Jeremiah 10

(Chapter 10, Verse 1) Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the ways of the nations or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity. He specifically speaks against those who worship the celestial bodies and use the signs of the years, seasons, months, and days to determine the fate of humankind and to govern earthly matters based on celestial causes. And what he says: Laws, or legal regulations, of the people are empty, it shows that all human wisdom is futile, and has no usefulness in itself.

(v. 3.) Because it was cut down from the forest, the work of a craftsman with an axe. Description of the idols that the nations worship. He said that he cut down the wood from the forest. Therefore, the material of idols is cheap and perishable: the work of a craftsman's hands. Since the craftsman is mortal, the things he makes are also mortal.

(v. 4.) Decorated with silver and gold, fastened with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved (or moved). He decorated it with silver and gold, to deceive the simple-minded with the splendor of both materials. This error has also passed to us, so that we consider wealth as a religion. He fastened it with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved or moved. The power of these idols, which cannot stand on their own, unless they are fastened together with keys and hammers!

(v. 5.) They are made in the likeness of a palm tree and do not speak: they are carried and brought, because they cannot walk. Therefore, do not fear them, because they cannot do evil, nor can they do good. They are made to resemble a palm tree, adorned with the beauty of metals and the art of painting: but they do not possess utility, by which they provide any benefits to the craftsman. And they cannot speak. For they have no life within them. Of them it is written: They have mouths, but do not speak; they have ears, but do not hear. They will be carried away (Psalm 115:5-6). He is stronger who carries than those who are carried; indeed, in him there is meaning, in this there is form without meaning. Therefore, do not fear them, because they can neither do good nor evil. For, indeed, many of the gentile demons are accustomed to worship, so as not to harm, and to beseech others to bestow blessings: Whence also that saying of Virgil (Aeneid. I):

The dark winter sky, the white sheep with favorable west winds. Whatever we have said about idols, it can be referred to all teachings that are contrary to the truth. For they themselves promise great things and fashion an image of empty worship from their own hearts. They boast of great things and deceive the simple, as if they were dazzling with golden senses and eloquent words, they bind the eyes of the foolish and are exalted by their inventors, in whom there is no usefulness, and whose worship is specific to the nations and those who do not know God.

(Verse 9.) Silver brought from Tarshish is plated (or brought) and gold from Ophaz, the work of an artist and the hand of a craftsman. Hyacinthus and their purple garment: the work of craftsmen (or wise men) all these things. It is brought from Tharsis. Tharsis is either a region of India, as Josephus says, or certainly the entire sea is called Tharsis, and it has a resemblance to the sky; and yet it is wrapped in the artifice of words, or extended. If it wants to deceive, it will not be able to. And gold from Ophaz. Gold is called by seven names among the Hebrews, one of which is called Ophaz, which we can call obryzum, so that it shines on the surface of idols, which internally is wood and of cheap material. They are covered with hyacinth and purple, so that they deceive the eyes with their surface, while promising to themselves the color of the heavens and the kingdoms of the sky; and yet all these things are the work of the wise, who are considered wise in this world; but before God they are foolish.

(Verse 10.) But the Lord God is true: this God is living and everlasting king. The earth will be moved from his indignation, and the nations will not be able to withstand his threat. But our Lord God, the true God, is. Therefore, all those things are lies. And He is the living God: therefore, those things that are feigned are dead. And He is the eternal king. The shadows of heretics prevail for a time, but are corrupted over a long time. The earth will be moved from His indignation: those who engage in earthly works and fashion worldly idols. And the nations will not endure, nor the people of the Lord, but the multitude of nations who are unable to bear the threat of God.

But if heretics deny that either the heavens or the earth were made by you, O Lord, let them take heed of the abyss into which they are hurling themselves by their own madness. The prophet writes, "Perish the gods that have not made heaven and earth." Shall he then perish, O Arian, who had found and saved that which had perished?

