conversa sunt in adventu Domini et convertuntur in omni tempore isto, de quo dicit propheta: "Hec dicit Dominus: In tempore placito exaudivi te et in die salutis adiuvi te", ipsi sunt ille reliquie de quibus scriptum est: "Reliquie salve fient"; ipsi granum illud benedictionis in botro cui dictum est secundum Zachariam: "Exulta et iubila, filia Syon, quia, ecce rex tuus venit tibi mansuetus"; ipsi Israel quem regit dux natus de Bethleem; ipsi domus Iuda que salvabitur in diebus Domini; ipsi Israel qui habitat confidenter. Quamvis etsi tunc non salvavit generaliterIsraeleo quod non esset eo tempore aptus ad salutem, non ideo tamen minus salvator est, quia et mox ut ipse venit salve facte sunt gentes, et ad ultimum per eius Evangelium salvabiturIsraelsicut et Apostolus dicit: "Cum plenitudo gentium intraverit, tunc omnisIsraelsalvus fiet". Utrumque autem [p. 88] consummari oportebat in populo vestro, cecitas scilicet et illuminatio, induratio et conversio, ut complerentur ad integrum verba prophetarum.

Those, however, whose hearts were turned at the Advent of the Lord and are being turned in all this time, of which the prophet says: "Thus says the Lord: In a favorable time I have heard you, and on the day of salvation I have helped you," they themselves are that remnant of which it is written: "The remnant will be saved"; they themselves that grain of blessing in the cluster, to which, according to Zechariah, it was said: "Exult and jubilate, daughter of Zion, because, behold, your king comes to you, meek"; they themselves the Israel whom the leader born of Bethlehem rules; they themselves the house of Judah which will be saved in the days of the Lord; they themselves the Israel who dwells confidently. Although even if he did not then save Israel generally because it was not at that time fit for salvation, nevertheless he is not on that account less a savior, because both immediately when he himself came the Gentiles were made safe, and at the last through his Gospel Israel will be saved, just as the Apostle also says: "When the fullness of the nations shall have entered, then all Israel will be saved." Both [p. 88] had to be consummated in your people, namely blindness and illumination, hardening and conversion, in order that the words of the prophets might be fulfilled in their entirety.

Vultis scire quod ita sit? Audite non meam tantum, sed et vocem Domini ipsius in propheta dicentem: "Ecce constitui te super gentes et regna, ut evellas et dissipes et disperdas"; et iterum: "Erit Dominus in lapidem offensionis et in petram scandali duabus domibusIsrael, et in laqueum et in ruinam habitantibus in Ierusalem. Et offendent ex eis plurimi et cadent et conterentur et irretientur et capientur". Ipse enim est lapis quem reprobaverunt edificantes.

Do you wish to know that it is so? Hear not my voice only, but also the voice of the Lord himself in the prophet, saying: "Behold, I have appointed you over the nations and the kingdoms, that you may pluck up and dissipate and destroy"; and again: "The Lord will be for a stone of offense and a rock of scandal to the two houses of Israel, and for a snare and for a ruin to those dwelling in Jerusalem. And many of them will take offense and will fall and will be crushed and will be ensnared and will be captured." For he himself is the stone which the builders reprobated.

Hinc et Danieli dicitur in visione: "Occidetur Christus, et non erit eius populus qui eum negaturus est", hinc et ex voce ipsius populi dicitur in Ysaia: "Vidimus eum et non erat ei aspectus, et desideravimus eum; despectum, et novissimum virorum, virum dolorum et scientem infirmitatem, et quasi absconditus vultus eius et despectus, unde nec reputavimus eum"; et paulo post: "Nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum et percussum a Deo et humiliatum. Ipse autem vulneratus est propter iniquitates nostras et attritus est propter scelera nostra". Et ex voce ipsius Christi in eodem propheta: "Expandi manus meas tota die ad populum non credentem, qui graditur per vias non bonas, et post cogitationes suas". [p. 89]

Hence also it is said to Daniel in a vision: "Christ will be slain, and the people that is going to deny him will not be his"; hence also from the voice of the people itself it is said in Isaiah: "We saw him and there was not for him aspect, and we desired him; despised and the lowest of men, a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity, and as it were his face hidden and despised, whence we did not reckon him"; and a little after: "We supposed him as if leprous and struck by God and humbled. But he himself was wounded on account of our iniquities and crushed on account of our crimes." And from the voice of Christ himself in the same prophet: "I have spread out my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walks by ways not good, and after their own thoughts." [p. 89]

