OT § 150

The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs us. Whence Isaiah says: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river."

He says, "I AM your God." This "I AM" means "I am the beginning." He explained all this to the all-wise Moses saying "I am the one who is." For he as Lord is truly the God of everything. Those things that are brought into being by him are said to be "beings" also and to share in the source of being.… Again he works in them a steadfast thinking and a well-established mind that they can see God to be truly existing in nature. To these he reveals his glory so that they are not carried away by deceitful voices.

(Verse 17, 18 and following) Thus says the Lord, your holy Redeemer, the God of Israel: I am the Lord your God, teaching you what is profitable, leading you in the way you should go. Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like sand, and the offspring of your womb like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me. Because God has promised future blessings to Israel, he explains why he afflicted them before. If they avoid the same mistakes, they will not suffer similar consequences. Yes, he said, if you had followed my commands: as the Seventy translated; or at least, with a desire for it, if you had followed my commands: if you had done so, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea, signifying abundance of all things. And what follows: and your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your womb like its grains: indeed, it seems to remain in the Jewish people, who to this day, like worms, produce children and grandchildren; but how is this to be understood in terms of the promise, when they do not have peace and righteousness? For either he is angry with them, or appeased. If he is angry, how is his seed multiplied every day? If he is appeased, how do they serve and not possess peace and justice? From this it is clear that it is said now of the apostolic seed, of which we also read above (In Chapter I): Unless the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we would have become like Sodom. And because it seems at that time not to have been fulfilled, it is fulfilled in the coming of Christ: and before his face the seed of Israel remains.

892. Second, where it says, thus says the Lord, he sets out the reason for their captivity, showing on the part of God, ready help: that teach, against their ignorance, and that govern you in the way, of works, against the weakness of their working: I will give you understanding, and I will instruct you in this way, in which you shall go (Ps 32:8).

895. The words of God are profitable

for the illumination of the intellect: the commandment is a lamp (Prov 6:23);

for the delight of the affections: how sweet are your words to my palate (Ps 119:103);

for the kindling of love: there came in my heart as a burning fire (Jer 20:9); the word of the Lord inflamed him (Ps 105:19);

for the uprightness of works: direct me in your truth (Ps 25:5);

for the obtainment of glory: keep the law (Prov 3:21);

for the instruction of others: all divine doctrine (2 Tim 3:16).

Set before yourself any river. It springs from its fountain but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up everything in the oneness of the qualities without any dispute over degrees of greatness. For in this point also Scripture has provided for us. For the Son of God says, "Whoever shall drink of the water that I will give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fountain. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the fountain of eternal life.You observe, then, from his words that the unity of the divine greatness is pointed out and that Christ cannot be denied to be a fountain even by heretics, since the Spirit, too, is called a fountain. The Spirit is called a river, too, just as the Father said, "Behold, I come down on you like a river of peace, and like a stream overflowing the glory of the Gentiles." And who can doubt that the Son of God is the river of life from whom the streams of eternal life flowed forth?

This water is good, then. I mean here the grace of the Spirit. Who will give this Fountain to my heart? Let it spring up in me, let that which gives eternal life flow on me. Let that Fountain overflow on us and not flow away. For Wisdom says, "Drink water out of your own vessels and from the fountains of your own wells, and let your waters flow abroad in your streets." How shall I keep this water so that it does not seep out or glide away? How shall I preserve my vessel, lest any crack of sin penetrating it should let the water of eternal life exude? Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as you taught your apostles, saying, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where rust and moth destroy and where thieves break through and steal."8Our rust is wantonness, our rust is lust, our rust is luxury, which dim the keen vision of the mind with the filth of vices. Again, our moth is Arius, our moth is Photinus, who rend the holy vesture of the church with their impiety, and desiring to separate the indivisible unity of the divine power, gnaw the precious veil of faith with sacrilegious tooth. The water is spillled if Arius has imprinted his tooth, it flows away if Photinus has planted his sting in anyone's vessel.… If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken cisterns, for Christ did not make it his custom to sit by a pool but by a well. There that Samaritan woman found him, she who believed, she who wished to draw water. Although you ought to have come in early morning, nevertheless if you come later, even at the sixth hour, you will find Jesus wearied with his journey. He is weary, but it is because of you, because he has long looked for you, your unbelief has long wearied him. Yet he is not offended if you only come now. He asks to drink who is about to give. But he drinks not the water of a stream flowing by, but your salvation. He drinks your good dispositions. He drinks the cup, that is, the passion that atoned for your sins, that you, drinking of his sacred blood, might quench the thirst of this world.