Who would doubt that God has made these things, who spoke through the Prophet, saying: 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance, who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who has been his counselor or instructed Him?' (Isaiah 40:12). We also read elsewhere: Because it holds the circuit of the earth and has made the earth as nothing. And Jeremiah says: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. The Lord who made the earth in His power, and established it in His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens, and caused a multitude of waters to be in the heaven (Jeremiah 10:11). And he added: Man is made foolish by his knowledge (ibid., 14). For anyone who follows the corruptible things of the world, and from these things believes that they can grasp the truth of divine nature, how can they not be bewitched by the cunning craftiness of disputation?

In reading what is said in this Psalm of Christ and of the Church, he would find that what is there foretold is fulfilled in the present state of the world. He would see the idols of the nations perishing from off the earth, and he would find that this is predicted by the prophets, as in Jeremiah, "Then shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under heaven;" and again, "O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will at that time cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that I am the Lord." Hearing these prophecies, and seeing their actual fulfillment, I need not say that he would be affected; for we know by experience how the hearts of believers are confirmed by seeing ancient predictions now receiving their accomplishment.

(Verse 11) So you shall say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from those things that are under the heavens. These things must be said about false gods and those that are artificially composed. For they neither made the heavens nor the earth. Those who are co-workers of Christ are called gods: and by the teaching of the Church, they assist greatly in building the house.

Next, he adduces what indeed is the greatest token of divinity; "of Whom are all things." For this implies also that those others are not gods. For it is said, "Let the gods who made not the heaven and the earth perish." Then he subjoins what is not less than this, "and we unto Him." For when he saith, "of Whom are all things," he means the creation and the bringing of things out of nothing into existence. But when he saith, "and we unto Him," he speaks of the word of faith and mutual appropriation, as also he said before, "but of Him are ye also in Christ Jesus."

(Verse 12.) The one who made the earth in his strength, who established the world in his wisdom, and who stretched out the heavens in his understanding. He who makes the earth by His power, He is God the Father. But He also makes by His power the Lord the Savior. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). He Himself is both wisdom and the one by whom the heavens are stretched out. For He Himself spoke and they were made; He Himself commanded and they were created (Psalm 33:9); speaking to the Son: Let us make man in our image, and according to our likeness (Genesis 1:26).

The prophet of God, having taken up as it were three excellences of His—His strength, His wisdom, and His understanding—assigns to each of them a work proper to it: to the strength the earth, to the wisdom the inhabited world, and to the understanding the heaven. For listen to the passage as it says: "The Lord who made the earth in His strength, who set upright the inhabited world in His wisdom, and in His understanding stretched out the heaven." And we too, as regards our earth (for it was said to Adam, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart"), have need of the strength of God, and apart from the power of God we are not able to accomplish these things, all that is not according to "the mind-set of the flesh." And when "the members that are upon the earth" have been put to death, then there will be what is according to the will of the Spirit, since "by the Spirit the deeds of the flesh," according to the apostle, are put to death. "The Lord," then, "who made the earth in His strength." And if you come also to this earth, if you are able to see what is written in Job, as we found in the more accurate copies, that He set it "upon nothing," you will see that by the strength of God it lies at the very midmost point.

I come also to the inhabited world. I know of a soul that is inhabited, I know of a soul that is desolate. For if it does not have God, if it does not have Christ, who said, "I and my Father will come to him, and we will make our abode with him," if a soul does not have the Holy Spirit, it is desolate. But it is inhabited when it has been filled with God, when it has Christ, when the Holy Spirit is in it. And these things are said in the Scriptures in various and diverse ways—that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are in the soul of a human being. David, at any rate, in the psalm of confession, asks the Father concerning these spirits, saying: "With a governing spirit uphold me," "renew an upright spirit in my inward parts," "and take not your Holy Spirit from me." What are these three spirits? The governing one is the Father, the upright one is Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit—these to establish that the inhabited world is inhabited in no other way than in the wisdom of God. For "wisdom will help the wise man more than ten rulers who are in the city." "But he who despises wisdom and instruction is wretched, and his hope is empty, and his labors are unprofitable, and his works are useless," says the Wisdom inscribed to Solomon. On this account, so far as is possible, since the inhabited world is set upright in the wisdom of God, let us ourselves also wish to have our own inhabited world set upright, which has perhaps fallen. For this inhabited world has fallen when we came to the place of affliction; this inhabited world has fallen when "we sinned, we acted impiously, we did wrong," and it needs to be set upright. It is God, then, who has set upright the inhabited world. But if you do not take "who has set upright the inhabited world" in this way, but understanding the inhabited world more commonly, seek from what condition He is the one who set the inhabited world upright, seek the fall of the inhabited world, so that having found its fall you may see its being set upright. If, then, anyone is in this inhabited world, if you understand the inhabited world in that way, before being set upright it had fallen. And if it has fallen, it is clear that it needs to be set upright, but no one who has not fallen needs to be set upright. And if it was set upright, let us see—it is clear that each of those in the inhabited world has fallen from sin. And "the Lord is the one who sets upright those who have been broken down," and "He supports all who are falling," "in Adam all die," and thus the inhabited world has fallen and needs to be set upright, so that "in Christ all" may be made alive. So then I have rendered the matters concerning the inhabited world in two ways, in one place showing with respect to each single person how each soul is either an inhabited world or a desolation, and in another place setting the discourse upon the inhabited world itself.

