“(Chapter 17, Verse 1) The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with an adamantium nail, upon the width (or height) of their hearts (or in the depth of their hearts), and upon the horns of their altars (or thrones). Concerning the nations that have turned to the Lord, it has been said: Behold, I will show them in turn, I will show them my hand and my power. Now, speaking of Israel who is rejected: The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with an adamantium nail, and so on. Why the Septuagint has been omitted, I do not know; unless perhaps they spared their own people: just as it is clear in Isaiah that they did so: Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for why should he be esteemed? (Isaiah 2:22); and many similar things, which if I wanted to arrange them all, it would not be a book, but books. Because his mercy is confirmed upon us, and the truth of the Lord remains forever (Psalm 116, 1, 2). And concerning those whom he said to Moses: Let me alone, that I may destroy this people, and make you into a great nation (Exodus 32, 10). But the sin of the Jews is indelible, and, so to speak, cannot be abolished by any means; it is written with an iron stylus on an adamant nail, which in Hebrew is called Samir (); not that there is any nail that is called Samir; but that the adamant stone (which has received this name because it is untamable and unbreakable) has such brilliance and lightness that it can be written on without any impediment with an iron stylus: so that the hard material of iron may write on the harder adamant tablet, and what is written may endure forever. For they themselves said: 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' (Matthew 27). Therefore, it has been written or engraved on the horns of their altars or shrines, so that sacrilegious works may be remembered forever. But if this is the case, where is that which an old woman madly fabricates, that a person can be without sin if they wish, and that God's commandments are easy?”

“Nothing is more potent than the conscience: letters inscribed on it are indelible. I mean, even if everyone mounted a case to his or her conscience supported by favorable evidence, the conscience itself cannot tolerate the wickedness of falsehood. It is pricked and goaded and delivers its verdict incorruptibly. He says this here, too: The facts accuse you, and the conscience joins in testimony against you. He reminds them also of the groves, the altars and what was done on them, and he threatens to give to the enemy all their wealth along with the idols.”

“(Verse 2, 3.) When their sons remember their altars, and the groves of trees and leafy branches on the high mountains, sacrificing in the field, I will give your strength and all your treasures to plunder. Your lofty places will be destroyed because of your sins in all your borders. And you will be left alone in the inheritance that I gave you, and I will make your enemies serve you in a land that you do not know, because you kindled the fire in my anger, and it will burn forever. And these are not found in the Septuagint, for the same reason (as I believe) that we have mentioned above, namely, lest the eternal sentence should remain against them. 'You shall be left,' He says, 'alone from your inheritance, which I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, either under the Babylonians or, as is more accurate, under the Romans. For they themselves have kindled the fire and provoked the most merciful Lord to anger, whose fire of fury will burn forever.' I am ashamed of our argument, which disputes the truth of the Hebrews. The Jews read against themselves, and the Church does not know what is in their favor. Thus, we, who are the sons of the Apostles, remember the injustices of the previous people and testify that they suffered justly. However, the high places, which are called Bamoth in Hebrew, can also be understood as a reference to the heretics who have exalted themselves, and their language has spread throughout the land. Those who have burst forth into such great madness, that they have remained alone without the grace of the Holy Spirit, and have lost the inheritance of the Lord, namely the prior truth of faith. Hence, eternal fire is prepared for them, and the servitude of demons, who are enemies and avengers.”

“From this statement we will refute those who suppose that the Savior was a man but not also the Son of God. For they dared with many human evils to say even this, that the Only-begotten, the firstborn of all creation, could not be God. For "cursed is one who has hope in humankind." It is evident that cursed are those who have hope in humankind. I may say that I do not have hope in people.”