Verum hec iccirco dico, ut ostendam vobis sic fuisse annunt iatum per prophetas quomodo accidit patribus vestris in adventu Christi, ut compleret furorem suum Dominus in vobis sicut minatus fuerat per ora prophetarum, non quidem ad reprobationem generis vestri, sed ad correctionem et disciplinam, ut sciretis quod non in iustitiis vestris sit vita vestra aut vita alicuius viventis, sed in eo qui dicit per prophetam: "Non me invocasti, Iacob, nec laborasti in me, Israel" et cetera, "verum tamen servire me fecisti in peccatis tuis, prebuisti michi laborem in iniquitatibus tuis. Ego sum, ego sum qui deleo iniquitates tuas propter me et peccatorum tuorum non recordabor". Qui istud non cognoscit et putat iustificari posse hominem in observatione legis Moysi contra auctoritatem psalmiste qui dicit: "Non intres in iudicium cum servo tuo, quia non iustificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens", huius, etsi circumcisa caro est, mens tamen, quam Deus respicit, non est circumcisa, quia qui erubescit patefacere turpitudinem suam confitendo peccata, etsi signum habet exterius circumcisionis, intus tamen, ubi Deus intuetur, circumcisus non est, et scimus quia nullam meretur veniam qui excusat peccata, dicente psalmista: "Non declines cor meum in verba malitie, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis"; quo contra eum qui confitetur invenire posse misericordiam, probat ipsemet psalmista cum dicit: "Dixi: Confitebor adversum me iustitiam meam Domino, et tu remisisti impietatem cordis mei". Et nunc, o viri Iudei, audite hodie vocem meam, et nolite obdurare corda vestra, quin immo audite vocem Moysi, eadem vobis que et ego hodie ex ore omnipotentis Dei annuntiantis et dicentis: "Affligentur filii Israel, donec confiteantur iniquitates [p. 90] suas et malorum suorum recordentur, quibus prevaricati sunt in me et ambulaverunt ex adverso michi. Ambulabo igitur et ego contra eos et inducam illos in terram hostilem, donec erubescat incircumcisa mens eorum". Quare hoc?

Truly I say these things for this reason, to show you that it was so announced through the prophets as it befell your fathers at the advent of Christ, that the Lord might complete his fury upon you as he had threatened through the mouths of the prophets, not indeed to the reprobation of your race, but to correction and discipline, that you might know that your life is not in your justices, nor the life of any living person, but in Him who says through the prophet: “You did not call upon me, Jacob, nor did you labor in me, Israel,” and so forth, “yet you made me serve in your sins, you gave me toil in your iniquities. I am, I am he who blot out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Whoever does not recognize this and thinks that a man can be justified in the observance of the law of Moses, against the authority of the psalmist who says: “Enter not into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no living man shall be justified,” of this man, even if the flesh is circumcised, the mind, which God regards, is not circumcised, because he who is ashamed to lay open his turpitude by confessing sins, even if he has the outward sign of circumcision, nevertheless within, where God looks, is not circumcised; and we know that he merits no pardon who excuses sins, the psalmist saying: “Do not incline my heart to words of malice, to excusing excuses in sins”; whereon the psalmist himself proves that the one who confesses can find mercy when he says: “I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and you remitted the impiety of my heart.” And now, O men of the Jews, hear today my voice, and do not harden your hearts; nay rather hear the voice of Moses, the same things which even I today announce to you from the mouth of almighty God, saying: “The sons of Israel shall be afflicted, until they confess their iniquities [p. 90] and remember their evils, by which they have transgressed against me and have walked contrary to me. I likewise will walk contrary to them and I will bring them into a hostile land, until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed.” Why this?

Quia tunc circumciditur mens hominis cum agnoscit et erubescit peccata sua et orat misericordiam Dei sui, ut non iudicet eum secundum opera sua, sed misereatur illius secundum multitudinem misericordie sue. Unde et mox subditur: "Tunc orabunt pro peccatis suis. Et recordabor federis mei quod pepigi cum Iacob, Ysaac et Abraam". Si ergo vultis invenire misericordiam coram Deo patrum vestrorum, agnoscite veritatem et confitemini circumcisionem cordis vestri, et quod non sit qui faciat bonum, non sit usque ad unum, et confitemini Christum esse verum agnum qui tollit et abluit peccata mundi, in cuius tipo caper emissarius portare dictus est peccata in desertum, ut intelligatis illud quod scriptum est per prophetam: "Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, unusquisque declinavit in viam suam et Dominus posuit super eum iniquitatem omnium nostrum". Alioquin si in lege Moysi queritis iustificari, servate utriusque hominis circumcisionem; si autem interiorem, que maior est, servare nequitis, frustra vos de exteriori extollitis gloriando in lege et non magis conterimini expavescentes terribile illud Moysi: "Maledictus qui non permanserit in omnibus mandatis legis". Etenim quia ex operibus legis nemo poterat iustificari, dicente psalmista: "Non iustificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens", et in alio loco: "Deus de celo prospexit super filios hominum, ut videat si est intelligens aut requirens Deum.