"And in His understanding He stretched out the heaven." It was not by chance that he took up understanding in connection with the heaven. For you will find it said in the Proverbs: "God in wisdom founded the earth, and He prepared the heavens in understanding." There is, then, a certain understanding of God, which you should not seek except in Christ Jesus. For all such things as are of God, Christ is. He Himself is the wisdom of God, He Himself the power of God, He Himself the righteousness of God, He Himself sanctification, He Himself redemption; thus He Himself is the understanding of God. But the underlying subject is one, and by conceptions the many names apply to different aspects. And you do not conceive the same thing about Christ when you conceive Him as wisdom and when you conceive Him as righteousness. For when you conceive Him as wisdom, you take up the knowledge of things divine and human; and when as righteousness, the power that distributes according to desert in the whole; and when as sanctification, that which brings it about that those who believe and are devoted to God become holy. Thus, then, you will conceive Him also as understanding, when it is the knowledge of goods and evils and things that are neither. Since, then, it is distinguished for those who dwell in heaven or for those who bear the heavenly man, having separated the evils from the goods, so that that heaven may no longer be defiled—because the heaven has been stretched out by the understanding of God—neither the one who is a righteous heaven (and the righteous man too is heaven, as has been said). "And He stretched out the heaven by His understanding."

How, then, is the heaven stretched out? By wisdom stretching it out. And it is made clear that wisdom stretches out in the words "since I stretched out words and you did not attend," and it speaks of there being a certain stretching-out of words; thus the heaven is stretched out. And in the one hundred and third psalm it is said, "who stretches out the heaven like a curtain," and our soul too, previously contracted, is stretched out, so that it may be able to contain the wisdom of God. But let us return to what is before us. We were speaking about the heaven having come to be in understanding. And we say that those who bear the heavenly man are themselves also heaven. For if it is said to the one who sins, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart," would it not be said to the righteous man, whose is the kingdom of the heavens, "Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall depart"? Or rather, on account of the earthy man will it be said to the one who bears "the image of the earthy," "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart," but on account of the heavenly man, when you have borne "the image of the heavenly," it will no longer be fitting to say it—"Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall depart"? Each of us, then, has works heavenly and works earthly. Earthly are the works which bring down to the earth akin to them the one who lays them up as treasure upon the earth and does not lay up treasure in heaven. Again, to the regions akin to the works, those in heaven, they lead up the one who lays up treasure in heaven, the one who has borne "the image of the heavenly," the things done according to virtue.

(Verse 13.) By his voice, he gives a multitude of waters in the sky, and he lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He made lightning for rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. He gives a multitude of waters in the heavens at his voice. For all the doctrine of the Lord flows from the heavens, as David says: You will separate God a voluntary rain for your inheritance, and it was weakened, but you have perfected it. And he raises or brings forth the clouds from the ends of the earth (Psal. 67:10). The clouds, or the clouds by which God commanded that they should not rain a shower upon Israel (Isa. 5), are brought forth from the ends of the earth, of which one cloud spoke: For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as men appointed to death, because we are made a spectacle to this world, and to angels, and to men (1 Cor. 4:9). He made lightning into rain. For when the rain of doctrine comes down from heaven and nourishes the parched hearts of men, then you will find flashes and bright flashes of wisdom. And he brings forth winds from his treasuries; in them are all the treasures of hidden wisdom and knowledge.