“(Verses 5, 6.) Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts (or has hope) in man, and relies on flesh for his strength, and turns his heart away from the Lord. He will be like a shrub in the desert, and will not see when good comes; but he will live in dryness in the desert, in a land of salt and uninhabitable. If every man is cursed who trusts in man, then Paul of Samosata and Photinus, although they proclaim the Savior as holy and surpassing all virtues, still confess him as a man; therefore, they will be cursed for having hope in man. But if it is opposed to us, that we also believe in him who says: Now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard from God, Abraham did not do this: you do the works of your father. (John 8:40) We will respond with that of the Apostles: And if we have known Christ according to the flesh at some time, but now we no longer know him. Finally, the same Apostle writes in the beginning of his letter to the Galatians: Paul, an Apostle, not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and who are with me all the brethren. (Galatians 1:1-2). For if death was swallowed up in victory (Hosea 13), why did not the lowliness of the flesh, which was assumed for the salvation of mankind, pass into the majesty of divinity, so that it might make both one; and we do not worship the creature, but the Creator, who is blessed forever? Therefore, he is cursed, not only who has hope in man, but who puts his trust in the flesh, that is, his own strength, and whatever he accomplishes, considers it to be not of the mercy of the Lord, but of his own power. For whoever does this, departs from the heart of the Lord, asserting that he can do what he cannot. And he will be like myrtle, which in Hebrew is called Aroer, or as Symmachus interpreted, a fruitless tree in the desert. And he will not see the good things that the multitude of nations will see when they come, but he will dwell in dryness in the desert. This is said of the people of Judah who dwell in the desert, do not bear fruit, and live in a land of salt, which produces no fruit, and is uninhabitable, having no guest of God, nor the protection of angels, nor the grace of the Holy Spirit, nor the knowledge of teachers.”

“"What is your own opinion? What people do you call happy?" He [the psalmist] would not say, "Happy is the people whose strength is in their own mind." If he had said this, he would, it is true, distinguish that people from the former that made happiness consist in that visible and bodily good fortune, but he would not yet have passed beyond all the vanities and lying follies, for the same Scriptures teach elsewhere: "Cursed be everyone that places his hope in humankind." Therefore, he ought not to place it in himself, because he himself is human. Thus, in order to pass beyond the boundaries of all vanities and lying follies and to place happiness where it truly exists, he says, "Happy is the people whose God is the Lord."”

“All things which are good, even those of which man is the agent, really come from God rather than man. "It is the spirit," we are told, "that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer." Hence there is a curse on the man who puts his trust in man, for although our whole hope rightly depends on God made man, it is not because he is man but because he is God.”

“A person who relies on himself, however, or even on the person whose duty it is to provide for his needs, and thinks that his own activity or that of his associate is a sufficient resource for his livelihood runs the risk, as he places his hope in humankind, of falling under the curse that reads, "Cursed is the one that trusts in humankind and makes flesh his arm and whose soul departs from the Lord." Now, by the words "that trusts in humankind" the Scripture forbids a person to place his hope in another, and by the words "and makes flesh his arm" it forbids him to trust in himself. Either course is termed a defection from the Lord. Further, in adding the final issue of both, "He shall be like tamarisk in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come," the Scripture declares that for anyone to place his trust either in himself or in anyone else is to alienate himself from the Lord.”

“It is not only the one who puts his hope in humankind that is accursed, but also the one who uses the flesh of his arm, that is, his strength and all that he does, not for the Lord of mercy but so that power will be thought to have come from him. For whoever does this withdraws his heart from the Lord by claiming himself to be capable when he is not capable. He will also be like the tamarisk in the desert, which, in Hebrew, is called an aroher, or, as translated by Symmacus, a fruitless plant, nor will he see goodness when it arrives and is seen by the multitude of nations, but he will live in a wasteland. All this is said about the Jewish people, who live in a desert and do not bear fruit and are located in an uninhabited salt land that produces no fruit and is a host neither to God, nor to the army of angels, nor to the grace of the Holy Spirit nor to the knowledge of teachers.”

“But let us see what kind of fruits a bad tree produces, and let us avoid bearing such fruits. The prophet Jeremiah says, "Cursed is the one who puts his trust in human beings and makes his flesh his support, and whose heart turns away from the Lord; such a person will be like a tamarisk in the desert."”

“For as it says in the psalm, "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy," so also in the gospel, those who sow in laughter, that is, because of joy, shall reap in tears. Long ago did the Creator set these things side by side: Christ, by not changing them but only giving them emphasis, has made them new. "Woe to you, when all people speak well of you." That is what their ancestors used to do to the false prophets. No less does the Creator, by Isaiah, censure those who seek after the blessing and praise of people: "My people, those who call you blessed, lead you astray and upset the paths of your feet." And in other terms he even forbids them to have any confidence in a person, and consequently not in human praise, as by Jeremiah, "Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind."”

