Jeremiah 3

Hence again under the figure of Judea it is said to every sinful soul: "If a man puts away his wife, and she departs and marries another man, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But you have fornicated with many lovers; nevertheless return to me, says the Lord." Behold, he gave the example of a shameful woman. He showed that after such shame she cannot be received back. But he overcomes by mercy this very example that he set forth, when he says that a fornicating woman can by no means be received back, and yet he himself waits to receive the fornicating soul. Consider, brothers, the weight of such great tenderness. He says what cannot be done, and demonstrates that he himself can do this even against custom. Behold, he calls, and those whom he declares to be defiled, he also seeks to embrace, those by whom he complains he has been abandoned.

Those who have experienced the sins of the flesh are to be admonished to observe vigilantly with how great a benevolence God opens the bosom of his pity to us, if after transgressions we return to him. He says through the prophet, "If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, shall he return to her again? Shall not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But you have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return again to me, says the Lord." So, concerning the wife who has played the harlot and has deserted, the argument of justice is put forward. Yet to us, returning after the fall, not justice but pity is displayed. Where we are surely meant to gather, how great is our wickedness if we return not, even after transgression, seeing that, when transgressing, we are spared with so great pity. Or what pardon for the wicked will there be from him who, after our sin, ceases not to call us.

(Chapter III - Verse 1) It is commonly said (for which the Seventy have translated 'only said'). If a man divorces his wife and she goes and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be considered defiled and polluted? (or that land?) And you have committed adultery with many lovers (or shepherds.) For the word 'Reim' (), which is written with four letters Res, Ain, Yod, Mem, signifies both lovers and shepherds. And if we read Reim, it means lovers; if Roim, it means shepherds.

But return to me, says the Lord (or you have returned to me, says the Lord). In Hebrew, even after fornication, he accepts the repentant, and exhorts them to return to him. But in the Septuagint, it does not invite to repentance, but reproaches the impudence of the prostitute who dares to return to her husband after adultery. And what it says: and that woman will be defiled, for which in Hebrew we read the land, provides an example, and speaks more clearly about the land of Israel, which is compared to the adulterous woman. Let us use this testimony against those who abandon the faith of the Lord and, hindered by the errors of heretics, after many fornications and deceptions of souls, pretend to return to the ancient truth: not to remove the venom from their hearts, but to deceive others.

For this end he hath mentioned Ruth also and Rahab, the one an alien, the other an harlot, that thou mayest learn that He came to do away with all our ills. For He hath come as a Physician, not as a Judge. Therefore in like manner as those of old took harlots for wives, even so God too espoused unto Himself the nature which had played the harlot: and this also prophets from the beginning declare to have taken place with respect to the Synagogue. But that spouse was ungrateful towards Him who had been an husband to her, whereas, the Church, when once delivered from the evils received from our fathers, continued to embrace the Bridegroom.

And you will find the prophets filled with examples of this kind, when they address Jerusalem; for she fell into fornication, and a novel form of it, even as Ezekiel says: "To all harlots wages are given, but thou hast given wages to thy lovers, and there hath been perversion in thee beyond all other women," and again another saith "Thou didst sit waiting for them like a deserted bird." This one then who hath committed fornication in this fashion God calls back again. For the captivity which took place was not so much by way of vengeance as for the purpose of conversion and amendment since if God had wished to punish them out-right He would not again have brought them back to their home. He would not have established their city and their temple in greater splendour than before: "For the final glory of this house" He said "shall exceed the former." Now if God did not exclude from repentance her who had many times committed fornication, much more will He embrace my soul, which has now fallen for the first time. For certainly there is no lover of corporeal beauty, even if he be very frantic, who is so inflamed with the love of his mistress as God longs after the salvation of our souls; and this we may perceive both from the divine Scriptures. See at least, both in the introduction of Jeremiah, and many other places of the prophets, when He is despised and contemned, how He again hastens forward and pursues the friendship of those who turn away from him; which also He Himself made clear in the Gospels saying, "O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not?"

since indeed Scripture designates the sons of adulterers as imperfect. For such a soul, which, having deserted the conjunction of the spirit, prostrates itself wholly to the sense of the flesh and to bodily desires, as though turned away from God will impudently hear that "you have made yourself the face of a harlot, you have become without shame toward all." Therefore as a harlot she will be punished, and her sons are commanded to be prepared for slaughter.

(Version 2.) Lift up your eyes and see where you have not fallen. On the roads you were sitting, waiting for them like a robber in the wilderness (or like a deserted raven). For it is written in Hebrew, Arabic, and can also mean Arabs, that this people, devoted to robbery, still raids the borders of Palestine today, and they besiege the roads for those descending from Jerusalem to Jericho: of which the Lord also mentions in the Gospel (Luke 10). So lift up your eyes, O Jerusalem, and look around, and see where you are not laid low by fornication. For just as thieves are accustomed to lay traps for travelers in the evening and in deserted places, so you, sitting by the brothel of Proverbs, were sitting in the streets in the evening, in order to destroy the souls of those who commit fornication. Therefore, the whole land is polluted with your fornications. And significantly, next to these who promise to abandon heretical errors, it is commanded that they lift their eyes straight ahead. For unless they begin to see straight, they cannot condemn their former wickedness.

(Verse 2, 3.) And you have polluted (or killed) the land with your fornications, and in your evils (Alternative: in malice): therefore the drops of rain have been withheld, and the late rain has not come (or you have had many shepherds to stumble). The land has been killed (or polluted), because of the killing of those who perished in idolatrous fornication. Hence the blessing of all things has been taken away, so that they would suffer the drought of the word of God. Whether they had shepherds through whom they offended God, so that those who should have been teachers, to prevent others from error, became authors of impiety.

The forehead of a prostitute has become yours, and you were not ashamed. LXX: The appearance of a prostitute has become yours: you have become without shame towards everyone. Because above (To chapter II, 35) he had said: I have not sinned, and yet he had sinned more by denying his own crimes: therefore now he accuses [you] as if [you were] a shameless and excessively impudent woman: so that [you] do not carry [yourself] with a shameless expression only towards one or two, but [you] are not ashamed before anyone. Let us use this language against the assembly of heretics, who boast in their errors.

For their own misery has taught them, which happiness had made negligent, alas, what an evil thing it is to fornicate against the Lord by presuming upon themselves; oh how good it is to cling to the Lord, always thinking humbly. For withdrawing from that simple and singular good into the multitudes of pleasures, and into the love of the world and corruptions of the earth, this is to fornicate against the Lord. To this one it is called out: "A harlot's face has been made for you, and you have become shameless in your entirety."

Accusation is censure of wrongdoers.… Of this help the divine Instructor made use by Jeremiah, saying, "You have a prostitute's forehead. You were shameless toward all. You did not call me to the house, I who am your father, and Lord of your virginity." "And a fair and graceful harlot skilled in enchanted potions." With consummate art, after applying to the virgin the disgraceful name of whoredom, he at once calls her back to an honorable life by filling her with shame.

No, a widow must take every precaution not to overstep by an inch the bounds of chastity. For if she once oversteps them and breaks through the modesty that becomes a matron, she will soon riot in every kind of excess. So much so that the prophet's words shall be true of her, "You have a whore's forehead, you refuse to be ashamed."

