Jeremiah 23

1–4

(Chapter 23, Verse 1 and following) Woe to the shepherds who scatter and tear apart the flock of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel to the shepherds who feed my people: You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to the evil of your doings, says the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture (or I will restore them to their pastures), and they shall increase and multiply. And I will raise up shepherds over them, and they shall feed them. They shall not fear anymore, nor be terrified, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. The prophetic discourse is directed to the shepherds, or concerning the shepherds. And because we read in the writing about Jechoniah, the second-to-last king of Judah, who was of the lineage of David: 'Earth, earth, earth, hear the words of the Lord, write down this man as childless, as a man who will not have any descendants to sit on the throne of David' (Jeremiah 22:29-30), all hope of the kingdom of Judah had been cut off: it passes on to the leaders of the Church, and the Synagogue is abandoned and condemned with its shepherds, the discourse is directed to the Apostles, of whom it is said: 'And I will raise up shepherds over them, and they shall feed them, they shall not fear anymore, nor be terrified, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord' (Ezekiel 34:24). For the apostles, with confidence and without any fear, will feed the Church's flock, and the remnant of the people of Israel will be saved from all lands and will return to their fields or pastures, and they will grow and multiply. But the Lord will visit the wicked shepherds, the scribes and Pharisees, because of the malice of their studies. And we can understand this in a tropological sense, and apply it to the leaders of the Church, who do not govern the Lord's sheep worthily. In this way, the people who have been rejected and condemned are saved, while those who are deserving will remain and be saved. The shepherds who teach heresy destroy the sheep. Those who create schisms tear apart and scatter. They cast them out, those who separate from the Church against justice. Those who withhold their hand from the repentant do not visit. The Lord will have mercy on all of them, restoring them to their former pastures and removing the wicked shepherds.

Commentary on Jeremiah

5–6

(Vers. 5, 6.) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch (or a righteous king); and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness. In Hebrew, it is called Sadecenu. This which is wrongly added in the Septuagint, in the Prophets, must be completely cut off. For another chapter follows, which they have omitted, after which there is the title 'to the Prophets' or 'against the Prophets', about which we will speak in its proper place. Therefore, after casting off the shepherds of the synagogue, namely the Scribes and Pharisees, and saving the remnants of Israel, and establishing the Apostles of the Gospel in place of the former leaders, the shepherd of shepherds is introduced, and the prince of princes, and the king of kings, and the Lord of lords, namely Christ our Savior, who is properly the righteous branch, or the righteous Rising Sun, about whom we read: 'In his days shall justice spring up' (Psalm 71:7). And in another place: Behold the man, his name is Oriens (Zach. VI, 12), and under him it will rise, and he will build a temple to the Lord: just as in Isaiah he is called Emmanuel, which means, God is with us (Isai. VII, 14): so in Jeremiah he will receive the name of our righteousness. Therefore the apostle also speaks: He who became wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (I Cor. I, 30). Against him is the Antichrist, and his inhabitant the devil, called the foolish shepherd in Zechariah (Zach. XI). And he will execute judgment and justice on the earth, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). In those days, the twelve tribes of Judah and Israel will be saved together. And of the two sticks, according to Ezekiel, one stick will be made (Ezekiel 37). And his name, if according to the Septuagint, the Lord will call him Josedech, which means the Lord is righteous; if according to the Hebrew, those who say his name will call him, it will be said, the Lord is our righteousness. For this signifies Adonai Sadecenu (), for which Symmachus translates, Lord, justify us.

Commentary on Jeremiah

5–6

These things were fulfilled according to the type in the case of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak. However, this prophecy was not altogether fulfilled, for many would rise up against them—not only their neighbors but also later on the Macedonians and finally the Romans. But the prophecy proclaims the everlasting nature of grace. Therefore, it is clear that these things were not fulfilled during their lifetimes but during the lifetimes of the apostles, for they alone had the gift of the Holy Spirit.… The Jews shamelessly endeavor to apply this to Zerubbabel. But they need to understand that he was no king—just a popular leader—and he was not called Jozadak. Neither is the meaning of the name appropriate to him, the word meaning “the Lord our righteousness” or, in the Syriac rendering, “Lord, make us righteous”—neither of which applies to Zerubbabel. Since, however, he was a type of Christ the Lord and brought back the captives from Babylon to Judah, just as the Lord transferred those enslaved by the devil to truth, anyone applying this to him in the manner of a type would do nothing beyond reason. It is necessary that we understand, however, that it is the Lord Jesus Christ, a descendant of David according to the flesh, who is proclaimed by the prophets as “the righteous dawn,” “the righteous king” and “the Lord of righteousness.”

On Jeremiah 5:23.5-6

5–6

There was only one remedy in the secret of the divine plan that could help the fallen living in the general ruin of the entire human race. This remedy was that one of the sons of Adam should be born free and innocent of original transgression, to prevail for the rest by his example and by his merits. This was not permitted by natural generation. There could be no clean offspring from our faulty stock by this seed. The Scripture says, “Who can make a clean thing conceived of an unclean seed? Isn’t it you alone?” David’s Lord was made David’s Son, and from the fruit of the promised branch sprang. He is one without fault, the twofold nature coming together into one person. By this one and the same conception and birth sprung our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom was present both true Godhead for the performance of mighty works and true manhood for the endurance of sufferings.

Sermon 28:3

7–8

The church is the seed of Abraham. Jeremiah says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘The Lord lives, who led the children of Israel from the north country and from every region where they had been driven.’ He will restore them to their own land which he gave to their ancestors,” so that we may know that he who “raises up from the stones children to Abraham” in the New Testament is he who will gather, according to the Old Testament, those who will be saved from all the nations.

Against Heresies 5:34.1

7–8

(Vers. 7, 8.) Because of this, behold, days are coming, says the Lord. And they shall no longer say, As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt; but they shall say, As the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall live on their own soil. This entire chapter is not found in the Septuagint. The meaning here is that the people of God will not be delivered from Egypt by Moses, but by Jesus Christ from all the corners of the earth, to which they had been dispersed. What is now being completed in the world in part will be completed in its entirety when those from the East and the West, the North and the South come and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 8). So that after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved (Romans 11).

To the Prophets (or in the Prophets, or against the Prophets). This designation, as we have said above, is placed at the end of the previous chapter in the Septuagint edition, where we read the following script: and this is the name by which the Lord will call him Josedech, in the Prophets. Many ignorant people, not knowing this, invent various delusions of explanation. And it would have been much better to simply confess their ignorance than to make others heirs to their incompetence. But this is a discourse against the prophets, rather, the false prophets of Jerusalem and Samaria, whom he now calls collectively and commonly Prophets, concerning whom it is written in the following passages: And in the prophets of Samaria I saw wickedness; and immediately after: And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw horrible things. However, when he uses the conjunction 'and', he shows that the previous statements were said by the Lord concerning the prophets themselves, who also turned out to be like false prophets.

