Chapter 1

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Prophet Habakkuk

1 Argument

¹ There are some who are exceedingly troubled when they behold those who do wrong prospering; and some of them doubt whether God provides for all things, while others believe indeed that there is a Providence, yet are perplexed as to why the affairs of men are governed in this fashion. The person of these latter the prophet Habakkuk takes up, and he raises a perplexity, as though desiring to learn the cause of the things that happen so; but he supplies the resolution which the grace of the Spirit furnished. For it was not, as some have supposed, that he himself underwent this experience; rather he brings forward the things that are surmised or said by others, and adds the teaching concerning the matters in question. This very same thing the divine David also did; for he too brings on stage a person troubled at the prosperity of wicked men, and says: But as for me, my feet were almost moved; my goings had well-nigh slipped, because I was jealous at the lawless, beholding the peace of sinners.[1] And having set forth many such things, he showed the resolution of the matters in question. For this, he says, is a labor before me, until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand their latter end. And having learned this from the grace of the Spirit, he added: But because of their craftiness you have appointed evils for them, and what follows; then, teaching us not to busy ourselves over the divine dispensations, but to follow them simply, I became, he says, as a beast before you; yet I am continually with you. For just as the beast, he says, follows the one who leads it, not busying itself over where it walks, so must we follow the words; for doing this, I shall always be with you. And that he has set down such inquiries not as one himself doubting concerning Providence, but as bringing in the reasonings of others, the preamble of the psalm makes plain: How good, he says, is God to Israel, to the upright in heart! And he who has confessed God to be good plainly confesses together with this that he is also a giver of good things. Such things we find both in other psalms and in other prophets. To these the prophecy of the divine Habakkuk is like. For he seems to be perplexed why the bold and self-willed prosper above the more moderate, and why punishment does not follow hard upon the heels of the lawless; in order that, having raised the perplexity, and then having brought on the resolution, he might heal those who are sick with such thoughts and who murmur against Providence. But some have understood the prophet to have shaped these words according to a different method. For since, when the prophets foretold dreadful things, the Israelites were troubled, as ever hearing of afflictions and tribulations, the prophet skillfully shows them that they are worthy to suffer such things as the prophets foretell, because they sin in this and that. Therefore he brings himself on stage as troubled toward God at so great an outpouring of wickedness, and seeking vengeance; that he might show that their works are so wicked, even if they themselves do not perceive it, that God too is blasphemed by them because he does not bring on punishment swiftly for these things. And indeed, after he has been sufficiently troubled, he prophesies that the despisers shall not escape the divine judgment. And in order to console these Israelites, he foretells also the overthrow of the Babylonians, and the freedom and return of the Israelites through Cyrus. And he hints as well at the universal redemption of human nature, which we have enjoyed through our Lord Jesus Christ; which this blessed prophet, laying it bare toward the end of the prophecy, makes into an ode, in which a Selah too is found, as, God willing, we shall show when we come to the place.

2 Chapter One

¹ The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

² The prophecy is called an “oracle,” either because it is taken as something given from God, or on account of the seizing of the prophetic understanding, and its migration from the things of men to the divine revelations. If, then, he speaks not after the manner of men, but prophesies as one taken hold of by the Spirit, it is plain that he himself does not waver concerning Providence, but he does so either wishing to heal those who waver, or to persuade the Israelites that they will justly suffer the things which the prophets announce beforehand. Inasmuch as he himself is rather troubled that God does not bring the judgment upon them more swiftly, sinning as they do. And if “Habakkuk” is interpreted “father of resurrection,” who else could this be than the Author of our life, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, and Father of the age to come, who is allotted to the raising-up and the resurrection? This one, according to his humanity, having received from God the Father the glory and honor of the Holy Spirit, in the person of human nature laments the wrong which it suffers, being tyrannized over by the demons. And observe also the phrase, “the prophet” — that is, that one foretold by Moses, who said: The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet; him you shall hear [some copies: shall hearken to]; just as the Pharisees asked John: Are you the prophet? And anyone whatsoever who is not only himself raised up from [some copies: away from] the fall of sin, but is also able to lead others to such a resurrection, the things which he sees, he sees not by human reasonings, but receiving them from God, so as to say with Paul: Yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me; and again, Through whom we received both grace and apostleship; and, Our sufficiency is from God.

³ How long shall I cry out, and you will not hear? He fashions the person of one who is being oppressed, and says: Many times I have cried out to you, begging that you cut off the wickedness, and I was not heard; how long, then, will you be long-suffering? And this is said in order to show the Israelites, who blame God because punishments are ever threatened against them, that he is so much the more long-suffering as to move the haters of evil among men to indignation, because he does not bring on punishments more swiftly.

⁴ Why have you shown me toils and labors, to look upon misery and ungodliness? The saints, being compassionate, mourn for both — both those who are harmed and made miserable, and those who do the harm and lead others into misery; and perhaps for these latter even more, inasmuch as the injury falls upon their soul, the most precious of possessions. He says, then: Why have you shown me the toils and labors of the men who are harmed, so as to look upon their misery, and the ungodliness of those who wrong them? But how did he say that God showed him these things? Either as one who, through his long-suffering, permitted such things to come to pass, and did not cut them off; or as one who prolonged his life, so that he beheld such things. For the saints, when they are embittered in their souls, long for their release; as Jonah did: And now, he says, take my life from me. And one might say that the very injustice is the toil and labor of those who do injustice, and the ungodliness is the misery of the ungodly; for nothing is more toilsome than wickedness, or weaker than ungodliness. And observe how he calls injustice “ungodliness,” either putting the unjust to shame and frightening them by the bitterness of the word, or perhaps the saying has also a fitting reason. For if he who feeds the least brother does not fail to feed God (For inasmuch as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me); consequently — that I may say nothing further — he who wrongs the poor man wrongs God; and wrong done to God is, I think, ungodliness. And human nature too, condemned to live in the sweat of its brow on account of the disobedience, and to bear children in sorrows, laments these things, seeking the deliverance which the Son of God was about to grant it. But also he who has received grace to raise up those who sin calls upon God no longer to show him those who toil at the works of lawlessness, and who are made miserable in this very thing, in being ungodly toward God. For such a one is he who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant a common thing, by which he was sanctified, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace.

⁵ Judgment has gone forth perversely, and the judge takes bribes. The prophet shows that he grieves not for himself, but on behalf of the divine commandment which is despised, and on behalf of brethren who suffer ill. For while I looked on, he says, the judge took bribes, and transgressed the law that says: You shall not respect persons in judgment, for the judgment is God’s.

⁶ Therefore the law is scattered, and judgment is not carried through to the end, because the ungodly oppresses the righteous; for this cause the sentence shall go forth perverted. Because the judges take bribes, he says, and because the unjust man is more powerful than the one who has right on his side, the law is scattered — that is, it is cast away, thrown into confusion, it does not keep its own nature, nor is the fitting judgment brought to bear upon affairs. But often, even if the judge begins to render the judgment straight, he does not carry it through to the end, being drawn aside by bribes. Indeed, perhaps for this very reason he begins to judge justly, in order that, having frightened the powerful man as one about to condemn him, he may get the more bribes from him. For this cause, then — that the unjust man is powerful, and has more than the just man — the judgment goes forth crooked. The judgment of those who crucified him came upon the Lord perversely too; for, being itself in truth unjust toward righteousness itself, it was perverse. And Pilate the judge took the glory of men, which he loved more than the glory of God; therefore the ungodly people oppressed the righteous one, and the sentence went forth against him perverted. For instead of praising him as a benefactor, as they ought, they condemned him to a shameful death. And the Lord found fault with the Jews in another way too, as not judging rightly, when they rebuked him for healing the paralytic on the Sabbath. For he said: If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, why are you angry with me, because I made a whole man sound on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance. The judgment becomes perverted also in the human tribunal, when the mind, taking as a bribe the passionate pleasure of the senses, gives the prevailing vote to the things of sense; then our enemy too, who is truly ungodly as an apostate from God, oppresses the reason, which has right on its side. And it is right that the things seen and sensible should be overcome by the things unseen and intelligible; for the things seen are temporary, but the things unseen are eternal.

⁷ Behold, you despisers, and look, and wonder at wonders, and vanish away. Having gone through what he went through concerning those who transgressed in Jerusalem (for those in Samaria were already dwelling in Babylon, having been led captive), and having set forth the words of the troubled person, he makes the reply as from God, healing by it both those who murmur against Providence as slow; and showing also, in another way, to the Israelites that the evils he will bring upon them he will bring justly, as upon despisers; for they transgressed without fear, not only disobeying the law, but not even turning back at the prophets, who threatened them more often. He bids these “behold” — that is, to attend to the things spoken — and to “look,” that is, to examine with attention and sobriety, and to be astounded, and to dread the threat. For I am about to do certain wonderful things upon you, he says. For indeed the holy nation, you my firstborn son, I am about to hand over to your enemies, so that you shall suffer all dreadful things at their hands. And what is “vanish away”? It stands for, Cover yourselves, hide yourselves from fear and shame. Or, “vanish away” in respect of that wherein you are now evil, that you may become good. For he who vanishes in respect of that wherein he is evil comes to be good; just as, in the measure that the outward man is corrupted, in that measure the inward is renewed. And since everyone who despises God does not see (for he would not despise so good a thing); therefore the despising thoughts in the one who sins are bidden to “behold” that God is the truly beautiful, and to “look” upon him, and not to be deceived by the false beauty of things seen, nor to wonder at the unwonderful things of this life, but at the truly wonderful things which are in the heavens. And vanish away, he says, from the human soul, you despising thoughts, that there may enter in those which cower at all things through reverence, and which fear him who is able to deliver both body and soul to Gehenna, and for this reason turn aside from evil.

⁸ For I work a work in your days, which you will by no means believe, though one declare it to you. Not at some far-off time, he says, but in your days I will hand you over, the lawless, to your enemies. For this is the work which I work. And I know indeed that, being despisers, you will by no means believe, though one declare it to you. For before the actual experience of things, you reckon the threats as nothing, as being false; nevertheless, doing my own part as one good and just, I cannot bear to judge from foreknowledge alone. But I offer the predictions even to those about to disbelieve, and then bring on the punishments upon those who do not receive healing. And perhaps the Only-begotten too might be understood, saying to the demons who tyrannized over human nature and despised God, that he is about to work a great work, namely, to take flesh then, in their days — that is, in the time of their prosperity. For Scripture knows how to name prosperity also a “day,” as in: From the height of the day I shall not be afraid; and, I have not desired the day of man. When, therefore, your wickedness shall have mastered the inhabited world, so that all are corrupted and made abominable, and there is none righteous, not even one, then I will take flesh and work wonders — both the others, and those which I plainly displayed among you, casting you out from among men. Behold, then, these things, and vanish away, no longer giving yourselves haughty airs of authority over the air, but sinking down beneath the earth.

