Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

“Philosophers also declare that they pursue this virtue, but their patience is as false as is their wisdom, for how can anyone be either wise or patient unless he knows the wisdom and patience of God? For he himself warns and states concerning those who think that they are wise in this world: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject." … Therefore, if their wisdom is not true, their patience cannot be true either. For if that man who is humble and meek is patient, and yet we see that the philosophers are not humble or meek but very pleasing to themselves, and displeasing to God by the very fact that they are pleasing to themselves, it is evident that patience is not found where there is the arrogant boldness of an affected freedom and the shameless boasting of the proud and half-naked breast.”

“But perhaps Pelagius thinks that the name of Christ is necessary so that we may learn by his gospel how we ought to live, but not so that by his grace we may also be helped to lead good lives. At least, this consideration should lead him to admit that there are wretched shadows in the human soul, which knows how to tame a lion but not how to live. But are a free will and the natural law sufficient for us to know this? This is the "wisdom of speech" by which "the cross of Christ is made void." But he said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," because that cross cannot be made void. And immediately is overthrown that "wisdom" through the "foolishness of preaching," by which those who believe are healed. For if the natural power through free will is sufficient for us not only to know how we ought to live but actually to live well, "then Christ died in vain," "then is the scandal of the cross made void." … Ignorant of the justice of God, you are seeking to establish your own justice, and you have not submitted to the justice of God. For even as Christ is the end of the law, so also is he the savior of corrupted human nature, to justice for all who believe.”

“Therefore, I will continue I am He Who will continue to perform additional obscurity upon obscurity, concealment upon concealment, sealing upon sealing. And what is this obscurity upon obscurity? And the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost. The taking away of the sages of Israel is twice as hard as the destruction of the Temple and all the curses in Deuteronomy, for all of them are only one obscurity, as it is said (Deut. 28:59): “And the Lord shall make your plagues obscure (וְהִפְלָא),” whereas here are two obscurities.”

“הנני יוסיף Behold I will proceed, comp. ונשאר אני and I am left (Ez. 9:8); אמלל אני I am withering (Ps. 6:3); אמלל is the third person past, because of the Pathah under ל. Some explain יוסיף to be a participle like תומיך supporting (Ps. 16:5). להפליא את העם הזח הפלא ופלא To be very embarrassing to this people, that they shall not understand, that the wisdom of the wise shall be lost, etc. Others explain this phrase thus: To do a marvellous work among this people; comp. עשה פלא who performs wonders (Ex. 15:11). I explain it in the following way: To do to this people a wonderful thing like this.”