"And He brought up clouds from the end of the earth." This saying fell to us recently also in the psalm, and we were saying how God "brought up clouds from the end of the earth." Which things it is necessary to take up again—for those who know, for the clarification and reminder of what has been said, but for those who have forgotten or were not present, for the plain understanding of this, whether it be revealed and made manifest or however it may be understood. And we were saying that the saints are clouds. For the phrase "your truth is unto the clouds" cannot be referred to the lifeless clouds; but the truth of God is unto the clouds, which hear the commandment of God and know where they should send forth rain and from what places they should withhold it. For, as of clouds which exist, to which God gives command not to rain or to rain, it is written, "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." Now in the case of these clouds, when there is no rain, God does not command the clouds not to rain rain upon the vineyard or upon the land, but no cloud appears at all, as is written in the third book of Kingdoms, where, during the time of the drought, no cloud appeared; but when, according to the word of the prophecy of Elijah, the rain was about to come, a trace of a cloud appeared "like the trace of a man," and it became a cloud producing the rain. But as of clouds that do exist, yet are ordered not to rain when the soul happens to be unworthy of the rain, it is said, "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." Therefore each of the saints is a cloud. Moses was a cloud, and as a cloud he said: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my utterance be awaited like rain." If he were not a cloud, he would never have said, "Let my utterance be awaited like rain, and let my words come down like dew." As a cloud he says: "As a shower upon the grass, and as snowfall upon the herbage; because I have called upon the name of the Lord." Thus, as a cloud, Isaiah too says: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, because the Lord has spoken." And since he too was a cloud, and called those who prophesied together with him clouds, he says, prophesying: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it."

And if it has been understood by us who the clouds are, let us see how God is the one who brings up "clouds from the end of the earth." How from "the end of the earth"? The Savior says, "He who wishes to be first among you shall be last of all." Paul kept this commandment, and he was last in this world. Therefore he says: "For I think that God has exhibited us the apostles as last, as men doomed to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men." If, then, anyone keeps the commandment of the Savior and becomes last as regards this life, this man becomes a cloud. And God brings up clouds not from the foremost of the earth, not from men of consular rank does He bring up clouds, not from rulers does He bring up clouds, not from the rich; for "blessed are the poor, because yours is the kingdom of God." Do you see how from the last God brings up and gives bodily form to the clouds? On this account, if we wish to become clouds, upon which the truth of God arrives, let us become last of all and say, in works and in disposition, "For I think that God has exhibited us the apostles as last"; and even if I am not an apostle, it is possible for me to become last, so that God, bringing up clouds from "the end of the earth," may bring me up.

"And He made lightnings into rain." Those skilled in these matters say that the generation of lightnings comes from the clouds rubbing against one another. For what happens with the fire-striking stones on the earth, so that when two stones strike together fire is produced, this they say happens also in the case of the clouds. When the clouds strike together during storms, the lightning is produced. Therefore, for the most part, the lightning occurs together with thunder, the thunder manifesting the sound of the collision of the clouds, and the lightning generating the light.

If you have understood the illustration, look with me also at the spiritual cloud. Moses was a cloud, Jesus the son of Nave was a cloud. These, indeed, converse with one another, and from their words lightning is produced. Jeremiah was a cloud, Baruch was a cloud. They discourse with one another, the lightning came from the words of Jeremiah and the words of Baruch. Thus, if you can, gather from the Scriptures in what manner the lightning comes. And in the new covenant Paul and Silvanus were two clouds. They came together, the lightning of the epistle came to be.

God, then, "made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries." Are, then, these winds in treasuries? Or is not their nature apparent, when they blow upon the earth, in what manner it subsists? But there are certain treasuries of winds, treasuries of spirits: "a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and piety," "a spirit of the fear of God," "a spirit of power and love and self-control." And you yourself can gather these winds from the Scriptures. These spirits are in treasuries; who are the treasuries? "In whom are the treasuries of wisdom and knowledge hidden"? These treasuries are in Christ. From there, then, come these winds, these spirits, so that one may be wise, another faithful, another may have knowledge, and another may have taken up whatever gift of God: "for to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit."