⁹ For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, which marches over the breadths of the earth, to inherit dwellings not its own. Having said, “In your days,” since this too has breadth, he says, “Behold”; for I do not delay, but “Behold, I raise up,” I who am mighty in all things, who fear no one. Fearful is the saying; for who shall withstand him who is raised up by God? But they are also bitter by nature; this too is an intensification. But they are also hasty, for they are horsemen; so as to grant you no time to make counter-preparation, or to flee. But they are also habituated to wars and bred up in them; for they march over the breadths of the earth — that is, over all the earth, not only that which is near; and this they have for their work. For he did not say, “Which marched,” but, “Which marches.” And they do not merely plunder others’ lands and then return, so that you should have hopes of holding your homelands again; but their aim is to inherit the lands, and to make their own the dwellings that were not formerly theirs. And the Lord, in becoming flesh, raised up the Chaldean Magi, who, being formerly bitter and cruel, and hasty to shed blood, and treading the broad way as lovers of pleasure and lovers of gold, came to him, so as to worship him, and to inherit the dwellings in the heavens, which were not formerly theirs. But also the whole gentile people, who is signified by the Chaldeans, the incarnate Lord raised up to faith, having worked this great work. Confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh. These, then, being bitter, as having the venom of the serpent, on account of their impieties and other sins, were swift to repentance; and they marched over the breadths of the divine Scripture, or of the Church, not confining godliness to one person, but broadening it into three of one substance; and understanding the Scriptures not according to the letter alone, but also according to the spirit, so as to inscribe them threefold, according to the precept of the proverb, so as to inherit the law and the prophets, in which the grace of the Spirit tabernacled, that were not formerly theirs; for they were given to the Jews alone. For he declared, it says, his ordinances and his judgments to Israel; he has not done so to any other nation, and his law he has not made known to them. And in another way, a cruel and bitter nation is Satan, and the demons under him, whom God raises up through him, if one is, after the manner of Paul, against those who sin, handing them over to these, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. These, where they find a narrow way and a strait gate, neither march there, nor enter in; but where there is the breadth of an earthly mind, and of a slack and dissolute life, there they march, and inherit the dwellings, and the bodies of men, which, being formations of God, were not their own.

¹⁰ He is fearful and notable. Who? Surely the king of the Chaldeans, Nebuchadnezzar perhaps, who both took and burned Israel. This man was fearful in his deeds, but also notable — that is, glorious and renowned, able from his mere fame to terrify all who heard.

¹¹ From himself is his judgment.[2] That is, he does not follow laws, so as to judge according to them, this thing acceptable and that unacceptable; but he judges according to what seems good to him; and whatever he conceives, that is law for him.

¹² And his oracle shall come forth from himself. Since it was the custom of the Chaldeans to practice divination before their wars, and by the magic art to attempt to learn beforehand the outcome of the battle, he says that “his oracle” — that is, the prediction and divination concerning the war — shall not be from foreign diviners summoned to him from afar, but “from himself,” that is, from the native and local magicians, who boast that they foreshow things to come beyond the other nations as well. So too Balaam was summoned from Mesopotamia by Balak. Or also thus: by “judgment” he means the vengeance which God decreed against the Israelite people, and he says that “his judgment” — that is, the Israelite people’s, the penalty which it was condemned to pay as having provoked God — and “his oracle,” that is, the sentence prophesied against it, “shall come forth from himself,” namely from the king of the Babylonians, which means, it shall reach its end and be carried into effect. But also the people from the nations is from now on fearful to the demons and notable, as marked with the light of the face of God, and having its brightness from above through the grace of God that has appeared to all men. And having heard neither law nor prophets, of themselves they judged the good, and ran to the faith. And the oracle by which they were taken by Christ, being received into his Church, was a matter of their own choice. And Satan too, in taking those who sin for their chastening, is fearful, and displays his own wickedness manifestly, thus abusing the divine formation, and through these things showing forth his enmity toward the Maker. From this very one, then, comes also his condemnation, and the man whom he takes for chastening shall come forth from him — that is, shall no longer be in his power; for he is chastened altogether that he may depart from his works, and that the spirit may be saved. Thus the enemy of virtue becomes also its avenger.

¹³ And their horses shall leap beyond leopards, and they are swifter than the wolves of Arabia. Having said that the nation of the Chaldeans is hasty, he now teaches how they are swift, and that it is through the swiftness of their horses, which he says leap beyond even leopards. And since the leopard’s leap does not reach very far, he adds another comparison, and says that the horses of the Babylonians are swift beyond the wolves of Arabia; for the Arabian wolves are said to be most swift both in snatching up what falls in their way, and, when pursued, in being uncatchable, which is not so with leopards.

¹⁴ And his horsemen shall ride out, and shall rush from afar, and shall fly like an eagle eager to eat. By these things he shows both their strength together and their swiftness, and that they shall be brought down upon them from the higher places. For just as the eagle is both robust among birds, and most swift, and especially when, being hungry, it is eager to eat, and, swooping from the higher places, is irresistible; so too the horsemen of the Chaldeans are not only mighty, but also hasty because of their horses, and eager to go forth and to devour, and to consume the cities, swooping from on high. For I, he says, rouse them up. And the former equestrian and haughty arrogance of the people from the nations shall leap forth out of error, beyond the rulers of the Jews, who were called leopards and wolves of Arabia, as being beastlike and bloodthirsty. But also the horsemen of such a people, the apostles, who sat upon their irrational arrogance and subdued it, shall run intently and shall rush from afar (for they passed from Israel to the nations), and shall fly, like an eagle, namely Christ, whose food is the salvation of men. But also, of those who sin and are chastened, the horses — that is, the lustful thoughts — shall leap away from such passion; so that the demons come to be beyond the spiritual leopards, and are no longer attainable by them. And the horsemen of these horses, the mind and the reason, which mounted the appetitive part, shall come to be far from the former passions, and, lightened by the wings of self-control and chastity, shall fly into the heavens, where Christ is, so as to set their minds on the things above, and to be with him, and to be eager to eat the tree of life.

¹⁵ Consummation shall come upon the ungodly, who set themselves against their faces from the opposite side. The Chaldeans being such, he says, as the discourse has described, a consummation shall come upon the ungodly in Jerusalem, who set themselves against God to his face and shamelessly oppose him. Or, that the Chaldeans shall make a consummation of those who set themselves against them and war against them to their face. For those who come over and desert to them, and willingly submit to slavery under them, they will let live undisturbed; which we learn also from Jeremiah. And upon the Jews too a consummation came, who were ungodly toward the only-begotten Son of God, and set themselves against him, not secretly, but openly and with all boldness, so as even to say: Away with him, away with him, crucify him. But also, of those who daily sin and transgress, God spares them for a time, until they pursue their wickedness more moderately; but when they burst it forth, so as to be ungodly with all boldness, then he brings on them the consummation.

¹⁶ And he shall gather captivity as the sand. Since the Israelites, having forsaken God and his help, trusted in their own multitude, he says: Even if you become many, so as to be likened to the sand, the Babylonian king shall make you captives. But also the people from the nations, having been perfected in Christ, and having become teachers one of another, shall take many captive into the obedience of Christ.

¹⁷ And he himself shall make merry among kings, and tyrants are his playthings, and he himself shall mock at every stronghold, and shall cast up a mound, and take possession of it. Since the Israelites trusted in their own kings, and ran also to their neighbors — whether they were kings, that is, ruling lawfully, or tyrants, ruling lawlessly and by force — and trusted in their power and alliance, and not in God’s, he says that Nebuchadnezzar shall easily prevail over these kings, and shall count it a luxury; and without bloodshed he shall master all. So indeed he led Jeconiah away in bonds, and blinded Zedekiah, and lay heavy upon Egypt too. But even if the cities be fortified, and the fortresses hard to take, these too he shall master, as if playing rather than striving. For he shall only cast up a mound, he says, so as to raise it against the wall, which needs not even fighting men, but baggage-carriers and those who have learned to serve as hirelings. So indeed the Babylonian took Tyre. These things are understood also of the devil, who took captive the Israelites, who are sand, and at home in the salt sea of life, as loving the glory of men rather than the glory of God; and he mocked at the high priests, and at the rest of their rulers, who, being likened to kings, because they supposedly held a lawful rule, were tyrants in their ways; and he mocked at their strongholds, having persuaded them to understand the Scriptures wrongly. For the knowledge of the Scriptures is a stronghold for them; but they themselves took away the key of knowledge, and neither entered in, and hindered those who wished to enter. And he mastered these strongholds, casting up a mound, the lowly and earthy and groveling misinterpretation, having nothing lofty and heavenly; for they conceive of the enjoyment of earthly goods, and of bodily punishments, and all other such things. But there are kings who are also tyrants, those who reign over the passions, by tyrannizing over and doing violence to nature. For since the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it, all who pursue virtue might be called both kings and tyrants — the one, as having reigned here, and reigning from there, more perfectly, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear; the other, as having tyrannized over and done violence to nature. When, therefore, he who ever wars against good things has strength to bring down one of such men, he holds him as a delight and mocks at him (for his foods are choice), and especially he casts such men into despair, as the wretched Judas; and he masters every stronghold by casting up a mound. For by casting up and raising the dust of earthly cares, he besieges the human mind, and takes it, which has been built by God as a stronghold.

¹⁸ Then he shall change his spirit, and shall pass through, and make atonement. When, he says, the Babylonian shall have displayed all these things, and shall seem to have mastered all, then God shall “change his spirit” — that is, the wrathful anger which he had against the ungodly — and “shall pass through,” that is, shall come to be far from those chastised, no longer standing over them and watching their works and exacting penalty, and shall be merciful to them. And he said this, not that God is fickle, easily changed, but that, having exacted the fitting penalty, and having laid upon the sick the suitable and sufficient remedies, he then ceased the medical treatment. But also, when God sees those of Israel taken captive by the devil, he will not cast off his people whom he foreknew; but he will be merciful to those of the Jews who repent and are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; and these things you will learn especially from the Acts. For you will see the three thousand and the five thousand and the many myriads which James shows to Paul. And this happens on every occasion. And let everyone who is mastered by the devil not despair. For when he is brought down to the uttermost of wickedness, then he shall change the spirit, the evil in him, into the good, and shall pass through the way that saves, and leads away from wickedness to virtue, and from earth to heaven, and shall make atonement to God through repentance for the things done before. For he is not unappeasable, but compassionate, and he will be merciful to their sins, and will not destroy.

