Amos 4

1–3

(Chapter 4, Verse 1 onwards) Hear this word, you fat cows of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, 'Bring us something to drink!' The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you will go out through breaches, each one straight ahead, and you will be cast out into Harmon, declares the Lord. LXX: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan ((Or Bashanites)), who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, and crush the needy, who say to your lords: 'Give us something to drink.' The Lord has sworn by his holiness, behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even those with you in pots, you pestilent merchants, and you will be thrown naked one against another, and cast upon the mountain of Remmon, says the Lord. For the fat cattle, the Seventy interpreted it as Basan's; Aquila and Theodotio interpreted the Hebrew word Basan itself (); we followed the interpretation of Symmachus, who says, 'the well-nourished cows,' that is, fatted cows, we have interpreted as fat cattle. However, he speaks to the leaders of Israel and the best men of the ten tribes, who were occupied with pleasures and rapine, that they may hear the word of God, and know that they are not plowmen's oxen, but fat cattle of the herd, or those nourished in the pastures of Basan, which are the most fertile places for herbs: and by this he signifies that they are prepared not for agriculture, but for sacrifice and eating. You fat cows of Samaria are on the mountain, and you humble ones are crushed. And you say to your lords, that is, to the shepherds through whom we understand the kings, 'Give us, and we will drink,' that is, command and we will destroy everything. But from what he said, 'Give us, and we will drink,' and he did not say, 'Give us, and we will eat,' he signifies their drunkenness in wine and luxury, which overthrow the state of the mind. Therefore, the Lord God swore in His sanctuary, either in Himself, or in the Son, or in the Temple, or in every one who is holy and called the Temple of God, that the day is coming not far off and after many ages, but now imminent, the day of captivity and distress, in which the cows will be led with hooks, and the remains of them in boiling pots, for which it is also written in Hebrew and by Aquila, 'in the bowls of the fisherman.' Furthermore, those shields that are called Sannoth in Hebrew, Aquila interpreted as clypeos; Symmachus and the LXX [interpret as] weapons; only Theodotion [interprets as] dorata, which we have followed and interpreted as contos or hastas. However, this signifies that they are captured in battle, and are carried and taken away by the right of victory; still preserving the metaphor of cows that he had begun, so that just as he had said the cows were fat, he states that their flesh should be carried in contis velscutis. And just as a boiling pot wraps up small fish, so the cows of Basan are to be oppressed with no order of captivity. And what follows: And through the openings you will go out one against another, can be explained thus: The way of captivity is open to you, and when your pots are burned up, you will go out one against another, according to the Hebrew idiom, which for that which we mutually or reciprocally, woman and woman, that is, one against another, call. And he said, 'You will be cast into the places of Armenia, which are called Armona.' Finally, Symmachus interpreted it as follows: 'And you will be cast into Armenia, in place of which the Septuagint has the mountain of Remma, Aquila [has] the mountain of Armona, Theodotion [has] the mountain of Mona; but the fifth edition has translated it as the lofty mountain.' But the word of the Lord which commands the cows of Bashan to listen, according to the begun tropology, commands the heretics, who serve their belly and throat, and are rightly called very fat cows or disgraceful cows. For Basan, in fact, translates to 'shame,' which if we want to say means 'confusion,' we will interpret it more as Babylon than Basan. These fat cows, or rather dishonorable and dry ones, are located on the mountain of Samaria, which is also referred to in Hosea: Take away your calf, Samaria. And again in the same [book], Because your calf has led you astray, Samaria (Hos. VIII, 5, 6): and therefore on