"He brought up," then, "clouds from the end of the earth, and made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries." And we too, on account of God, hope to arrive at these treasuries. And since there are many treasuries, perhaps according to the ranks of those who are raised up there will be places of rest in the treasuries of God. What I mean is such as this. The resurrection of the dead comes about in certain ranks; for the apostle says, "but each in his own rank." And since the ranks are not jumbled together as it may chance, this rank will be in a certain treasury of God, and that rank in another treasury of God, and a third, another rank, will be in yet another treasury. All these treasuries, however, have one treasury, in which they dwell. Therefore it is said in Paul: "in whom are the treasuries both of wisdom and of knowledge hidden." And just as I acquire the "one precious pearl" through the many pearls, so I come to the treasury of the treasuries, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, when I have become worthy of the spirits from the treasuries of God; for "He brought forth winds from His treasuries."

But haply for a time as the false gods. For because they can be called gods, but cannot be so, for a time they are even called so. For what saith the Prophet, or what warneth He to be said to them? This shall ye say to them, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from those that are under the heavens." He is not such a god: for our God is above all gods. Above all what gods? "For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." The same then is our God. "This is God, even our God."

He said, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." He said not, The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the heaven and from the earth; because they never were in heaven: but what did he say? "Let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." As if, while the word earth was repeated, the repetition of the word heaven were wanting (because they never were in heaven): he repeateth the earth twice, since it is under heaven. "Let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven," from their temples. Consider if this be not now taking place; if in a great measure it hath not already happened: for what, or how much, hath remained? The idols remained rather in the hearts of the pagans, than in the niches of the temples.

In the second word: You shall not make a graven image, all false and superstitious inventions of errors are prohibited. Every error is nothing other than a fiction of the mind. For imagination produces error by clouding reason and making what is not appear to be. All false and superstitious inventions of errors arise either from the wicked audacity of philosophical investigation, or from a perverse understanding of Sacred Scripture, or from a disordered affection of human carnality. Concerning such men, however, who devise, or defend, or imitate these or similar errors, Jeremiah says: Every man has become foolish by his own knowledge, that is, by his own investigation and excessive philosophy; every craftsman has been confounded by his graven image: their works are vain and worthy of ridicule, and in the time of their visitation they shall perish. We must therefore stand upon what the lights of faith dictate, and whatever is opposed to this, we ought to abominate entirely as a graven image.

The first brightness, namely that of philosophical knowledge, is great according to the opinion of worldly men: but it is easily eclipsed, unless a man guards himself from the head and tail of the dragon. If anything is interposed between him and the sun of justice, he suffers an eclipse of foolishness. "Every man is made foolish by his knowledge," namely occasioned by it, not caused by it. He who trusts in philosophical knowledge and esteems himself on account of this and believes himself to be better, has been made foolish—namely, when through this knowledge without any further light he believes himself to apprehend the Creator: just as if a man should wish to see the heavens or the body of the sun by candlelight.

The psalmist writes, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain unto it." In another: "When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end." And later in the same psalm, "I was as a beast before you; nevertheless I am continually with you." And Jeremiah says, "Every person is become brutish and without knowledge."

(Verse 14.) Every man has become foolish because of his knowledge; every artisan is put to shame by his idols. For what he has made is false and there is no spirit in them. All men have become fools because of knowledge. Though that Paul, though Peter, though Moses, and Abraham may be wise, in comparison to God, all their wisdom will be considered as nothing: hence, even the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Every artist who sculpted images without a heart is confused and what he created is false. But if every person is ignorant of knowledge, everything false that he made is foolish. And there is no spirit in them. It should be noted that in this chapter, wind and spirit are called by one name among the Hebrews, Rûaḥ (); but he calls it the Spirit of sanctification, which cannot be found in the minds of heretics.