¹⁹ This is the strength of my God. The prophet, marveling at the kindness of God, cries aloud: Such strength — to chastise thus, and again thus to have compassion, and to change punishment into mercy — belongs to none other than to you, my God. For you are he who kills and makes alive. These things you will say also on account of the oracle of election, marveling how those whom he cast off he again received; and on account of those who turn back from the uttermost wickedness, when you see them having run up to the height of virtue; for human strength cannot do such things, but these belong in truth to divine power and grace, which has also taken to itself the human choice. For while you speak, he will say, Behold, I am here — not while you are silent; and, Open your mouth, and I will fill it.[3] You open first, then I will fill it.

²⁰ Are you not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my Holy One? And we shall not die. For even if we too have transgressed, yet you were from above and from the beginning the Lord of our fathers, the holy God, who receives nothing unclean, and for this reason cast us off as unclean. Since, then, we have you as our ancient Master, we shall not die — that is, we shall not be utterly destroyed, nor undergo total ruin. And observe that he reminds God of an ancient kinship, the very thing which Paul too says concerning the Israelites, that they are enemies on account of the Gospel, but beloved on account of the fathers. And these things might be said also to the Word who was in the beginning and from the beginning, and who is God, who also became “my Holy One” — that is, On my behalf he offered himself as a hallowing and an offering, giving up his body to death, as he also said: And for their sakes I sanctify myself. Therefore we died the death that is in Adam; for he, one, died for all, that he might redeem us from death. And he who has fallen from virtue, then returning to it, will say: Were you not from the beginning my Lord? Therefore, having run back to the ancient and holy Master, having fled the unclean tyrant, I shall not die, as one who despairs.

²¹ O Lord, you have appointed him for judgment. Whom, “him”? Either the Babylonian, so as to judge and chastise Israel, or the people in Jerusalem, you have appointed for condemnation. But also the Lord Jesus he appointed for judgment, as he himself says: For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see might see, and those who see might become blind. And man too God appointed to discern the good from the evil, and not to eat the mingled tree, which is pleasure, appearing good, but being in truth evil.

²² And he formed me to reprove instruction. The punishment mentioned above, he says, he ordained against Israel; but me, the prophet, he formed — that is, set and set apart — to reprove, that is, to show forth this instruction set apart against them. And the Lord Jesus might say: The Father formed me in the womb of the Virgin, to reprove the law, and to show it imperfect. Therefore he also said: It was said to them of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, and what follows. For the law of God was an instruction, given to the imperfect, suited to their condition, which was imperfect. Hence indeed the Lord said that Moses, in view of your hardness of heart, wrote the law concerning divorce. He reproved it, then, just as the sun, when it appears, reproves the lamp. For that which was glorified, he says, has not been glorified, by reason of the glory that surpasses. And the great Peter says concerning the prophetic word: To which you do well to take heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Daystar arise in your hearts. But also the Scribes and the Pharisees were an instruction to the people, whom, reproving them, he said: Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you do this and that.

²³ Your eye is pure, too pure to look upon evil things, and you will not be able to look upon toils; why do you look upon those who despise? The one thing he was perplexed about, that perplexity has been resolved; but now he is perplexed on account of the Chaldeans; and not this either as one himself needing a resolution (for how should he, who was formed to reprove and to teach others?), but knowing that for many an inquiry concerning these things too will arise, he raises a perplexity: For what reason did he hand over the Israelites, who were less ungodly, to the Chaldeans, who were more ungodly? For this cause, then, he raises the perplexity, and says to God: I know that your eye is pure, and that you do not wish to look upon evil works, nor do you bear to behold the toils which the wicked and evil and malignant bring upon the more guileless and weaker. Why, then, do you look upon the despisers — that is, the boasters and the Chaldeans, who scorn your laws? — that is, You are more graciously disposed toward them, and let them prosper?

²⁴ Will you be silent when the ungodly swallows up the righteous? The ungodly Babylonian swallows up the righteous Israelite, he says, and you are silent. Why, then, does this happen? And he calls the Israelite “righteous” in relation to the Babylonian, as if he said the more righteous. For the Israelites also sinned, he says; but yet, in relation to the Chaldeans, they are righteous.

²⁵ And you will make men as the fish of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler. Out of this long-suffering, he says, and out of the fact that the most wicked are not chastised by you, but rather the less wicked are handed over to them, you will make men to differ in nothing from the fish, which have neither laws nor judges, but the weaker lie ready as food for the stronger; and also to be likened to the creeping things, which, through the wickedness of their nature, do not even have leaders, as being unsociable and hateful of one another. For those animals that are ranged under a leader are tamer, showing by this too a friendly and gregarious nature. And the demons were called “despisers” above as well, over whom God, keeping silence in the times before the dispensation, made men in effect to live after the manner of fish, being most irrational and most voiceless. For there was not in them the word of godliness, nor a voice of doxology to God; but they were rather slayers of one another, and quickened to life in the salt sea of this life. And so bitter was their manner that it is said: The venom of an asp is under their lips, and their wrath is according to the likeness of the serpent.

²⁶ He drew up consummation with a hook, and dragged it in his casting-net, and gathered it in his drag-nets. Having said that the ungodly swallows up the righteous, and that men shall become as the fish of the sea, he now shows concerning whom he says these things, and that it is concerning the Babylonian. For this man, he says, has such power as to draw up whole nations (for this is what “consummation” signifies) with his own strength as with a hook, and to drag it — that is, the consummation itself — in his casting-net, by his dreadful methods (for the Hebrew custom uses masculines instead of feminines), and “gathered it in his drag-nets,” in his warlike forces. And the devil too hunted down the whole man, and dragged him with the hook of disobedience, and with the bait of the tasting, setting before him equality with God; and he gathered him, and made him most his own in the drag-nets of his manifold and varied pleasures. So too he does now: first he draws up the mind, dragging it away as it clings to the Lord, with the hook of the pleasurable thought; then he drags it in the casting-net of consent, holding it on both sides, both from the conceiving of the evil and from the consenting. Then he gathers it, and as it were embosoms it in the drag-nets of deeds. For from the moment he has once persuaded a man to work the evil, from then on he makes him his own, persuading him to abuse his own desires, and thrusting him into despair, as one already cast off by God.

²⁷ For this cause his heart shall be glad and rejoice. And the heart of the Babylonian, he says, shall revel in the utter destructions of the nations, and shall count their destruction a gladness and a delight. And the heart of the devil rejoices in the perdition of men, as having many partners in his fall from God.

²⁸ For this cause he shall sacrifice to his drag-net, and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his foods are choice. For he made great and gold-laden kingdoms subject to himself. And Daniel too declares his arrogance, saying: He set up a golden image, and commanded all his subjects to worship it, rulers and ruled. And the divine Isaiah says concerning him: You said: I will ascend above the clouds; above the stars I will set my throne; I will seize the inhabited world as a nest, and as eggs left behind I will take it up. Then he brings on also the punishment which he shall suffer: Beneath you they shall spread corruption, and your covering shall be the worm. But also the devil does not have so much pleasure in the hook — in the thought, I mean, with pleasure cast in as bait — as in the casting-net, which is consent, and in the drag-net, which is the deed. Now, of the casting-net he spoke of “burning incense,” as of the finer thing in the finer; but of the drag-net, of “sacrificing.” For the working of evil is more bodily, and such is the sacrifice. And since this dreadful and resourceful fisherman of this salt sea ensnares in his net many even of the holy and elect of God, fittingly it is said: “His foods are choice”; for these he is the more eager to hunt. So too the Lord chose Judas; but he, having made himself his own by the drag-net of love of money that gathered much together, set him as his own food. For as to God the salvation of men is food, so to him is their perdition. But also the Israelites, who are a portion of God (for the Lord’s portion is his people Jacob, the measuring-line of his inheritance is Israel), he made his fat portion, and, elect though they were, he prepared them to become slayers of God.

²⁹ Therefore he shall cast his casting-net, and shall not spare to slay the nations continually. Since, he says, he gathers fat portions and choice foods, and prospers in his own wishes, having met with no opposition, he will set his hand also against the other nations, and will not cease using his own power as a casting-net; just as neither did the devil spare to slay all the nations through sin, since he once recognized that sin is the sting of death to souls and bodies.

3 Chapter Two

¹ I will stand upon my watch, and mount upon a rock, and look out to see what he will speak in me, and what I shall answer to my reproof. It is the custom of the saints, whenever they wish to learn something from God, to keep their own heart with all watchfulness from worldly cares, and to be stretched out toward God alone, and to ascend, as it were upon a certain rock, by lifting up their understanding from the things of earth. For God seeks lofty hearts, even as David also says: The mighty of the earth are greatly lifted up to God;[4] and again, The young of the vulture fly aloft. The prophet Habakkuk, then, being at a loss over the things said before, as in the person of those who inquire about such things, and being about to bring on the resolution of them, says that he will bring it on not out of human reasonings, but as from God. Therefore he says: I will stand upon my prophetic rank, and upon spiritual contemplation, keeping my mind unmixed with worldly cares and unstained; and I will stand upon a rock — the firm and immovable and lofty ascent toward God, upon which God set Moses also. For just as those who are about to keep watch see in this manner, going up to some lofty place, so, he says, in the same manner I too will look out to see what God will speak in me, concerning the things over which I was at a loss because of the Babylonians — how it is that they pay no penalties for their wickedness — so that I may know what I shall answer to those who wish to ask me such things, and to learn concerning the divine dispensations. For he called the question a “reproof.” And observe how he did not say, What he will speak outside of me, but, What he will speak in me, that he might show that God was not speaking to him from without, nor indeed to any other prophet, but from within, touching the understanding itself. So is God said to speak in the prophets. For human speech, first striking the ears from without, then passes also to the understanding; but the divine speech comes about within, and touches the ears of the mind. And by the “rock” you will understand faith. For he who believes that nothing which God does, he does without reason, that one alone stands unshaken, not being thrown into confusion by the unevenness of the things that come to pass.

² And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and that plainly, upon a tablet, that he who reads it may run; for the vision is yet for an appointed time, and it shall spring up at the end, and not in vain. The Lord commands the prophet to write the vision — that is, the revelation which he revealed to him, over which he appeared to be in great perplexity. And who this is — having veiled it a little — he will tell. For the time being, then, he bids him write this revelation, and not obscurely, after the prophetic and shadowed manner of speech, but plainly, so that it should be evident; and to write it not on paper, but upon a tablet — that is, upon a little panel of boxwood, that the writing might remain, and that not only those now living might come to know it, but also he who reads it afterward might “run” — that is, might seek out the end of the revelation, and when these things shall be fulfilled. For this vision is not accomplished now, but needs a season. And do not doubt over it, if you do not now see it coming to pass. For it shall by all means come to pass at the end, and shall not be in vain. For since God revealed it, who is Truth itself and is full, how shall it be false and empty?