the mountain of Samaria, because they are always lifted up in pride and promise themselves lofty things. Samaria is also called a custodian, not because they guard the words of the Lord, but because they boast of being guardians of his precepts. They falsely accuse the needy and crush the poor. By the needy and poor, understand the ecclesiastical man who is content with the simplicity of truth and does not seek the wealth of heretical arguments or the brilliance of eloquence. These cows say to their masters: Bring us and let us drink. We can call their masters or leaders of perverse doctrines, Valentine, and Marcion, and Arius, and Eunomius, or those who support their wrongly invented teachings through multiple books. These Basanite cows say: Bring us, and let us drink. For if they do not give them, they do not have what they devour, indeed what they drink to become drunk. But in order that we may know that waters and cups signify doctrine, the Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman: Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will not thirst forever (John 4:13). Therefore, those who drink from the waters of the Samaritan, that is, of heretics, will always be thirsty and will not be able to refresh the heat of their dry throats, as Isaiah proclaims: As one dreams of drinking when thirsty, and when he arises, he is still thirsty, and his soul has hoped in vain; so will all the nations that fight against Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:8). For truly, he who drinks from the waters of heretics, and fights against the Church of God in Jerusalem, drinks in his dreams and his soul is deceived by empty images. And when he considers himself satisfied, then he will have the beginning of thirst. Hence it is said to the religious man: Drink the waters from your vessels, and let your own waters flow from the fountains of wells, and let them be for you alone (Prov. 5:15). And the Lord your God swears in his sanctuary against the fattened cows and the feasts that serve them, whether he swears by his saints, that the days of judgment and punishment will come upon them, to carry them in their arms, and to cast those who are with them into stewpots, or to carry them as well. And let those cows themselves be pestilent merchants, or let those who come to carry them be thrown out naked, seeing each other: let them be cast upon Mount Remman, says the Lord God. For we must say, according to the Septuagint, so that we do not seem to have proposed them in vain. When the day of judgment and vengeance comes against the heretics, then they will be taken away in arms, that is, with their weapons with which they fought against the Church; or, having been conquered by the armor of God and overcome by His warriors, they will be thrown into boiling pots to be burned and cooked, who were previously pestilent merchants; for they engaged in this trade in order to deliver those whom they had deceived to death. These are the ones of whom it is said: the sons of Heli, the sons of pestilence (1 Samuel II), who sat in the chair of pestilence (alternatively, pestilences). And when they have been sifted and burned, they will go out naked, having nothing of what they had previously presumed. And they will see their shame, and they will be cast upon the mountain of Remman, which is translated as sublimity, so that they may be crushed in their pride. Some interpret Remman as the sight of someone, that is, the vision of someone. For they could not see everything; but they promised themselves knowledge of a certain part, so that they might be projected into it, because they believed they knew it. We can, according to the letter, understand that when the days of captivity come upon the cows of Samaria, they will prevail over them in battle, and oppress them with their weapons, and in the encounter compel the defeated to go to fortified cities, which will be compared to boiling pots: just as Jerusalem, having its people shut in and besieged, is likened to a boiling pot full of meat; so the cities of Samaria will be compared to boiling pots, which will force the shut-in people to leave due to famine and plague, and to go into captivity seeing each other mutually, and be transferred to the mountains of Armenia, which are adjacent to Media and Persia.