Because the mind of a man is then circumcised when he acknowledges and blushes for his sins and prays for the mercy of his God, that He may not judge him according to his works, but may have mercy on him according to the multitude of His mercy. Whence also it is straightway subjoined: "Then they shall pray for their sins. And I will remember my covenant which I made with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham." If therefore you wish to find mercy before the God of your fathers, acknowledge the truth and confess the circumcision of your heart, and that there is none who does good, there is not even one, and confess that Christ is the true Lamb who takes away and washes the sins of the world, in whose type the emissary goat was said to carry the sins into the desert, so that you may understand that which is written through the prophet: "All we like sheep have gone astray, each has turned aside into his own way, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all." Otherwise, if in the law of Moses you seek to be justified, keep the circumcision of both the inner and the outer man; but if you are unable to keep the inner, which is greater, in vain you exalt yourselves about the outer, glorying in the law and not rather being crushed, trembling at that terrible word of Moses: "Cursed is he who has not remained in all the commands of the law." For indeed, because by the works of the law no one could be justified, the psalmist says: "No living person will be justified in your sight," and in another place: "God from heaven has looked down upon the sons of men, to see if there is one intelligent or seeking God."

Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt: non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum", Deus Filium suum [p. 91] misit in mundum qui solus posset servare mandata et adimplere pro omnibus legem Moysi ut, sicut per primum hominem cecidimus peccatum, ita per secundum surgeremus a culpa; iustum siquidem erat et consentaneum rationi ut, sicut per unius culpam cecidimus in mortem ante quam nasceremur, ita per unius iustitiam surgeremus ad vitam. Quod si ille, qui solus potuit, implevit legem, et debitum quod a nemine exsolvi poterat ipse unus pro omnibus solvit, tu tibi post hec imponere temptas quod, unoquoque declinante in viam suam, probatum est neminem posse portare, precepta scilicet Moysi et traditiones maiorum. Aut si dicitis: Melius servare aliquid quam nichil, verum quidem est, si id potius quod esse cognoscitur ad salutem; alioquin, quia illa exterior iustitia repugnat interiori, et difficile est eum qui ambulat secundum carnem posse ambulare secundum spiritum, confutanda sunt penitus illa exteriora in quibus non est salus, ut, dum nos expoliatos esse perpendimus a iustitia vestra, in qua gloriantur inaniter hi qui ambulant secundum carnem, afflicti pro nuditate et inopia nostra ingemiscamus ad eum, qui potens est, ut ipse nos induat iustitia sua, que est in spiritu, de quo, ut iam supra commemoravimus, dicit propheta: "Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et feriam domui Israel et domui Iuda fedus novum, non secundum pactum quod pepigi cum patribus eorum in die qua apprehendi manum eorum ut educerem eos de terra Egipti, pactum quod irritum fecerunt et ego dominatus sum eorum; sed hoc erit pactum, quod feriam cum domo Israel post dies illos, dicit Dominus; dabo legem meam in visceribus eorum et in corde eorum scribam eam". En et fedus novum appellatur a propheta lex ipsa spiritalis, que scribenda erat in suo tempore in libro cordium humanorum non liquore atramenti sed spiritu Dei vivi, et dissimilis esse asseritur ab illo pacto quod pepigit Deus cum patribus vestris in die qua apprehendit manus eorum ut educeret eos de terra Egipti.