When they go out, they do their best to attract notice and with nods and winks encourage troops of young fellows to follow them. Of each and all of these the prophet's words are true, "You have a whore's forehead. You refuse to be ashamed." Their robes have but a narrow purple stripe, it is true. And their headdress is somewhat loose, so as to leave the hair free.

And this again is the peculiarity of harlots that they are his who gives the gold. Even if he is a slave or a gladiator, or any person whatever, yet if he offers their hire they receive him. But the free, even should they be nobler than all, they do not accept without the money.… For that shamelessness makes harlots, hear the prophet saying, "You were shameless toward all. You had a harlot's countenance." This may be said to the covetous also, "You were shameless toward all," not toward these or those, but "toward all."

What then is one to do?… We ought not to apply punishment merely to the scale of the offense. Rather, keep in view the disposition of the sinner so that, while wishing to mend what is torn, you do not make the rent worse. Because you do not wish, in your zealous endeavors to restore what is fallen, to make the ruin greater. Weak and careless characters are addicted for the most part to the pleasures of the world. If they have the opportunity to be proud of their birth and position, they may yet, if gently and gradually brought to repent of their errors, be delivered, partially at least, if not perfectly, from the evils by which they are possessed. But if anyone were to inflict the discipline all at once he would deprive them of this slight chance of amendment. When the soul has been forced to put off shame, it lapses into a callous condition. It neither yields to kindly words, nor bends to threats nor is susceptible of gratitude but becomes far worse than that city that the prophet reproached, saying, "You had the face of a harlot, refusing to be ashamed before all men."

(Verse 4, 5.) Therefore, at least from now on, call me, my Father, you are the leader of my virginity: will you be angry forever, or will you persist until the end? Let the heretics be ashamed who do not want to convert to better things, nor return to their Father and Creator, and let them hear: At least from now on, call me, my Father, you are the leader of my virginity. He himself embraces your soul with his affection, and teaches how one should pray and repent. However, the more merciful he who shows the way to salvation after fornication, the more wretched the prostitute who does not want to receive health after wounds.

Behold, you have spoken, and you have done evil, and you have been able. For words of repentance, with words of pride you blasphemed: and you fulfilled your evil intention, and you showed your strength against a man, so that you could do what you discussed in speech.

(Verse 6 and following) And the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what the adulteress Israel has done? She went upon every high hill and under every leafy tree and committed adultery there. And I said, after she had done all these things: Return to me, but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw that I had dismissed the adulteress Israel and had given her a bill of divorce. But her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she also went and committed adultery. She defiled the land with her adulterous acts and committed adultery with stone and wood. And in all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood, says the Lord. The torments of some are the remedies of others. And when a murderer is punished, he receives indeed what he has done, but others are deterred from the crime. Therefore, when the ten tribes, which were called Israel, were captured by the Assyrians and taken to Media, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which should have feared similar things and turned their whole minds towards God, overcame the crimes of the ten tribes. And they followed idols to such an extent that they placed a statue of Baal in the Temple of God, which is called an idol by Ezekiel, set up for zeal and emulation of the Lord. But it speaks under the figure of two sisters, because from one are generated Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the stock, and the former is called the adversary, the latter the rebellious one. For the former completely turned away from God, immediately worshipping golden calves in Dan and Bethel. But the latter, in whose possession was the Temple and the true religion of God, gradually departed from the Lord (3 Kings 12). And for this reason, she is called the rebellious one. According to the spiritual interpretation, prophecy about heretics is this: those who, thinking themselves wise in heretical cunning, ascend the mind of pride with knowledge of a false name; and, defiled by the pleasures of this flesh, expose their fornication under every leafy and pleasant tree. When they are delivered to the devil for the destruction of the flesh, it often happens that the house of Judah, that is, the confession and true faith, is not at all frightened by their example but commits much greater evils. And they contaminate the land of the Church with the ease of their fornication, committing adultery with stone and wood, following the teachings that are against God. But if an ecclesiastical man wishes to correct someone who has gone astray, and to cut away the rotten flesh, and to bring back to repentance those who have followed falsehood: and nonetheless they continue to adhere to the ancient error under the guise of Ecclesiastical truth, it can be said of them: In all these things, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned back to me with her whole heart, but in deceit. But this prophecy was fulfilled during the time of Josiah, a righteous king, under whom Jeremiah began to prophesy.

It is written in the law: "You shall not commit adultery." This is rightly observed according to the simple meaning of the letter by one who is still in bondage to foul passions. But by one who has already forsaken these dirty acts and impure affections, it must be observed in the spirit, so that he may forsake not only the worship of idols but also all heathen superstitions and the observance of auguries and omens and all signs and days and times, or at any rate he should not be entangled in the conjectures of words and names that destroy the simplicity of our faith. This is the kind of fornication by which Jerusalem is said to have been corrupted, the fornication "on every high hill and beneath every leafing tree." The Lord criticized Jerusalem for this through the words of the prophet, "Let them stand and save you, these astrologers who studied the stars and counted the months so as to tell from these what was coming to you."

If, then, he says that first I sent away Israel because of its sins and sent it into deportation, but Judah, hearing what had happened to Israel, did not turn back, he speaks concerning our own sins. Since the things that befell Israel are read, and the transgressions concerning that people, we ought to fear, and: "if he did not spare the natural branches, how much more will he not spare us either; if that One who is both kind and at the same time loving to mankind, God, did not spare but cut off those who boasted to be a 'cultivated olive tree,' those rooted in 'the root' of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, how much more will he not spare us." For he is not kind and yet not severe, nor severe and yet not kind. For if he were only kind but not severe, we would to a greater degree despise "his kindness." If he were severe but not kind, perhaps we would even despair over our sins. But as it is, as God — for we human beings need his kindness when we repent, but his severity when we persist in our sins — God is both kind and severe, and he speaks to us through the prophets and says: "Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me?" Understand that Israel to be that people of mine: "She went up upon every high mountain and beneath every shady tree." If you see the Pharisee going up into the temple boastfully and not beating his own breast nor being anxious about his own evils, but saying: "I thank you that I am not as the rest of mankind, robbers, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector; I fast twice on the sabbath, I tithe my possessions" — you will see that he has gone up "upon every high mountain" in a blameworthy manner, having loved high-mindedness, and, according to his boasting and according to his arrogance, upon every high hill, and he has come to be "beneath every tree" that is not fruitful, but "leafy"; for the leafy tree is one thing, and another is the tree that men plant into groves. When they plant trees into groves, they plant not the fruit-bearing ones, not a fig tree nor a vine, but only barren trees for the sake of delight. Such you will find the words of the heterodox and the beauties of their persuasive arguments, which do not turn back those who hear. Whenever, then, someone gives himself over to such words, he has gone "beneath every leafy tree." He did not say "every tree" and fall silent, nor again did he add: every fruitful tree, but he said "beneath every leafy tree." Because of this you will understand what indeed the lawgiver means when he says: "You shall not plant any tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall not make a grove"; for you have also the very name of the grove forbidden.