“Let no one deceive himself. Let none be misled. Only the Lord can grant mercy. Sins committed against him can be cancelled by him alone who bore our sins and suffered for us, by him whom God delivered up for our sins. People cannot be above God, nor can the servant by any indulgence of his own remit or condone the graver sort of crime committed against his Lord, for that would make the apostate liable to this further charge, he knows not the words of the prophet: "Cursed is the one who puts his hope in humankind." It is our Lord we must pray to, it is our Lord we must win over by our penitence. For he has said he will deny the person who denies him, and he alone has received all power of judgment from his Father.”

“If Christ is only man, how is he present wherever he is invoked—since it is not people's nature but God's to be able to be present everywhere? If Christ is only man, why is a man called on in prayer as a mediator, when calling on a mortal to grant salvation is considered useless? If Christ is only man, why is hope put in him, when hope in humankind is declared to be accursed? If Christ is only man, why cannot he be denied without ruin to one's soul, when it is declared that an offense against people can be forgiven? If Christ is only man, how does John the Baptist bear witness of him when he says, "He who comes after me was made before me, for he was before me"? If Christ were only man, then, being born after John, he could not be before John, unless he preceded him as God.”

“He said to him, "Yes, sir. The long duration of my illness makes me desire health. But, desire it as I may, I have no one." Do not lose heart, my good fellow, because you "have no one." You have God standing by you. One who is at once man and God under different aspects, for both must be confessed. The confession of the humanity without the confession of the divinity is unavailing, or rather earns a curse. For "cursed is one who puts his trust in humankind."”

“It may be said both of the Jews and of the heretics that they put their hope in humankind, for the messiah whom they believe to be coming is clearly not the Son of God but a mere man. The person of the church, in contrast, who puts faith in the Lord, hears this: "Know that the Lord himself is God." Because he trusts in the Lord, he will be compared with a tree and will be the one of whom the first psalm sings: "He is like a tree that is planted by flowing waters, bearing its fruit in season; and its leaf does not wither." Being transplanted on (or by) the waters refers to the various graces of the Holy Spirit. And sending its roots into the water (or by the stream) means that one receives abundance from the Lord. But we can also say that it may be us who were transplanted from the aridity of Judea into the eternal grace of baptism. It goes on to say that he will not fear when the heat comes, meaning either a time of persecution or the day of judgment, and that his leaf will remain green (or that his branches will remain leafy), such that he should never fear aridity, for the grace of all the virtues will germinate. Thus, when a dry spell arrives, when the Lord of wrath commands the clouds not to send any rain on Israel, this person will not fear. And the following line, "nor will he cease to bear fruit," can help explain the passage in the Gospel of Mark where the Lord comes to a fig tree and finds no fruit on it, since it was not yet the season, and then curses it that it would never bear fruit again. For anyone "who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord" will have no fear in a time of Judaic aridity, but he will always bear fruit who believes in him who died for us and will die no more, in him who said "I am the life."”

“"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time." In the day of trouble, in the day of distress, they shall not be "ashamed," as he is ashamed whose hope deceives him. Who is the man that is "ashamed"? He who saith, "I have not found that which I was in hopes of." Nor undeservedly either; for thou didst hope it from thyself or from man, thy friend. But "cursed is he that putteth his trust in man." Thou art ashamed, because thy hope hath deceived thee; thy hope that was set on a lie. For "every man is a liar." But if thou dost place thy hopes on thy God, thou art not made "ashamed." For He in whom thou hast put thy trust, cannot be deceived. Whence also the man whom we mentioned just above, the now "strengthened" righteous man, when fallen on an evil time, on the day of tribulation, what saith he to show that he was not "ashamed"? "We glory in tribulation; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; but hope maketh not ashamed." Whence is it that hope "maketh not ashamed"? Because it is placed on God. Therefore follows immediately, "Because the love of God is spread in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us." The Holy Spirit hath been given to us already: how should He deceive us, of whom we possess such an "earnest" already?”

“You have begun to love what is outside of yourself. You have gone outside of yourself. When a person's love goes away from him toward things that are outside of him, he begins to become vain along with useless goods, and somehow to spend his substance like the prodigal son. He is emptied. He is poured forth. He becomes a beggar. However, we must not despair even of such people when they begin to repent. May God grant this to them: "He came to himself." Now if he came to himself, he had gone outside of himself. Just as he remained in himself when he fell away, so he should not remain in himself when he fell away, so he should not remain in himself when he returns. Therefore, let him keep himself close to God. Let him deny himself so he will not fall again. What does to deny oneself mean? Let him not confide in his own strength, let him realize that he is human, and let him look to the prophetic word: "Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings."”