³ If he should tarry, wait for him; for he that is coming will come, and will not delay. This is the revelation which God revealed mystically to the prophet; therefore he did not even point out by name who this is whom one must wait for, even if he should tarry and be slow. One might say, then, that he says this concerning God; for since Habakkuk had blamed God, as not bringing on the penalties close upon the sins, nor laying a swift sentence upon the Babylonians, he now brings on the resolution of the perplexity, and says: He whom you blame as being slow — God — will assuredly come, only in due season. If, then, he should tarry and be slow, wait. But some say that he says these things concerning Cyrus. For he will come against Babylon, and will humble her, and will set free those who are wronged — only not now. But how, having said “If he should tarry,” did he add “He will not delay”? The “He will tarry” is said in respect of faintheartedness; the “He will not delay,” in respect of patient endurance, as though saying this: If, out of smallness of soul, he should seem to you to be slow, wait, and patient endurance will persuade you not to reckon that he has delayed. For in truth faintheartedness, just as it makes bearable things unbearable, so it makes swift things seem slow; but greatness of soul, on the contrary, makes hard-to-bear things bearable, and slow things swift.

⁴ If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But my just one shall live by faith.[5] He said above: Write the vision, that he who reads it may run — that is, may seek out the things of the vision, as one hoping that they will come to pass. Now, then, he says: If he should draw back — that one who reads, that is, should be in doubt and waver — he is not well-pleasing to me, nor does my soul take pleasure and find rest in him. And just as God is said to sleep and to awake, and to have hands and feet after the manner of men, so also is the phrase, “My soul.” For the soul of the Word of God, who for our sakes came upon earth and became man, takes no pleasure in the one who is faithless and draws back from naming him Son of God and true God; but he who confesses him without drawing back and without wavering, having become just by faith, shall have life, whether the life to come, or righteousness itself. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. For the law, being transgressed, works wrath, and put to death those who transgressed it; but faith, loosing sins by grace, justifies. Therefore it is also said, as some of the copies have it, “But my just one” — that is, He who has become just by my grace. And a “tablet” is every soul that is strong and smooth — that is, gentle — having nothing rough or reckless in it, receiving within itself the prophetic revelations concerning Christ, and guarding unfailingly the things concerning both his former coming and his second. Therefore, even when it sees righteousness ailing and unrighteousness prevailing, it is not vexed, but waits for the season — that is, the opportune time of the exact judgment and of the requital of what each has lived. And being just, it does not depart from righteousness, but accomplishes the present life out of its faith concerning the things to come, remaining unturned, and living in Christ, and rejoices in the hopes of the just judgment of God. Such, then, is the one who says: I saw the ungodly highly exalted and lifting himself up; and I passed by, and behold, he was not.[6] For in the present life perhaps he runs prosperously to the end. And yet this same one does not even allow this; for he says: Those who do evil shall soon be withered like grass. But at all events, in the age to come he shall by all means pay the penalty that is fitting. And he shall not be such, having fallen away from him who truly is; for according to Paul, we are God’s. So too elsewhere he says concerning God: Who calls the things that are not as though they were — that is, those outside of himself, and for this reason not being, he made them come to be within himself, and for this reason also to be.

⁵ But the arrogant and scornful man, the boaster, shall accomplish nothing at all. Having said before that he would come who was to loose the sorrowful things, and to rid the broken of all misery, he next makes mention of the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar, and says that, being full of all conceit and despising God, he shall accomplish nothing at all — that is, he shall not hold his good fortune unshaken to the end, even though he be puffed up in soul. And this we shall learn from Daniel: that even before Cyrus campaigned against him, he was cast out of the kingdom, falling into melancholy, and like one possessed went about the deserts, lodging out of doors, and exposed without help to the inclemencies of the air; so that even the appearance of his body was changed to something more beastly and savage. You have, then, the resolution of the things in perplexity, you who are at a loss over the accounts of Providence; for behold, you have seen the end of the ungodly man, who did such and such things.

⁶ Who enlarged his soul like Hades; and he is as death, never satisfied; and he will gather to himself all the nations, and will receive to himself all the peoples. The things the prophet said above, that he drew up the consummation with a hook, and that he will not spare to slay nations continually, God now seals, leading the wickedness of both the perceptible Babylonian and the spiritual one to something greater and more excessive. For the prophet likened this one’s manner and power to a dragnet and a casting-net and a hook; but God says that he is not satisfied, like Hades which takes the souls and is not filled, and death which receives the bodies and is not sated, and that, bringing all men under himself, he does not cease from his desire. But, properly speaking, the arrogant and scornful one is the father of pride, who, even if he put human nature to death through the sin in Adam, and enlarged his soul, having room not only against sinners but also against the righteous and against the very infants (for death reigned even over those who had sinned), yet shall accomplish nothing. For Christ, appearing on our behalf without sin, dissolved the sin in Adam. Therefore, having died unjustly and risen from the dead, inasmuch as it was not possible that the Author of life be held by death — through both idolatry and other wicked works he had brought all under himself; but Christ cleansed us from dead works, to serve the living and true God.

⁷ Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a proverb for a tale concerning him? The thoughtful, he says, shall make a “parable” — meaning a song and a “proverb,” that is, a popular saying, set forth in the mouths of all; so that, before every other tale, they tell concerning him. Or by “parable” he signifies this: that whenever certain people are about to make mention of someone as having fallen into misfortune, they will hold him up as a parable, saying, So-and-so came to misfortune, like the Babylonian.

⁸ And they shall say: Woe to him who multiplies to himself the things that are not his own (how long?) and heavily loads his collar. These things, he says, they shall sing, lamenting the Babylonian: Woe to him who lays his hands upon those who pay no heed to him, and makes his collar — that is, the weight of his rule — heavier for his subjects, by laying upon them heavy tributes and taxes. And in the midst he cried out: How long? — showing his insatiable and unsatisfied greed, and that he saw no end, and that these things shall not be for long, but shall cease before long. And he made his collar heavier also in that he was making the punishment from God heavier for himself, in the things wherein he ever advanced in wickedness. And the devil too gathers to himself the things that are not his own; for men, who are God’s and in no way belong to him, he makes subject to himself; but these were taken from him by the power of the Gospel of Christ. Whence he also fashions for himself a heavier collar of punishment, in that not even at the coming of Christ did he cease from his wickedness, although he was cut off from the most vital parts of his power.

⁹ For suddenly shall they rise up that bite him, and they that plot against you shall awake, and you shall be a spoil to them. He said above, How long? — as one complaining and bitterly aggrieved, meaning, How long will you do these things? Then, as though someone asked, How do you say this? he says: Because even against his will he shall cease from his unrighteousness. For as out of sleep there shall rise up suddenly and unexpectedly those who bite him, as with teeth, with the assaults of war, and devour and consume his military forces — the Persians and Medes and Elamites under Cyrus, namely; and as though coming to themselves out of drunkenness and stupor, and taking up a prudent and free reckoning, they shall no longer endure your great heaviness, but in every manner shall plot against you and plunder your kingdom. And against the devil too the apostles and martyrs rose up, who, teaching and confessing Christ with the mouth, bit his body — that is, those who think his thoughts. For as the faithful are the body of Christ, so the faithless are the body of the devil. And those who were formerly idolaters shall be plotters against him, tearing down his works. For they came to themselves, and saw the wood as wood, and the rest of the matter, what it was, which formerly they had served as men drunken. And he who turns away from sin also rises up; for one lying prone could not turn; and confessing, he bites the devil with the mouth by which he confesses. And having come to himself out of the stupor by which he was held fast under pleasure, he plots against him through fasting, sleeping on the ground, and prayer, and plunders him, and guides others toward salvation, both by the word and by the example of the holy man’s own self.

¹⁰ Because you have spoiled many nations, all the peoples that are left shall spoil you; because of the blood of men, and the impiety of the land, and the cities, and all that dwell therein. Many, he says, you have spoiled; nevertheless you shall be brought down by a few — by those left outside your tyranny, who you did not even expect would set upon you. So God-sent is the blow against you, that these men despised by you assuredly prevailed over you, since God was strengthening them. And you shall suffer these things because of the slaughters of men, and because of the impieties which you did, making all the land and every city desolate of their inhabitants. By Cyrus, then, the Babylonian — that is, his rule — suffered these things; but by the saints, Satan, who, having spoiled men through deceiving pleasure, was himself despoiled of them by Christ, who entered into his house — that is, the world, in which he had his strength — and plundered his vessels, which he used for all his working. And he was despoiled also through the apostles, who, being of the chosen remnant of the Israelites, set free all who were under the authority of Satan.

¹¹ Woe to him who covets an evil covetousness for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be sheltered from the hand of evils. He complains over the Babylonian as a covetous man. And you might say that he laments him too; for he is truly wretched, and worthy to be lamented, who reaches after more. As, then, this one too coveted an evil covetousness for his house — that is, for his rule and kingdom, so as to make it lofty and powerful, that he might experience no evil — or even made the royal house splendid and gilded, and built it high, securing it on every side, that it might be free from plots. And he said nest by a metaphor from the birds that make their own nests high, so that the young might not be easily taken by those who wish to plot against them. And it indicates also the lightness and loftiness of his mind. But there is also a good covetousness, when one wishes to have more in virtue, and when, having given little here, he is eager to receive more there.

¹² You have devised shame to your house. This loftiness, he says, which you procured for your house and your kingdom out of covetousness, shall turn out to your greater shame; for by however much you are more splendid, by so much the greater is your shame in falling from so great and so lofty a splendor. These things are said also to all the covetous. And let them hear them, and be profited. And it is said also concerning the apostate who coveted against God, and seized human nature under himself; who set on high his house and his nest — that is, sin; for in it he finds rest. And he is said to have a “nest” like a bird, on account of his rule and authority in the air, and his boastfulness and high-mindedness. But he devised shame for such a house of his. For when he had brought sin to its peak, and persuaded men to come to the very summit of wickedness, having driven the rest of mankind into every kind of sin, and the Israelites into filling up the measure of their fathers and slaying God, then he was put to shame.

¹³ You have brought many peoples to an utter end, and your soul has sinned. That is, You made an end, you destroyed with utter ruin (which he said above, He drew up the consummation with a hook), and you did not even cease from sinning, but still your soul sinned, going forward into greater covetousness. Or, that after making an end of many peoples, you fell sick with pride, raging against God himself, which is a sin of the soul. But the false teachers too covet an evil covetousness, drawing away the disciples from sound teaching after themselves, that they may make their own houses — and not God’s — that is, the so-called Churches, loftier and more glorious, by speaking swelling words; but they devise shame for them, since the Church, which is in truth the house of God, is shown to be the stronger, whenever such men also bring many peoples to an end, making them liable to the anathema, which is the bound and end of every heretic — separation, I mean, from God.