The very wording of the passage that has been read has something obscure in it, which must first be understood; and after this, if God grants it, we shall come to know his mystical intent. Now he wants us to know this: that, as is written in the books of Kingdoms, the people were divided in the times of Rehoboam into the kingdom of the ten tribes under Jeroboam and into that of the two tribes under Rehoboam; and those under Jeroboam were called Israel, but those under Rehoboam Judah. And this division of the people has remained, so far as concerns the historical record, down to the present; for we know of no historical account that has gathered Israel and Judah together into one. Now Israel sinned first and more grievously — the people under Jeroboam and his successors — and sinned so much beyond Judah that they were condemned by Providence to become captives "into Assyria," as the Scripture says, "unto this day." After this the sons of Judah also sinned and were condemned to captivity into Babylon, not "unto this day" as Israel, but for "seventy years," concerning which Jeremiah prophesied, and which Daniel also mentioned. If we understand these things as spoken with reference to that people of that time, look at the words of the prophet, whether they do not indicate something of this sort. For he accuses, as it were, the sins of Israel, and says that, when so many sins had been committed by Israel, the congregation of Judah, having heard of their transgressions and in what manner I made them come to be in captivity, was not instructed but added to its sins, so that, because of this addition of sins when compared with the sins of Israel, righteousness was found in Israel over against Judah. Then, upon these things, the prophet is commanded to prophesy, since Judah had become worse than Israel, in order that after its sins it might turn back. So after the prophecy addressed to Israel commanding it to turn back, the prophet prophesies that Israel and Judah are going to come together and that there is at some time to be one kingdom of them both. Let whoever is concerned with the readings take up the words of the whole of today's reading, and then he will see that these meanings have been made plain.

"And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king: Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me" — not Judah, but Israel first? "She went up upon every high mountain and beneath every leafy tree and there played the harlot; and I said, after she had committed all this fornication: Turn back to me; and she did not turn back. And the faithless Judah saw her faithlessness," the faithlessness of the congregation of Israel. "And they saw" — those of Judah — "that for all the things in which the house of Israel had been caught, in which she committed adultery, I also sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce." Judah ought to have been instructed — for I sent away Israel, the congregation of Israel, I cast them out into the Assyrians "and gave her a bill of divorce into her hands" — "and the faithless Judah did not fear." But after so many things as I did to Israel, sending her away, giving her a bill of divorce, when the congregation of Judah ought to have been instructed by what those others suffered, they not only were not instructed but added to their sins, so that the sins of the congregation of Israel, by comparison with the sins of the congregation of Judah, seemed to be righteousness. "And I gave her a bill of divorce into her hands; and the faithless Judah her sister did not fear, and she went and played the harlot herself also, and her fornication became as nothing to her, and she committed adultery with wood and stone. And in all these things the faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood" she turned to me. She was not ashamed before me for what I had done to Israel, so as to turn completely; but though she ought to have turned in truth, she instead turned in falsehood. "And in all these things the faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood. And the Lord said to me: Israel has justified his soul as against the faithless Judah." The sins of Israel, compared with the transgressions of Judah, have become a justification of the soul of the congregation of Israel.

Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there. I said, after all this infidelity of hers, 'Return unto me,' and she did not return." Again, "She committed adultery with tree and stone," meaning, "Leaving me, her spouse, she served false gods." Accordingly, here too he called the worship of idols infidelity.

In addition to these things, "when people fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?" Why, then, is the virgin "turned away with a stubborn revolting," even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah, "And when she had committed all these fornications, I said, 'Return to me, and she did not return'?" "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?" Indeed, many safeguards against evil would you find in the divine Scripture and many remedies which from destruction bring salvation—the mysteries of death and resurrection, the words of the terrible judgment and everlasting punishment, the doctrines of repentance and the forgiveness of sin, those innumerable examples of conversion, the drachma, the sheep, the son who spent his livelihood with harlots, was lost and found, was dead and alive again. Let us use these safeguards against evil. Through them, let us heal our soul.

Then He directs His speech unto the city, in this way too being minded to correct His hearers, and saith, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" What meaneth the repetition? this is the manner of one pitying her, and bemoaning her, and greatly loving her. For, like as unto a woman beloved, herself indeed ever loved, but who had despised Him that loved her, and therefore on the point of being punished, He pleads, being now about to inflict the punishment. Which He doth in the prophets also, using these words, "I said, Turn thou unto me, and she returned not."

For these two indeed are chief sins, engendered of violent lust, the one of sexual desire, the other of the desire of money.… Let no man then of them that live in vice despair; let no man who lives in virtue slumber. Let neither this last be confident, for often the harlot will pass him by; nor let the other despair, for it is possible for him to pass by even the first. Hear what God saith unto Jerusalem, "I said, after she had committed all these whoredoms, Turn thou unto me, and she returned not." When we have come back unto the earnest love of God, He remembers not the former things. God is not as man, for He reproaches us not with the past, neither doth He say, Why wast thou absent so long a time? when we repent; only let us approach Him as we ought. Let us cleave to Him earnestly, and rivet our hearts to His fear.… How many other such changes wouldest thou see, both to have taken place of old, and now taking place every day? For this reason then I say, Neither let him on the stave despair, nor let him in the church be confident. For to this last it is said, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall;" and to the other, "Shall not he that falleth arise?" and, "Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees." Again, to these He saith, "Watch;" but to those, "Awake, thou that sleepest and arise from the dead." For these need to preserve what they have, and those to become what they are not; these to preserve their health, those to be delivered from their infirmity, for they are sick; but many even of the sick become healthy, and of the healthy many by remissness grow infirm.

Have we provoked Him severely, so as no other man ever did? this is just the reason why we ought specially to abstain from our present deeds and to repent for the past, and exhibit a great change. For the evils we have once perpetrated cannot provoke Him so much as our being unwilling to make any change in the future. For to sin may be a merely human failing, but to continue in the same sin ceases to be human, and becomes altogether devilish. For observe how God by the mouth of His prophet blames this more than the other. "For," we read, "I said unto her after she had done all these deeds of fornication, return unto me, and yet she returned not."… Hear at least what He says by the mouth of the prophet: "Declare thou first thy iniquities that thou mayest be justified." Now this He demands from us in order to intensify our love towards Him.

For this is a new kind of his goodness, that even after adultery he receives the soul, provided she returns and repents from the heart; as he himself also says through the prophet: "if a woman go out from her husband and sleep with another man, shall she return again to her husband? Shall she not be defiled with defilement? But you have fornicated with many shepherds, and yet you were returning to me". Likewise elsewhere he says: "and after you had fornicated in all these things, I said: return to me; and not even so did you return, says the Lord".

"And she played the harlot there. And I said, after she had committed all this fornication: Turn back to me; and she did not turn back, and the faithless Judah saw her faithlessness." We too have been reproached — I mean those of us who sin and do not keep the covenants of God, nor look to the fact that those others destroyed the covenant though they were nobly born, being of Abraham, having received the promise. We ought, then, to reckon that, since those others fell out of the blessings and the promises and it profited them nothing to be from the fathers, how much more shall we, when we sin, be forsaken. "If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham," the Savior says to them. And again John: "Do not begin to say among yourselves, We have Abraham as father; for I tell you that God is able out of these stones to raise up children to Abraham" — hinting by "stones" at us who have the stony heart and are hardened against the truth. And truly the powerful God has raised up children to Abraham from the stones, if we remain in the childbearing and keep the spirit of adoption. So the "faithless Judah" saw "her faithlessness," the faithlessness of the house of Israel — she who did not keep the covenants toward God — and she saw "that for all the things in which that one had been caught" (for we, who are Judah, behold all these things, if we read the Scripture): that concerning the things in which the house of Israel had been caught, in which she committed adultery, God sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce. We ought to be instructed by what he did to those others when he judged them according to their sins, forsaking them and delivering them into captivity and delivering them to slaughter and delivering them to their enemies; from these things we ought to turn back, and each of us ought to reckon that, if God did not spare the natural branches, how much more will he not spare us. If he thus drove out those from the fathers when they became sinners, what shall we who have been called from the Gentiles suffer — we who reckoned none of these things, though we were called in order that that people might be provoked to jealousy, seeing the slave honored, beholding the base-born one drawn near? And if those others suffered so many things, how much more, if we sin, shall we be forsaken?