“For this reason [it is, said], "Who shall declare His generation?" since "He is a man, and who shall recognise Him?" But he to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed Him, knows Him, so that he understands that He who "was not born either by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man," is the Son of man, this is Christ, the Son of the living God. For I have shown from the Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these things of Him, if, like others, He had been a mere man. But that He had, beyond all others, in Himself that pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High Father, and also experienced that pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin, the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering; that He sat upon the foal of an ass; that He received for drink, vinegar and gall; that He was despised among the people, and humbled Himself even to death and that He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the clouds as the Judge of all men;—all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.”

“For it is of him that Isaiah writes: "A man of suffering and acquainted with the bearing of weakness." Jeremiah writes: "He is man, and who has known him?" And Daniel writes: "On the clouds he came as the son of man." The apostle Paul likewise says: "The man Christ Jesus is the one mediator between God and humankind."”

“David also said in the forty-fourth psalm, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness. You have hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness." By this word he also shows his name, since (as I have shown above) he has called Christ from his anointing. Then, that he was also man, Jeremiah teaches, saying, "And he is a man, and who shall know him?" Also Isaiah: "And God shall send to them a man who shall save them, shall save them by judging."”

“The apostle says, "For God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." He does not say "in the likeness of flesh," for Christ took on himself the reality, not the likeness, of flesh. Nor does he say in the likeness of sin, for he did not sin but was made sin for us. Yet he came "in the likeness of sinful flesh." That is, he took on him the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness, because it is written, "He is man, and who shall know him?" He was man in the flesh, according to his human nature that he might be recognized, but in power he was above humanity, that he might not be recognized, so he has our flesh but has not the failings of this flesh.”

“How can they declare the Savior a mere man, conceived of a man's seed? How will he "not be known," as Jeremiah says of him, "he is man, but who shall know him?" For the prophet, describing him, said, "Who shall know him?" But if he meant a mere man, surely his father would know him, and his mother, his relatives and neighbors, those who lived with him and his fellow townspeople. But that which came to birth is born of Mary, while the divine Word came from above. He was truly begotten not in time and without a beginning, not of a man's seed but of the Father on high. But in the last days he consented to enter a virgin's womb and fashion his flesh from her, patterned after himself. This is why Jeremiah says, "And he is man, but who shall know him?" He came from above as God, the only-begotten, divine Word.”

“Symmacus translates this passage thus: "The heart of everyone is inscrutable. Yet, who is the man who can find it?" It is customary by our own good wish, therefore, but not according to objective knowledge, to use this passage to argue against the Jews that the man in question is the Lord and Savior, according to the dispensation of the assumed flesh, and that no one shall be able to know the mystery of his nativity, according to what is written: "Who will explain his generation?" except God alone, who probes the secrets and returns to each one according to his works. But it is better that we simply accept that no one knows the secrets of another's thoughts except God alone, for it says above, "Accursed is the person who trusts in humankind" and, "Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord." Hence, lest we think ourselves to be sure of human judgment, the psalmist implies that almost every heart is perverse, saying, "Cleanse me from hidden thoughts, O Lord, and spare your servant from foreigners," without doubt meaning foreign thoughts. Also in Genesis, it is written, "God saw how great human malice was on the earth and that every thought of the human heart was intent on evil continuously";8 and again, "The senses and the thoughts of a person's heart are prone to evil from his adolescence." Through these texts, we learn that God alone knows a person's thoughts. Yet, if it is said of the Savior that "Jesus saw what they were thinking," and if no one is able to see one's thoughts except God alone, then Christ is God, "who examines hearts and probes the mind and gives to each one according to his works."”

“The inquirer, then, might say that the prophet says only that Christ is God, without any reference to his human nature. Yet, in our apostolic doctrine, Christ is not only God in whom we may safely trust but also the mediator between God and humankind—the man Jesus. The prophet explains this in the words in which he seems to check himself, and to supply the omission: "The heart," he says "is inscrutable above all things, and he is man, and who shall know him?" He is man in order that, in the form of a servant, he might heal the hard in heart and that they might acknowledge as God him who became man for their sakes, that their trust might be not in humankind, but in God—man.”