“All have turned aside, together they have been made useless: there is none who does good, there is not up to one,” God sent his Son [p. 91] into the world, who alone could keep the commandments and fulfill for all the law of Moses, so that, just as through the first man we fell into sin, so through the second we might rise from guilt; for it was just and consentaneous to reason that, just as through the fault of one we fell into death before we were born, so through the righteousness of one we might rise to life. But if he, who alone was able, fulfilled the law, and the debt which could be paid by no one he alone paid for all, do you then after this attempt to impose upon yourself that which, with each one turning aside into his own way, it has been proved that no one is able to bear, namely, the precepts of Moses and the traditions of the elders? Or if you say: It is better to keep something than nothing, it is true indeed, if rather that which is known to be unto salvation; otherwise, because that exterior justice is opposed to the interior, and it is difficult for him who walks according to the flesh to be able to walk according to the spirit, those exterior things in which there is no salvation must be utterly confuted, so that, while we perceive ourselves stripped of your righteousness, in which those who walk according to the flesh vaingloriously glory, afflicted on account of our nakedness and poverty we may groan to him who is powerful, that he himself may clothe us with his righteousness, which is in the spirit—of which, as we already mentioned above, the prophet says: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will strike with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the pact which I struck with their fathers on the day when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a pact which they made void and I ruled over them; but this will be the pact which I will strike with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will give my law in their inward parts, and in their heart I will write it.” Lo, the very spiritual law is called by the prophet a new covenant, which was to be written in its time in the book of human hearts not with the liquor of ink but by the Spirit of the living God, and it is asserted to be dissimilar from that pact which God struck with your fathers on the day when he took their hands to lead them out of the land of Egypt.

Ubi et illud quoque notari expedit quod primo quidem dicit: "Ecce [p. 92] dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et feriam domui Israel et domui Iuda fedus novum", et postea subiungit: "Post dies illos dabo legem meam in visceribus eorum", ut aperte intelligatur non in ipsis diebus accepisse legem spiritalem filios Israel, in quibus percussit Dominus fedus novum domui Israel et domui Iuda, hoc est quando misit Filium suum redimere mundum, sed post ipsos, ut intelligatur aperte illud Apostoli: "Cum plenitudo gentium intraverit, tunc omnis Israel salvus fiet". Et quod dicit de hoc ipso Iezechiel propheta: "Tollam quippe vos de gentibus et congregabo vos de universis terris, et adducam vos in terram vestram, et effundam super vos aquam mundam et mundabimini ab omnibus inquinamentis vestris, et ab omnibus idolis vestris mundabo vos et dabo vobis cor novum, et spiritum novum ponam in medio vestri et auferam cor lapideum de carne vestra et dabo vobis cor carneum et spiritum meum ponam in medio vestri", non oportet vos ita carnaliter intelligere ut gentes in hoc loco appellentur populi fideles, sed magis infideles, utpote Pagani et Sarraceni, nec terram quam dedit Deus patribus vestris debetis extimare aridam illam provinciam Chanaam, sed magis universalem Christianorum Ecclesiam; ipsa est enim hereditas que promissa est semini Abrae, ad cuius possessionem intrare non estis digni nisi prius perfundamini sacri unda baptismi ut, abluti a sorde infidelitatis vestre, accipiatis, ut vobis hic promittitur, donum Spiritus sancti. Nec illud arbitremini proferendum in causa quod non dicit: "Abluemini aqua munda", sed: "Effundam super vos aquam mundam", cum scriptum sit de hoc ipso per alium prophetam: "Erit fons patens domui David ad ablutionem peccatoris et menstruate", quia causa [p. 93] ut hoc diceretur illa est qua credimus aquam invisibilem que descendit desuper esse verbum Dei, que cum accedit ad elementum, fit sacramentum.

Where it is also expedient that this be noted: that at first indeed he says, "Behold [p. 92] days are coming, says the Lord, and I will strike with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant," and afterwards he subjoins: "After those days I will give my law within their inward parts," so that it may be clearly understood that not in those very days did the sons of Israel receive the spiritual law, in which the Lord struck a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, that is, when he sent his Son to redeem the world, but after those, so that the saying of the Apostle may be clearly understood: "When the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered, then all Israel shall be saved." And as to what the prophet Ezekiel says about this very thing: "For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you into your own land, and I will pour upon you clean water and you shall be cleansed from all your defilements, and from all your idols I will cleanse you; and I will give you a new heart, and I will place a new spirit in your midst, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will place my spirit in your midst," you ought not to understand it so carnally that by nations in this place the faithful peoples are meant, but rather the unfaithful, to wit Pagans and Saracens; nor ought you to reckon the land which God gave to your fathers to be that arid province of Canaan, but rather the universal Church of the Christians; for this is the inheritance which was promised to the seed of Abraham, into whose possession you are not worthy to enter unless first you be drenched by the sacred wave of baptism, that, washed from the filth of your unbelief, you may receive, as is here promised to you, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Nor think it should be alleged in the case that it does not say, "Be washed with clean water," but, "I will pour upon you clean water," since it is written about this very thing through another prophet: "There shall be an open fountain for the house of David for the washing of the sinner and of the menstruous woman," because the cause [p. 93] why this was said is that by which we believe the invisible water that descends from above to be the Word of God, which, when it approaches the element, becomes a sacrament.