Commentary on Jeremiah

(Verse 9) My heart is broken within me (or within myself), all my bones tremble (or are trembling); I have become like a drunken man, like a man drenched (or overwhelmed) with wine, before the face of the Lord, and before the face of His holy words (or and before the face of the beauty of His glory). When contemplating the countenance of the almighty God, that is, the Father, and when contemplating the countenance of the Son, who according to the Apostle is called the brightness of His glory, and the very image of His substance (Hebrews 1), the Prophet is filled with dread in both mind and body, and understands that he is nothing, as it is also said in another place: "I have become like a beast before you" (Psalm 73:22). Whether it offers to God a victim of conscience and humility, according to that which is read in the Psalms: A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 50:19). But let us understand that the shaking or movement of the bones is spoken of, of which the same David sings: All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? (Psalm 34:10) He was made like a drunken man, and like a wet person: having no understanding, nor sapience. For the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain (Psalm 93:11) . But if this is so, where are those who preach perfect justice in man? And if they respond that they say this about the saints, not about themselves, certainly I believe there is no one holier than Jeremiah, who is a virgin, a Prophet, and sanctified in the womb, his very name foreshadowing the Lord Savior. For Jeremiah means 'exalted of the Lord.'

Commentary on Jeremiah

(Verse 10) Because the earth is filled with adulterers (or adulteresses), because the face of the earth mourns because of a curse (or oath), the fields (or pastures) of the desert are dried up, and their course is evil, and their strength is dissimilar. This that we have put from Hebrew: because the earth is filled with adulterers, is not found in the Septuagint, who have spoken an oath, instead of a curse. And they give the reasons, that because of adulteries and curses, or excessive oath, or rather perjuries, there has been a result of the sterility of crops. Whatever you understand from the land of Judaea according to the written word, report it to the congregation of believers, because due to adultery, lies, or perjury, the churches are barren of the virtues and gifts of God.

Commentary on Jeremiah

11–12

(Vers. 11, 12.) For the prophet and the priest have become polluted, and in my house I have found their evils," says the Lord. "Therefore, their way will be like a slippery path in the darkness. They will be pushed and fall in it, for I will bring upon them the year of their visitation," says the Lord. "When evils are found in the Church of God, especially in its leaders, let us know that the prophecy and the priesthood have become polluted. In my house I have found their evils," says the Lord. But the house of Christ is the Church, of which the Apostle writes to Timothy: That you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. III, 15). In the prophet, receive a teacher; in the priest, the dignity of the ministry. If they consent with a perverse mind, their way will be slippery and dark; and they will not have the Lord speaking to them: I am the light of the world; he who believes in me shall not remain in darkness (John XII, 46). Where the Saint says, fleeing all darkness: Signet is upon us the light of your face, O Lord; you have given joy in my heart. But when they are in darkness and on a slippery path, namely the path of heresy, they will be driven to every movement and will fall. And the Lord brings evils upon them, not because evils are theirs, so that the Lord may bring evils, but evils are for those who endure punishment. Otherwise, the same things are both evil and good. Evil, according to those who are tormented; good, according to those who are corrected. And this must be noted, that the year of the Lord's visitation, the correction of sinners is called and the torment, according to that which is written: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes: but my mercy I will not scatter away from him (Psalm 88:33-34).

Commentary on Jeremiah

As children of light and truth, flee from division and wicked doctrines. Where the shepherd is, there you follow as sheep. For there are many wolves that appear trustworthy, who, by means of a pernicious pleasure, carry captive those that are running toward God, but they shall have no place in your unity. So, as children of light and truth, avoid the dividing your unity and the wicked doctrine of the heretics, from whom “a defiling influence has gone forth into all the earth.”

Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians

Let their way become dark and slippery, and let the angel of the Lord pursue them. He demanded that the situation of sinners be wholly arduous, so that their way, which seems to them clear and firm as they linger pleasurably on it, may become dark and slippery so that they cannot stand on it any longer. As the prophet Jeremiah says, “Therefore their way has become slippery in the dark. They shall be thrown down and fall on it.” But if they decide to linger further in their evil ways, he asks that the Lord’s power pursue them, so that he may not cause them to cling to their sins as they hasten to aspire after their own destruction. What a blessed proliferation of so many obstacles! How vehement is the prayer in this verse that the most salutary opposition is afforded them!

Explanation of the Psalms 6

(Verse 13) And in the prophets of Samaria I saw foolishness (or wickedness (Vulgate: foolishness))); they prophesied in Baal and deceived my people Israel. I think that the prophets of Samaria, according to mystical understanding, are properly called heretics, and all who boast of false knowledge. However, just as the prophets of Samaria prophesied in Baal, that is, an idol consecrated to demons, so heretics speak whatever they say in the Church or outside the Church, in order to deceive the people of Israel, who previously beheld God, they speak in demons. And significantly it says: And I have seen foolishness in the Prophets of Samaria (I Cor. I, 24): for they do not possess him of whom it is said, the power of God and the wisdom of God, Christ.

Commentary on Jeremiah

(Verse 14.) And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a likeness (or dreadful things), adultery and the path of lies, and they strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that each one would not turn away from their evil ways. They have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. Not only, he says, are these things found in the assemblies of heretics, but also in the prophets of Jerusalem, that is, the teachers of the Church, I saw similar things, or dreadful things, the adulterating of the word of God and the walking in the way of lies, so that they might acquiesce in the deceits of heretics and strengthen the hands of the wicked, adding their evils to their own sins, and leading those whom they should have corrected to destruction. Let those who have done this not consider themselves unpunished. For they and those who support them will be like Sodom, and all those who dwell with them will not depart from such evil, like Gomorrah. Therefore, let the worst doctrine rejoice as much as it wants, and let the prophets of Jerusalem boast that they have obtained through lies and strengthened the hands of the wicked. Their end will be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Commentary on Jeremiah

(Verse 15.) Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood (or sorrow, and according to Symmachus, bitterness) and give them gall to drink (or bitter water), because from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone out into all the land. Let us use this testimony against those who disseminate letters full of lies, deceit, and perjury throughout the world, so that they may defile the ears of those who hear them and harm the reputation of the innocent. Thus, may what is written be fulfilled in them: Pollution has gone out from the prophets of Jerusalem to all the land. For it is not enough for them to devour their own iniquity and harm their neighbors, but they strive to defame those whom they once hated throughout the world, and spread blasphemies everywhere.

Commentary on Jeremiah

16–17

The Lord cries out and says, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who invent a vain vision for themselves, which they speak as false prophets from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to them that reject the words of the Lord, “Peace shall be yours.” They who themselves have neither peace nor the church are now offering peace; they who have withdrawn from the church are permitting the bringing back and recalling of the lapsed. God is one, and Christ, one, and the church, one, and the chair established on Peter by the voice of the Lord, one. Another altar cannot be set up or a new priesthood be made contrary to the one altar and the one priesthood.