“For such things as these serve for exercise and trial, so that, having proved ourselves zealous and chosen servants of Christ, we may be fellow heirs with the saints. For thus Job: "The whole world is a place of trial to people on the earth." Nevertheless, they are proved in this world by afflictions, labors and sorrows, to the end that each one may receive of God such reward as is appropriate for him, as he said by the prophet, "I am the LORD who tries the hearts and searches the reins, to give to everyone according to his ways."”

“That it belongs to God alone to know people's secrets, hear what the prophet says: "You alone know the heart," and again, "God examines the heart and the seat of emotions," and Jeremiah, too, says, "The heart is inscrutable above all things, and he is man, and who shall know him?" and, "People shall look on the face but God on the heart."”

“"And Thou shalt direct the righteous, O God, who searcheth the hearts and reins." How then can the righteous be directed but in secret? ...How then is the righteous man directed in so great confusion of pretence, save whilst God searcheth the hearts and reins; seeing all men's thoughts, which are meant by the word heart; and their delights, which are understood by the word reins? ...God then, searching our heart, and perceiving that it is there where our treasure is, that is, in heaven; searching also the reins, and perceiving that we do not assent to flesh and blood, but delight ourselves in the Lord, directs the righteous man in his inward conscience before Him, where no man seeth, but He alone who perceiveth what each man thinketh, and what delighteth each. For delight is the end of care; because to this end does each man strive by care and thought, that he may attain to his delight. He therefore seeth our cares, who searcheth the heart. He seeth too the ends of cares, that is delights, who narrowly searcheth the reins; that when He shall find that our cares incline neither to the lust of the flesh, nor to the lust of the eyes, nor to the pride of life, all which pass away as a shadow, but that they are raised upward to the joys of things eternal, which are spoilt by no change, He may direct the righteous, even He, the God who searcheth the hearts and reins. For our works, which we do in deeds and words, may be known unto men; but with what mind they are done, and to what end we would attain by means of them, He alone knoweth, the God who searcheth the hearts and reins.”

“(Verse 11.) The partridge hatches (or gathers) what it did not lay. (And as the Septuagint translated: The partridge cried out, it gathered what it did not lay.) It acquired its riches not with justice. In the middle of its days, it will leave them (or in the middle of its days, they will leave it) and in its last days, it will be foolish. Writers of natural history, both of animals and birds, as well as of trees and plants (of whom the Greek leaders are, Aristotle and Theophrastus, and among us, Pliny the Second), say that this is the nature of the partridge, to steal the eggs of another partridge, that is, to steal from another, and to incubate and care for them: and when the offspring grow up, to fly away from them, and leave behind their adoptive parent. Such are the wealthy who plunder others, and without the consideration of God's judgment, amass riches without judgment, which they leave behind in the midst of time, taken away by sudden death, when it is said to them: Fool, this night they will demand your soul from you, what you have prepared, whose will it be? And nothing is more foolish than not to foresee the last things, and to consider the fleeting as eternal. Others, however, interpret the partridge to be the most aggressive and unclean bird both because of the earlier historical account and because of another reason they state, in that it contaminates the defeated, and they interpret the devil under its name, because it has gathered riches for itself, saying to the Lord: All these things I will give to You, if You fall down and worship me (Matthew 4:9). Those riches that were gathered poorly by him will be abandoned, and they will be converted (or rather, restored) to the Lord through the Apostles; and the one who seemed to be the most prudent to himself will be considered foolish by the judgment of all. And what is said by the LXX: The partridge cried out, is to be referred to the person of the heretics, that this partridge, the devil, cried out through the leaders of the heretics, and gathered what it did not bear, and gathered a multitude of those it deceived, which it will later dismiss; and it will be proven most foolish by the judgment of all.”

“"The glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary." Again the prophet denounces the wicked who put their hope in their riches. He exhorts them to think about the household of God, he who sits in the sacred place in the Jerusalem temple, the throne of his glory, and from there God penetrates and tests everything around him. Thus, the prophet says, "Let them know that Babylon and all the glorious kings seated on its throne were exalted and raised there by God, who dwells in our sanctuary." Therefore, kings do not have reason to hope in their own strength, and no one should be afraid of princes, because their treasures will be taken away by the judgment of truth. For the oppression of the oppressed, oppressors will perish as the result of their own oppressive actions.”