"Every man was made foolish from knowledge." If every man was made foolish from knowledge, and Paul too is a man, Paul was made foolish from knowledge; for "knowing in part and prophesying in part," he was made foolish from knowledge; "seeing through a mirror," seeing in an enigma, seeing and grasping a small fraction, and, if one may say so, an infinitesimal fraction of things. But you will understand from the contrary "every man was made foolish from knowledge." There are sins of Jerusalem, and sins also of Sodom, but by comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness; for it says, "Sodom was justified from you." As, then, the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, yet as compared with the greater injustice it is righteousness, so, from the contrary, knowledge—the knowledge that belongs to Paul—as compared with that knowledge which is in the heavens, as compared with the perfect knowledge, is foolishness. On this account "every man was made foolish from knowledge." Some such thing, I think, Ecclesiastes was grasping when he said: "I said, I will become wise; and it withdrew from me, far beyond what it was, and a deep depth—who will find it?"

The discourse is about to venture something and to say that the one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, so that by his emptying the world might be filled. And if that one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, that very emptying was wisdom. "For the foolish thing of God is wiser than men." If I had said, "the foolish thing of God," how would the fault-finders have accused me? How would they have blamed me? How would I have been charged—while the other things said, which are reckoned even by them to be noble, were approved, but this, as they suppose, not being nobly said—because I said "the foolish thing of God"? But now Paul, as one who is wise and has apostolic authority, dared to say that all the wisdom upon earth, both that in himself and that in Peter and the apostles, all that has come to sojourn in the world, is "the foolish thing of God." For as compared with that wisdom which no place upon earth can contain, as compared with that supra-celestial wisdom, this thing that has come to sojourn is the foolish thing of God. But this "foolish thing of God is wiser than men." Than which men? I do not mean than the foolish, but it is wiser even than the wise men. And even if you name the wise men of this age, whether rulers or prophets, than the rulers of this age "the foolish thing of God," which I have expounded, "is wiser than men."

The discourse is about to say something paradoxical, that "the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God," and "God made foolish the wisdom of the world." Did He, then, in wisdom make foolish the wisdom of the world? And can the wisdom of the world contain the wisdom, so as to be proved foolish? For does the wisdom of God contend against the wisdom of the world, in order to be tested against it? But there is need of some little thing, which is the little foolish thing of God, so that by this small foolish thing of God the wisdom of the world may be made foolish and refuted; for the wisdom of this world did not endure the wisdom of God. As, for example—so that you may understand that "the foolish thing of God" "made foolish the wisdom of the world"—let it be granted that I am contending, I who seem to know many things and more, against someone senseless and uninstructed and understanding nothing and not contending on behalf of noble words of any sort whatever. Do I, then, have need of dialectic against that man, or of deeper speculations, if his notions are foolish? Do I not have need of one little word slightly sharper than his diction, so that I may be able to refute his foolishness? Thus, in order that the wisdom of this world may be made foolish, there is no need of the wisdom of God contending against it (for it itself is below), but the foolish thing of God suffices, since "the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men." And my Savior and Lord took up all the contrary things, so that by the contraries he might dissolve the contraries, and that we might be made strong from the weakness of Jesus and made wise from the foolish thing of God, and, being introduced through these things, might be able to ascend to the wisdom, to the strength of God, Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.

(Verse 15.) They are worthless and fit only for ridicule. They will perish at the time of their visitation. They are vain and worthy of laughter. For who would not laugh when they see the images of heretics? Either they are rustic and wooden, or they are composed in beautiful language and contain silver, or they are admittedly simulated with their own sense and falsely promise the image of gold. In the time of their visitation, they will perish. Heresy is valuable for a time, so that the chosen ones may be made manifest and proven. But when the visitation of God comes and His foolish eye sees everything, all things fall silent (I Cor. XI).

(Verse 16.) It is not like these, the portion of Jacob. For He who formed all things, He is, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name. There is no one like these people of Jacob: those who have supplanted the Jews and destroy heretics every day. But the part of God is the Saints: of whom the prophet says: My part, O Lord. For he who formed all things, he is (Psalm 72:26): who made and fashioned all things, both in spirit and in body. And Israel is the rod of his inheritance. Whoever is upright in God or perceives God with understanding, is the scepter of his inheritance. Whose name is the Lord Almighty, or of Hosts, for this means the Lord of Hosts, which is written in Hebrew as the Lord Sabaoth.