The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs us. Whence Isaiah says: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river."

He also shows the harm from the fault of the Jews: O that you had hearkened to my commandments, keeping them; as a river, abounding, as the waves, the same: if my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them (Ps 81:13-14).

"Your offspring would have been like the sand and your descendants like its grains." This promise seems still to apply to the Jewish people.… But how can this be taken as a real promise to them since they do not have peace and justice? For he is either angry with them or pleased with them. If angry, how can their seed grow every day? If pleased, then how can they serve and yet not have peace and justice? For this becomes clear concerning the apostolic seed about which we read above, "Unless the Lord of the sabbath left us a seed we would have been like Sodom." At that time it did not seem fulfilled, but in the advent of Christ it was, and before his face the seed of Israel endures.

"I am the Lord your God. I have shown how to find my way so that you may benefit by traveling on that way." … But since the Jews did not desire to pay attention to these commandments, by reason of their attachment to a fleshly manner of thinking, they viewed having many children as a sign of blessing.… Nevertheless, although you have despised my laws, I will consider you worthy of consideration and, once again, you will be called "my people."

Now my beloved, our will ought to keep pace with the grace of God and not fall short; lest while our will remains idle, the grace given us should begin to depart, and the enemy finding us empty and naked, … as was the case with him spoken of in the Gospel, from whom the devil went out. … For the departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean spirit.

"Come forth out of Babylon." If we take the command of the prophet in a spiritual sense, it means that we should fly from the city of this world, from the fellowship of wicked angels and wicked [people], with the feet of that faith that works through love, and we should press onward unceasingly toward the living God.

(Verse 20, 21, 22.) Go out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; proclaim it with a shout of joy, make it heard, proclaim it to the ends of the earth, and say: The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. They did not thirst when he led them through the desert; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out. There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. Those above in that place, where it is written: I have spoken and called it; I have brought him and his way is straight; they understand it concerning Cyrus and Darius; even this refers to those times when the people went out of Babylon and fled from the Chaldeans, and they were redeemed by their Lord God. This also, which is said: They did not thirst in the desert when he led them out, he brought water from the rock for them; and he split the rock, and water flowed. Although they cannot teach that it was fulfilled according to history; for they did not come through the desert under Zerubbabel and Ezra, and the split rock provided them water, as is narrated to have happened to those coming out of Egypt: however, they testify hyperbolically that it was fulfilled in likeness to the previous happiness, when they came through the desert of nations into Judaea, and were liberated from captivity. And so, they say, it is not about Christ, but about Cyrus that it is prophesied: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. And it is understood to mean that perfect happiness will not exist except under Christ, which is reserved for the last time. Moreover, those who interpret this more truly and rightly refer it to the coming of the Savior, of whom it is said: He has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners. They understand it as an exhortation for those who proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Savior himself, so that we may come out of Babylon, that is, the confusion of this world, and flee from the Chaldeans, of whom it is often said: For the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob with his precious blood and led him through the desert of the world and split the rock to give water. The Apostle speaks excellently: But the rock was Christ (I Cor. X, 4). However, the divine word is divided and divided into many parts, so that we may receive it in parts, since we cannot receive it all at once. And so that it may not be thought that this preaching is directed to all the descendants of Jacob and not only to those who will believe through the Apostles, it is added and connected: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord, namely those who have remained in their original error; those who do not deserve to drink from the rock. Whose side pierced with a spear, flowed with water and blood (John 19), giving us baptism and martyrdom.