“(Verse 12, 13.) The throne of glory on high from the beginning, the place of our sanctification. The expectation of Israel, O Lord, all those who forsake you shall be put to shame, those who turn away shall be written (or described) on the earth; for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain (or source) of living waters. Declare them because of their foolishness, the expectation of Israel, that is, the people of God and believers in the Lord, He is the one who made all things; whose throne is glorious and exalted from the beginning, and the place of sanctification for all believers, so that the Lord is not in a place, but that wherever He is, that place may be sanctified. On the other hand, those who forsake the Lord will be confounded with everlasting confusion, and those who depart from Him or turn away from Him will be written on the ground, deleted from the book of the living. Just as it is written of those who dwell in heaven that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3), so those who forsake the Lord or turn away from Him will be written on the earth with those who have earthly desires. And the reason is clear why they are written on the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of life, or the Lord, the fountain of living waters, as spoken in the Gospel: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink; whoever believes in me, as Scripture says, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But He said this about the Spirit, whom believers in Him were going to receive (John 7:37, 38).”

“As if anticipating that the inquirer would ask next by what plain mark a young disciple, not yet able to distinguish the truth among so many errors, might find the true church of Christ, since the clear fulfillment of so many predictions compelled him to believe in Christ, the prophet answers this question in what follows and teaches that the church of Christ, which he describes prophetically, is conspicuously visible. His words are, "A glorious high throne is our sanctuary." This glorious throne is the church, of which the apostle says, "The temple of God is holy, which temple you are."”

“He has taken away from the ungodly the Holy Spirit and the prophetic rain and has replenished his church with spiritual grace, as the "river of Egypt in the time of firstfruits," and has advanced the same as a house on a hill or as a high mountain, as a mountain fruitful for milk and fatness, where God is pleased to dwell. "For the Lord will dwell there to the end." And he says in Jeremiah: "A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." And he says in Isaiah: "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of the Lord shall be on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills."”

“The "endurance of Israel" is our next subject. Just as the Savior is righteousness, truth, sanctification, so is he endurance. And there can be no way to be just without Christ, or to be holy without him or to endure without having Christ, for he is the endurance of Israel. And even if you apply these words to God, you will not in this way be impious.”

“[Daniel 7:10] "There were millions ministering unto Him, and a billion stood by His side." This was not intended to be a specific number for the servants of God, but only indicates a multitude too great for human computation. These are the thousands and tens of thousands of which we read in the Psalms: "The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice. The Lord is among them" (Psalm 68:17). And in another place: "He who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire" (Psalm 104:4). Now the duty of angels is twofold: the duty of one group is to bestow rewards upon just men; the duty of the other is to have charge over individual calamities. "...The court was in session, and the books were opened." The consciences of men, and the deeds of individuals which partake of either character, whether good or bad, are disclosed to all. One of the books is the good book of which we often read, namely the book of the living. The other is the evil book which is held in the hand of the accuser, who is the fiend and avenger of whom we read in Revelation: "The accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10). This is the earthly book of which the prophet says: "Let them be written on earth" (Jeremiah 17:13).”

“We must therefore not doubt that at the time when he was chosen by Christ and obtained a place in the apostolate, the name of Judas was written in the book of the living, and then he heard as well as the rest the words, "Rejoice not because the devils are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven." But because he was corrupted by the plague of covetousness and had his name struck out from that heavenly list, it is appropriately said of him and of people like him by the prophet: "O Lord, let all those who forsake you be confounded. Let them who depart from you be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters." And elsewhere, "They shall not be in the counsel of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel."”

“"Behold, they say to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.' But I have not been weary of following you." Jesus says to you, "Take up your cross, and follow me," and, "Leave everything, and follow me," and, "He who does not leave behind father and mother and follow me is not worthy to be my disciple." If, then, you become such a person so as to follow Jesus in every way, and you will follow, and to the extent you do follow, you will not be weary. "For there is no hardship in Jacob, nor will distress be seen in Israel." There is no toil in following Jesus. The following itself takes away the toil. In order that we may no longer be weary, since we are weary before beginning to follow him, that is why he says, "Come to me, all who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."”