Unde et Petrus apostolus ait: "Non carnis depositio sordium, sed conscientie bone interrogatio ad Deum", idest ut conscientia sit munda ad interrogandum Deum qui quasi pater dilectis filiis reddat de cetero responsum salutis. Alioquin si adhuc resistitis Spiritui sancto et carnalem adhuc statuere queritis intellectum, quomodo verum erit quod dicit idem propheta regnaturum regem David in fine mundi super populum Domini usque in eternum, cum omnes pene prophete Christum denuntient regnaturum? Et ne forte diceretis utrumque esse pariter regnaturum, destruit hunc errorem sermo propheticus qui nequaquam plures reges sed unum denuntiat regnaturum, cum dicit: "Ecce ego assumam filios Israel de medio nationum, ad quas abierunt, et congregabo eos undique et adducam eos ad humum suum, et faciam gentem unam in terra in montibus Israel, et rex unus erit omnibus imperans"; et paulo post: "Erunt michi populus, et ego ero eis Deus, et servus meus David rex super eos, et pastor unus erit omnium eorum". Igitur ut in David designatur Christus, sic in sede David designatur Ecclesia, ad cuius, ut dixi, possessionem pervenire non potestis nisi prius abluamini ab immunditia infidelitatis vestre.

Whence also the apostle Peter says: "Not the deposition of the filths of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God," that is, that the conscience may be clean for interrogating God, who, as a father, may henceforth render to beloved sons the response of salvation. Otherwise, if you still resist the Holy Spirit and still seek to establish a carnal understanding, how will what the same prophet says be true—that King David is to reign at the end of the world over the people of the Lord forever—since almost all the prophets proclaim Christ as going to reign? And lest perchance you should say that both are to reign together, the prophetic discourse destroys this error, which by no means announces many kings but one as going to reign, when it says: "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel out of the midst of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and I will bring them to their own soil, and I will make one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be commanding all"; and a little later: "They shall be for me a people, and I will be for them God, and my servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be of them all." Therefore, as in David Christ is designated, so in the seat of David the Church is designated, to whose possession, as I said, you cannot attain unless first you are washed from the uncleanness of your infidelity.

Si autem dicitis: Nos non sumus infideles, quia legem accepimus per Moysen et semper unum verum adoravimus Deum, quero si post tempus Asa regis Iuda fuistis aliquando sine lege et sine Deo vero, aut si [p. 94] semper habuistis legem Moysi et Deum verum, etiam cum vos expellent de terra nativitatis vestre. Si vos fatemini semper habuisse Deum verum et legem Moysi, mendacem facitis prophetam vestrum qui ait in diebus prescripti regis: "Transibunt multi dies inIsraelabsque Deo vero et absque sacerdote et doctore et absque lege". Si autem manifeste prophetie contradicere non potestis, aut in tempore Babilonice persecutionis dicetis hoc fuisse completum aut in tempore isto, sed tempus illud breve fuit omnino respectu temporis istius, sed et pars tunc aliqua populi remansit in terra Iuda cum sacerdote Heliachim, et manentibus in captivitate non defuerunt sacerdotes et doctores prophete Domini et sancti viri, Iezechiel propheta, videlicet, et Daniel, Ananias quoque, Azarias et Misael, Zorobabel et Iosedec sacerdos magnus, Esdras, Neemias et alii multi. In tantum autem propitius erat eis Deus [p. 95] manentibus in illa captivitate, ut in diebus Mardochei et Esther regine multi Gentiles relinquerent sectas suas et iuncti populo Iudeorum adorarent et colerent DeumIsrael.

But if you say: We are not infidels, because we received the law through Moses and have always adored the one true God, I inquire whether after the time of Asa king of Judah you were ever without law and without the true God, or whether [p. 94] you always had the law of Moses and the true God, even when you were expelled from the land of your birth. If you confess that you have always had the true God and the law of Moses, you make your prophet a liar, who says in the days of the aforesaid king: "Many days shall pass in Israel without the true God and without priest and doctor and without law." But if you cannot manifestly contradict the prophecy, you will say that this was fulfilled either in the time of the Babylonian persecution or in this time; but that time was altogether brief in respect to this time, and also some part of the people then remained in the land of Judah with the priest Heliachim, and, for those remaining in captivity, there were not lacking priests and doctors, the prophets of the Lord and holy men—namely the prophet Ezekiel, and Daniel, Ananias too, Azarias and Misael, Zorobabel and Josedec the high priest, Ezra, Nehemiah, and many others. Moreover God was so propitious to them [p. 95] while they remained in that captivity, that in the days of Mordecai and Queen Esther many Gentiles left their sects and, joined to the people of the Jews, adored and worshiped the God of Israel.