¹⁴ For a stone shall cry out of the wall, and a beetle out of the wood shall utter these things. It is the custom of Scripture to invest the inanimate and senseless and the irrational with voices, not as being able to speak, but as though through the things themselves they all but cry aloud. So, accordingly, Isaiah also says: Be ashamed, O Sidon, said the sea; and, The heavens declare the glory of God.[7] And what is more fitting to the matter at hand, the Lord said to the Jews when the greater part were praising him: Verily I say to you, if these should keep silent, the stones will cry out. He says, then, to the Babylonian: Not only those who partake of reason, but even the inanimate things, both the stones and the irrational creatures, the beetles, shall cry out against your madness and folly; and how, we shall tell. Nebuchadnezzar was tearing down and burning the houses and cities of Judea. Of necessity, then, the stones too fell down, and the timbers, which had little beetles — that is, wood-worms — in them from age, by which age was attested in both the cities and the houses. These things, then, demolished and burned with fire, the prophet says shall cry out against his cruelty. And it must be known that, in place of “beetle,” Symmachus set down “a binding of timbers.” Perhaps, then, the ancients called the interlacing of the timbers that hold up the roofs “beetles,” because, as it were, they bear up by many the roof that lies upon them. But also every stone torn down from the Jewish temple shall cry out the power of the Lord. And he who till then wallowed in the dung of sin, when he receives the wood of the cross, shall utter: But God forbid that I should boast, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world; and, that Christ, if he was crucified through weakness of the flesh, yet lives by the power of God.

¹⁵ Woe to him who builds a city with blood, and prepares a city with unrighteousness; are not these things from the Lord Almighty? Truly worthy of lamentations and wailings is he who increases his own kingdom out of unjust slaughters — such as the Babylonian also was, building a city, namely Babylon, out of bloodshed and wars, or even every city under him — that is, making it loftier and richer; and “preparing” it, meaning, supposing to make it firm and unshaken, by heaping together unjust wealth and power. But these things are not from the Lord — that is, the Lord did not command these things, nor did he ordain them by law, nor are they pleasing to him. The devil built a city with blood, when he established the polity of idolatrous sacrifices; and he prepared a city with unrighteousness, when he persuaded men to live in covetousness, and simply in pleasure and luxury, which is unrighteousness, the better part in us being wronged by the worse.

¹⁶ And many sufficient peoples failed in the fire, and many nations grew faint of soul. He shows how the Babylonian built with blood and unrighteousness. For, he says, you burned many peoples, setting aflame their cities and their lands, and you made many nations grow faint of soul — that is, give up amid evils, and cast away their strength. Many nations failed in the fire, in which they burned and offered up whole burnt offerings of the sacrificial victims to the idols. But also in the fire of his wrath those held in the power of the most terrible Babylonian fail.

¹⁷ For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covering the seas. Some of the copies have “was filled,” and you will understand this in place of “shall be filled.” Since he said above, “Woe,” he now brings on the cause, and says: For this reason I said Woe, because the power of God shall be made known upon you. And the whole earth shall know the Lord, as judging justly. And just as much water covering the seas — that is, overflowing and overbrimming — is poured into every place, so the knowledge of the Lord shall be abundant, and shall be poured out upon all. So too David says: The Lord is known by executing judgments; in the works of his own hands the sinner is caught. For whenever the sinner is caught in these very things by which he does evil, then the Lord, executing judgments, becomes known to all. And he foretells also the knowledge of God that should come about through Christ over all the earth, even as the Lord himself said to the Father: I have manifested your name to men. For formerly he was known to the Hebrews alone, and not even to these as Father of a Son, or as one who brings forth the Spirit, but simply as God and Maker of all; but through Christ he was made known to all men as well, to the end of the earth, and in perfect glory, as the principle of a Son and of a Spirit. The seas of the nations, then — those that were bitter through unbelief — the potable water of the knowledge of God flooded over and covered, so that they were changed into it. And the Lord himself is also called a river of peace and a torrent, as in the saying: Behold, I incline toward them as a river of peace, and as a torrent flooding over with the glory of the nations.

¹⁸ Woe to him who gives his neighbor a turbid and troubled draught to drink, and makes him drunk, that he may look upon their caverns. Drink you also your fill of dishonor instead of glory. And again, bewailing the Babylonian: Since, he says, you gave the punishments to your neighbors to drink — that is, to all men fashioned of the same clay, or even to your own kinsmen and relatives — like some turbid draught from a spring that has suffered a disturbance, that is, that has been troubled together, and you made them drunk through chastisements, that they might point out to you the “caverns” — that is, the hidden places in which they had their treasures buried — and that you might look upon them; for this reason, drink you also yourself the draught of dishonor to your fill. For you shall not be dishonored thus lightly, but exceedingly; and the cause is that you are about to slip down from much glory into dishonor. And there is also a Hebrew tradition, that Nebuchadnezzar, leading away the rulers of the nations into his own land, and holding public drinking-feasts, brought these men in, and, making them drunk, made them dance. And as they reeled and fell, and, as was likely, the hidden members of the body were laid bare, he reveled over them, mocking. These the prophet called “caverns.” And the other interpreters have given, in place of “the caverns,” “the nakedness”: That, he says, he may look upon their nakedness. And the devil too gave men, who are his “neighbors” — inasmuch as they too are of a rational nature — a turbid and troubled draught to drink, muddling their mind, and overturning and confounding the knowledge of the good which by nature, as God, he had put in them, and making them drunk with pleasures, that their hearts, having become his caverns as of a robber, might have him for their overseer, looking upon and watching them, lest perhaps a good thought enter. But since Christ, the water of the knowledge of God, the torrent of delight, flooded over the earth, this robber was dishonored to the full; for he fell from all his power. No longer is idolatry anywhere, no longer are the passions made gods, as he says also in Isaiah: The Lord shall send dishonor upon your honor. And the heresiarchs too give those who draw near to them and become their disciples a turbid and troubled draught to drink, overturning the sound sense of the Scriptures, that they may look upon their “caverns” — that is, their synagogues. But their hearts too might be called “caverns,” not receiving the illumination of the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, the Sun of righteousness; but also full of creeping things and beasts — of wicked and venomous thoughts.

¹⁹ And you, O heart, be shaken and quake. To the heart of the Babylonian he says: Many were shaken by you before. Now, then, you too, who never hoped to be shaken and to fall from your prosperity, but to stand unshaken forever, and for this reason are hardened — be shaken; that is, understand that your prosperity has changed, and, becoming aware of the things that have come upon you, be shaken and quake from your standing in boastfulness, suffering a certain trembling, and taking up grief, and a beginning of repentance. And that many who are in plenty suppose they will never be shaken, David bears witness, saying: But I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved; not considering that you, O Lord, had strengthened my comeliness and splendor, and had made it for the while to stand firm.[8] Not that I was worthy, but that you willed it. For, he says, O Lord, by your will you gave power to my beauty. But you turned away your face, and I became troubled. This trouble, then, he counsels the Babylonian to suffer. And blessed is he who, while being scourged by God, is troubled and shaken away from wickedness, and does not say, I shall play the man.

²⁰ The cup of the Lord’s right hand has come round upon you. For this reason, he says, I counsel you to quake and to be shaken, because the just punishment of God has come upon you. For this he names the cup of the divine right hand; and in many other places too punishment is called a “cup.” And he who drinks and is made drunk is shaken. And what is the “has come round”? It has encompassed you, so that you cannot escape it. Or, that just as in a banquet the cup goes round about the fellow-drinkers, so also the punishment from God first went round the other kingdoms, taking vengeance on them through you and making them drunk with calamities; but, passing round in a circle, it has now reached you; so that you are bound to drink this. For the right hand of the Lord offers this to you, and it is impossible to escape. For who shall turn back his uplifted hand?

²¹ And dishonor was gathered upon your glory. Just as, when you prospered, glory came together to you from every side — from wealth, and from manliness and understanding, and the multitude of your subjects and the like — so now dishonor shall be gathered to you, from cowardice, from senselessness, from having no subject, and simply from all such things; for the man of glory is dishonored by the very things by which he is glorified, when he falls from them. And since the Lord spent three days in the heart of the earth, abiding in Hades, to this “heart” he says: Quake and be shaken; perhaps even from the earthquake that took place when he breathed his last, when the tombs were also opened; and perhaps also as all the dominion of Hades was shaken, and the bronze gates were shattered; for he came to proclaim release to the captives. He adds, then: The cup of death has come round upon you, which the right hand of the Lord, Christ, drank; and for this reason, those also whom you had prevailed to swallow down, you vomited up. And in the glory you had in Christ over having mastered human nature, you have now become dishonored. For the last enemy was brought to nothing — wickedness, the glory of evil and its boast; according to the saying, Why do you boast in wickedness?[9] But whenever he is grieved at wickedness, and gathers himself together, then he reckons his former glory to be dishonor.

²² For the impiety of Lebanon shall cover you. Lebanon was a mountain of Phoenicia, rich in timber and fragrant; and Scripture likens to it Jerusalem, as the greatest and most lofty, and full of much fragrance from her holy men, as David also says: The cedars of Lebanon which you planted; there the sparrows will make their nests.[10] For each of the saints is like a cedar, in that he is raised on high; and he receives those who wish to be made disciples under him, and becomes a shelter to them. Since, then, the Babylonian burned Jerusalem together with the divine temple, the impiety, he says, committed against Lebanon — against Jerusalem, I mean — shall cover you.

²³ And the misery of wild beasts shall dismay you. By “wild beasts” he means those about Cyrus, as having much that is savage. The misery, then, which these shall bring upon you, shall dismay you — that is, shall make you lowly and cowardly and devoid of courage. But also there was much impiety in Lebanon of old, on account of the idolatry there; for the demon-possessed used to frequent the higher mountains, as there more easily consorting with the demons — on account of which the devil was covered, being given over to the abyss, and the beasts of the demons under him were brought into misery, scourged by the name of Christ.

²⁴ Because of the blood of men, and the impieties of the land and the city, and of all that dwell in it. Again he shows the justice of the punishment, and that he suffers these things not without reason or unjustly, but on account of the blood and the impieties which he did, making every land and city desolate of inhabitants. But these things will fit also the God-slayers, who were dishonored, and drank the cup of the Lord’s wrath, and were brought down into misery by wild beasts — the Roman armies, that is — on account of the blood of the prophets and of the disciples of the Lord. For they too committed impiety against Lebanon, the fragrant Church, which is also the land of God and a city.

