Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?14 Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.18 Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.19 Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.
No envy hindered the progress of these affairs that advanced gradually and grew and increased day by day. Nor could any evil demon slander them or hinder them through human counsels, so long as the divine and heavenly hand watched over and guarded his people as worthy.But on account of the abundant freedom, we fell into laxity and sloth. We envied and reviled each other and were almost, as it were, taking up arms against one another. Rulers assailed rulers with words like spears, and people forming parties against people and monstrous hypocrisy and dissimulation rising to the greatest height of wickedness, the divine judgment with forbearance, as is its pleasure, while the multitudes yet continued to assemble, gently and moderately harassed the episcopacy.
This persecution began with the brothers in the army. But as if without sensibility, we were not eager to make the Deity favorable and propitious; and some, like atheists, thought that our affairs were unheeded and ungoverned; and thus we added one wickedness to another. And those esteemed our shepherds, casting aside the bond of piety, were excited to conflicts with one another and did nothing else than heap up fights and threats and jealousy and enmity and hatred toward each other, like tyrants eagerly endeavoring to assert their power. Then, truly, according to the word of Jeremiah, "The Lord in his wrath darkened the daughter of Zion, and cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to earth and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord also overwhelmed all the beautiful things of Israel and threw down all his strongholds."
And according to what was foretold in the Psalms, "He has made void the covenant of his servant, and profaned his sanctuary to the earth—in the destruction of the churches—and has thrown down all his strongholds and has made his fortresses cowardice. All that pass by have plundered the multitude of the people; and he has also become a reproach to his neighbors. For he has exalted the right hand of his enemies, and has turned back the help of his sword and has not taken his part in the war. But he has deprived him of purification and has cast his throne to the ground. He has shortened the days of his time, and besides all, has poured out shame on him."
All these things were fulfilled in us when we saw with our own eyes the houses of prayer thrown down to the very foundations. We saw the divine and sacred Scriptures committed to the flames in the midst of the marketplaces and the shepherds of the churches basely hidden here and there, and some of them were captured ignominiously and mocked by their enemies. When also, according to another prophetic word, "Contempt was poured out on rulers, and he caused them to wander in an untrodden and pathless way."
Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.4 And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,5 And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.20 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
Jesus sanctified Baptism by being Himself baptized. If the Son of God was baptized, what godly man is he that despiseth Baptism? But He was baptized not that He might receive remission of sins, for He was sinless; but being sinless, He was baptized, that He might give to them that are baptized a divine and excellent grace. For since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same, that having been made partakers of His presence in the flesh we might be made partakers also of His Divine grace: thus Jesus was baptized, that thereby we again by our participation might receive both salvation and honour. According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that draweth up Jordan into his mouth. Since, therefore, it was necessary to break the heads of the dragon in pieces, He went down and bound the strong one in the waters, that we might receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions. The beast was great and terrible. No fishing-vessel was able to carry one scale of his tail: destruction ran before him, ravaging all that met him. The Life encountered him, that the mouth of Death might henceforth be stopped, and all we that are saved might say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is drawn by Baptism.
And when he had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grieviously tormented.†7 And Jesus saith to him: I will come and heal him.8 And the centurion making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.9 For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.10 And Jesus hearing this, marvelled; and said to them that followed him: Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel.11 And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.†13 And Jesus said to the centurion: Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.14 And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever:15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.16 And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word: and all that were sick he healed:17 That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet Isaias, saying: He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.†
Spiritually interpreted, the Gentiles are the sick in this world, and afflicted with the diseases of sin, all their limbs being altogether unnerved, and unfit for their duties of standing and walking. The sacrament of their salvation is fulfilled in this centurion’s servant, of whom it is sufficiently declared that he was the head of the Gentiles that should believe. What sort of head this is, the song of Moses in Deuteronomy teaches, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Angels. (Deut. 32:8.)
Also he therefore says that it needed only a word to heal his son, because all the salvation of the Gentiles is of faith, and the life of them all is in the precepts of the Lord; therefore he continues saying, For I am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Or; In Peter’s wife’s mother is shewn the sickly condition of infidelity, to which freedom of will is near akin, being united by the bonds as it were of wedlock. By the Lord’s entrance into Peter’s house, that is into the body, unbelief is cured, which was before sick of the fever of sin, and ministers in duties of righteousness to the Saviour.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)