Chapter 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.