(Vers. 17, 18.) Gather from the land your confusion, you who dwell in siege; for thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast far away the inhabitants of the earth this time, and I will afflict them that they may be found. LXX: It has gathered from outside its substance, which dwells in the fortified place. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will overthrow the inhabitants of this land, and I will afflict them, that they may be found. Jerusalem is commanded to gather whatever substance it has outside into the heavily fortified city, and to prepare provisions for a long siege. For never in the past has it been threatened about the future and long time, but now about the imminent captivity, which is soon to come. Gather, he says, both from outside and from the land, that is, from your fields, your possessions or confusion. For whatever you have, it is worthy of confusion: which, although you may prepare these things, learn the words of the Lord about them. Behold, in this case, at this time, I will cast, or rather throw far away the inhabitants of this land like a sling: for which the Seventy translated 'I will supplant' and 'I will make them fall.' For the Hebrew word Colea (), Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it as σφενδονήσω. And the meaning is: I will cast like a sling with all my might, and thus I will besiege them: and I will distress and constrain them, so that all may be found in the city, and they may not be able to escape the disaster.

(Verse 19.) Woe is me for my brokenness, my grievous wound. LXX: Woe is you for your brokenness, your grievous wound. According to the Hebrew text, Jerusalem itself speaks, expressing that it has been heavily afflicted and endures an incurable wound. However, according to the LXX, it is the Prophet who speaks to Jerusalem and laments over its brokenness and its wound.

But I say, truly this is my weakness (or my wound), and I will bear it (or it seizes me). Jerusalem itself speaks: whatever I suffer, I suffer by my own fault: I understand my wound which seizes me, or I will endure the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him.

(Verse 20.) My tent has been devastated, all my ropes have been torn (or all my skins have been ripped), my sons have left me (or my sheep), and there is no one left ((Alternatively: remaining)): there is no one to extend my tent any further (or there is no place beyond my tent) and to set up my skins. Jerusalem laments the ease with which its city is overthrown, not by walls and fortifications completely destroyed, but by the removal of tents and tabernacles. The tabernacle, he says, that is, my dwelling, was suddenly taken away. All my cords were broken. He preserves the metaphor of the tabernacle, that is, all my coverings were torn. My sons have left me, that is, my livestock, which is added by the Septuagint, does not fit the story. For in a long siege, how could sheep and livestock be taken away from Jerusalem, which even if they had been there, would have been consumed by famine? And they do not remain, that is, they are not. For they have not been translated into Chaldean, but a great part of them has been completely destroyed and wiped out. There is no one to extend my tent anymore: there is no one to restore me and lay the foundations of my walls, which have been laid down to the ground.

The Lord protested against their wickedness through the voice of the prophet, saying, "Alas for the shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my inheritance," and again, "The shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore did none of the flock understand and were scattered." Such, then, was their state. But we are under the rule of the chief Shepherd of all, even Christ, by whom and with whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

(Verse 21.) Because the shepherds acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord: therefore, they did not understand, and the whole flock was scattered. Through the fault and dispersal of the shepherds and sheep, the culpability and scattering of the people is described. For the princes acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, whom they should have sought with their whole heart: therefore, they did not see the coming evils, or did not understand the Lord, and the whole multitude of Jerusalem was scattered here and there.

He refers to the kings and priests as [stupid] shepherds because they were the guardians of this wandering people.

(Verse 22) A voice of the cry, behold it comes, and a great commotion from the land of the North: to make the cities of Judah desolate, a habitation of dragons (or a den of ostriches). And as Symmachus has interpreted, of sirens: for which in Hebrew, Thannim () is put. The words of the prophet: Behold, he says, the noise and the tumult of the Babylonian coming is heard, and great commotion, or earthquake, from the land of the North: to reduce all the cities of Judah, with the inhabitants being killed, into desolation, and to make dragons dwell instead of men, and all venomous creatures, or ostriches, which animal itself is familiar with desolation and is born and nurtured in the wilderness. Certainly, we can understand certain sirens, monsters, and phantoms of demons. All of these things that both past and present speech have described, let us refer them to times of persecution of the Church, when the tabernacles of the Lord are overthrown, and all the dwelling of the Church is reduced to solitude. And in order for all these things to happen, it is the fault of the shepherds, who acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, nor understand Him, and therefore the whole flock is scattered.