893. Third, where it says, come forth, he foretells their liberation. And concerning this, he does three things.

First, he proclaims to them their going forth from captivity, so certain of their liberation as if it were present: come forth: go out from her (Rev 18:4); and he enjoins that they should declare the benefit of God: declare: the voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of Babylon: to declare in Zion the revenge of the Lord our God (Jer 50:28).

The three interpreters treat this as if it were something that had already occurred: "You made water flow for them from a rock; the waters broke the hard rock and flowed out." According to the Septuagint, the text alludes to the prophetic grace the Jews enjoyed drinking in divine draughts even while in Babylon from the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. Because they found themselves in a desert of sorts as a result of the impiety of the Babylonians, they possessed a kind of rock in the prophecy that poured for them the drink of salvation. Further, even after the return from exile, it was Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi who presented to them these divine waters, while the admirable Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, the son of Jozadek, wore their piety like a necklace. They offered divine teaching to them like water to the thirsty.

Second, he designates to the liberated the past benefit of consolation: they thirsted not, that is, the Lord will so provide for them in all things, as when they came forth from Egypt: he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out (Ps 78:20), Numbers 21:16.

No one found that this happened when they came out of Babylon and went into Judah. For this is said with reference to the economy of salvation so as to show that God, who was formerly able and is still now able, being of undiminished power, to perform similar miracles with great strength, now, as if calling out, proclaims a universal law, that "there is no peace for the wicked."

Some say that so we might know that this prophecy is not about Christ but about Cyrus, the phrase is added, "there is no peace for the ungodly, says the Lord." This would mean that there will be no perfect happiness except under Christ, which is reserved for the last times. Yet those who more truly and rightly apply these words to the advent of the Savior, about whom it is said, "He has sent me to announce to the poor, to preach liberty to the captives," understand it to be an encouragement of those who preach the gospel or of the Lord and Savior, that we leave Babylon, that is, the confusion of this world, and flee the Babylonians.… For the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob with his most precious blood and led him through the desert and made a way for water to come out of a rock, about which the apostle said, "The Rock was Christ." … And lest it be thought that the prophecy is said about all the seed of Jacob, and not those only who would believe through the apostles, mention is also made concerning this: "there is no peace for the ungodly."

Third, he removes the comfort of peace from the wicked: there is no peace, below (Isa 57:21); what have you to do with peace? (2 Kgs 9:18).

He calls to "the islands," which we take to be the churches of Christ, just as they are lying in the sea or the waves of this present existence and surrounded by the insulting attacks of "the waves," or the persecutions and afflictions that the enemies of the truth inflict on the churches as they war against the divine call. Concerning these islands the divinely inspired Scripture often speaks. There the blessed David sang a psalm and said, "The Lord reigns, and let the earth be glad and many islands rejoice." So when Christ taking all things in his hands reigned over it from heaven and ejected the demons' tyranny, then did they rejoice, that is, the churches over all the earth were filled with happiness.… [Isaiah] promised that our Savior Jesus Christ would be revealed to everyone and that God as the Word would come on the earth among them in a form "after our likeness." … That this is so, the person of the Savior himself attests, "Out of my mother's womb he called my name." Mixed into these words is a deep and great mystery that requires mystical understanding from above.… For he was and is God the Word, equal and sharing the throne with God the Father, coexisting and coeternal.

Consider how he who was not yet born could have a people, unless he were in being before he was born. The prophet says this in his person, "From my mother's womb he gave me my name"; because the angel foretold that he would be called Jesus. Again, concerning the plots of Herod, he says, "He … concealed me in the shadow of his arm."