Commentary on Amos

4–6

(Verse 4 and following) Come to Bethel, and act wickedly: to Gilgal, and multiply transgression, and bring your morning sacrifices, your tithes for three days. And offer praise with leaven (Vulgate: with fermented dough), and call for voluntary offerings, and proclaim. For thus you have desired, O children of Israel, says the Lord God. Therefore, I have given you the stench of decay in all your cities and the lack of bread in all your places; and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. You entered Bethel and acted wickedly in Gilgal, multiplying your impious acts. And you brought your offerings in the morning, your tithes on the third day. And you read the law outside and made confessions. Proclaim that the children of Israel have loved these things, says the Lord God. And I will give you the astonishment of teeth in all your cities, and the lack of bread in all your places, and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. Let us lay the foundations of history first: O wretched Israel, captivity is now near to you, the Assyrian army is now advancing: do whatever you please, act impiously: freely fornicate with idols, so that the more shameless you are, the more just my sentence will appear above your torments. 'Come,' he says, 'to Bethel, where you have set up a golden calf, and act impiously towards God. Come to Gilgal, the place of idolatry, of which I spoke through Hosea: 'All their wickedness is in Gilgal' (Hosea 9:15).' And again in the same place: They were in vain in Gilgal, sacrificing to cows (Ibid., XII, 11). And when you come to Gilgal: multiply transgression. For whatever you do there is transgression against God, to whom you prefer idols. And bring your offerings in the morning, lest there be any delay in wickedness. On the third day, give your tithe: or, as Symmachus interpreted, give your tithe on the third day. The explanation of this place seems to us to be: in the Book of Leviticus it is commanded (Lev. VII) that certain offerings should not be reserved for another day, and that others should not remain until the third day: if they do, they shall be unclean. So the meaning is: Sacrifice unclean victims every day, and offer polluted sacrifices, and make a sacrifice of leaven as praise, which is not completely offered to God according to the precepts of Moses. For praise, Eucharist has been interpreted as thanksgiving, which in Hebrew is called Todah (). And he says to call them voluntary offerings, which the Hebrews call Nadaboth (), meaning spontaneous. But a voluntary sacrifice belongs to joy: which in Latin we can call a feast. And when you have done this, announce your impiety to everyone: so that you not only seem to have done it, but also to have taught others. But I command this, and I speak in an imperative manner, in order to satisfy your wishes, because you have acted and desired this way, O children of Israel, says the Lord God. Therefore, I have also given you a shock of teeth, which the Septuagint translated as 'astonishment', whom we have followed in this place because of the simplicity of the word: either the cleanliness of teeth, as Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it, in order to demonstrate the magnitude of hunger through clean teeth. And I made a scarcity of bread, not in one city, but in all your cities; neither in one place, but in all your places. And when I did this, it was not to punish, but to give an opportunity for repentance; yet you did not turn back to Me, says the Lord. This is what we have said according to the Hebrew text: let us now turn to the Seventy Interpreters, and briefly discuss what seems to us, according to the anagogical interpretation, in each (verse); for the greatness of the books does not allow us to say both in each edition. You entered into Bethel, that is, the house of God, which is understood as the Church: and you acted impiously towards the Lord, trampling upon His commandments. But in Galgala, which means revelation or scroll, you have multiplied impieties, claiming knowledge of the holy Scriptures for yourselves: and while you are exalting yourselves in pride, you have fallen to the lowest filth. Moreover, you have brought your morning offerings, your tithes on the third day, transformed into an angel of light: and you have confined the triple understanding of the Scriptures (which we have been commanded to write in our hearts in three ways) into a single interpretation. For we must understand Holy Scripture, first according to the letter, doing whatever precepts are in ethics. Secondly, according to the allegory, that is, the spiritual understanding. Thirdly, according to the future blessedness. But you, despising the first and the second day, compose for yourselves certain spiritual figments without foundation, and place a roof upon them without walls. Nor are they heretics, concerning whom and to whom it is said, being content with the end of ungodliness: but they have read outside the Church the law of God, and have attempted to join together confessions and testimonies to their own perverted heart: or they have sacrificed of the leaven, concerning which it is said in the Gospel, 'Beware of the leaven,' that is, the doctrine of the Pharisees. And they did these things not by error, but by study: not by chance will, but by the fullest charity of their ancestors. Hence the Lord threatens vengeance upon them: I will give you the astonishment of teeth, which in Greek is called 'γομφιασμός'. For if anyone, according to Ezekiel (Ezek. 18), eats a sour grape, his teeth will be astonished: so that those who abuse the testimonies of the holy scriptures, consuming them immature and without their sweetness, may lose the strength of their teeth: so that they are unable to chew tough things, which are beneficial to the whole body, and pass into the stomach. I will give you this wonder of teeth and scarcity of food in all cities, and in all your places, so that you may suffer the hunger of the Word of God, and its bread which descended from heaven (John VI), and of which it is written in the Psalms: Man ate the bread of angels (Psalm LXXVII, 15). All these things I have done not out of cruelty and savagery, as heretics may calumniate, but out of severity and seriousness of judgment, so that you may convert to me, according to what is written: I have struck your children in vain, they did not receive discipline (Jeremiah II, 30).

Commentary on Amos

It is not enough to make a true solemnity of the heart. From this must follow good works. What value is there in partaking of his body and blood with our mouths if we oppose him with our wicked practices? And so Moses required that “unleavened bread with wild herbs” is to be eaten. One who eats bread without leaven does virtuous deeds without corrupting them with vainglory, and fulfills the precepts of mercy with no addition of sin, not perversely destroying what he properly accomplishes. In reproof of some who had mingled the leaven of sin with their good deeds, the Lord spoke by the voice of the prophet: “Come to Bethel and behave wickedly,” and shortly after, “And make a sacrifice of praise of that which is unleavened.” A person makes a sacrifice of praise of that which is unleavened when he makes ready a sacrifice for God of his misdeeds. Wild herbs are very bitter. The flesh of the lamb is to be eaten with wild herbs, so that when we receive our Redeemer’s body we humble ourselves with weeping for our sins. Thus the bitterness of repentance purges our heart’s stomach of all traces of a wicked life.

Forty Gospel Homilies 22

They had also mixed this leaven of sin into their good action, to whom the Lord spoke through the voice of the prophet in rebuke: "Come to Bethel and act impiously." And after a few words: "And sacrifice praise from what is leavened." For he offers praise from what is leavened who prepares a sacrifice to God from robbery.