Quia igitur non de illo tempore sed de isto potius dictum est, revertimini vel sero, filii Israel, ad Dominum Deum vestrum et ad David regem vestrum, et preparate corda vestra ad fedus novum et ad legem quam scripturus est Deus in cordibus vestris, ut ipsi pariter nobiscum confiteamini dicentes: "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini". Et quidem hec futura esse circa finem mundi tam ex veteri Testamento quam ex novo manifeste didicimus. Sed cupientes aliquos vestrum etiam ante tempus illud generale saltim pro ipsa vicinitate lucis de regno eripere tenebrarum, dedimus operam in hoc opusculo prevenire vos, o viri Iudei, in benedictionibus dulcedinis imitantes catulum illum qui precedebat angelum ductorem [p. 96] Tobie appropinquantis ceco patri ut acciperet lumen; licet autem onerosus sit vobis misticus intellectus, pro eo quod vobis hactenus nuntius mali fuit, hic tamen onerosus esse no n debet, ubi vobis vicinum esse indicat tempus consolationis vestre. Audite ergo et libenter accipite quod auditis, quia leta et prospera nuntiantur vobis.

Since therefore it was said not of that time but rather of this, return at least late, sons of Israel, to the Lord your God and to your king David, and prepare your hearts for the new covenant and for the law that God will write in your hearts, so that you may together with us confess, saying: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And indeed that these things are to be in the vicinity of the end of the world we have learned manifestly both from the Old Testament and from the New. But desiring to snatch some of you, even before that general time, at least by the very nearness of the light, from the kingdom of darkness, we have taken pains in this little work to forestall you, O men, Jews, with benedictions of sweetness, imitating that little dog who went before the guiding angel of Tobit [p. 96] approaching the blind father that he might receive the light; and although the mystical understanding is burdensome to you, because to you hitherto it has been a messenger of evil, here nevertheless it ought no n to be burdensome, where it indicates that the time of your consolation is near to you. Hear therefore and gladly receive what you hear, because joyful and prosperous things are announced to you.

Tobias ille iustus, qui insudabat operibus pietatis, populus Iudeorum est, qui in electis hominibus primus fuit. Hic fatigatus bono opere obdormivit et stercoribus hirundinum cecitatem incurrit, quia illo tempore quo Christus venit in mundum, quasi longa exspectatione et legis observatione fatigatus, languit circa mandata et ob hoc verba prophetarum carnaliter intellecta abstulerunt ei lumen internum, ut non posset agnoscere verum lumen Ihesum Christum salvatorem mundi, qui pro similitudine carnis peccati designatur [p. 97] in hedo, putans eum esse futurum et quasi per rapinam mendacii vocatum a simplicibus regem Christum. Erat quoque eo tempore filia Raguelis nomine Sara, que et ipsa intollerabile per sevum demonem qui ei adversabatur de viris suis patiebatur per singulos detrimentum.

Tobias, that just man, who was sweating in works of piety, is the people of the Jews, who among chosen men was first. He, wearied by good work, fell asleep, and by the droppings of swallows incurred blindness, because at that time when Christ came into the world, as if wearied by long expectation and by the observance of the Law, he grew faint concerning the commandments; and on account of this, the words of the prophets, understood carnally, took away from him the inner light, so that he could not recognize the true light, Jesus Christ the savior of the world, who for the likeness of the flesh of sin is designated [p. 97] in the kid-goat, supposing him to be still future, and, as though by a rapine of falsehood, called by the simple “the king Christ.” There was also at that time the daughter of Raguel, named Sarah, who likewise suffered intolerably on account of a savage demon who opposed her, sustaining loss from her husbands, one by one.