"In the things in which the house of Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce into her hands; and the faithless Judah did not fear" the things I had done to the house of Israel, namely that "I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce." She "did not fear" because of what had happened to those others. Someone entered into the house of a master of a household; he is newly bought, he inquires which of the former household servants the master honored and why, which of the servants he dishonored and why. Having carefully considered, if he wishes to remain in the house of the master, he guards against falling into those things which the former slaves did who sinned and were cast out and delivered over to punishment. Then, having learned what the former slaves did who were well approved, and upon what terms they obtained their freedom, he emulates those. And we too were not slaves of God, but of idols and demons, Gentiles; yesterday and the day before we drew near to God; let us read the Scripture, let us see who was justified, who was condemned, let us imitate those who were justified, let us guard against falling into those things into which those fell who were taken captive, who were cast out from God.

Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there. I said, after all this infidelity of hers, 'Return unto me,' and she did not return." Again, "She committed adultery with tree and stone," meaning, "Leaving me, her spouse, she served false gods." Accordingly, here too he called the worship of idols infidelity.

"Go," therefore, "and read these words toward the north."

If the wording has been understood, let us see what it means to make plain in these things. The calling of the Gentiles took its beginning from the transgression of Israel, and the apostles, when they preached to the synagogues of the Jews, say: "To you the word of salvation was sent; but since you judge yourselves unworthy, behold, we turn to the Gentiles." And the apostle, knowing what he knows about these matters, says: "By their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy." So then the many sins of that people brought about that they were forsaken and that we came to the hope of life — we who were strangers to the covenants, aliens to the promises. For how does it come to me, who wherever I chanced to be born was a stranger to what is called the holy land, now to discourse about the promises of God, and to believe in the God of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and by the grace of God to receive Jesus Christ who was proclaimed beforehand by the prophets? If you understand these two peoples, the one from Israel and the one from the Gentiles, consider for me the deportation of Israel with regard to that people of Israel, and understand it written concerning that people: "I have sent her away and given her a bill of divorce"; for God sent away that people and gave it a bill of divorce. This is something of the following sort in the case of those who have married: if the wife is displeasing to the husband, the law of Moses says, a "bill of divorce" was made out from the husband and the wife was sent away, and it was permitted to the one who had sent away his former wife, because she seemed to have behaved unseemly, to marry another woman. Thus in the spiritual sense behold those people receiving a bill of divorce. And since they received the bill of divorce, therefore they were utterly forsaken. For where are there prophets any longer among them? Where are signs any longer among them? Where is the manifestation of God? Where is the worship, the temple, the sacrifices? They were cast out from their own place; so he gave Israel a "bill of divorce."

Then we, being Judah (and Judah because of the Savior who arose from the tribe of Judah; for it is plain that our Lord has arisen out of Judah), have turned to the Lord, and our last state — which may it not now already be — seems to be becoming much like their last state, if indeed it is not even worse.

For that such things will be also in our own case at the consummation of this age is plain from what was said by the Savior in the Gospel, in which he says: "Because iniquity is multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end, he shall be saved"; and: "He will do signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." Such will our own case be, so that the Savior says concerning his own coming, since among so many churches a faithful one is scarcely to be found: "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he indeed find faith upon the earth?" And truly, if we judge matters by truth and not by crowds, and if we judge matters by moral choice and not by seeing many gathered together, we shall see that now we are not faithful. But they were faithful then, when the noble martyrdoms were taking place, when, having escorted the martyrs from the burial-places, we came to the assemblies, and the whole church attended, unafflicted, and the catechumens were catechized amid the martyrdoms and amid the deaths of those confessing the truth "unto death," "not frightened" nor troubled "before the living God." Then we know that they had also seen paradoxical signs and marvels. Then there were faithful — few indeed, but truly faithful — journeying the narrow and afflicted way that leads "unto life." But now, when we have become many, since it is not possible for the elect to be many (for he does not lie who said, Jesus: "Many are called, but few are chosen"), out of the multitude of those who profess godliness exceedingly few are those who attain to the election of God and to blessedness.

"And the faithless Judah did not fear, and she went and played the harlot herself also." Israel having played the harlot first, Judah too played the harlot afterward. "And her fornication became as nothing, and she committed adultery with wood and stone." Whenever we sin, we do nothing else than, becoming stony-hearted, commit adultery with "the stone." Whenever we sin and play the harlot "beneath every leafy tree," we too commit adultery with "the wood." "And the faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood." If we turned to God, but deficiently, we are charged as not having turned "with the whole heart." Therefore "the faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart." He did not say: and the faithless Judah turned, and stood firm, but: "and the faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood" she turned. The true conversion, then, is to read the things of old, to know those who were justified, to imitate them, to read those things, to see those who were blamed, to guard against falling into those blames, to read the books of the New Testament, the words of the apostles, and after reading to write all these things upon the heart, to live according to them, so that a bill of divorce may not be given to us also, but that we may be able to come to the holy inheritance, and, when the fullness of the Gentiles has been saved, then Israel may be able to enter in; for if the fullness of the Gentiles enters in, then all Israel shall be saved, "and they shall become one flock, one shepherd," teaching us to glorify God the Almighty in Christ Jesus himself, to whom be the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

Let us now proceed to consider the mode of his loving discipline, with the aid of the prophetic testimony. Admonition, then, is loving care's censure and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, "How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you did not allow it!" And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, "And they committed adultery with wood and stone and burned incense to Baal." For it is a very great proof of his love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people who had kicked and bounded away, he notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance and says by Ezekiel, "Son of man, you live in the midst of scorpions; nevertheless, speak to them, if perhaps they will hear."

Admonition, then, is loving care's censure and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, "How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you would not!" And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, "And they committed adultery with stock and stone and burned incense to Baal." For it is a very great proof of God's love that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people who had kicked and bounded away, he nevertheless exhorts them to repentance. He says by Ezekiel, "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of scorpions. Nevertheless, speak to them, if by chance they will hear." Further, to Moses he says, "Go and tell Pharaoh to send my people forth, but I know that he will not send them forth."

It is not only bodily sin that is called fornication and adultery, but any sin you have committed, and especially transgression against that which is divine. Perhaps you ask how we can prove this. "They prostituted themselves," it says "with things they made." Don't you see an impudent act of fornication? And again, "They committed adultery with pieces of wood." Don't you see a kind of adulterous religion? Do not then commit spiritual adultery, while keeping your bodies chaste.

Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there. I said, after all this infidelity of hers, 'Return unto me,' and she did not return." Again, "She committed adultery with tree and stone," meaning, "Leaving me, her spouse, she served false gods." Accordingly, here too he called the worship of idols infidelity.