“Woe, Ariel. In this part he sets forth a threat against the people, or against the city; and it is divided into two parts. In the first he threatens the punishment of temporal destruction; in the second, the punishment of spiritual blindness, Be astonished. Concerning the first, two things. In the first he threatens destruction; in the second he sets forth some sort of consolation, and it shall be as a dream. The first into two. In the first, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. In the second, by the Romans, and I will encompass. Concerning the first, three things. First he recalls its former dignity. Ariel, that is, lion of God, because by the power of God, in the times of David and Solomon, it feared no one, just as a lion does not either. Proverbs 30: a lion, strongest of beasts, will tremble at the meeting of no one. Or on account of the altar of holocausts, which was there, which consumed animals as a lion does. And so as it is taken in Ezekiel 43: or perhaps on account of its shape, because it was situated after the manner of a lion. He conquered. 1 Kings 17: for I conquered the lion and the bear. Second he sets forth the destruction, positing three things: the cessation of feasts, add, as if to say, for many years. Have rolled around, that is, have perished. Hosea 3: they shall sit many days without sacrifice and without ephod. Siege, and I will encircle with a rampart, namely by the Chaldeans. Ezekiel 4: it shall be in a state of siege; and he hints at the conquest arising from sorrow, and she shall be sorrowful. Lamentations 1: many are her groans, etc. Third he sets forth the restoration made under Jesus the high priest and others, concerning whom the whole of Esdras treats. And it shall be to me; as if to say: retaining only a shadow of its former dignity. But on the contrary: Haggai 2: great is the glory of this latter house, more than of the former. And it must be said that this is said on account of the fact that it was visited by the Son of God himself, even bodily. And I will encompass. Here he threatens destruction by the Romans; and concerning this he sets forth four things. First, the siege, and I will encompass as a sphere, that is, round about. Luke 19: your enemies shall encompass you with a rampart. Habakkuk 1: he shall laugh at every fortification, and shall heap up a mound. Second, the humiliation of the besieged, you shall be humbled; and the sign of the humiliation: you shall speak out of the earth, that is, just as if you were under the earth, you shall even be heard speaking lowly, bearing the words of a python-spirit, who used to chant incantations silently. Zephaniah 3: I will take away out of your midst the evil-speakers of your pride. Or the merit of the humiliation, reproving in them the sin of avarice, you shall speak out of the earth; and of idolatry, and it shall be as of a python-spirit. Third he sets forth the multitude of enemies, and it shall be as dust: Joel 1: a nation has come up; or the destruction of the enemies, as above, 17: it shall be carried off like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind. Fourth he sets forth the destruction itself, and it shall be suddenly: metaphorically, on account of the ferocity of the enemies. Jeremiah 4: he shall come up as a cloud, and as a tempest: his chariots are swifter than eagles. And it shall be as a dream. Here he applies a certain consolation drawn from the punishment of the enemies, because, like a vain thing, they shall come to nothing, carrying back no advantage from the destruction of Judea, just as neither does one who is hungry or thirsty gain anything from food or drink dreamed of. Ecclesiasticus 34: vain hope and a lie are to a senseless man, and dreams lift up the imprudent. Zechariah 12: I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden to all peoples. Note on that word, and it shall be as a dream, that a thing is called a dream, first, on account of vanity. Ecclesiasticus 34: the vision of dreams is according to this; second, on account of brevity. Job 20: like a dream flying up he shall not be found. Third, on account of the obscurity of its knowing. Job 33: through a dream, in a vision of the night. Fourth, on account of the perversity of the soul. Below, 56: sleeping, and loving dreams. Be astonished, here he threatens the punishment of blindness: and first he foretells the blindness of the Jews; second, the conversion of the Gentiles, is it not yet. Concerning the first, two things. First he sets forth the blindness; second he assigns its reason, and the Lord said. Concerning the first, three things. First he foretells the blindness, setting forth those things which disturb the judgment of reason: be astonished, from the consideration of the evils of fault or of punishment. Jeremiah 2: be astonished, O heavens, at this, and, O gates of heaven, be very desolate. And wonder, from the consideration of great things. Psalm 138: wonderful are your works. Waver, from the uncertainty of things to be chosen. James 1: for he who hesitates is like the wind; be shaken, from the inconstancy of purposes. Job 4: your hands have strengthened the staggering. Be drunk, from the anxiety of sorrows. Habakkuk 2: drink also, you, and be fast asleep; the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall come round about you. Second he sets forth the manner of the blindness, for he has mingled; that is, as mingled wine he has given to drink, your eyes, namely the prophets. Above, 19: the Lord has mingled in its midst a spirit of dizziness. Third he sets forth the effect of the blindness, because the book of sacred Scripture and the visions of all the prophets they shall not understand. And it shall be to you. Apocalypse 5: I saw in the right hand of him who sat a book. And the Lord said. Here he sets forth the cause of the blindness, namely their own sin: first as to the affections; second as to the intellect, woe to those who are deep. Concerning the first he sets forth two things. First the fault of contempt of God, but his heart, because they cloak it with words, with lips, with human observances. And they feared. Jeremiah 12: you are near to their mouth, and far from their reins. Matthew 15: you have made void the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions. Second, the punishment, therefore behold I, great, according to their own reputation, or formerly. Obadiah: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject: 1 Corinthians 1. Woe to those who are deep. Here he sets forth the sin on the part of the intellect, because they did not believe in the providence of God, that he would know the things that are done concerning us: and concerning this he does two things. First the devising of the error is set forth. Now they said that they escaped God's notice, on account of the depth of the heart, where they turned over their wicked counsels: hence he says, who are deep, Jeremiah 17: the heart of man is deep and unsearchable; who shall know it? And on account of the obscurity of the places in which they carried out their wicked works: hence he says, whose are, John 3: everyone who does evil hates the light. Ecclesiasticus 16: do not say, I shall be hidden from God. Second the just rebuke is set forth, it is perverse. You have not made it, because God knows insofar as he is the cause of the thing. Below, 45: woe to him that contradicts his maker. Below, 64: and now, O Lord, you are our father, but we are clay; and you our fashioner, and we are all the works of your hands. Is it not. Here he foretells the conversion of the Gentiles: and concerning this he does three things. First he foretells the conversion to grace. Lebanon, the Gentiles, because it was a mountain in the land of the Gentiles; into Carmel, into the grace which the Jews had through circumcision, because it is interpreted knowledge of circumcision. Into a forest, that is, into the barrenness in which the Gentiles previously were. Below, 32, the same is found. To sacred knowledge, the deaf, namely the Gentiles, who previously had not heard the words of the law. Matthew 2: the blind see. John 9: I have come into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. To spiritual gladness, and they shall add. Psalm 9: I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing to your name, O Most High. Second he assigns the occasion, or reason, of the conversion, from the fall of the Devil: for he has failed who prevailed, through power; the mocker, the deceiver through cunning. Above, 16: the wretch is consumed, from the blindness of the Jewish people: because blindness in part has come upon Israel: Romans 11. Cut down are those who watched: eagerness toward evil. Proverbs 4: for they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. Who to sin, by wicked examples and teachings. Him that reproved, as to the contempt of discipline. Amos 5: they have hated him that reproves in the gate. They have turned aside, as to the vanity of sin, because that which does not attain its end is in vain. Wisdom 5: what has pride profited us, or what has the boasting of riches conferred upon us? Third he sets forth the return of the Jews at the end of the world, therefore thus says; who redeemed, Genesis 11. Not now, that is, in this time, shall he be confounded, with a good confusion. Ecclesiasticus 4: there is a confusion that brings glory; sons, the apostles, murmurers, that is, those who formerly murmured. Above, 27: they that shall go forth with impetus from Jacob, and Israel shall blossom and bud. Or it can be expounded otherwise, of the prosperity which is promised to them once Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar has been destroyed. Carmel into a forest; that is, so great shall be the fertility of the land of promise, that the fertility of Carmel shall be reckoned barrenness in comparison to it. The mocker, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar. His sons, the three youths in the furnace of fire: or because their own children shall render the praise of my name, which they themselves did not render in their youth.”

“Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people,.... Because of their hypocrisy and formality, their regard to men, their doctrines and commandments, and not to the will and word of God, therefore he determines "to deal marvellously with this people": even a marvellous work, and a wonder; that is, something exceedingly marvellous, which would be matter of astonishment to everyone that observed it; and is as follows: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid; and be no more: this was eminently fulfilled in the wise men, the doctors and learned Rabbins of the Jews; and they themselves own (x), that, from the time the temple was destroyed, the wise men became like to Scribes, and the Scribes to those that looked after the synagogues, and these became like the common people, and they grew worse and worse: and Maimonides acknowledges (y), that this respects their present case; he says, when the Heathen princes destroyed their best things, took away their wisdom, and their books, and killed their wise men, they became ignorant and unlearned; which evil God threatened them for their iniquities, as is said in this passage: and also this had its accomplishment in the wise philosophers of the Gentiles; see Co1 1:18. (x) Misna Sota, c. 9. sect. 15. (y) More Nevochim, par. 2. c. 11. p. 212.”

“Hid. At the approach of Sennacherib, the politicians were confounded. But the obstinate blindness of the Jews in the midst of such a blaze of predictions, which are evidently accomplished in Jesus Christ, excites admiration. That their ancestors should have found them obscure, is not so wonderful. The prophets foretold this event; and the reprobation of the synagogue, which had been so highly favoured, is a proof of the truth of the Christian religion, 1 Corinthians i. 18. (Calmet)”

“(Hab 1:5; Act 13:41). The "marvellous work" is one of unparalleled vengeance on the hypocrites: compare "strange work," Isa 28:21. The judgment, too, will visit the wise in that respect in which they most pride themselves; their wisdom shall be hid, that is, shall no longer appear, so as to help the nation in its distress (compare Co1 1:19).”