(Verse 23) I know, Lord, that it is not in man to direct his own steps: nor is it in man, to walk and guide his own footsteps. Let the new preachers be ashamed, who say that each one is ruled by his own will, when even the Prophet says: It is not in man to direct his own steps (Psalm 36:23). And let David sing in his lyric song: The steps of man are directed by the Lord, and his way he greatly desires. Whether this is referring to what we suffer from the Babylonians, it is not due to their strength, but to our own merit and your indignation.

"All are governed by their own free choice." What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many, but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? How do you explain the proverb that "A person's goings are ordered by the Lord?" Or "A person's way is not in himself"? Or "No one can receive anything, unless it be given him from above"? And elsewhere, "What do you have that you did not receive?"

The saints have never claimed that their own efforts would have enabled them to find their way along the road they were traveling to perfect virtue. Rather, they sought it from the Lord, praying, "Direct me in your truth" and "direct the road I take in your sight." And someone else asserts that he grasped this not only through faith but also through direct experience of how things are: "I learned, Lord, that a person is no master of the road he takes, nor is it in man's power as he goes his way to control his steps." The Lord had this to say to Israel: "I will lead him on, like a greening fir tree, and the fruit you bear comes from me."

Unless God works in us, we cannot be partakers of any virtue. For indeed, without this Good, nothing is good. Without this Light, nothing is bright. Without this Wisdom, nothing is wise. Without this Justice, nothing is right. For the Lord says through the mouth of Isaiah, "I am, I am the Lord, and there is no one besides me who saves," and through Jeremiah, "I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not in him. Neither is it in a person to direct his way."

Jeremiah, explaining that humankind receives wisdom from God, states, "I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not his. Neither is it of a person … to direct his way." Again the Lord proclaims through the same prophet that God effects the conversion of a heart to him and says, "I will bring them again into this land. And I will build them up again and not pull them down. And I will plant them and pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people and I will be their God, because they shall return to me with whole heart."

It is clear, therefore, from what was said at first and what was added, that the verse "I know, Lord, that the people's way is not their own," neither subjects our free will to nature's enslavement nor submits our affairs to an ordained necessity. Instead, it expressly teaches us that the Lord God keeps his hand on the tiller of the universe and wisely directs it. He provides blessings but also corrects with justice whenever he perceives that despite his extended long-suffering we persist in evildoing.

(Verse 24, 25.) Rebuke me, O Lord, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your indignation on the nations that do not know you, and on the provinces (or generations) that have not invoked your name, for they have devoured Jacob and consumed his dwelling place, and they have scattered (or reduced to desolation) his glory (or pasture). We also read this passage in the psalm: O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your wrath (Psalm 6:1; 38:1). And the meaning is this: We indeed deserve all that we endure, and we deserve much greater things than what we suffer. Nevertheless, I beseech you, that you may correct me as a father, not as an adversary: that you may correct me as a son, and not punish me as an enemy (Hebrews 12); for you discipline every son whom you receive, and you correct Jerusalem through every pain and scourge. However, the enemies who do not know you, and the provinces or regions who have not invoked your name, should not feel your judgment, but rather your displeasure (Psalm 88). For you have handed us over to be corrected. But they have made their yoke heavier: they have not spared the elderly, and they have afflicted the little ones: they have eaten us up and completely devoured us, and they have reduced Jerusalem to such desolation that they have plundered both public and private buildings and killed your people.

The inspired author knows the usefulness of discipline and understands that the Lord is exercising loving-kindness in applying it to human beings. This is the reason he asks to have a share in it. God exercises goodness in applying correction, and correction produces knowledge. Likewise the prophet Jeremiah begs, "Correct us, O Lord, but in just measure, not in anger, lest you make us few." Thus, a sick person who longs for health goes in search of a cure through cutting by steel and burning.