²⁵ What profit is a graven image, that they have graven it? They have fashioned it a molten work, a false phantasm, that the maker has trusted in his own handiwork, to make dumb idols. The Babylonians, when Cyrus campaigned against them, turned to the idols and to sorceries. Therefore the prophet derides their senselessness, who burned the temple of the true God, but put their confidence in the idols, which were unable to deliver them from their enemies. And of the idols, those fashioned of metallic material — some were graven, and some molded and beaten; yet all were cast, even if the graven ones had a certain peculiarity. For these were full in themselves and solid, having within no hollows at all; but the molded ones were composite, and full within of foreign material — pitch, or wax, or clay. There were also stone graven images, and wooden ones both graven and composite. And there were some that the hands of painters shaped by means of colors. Having made mention, then, more particularly of the graven and molded ones, he next brought on a more general phrase: To make the idols dumb. For by the word “to make” he comprehended together all those produced in any way whatever and out of any material whatever. And perhaps the “fashioned” and the “handiwork” signify this; just as when we say, God made the earth, and again, His hands fashioned the dry land. And the sense is this: The maker has trusted in his handiwork, and for this reason they make the idols; the more they make, the more they suppose they will attain greater profit. And having said phantasm, he added false, because there is also a true phantasm — namely, when one calls back to himself again the things that appeared to him, such as they appeared. Or Scripture also knows “phantasm” as splendor. Since, then, there are many splendors that subsist, inasmuch as they belong to things that are real, but the splendor of the idols is unreal, of unreal things, for this reason he called it a false phantasm.

²⁶ Woe to him who says to the wood, Awake, arise; and to the stone, Be exalted; and it is a phantasm. He laments those who, in the calamities that beset them, do not flee for refuge to him who is able to save, but run to the wooden and stone idols, and beseech them, that as though slumbering they may be roused and exalted against the enemies, showing their own power to be lofty and unconquered. And observe how he did not say “a wooden idol” or “a stone one,” but “wood” or “stone,” for greater reproach. For even if it has the form, he says, of a man, yet it remains wood and stone; and the form which it bears is altogether a false phantasm, as he said before; for there was no need to say it twice over.

²⁷ And this is a plating of gold or silver. The saying appears unintelligible. For having said stone and wood, he added: And this is a plating of gold and silver. Are, then, the wood and the stone a plating of gold and silver? No, but understand it thus: the one set are wooden and stones; but this is a plating — meaning, but another is a plating of gold or silver.

²⁸ And there is no spirit in it. Meaning, there is no spirit in it at all — neither the natural, nor the sensitive, nor the rational.

²⁹ But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth stand in awe before his face. The idols, he says, are dumb and weak, and able to profit no one; but the Lord has as it were a temple, namely heaven, and dwells in it, as Holy of holies. And he dwells in the temple in Jerusalem, which he that trusted in the idols burned, for which also he shall pay the penalty. And if he dwells in the heavens, let all the earth stand in awe before his face — that is, before his oversight and his inspection of our works; and let no one despise, nor be boastful, looking to the things that befell the Babylonian. A temple of the Lord is also the body which he framed for himself from the holy Virgin, which temple he dwells in even now. Let all, then, who are minded of the things of earth stand in awe before his face — of the second coming, I mean — when he shall come to inspect our affairs more fearfully, not to set them right.

4 Chapter Three

¹ O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and was afraid; I considered your works, and was amazed.[11] The wonderful prophet, having shaped the structure of his discourse into question and answer, and having inquired why God does not chastise the despisers, and having learned that this would not be forever, but that he would punish the Jews through the Babylonians, and the Babylonians through the Persians, now changes his discourse into a hymn-singing, at once praying, and praising, and standing astonished at the justice of God and at his unutterable dispensations. In the form of a prayer and supplication he foretells the things to come. He says, then: Having heard the things which you said—both concerning those who transgress in Jerusalem, that they shall be handed over to the Babylonian, and concerning this same impious one, that he shall be given over to the Persians—I was afraid at how you hand over those who sin to utter destruction. Nothing that is done by you is done without reason; I am amazed at the justice of the verdict. He might say these things also concerning the mystery according to Christ; for since he had made mention of the overthrow of the Babylonians, which Cyrus wrought when he set the Israelites free, he now passes on to that more universal and more mystical freedom, which our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished, having freed us from the authority of Satan; and he says to the Father: O Lord and Father, I heard you mystically revealing to me the incarnation of your only-begotten Son, and I was afraid how the earth would receive him who is nowhere contained. And having considered more finely and more exactly your works, which you are about to do—having framed for him a body out of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, and the other signs, which he himself will do in your name—I was amazed. But it may be said also to the Son: I have heard the report concerning you. For he said above: What shall he speak in me, namely the Spirit. And I considered the works, by which you will work out salvation for human nature—among the rest, both the cross, and the death, and the resurrection, and the ascension—and I was amazed how the contraries should come together: a body to the bodiless, death to life, resurrection to death, how a body should be in the heavens. For these things are truly full of amazement.

² In the midst of two you shall be known. Two lives there are, the present and the one to come, in the midst of which the righteous Judge is made manifest—chastising or glorifying some even here, and storing up for others the unmixed punishments or rests from beyond. But some have understood not “lives,” but “living creatures,” to be spoken of here: the Cherubim of glory, which overshadowed the mercy-seat, the one on the right, the other on the left; and from the midst of them a divine voice, going forth, made known to the high priest the counsel of God, when he entered into the holy of holies. Since, then, the Lord Jesus also, having borne flesh, became our mercy-seat, as the Apostle testifies, inasmuch as he laid down his soul for us, and reconciled us to God and the Father—yet he remains God all the same, attended as by a bodyguard by the Cherubim—he says: You shall be known, O Master, that you are truly our mercy-seat. For the legal mercy-seat, standing in the midst of the two Cherubim, prefigured you. But others have understood the two living creatures to be the Babylonians and the Jews, in the midst of whom he was known, doing acts of righteousness. And we know of other interpretations too, from which we shall refrain for the sake of brevity.

³ When the years draw near, you shall be recognized; when the time is at hand, you shall be made manifest. And you shall be made manifest to all, that you are just and true. But he speaks also concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, namely: The years of the consummation draw near, and the time foreordained for your incarnation is at hand. And this was when wickedness had come to its crest, and nothing was left undared by the devil, but all had sinned, and came short of the glory of God, and there was none righteous, no, not one—then you shall be recognized and made manifest, who are now proclaimed beforehand in shadows and types.

⁴ When my soul is troubled in wrath, you shall remember mercy. The prophet, putting on the person of humanity, says: When the soul of a man is troubled by your wrath, as he is being chastised by you, then again you remember mercy; just as you also again had mercy upon the Israelites who had been handed over to the Babylonians. But human nature too suffered trouble, when God was angered against it on account of the disobedience, and it became mortal, as David also says: But when you turn away your face, they shall be troubled, and shall return to their dust. Yet again you had mercy upon it, and showed it incorruptible and immortal in you, as the same one again says: You shall send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.

⁵ God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from a shady, thickly-wooded mountain. The word “Teman” some have interpreted as “south,” others as “southwest.” And the prophet foretells that Christ shall come from Bethlehem, which lies toward the southern and southwesterly quarter of Jerusalem. And by “shady mountain” he calls Jerusalem herself—“thickly-wooded,” as luxuriant with all manner of divine graces and with the virtues of the holy ones within her; and “shady,” because the cloud and the divine grace overshadow within her, and because she lodges as it were under the covering of heaven. And the Theotokos too is a “thickly-wooded mountain,” inasmuch as no iron went up upon her—no reasoning bearing the filthy rust—nor any hand of human deed, that it might cut her virginity; and “shady,” because the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her.

⁶ Selah.[12]

⁷ His excellence covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. Even if the Only-begotten became man, he says, and in this respect seems to have been made lower than the angels—yet nonetheless his excellence, that is, his glory and his majesty, is beyond the heavens, that is, beyond the angels in the heavens. For to which of these did he say: You are my Son, sit at my right hand, or that he is more radiant even than the heavenly light? But also, all the earth then the more recognized him as Lord and Master, when he was made flesh, and praises him as the only-begotten and consubstantial Son of the Father. But also, when with the flesh he was ascending upon a cloud, he covered the heavens; and from that time the more did the earth recognize him as God.

⁸ And his brightness shall be as the light. The brightness, he says, which Christ will show to us, bringing in both the knowledge of God and a life pleasing to God, shall be as the light—that is, not dim nor weak, such as the Mosaic light was (for that had a shadow), but unmixed and unalloyed light; and so the prophet also said: Be enlightened, O Jerusalem; for your light has come; and, The people that sat in darkness saw a great light. But also the brightness of his flesh shall be as the light of the Godhead on Mount Tabor. For in the flesh the Godhead shone forth.

⁹ Horns are in his hands, and he set a mighty love of his strength. Not only, he says, did he, using the light of teaching, point out the truth that is in life and in doctrines; but he also displayed very many powers in working wonders. And “horn” is everywhere put for power, since horns are weapons to the living creatures that have them. And last of all he died also on our behalf, which is a sign of his greatest power, that through death he abolished death; and both these he did, making evident his mighty and great love toward us. For greater love than this no one has, than that he lay down his soul for his friends. And since “horns” is taken also with reference to a king, as in: He shall exalt the horn of his Anointed; and with reference to haughtiness, as in: Lift not up your horn on high; some say that the prophet means that the kingdoms of the demons, and the acts of haughtiness, came to be in his hands—that is, under his authority—just as also: In your hands are my lots; that is, in your authority. And since he routed these at that very time, when he said: Now is the judgment of the world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; laying down his soul on our behalf, he showed his mighty love toward us. And this love was not of weakness, but of strength. For he suffered not as one weak, but willingly; he who, even while being crucified, displayed his own power, darkening the sun, shaking the earth, opening the tombs.

¹⁰ Before his face a word shall go. He is not without witness, he says, but has as a sure witness the prophetic word; for before his fleshly dispensation the prophetic word proclaimed him. But also the word of John, who says: There comes one mightier than I after me. But also, as soon as he was born the Magi came, and there was much talk about him; and afterward his fame went out into all Syria. But also in all the things done by the Lord a word goes before, and nothing is without reason. And since the fearful visitation of the Lord is also called the “face” of the Lord, as in: The face of the Lord is against those who do evil; you will understand that he bears witness against us and points out beforehand the things to be done, then comes upon us, rendering to each his due. For if I had not come and spoken to them, he says, they would not have sin.

¹¹ And he shall go forth unto instruction at his feet. Having first sent forth the word unto the instruction of men, he says, then he himself also came at the feet of the prophetic word. Or, as I said, having first borne witness, he then disciplines us when we have not heard. But some have read it thus: His feet shall go forth into plains. Writing “plains” with the bare epsilon and the iota, and understanding that all things are passable for the incarnate God, like flat plains fit for riding, and nothing is impossible to him. [13] And the lowly in heart too might be understood as “plains,” who, receiving the seed from heaven, bear fruit a hundredfold, and sixtyfold, and thirtyfold; concerning whom David also says: And your plains shall be filled with fatness, and the valleys shall abound in corn. Then, showing that he speaks of rational plains and valleys, he says: They shall cry aloud; yea, they shall sing hymns.