Epistle XXXIX:5

16–17

Against such people as these the Lord cries out, from these he reins in and recalls his erring people, saying, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who invent a vain vision for themselves, which they speak as false prophets from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those who reject the words of the Lord, ‘Peace shall be yours’ and to all who walk according to their own desires, to everyone who walks in the error of his heart, they have said, ‘No evil shall come on you.’ ”

Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church 11

16–17

(Verse 16, 17.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, and deceive you. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those who despise me (or reject my word), the Lord has spoken, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. So that the people may not think they are innocent if they follow the wicked teachers, do not listen, he says, to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you deceit, and deceive you. For there will be punishment for both the master and the disciple. They do not speak from the Lord's mouth, but rather things they have concocted in their own hearts. They say to those who blaspheme against me, namely heretics and perverted individuals, or those who reject my message: what do they say? The Lord has spoken, there will be peace for you. Do not fear harsh punishments, nor be frightened by empty threats. There will be peace and tranquility for you, and whatever we say and announce to you, the Lord has spoken; nor will any evil come upon you that you fear out of a guilty conscience; but rather the good that the Lord has spoken to you will come.

Who indeed was present in the counsel of the Lord, and saw, and heard His word? Who considered His word, and heard it? Where we have interpreted, in the counsel, and in Hebrew it is written Basod (): Aquila, secretum: Symmachus, sermonem: Septuagint and Theodotion, substance or essence. And the sense is: Do not believe, O uninformed crowd, the false prophets who announce to you, saying, 'The Lord has spoken this, peace will be upon you; no evil will come upon you.' For where can the secrets of God be known, or by whom have we learned the counsel of God? How does the word of divine arrangement reach them? Some of our people think they have found this place, where the substance of God is described.

Commentary on Jeremiah

I know other persons, however, whom an abysmal lack of wisdom and prudence so deceives and tricks that they think that the faith that they pretend to have will help them before God without the works of justice. They commit abominable crimes without fear by reason of this kind of error, while they believe that God is the avenger not of crimes but of lack of faith. Not only are they willing thus to ruin themselves, but also they strive by their snares to trap others in whom there is not light of divine knowledge. Do not listen to the words of the prophets who invent a vain vision for themselves, which they speak as false prophets from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those that reject the words of the Lord, "Peace shall be yours," and to all who walk according to their own desires, to everyone who walks in the error of his heart, they have said, "No evil shall come on you."

The Christian Life 13

The guilt decreed against the wicked heretics is inevitable. They reject the words of the holy apostles and evangelists and pervert them to that meaning that seems to them to be right without due examination. They fall from the straight way and wander from the doctrines of piety, deceiving and being deceived. For while, so to speak, they have bidden farewell to the sacred Scriptures, they speak from their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord, as Scripture says. Even though the blessed Evangelist John wrote to us, that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, they drag to the exact opposite both the tenet concerning him and the quotation that proves it, saying that the only-begotten Word of God was not in the beginning, nor true God, and he was not even with God, that is in union with him by nature; God, who has no body, cannot be imagined to be confined to in any one place.

Commentary on Luke, Homily 63

God gives the promise, "I will deliver them from the hand of the grave, and from death I will redeem them." So the blessed prophets are in harmony with the decrees from on high. They speak to us not of their own heart or of the will of people but from the mouth of God, as it is written. It is the Holy Spirit speaking within them that declares in every matter what is the sentence of God and his almighty and unalterable will. The prophet Isaiah has said to us, "Your dead shall arise. Those in the graves shall be raised. They who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from you is healing to them." And by the dew I imagine he means the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, and that influence that abolishes death as being that of God and of life.

Commentary on Luke, Homily 136

19–20

(Verse 19, 20.) Behold, a whirlwind (or a storm, and commotion) of the Lord's indignation will go forth, and a bursting storm will come upon the head of the wicked, and the Lord's fury will not turn back until He has done, and until He has fulfilled the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days, you will understand His plan. Those who previously said, 'The Lord has spoken to us, there will be peace for you,' and those whom He corrected because they could not know the future or understand God's judgment, now He reveals the opposite, that they do not know at all. For the sake of peace and security, the storm will come to Babylon, and it will not come upon just anyone, but upon the heads of the wicked, whether the entire people or those who falsely reported to the people. Not like in past times when God's anger and fury were appeased, but what he foretold and threatened many times must be fulfilled by action, and the thoughts and intentions of the wicked must be proven by punishments. When, he says, the end of captivity comes and the triumphant conqueror takes hold of you, and the hands bind you with the clanking of chains, then you will understand his plan, which you now boast of knowing in vain.

Commentary on Jeremiah

It is the custom in Scripture, after what is bitter, to say kind things for encouragement, and after what is good to say more bitter words. Scripture does this in order that, when they have disdained the wealth of the goodness of God, they may not store up for themselves anger in a day of anger. Hence God said, “If anger comes, it will not withdraw unless God has accomplished what he wants.” And if God wants, anger also occurs, in order that what God wants does occur. For if anyone does not want to be in the will of the Word of God, the anger is unleashed on him. Thus let us not show a need for an anger or wrath that disciplines.

Fragments on Jeremiah 52

21–22

(Verses 21, 22). I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in my council and had made my words known to my people, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their actions. This sentiment is explained by the Apostle to the Romans: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. (Rom. 1:28, 29), and so on. For when false teachers have once surrendered themselves to lies and perjuries and the deaths of the deceived, they do not run slowly, nor with careful steps, but headlong into destruction, both their own and those whom they have deceived. The Lord does not speak to them, but they themselves speak as if from the mouth of the Lord, concerning whom it is also said: If they had stood in my counsel, that is, if they had been willing to acquiesce to my will, and had made my words known to my people, not flattering them and corrupting them with flattery, so that they would say, you have no sins; you possess perfect justice; holiness and chastity and righteousness are found only in you: and I would not have given them over to uncleanness and shame, to do what is not fitting, and to follow their wicked thoughts. Let us consider the heretics, how once despairing of salvation, they surrender themselves to gluttony and pleasures, feast on meats, frequently visit baths, smell of perfume; being adorned with various ointments, they seek bodily beauty. For they do not hope for things to come, nor do they believe in the resurrection. Although they do not speak of these things in words, they show them in their actions. For if they believed, they would not do such things. And in this passage where it is written: if they had stood in my counsel, let Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotio, and the Seventy, likewise translated it above.

Commentary on Jeremiah

We must, however, examine such things carefully. For there assuredly are people who have not been counted worthy of Christ's grace but make the reputation of being saints and honorable an opportunity for gain. Of such one may say that they are bold and shameless hypocrites, who seize honors for themselves, even though God has not called them to it. They praise themselves and imitate the bold doings of the false prophets of old, of whom God said, "I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." And so, too, may he say of these, "I have not sanctified them, but they falsely assume the gift for themselves. They have not been counted worthy of my grace, but they wickedly seize those things that I bestow only on those who are worthy to receive them." These, making a show of fasting, walk sadly with downcast looks, while full of fraud and baseness. And often they pride themselves on letting their nails grow long. They are especially fond of their jaundiced complexion. Though no one compels them, they delight in enduring such misery as people have to bear in prison, hanging collars on their necks and even putting shackles on their hands and feet. The Savior has commanded us to avoid such persons, saying, "Beware of those who come to you in sheep's clothing but within are ravening wolves."

Commentary on Luke, Homily 55

What if these formulas also are scriptural, and of these two formulas, one is used with such clearness that one knows it has not been invented by me but has already been authorized by sacred Scripture? David, who sings hymns in the book of Psalms, which is called the key of all the mysteries, in the thirty-fifth psalm chants a psalm to God, sings praise to God in this way: “For in you is the source of life. In your light we shall see the light.” Do we think that that is addressed to God or to Christ or to both? Because to both, it is rightly addressed, for in the Father is the Son, and in the Son is the Father. But if it is addressed to God the Father, it will be this: “If they had stood in my substance, they would have also seen my Word.” But if it is addressed to the Son, it will be this: “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father also.”