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 22

7–8

(Verse 7 onwards) I have also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months until the harvest. I caused it to rain on one city and not on another. One part was rained upon, while the part on which it did not rain became dry. So two or three cities went to another city to drink water, but were not satisfied. Yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: And I have withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I have caused it to rain on one city and not on another city. Part of it will be irrigated, and part of it, upon which it does not rain, will dry up. And two or three cities will gather in one city, so that they may drink water and not be satisfied; and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. Not only have I caused astonishment of teeth in all your cities, and a scarcity of bread in all your places, but I have also prevented rain from you when there were still three months remaining until the harvest, which is called the late rain, and is especially necessary for the thirsty fields and Palestinian lands, so that when the grass swells in the harvest and the wheat bears fruit, it will wither due to excessive dryness. However, the significant time of spring at the end of the month of April, from which there are three months remaining until the harvest of wheat. May, June, July. For the harvest, seventy days, in their own way, were transferred to the vintage, which, if we accept it, is completely unusual and impossible next to all the regions of the East. For we have never seen rain at the end of June or in the month of July in these provinces, especially in Judea. Finally, in the Books of Kings, as a great sign and wonder, rain was brought about on the days of summer and harvest, when Samuel prayed (1 Samuel 12). And it was excessive to threaten now the dryness of the month of July, in which it had never given rain. It prevented rain, so that they would endure not only a shortage of bread, but also the heat of thirst and a scarcity of drinking. For in these places where we now live, besides small springs, all the water is in cisterns, and if divine wrath withholds rain, the danger of thirst is greater than that of hunger: which Scripture also mentions to have happened in the days of the prophet Elijah for three years and six months (3 Kings 17). And perhaps they might not think that this happened by the law of nature, and the course of the stars, and the variety of seasons, to rain on one city and its fields, and to suspend rain from another: so that two or three cities may go to another city and yet be not satisfied with the drinks of water. And when He has done these things, not for punishment but for healing, He rebukes those who persist in wickedness: and even so you have not returned to me, says the Lord. The Lord also forbids or restrains spiritual rains and all the riches of divine wisdom from the heretics; and He commands His clouds not to rain the showers of rain upon them before three months of harvest or vintage, so that they cannot come to the fruits of the mystery of the Trinity. And as this sun, which we see, completes its annual course until it returns to its original point, in twelve months, which consist of thirty days each; and the moon, which in Hebrew is called 'Jare', and in Greek 'μήνη', gave the name of months in both languages from its own name, and is illuminated by the sun's rays from that part which is near it, receiving more or less light according to the changing seasons: so also the Church, adorned by the splendor of the true Sun, completes the number of the twelve apostles. And so, the twelve tribes are called in Israel, and as a testimony of eternal memory, twelve stones are taken from the bed of the Jordan, to be placed in the location of the second circumcision (Joshua 4). But the Lord rains upon one city, the true Church of confession, and does not rain upon the other, which is in the assemblies of heretics. And while the former receives eternal rain, the latter is dried out by constant aridity: so that those who thirst, compelled by scarcity, may come to the city of the Lord, from which a most abundant fountain flows, irrigating the torrent of thorns. But this is the fountain which speaks through Jeremiah: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13). This fountain, flowing from one source, runs in threefold union: the fountains of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which the psalmist yearns for in the manner of a thirsty deer, saying: As the deer longs for the streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God (Psalm 42:1). And when two or three cities have journeyed to one city, in which there is an abundance of water, they will not be satisfied with hope, faith, and charity, because they have come not by choice, but by necessity, to seek divine grace.

Commentary on Amos

If we cannot gather spiritual fruits through our own labor, it is just that we dispense with holy zeal and most fervent charity those which have been collected by others. Since the Lord threatens that, because of the sins of the people, “I will cause it to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another city,” we ought to strive with great care that we may not be that city upon which the rain of the Word of God either does not come at all or, at least, only late and rarely. Without any doubt, if the dew or rain of the Word of God is provided too late, the fruits of souls will be the same as earthly fruits which do not receive rain.