"And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly." It is a smaller sin to follow evil that you think is good than not to venture to defend what you know for certain is good. If we cannot endure threats, injustice and poverty, how shall we overcome the flames of Babylon? Let us not lose by hollow peace what we have preserved by war. I should be sorry to allow my fears to teach me faithlessness when Christ has put the true faith in the power of my choice.

(Verse 11.) And the Lord said to me: He has justified his soul, the one who turned away from Israel, by the comparison of the one who acted treacherously in Judah. Israel is more just, he said, in comparison to Judah: because she perished immediately in the beginning, while the other could be corrected by her sufferings. Let us observe that the new heresy is compared to the old, in which Israel is said to be justified in comparison to Judah. And it is not surprising that the name of justice is attributed to one sister of a nation, when even Sodom receives the name of justice in comparison to Jerusalem, as the Lord says through Ezekiel: Sodom has been justified by you (Ezek. 16:55): and the tax collector becomes just by comparison to the Pharisee (Luke 18).

(Verse 12 onwards) Go, and cry out (or read) these words against the North, and say: Return, O backsliding Israel, declares the Lord, and I will not turn away (or strengthen) my face from you (or against you), for I am holy (or merciful), declares the Lord, and I will not be angry forever. However, know your iniquity, for you have transgressed against the Lord your God (or acted wickedly), and have scattered (or poured out) your ways to strangers under every green tree, and have not listened to my voice, says the Lord. The Hebrew word Carath () signifies 'call, shout, and read'. Hence it was translated by Aquila and Symmachus as 'shout: read the Septuagint and Theodotion'. However, it is directed towards the North, against Babylon and the Assyrians, to the twelve tribes: and their return is preached. And I will not turn my face away from you, he says; or I will not set my face against you, so that I will not receive you with the severity of judgment, but with the countenance of mercy. For I am holy and merciful, so that I may not remember your iniquities anymore, nor recall that you have departed from the Lord and that you have delighted in idols for him, and that you have committed fornication under every shady and leafy tree. Indeed, this can be said about heretics and those negligent in the Church, who are daily called to repentance by ecclesiastical men: and it can properly be applied to them, 'And you did not hear my voice.' But every heretic dwells in the North, and has lost the heat of faith, nor can he hear that of the Apostle: fervent in spirit (Rom. XII, 11). And because he has given himself over to pleasures, he has departed from the Lord, and has scattered his ways with alien doctrines, and has followed pleasure. For no heresy is constructed except for the sake of gluttony and the belly, so as to seduce burdened women with sins, always learning and never coming to the knowledge of truth (II Tim. III), concerning whom it is truly said: who devour my people like bread (Psal. XIII, 8): and those whom Christ points out, devouring the houses of widows (Matth. XII). And when I have mercy on you, do not think that it is just: but remember always your iniquity, and know that you have fornicated against the Lord, and lower the proud neck, so that as you have offended the Lord through arrogance, you may please Him through humility. But what we said above, 'And I will not set My face upon you,' fits with that prophetic saying: 'Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.' (Psalm 50:11).

We should consider our pastor happy in his death because he has laid aside his life at an age rich with years and has gone to his rest with the greatest honors from the Lord. Concerning all else we have this to recommend, that you should cast off all depression, regain self-control and rise to the necessary duty of caring for the church, so that the holy God may give heed to his own flock and provide for you a shepherd according to his will, one who will govern you wisely.

Brethren and especially priests, if God rebukes whom he loves, and rebukes him for the very purpose of amending him, do not hate, but love those whom you rebuke, that you may amend them. God also before predicted by Jeremiah and pointed to our times, when he said, "And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you with the food of discipline." But if in Holy Scripture discipline is frequently and everywhere prescribed, and the whole foundation of religion and of faith proceeds from obedience and fear, what is more fitting for us urgently to desire? What is there more to wish for and to hold fast than to stand with roots strongly fixed and with our houses based with solid mass on the rock, which is unshaken by the storms and whirlwinds of the world, so that we may come by the divine precepts to the rewards of God?

God, who gave the word to those who preach the gospel with great power for the perfection of the gospel, may he himself hold me by my right hand, and guide me with his counsel and receive me with glory. He is a shepherd to shepherds and a guide to guides that we may feed his flock with knowledge, not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd, according to the blessing, and not according to the curse pronounced against the people of former days. May he give strength and power to his people, and himself present them to himself.

(V. 14 seqq.) Turn to me, O sons, returning (or wandering and straying), says the Lord: for I am your husband (or master), and I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and bring you to Zion, and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine. And when you have increased and multiplied in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they will no longer say, the ark of the covenant (or testament) of the Lord: neither will it come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will it be visited, nor made anymore. The Jews think that this was fulfilled after the return from Babylon under the rule of Cyrus, king of Persia, and to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel (Isaiah 1). Even if not all returned, this is meant to signify: let one be taken from the city and two from the clan. But it is better understood in the coming of Christ, when the remnant was saved, as the Apostle says and explains: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us seed, we would have been like Sodom and similar to Gomorrah (Romans 9:29); then they were brought into Zion, about which it is written: Glorious things are said of you, O city of God (Psalm 87:2). And there were given shepherds according to his heart, the apostles and apostolic men, and they feed a multitude of believers, not in Jewish ceremonies, but in the knowledge of Christ and doctrine, and by preaching the Gospel spread throughout the whole world, they will not have confidence in the Ark of the Lord, which was the guardian of the Mosaic law, but they themselves will be the temple of God: nor will they follow the wandering Nazarenes, serving abolished sacrifices, but they will follow a spiritual worship. But others interpret this as referring to the end times, when with the coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles, all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11).

The Lord does not say: I will appoint other good shepherds, to do these things, but I, He says, will do; I will commit my sheep to no one. Be secure, Brothers; you sheep, be secure. ...Here I find all good shepherds in one shepherd. For truly good shepherds are not lacking, but they are in one. There are many who are divided. This one is proclaimed, because unity is commended. Nor indeed are the shepherds now silent, and it is said "shepherd," because the Lord has not found one to whom He might entrust His sheep. But then He commended, because He found Peter. Moreover, even in Peter himself, He commended unity. There were many Apostles, and it is said to one: Feed my sheep. Let it not be that good shepherds are now lacking, let it not be that they are missing from us, let it not be that by His mercy, He does not beget and establish them. Surely, if there are good sheep, there are also good shepherds, for from good sheep come good shepherds. But all good shepherds are in one, they are one. They feed, Christ feeds. For the friends of the bridegroom do not speak their own voice, but they rejoice greatly because of the voice of the bridegroom. Therefore, He Himself feeds, when they feed; and He says: I feed, because His voice is in them, His love is in them. For even Peter himself, to whom He was entrusting His sheep as one to another, He wanted to make one with Himself, and thus to commend the sheep to him, so that he would be the head, he would bear the figure of the body, that is, of the Church, and as if the bridegroom and bride were one in one flesh. Therefore, that He might commend the sheep, what does He first say to him, not as to another he might commend? Peter, do you love me? And he responded: I love you. And again: Do you love me? And he responded: I love you. And thirdly: Do you love me? And he responded: I love you. He affirms love, so that He might strengthen unity.