Against Arius 2:12

This enables us to see that the Council of Nicaea breathes the spirit of Scripture. God says in Exodus, “I am that I am,” and through Jeremiah, “Who is in his substance and has seen his word?” and just below, “if they had stood in my subsistence and heard my words.” Now subsistence is essence and means nothing else but very being, which Jeremiah calls existence, in the words “and they heard not the voice of existence.”

Letter to the Bishops of Africa 4

23–24

Jeremiah the prophet, gifted with consummate wisdom, or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, exhibits God. "Am I a God at hand," he says, "and not a God afar off? Shall a man do ought in secret, and I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord." For "the Lord who created the earth by His power," as Jeremiah says, "has raised up the world by His wisdom;" for wisdom, which is His word, raises us up to the truth, who have fallen prostrate before idols, and is itself the first resurrection from our fall.

Exhortation to the Heathen

The closer our mind approaches Christ in a more exalted and lofty way and presents itself nearer the splendor of his light, the more it will it be made to shine more magnificently and clearly in his light as also he says through the prophet: “Draw near to me, and I shall draw near to you, says the Lord.” And again he says, “I am a God who draws near and not a God afar off.”

Homilies on Genesis 1

He has been more obedient to human authority than to God. It matters not whether he has published what he has done with less either of disgrace or of guilt among people. Be that as it may, he will not be able to escape and avoid God his judge, seeing that the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms, “Your eyes did see my substance, that it was imperfect, and in your book shall all people be written.” And again, “People see the outward appearance, but God sees the heart.” The Lord also forewarns and prepares us, saying, “And all churches shall know that I am he who searches the reins and heart.” He looks into the hidden and secret things and considers those things that are concealed; nor can anyone evade the eyes of the Lord, who says, “I am a God near at hand and not a God afar off. If a person shall be hidden in secret places, shall I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?” He sees the heart and mind of every person, and he will not judge our deeds alone, but even our words and thoughts. He looks into the minds and the wills and conceptions of all people, in the very lurking places of the heart that are still closed up.

Treatise III. On the Lapsed 27

He also observes the rule, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” But one who departs from the strict observance of the commandment in performing his actions clearly shows that he has given small thought to God. Mindful, therefore, of the voice of him who said, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord” and again, “Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off?” Also, “Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” We should perform every action as if under the eyes of the Lord and think every thought as if observed by him. Thus, fear will abide constantly within us who hate iniquity, as it is written, insolence, pride, and the ways of the wicked, and love will be made perfect, fulfilling the words of the Lord: “I seek not my own will but the will of him that sent me.”

The Long Rules 5

From this time on, bid everything farewell for these five days and begin to observe the feast. Away with the business of the law courts! Away with the business of the city council! Away with daily affairs together with their contracts and business deals! I wish to save my soul. “What does it profit a person if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul?” The Magi went forth from Persia. You go forth from the affairs of daily life. Make your journey to Jesus. It is not far to travel if we are willing to make the trip. We need not cross the sea or climb the mountain crests. If you prove your piety and full compunction, you can see him without leaving home, you can tear down the whole wall, remove every obstacle and shorten the length of the journey. As the prophet said, “I am a God near at hand and not a God afar off,” and, “The Lord is close to all who call on him in truth.”

Against the Anomoeans 6:34

If God were distant from us in place, you might well doubt, but he is present everywhere. To him who strives with purposeful intent, God is near. For this reason also the psalmist said, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me,” and God again, “I am a God near at hand and not a God afar off.” Then, just as our sins separate us from him, so do our righteous deeds draw us near to him. “For while you are yet speaking,” it is said, “I will say, ‘Here I am.’ ”

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 54:8

23–24

(Ver. 23, 24.) Do you think that I am a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God from afar? If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. LXX: I am a God who approaches, says the Lord, and not a God from afar. If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord; do I not fill heaven and earth? The Lord says, 'Am I a God who is near, and not a God who is far away?' Aquila and Symmachus likewise interpreted it: 'Am I a God who is near, and not a God who is far away?' But the Septuagint and Theodotion translated it in the opposite sense, saying: 'I am a God who is approaching,' says the Lord, 'and not a God who is far away.' The latter meaning asserts that God not only knows what is near, but also what is far away; and not only sees what is present, but also what is future. Truly, they consider God to be present everywhere, and there is no place where God is not. For God is close to all, especially the saints, as if a garment were adhering to the skin. But sinners who distance themselves from Him will perish. We read this meaning in the Psalms as well: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10). Amos also agrees with these words, saying: If they descend to the grave, from there my hand will bring them out; and if they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search for them and take them away. And if they hide from my eyes in the depths of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them (Amos 9:2-3); and again in the previous psalm: For darkness will not hide from you; and night will be as bright as day: as its darkness, so its light (Psalm 139:12). But what is frequently said in the Prophets, 'Thus says the Lord,' is always added, so that the words of the Prophets are not despised, but rather, it is constantly reminded that they are the words of God that they speak.

Commentary on Jeremiah

He was fully conscious of his own wound and the power of him from whom nothing can be hidden, who says through the prophet, “I am a God near at hand and not a God afar off.” For nobody can escape the notice of him who fills heaven and earth, and nobody can conceal from him the secrets of his heart.

Against the Pelagians 2.27

“I have known all that is hidden and all that is open to view. I was a pupil of Wisdom, who formed them all.” There, in brief, you have the profession of our philosophy. The process of learning about these, if practiced under good supervision, leads upward via Wisdom, who formed the whole universe, to the ruler of the universe, a being hard to catch, hard to track down, who always distances himself in retreat from his pursuer. But this same ruler, distant as he is, has—truth be told!—drawn near. “I am God who is near at hand, declares the Lord.” In his essential being he is distant—how could a creature subject to birth ever draw near to the unborn and the uncreated?—but very close by the exercise of that power that had enfolded all things in its embrace. It is written, “Can anyone act in secret without my seeing him?” Yes, the power of God is always present, touching us with a power that sees, is good and instructs.

The Stromata Book 2

And how will it be possible to set the text, “Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord,” side by side with the whole world understood as Jesus’ shoe? It is worthwhile, however, to give attention to whether we must understand the words in relation to the fact that the Word and Wisdom have permeated the whole world, and the Father is in the Son, as we presented it, or he who first girded himself with all creation, because the Son was in him, granted to the Savior, since he was second after him and God the Word, to pervade the whole creation.

Commentary on the Gospel of John 6:202

But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God’s sight. We must please the divine eyes in our bodily manner and with appropriate restraint of voice. For as it is characteristic of a shameless person to be noisy with his cries, so it is fitting for the modest to pray with moderated petitions. Moreover, in his teaching the Lord has bidden us to pray in secret—in hidden and remote places, in our very bedchambers—which is best suited to faith, that we may know that God is everywhere present, hears and sees all and in the plenitude of his majesty penetrates even into hidden and secret places, as it is written, “I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a person shall hide himself in secret places, shall I not then see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?”