Hec ergo sancta mulier gentilem designabat Ecclesiam, que dominante sibi multo tempore spiritu falsitatis quicquid apud eam virile invenerat extinguebat. Exprobatum est autem utrique sub eodem tempore, alteri scilicet ab uxore, alteri ab ancilla, et rogante utroque Dominum pro miseria sua, exaudita est oratio utriusque. Missus est igitur a Domino angelus Raphael, qui curaret utrumque, quia missus est a Deo Patre in nomine Christi Ihesu Spiritus sanctus, qui sanaret utrumque populum a langore anime, iudaicum videlicet et gentilem, quique hoc ordine curati sunt.

This therefore holy woman was designating the Gentile Church, which, with the spirit of falsity dominating her for a long time, was extinguishing whatever she found virile among her. Moreover, it was reproached to each under the same time, to the one namely by a wife, to the other by a handmaid; and as each was beseeching the Lord for his misery, the prayer of each was heard. Therefore the angel Raphael was sent by the Lord to cure them both, because the Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father in the name of Christ Jesus, to heal both peoples from the languor of soul, namely the Judaic and the Gentile; and they were cured in this order.

Ivit Tobias filius cum angelo in Ragel civitatem Medorum pro recuperando argento, quia missus est ordo apostolicus ad populum [p. 98] gentilem duce Spiritu sancto, et primo quidem ad Grecos, qui designantur in Gabelo et turba illa generis sui, quibus accomodaverat Tobias pater decem pondera argenti, quia videlicet Grecorum populus iam acceperat transferentibus Septuaginta senioribus Israel decalogum mandatorum et poterant iam ipsi alios docendo reddere quod acceperant; utique et reddiderant Latinis, apud quos et celebrate sunt nuptie spiritales designate in matrimonio Sare et Tobie, eo quod ibi requieverint successores Petri a tempore illo usque in presentem diem. Interim dum sunt in via, Tobias, monente angelo, tenens fortiter per branchiam exenterat piscem, quia, facta questione de lege Moysi, confortatus Spiritu sancto, apostolicus ordo quedam quidem precepta Moysi intellexit tenenda esse secundum litteram, ut est: "Non occides, non mechaberis" et siquidem simile; ceterum, quod in genere est, interiora Moysi subtiliter penetravit, intelligens illud quod declarat de hoc ipso Apostolus: "Littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat". Etenim, exenterato pisce, tria precepit angelus conservari, cor videlicet, iecur et fel, quia tria sunt que nobis summopere Scriptura commendat, [p. 99] timorem Domini, quem designat cor, et duo, que designant iecur et fel, precepta caritatis. Et bene de corde quid actum fuerit non dicitur; de iecore autem et felle virtus operata narratur, quia timor quidem incipit et perducit ad caritatem.

The son Tobias went with the angel into Ragel, a city of the Medes, for recovering the silver, because the apostolic order was sent to the Gentile [p. 98] people under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and first indeed to the Greeks, who are designated in Gabelus and that crowd of his stock, to whom the father Tobias had lent ten weights of silver, because, namely, the people of the Greeks had already received, by the Seventy translating elders of Israel, the Decalogue of the commandments, and they were already able themselves, by teaching others, to pay back what they had received; and indeed they had paid it back to the Latins, among whom also the spiritual nuptials signified in the marriage of Sarah and Tobias have been celebrated, for the reason that there the successors of Peter have rested from that time to the present day. Meanwhile, while they are on the way, Tobias, with the angel advising, holding firmly by the gill, exenterates the fish, because, a question having been raised about the Law of Moses, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, the apostolic order understood that certain precepts of Moses were to be held according to the letter, such as: “You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery,” and the like; but, as to what is in general, it subtly penetrated the interior things of Moses, understanding that which the Apostle declares about this very matter: “The letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.” For indeed, the fish having been exenterated, the angel commanded that three things be kept, namely the heart, the liver, and the gall, because there are three things which Scripture most of all commends to us, [p. 99] the fear of the Lord, which the heart designates, and the two precepts of charity, which the liver and the gall designate. And rightly what was done with the heart is not said; but of the liver and gall the efficacy wrought is recounted, because fear indeed begins and leads through to charity.

Caritas autem fructificat et foras mittit timorem. Iungitur autem Tobias Sare et demon expellitur iecoris fumo, quia ordo apostolicus iunctus est in fide Ecclesie et, virtute orationis, que est in amore Dei, malignus ab ea spiritus protinus exclusus est. Sane celebratis nuptiis revertitur Tobias, duce angelo, ad cecum patrem, quia peracto spiritali matrimonio inter reliquias Iudeorum et gentes successores Apostolorum, qui usque hodie illorum vice regunt Ecclesiam, ducti a Spiritu sancto, revertentur animo et predicatione ad populum Iudeorum, ut ostendens illi affectum compassionis, qui designatur in felle, hec est enim vera dilectio et probatio caritatis, recipiat lumen quod iam dudum amisit, et confiteatur Domino quam bonus, quam in seculum misericordia eius.