(Verse 17) In that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather unto it in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the stubbornness of their wicked heart. The Lord shall not sit upon the ark of the Covenant and Cherubim, as was previously said to that people: You who sit upon the Cherubim, manifest (Psalm 79:2): but all who truly believe with perfect mind, shall be the throne of God. Or certainly, it is better understood as the whole Church: when all nations gather together in the name of the Lord in Jerusalem, where the vision of peace is found; and they shall not walk after the stubbornness of their wicked heart, to do what they desire, nor follow their own errors; but they shall say with the Prophet: My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:9).

(Verse 18.) In those days, the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the North to the land that I gave to your fathers. This is fulfilled specifically in the coming of Christ, when the twelve tribes believed in the Gospel together, abandoning the land of the North, the harshest cold, and leaving behind the dominion of the devil. They then received the promised land, which had been promised to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I recently edited a small book about the promised land.

(Verse 19) But I said: How shall I put you among the children, and give you a desirable land, an excellent heritage of the armies of the nations? And I said, you shall call me father, and you shall not cease to follow me. For the excellent heritage of the armies of the nations, which the Seventy translated, Theodotion more significantly translated as the renowned heritage of the strongest nations, signifying Christ, who is the leader and Lord of all nations, to his name and the belief in his passion. He himself said to Israel: 'You shall call me Father.' And: 'Whoever believes in me, believes in the Father' (John II, 19). He himself promised: 'I will make you into sons: in the number, namely, of my sons, who have believed in me from the people of the nations; and to whom I have given the desirable land.' For as many as received him, he gave them the power to become sons of God (John I).

Our obstinacy and scorn, reflecting our spirit of rebellious disdain for him when he urges us to return and be saved, is described in the following comparison. He says, "And I said you shall call me Father and shall not cease to walk after me. But as a woman that despises her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me, says the Lord." It is only appropriate that as he has compared Jerusalem with an adulteress forsaking her husband, he compares his own love and persevering goodness with a man's undying love for a woman. For the goodness and love of God that he has always shown to the human race could not be more appropriately described by any comparison than the case of a man inflamed with most ardent love for a woman. God's love is overcome by no injuries that might make him stop caring for our salvation or that might drive him from his first intention as if he were defeated by our sins. Instead, he is consumed by a more burning passion for her, the more he sees that he is slighted and despised by her.

(Verse 20) But as a woman may despise her lover, so the house of Israel has despised Me, says the Lord. The voice of Christ is near the people of Judah, to whom He said: I will make you as sons, and I will give you a desirable land. And you shall call Me Father, and you shall not cease to go after Me. Just as a woman, he says, despises not her husband, but her lover, if she has once been united with him, seeing him serving her lust, and the law of nature changed in her, by which she was once subject to her husband, with the Lord saying: And her conversion shall be to you. So the house of Israel, that is, the people of Judah, has despised the Lord the Savior to their own destruction.

(Verses 21, 22.) A voice was heard in the streets (or on the lips), the weeping and wailing of the children of Israel, for they have done wickedness, they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, O returning children, and I will heal your turnings (or contritions): for which Symmachus translated as conversions. God willingly receives the penitent, and runs to meet the son who is wasted with want and filth, and immediately clothes him with the former garments, and restores glory to the one who returns: but only if he returns with weeping and wailing. For he has done wrong because of his own fault; and he has forgotten the Lord his God and his Father, to whom he speaks with prophetic words: Return, O returning sons. I call you sons for this reason, because understanding your sins, you return with weeping and wailing to your parent. And when you have returned to the Lord, he will heal all your contritions, whether aversions by which you had gone away from the Lord, or certainly conversions. Although we may return to the Lord of our own volition, yet unless He draws us and strengthens our desire with His protection, we cannot be saved. Let us understand this both in relation to the Jewish people returning to the Lord and to the heretics who have forsaken the Lord.

Through the prophet the Lord speaks and declares with his own gracious words how much mercy and goodness he wishes to bestow on humankind. He says, "But if the wicked do penance for all his sins, which he has committed, and keeps all my commandments and does justice and mercy, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he has done. In his justice, which he has done, he shall live." And, "Is it my will that a sinner should die," says the Lord God, "and not that he should be converted from his evil ways, and I shall cause him to live?" In another passage we find, "The wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him on the day that he turns from his wickedness." And again: "Return, you returning children, and I will heal your sorrow."

Let us return to the Lord our God, and whenever we pray, he, who daily urges us to pause and get to know him, will hear us. And in another place he says, "Return to me, and I will return to you." And again, "Return to me, my backsliding children, and I will rule over you." Ezekiel likewise calls on us, saying, "Why will you die, O house of Israel? I want not the death of the sinner, only that he turn from his evil ways and live." The most merciful Lord and source of all goodness cries out to us in the Gospel and declares, "Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Carry my yoke on you and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Let us consider that the goodness of God calls us to repentance, and holy people encourage us to salvation. Let us not harden our hearts and collect against ourselves a store of divine anger for the day of wrath. Then, on that day, shall be revealed the just judgment of God, who will repay each one according to his deeds. But let us return to the Lord with our whole heart. According to the words of Moses, who reminds us, "If you return to the Lord with your whole heart, he will purify your heart and the heart of your descendants."

It is clearly written in the Acts of the apostles that the apostles first went into the synagogue of the Jews, proclaiming to them, as to kinsmen through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the things written concerning the coming of Jesus Christ. But when, since those men would not receive what was said, it was necessary that there should be other hearers of what was spoken, then, having defended their cause to them, they left them behind; for it is written: "It was necessary that the word of God should be proclaimed to you; but since you judge yourselves unworthy, behold, we turn to the nations." And this thing, though it is clearly stated in the Acts of the apostles, is in effect said in many places also by the prophets. For the Holy Spirit first speaks through the prophets to those of that people, but if ever, after it has said much, it is not heard, it prophesies the word that is proclaimed to the nations.

And this very thing has come about at the beginning of today's reading, since before it there is said, to those of Israel, the words: "Even if you call me Father, yet from me you shall not be turned away. But as a wife plays false against him who is with her, so has the house of Israel played false against me, says the Lord." And when these things concerning Israel had been said first, and the sons of Israel had heard "that they did wrong in their ways and forgot God their holy one," next the Holy Spirit transfers the word to us who are of the nations and says: "Turn back, you turning sons, and I will heal your fractures." For we are the ones filled with fractures — so each might say, even if now he has been cleansed and healed from the fractures — "for we too were once foolish, foolish, going astray, enslaved to lusts and to many and various pleasures, passing our lives in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another; but when the kindness and love toward man of God our Savior appeared, through the washing of regeneration he poured out his mercy upon us." And yet, having once mentioned that apostolic saying, I will try to set it forth more plainly. For he did not say: "we were once foolish, disobedient" (only of the nations); but Paul, the apostle, the one from Israel, the one who "became blameless as regards the righteousness that is in the law," says: "for we too" (those from Israel) "were once disobedient, foolish"; so that not only those of the nations were foolish, nor were those of the nations alone disobedient, nor were those alone sinners, but we also who have been taught the law happened to be such before the coming of Christ. Therefore, after the things spoken to Israel, it is said to us who are of the nations: "Turn back, you turning sons, and I will heal your fractures."