Treatise IV. On the Lord's Prayer 4

How, again, can justice be done to the scriptural fact that God pervades and fills the universe (“Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord,” and, “The spirit of the Lord fills the world”) if part of it limits him and part of it is limited by him? It cannot, for he must either occupy a complete vacuum and our universe vanish—involving the blasphemy that God has been rendered corporeal and does not possess the universe he made; or his body must be contained by bodies, which is impossible; or he must be knit through them as a contrasted strand, like liquids in mixture, parting some, parted by others—which is a more absurd old wives’ tale than even Epicurus’s atoms. It follows, then, that talk of God’s body has no solid body to it and must collapse. What if we call God “immaterial,” the fifth element envisaged by some, borne along the circular drift? Let us assume that he is some immaterial, fifth body, incorporeal, if they wait for it so to suit their free-drifting, self-constructing argument—I will not quarrel over the point. What place will he have in the moving drift of things—leaving out of account the blasphemy of identifying the creatures’ motion with their creator’s, the mover’s (if they will concede the term) with that of the moved? What moves this fifth element? What moves the whole? What moves that which moves the whole? And so on ad infinitum. Must not this moving fifth element be in space? Suppose that they call it something other than the fifth element, an angelic body, say. What grounds have they for asserting that angels are bodies? What are these bodies? How far will God transcend angels who are his ministers? If supra-angelic, a countless swarm of bodies will be fetched in, an abyss of nonsense with no halting place.So we have proved that God is not a body. No divinely inspired teacher has asserted or accepted that idea; the verdict of our fold is against it. He can only be incorporeal. But the term “incorporeal,” though granted, does not give an all-embracing revelation of God’s essential being. The same is true of “ingenerate,” “unoriginate,” “immutable,” and “immortal,” indeed of all attributes applied or referred to God. For what has the fact of owning no beginning, of freedom from change, from limitation, to do with his real, fundamental nature? No, the full reality is left to be grasped, philosophically treated and scrutinized by a more advanced theorist of God. Just as predicating “is body” or “is begotten” of something or other where these predicates are applicable is not enough clearly to set out the things, but you must also, if an object of knowledge is to be displayed with adequate clarity, give the predicates their subject (people, cows and horses, you see, are “corporeal,” “begotten” and “mortal”), so, in the same way, an inquirer into the nature of a real being cannot stop short at saying what it is not but must add to his denials a positive affirmation (and how much easier it is to take in a single thing than to run the full gamut of particular negations!). The point of this is that comprehension of the object of knowledge should be effected by negation of what the thing is not and by positive assertion of what it is. A person who tells you what God is not but fails to tell you what he is is rather like someone who, asked what twice five is, answers “not two, not three, not four, not five, not twenty, not thirty, no number, in short, under ten or over ten.” He does not deny it is ten, but he is also not settling the questioner’s mind with a firm answer. It is much simpler, much briefer, to indicate all that something is not by indicating what it is, than to reveal what it is by denying what it is not.

On Theology, Theological Oration 2 (28).8-9

This is all common sense, surely, but now that we have proved deity incorporeal, we shall take the examination a stage further. The problem is this: is deity located in space or not? If it is not, then your shrewd critic might ask how it can even exist at all. Granted that what does not exist has no spatial location, it may well be the case that what has no spatial location does not exist. But if deity is spatially located there are two possible consequences: either the universe contains it, or it is located above the universe. Taking the first alternative, then, it is either contained in a part of the universe or the whole of it. Supposing deity is contained in a part of the universe, it will be delimited by something smaller; if in the whole, by something larger, quite different in relative scale, I mean, as between deity inside and the surrounding universe, granted the universe is going to be contained by the universe and all spatial location to have its bounding line. These consequences follow the hypotheses that the universe contains God. Again, where was it before the universe was created? This produces a considerable problem, you see. If, on the other hand, deity is located above the universe, what is the dividing line between it and the universe? Where is this higher place? How are higher and lower levels to be recognized; where there is no dividing line between to separate them? There will have, surely, to be something in between, something to bound the universe off from what lies above it. In that case this something in between must have the very spatial location we rejected. I do not now insist on the fact that deity must be delimited if it be mentally comprehended, for comprehension is one form of delimitation.Why have I made this digression, too labored, I dare say, for the general ear but in tune with the prevalent fashion in discussions, a fashion that despises noble simplicity and substitutes tortuous conundrums? I did it to make the tree known by its fruits, to make the darkness that activates dogmas like these, I mean, known by the obscurity of their expression. I did not do it to gain a reputation for startling oratory or extraordinary wisdom as a marvelous Daniel for “showing hard sentences and dissolving doubts.” No, I wanted to make plain the point my sermon began with, which was this: the incomprehensibility of deity to the human mind and its totally unimaginable grandeur. Not that deity resents our knowledge: resentment is a far cry from the divine nature, serene as it is, uniquely and properly “good,” especially resentment of its most prized creation. What can mean more to the Word than thinking beings, since their very existence is an act of supreme goodness? It is not that he treasures his own fullness of glory, keeping his majesty costly by inaccessibility. It would be utterly dishonest, utterly out of character not merely for God but also for an ordinary good person with anything of a proper conscience about him to get himself the senior place by keeping others out.

On Theology, Theological Oration 2 (28).10-11

But of what creature can it be said that it fills all things, as is written of the Holy Spirit: “I will pour My Spirit upon all flesh.” This cannot be said of an Angel. Lastly, Gabriel himself, when sent to Mary, said: “Hail, full of grace,” plainly declaring the grace of the Spirit which was in her, because the Holy Spirit had come upon her, and she was about to have her womb full of grace with the heavenly Word. For it is of the Lord to fill all things, Who says: “I fill heaven and earth.” If, then, it is the Lord Who fills heaven and earth, Who can judge the Holy Spirit to be without a share in the dominion and divine power, seeing that He has filled the world, and what is beyond the whole world, filled Jesus the Redeemer of the whole world? For it is written: “But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, departed from Jordan,” Who, then, except one who possessed the same fulness could fill Him Who fills all things?

On the Holy Spirit 1.8.85-86

Wherefore, if we sensibly hold to those things which be worthy of the Son of God, we ought to understand Him to have been sent in such a way that the Word of God, out of the incomprehensible and ineffable mystery of the depths of His majesty, gave Himself for comprehension to our minds, so far as we could lay hold of Him, not only when He “emptied” Himself, but also when He dwelt in us, as it is written: “I will dwell in them.” Elsewhere also it stands that God said: “Go to, let us go down and confound their language.” God, indeed, never descends from any place; for He says: “I fill heaven and earth.” But He seems to descend when the Word of God enters our hearts, as the prophet has said: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” We are to do this, so that, as He Himself promised, He may come together with the Father and make His abode with us. It is clear, then, how He comes.

Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.7.98

For, if we may presume to speak of ourselves after His image and likeness, as Scripture says, in the same way as He is established in the fulness of His Majesty, and sees all things, heaven, air, earth and sea, embracing the universe and penetrating each part, so that nothing escapes Him, and there is nothing which does not consist in Him and depend on Him, and which is not full of Him, as He Himself says, "I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord," so likewise the mind of man sees all things and is not seen, but maintains its own essence invisible.