But charity bears fruit and casts out fear. Tobias is joined to Sara, and the demon is expelled by the smoke of the liver, because the apostolic order has been joined in the faith of the Church and, by the virtue of prayer, which is in the love of God, the malign spirit was straightway excluded from it. Indeed, the nuptials having been celebrated, Tobias returns, the angel as guide, to his blind father, because, the spiritual marriage having been accomplished between the remnant of the Jews and the gentiles, the successors of the Apostles, who to this day rule the Church in their stead, led by the Holy Spirit, will return in mind and in preaching to the people of the Jews, so that, showing to it the affection of compassion, which is signified in the gall—for this is true dilection and a proof of charity—it may receive the light which it long ago lost, and confess to the Lord how good He is, how forever His mercy.

Dabimus autem vobis hoc ipsum ex novo Testamento, ut percipiatis et vos aliquid de concordia duorum Testamentorum. [p. 100]

Moreover, we will give you this very thing from the New Testament, so that you too may perceive something of the concord of the two Testaments. [p. 100]

Zacharias, pater Iohannis Baptiste, quia non credidit angelo evangelizanti sibi gaudium magnum et quod ei esset filius nasciturus, perdidit officium lingue et non potuit loqui usque ad ortum pueri. Nato autem filio, solutum est vinculum lingue eius et benedixit Deum et dixit: "Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel quia visitavit et fecit redemptionem plebis sue", quia videlicet sacerdotes Iudeorum qui, attriti longa vetustate et diffisi diutina sterilitate Synagoge sue, non crediderunt nativitatem Christi et conversionem gentilis populi ad Deum verum, ut esset et ipse per veram fidem filius Abrae, amiserunt officium predicatio nis usque in presentem diem. Cum autem plenitudo gentium intraverit, ut quod erat occultum in misteriis de salute populi gentilis proferatur ad lucem, mox populus Iudeorum, qui in suis doctoribus hactenus mutus fuit, agnita veritate misteriorum Christi, prorumpet in laudem Dei dicens et ipse cum Zacharia: "Benedictus Dominus DeusIsrael, quia visitavit et fecit redemptionem plebis sue".

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, because he did not believe the angel evangelizing to him great joy and that a son was to be born to him, lost the office of the tongue and could not speak until the boy’s birth. But when the son was born, the bond of his tongue was loosed and he blessed God and said: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited and has made redemption for his people"; for namely the priests of the Jews, who, worn down by long antiquity and distrustful because of the long-continued barrenness of their Synagogue, did not believe in the Nativity of Christ and the conversion of the gentile people to the true God, so that it too might be, through true faith, a son of Abraham, lost the office of preaching down to the present day. But when the fullness of the nations shall have entered, so that what was hidden in the mysteries about the salvation of the gentile people may be brought forth to the light, at once the people of the Jews, who up to now has been mute in its teachers, the truth of the mysteries of Christ being recognized, will burst forth into the praise of God, saying he too with Zacharias: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited and has made redemption for his people".

Audite hec, o viri Iudei, et accipite hilares verbum pacis, ante quam veniat dies Domini magnus et manifestus, ut non vobis dicatur in die illo quod dictum est incredulo Thome post resurrectionem [p. 101] Christi: "Quia vidisti me, credidisti. Beati qui non viderunt et crediderunt". Neque enim tristes esse debetis de salute populi gentilis ut, concepta indignatione, differatis usque in finem intrare ad convivium Dei vestri, sed magis gaudere et exultare in voce illa Domini dicentis vobis quam dulciter in Evangelio suo: "Fili, tu semper mecum es et omnia mea tua sunt. Gaudere autem et epulari oportebat, quia frater tuus iste mortuus fuerat et revixit, perierat et inventus est".

Hear these things, O Jewish men, and receive gladly the word of peace, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes, so that it may not be said to you on that day what was said to unbelieving Thomas after the resurrection [p. 101] of Christ: "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." For neither ought you to be sad about the salvation of the gentile people, so that, indignation having been conceived, you defer until the end to enter into the banquet of your God, but rather to rejoice and exult at that voice of the Lord saying to you how sweetly in his Gospel: "Son, you are always with me and all mine are yours. But it was necessary to rejoice and to feast, because this your brother was dead and has come back to life, was lost and has been found."