(Chapter 49—Verse 1 onwards) Listen, O islands, and pay attention, O peoples from afar: The Lord called me from the womb; from the body of my mother he remembered my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword; in the shadow of his hand he protected me. He made me like a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me: You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. And I said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God. LXX: Hear me, O islands, and pay attention, O nations. After a long time, I will stand, says the Lord. From the womb, He called me, and from my mother's womb, He pronounced my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, and He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me like a chosen arrow and concealed me in His quiver. And He said to me: You are my servant, Israel, and in you I will be glorified. And I said, I have labored in vain and have spent my strength for nothing. Therefore, my judgment is before the Lord, and my work is before my God. I know that both these things and the things beneath, which we are about to discuss, pertain to the knowledge or understanding of one chapter, and all should be understood from the person of Christ. But I did not want to burden the reader's mind by presenting everything at once, nor did I want to confuse the magnitude of what can be said in parts. Therefore, I have provided both editions: so that what seems obscure in one may be revealed by the reading of the other. Therefore, after calling the remnant of Israel and rejecting the unbelieving people, of whom it was said: 'There is no peace for the wicked,' says the Lord (Isaiah 48:22), he turns to the Churches gathered from the nations and speaks to them under the name of islands. These, being exposed to the attacks of the persecutors, are like the waves of the sea, and are battered on all sides by a raging storm, rather than being moved. And lest anyone think that our interpretation is forced and does not apply to the Gentiles, but to the synagogues of the Jewish people, it follows: 'And listen, O peoples from far away, that is, from the ends of the earth.' Just as the Seventy translated, it will stand for a long time, that is, not in this time in which they are being said; but after many times have passed. The Lord, He says, called me from the womb, and He remembered my name from my mother's womb. Which now, in the meantime, seems obscure to those who hear it, but afterwards it will become known to all nations, when Gabriel said to Joseph about the birth from the Virgin: 'And you shall call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people' (Matt. 1:21). He has also made His mouth like a sharp sword, in order to kill the wicked with the breath of His mouth. Regarding this sword, he himself speaks in the Gospel: I have not come to bring peace upon the earth, but a sword, separating the wicked from the good: For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Matthew 10:34-35). And in shadow, he says, his hand protected me, so that the lowliness of flesh would be covered by the power of divinity, as the Angel announced to the Virgin: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1:35). He has set me like an arrow chosen, in his quiver he has hidden me. When he says 'an arrow chosen', he shows that God has many arrows, but not chosen ones: which arrows are the Prophets and Apostles, who run throughout the whole world. Of whom it is also sung in another place: Your arrows are sharp, O mighty one; the peoples fall beneath you (Psalm 45:6); and again: Your arrows are sharp, with coals of desolation (Psalm 119:41). But Christ, out of many arrows and many sons, is the chosen arrow, and He is the Only Begotten Son: whom He has hidden in His quiver, that is, in a human body, so that the fullness of divinity might dwell bodily in Him. And rare indeed is the faith of believers, to whom it is also said above (Chap. XLV, 15): You are a hidden God, and we did not know. With this arrow, and as a wounded bride, the Song of Songs speaks and says: I am wounded with love. And he said to me: You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified (Cant. IV, 9). A servant, because although he was in the form of God, he chose to take on the form of a servant (Philippians II), and Israel, because he was born from the seed of the Jews. And what can be understood about no other servant is joined together: In you I will be glorified (or I will be glorified). For he himself says in the Gospel, Father, glorify your name (John XII, 28). He who speaks in the psalm to the Son: Arise, my glory, and arise, psaltery and harp (Ps. LVI, 9), that is, the chorus of all virtues. But when I said these things to my Father, I responded to him: How have you been glorified in me, Father, because I have labored in vain, and I have not been able to bring back a great part of the Jewish people to you? But all these things are said in order to show the free will of man. For it is God's job to call and our job to believe; and if we do not believe immediately, it does not mean that God is impossible; but he leaves his power to our free will so that the righteous will receive the reward of their will. Because, therefore, they did not want to believe in you through me, my judgment is before you, that I have done all that I should have done for them, saying in the Gospel: I have glorified you on earth, having completed the work which you gave me to do (John 17:4); and again: I have made your name known to men. And my work or labor and my suffering (for this is what πόνος signifies) are before your eyes. For he wept over Jerusalem in the Gospel (Luke 19), and in a certain manner, in Psalm, he says that he suffered in vain on account of the multitude of unbelievers: What profit is there in my blood, when I descend into corruption? (Psalm 29:10). And hanging on the cross, he speaks according to the Hebrew: Far from my salvation are the words of my lamentations (Ps. 21:1).