Letter 43.15

“And the beauty of the field is with Me.” The fairness of the field, the abundance of all things engendering upon earth, “is with Me,” He saith. How with Him? Were they so, even before they were made? Yea, for with Him were all things to come, and with Him are all things by-gone: things to come in such sort, that there be not withdrawn from Him all things by-gone. With Him are all things by a certain cognition of the ineffable wisdom of God residing in the Word, and the Word Himself is all things. Is not the beauty of the field in a manner with Him, inasmuch as He is everywhere, and Himself hath said, “Heaven and earth I fill”? What with Him is not, of whom it is said, “If I shall have ascended into heaven, Thou art there; and if I shall have descended into hell, Thou art present”? With Him is the whole: but it is not so with Him as that He doth suffer any contamination from those things which He hath created, or any want of them.

Expositions of the Psalms, Psalm 50.18

How shall I call on my God—my God and my lord? For when I call on him, I ask him to come into me. And what place is there in me into which my God can come—into which God can come, even he who made heaven and earth? Is there anything in me, O Lord my God, that can contain you? Do indeed the heaven and the earth that you have made and in which you have placed me, contain you? Or, since nothing could exist without you, does whatever exists contain you? Why, then, do I ask you to come into me, since I indeed exist and could not exist if you were not in me? Because I am not yet in hell, though you are even there. For “if I go down into hell, you are there.” I could not exist, O my God, I could not exist at all, unless you were in me. Or should I not rather say that I could not exist unless I were in you, “from whom, through whom and in whom are all things?” It is even so, O Lord, even so. Where do I ask you to be, since I am in you? Or, from where can you come into me? Where may I go beyond heaven and earth, in order that my God may then come into me, he who has said, “I fill heaven and earth.”

Confessions 1.2.2

A person’s conscience accuses itself if he doesn’t love someone who loves him, or love in return someone who loves him, expecting nothing from that person but indications of his love. So he mourns if someone dies, experiences the gloom of sorrow, that saturating of the heart in tears. All sweetness turns into bitterness on the loss of the life of the dying, the death of the living. Blessed is the one who loves you and has his friend in you.… For he alone loses none dear to him. All are dear to him who cannot be lost. And who is this but our God, the God who created heaven and earth and fills them, because by filling them he created them? No one loses you but the one who leaves you.

Confessions 4.9.14

It was by this same divine creative force, which knows not what it is to be made but only how to make, that roundness was given to the eye, to the apple and to other objects that are by nature round and that we see all about, taking on their form with no extrinsic cause but by the intrinsic power of the Creator, who said, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” and whose wisdom “reaches from end to end mightily and orders all things sweetly.”

City of God 12.26

The question still remains whether they will see God with their eyes open and by means of these bodily eyes. For, of course, if spiritual eyes in a spiritual body can see no better than our present eyes can see, then it will certainly be impossible for even spiritual eyes to behold God. If the spiritual realm, without material form, circumscribed by no place but everywhere wholly present, is to be visible to the eyes of a spiritual body, then those eyes will most certainly have to have a power altogether unlike the power of any eyes on earth. It is true that we say that God is in heaven and on earth, and he himself through a prophet says, “I fill heaven and earth.” But this does not mean that in heaven we shall say that God has one part there and another part on earth. For he is entirely in heaven, and he is entirely on earth. He is in both simultaneously, not merely successively—which is utterly impossible in the case of any material substance.

City of God 22.29

Therefore, God is poured forth in all things. He says by the prophet, “I fill heaven and earth,” and, as I quoted a short time before of his wisdom, “He reaches from end to end mightily and orders all things sweetly.” It is likewise written, “the Spirit of the Lord filled the whole world,” and one of the psalms has these words addressed to him: “Where shall I go from your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your face? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I descend into hell, you are there.”Yet God so permeates all things as to be not a quality of the world but the very creative substance of the world, ruling the world without labor, sustaining it without effort. Nevertheless, he is not distributed through space in a physical sense so that half of him should be in half of the world and half in the other half of it. He is wholly present in all of it in such a way as to be wholly in heaven alone and wholly in the earth alone, and wholly in heaven and earth together; not confined in any place, but wholly in himself everywhere.

Letter 187:14

Listen to him: “Come to me, all you who labor.” You do not put an end to your labor by running away. You prefer to run away from him, do you, not to him? Find somewhere, and run away there. But if you cannot run away from him, for the good reason that he is present everywhere, the next thing to do is to run away to God, who is present right where you are standing. Run away, then. So, you see, you have run away beyond the heavens, he is there. You have gone right down to hell, he is there. Whatever solitary places of the earth you may choose, there he is, the one who said, “I fill heaven and earth.” So if he fills heaven and earth and there is nowhere you can run away to from him, do not go on laboring with all that trouble. Run away to him where he is present right beside you, to avoid experiencing him as he comes to judge you.

Sermon 69:4

So the aspect he chose was the one by which Christ came into the world. He came, after all, insofar as he was man. Because insofar as he was God, he was always here. Is there anywhere God is not, I mean, seeing that he said, “I fill heaven and earth”? Christ is certainly the power of God and the wisdom of God. Of this wisdom it says, “She reaches from end to end mightily and disposes all things sweetly.” So then, “he was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.” He was here, and yet he also came. He was here by divine greatness; he came by human weakness. So because he came by human weakness, that is why Paul declared his coming by saying, “The word is human.” The human race would not have been set free unless the Word of God had agreed to be human. After all, people are said in particular to be human who show some humanity, above all by giving hospitality to human persons. So if human beings are called human because they receive human beings into their homes, how human must that one be who received humanity into himself by becoming human?

Sermon 174:1

“And He that sent me is with me.” He had already said this also before, but of this important point He is constantly reminding them, “He sent me,” and “He is with me.” If then, O Lord, He is with Thee, not so much hath the One been sent by the other, but ye Both have come. And yet, while Both are together, One was sent, the Other was the sender; for incarnation is a sending, and the incarnation itself belongs only to the Son and not to the Father. The Father therefore sent the Son, but did not withdraw from the Son. For it was not that the Father was absent from the place to which He sent the Son. For where is not the Maker of all things? Where is He not, who said, “I fill heaven and earth”? But perhaps the Father is everywhere, and the Son not so? Listen to the evangelist: “He was in this world, and the world was made by Him.” Therefore said He, “He that sent me,” by whose power as Father I am incarnate, “is with me, hath not left me.”

Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 40.6

If the sun, being corporeal, for it is visible and susceptible to disintegration, cannot be polluted when it passes through corpses, putrid mud and many other evil-smelling substances, much more impervious to such pollution is the maker of the sun, the creator of the universe, the incorporeal one, the invisible, the unchangeable, the one who always remains the same. And that those things are so the following reflection will bear out. We both assert and believe that his nature is infinite, for we have heard him exclaim: “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says the Lord.”

On Divine Providence 10:16-17

Elsewhere we read the words of the prophet: “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” God tells why he fills all things: “because I am with you to save you.” Behold, the Lord shows us not only his rule and its all pervading fullness but also the power and benefits accruing from this very fullness. For the fullness of divinity carries as its reward the salvation of what it fills. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, said, “for in him we live and move and are.”