But someone will say: these things were spoken to Israel, and you are dragging them over onto those of the nations. We wish to show that not after many words, but immediately, wherever he wishes to speak to Israel the things concerning turning back, he adds the name of Israel. In what follows, at any rate, it is said: "If Israel turns back to me, says the Lord, then he shall be turned back; and if he removes his abominations out of his mouth, and stands in awe before my face, and swears, 'The Lord lives,' in truth and in judgment and in righteousness, then the nations shall be blessed in him." The first words, then, were spoken to those of the nations; and then, since, "when the fullness of the nations enters, then all Israel shall be saved," according to what is said by the apostle in the Epistle to the Romans. Notice in what manner God on the one hand exhorts us who are turning to turn back completely, promising that if, "turning," we turn back to him, he will heal our "fractures" through Jesus Christ; and we on the other hand, answering — we who do not delay nor are slow concerning salvation as that Israel was — say: "Here we are, we will be yours." God said: "Turn back, you turning sons, and I will heal your fractures"; and those of the nations say: "We will be servants," we who were not formerly "yours," but belonged to demons, but chanced to be under the opposing powers. For "when the Most High divided the nations," we came to be not your portion, nor a measured cord of your inheritance together with the people of Jacob, but we became the portions of others; yet even we who once became the portions of others, when you have said to us "Turn back, you turning sons, and I will heal your fractures," answer: "Here we are"; for this alone we were awaiting — the call. Not as those men were called and made excuses, do we, being called, make excuses. For we have it in the parables of the Gospel that, when certain men had first been called, "the one said, 'I have married a wife, hold me excused,' and another, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, I am going to test them, hold me excused.'" We, then, who are of the nations, were not called and make excuses in that way. Why? Over what field, that we should be busied about it? Over what wise wife? But over what other thing might we be occupied?

God, then, has said to us: "Turn back, you turning sons, and I will heal your fractures"; and, seeing our own fractures and the promise concerning healing, we immediately answer and say: "Behold, we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God." Having heard, then, and having said "we will be yours," let us remember that we promised to God, saying to him "we will be yours"; and, having said to him "we will be yours," let us belong to no other, let us not belong to a spirit of anger, nor to a spirit of grief, nor to a spirit of lust, let us not belong to the devil, nor to his angels; but having been called and having said "Behold, we will be yours," let us show by our works that, having promised to become his, we have dedicated ourselves to no other than to him. And we say: "for you are the Lord our God"; for we confess no other god — not the belly, as the gluttons do, "whose god is the belly"; not silver, as the lovers of money do, and greed, which is idolatry; nor do we deify and make a god of any other thing, of the sort the many make gods; but for us the God who is over all things, "the God over all, through all, and in all," is God, and since we are attached to the love toward God — for love glues us to God — we say: "Behold, here we are, we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God."

(Verse 23.) Behold, we come to you: for you are the Lord our God. Truly the hills were deceitful, and the multitude (or strength) of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Let the penitent say this, forsaking all pride, and the multitude or height of the mountains and hills, by which he exalted himself against God, and being humbled, let him speak: Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

Then, having condemned our former evils — when we thought the idols great and lofty things, and worshipped and regarded as wonderful the things we served; but now have condemned them, judging that all those things were false and were nothing — we say, turning back: "Truly the hills were for a lie," we too having condemned our former lofty things and our former wonders. And perhaps, if we exercise some skill, we shall find the difference between the hills and the mountains among the nations, which, having forsaken, those who said "Behold, here we are, we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God" accuse them as false, both the hills and the mountains. What, then, is the difference between the mountains and the hills among the nations, which, having condemned, we say: "Truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains"? This we say, having condemned our former things. Of the objects of worship among the nations, some are worshipped as gods, and some as heroes. For they themselves confess concerning certain of them that they were formerly men and were deified. They worship Heracles not as a god by birth, but as one changed from a man into a god; they worship Asclepius as one who, from among men, on account of virtue, was changed into a god. But whenever they worship the fathers of these, named gods among them, they worship them not as having changed from men into gods, but, as those men suppose, as being gods from the beginning. Those, then, who are reckoned by the nations to be gods from the beginning will be the mountains and "the power of the mountains," while those reckoned among them now to be gods, but formerly to have been men, these are "the hills."

Having come to know, then, both ranks of the objects of worship, "truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains." For those who serve them do not suppose that these things are false. On this account they think that the oracles and the cures are true cures, not seeing the difference between all "power and signs and wonders of falsehood, in all deceit of unrighteousness among those who are perishing," and every power of signs and wonders of truth. For the things which Christ Jesus did, these were signs of truth, and, before him, the things which Moses did were a power of truth. But the things which the Egyptians did were indeed signs and wonders, but of falsehood. And so also the things which Simon the magician did after Jesus, so as to lead astray the nation of Samaria and to be reckoned to be a power of God — these too were signs and wonders of falsehood. When, therefore, we condemn those things, we who have condemned them say: "Truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains."

Then, since we who are of the nations know that "by the trespass of Israel we received a way of salvation," and that they have been cast outside until our fullness enters, and since we know that if "the fullness of the nations enters, after this all Israel shall be saved," for this reason we say first the words "truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains," and second, concerning Israel who shall be saved after the fullness of the nations: "yet through the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel." And since we once mentioned the apostolic text which says that "by the trespass by which Israel fell aside, salvation has come to the nations," and that when "the fullness of the nations enters," while Israel remains outside, after the entering fullness of the nations "then all Israel shall be saved," come, let us unfold the matters touching these passages. There was an Israel being saved. The greater part of Israel fell away, but "a remnant according to the election of grace has come to be," concerning which remnant it is mystically said "in Elijah": "I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent the knee to Baal." And, interpreting concerning this remnant, the apostle says: "So then also in the present time a remnant according to the election of grace has come to be." Therefore Israel — even if a remnant being saved — the rest of Israel having been left behind. These two ranks, if you are able, transfer for me also onto those of the nations. For he did not say: when all the nations are saved, then all Israel shall be saved; but "when the fullness of the nations enters, then all Israel shall be saved": not some Israel shall be saved after all the nations, but after "the fullness of the nations." If anyone is able, let him henceforth, just as he found Israel being saved after the fullness of the nations, having passed over by the word, consider when all shall serve — according to what is said — "God under one yoke, and from the ends of Ethiopia sacrifices"; when, as is said in the sixty-seventh Psalm: "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand before God," and the word gives command to the kingdoms "of the earth," saying: "Sing to the Lord, make music to the God of Jacob."

(Verse 24.) The confusion devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth: their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. All the labors of the heretics, of which it is written, They have failed in searching examination (Psalm 63:7), from their youth whom they deceived, their sons and daughters who progressed in heresy or were merely held captive by luxury, our confusion has overwhelmed them. From this they conclude:

Therefore we who are of the nations say, concerning ourselves, repenting over the false things which we thought to be true: "Truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains"; and concerning Israel who shall be saved after us: "yet through the Lord our God is the salvation of the house of Israel." Then, confessing concerning the sins in which both our fathers came to be and we ourselves, worshipping idols, we say: "But shame has consumed the toils of our fathers from their youth, their sheep and their oxen, their sons and their daughters." "Shame has consumed the toils of our fathers," and the rest of what is said. If, then, the wretched toil and the false work of the fathers is to be consumed, shame must come about; for before shame the toil of the fathers is not consumed, and the things brought in after. On this account let us consider the differences of those who sin. There are those who sin and are not ashamed nor feel any shame over their sins, nor blush. Such are those who have become past feeling and have given themselves over to all licentiousness and all uncleanness. For look at those of the nations, in what manner they at times recount their fornications and their adulteries as though they were deeds of valor, not even ashamed to confess that they have done such things, and they do not call them sins. Insofar as they are not ashamed, their toils are not consumed. Their sins are not consumed. It is the beginning of good things that a man be ashamed of the things of which he was not ashamed. On this account I do not think that a curse is being spoken in the prophets in the words "Let all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back." For he prays that those who are without perception of the works of shame may come to a sense of it, so that, being ashamed, they may be able to consume their toils and their sins.