Instead of "after a long time," Symmachus has said, "Lend your ear, O Gentiles, [who come] from afar." The text therefore calls [those of] the islands, the continents and even those who inhabit the extremities [of the earth] to listen to the prophecy. But the expression of the Septuagint, "after a long time," should be understood as follows: the Lord of the universe promised to Abraham to bless all nations in his posterity. This promise he also made to Isaac and to Jacob. Jacob, in his turn, gave it to Judah as a blessing: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until he comes for whom it is reserved, he who is also the expectation of nations." Now, a very great number of years had passed from the promise made to Abraham until the call of the Gentiles. This is why the prophetic text says, "Listen, you Gentiles, after a long time." Then he adds, "It shall stand, says the Lord," that is, to say the word of the promise, for the promise of God is trustworthy.

896. Give ear, you islands. In this part, he describes more particularly the order of liberation. And concerning this, he does two things:

first, the people confess the benefits they received;

second, they receive the promise of future benefits, where it says, and I said: I have labored in vain (Isa 49:4).

Concerning the first, they confess four benefits.

First, the privilege of divine election; and this continues why the prophet had enjoined above upon the people that they should declare (Isa 48:20); thus, immediately the voice of the people is added, declaring and saying: give ear; the Lord has called me from the womb, choosing me in my fathers: from my mother's womb you are my God (Ps 21:11–12[22:10–11]).

897. According to others, this is the voice of Cyrus, whose name was foretold by Isaiah before he was born, above (Isa 45:1). It is otherwise explained of Christ, whose name was foretold by the angel.

Make for yourself, O man, a case; stripping off the old man with his actions, put on the new. Your case, your sheath, is Christ, who protects and hides you in the evil day. Do you want to know why the case is protection? My quiver, He says, protected him. Therefore, your case is faith: fill it with the good scents of your virtues; that is, chastity, mercy, and justice, and in it, enter completely fragrant with the sweet scent of excellent deeds of faith.

This arrow signifies his divinity, resting in a quiver signifying the body assumed from the Virgin, in whose cloth of flesh his divinity was clothed.

The name Christ is not appropriate for God the Word before the generation that, as I said, was according to the flesh. If he was then not yet anointed, how could he be called "Christ"? But when the man came forth from his mother's womb, then he received the name at the same time as the generation according to the flesh. For it says that he "set his mouth like a sharp sword" … for no one can overcome his all-powerful right hand, but the Word is kept distinct from the dimensions of the humanity. For he is the Word from the Father and himself is the Lord of hosts. When he became man, the Father did not remove the power of the mystery but confirmed him in the economy of salvation.… There have been several arrows of God hidden in his quiver, in his foreknowledge, and brought out at the time prepared for each, but the chosen arrow above all others is the Christ hidden in the quiver or foreknowledge of God. For he was known before the creation of the world and brought forth in the middle of time when it was necessary that the earth be visited as it was falling into destruction.… This chosen arrow, as I said, got rid of Satan and the evil powers with him … yet he wounds in another way, for benefit and salvation. Thus it says in the Song of Songs, "I am wounded with love."