¹² He stood, and the earth was shaken. He looked, and the nations melted; the mountains were violently shattered, the everlasting hills melted away; they saw his everlasting goings instead of toils. He shows the all-powerfulness of God, and that he is irresistible. For at once he stands and the earth is shaken; and at once he looks, and whole nations melt like wax; and the mountains are shattered by his violence and power; and the hills are “everlasting,” that is, renowned of old, on account of their height and greatness; and his “goings” and ways, which from of old he makes, moving each time against his enemies—those who saw them saw them not bearable, but burdensome; so fearful were they. And you will understand also that he stood on the cross, and the earth was shaken; and the mountains, that is, the rocks, were shattered. And the nations of the demons melted, and the hills receptive of idolatry were dissolved. And these his “goings” and motions and operations, which before the ages he foreordained, those who crucified him saw as toils instead of the toils that came about on the cross. For he truly labored and toiled on our behalf in being crucified, and was made weak for our sins. But also the earth—that is, the nature of men that dwells on the earth—stood in him and was shaken. For being formerly shaken by the drunkenness of the passions, it stood firm, so as to be shaken no more for the rest. And it was “shaken” as being moved away from its standing in evil. And the opposing powers, the hard and high-minded, were shattered; and the hills melted too—the dignities of the chief priests and Scribes and Pharisees, renowned from of old; who saw the “goings” of the Lord, which he made in Judea, being everlasting—that is, to be remembered until the consummation of the age—or the commandments which he gave, being everlasting and indissoluble (for “goings” are commandments, according to: I ran the way of your commandments)—they saw as toils; that is, they reckoned them burdensome; and that though he said, Take my yoke upon you; for my yoke is good, and my burden is light; and, Come, and I will give you rest, you who are weary and burdened with the petty niceties of the Law; whose yoke not even their fathers were able to bear.

¹³ The tents of the Ethiopians shall be dismayed; the tabernacles of the land of Midian. After the saving Passion the tents of the spiritual Ethiopians, those who have a gloomy purpose—the souls of men, I mean, in which they encamped—were dismayed, and were bowed down before the word of the Gospel; and the tabernacles of the land of Midian, the toil-loving and pleasure-loving dispositions. For Israel committed fornication among the Midianite women, when Phinehas stood up and made atonement, and the slaughter was stayed. And “Midianite” is interpreted “condemned.” And fittingly has he said tents and tabernacles. For both the souls of men were temporary dwellings for the demons, and the workings of pleasure are easily dissolved and passing, like tents. But also, in a perceptible sense, the apostles both saw Ethiopia and visited the Midianite country, proclaiming the divine word.

¹⁴ Were you angered against the rivers, or was your wrath against the rivers, or your onset against the sea? For you shall mount upon your horses, and your horsemanship is salvation; bending you shall bend your bow against scepters. Since he said above that, standing on the cross, he crushes the mountains and melts the nations, now he says: You do these things, O Lord, not as being angered at men, nor as bringing utter destruction upon them (for by “rivers” and “seas” he called the assemblies of men and the various nations); but rather, providing for the common salvation, you accepted these sufferings. Therefore, riding as it were upon the apostles as horses, you shall ride through all the earth, not that you may chastise, but that you may save; for you did not come that you might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through you. But to those who believe your horsemanship shall be salvation; while your bow you shall bend, bending it, against the unbelieving tribes of Israel. For these he called “scepters.” And that the apostles are horses bearing Christ is plain from what Ananias heard concerning Paul, that This man is a vessel of election unto me, to bear my name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel; and the phrase “bending you shall bend your bow” resembles those of David: Bend, and prosper; and, The arrows, sharpened in the heart of the king’s enemies. But some have understood “Were you angered against the rivers” thus: The prophet’s aim, he says, is to show that the things done in the New Covenant are far more befitting to God than those in the Old; and so he also says: Not as in the Old, when you turned rivers into blood and dried up seas, that you might free your people from perceptible enemies, will you do so now also; but you shall mount upon the horses, the apostles, that you may pull down the scepters of the demons.

¹⁵ The earth shall be cleft with rivers. Just as the husbandmen divide the rivers into ditches and channels, contriving irrigation for the land, so also you, he says, O Lord, will prepare the earth for the reception of the spiritual rivers, the apostles; so that the saying is: For the sake of the rivers the earth shall be cleft. Some, however, have understood the “land of rivers,” in the perceptible sense, to be Mesopotamia, which lies in the midst of the two great rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris; and in the spiritual sense, sin, which is in the midst of the moist and dissolute life. Mesopotamia, then, shall be “cleft”—that is, cast down, or shall fall—being as it were a wall of the power of the Babylonians; and sin too shall be cleft by the sword, which the Lord came to cast upon the earth. Jerusalem too shall be cleft, inasmuch as she had for a time many holy ones, whom he named “rivers.” For as the Lord, being the true light, made the apostles by participation the light of the world, so too the holy ones are and are called “rivers.” He says, then, that the land which formerly had rivers watering it shall now be cleft like the thirsting earth, inasmuch as it received not the prophetic word, nor believed. For if you believed Moses, he says, you would believe me.

¹⁶ The peoples shall see you and be in travail. This has a twofold meaning. For either you will understand this, that the peoples who have believed shall see your light and be in travail—that is, they shall have a vehement longing and desire to behold your kingdom, and shall travail with your word, that they may bring forth a spirit of salvation; or, that the unbelieving peoples shall see the glory of your preaching, and shall have pangs and pains from envy, such as were those who said: Behold, the world is gone after him.

¹⁷ Scattering the waters of his going. The “waters of his going” are the graces of the spiritual and evangelical word. For the water of the going of the Only-begotten toward us is the Spirit, which he gave to those who would believe in him. Since, then, the modes of spiritual teaching are various, the one water becomes many, and is scattered and divided to each according to his capacity, since we also learn that there is a division of gifts, but the same Spirit. But also the Lord, journeying into villages and cities, scattered the water of teaching, to those to whom he said: If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. Many have waters of the word, but they are not “of going,” but stagnant, reeking with the stench of envy. For these have the good in themselves, not pouring it out upon others; and they resemble the one who buried his talent. But he who pours out the good upon others also, this one has “waters of going,” and resembles the one who put his talent with the bankers, and made his master richer.

¹⁸ The abyss uttered its voice, the height of its imagination. He continued in the figure, and kept the sequence of his ideas. For having called the sacred apostles “rivers,” he names the nations a “sea,” held fast by the bitterness of impiety. As, then, when rivers empty into the open sea, much noise and din is produced, the sea-waves holding them back and checking their inrush; so, when the divine apostles went round about among the nations and ferried across the saving proclamation, tumults and seditions were stirred up against them, the unbelievers gainsaying and attempting to quench the proclamation, as in Ephesus the silversmith Demetrius did, and in Corinth others, and in Jerusalem the Jews, when they also handed Paul over to the Romans. The abyss of the nations, then, gave a voice of confusion, and the height of imagination and exaltation of its proclamations; but some understood the multitude of those who had believed to be the “abyss,” as composed of the rivers and waters spoken of above. This “abyss,” then, and “the height of its imagination”—that is, the lofty ones in it, who have an imagination of wealth and glory—gave a voice, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ with their mouth.

¹⁹ The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its order, for light. The Sun of righteousness was lifted up on the cross, and it became night, when the moon has its order to shine. Or, that when the Lord was crucified, the Church from among the nations shone forth, and stood in its order, for light—that is, it became full-shining, keeping the order of its own orbit. For the centurion too, being a Gentile, confessed the crucified one to be the Son of God, and those who were with him. And the Lord himself said: When I am lifted up, I will draw all to myself. And if the Gospel is a “sun,” and its rays were spread abroad, then the moon too—that is, the Law—stood for light. For then the Law appeared spiritual, when the Spirit interpreted it. Thus Hagar and Sarah appeared as allegorized; thus the saying, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain, appeared to have been laid down concerning the teachers; thus circumcision was shown to be of the heart, not of a bodily member. And this order the Law had even before; but it was hidden, inasmuch as there was a shadow about it. But when the light came, then it too stood in its order.

²⁰ Your darts shall go forth, unto the brightness of the lightning of your weapons. He calls the sacred apostles “darts,” who went forth as though sent from some strong and mighty hand, so as to be fixed in the heart of the king’s enemies, the demons, just as David also says: As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of those who have been shaken out. For the Jews were shaken out and cast away from before the face of God; but the sons of these became arrows of the mighty Christ, the power of God. And these went forth unto the brightness of the lightning of the weapons of Christ. For the weapons of Christ are those which Paul clothes us with, saying: Put on the whole armor of God, which is the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. And these weapons are splendid and flashing; for virtue makes radiant the one who has put it on, even if he be hidden. For let your light shine, he says, before men. The apostles, then, went forth making disciples of all the nations, to show to all the brightness of the lightning of the weapons.

²¹ In threatening you shall diminish the earth, and in wrath you shall bring down nations. The Jewish land, he says, you shall cause to be made desolate by the Romans, since those in it acted impiously against you; and you shall “bring down”—that is, you shall humble the Israelites, who imitated the savagery of the nations toward you. Or, that you shall diminish the deeds of the earthly mind through your darts, the apostles; and the heathen minds you shall humble and subject.

²² You went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones. Having said, You shall diminish the Jewish land, he as it were makes a defense: And yet you went forth for the salvation of this your people. For you came not save unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Therefore you were also called Jesus, and came here, that you might save those anointed by your blood and by your Holy Spirit. But they would not; therefore them you diminished, but you gained for yourself another people, who also became “anointed ones” through baptism, being baptized into your death, and anointed with the oil of gladness, the Spirit. Or he adds the cause of the diminishing of the earthly mind. For on this account, he says, you shall diminish the earth, because for this you went forth, that you might save. And otherwise it was not possible to be saved, unless the earthly deeds were diminished.

²³ You cast death upon the heads of the lawless. Those who believed, he says, and became anointed ones and partakers, you saved; but upon the heads of the lawless Jews—that is, the rulers and chief men—you cast death, destroying them utterly through the Romans.

²⁴ You raised up bonds as far as the neck unto the end. That is, You bound them with the chains of their own sins, not partly constricted, but as it were throughout the whole body, even as far as the neck. For their sins, being raised up against them when God so willed, bound them, and made them subject to the Romans, so that their lifted-up neck was humbled and brought to an end. For this is what “unto the end” signifies. There are also bonds of love, which the Lord, casting upon those who believe, brings their neck under his own yoke. Christ raised up other bonds too against Judas, which this man, having placed about his own neck, found his end by strangling.