Sermon 1:15

(Verse 9) I struck you with scorching wind and with blight. The abundance of your gardens, vineyards, olive groves, and fig trees were eaten by the locusts, yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: I struck you with burning heat and with blight. You multiplied your gardens, vineyards, fig trees, and olive groves, yet you did not even turn to me, says the Lord. It was not only the past that I did to correct you; but whatever remained of the drought, I struck with scorching wind and blight. For vento urente, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion are interpreted as 'Septuaginta πύρωσιν,' which we can translate as 'combustion.' All of them translated 'Auruginem' as 'ἴκτερον,' except Theodotion, who translated it as 'ὠχρίασιν,' which means 'pallor.' And when they multiplied against the anger of the Lord, they consumed all the gardens, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees with 'eruca,' which is further explained in Joel (Joel. I). And not even by means of wounds did they want to come to God, burdened as they were by the weight of evils. With this saying, let the heretics be confounded, who interpret the discipline of the Creator, and, so to speak, medicine, as cruelty. But the Lord spiritually strikes the heretics with the burning fire, about which the Apostle Paul said: It is better to marry than to be burned (1 Corinthians 7:9). And the prince of the apostles: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you for your testing (1 Peter 4:12), and like rust that, with bile poured out, changes the redness of blood into paleness, and allows nothing healthy in the body, so much so that even the sweetest honey seems bitter. And those who recently heard in the Church: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: and they said: How sweet are your words to my throat, more than honey to my mouth (Ps. CXVIII)! Let them be called bitter, and their waters and rains not drip sweetness: let them not be from the promised land, which we read flows with milk and honey: but let them be called Mara, that is, bitterness. These multiplied gardens for themselves, into which Naboth (( Al. Nabutha)) did not want his vineyard to be changed, and so he wanted to die (III Kings XXI). For the one who is weak, let him eat vegetables (Rom. XIV). And because heretics are always swollen with pride, and falling into the judgment of the devil, they promise great things to themselves and invent images of good things, so that they may mix poison with honey: they boast that they have vineyards, olive groves, and fig orchards; but their vineyard is the vineyard of Sodom; their olive groves are not from good olives, but from wild olive trees, which the Apostle commands to be grafted onto the roots of good olive trees (Rom. XI). Figs also have such things, which fill the basket of the worst figs, which Jeremiah testifies that he cannot eat because of bitterness (Jerem. XXIX). When the Lord comes to them, he curses them with eternal drought (Mark. XI), so that they never bear fruit, lest they deceive passers-by with the greenness of their leaves. And so that we understand that the gardens of heretics and vineyards and olive groves and fig groves are referred to in a negative way, he adds the word 'yours' to each of these phrases, to show that they belong not to God but to the heretics: your gardens, your vineyards, your olive groves, and your fig groves: all of which have been ravaged by caterpillars, the final punishment of all; they do not fly away like locusts, and scattering in all directions, but rather remain and consume everything slowly, with a lazy and sluggish bite, all that is doomed to destruction. And when they had suffered these things, they did not even want to return to the Lord in this way.

Commentary on Amos

I sent death upon you on the way of Egypt, I killed your young men with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, and you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: I sent death upon you on the way of Egypt, and I killed your young men with the captivity of your horses. And I led your camps in fire in my anger, and yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. Through all the whips and tortures Israel is educated: and at that time when they asked for help from the Egyptians, death was sent upon them, and their young men were struck down by the sword, and the captivity cruelly confined those horses which they had multiplied against God's commandment, so that the rottenness of the camps and the stench of the dying army would fill the nostrils of the living. And even after doing all this, to seize the wrongdoers and correct those who went astray, they did not return to Him, says the Lord. Not only at that time, but every day, he puts to death on the way of Egypt, so that one who treads the path of Egypt may hear, dying, the teaching of the Apostle: For the sin I am dead, I am dead; but in what I live, I live in God (Galatians II). And in another place: If we have died with Christ, we will also live with him (Romans VI, 8). And again: I always carry about in my body the dying of Jesus (II Corinthians IV, 10). And again: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians II, 20). The Lord wants to give us life through this death, so that, dying to sin, we may live for God. But we die to sin when we mortify our earthly members, that is, fornication, impurity, sensuality, idolatry and so on. We read in Isaiah, according to the Septuagint translators: otherwise in Hebrew it is expressed differently: 'I have sent death unto Jacob, and it has come upon Israel' (Isa. IX). Jacob is the name of the body that is being born; Israel is the name of blessing. For he wrestled all night and prevailed in the struggle (Gen. XXXII), and when the morning star arose, he could say with the Apostle: The night is far gone; the day is at hand (Rom. XIII, 12), therefore Israel, seeing God, received his name. Therefore death is sent first to Jacob, so that we may mortify our members upon the earth, and through the mortification of our bodily members, we may come to the death of Israel, so that all incentives of disturbances may die within us. God strikes whatever is strong in evil, and perversity rises up in youth, so that it does not reach old age, and He delivers horses to captivity, so that they do not slip into the abyss of hell; and He causes the stench of decay of their camps to rise up into their nostrils, so that they may recognize their own sins and feel the rottenness, and they may say with David: My wounds have putrefied and become corrupt because of my foolishness (Ps. XXXVII, 6). And when they have done all this according to the desire of the healer, they have not even turned back to Him, says the Lord.

