For they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell:12 Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.13 He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God.14 He is become a censurer of our thoughts.15 He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, and his ways are very different.16 We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father.17 Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.18 For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies.19 Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience.20 Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.21 These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.22 And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.
We see that all the powerful manifestations of God's judgments ring out through the words of the prophets, which, it seems to me, are here called cascades. "Deep calls unto deep, in the roar of the cascades." After the preaching of the prophets came the judgments of God, as though echoing back to the voice that had predicted their coming. The voice of one cascade was, "Let us plot against the righteous one, because he is an embarrassment to us and opposes himself to our actions, calling himself a child of the Lord." Another sound of the cascade is, "He was like a lamb led to the slaughter, as a sheep mute before his shearers, and he did not open his mouth." There is another voice, also: "They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all of my bones." Then the voice, "They divide my garments among them, for my clothing they cast lots, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink." And what need is there now to recall all the voices of the cascades, since the prophetic books are full of the insults directed at the Lord and of his passion?
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23
Ps 33:17-18
But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.18 The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles.19 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.20 Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.21 The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.23 The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.
The cry of the just is a spiritual one, having its loudness in the secret recess of the heart, able to reach even to the ears of God.… They sought after nothing petty, nothing earthly, nothing lowly. For this reason the Lord received their voice, and he delivered them from all their tribulations, not so much freeing them from their troubles as making them victorious over the circumstances.
He who has despised present things, and has given himself to the word of God and is using his mind for thoughts that are above and are more divine, he would be the one who has a contrite heart and has made it a sacrifice that is not despised by the Lord. For "a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise." … He who has no vanity and is not proud of anything human, he is the one who is contrite in heart and humble of spirit.
He who says that affliction is not proper to the just says nothing else than that an adversary is not proper for the athlete. But what occasions for crowns will the athlete have who does not struggle?
There should also be certain bones of the inner person in which the bond of union and harmony of spiritual powers is collected. Just as the bones by their own firmness protect the tenderness of the flesh, so also in the church there are some who through their own constancy are able to carry the infirmities of the weak. And as the bones are joined to each other through articulations by sinews and fastenings that have grown on them, so also would be the bond of charity and peace, which achieves a certain natural junction and union of the spiritual bones in the church of God.
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.2 Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.†10 But after his brethren were gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but, as it were, in secret.25 Some therefore of Jerusalem said: Is not this he whom they seek to kill?26 And behold, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing to him. Have the rulers known for a truth, that this is the Christ?27 But we know this man, whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching, and saying: You both know me, and you know whence I am: and I am not come of myself; but he that sent me, is true, whom you know not.29 I know him, because I am from him, and he hath sent me.30 They sought therefore to apprehend him: and no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
(de Trin. ult. med.) Every man, ever born in the flesh, is in a certain sense from God. How then could He say that they were ignorant who He was, and whence He wasa? Because our Lord is here referring to His own peculiar birth from God, which they were ignorant of, because they did not know that He was the Son of God. His very saying then that they did not know whence He was, was telling them whence He was. If they did not know whence He was, He could not be from nothing; for then there would be no whence to be ignorant of. He must therefore be from God. And then not knowing whence He is, was the reason that they did not know who He is. He does not know the Son who does not know His birth from the Father.
(vi. de Trin. ultra med.) I ask however, does the being from Him express a work of creation, or a birth by generation? If a work of creation, then every thing which is created is from Him. And how then does not all creation know the Father, if the Son knows Him, because He is from Him? But if the knowledge of the Father is peculiar to Him, as being from Him, then the being from Him is peculiar to Him also; i. e. the being the true Son of God by nature. So you have then a peculiar knowledge springing from a peculiar generation. To prevent however any heresy applying the being from Him, to the time of His advent, He adds, And He hath sent Me: thus preserving the order of the Gospel sacrament; first announcing Himself born, and then sent.
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.)