The Governance of God 2:2

Accordingly, we must consider that one and the same nature of the Trinity fills the whole in such a way that there is no place where it is not. So, it is everywhere complete and in no way contained in a place. It is complete in individual spirits and bodies and complete at the same time in all creatures. Now we are not speaking about grace by which God with a free gift of his mercy offers himself to human beings for their salvation, but about nature by which God both fills and contains all the things which he made; according to this, he says, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?”

Letter 14:4

25–27

(Verse 25 onwards) I have heard what the prophets have said, prophesying in my name lies and saying: I had a dream (or I saw a vision). How long will this deceit be in the hearts (or minds) of the prophesying prophets, who desire (or think) to make my people forget my name because of their dreams, which each one tells to their neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name for Baal (or in Baal). Because the previous title is against the Prophets, or to the Prophets, whom we clearly understand to be false prophets (and there are many types of prophesying: one of which is dreams, such as in Daniel), therefore the prophetic discourse is directed towards those who believe in dreams and think that everything they see is a divine revelation, which is properly revealed to the saints and servants of God. And if we read about Pharaoh (Gen. XLI) and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. II) seeing true dreams, it was not because of their merit that they saw them; but rather so that through their occasion the holy men Joseph and Daniel might shine forth, and the hard and unyielding hearts of the tyrants might feel the majesty of the Lord through their own conscience. Today there are also dreamers in the Church, and especially in our flock, who boast their own errors as the prophecy of the Lord, and frequently insert, 'I dreamed, I dreamed.' These the Lord rebukes, saying, 'How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? For they do these things, that, as the ancient people, that came out of Egypt, forgot my name,' However, this prophecy is not in the name of the Lord, but in the name of Baal, which is properly the idol of the Sidonians or Babylonians, and is also called Bel.

Commentary on Jeremiah

28–29

(Verse 28, 29.) The prophet who has a dream, let him tell the dream, and the one who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is straw compared to wheat? says the Lord. Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer (or an axe) shattering rock? It is for them to interpret the dream who are deserving of having the word of God, and to say: Thus says the Lord; to whom the Lord has spoken, in whom there is truth, and not deceitful lies. What do the heretics' chaff have to do with the wheat of the Church? about which John the Baptist speaks more fully (Matt. III), that the Lord may cleanse his threshing floor, and by the winnowing fan scatter the chaff to be burned by the winds, and leave it to be consumed by fire; but may store the wheat in the barns, that it may become heavenly bread; and let each believer say: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet (Ps. XXXIII, 9). And fittingly is false doctrine compared to chaff, which has no substance, nor can it nourish the people of believers, but it is crushed by empty husks. And because heretics usually promise prosperity and open the kingdoms of heaven to sinners, saying, 'The kingdoms of heaven are prepared for you', you can imitate the majesty of God, so that you may be without sin; for you have received the power of free will and the knowledge of the law, by which you may attain what you desire. And they deceive the wretched with flatteries, especially the women burdened with sins, who go about listening to every wind of doctrine, always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth, and they deceive all their hearers with adulation (Ephesians 4); therefore the Lord, comparing his words to the chaff of heretics, says: Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock? For my part, he said, my speech announces future punishments so as to deter people from sinning; and he threatens the fire of sinners to the chaff, so that the hardened hearts of heretics, like flint, may be crushed by the hammer of his word: taking away a heart of stone, so that he may put in its place a heart of flesh, namely, one that is soft and capable of receiving and understanding God's commands. The Lord speaks of such a thing through Ezekiel as well (Ezek. 13), because false prophets smear the wall with their seductions and without mortar, which is later destroyed by a violent rain and the truth of judgment. And the false prophets may sew pillows under every arm to make sinners rest, and by no means soothe the wrath of God with tears. For a hammer, they have interpreted the axe of the Seventy, which undoubtedly John the Baptist speaks of: Now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees (Matthew 3:10). This axe cuts down unfruitful trees, and this hammer crushes the hardest stones. Therefore, the Prophet Nahum also speaks: His fury, undoubtedly God's, will consume the principalities and the rocks will be crushed by Him (Nahum 1:6). This is against heretics. Moreover, it is written about Ecclesiastical men, that the hammer and axe are not heard in the house of the Lord (3 Kings 6).

Commentary on Jeremiah

“Fire” is called “the Gospel” and “salvation” is called “preaching,” or “fire” could also refer to participation in the Holy Spirit, which is similar to experiencing fire. And indeed, this is also why the most wise John the Baptist concerning himself and all of us said, “I baptize you with water for repentance” etc., [looking ahead] to our Savior Jesus Christ [who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire]. Rightly, therefore, did Christ say, “I have come to bring fire upon the earth, and I wish that it were already kindled.”

Fragments on Jeremiah in Catena

Since the false prophets also avail themselves of the phrase “thus says the Lord,” pretending to be the true prophets, there is need of signs that distinguish each of them. Therefore there was, according to the apostle, a gift of distinguishing spirits, and one who possessed this gift distinguished spirits, both the divine and the bad ones, just as a moneychanger distinguishes genuine currency from counterfeit. But aside from this general knowledge, what was just said also suffices for distinguishing. For, my word, he says, is not empty and a nourishment for what is irrational, but it is like wheat and nourishment for what is rational.

Fragments on Jeremiah 19

“Thus, I am against the prophets who steal my words, says the Lord.” The prophet includes this with reference to the false prophets who were stealing true prophecies from true prophets and then passing them on in secret to someone whom they forbade to speak about this. What they had in mind was the following: If the prophecy was fulfilled, they would say, “See, we have a witness that we were prophesying the same thing.” But if the prophecy was not fulfilled, they would blame Jeremiah and other true prophets, as if they deceived people.However, there is another kind of false prophet who would say anything to please listeners. They would reassure people, “No calamity will come on you,” and according to the custom of false prophets, they would support this claim in the name of the Lord. They are like those against whom Jeremiah spoke previously, those who mix their false dreams with pronouncements of the Spirit and deceive the people.

Commentary on Jeremiah 23:30

30–32

(Verse 30 and following) Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who steal my words from each other (or from their neighbor). Behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who use their own tongues and say, "declares" (or who sleep and dream). Behold, I am against the prophets who dream lies,' declares the Lord, 'and tell them, and lead astray (or have led astray) my people with their lies and with their miracles (or with their wonders and terrors), when I did not send them or command them; they are of no benefit to this people,' declares the Lord. Always does a lie imitate truth: and unless it has some resemblance to what is right, it cannot deceive the innocent. Therefore, in the olden days, the prophets used to deceive the people and say: Thus says the Lord. And, I saw the Lord; and, the Word of the Lord that came to him, or to her: in the same way, heretics assume testimonies of the Scriptures from the old and new Testaments, and steal the words of the Savior from one another, from the Prophets and Apostles, and the Evangelists: and they use their tongues to pronounce the poison of their hearts, and they sleep a deep sleep, about which it is truly said: They have dozed off, and have found nothing (Psalm 76:5). Or according to the Hebrew: And they say, so that the Lord may be understood, or certainly (alternatively), divine speech. Therefore, the Lord threatens (alternatively, adds now) that He Himself will come against such masters, who deceive His people with their lies and with stupors and miracles. For they promise great and incredible and enormous (alternatively, imperceptible) things, in order to deceive the miserable ones who have done nothing to benefit the people of God. And they fulfill this Apostolic teaching, teaching that it is not necessary for the sake of shameful gain: those who are accustomed to announce prosperity to the wicked and adversity to the righteous.