And the irrational motions of the fathers he called "sheep" and "calves." For not all irrational things are praiseworthy; but there are certain irrational things that are blameworthy, such as the sheep of the fathers who have sinned; and there are certain irrational things that are praiseworthy, as: "My sheep hear my voice." These too were sheep, to which we have reason analogous, having the good shepherd in our souls. For whenever the Savior says, "I am the good shepherd," I do not hear it only as all hear it, that he is a shepherd of those who believe (for this too is sound and true), but also in my own soul I ought to have Christ within me, within me the good shepherd, shepherding the irrational motions within me, so that they may no longer go out to pasture at random, but, being led by the shepherd, these things which once chanced to be alien to him may become his own. On this account now, if the shepherd is in me, he rules over my senses; they are no longer under an alien mind, or under Pharaoh, or under Nebuchadnezzar, but under the good shepherd.

"Shame," then, "has consumed the toils of our fathers from their youth, their sheep and their oxen." There is something in us that farms us, whether farming us badly — to speak of the "badly" as concerning the one farming — or farming well. If, then, it farms badly, it is a toil of the fathers being consumed by their shame; but if it farms well, it is not a toil of the fathers; rather it is a toil from which the firstfruits are brought up upon the altar of God. "Their sons and their daughters," these say. Whose sons and daughters, save "the fathers'," are consumed by their shame, and the daughters? Often we have said that the offspring of the soul, that the thoughts are sons, and the works and the deeds done through the body are daughters. Since, then, there are certain wretched thoughts, such as those of the nations thought, and there are also wretched works, on this account sons and daughters are consumed from those who have made them, so that shame may arise in them concerning the things sinned. But may it not be ours to make sons and daughters that need consuming by shame.

(Verse 25) Let us sleep in our confusion, and let our disgrace cover us: for we have sinned against our God, both we and our fathers, from our youth until this day, and we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God. Let Israel speak this, who has not listened to his Lord: let every heretic who repents speak this; and yet it is a part of salvation to confess one's own sins and to know them. Say, he says, your iniquities first: that you may be justified (Isaiah 43:26). For indeed Israel rejected Christ their Lord God, and sinned against Him, not only at the time when He was seen in the flesh, but even before His coming. Hence they say, both we and our fathers from our youth until this day have not heard the voice of our God speaking to our fathers: If ye believe Moses, ye would believe me also: for of me he wrote (John 5:46).

After these things, these who make confession say: "We have lain down in our shame"; and after this they say: "and our dishonor has covered us over." Concerning the veil that lies upon the face of those who do not turn back to the Lord it has often been said by us. Because of this veil, "if Moses is read," the sinner does not understand him; for "a veil lies upon his heart." Because of this veil, if the old covenant is read, the hearer will not understand. Because of this veil the Gospel too is veiled to those who are perishing. We were saying, then, concerning the veil, that the shame is the veil. For insofar as we have "the works of shame," it is clear that we have the veil, according to what is said somewhere in the forty-third Psalm: "and the shame of my face has covered me." I set forth that he who does not have works of shame does not have a veil; such was Paul, saying: "But we all, with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." Paul, then, has an unveiled face; for he does not have works of shame. He who is not as Paul has a veiled face. As, then, there "the shame of my face has covered me" is said in the forty-third Psalm, in the same manner it is said here: "our dishonor has covered us over." Insofar as we work works of dishonor, we have a veil lying upon our heart. If we wish to lay aside the veil that is from dishonor, let us arrive at the works of honor and let us understand that saying of the Savior, "that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father," and let us understand also that which is said by the apostle: "Through the transgression of the law you dishonor God. The righteous man, as he honors the Father, honors the Son." The dishonor, whenever I dishonor the Son — that very dishonor by which I dishonor the Father or the Son — becomes a covering of my face, and I say: "and our dishonor has covered us over." On this account, having understood the veil that lies upon us from the works of shame, from the deeds of dishonor, let us take away the veil. It is in our power for the veil to be taken away; it belongs to no other. For "when Moses turned back to the Lord, the veil was taken away." Do you see how Moses is sometimes taken also as representing the people? Insofar as he did not turn back to the Lord, being a symbol of the people that does not turn back to the Lord, he had a veil lying upon his face; but when he turned back to the Lord, becoming a symbol of those who turn back to the Lord, then "the veil was taken away." And it is not that God commanded him: put on the veil (for the Lord did not say to Moses, put on the veil), but Moses, seeing that the people could not look upon his glory, then put "the veil upon his face," and did not wait for God to say, take off the veil, "when he turned back to the Lord."

This, then, was written so that you too, who put the veil upon your face through the works of dishonor and the works of shame, might yourself also work the taking away of the veil. If you turn back to the Lord, then you take away the veil, and you will no longer say the words "our dishonor has covered us over." For instance, anger lying upon our soul against someone lies as a veil upon our face. On this account, if we wish, while praying, to say, "The light of your face has been marked upon us, O Lord," let us take away the veil and let us do that apostolic thing, "I wish, then, that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger and disputings." If we take away the anger, we have taken away the veil; if we take away all the passions. But insofar as these things are in our mind, in our reasoning, there lies upon the inner face, upon our ruling faculty, the veil and the dishonor, so that we do not behold the glory of God shining. It is not God who hides his glory from us, but we, putting the veil that comes from wickedness upon the ruling faculty.

"Because before our God we have sinned, we and our fathers." Would that we too might say, as these do according to the prophet's impersonation: "We have sinned." "We have sinned" is not the same as "we are sinning"; for he who is still in sin, let him not say "we have sinned," but he who has previously sinned, and has strictly repented, let him say "we have sinned," as also in Daniel there is written a confession of those who no longer sin, saying: "We have sinned, we have done iniquity," and in the Psalms: "Remember not our ancient iniquities," says the prophet. Let us too, then, confess our sins — would that they were not of yesterday, would that they were not of three days ago, but would that, making confession, we might confess concerning sins committed fifteen years before, by having no more sin after those things for fifteen years. But if we sinned yesterday, we are not yet trustworthy in confessing concerning our sins; nor is there room for these sins of ours to be wiped out. "Because we have sinned, we and our fathers, from our youth until this day." Let those first things be said, in another vein, for teaching concerning the best manner of confession; but these are an accusation of sinning from long ago. "From youth," he says, "until this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God"; we have sinned, and we have not obeyed until the present. Then, having turned back and having a beginning of turning, they say: "We have sinned, and we have not obeyed." For not at the very moment of wishing to obey do we already immediately obey; for there is still need of time — just as with wounds, toward healing, so also with the turning, toward turning completely and purely back to God.