“For I love those presbyters and deacons who when they have performed their mission will not allow themselves to remain absent any longer from their duties. For the prophet says, I have not been weary in following thee. And who can be weary in following Jesus, when He Himself says, Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Let us therefore never cease from following Jesus, which if we do we shall never fail, for He gives strength to them that follow Him. The more nearly you approach to the Source of power the stronger you will be. Often, while we are thus following Him, the adversaries say to us, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now. But let us not grow weary in following Him, let us not be turned aside by meeting with this crafty question. It was said to the prophet, when he was thrown into prison, when he was cast into the pit of mire, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now. But he followed him so much the more, and therefore attained the prize, and received the crown; for following Jesus he was not weary; for there is no weariness in Jacob, neither shall sorrow be in Israel.”

“The Lord has indeed made every day—not only has made but also continues to make. I mean, he makes every day as follows: he makes his sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. So we are not to imagine that this ordinary kind of day, which is common to good and bad alike, is meant in this place, where we heard, "This is the day that the Lord has made." What particular sort of day can it be when it says, "Let us exult and be joyful in it"? What sort, but a good one? What sort, but a very choice, lovable, desirable one, the sort about which Jeremiah said, "And I have not yearned for the day of men, you know it well"?”

“For it is but little for a monk to have once made his renunciation, that is, in the early days of his conversion to have disregarded the present world, unless he continues to renounce it daily. For to the very end of this life we must with the prophet say this: "And I have not desired the day of man, you know it well." Wherefore also the Lord says in the Gospel: "If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."”

“Further, also, it is written concerning the Sabbath in the Decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount Sinai, "And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart." And He says in another place, "If my sons keep the Sabbath, then will I cause my mercy to rest upon them." The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: "And God made in six days the works of His hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it." Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, "He finished in six days." This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years. And He Himself testifieth, saying, "Behold, to-day will be as a thousand years." Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. "And He rested on the seventh day." This meaneth: when His Son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man, and judge the ungodly, and change the-sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day. Moreover, He says, "Thou shalt sanctify it with pure hands and a pure heart." If, therefore, any one can now sanctify the day which God hath sanctified, except he is pure in heart in all things, we are deceived. Behold, therefore: certainly then one properly resting sanctifies it, when we ourselves, having received the promise, wickedness no longer existing, and all things having been made new by the Lord, shall be able to work righteousness. Then we shall be able to sanctify it, having been first sanctified ourselves. Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead. And when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.”

“(Verse 17) Do not be a source of fear to me, you are my hope in the day of affliction (or do not become a stranger to me, sparing me on the worst day). Be not to me, he says, a source of fear, my hope in the day of affliction. Which is clear according to the Hebrew. But according to what the Seventy translated, saying: Do not become a stranger to me, sparing me in the day of evil, the meaning is: Do not spare me in the present age, which is evil; but repay me according to my sins, so that I may have eternal rest. For I know it is written: Whom the Lord loves, he chastises; and he scourges every son whom he receives (Hebrews XII, 6). But this day is evil, either the entire age, or the day of judgment, for those who suffer because of their sins.”

“(Verse 18.) Let those who pursue me be put to shame, while I am not put to shame. Let them fear, while I do not fear. Bring upon them the day of affliction, and crush them with double contrition. The Prophet curses against them, who reproach him with the word of the Lord, and say: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come, that those who pursue him may be put to shame and may be ashamed and may return to salvation, so that they may fear the liars and not the one who predicts the truth. And when the day of vengeance comes, it will crush them with a twofold affliction, hunger and sword.”

“(Verse 19, 20.) This is what the Lord says to me: Go and stand at the gate (or gates) of the people's children: through which the kings of Judah enter and exit, in all the gates of Jerusalem. And you shall say to them; Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter through these gates. Because, he says, they despise hearing your words, and they do not come to you to seek the wisdom of God, you go to the most famous place, either the gate of the temple or the gate of the city, through which the kings and the entire crowd enter and exit, so that they may be compelled by necessity to hear, and you shall proclaim the word of the Lord continuously, whether convenient or inconvenient (1 Timothy 4): and no excuse shall remain among them, that they did not do it because they did not hear.”