When it says "chosen arrow," it implies that God has many arrows but not choice ones—these arrows are the prophets and apostles, who go shooting off around the world.… But Christ is the one arrow chosen from many arrows and one son from many sons, which he hid in his quiver, that is, in his human body, so that the fullness of divinity could dwell in him bodily and that the faith of believers be distributed.

If anyone has been able to hold in the breadth of his mind and to consider the glory and splendor of all those things created in him, he will be struck by their very beauty and transfixed by the magnificence of their brilliance or, as the prophet says, "by the chosen arrow." And he will receive from him the saving wound and will burn with the blessed fire of his love.

Such is the word, the source of division that he presented to all people; likewise he declared, "I have not come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword." And moreover, the divine apostle says, "The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." … "He has set me like a chosen arrow and hidden me in his quiver." Similarly, Isaiah said this metaphorically; he speaks of an arrow that wounds the souls of those who love him. Each cries, "I am wounded by love." The quiver represents the mystery of the economy of the incarnation.

Second, the efficacy of their prayer: and he has made my mouth, my prayer, like a sharp sword, penetrating unto the ears of God and the heart of his mercy: and the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17).

Third, the help of divine protection: in the shadow of his hand, that is, under the protection of his power; as an archer hides a chosen arrow, to preserve it: protect me under the shadow of your wings (Ps 16[17]:8); he has hidden me in his tabernacle (Ps 26[27]:5).

897. According to others, of Cyrus, whose threatening words were like a sword; and who was protected lest his grandfather kill him, and was preserved like a chosen arrow for the appointed time. Or of Christ, whose word of preaching is a sword penetrating hearts; who was protected from the weakness of the flesh by the power of his divinity; and who was chosen among all to complete the salvation of the human race.

With the Father saying these things to me which I have registered, I replied to him, "How are you glorified in me, Father, since I have worked in the void and have not been able to summon back to you the great part of the Jewish people?" Now this reveals a universal principle, in that it shows the free will of the human being—it is for God to call and for us to believe. And if we do not believe immediately, God is not powerless but leaves his power for our will so that the will fittingly gains the award.

"You are my servant Israel, and I will glorify myself in you." This is to be understood according to Christ's human nature. For according to his human nature Christ is called Israel, Jacob, the son of David, the seed of Abraham, and so on. Christ is called "servant" since the servile nature God the Word assumed was the form of a slave. For "he has given him the name above every name," that is, to be the Son. As God, Christ the master was always Son, but as man he became Son. For there is not one that is "that Son" and another that is "this Son," but the one who is God the Son also became the Son as a human being.

Fourth, the glory of divine service: and he said to me: in you will I glory, through the wonders shown in you, I will appear glorious, above: every one that calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory (Isa 43:7).

897. According to others, of Cyrus, to whom it was declared that the people of Israel was the servant of God. Or of Christ, who is called "Israel," because he was born from the people of Israel according to the flesh.

For it was a labor for the Word to come among us and to surrender himself to human fragility. But "my judgment" is the punishment of the Father that I [the Savior] have turned into a feast for their salvation. For that reason the judgment was taken away from him [the servant]. Just what sort of judgment was that? [Sinners] have been cast out of his company, to be placed outside the people of God, no longer sharers in the salvation wrought by him, and they have no longer any taste of the hope of the saints, to which many of the nations have been called in their place.

It is necessary to recognize that he says these things as a human. For in the holy Gospels Christ as a human makes a number of humble declarations. For instance, … "I do nothing from myself."

898. And I said. Here the Lord promises future benefits.

And first, he promises exaltation to the prophet Isaiah;

second, he promises liberation to the people: thus says the Lord the redeemer (Isa 49:7).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First is set out the claim of the prophet who puts forth his labor in preaching, even though, due to the fault of those who heard it, it bore no fruit, and he concludes: therefore my judgment, for myself, is with the Lord, before him, and my work with my God, as though pleasing to him: the founder has melted in vain (Jer 6:29).