Commentary on Jeremiah

I do not like the pretensions of Government — the grounds on which it demands my obedience — to be pitched too high. I don't like the medicine-man's magical pretensions nor the Bourbon's Divine Right. This is not solely because I disbelieve in magic and in Bossuet's Politique. I believe in God, but I detest theocracy. For every Government consists of mere men and is, strictly viewed, a makeshift; if it adds to its commands 'Thus saith the Lord', it lies, and lies dangerously.

Is Progress Possible? Willing Slaves of the Welfare State, from God in the Dock

33–36

(Verse 33 and following) So if this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, saying: what is the burden of God (or what is the assumption of the Lord)? you shall say to them: You are the burden (or assumption). For I will cast (or hurl) you away, says the Lord. And the prophet and the priest and the people, who says the burden (or assumption) of the Lord, I will visit (or avenge) upon that man and upon his house. Each one will say to his friend (nearest in the Vulgate) and to his brother: what did the Lord answer, and what did the Lord speak? And the burden (or assumption) of the Lord will not be remembered anymore, because the burden (or assumption) will be each one's own word (in the Alexandrian version). The Hebrew word massa means burden and weight, as interpreted by Aquila as ἅρμα, that is, burden and weight: Symmachus, Septuagint, and Theodotion translate it as assumption. Therefore, wherever it is heavy, what the Lord threatens, and full of weight and labor, and unendurable, it is also called a burden in the title ἅρμα, that is, weight. Wherever, indeed, the Lord promises prosperity, or after a threat, he promises better things, there the Vision is spoken, or certainly the word of the Lord: and it was clear from the very title of the prophecy of the weight, or vision, and the Word of God, what kind of prediction would follow. Therefore, since the Prophets used to announce sad things and threaten punishments to the sinful people, in order to turn them back to repentance: but the merciful and compassionate Lord delayed his judgment for a long time, the deceived people, led astray by the fraud of false prophets, thought that what the Lord threatened would not come true, and they turned the true matter into a game and a joke; and mocking the prophets, they said: Here again he sees the weight and burden of the Lord. And so it happened that, not at all seriously but as a joke and mockery, the burden and weight were called the Vision. Therefore, the Lord instructed that whether the people, the prophets, or the priests asked Jeremiah what the burden or assumption of the Lord was, he should respond to them and say: You are the burden, and you are the assumption. For I will take you and cast you away, and I will crush you and make you perish. But if anyone thereafter, whether a prophet, a priest, or a member of the people, dares to name the burden and weight of the Lord, I will visit," he said, "upon that man and upon his house; and I will destroy him forever. Therefore let each person say to his neighbor and friend, 'Surely it is not the burden of the Lord?' But what did the Lord respond? And what did the Lord say? You have forgotten the Old: burden and weight, or assumption, should no longer resound in your mouth. For to each person, his own words and deeds will be considered a burden and weight, according to what is written: 'By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned' (Matthew 15).

Commentary on Jeremiah

37–40

(Verses 37 onwards) And you pervert the words of the living God: the Lord of hosts, our God. This is what you say to the Prophet: What did the Lord respond to you, and what did the Lord say? But if you say the burden of the Lord. Up to this point, it is not found in the Septuagint, and it continues: Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Because you have said this word, the burden of the Lord, and I have sent to you, saying: Do not say, the burden of the Lord: therefore, behold, I will take you up and cast you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers away from My presence, and I will make you an everlasting reproach and an eternal disgrace, which will never be forgotten. The Lord commanded that the discourse of burden and weight and assumption should never be spoken among the people; but rather the response to the word of God: because the people had scorned to fulfill it, the word itself is interpreted over them, and it says, 'Because you have said that I did not want this, even though I have often sent prophets and commanded you not to say it: therefore I will fulfill your discourse of assumption, burden, and weight in you by action. Indeed, I will assume you and lift you up and carry you, and I will make you stumble and cause you to fall from the heights to the ground.' Not only you, but also your city, which I gave to your fathers. And I will make you a disgrace and eternal ignominy, which will never be erased by forgetfulness. And we know that this happened during the Babylonian captivity; but it is more fully and perfectly fulfilled after the passion and resurrection of the Savior, when the Lord spoke: Your house will be left deserted to you (Luke 13:35): and this sentence will remain until the end. Let us also speak in another way, only according to the Septuagint: the word λῆμμα not only signifies assumption, but also gift and gift. Because the people always promised themselves prosperity, it says that they should not say this anymore. For they are unworthy of God's gifts and favors, rather they should be rejected and completely abandoned by God's help. However, often things are shown from the words and interpretation of names, as in the case of Abraham, Sarah, and Peter, and the names of the sons of Zebedee, where the changing of names signifies a change in circumstances. And in this same prophet, Phasur is said to mean fear, or translation, and colonus, or foreigner. It should be noted that the words 'Dei viventis,' 'Domini exercituum,' 'Dei nostri' are not found in the Latin and Greek manuscripts, and the Hebrews themselves read against this in their volumes, as it properly signifies the mystery of the Trinity.

Commentary on Jeremiah

7–8

The church is the seed of Abraham. Jeremiah says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘The Lord lives, who led the children of Israel from the north country and from every region where they had been driven.’ He will restore them to their own land which he gave to their ancestors,” so that we may know that he who “raises up from the stones children to Abraham” in the New Testament is he who will gather, according to the Old Testament, those who will be saved from all the nations.

Against Heresies 5:34.1

7–8

(Vers. 7, 8.) Because of this, behold, days are coming, says the Lord. And they shall no longer say, As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt; but they shall say, As the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall live on their own soil. This entire chapter is not found in the Septuagint. The meaning here is that the people of God will not be delivered from Egypt by Moses, but by Jesus Christ from all the corners of the earth, to which they had been dispersed. What is now being completed in the world in part will be completed in its entirety when those from the East and the West, the North and the South come and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 8). So that after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved (Romans 11).

To the Prophets (or in the Prophets, or against the Prophets). This designation, as we have said above, is placed at the end of the previous chapter in the Septuagint edition, where we read the following script: and this is the name by which the Lord will call him Josedech, in the Prophets. Many ignorant people, not knowing this, invent various delusions of explanation. And it would have been much better to simply confess their ignorance than to make others heirs to their incompetence. But this is a discourse against the prophets, rather, the false prophets of Jerusalem and Samaria, whom he now calls collectively and commonly Prophets, concerning whom it is written in the following passages: And in the prophets of Samaria I saw wickedness; and immediately after: And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw horrible things. However, when he uses the conjunction 'and', he shows that the previous statements were said by the Lord concerning the prophets themselves, who also turned out to be like false prophets.

Commentary on Jeremiah