Commentary on Amos

See how God, through His love of goodness, seeks repentance; and by means of the plan He pursues of threatening silently, shows His own love for man. "I will avert," He says, "My face from them, and show what shall happen to them." For where the face of the Lord looks, there is peace and rejoicing; but where it is averted, there is the introduction of evil.

The Instructor Book 1

And that there might not remain any doubt that he [God the Son] had been the guest of Abraham, it is written regarding the destruction of the Sodomites that “the Lord poured down on Sodom and Gomorrah fire and sulfur from the Lord out of heaven.” In fact, the prophet also says in the person of God, “I destroyed you as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.” The Lord, therefore, destroyed Sodom; that is, God destroyed Sodom. In the destruction of the Sodomites, however, it was the Lord who rained fire from the Lord. This Lord was the God seen by Abraham. This God is Abraham’s guest and was undoubtedly seen because he was touched. Now, since the Father, inasmuch as he is invisible, was assuredly not seen at that time, he who was seen and who was hospitably received and taken in was he who was willing to be seen and touched. This one then is the Son of God, “the Lord, who rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah fire and sulfur from the Lord.” But he is the Word of God, and the “Word” of God “was made flesh and dwelt among us.” This one then is Christ. Therefore it was not the Father who was the guest of Abraham but Christ. Nor was it the Father who was seen but the Son; therefore it was Christ who was seen. Consequently Christ is both Lord and God, who could be seen by Abraham only because he was God, the Word, begotten of God the Father before Abraham even existed.

On the Trinity 18:15–17

(Verse 11) I will overthrow you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you will become like a bundle snatched from the fire, and yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: I will overthrow you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you will become like a bundle plucked from the fire, but even so you did not turn back to me, says the Lord. This is the ultimate remedy for the ten tribes, the heretics, and all sinners. After sending death along the way of Egypt and striking down their young men with the sword, and consuming their horses, and bringing the stench of their camps into their nostrils, and yet they did not return to Him, may He overthrow them as He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. And when they are overthrown, for the likeness of the crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the worst of their buildings is burned by divine fire, they themselves will be delivered like a bundle snatched from the fire. And how Lot, while Sodom was perishing, was saved, losing his possessions and part of his body, namely his wife, as we understand (Gen. XIX): so let all those who lose the riches of Sodom be found naked, according to what we read in the Apostle: If anyone's work which he has built endures, he will receive a reward: if anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss: but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (I Cor. III, 14, 15). Therefore, whoever is saved by fire is snatched away like a torch from a fire. And concerning those people whom the Savior was rebuking in the Gospel, saying, 'If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham' (John 8:39), John the Baptist says, 'Progeny of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?' (Matthew 3:7, 8, 9) So produce worthy fruits of repentance, and do not say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Therefore, both Israel and all heretics, because they had the works of Sodom and Gomorrah, are overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah: that they may be delivered, as it were, a brand plucked out of the fire. And this is what we read in the prophet: Sodom shall be restored to her former state (Ezek. 16:55): so that whoever is a Sodomite by his own fault, after the works of Sodom have burned in him, may be restored to his former condition.

Commentary on Amos

They [who refuse to repent] do not deserve to be saved by the Lord’s visitation or to be healed by temporal afflictions. They are like those “who in despair have handed themselves over to lasciviousness in the working of every error, unto uncleanness.” In their hardness of heart and with their frequent habit of sinning, they are beyond the purgation of this very brief age and the punishment of the present life. The divine Word reproves them too through the prophet: “I have destroyed you as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and you have become like a firebrand snatched from the fire, and not even thus have you returned to me, says the Lord.”