²⁵ You cut through in ecstasy the heads of the mighty; they shall be shaken at it. They shall open their bridles, as a poor man eating in secret. An ecstasy, he says, the mighty ones of Israel suffered, standing out of their right mind, and raging and going mad against you. For this cause, then, you cut them off from your familiarity, though formerly they were your portion. Or, that you scattered one here, another there. This David also says: Scatter them in their life. And fittingly were their heads, the part that has room for the mind, cut off from their familiarity with the Word, because they did not think according to reason, but rather rose up against reason. Or, that when you have done signs, they shall be in ecstasy, and shall suffer a shaking, being troubled, and shall be cut through—some saying, He deceives the multitude; and others, Never did a man speak as this man speaks. Yet in secret the “heads,” the rulers, shall murmur against you, opening their lips and their teeth, which are a “bridle” of the mouth, like a poor man not daring openly to partake of food, but, with his mouth closed, mincing it small within himself. For they feared the multitude that was disposed toward Jesus on account of the miracles. And the apostles too, who formerly did not dare to speak, but were shut up in an upper room, and in secret ate the salvation of those who believed them, like horses opening the bridles of their mouth—that is, casting off human fears—shall preach with boldness. And perhaps the prophet says also to God, that: Being come into a certain ecstasy and an angry disposition, O Lord, you cut them through; for in truth, even if God chastises, yet we chastise ourselves; and he bears witness who said: God did not make death; and again another: God tempts no one; but each is tempted by his own desire.

²⁶ And you mounted your horses upon the sea, troubling many waters. Again the discourse has kept its own figure in the trope. For having made mention of bridles, he now names the apostles “horses,” whom the Lord mounted upon the sea of life—the nations, which are “waters” on account of their moist and dissolute life—“troubling” them, in teaching them that there shall be a judgment, and a requital of the works done in the present life. Thus, then, Paul also troubled the Athenians, saying: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all everywhere to repent, because he has set a day in which he is about to judge the world. And the apostles troubled also in another way, in that they set the races at variance one with another on account of the word, which the Lord also said: I came not to cast peace, but a sword. And “many waters,” the nations, since with respect to Israel they are one nation. In the beginning, then, the Lord said: Go not into the way of the nations; but when he was lifted up on the cross and rose again, Make disciples, he says, of all the nations.

²⁷ I watched, and my heart was dismayed at the voice of the prayer of my lips. And trembling entered into my bones, and beneath me my frame was troubled. I shall rest in the day of my affliction, that I may go up unto the people of my sojourning. The prophets call a “watch” the keeping and attention according to the mind which they practice, whenever the Spirit sounds into them the knowledge of things to come; just as this very one also said above: I will stand upon my watch. He says, then: As I watched my mind from earthly cares, praying to you, you revealed to me what those of Israel who disbelieved shall suffer, and on this account my heart has fallen; for being compassionate, he grieves over his kinsmen. For what you revealed to me as I prayed, I “watched”—that is, I marked off and kept by myself, the things which I also uttered afterward as I prayed. And on this account my heart was dismayed, and trembling seized my bones, and from beneath and from the depth all the frame and condition of my soul was troubled. Then straightway, being sounded into by the Spirit, he says: I shall not see these things which shall befall the Israelites. For then, when the day of the bringing-on of evils shall come—which is to me a day of affliction—I shall rest; that is, I shall end my life (for death is a rest to a man), and I shall go up into the city above, where is the people of the holy ones, who reckoned the life here as a sojourning, which I too have so reckoned. So David also: I am a sojourner, he says, and a stranger, as all my fathers were, hinting surely at the patriarchs, and the holy ones after them. But some of the copies have: Unto the temple of my sojourning; and you will understand that I shall go up unto the heavenly temple from this my sojourning, and, longing for the dissolution, he says, I shall rest. For since, foreknowing what should befall his race, he grieved, he says: Then I shall rest from the affliction, if I depart from my sojourning; so let this be.

²⁸ For the fig tree shall not bear fruit, and there shall be no produce on the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the plains shall yield no food. He sets forth the cause of the affliction, on account of which he was also troubled, and says: For this I grieve, that the fig tree shall no longer bear fruit—that is, Jerusalem. For indeed Christ, having come to her, found no fruit in her, but leaves only—that is, the outward show and hypocrisy of piety; as again he said in parables: A certain man had a fig tree, which on account of its barrenness he wished to cut down. But the husbandman besought that a little time be granted, so that it might either bear fruit, or be cut down by the roots. But neither shall the vineyard bear fruit. And the “vineyard” is the people, as also Isaiah: And the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is a beloved new plant. And by “olive” he names the Pharisees and Sadducees, who, priding themselves on the name of righteousness, were destitute of its fruits. And that the olive is taken as an image of the righteous man, David also testifies, saying: I am like a fruitful olive tree. And the whole Synagogue too is an “olive,” as Jeremiah says: The Lord called your name a fair, shady olive tree. This olive, then, belied its labor; for being trained as by a tutor toward Christ through both the Law and the prophets, they did not receive him. For this cause also their branches were broken off; and the Gentiles, of the wild olive, were grafted in. But also the plains shall yield no food—the lowlier of the people, to whom it is said: Break up for yourselves fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. These, then, became so blighted by the wind, having cultivated no divine fruit, that they did not cultivate even what would suffice for food.

²⁹ The sheep failed for lack of food. The simpler and more guileless, that is, the more innocent, and worthy to be shepherded by the more prudent, failed for lack of having food; for there was no one to set food before them, as the prophet also said: I will bring a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord.

³⁰ And there shall be no oxen at the mangers. The “oxen” are the teachers of the Law, the Levites, priests, and chief priests. For the Apostle also took the saying, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain, as referring to the teachers. For these were stirred to strip bare the corn of knowledge, hidden by the wrappings of the obscurity of the letter, and to set it before others plain and easy to understand. They have, however, themselves too the offerings that come from the people—the firstfruits, I mean, and the tithes, and those from the sacrifices, as things brought to mangers and altars—yet neither mangers nor altars shall there be, nor such oxen. And since certain of the copies have written in addition the phrase “from their healing,” you will understand that their healing was Christ; but since they did not receive him, it befell them from Christ to fail. For he himself handed them over to utter destruction. But some have understood that, since the prophet had made mention of departing, he is now relating concerning the condition there, that the condition in the life to come has nothing of the things here.

³¹ But I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in God my Savior. I have grieved, he says, on account of my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are about to experience such and so great evils. Yet, considering the glory of God which shall be recognized by all men, I rejoice and exult—that is, I leap for joy. For “to exult” is “to leap,” which is an intensifying of joy. And understand that the discourse is as from the person of those justified in faith. For he says all but this: Those of Israel, expecting to be justified by works, were thus thrust away; but I the Gentile, saved not by the works in righteousness which I did, but according to his mercy and in his grace, will exult in him. It is like the saying of the Apostle, that The nations found righteousness by faith. But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain it; because it was not by faith, but as by works of the law; and again, And that the nations should glorify God for his mercy.

³² The Lord my God is my strength. Weak indeed is human nature, he says; but having united it to himself, the Lord and my God renders it strong. So Paul also: I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me; and David: For you are the boast of their strength.

³³ And he will set my feet unto completion. That is, He will set my feet in security, so that I stand firm in the faith, able to tread upon serpents and scorpions. For “completion” the others have interpreted as “security.” And it seems that he says this also as of some runner. I run a race, he says; God, then, will set my feet to complete the race, so that I may say with Paul: I have finished the course. Many run, but disorderly; such as are those who contend, yet not lawfully. God, then, sets the feet, when we run not contrary to his laws, neither teaching contrary to the Scriptures, nor pursuing virtue contrary to his commandments; such as those who abhor marriage and the creatures.

³⁴ He sets me up upon the high places, to move me in his ode. He makes me higher than the earth, he says, and teaches me to be minded of the high things, that from the higher places I may overcome the enemies. For standing below, and cleaving to the earth, how shall I conquer the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places? And having conquered, then shall I be worthy to sing to him. For praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner. He, then, who has conquered the principalities and the powers, he shall sing to God a more spiritual ode, and one more like the flute, without the joint utterance of the instrument, conversing with God by the mind alone, and speaking mouth to mouth. And whether this comes to pass in this life, those who are counted worthy of it would know how it comes to pass; but in the age to come it shall surely be, when there shall be no flesh nor fleshly things, when God shall be all in all. So also Moses, when the Egyptians were drowned, himself sings with the men; but Miriam strikes the timbrel. For still more bodily are the hymns of those who do not play the man in all things, and which need the instrument that accompanies it. Or he does not say this—that After conquering I will make the ode—but, In this very thing, in singing, and glorifying him, and calling upon his name, I shall conquer. For in the name, he says, of the Lord our God shall we be magnified; just as, then, the apostles, working the powers in the name of the Lord, were magnified by the people, and conquered their enemies. It must be known, however, that some, understanding the prayer of Habakkuk historically, said that the prophet spoke these things concerning the return from Babylon; and we shall not differ with them, since Paul said that these things happened to those men as types, but were written for us in very truth. For unless the shadow-sketch goes before, the image would not be brought to completion. Nevertheless many of the things said in the prayer are incompatible with the things that came to pass historically. But concerning these let whoever wishes judge as he will; this, however, is plain to all, that the Spirit of God which spoke the Scriptures wills that all be profited through all things—both through the things said historically, and through the things understood spiritually. For our things are not once-for-all like those of the Greeks, that the allegory should have the dignity, while the literal sense should be undignified and full of unseemliness; but here the literal sense too is holy and profitable to the soul, at least to those who hear it well. Among whom may we ourselves also be, in the Holy Spirit, who both spoke the things that appear, and uncovers the hidden things of the meanings, and through both sanctifies; to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

5 Life of the Prophet

¹ Habakkuk the prophet was from the field of Betherouchar, of the tribe of Simeon. And before the captivity he saw a vision concerning the capture of Jerusalem, and he mourned exceedingly. And when Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, he fled to Ostragene, and was a sojourner in the land of Ishmael. But when the Chaldeans returned, and the remnant who were in Jerusalem went down into Egypt, this man remained sojourning in his own land and ministering to the reapers of his people. And when he took food to carry to the workers, he prophesied to the Jews, saying: I am going to a far country, and I will come again quickly; but if I tarry, carry to the reapers their meal. And having come to be in Babylon, and having given the meal to Daniel, he stood over the reapers as they were eating, and told no one what had happened. And from this he understood that the people would return more quickly from Babylon. And two years before the return he died, and was buried there in the field. And he gave a sign to those in Judea, that they would see a light in the temple, and so behold the glory of the temple. And concerning the consummation of the temple he foretold that it would come about by a western nation; and that then the veil of the inner sanctuary would be torn into small pieces, and the capitals of the two pillars would be taken away, and no one would know where they were; and that these would be carried off into the wilderness by an angel, where at the beginning the tabernacle of testimony was set up, and at the end the Lord would be made known by them. [14]