“(Verse 20 and following) Thus says the Lord: Guard your souls, and do not carry burdens on the Sabbath day, or bring them through the gates of Jerusalem. And do not cast burdens out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and you shall not do any work, and sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear, and they stiffened their necks (and what is not found in Hebrew, against their fathers), so that they would not listen to me, and would not receive discipline. And it will be, says the Lord, if you listen to me, that you shall not carry burdens through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and if you sanctify the Sabbath day and do not do any work on it, then the kings and princes occupying the throne of David shall enter through the gates of this city. They shall arrive in chariots and on horses, along with their princes, the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the surrounding of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bearing burnt offerings and sacrifices (or incense) and grain offerings (or manna) and frankincense, and they shall bring an offering (or praise) into the house of the Lord. But if you will not listen to me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. I decided to disregard the commandment of the Sabbath restored through Jeremiah in vain, so that we may understand all at the same time. He who does not carry the burdens of sins on the day of rest and Sabbath guards his soul: nor does he bring them through the gates of Jerusalem, which virtues we should receive. And do not, he says, cast off burdens from your houses. For they are not to be carried, but to be completely cast away. And do not do any work, either servile or that which is written: 'Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,' but God will destroy both this and that (I Cor. VI, 13); but that work must be done, of which the Savior speaks; 'Work for the work that does not perish' (John VI, 27). Sanctify, he says, the Sabbath day, so that we may spend all the time of our life in sanctification, just as our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. And when God commanded these things, they did not incline their ear, certainly not their mind, nor their flesh; but they hardened their neck, rejecting the yoke of the Law, and having a likeness to untamed animals by metaphor. Let us see what is the reward of those who do not bear the burdens of the Sabbath day and sanctify it. Kings will enter through the gates of this city, whose heart is in the hand of God, and who reign over their bodies (Prov. 21); and princes sitting on the throne of David, in order to imitate the example of Christ, and those who ride in chariots and on horses, of whom it is written: The chariots of God are ten thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place (Psalm 68:17). And elsewhere: Your horses are a salvation (Habakkuk 3:8). Every man who confesses God and dwells in Jerusalem, of which it is said: His place is in Salem (or Jerusalem), that is, in peace, and his dwelling is in Zion (Psalm 75:2), and the Church of God will dwell there forever. They will come from the cities of Judah and from around Jerusalem, of which we have already spoken, and from the land of Benjamin, who is the son of strength and the right hand, and from the plains, which in Hebrew is called Sephela, and it signifies a plain understanding of history, and from the mountains, namely the lofty doctrines, and from the South, of which it is written: God will come from the South (Habbakuk 3:3). Where there is heat and full light, and where all cold is expelled: Carrying, he says, holocausts, consecrating themselves to God, and a victim, or incense, so that they may say: 'A sacrifice of a broken spirit, O Lord' (Psalm 50:19). And, we are a sweet odor of Christ in every place (1 Corinthians 2:15). And elsewhere: 'Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight' (Psalm 140:2). And the sacrifice, for which the 70 translators themselves put down the Hebrew word Manaa, which, by a most wicked custom, indeed the negligence of the scribes, is read as manna in our language. And thus, concerning which it is written: 'Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba?' (Jeremiah 6:20) And they bring an offering, which in Hebrew is called Thoda, and can be translated into a thanksgiving. And which praise the Septuagint translated. Into the house of David, no doubt into the Church. These are the rewards of those who sanctify the Sabbath and are not burdened with any weight. But if, he says, you do not listen to my commandments, and do what I have not commanded to be done: I will kindle a fire in its gates, that is, in Jerusalem, about which it is said: 'All of them, like a baker's oven, their hearts' (Hosea 7:4): who devour houses or streets of Jerusalem, which the LXX translated as alleys, Aquila and Symmachus as turrets, and are called Armanoth in Hebrew. And this fire will never be extinguished, as the Apostle says: Each one's work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work (1 Cor. 3:13). And again: If anyone's work is burned up, they will suffer loss but yet will be saved - even though only as one escaping through the flames (ibid., 15). But if our Judaizing opponents reject this figurative interpretation, they will either be compelled to be Jews and observe the Sabbath and circumcise foreskins, or certainly censure the Savior who commanded the paralyzed man on the Sabbath to take up his bed, as the Evangelist says: Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5:18).”