Conference 6:11.6

In this he was probably suggesting to us the eventual sacking that happened in the time of Jeremiah by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who took the whole of Judea, set fire even to Jerusalem itself and its neighboring cities and towns, pulled down the divine Temple, took captive the survivors from the fighting, and as a glorious conqueror went back home with the captives, who finally returned to Judea at the completion of the period of 70 years.

Commentary on Amos

12–13

(Verse 12, 13.) Therefore, I will do these things to you, Israel: but after I have done these things to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. LXX: Therefore, I will do these things to you, Israel: but because I will do these things to you, prepare to call upon your God, O Israel. For behold, He who strengthens the thunder, and creates the spirit, and proclaims His Christ among men, making morning, and mist, and ascending above the heights of the earth: The Lord God Almighty is His name. Because we have interpreted, after it is written in Hebrew 'Eceb', and Aquila interpreted it as 'afterwards', and Theodotion as 'finally', and the Septuagint yet 'in Hebrew it can be read as: Therefore I will do these things to you, Israel, afterwards, that is, much later, and in the last times, so that it may begin again from another beginning: And when I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.' And again, in that place where the Septuagint translated, prepare to invoke your God, and we have set it according to Theodotion, prepare to encounter your God, Symmachus and the Fifth Edition have translated, prepare to oppose your God: which is said in Hebrew, Hechin Lacerath Eloica (). Also, for the mountains which are called Arim in Hebrew, the Seventy alone translated it as thunder. But the reason why they said 'spirit' and we said 'wind', which is called Rua in Hebrew, is clear, because both wind and spirit are referred to by this word. And what follows, proclaiming his message to humanity, which we translate as interpreters, only the Seventy translated it, proclaiming his Christ to humanity: deceived by the similarity and ambiguity of words. For if we read his Christ, which in Hebrew is called Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ), it is written with the letters Mem, Sin, Yod, Het, and Vav, which the Seventy presumed. But if, as in Hebrew, it is according to Aquila 'his speech', according to Symmachus 'his voice', according to Theodotion 'his word', according to the fifth edition 'his eloquence', all of which can be interpreted as 'his speech', it will be written with these letters: Mem, He, which is called Ma (מָה), which means 'what' or 'something'. Then Sin, Iod, Heth, which we read as Sia (Σία), that is, eloquence. But O, which is written with the single letter Vau, αὐτοῦ, that is, his, signifies, and at the same time is read mixed with Masio (Μασίω), having the second letter from the word He with more. We have talked about the variety of interpretation, which will be troublesome for the negligent and pleasing for the studious: now let's move on to the meaning of what has been written. I gave astonishment to your teeth, and you did not return to me, says the Lord. I withheld rain from you, and it rained on one city and not on another; one field had rain, but another had none and withered. So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, but were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I will overthrow you as the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you have become like a brand plucked from the fire, and yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord. Therefore, I will do this to you, O Israel; because you have despised the past, at least be corrected for what I am about to bring upon you. And when he says, 'I will do this to you,' he remains silent about what he will do, so that while Israel hangs in uncertainty about each specific type of punishment (which is all the more terrifying because they suspect everything), they may repent and so God does not inflict what he threatens. But after I have done what I promise you I will do, prepare to invoke the Lord your God. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2). Whether you prepare to meet your God, and eagerly receive the Lord coming to you with all your heart. It is he who strengthens the thunder, or confirms the mountains, at whose voice the pillars of heaven and the foundations of the earth tremble (Eccl 16). It is he who creates the spirit, not the Holy Spirit in this place, as heretics suspect; but we understand it as the wind, or the spirit of man: for no one knows what is in man except the spirit that is within him; and the same spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings (Rom 8). Certainly, we must receive the spirit, the soul, according to what is written: 'You will take away their spirit, and they will perish and return to their dust' (Ps. 104:29). And: 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,' and saying this, he breathed his last (Luke 23:46). And when he creates the spirit, he proclaims his word to mankind, or he proclaims the word of him who knows the secrets of thoughts, and understands what the hidden mind ponders in silent speech, according to what we read in Jeremiah according to the Hebrew: 'The heart of man (or of all and of every man) is small and unfathomable, who can know it?' I am the Lord, searching the heart and testing the reins (Jer. XVII, 9, 10). This is also testified in the one hundred and thirty-eighth psalm: Your eyes have seen my imperfect form. The meaning is: Before I was formed, before I was deformed in limbs, while I was still contained in the seed, your eyes saw me. And Jeremiah hears from the Lord: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you, and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jerem. I, 5). And the evangelist, seeing, said, 'The Lord knows their thoughts' (Luke 11:17). But if we read further, proclaiming man's speech according to what was said above, in which he says, 'The Lord God will not speak unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets' (Isaiah 3:7). But the one who proclaims man's thoughts and speech, whether his own or another's, he is the one who makes the dawn and the sunrise, and covers everything with clouds, and walks above the heights of the earth; his name is the Lord God Almighty. For in the Septuagint it is read: Announcing in men his Christ: under which occasion heretics, want to create the Holy Spirit in order: creating the spirit, and announcing in men his Christ: so that he may be created, he may be announced in the peoples. To these things we will respond according to their meaning, and to the Vulgate edition: Who is the creator of all, and establishes the thunder, or forms the mountains, consequently brings forth the winds from his treasures, and as the founder of the universe, promises his Son Christ to men. But when Christ has been proclaimed, then the light of truth is opened to us, not perfectly; for now we see in part, and we know in part, and through a mirror and an image we contemplate those things that are to come (I Cor. XIII). Hence it follows: making morning and mist, and rising above the heights of the earth. For the Lord is high above the high things, and does not dwell in the lowly, He who is high; but the creator of mountains ascends to the mountains, in those who have a share in heavenly things, and walking in the flesh they do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. But if we read according to Symmachus and Aquila: these things I will do to you, O Israel, afterwards, and when I have done these things to you, prepare yourself to oppose your God, it is to be understood thus: I have done this to correct you, as the past speech described, and because you did not want to return to me, I will do to you what is contained in my secret. You have killed the servants whom I sent to you: finally I will send my Son: but you, according to your usual custom, by which you always oppose the will of the Lord, prepare yourself to contradict and oppose your God: according to what is written: Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many, and for a sign that will be contradicted (Luke 2:34). And he says this, not because he commands what should be done; but rather he foretells what he will do willingly, as if reproaching and accusing, so that at least when corrected he does not do what was foretold.

Commentary on Amos

Since initial measures did not suffice, He proceeded to an overthrow similar to the Sodomites; this was the kind of thing, as he said, that was inflicted on them by divine wrath. Therefore prepare to call upon your God, O Israel: Since he did not benefit from being chastised, let him prepare himself for an encounter with God, accepting repentance and adopting a lifestyle calculated to appease Him.

Commentary on Amos

And thus even the good movement of the free-will, whereby anyone is prepared for receiving the gift of grace is an act of the free-will moved by God. And thus man is said to prepare himself, according to Proverbs 16:1: "It is the part of man to prepare the soul"; yet it is principally from God, Who moves the free-will. Hence it is said that man's will is prepared by God, and that man's steps are guided by God.

When Christ came, the people of the old covenant denied him, but the devils confessed him. His forefather David was not ignorant of him when he said, “I will place a lamp for my anointed.” Some have interpreted “lamp” as the splendor of prophecy; others have understood by the lamp the flesh he assumed of the Virgin, according to the words of the apostle: “But we carry this treasure in vessels of clay.” The prophet was not ignorant of him when he said, “And declaring his Christ to men.” Moses also knew him, and Isaiah and Jeremiah as well. None of the prophets was ignorant of him. Even the devils acknowledged him, for he rebuked them, and Scripture adds, “Because they knew that he was the Christ.”

Catechetical Lecture 10:15

Nor does it escape my notice that heretics have been prone to object that the Holy Spirit appears to be a creature, because many of them use as an argument for establishing their impiety that passage of Amos, where he spoke of the blowing of the wind, as the words of the prophet made clear. For you read thus: “Behold, I am he that establishes the thunder and creates the wind and declare unto man his Christ, that make light and mist, and ascend upon high places, the Lord God Almighty is his name.”

On the Holy Spirit, Book 2

But if any one thinks that the word of the prophet is to be explained with reference to the Holy Spirit, because it is said, “declaring unto men his Christ,” he will explain it more easily of the Lord’s Sun of justice. For if it troubles you that he said Spirit, and therefore you think that this cannot well be explained of the mystery of the taking of human nature, read on in the Scriptures, and you will find that all agrees most excellently with Christ. Of [Christ] it is thoroughly fitting to think that he established the thunders by his coming, that is, the force and sound of the heavenly Scriptures, by the thunder, as it were, of which our minds are struck with astonishment, so that we learn to be afraid and pay respect to the heavenly oracles.

On the Holy Spirit, Book 2