Chapter 8

Chapter Seven

¹ Woe is me! for I have become like one gathering stubble at the harvest, and like a gleaning at the vintage, when there is no cluster. My soul has longed to eat the firstfruits. The prophet, having foretold the dreadful things they shall suffer, now laments that, though he employed many words, he labored to no profit. For I am like, he says, those who gather the ears of grain left behind by the reapers, escaping the sickle perhaps by their smallness; or like those who pick up the gleanings. And these are clusters having few berries, and small and ill-nourished. And they are called “gleanings,” either because they are covered by the leaves on account of their smallness—for which reason they are not even seen by the vintagers, and therefore the word is by many written with the double λλ; or also, what is truer, because it is not the firstborn of the vine (for that is a “cluster”), but grows on afterward, and on this account is both weak and few-berried. And small-berried; wherefore the word ought also to be written with a single λ. I am like, then, he says, those who gather such fruits. For I found no true fruit of obedience in those who heard—that is, a cluster. For we said that the firstborn produce of the vine are clusters. Therefore my soul longs to find firstborn fruit, and to eat it—that is, to meet with an obedient man, and to take enjoyment of him. But some have said that the prophet in these words bewails the corruption that should come upon the people thereafter, so great that few would be left, like stubble and gleanings. And you may understand that, seeing also the scarcity of the holy ones which was then, the holy one laments. For if there had been many righteous, the people would not have wrestled with so many evils. For God remits the charges when some five holy ones are found. The letter of the Law is stubble and a gleaning, just as the spirit is grain and a cluster, which the children of the Jews were unwilling to cultivate. The Lord, then, mourns these, and longs to eat the firstborn produce, such as he ate in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs. He also gathers stubble who gathers the deficiencies and faults of those before him, and emulates these, and not their virtues; he shall lament at the harvest, when each reaps in his own time the things done through the body. And since the leaves of the human tree are the outward display—when one has works encompassed by show before men, and for this reason becoming ill-nourished—he gathers a gleaning at that last vintage, when he shall desire to eat the firstborn produce, that is, to enjoy that purity and remission of sins which he had when he was first born in the font of baptism. But virtue too is firstborn: for God made man upright, and created him for good works; while vice is the gleaning, brought in afterward through the disobedience of men. Then, therefore, when all the forms of vice are gathered before the eyes of the man, he perceives that he has done things worthy of lamentation. But do not you wait for the awareness that shall come to be there; rather, perceiving already from here what you are then about to gather, lament, as though that time were present, and say: Woe is me! for I have become one gathering stubble, and the rest.

² Woe, my soul! for the devout man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. Having said figuratively that he has no one who obeys, and having hinted at the scarcity of those who fear God through both the stubble and the gleaning, he now more plainly declares that for this reason he was lamenting: that he saw no devout man in the land of the Jews, which of old had many holy ones, nor anyone upright among the men of that time; which Isaiah also bewails: How has the faithful city Zion become a harlot? And observe: insofar as one is upon the earth minding earthly things, he is not devout, nor upright; insofar as he is among men, who became gods, and sons of the Most High, yet die, because they mind not the things divine, nor the things of the Most High, but the things of the flesh and of the body of humiliation. Having lamented, then, the prophet next also recounts the sins of those of that time.

³ All go to law for bloodshed. That is, they go to law for this, and each of them suborns the judges, so that he may bring the death-dealing vote against his adversary; for their dispute is not over small things, but over life itself.

⁴ Each oppresses his neighbor with oppression. Each, he says, appropriates his neighbor’s goods, and forces him into straits. Or also the more powerful wear down the weaker with labors.

⁵ They prepare their hands for evil. Not only, he says, do they not do good, but they even make it a necessary endeavor to keep their hands ready only for harming and oppressing men.

⁶ The ruler demands, and the judge has spoken peaceable words. Not the low and common sort alone, he says, sin in the things spoken of, but also the rulers, who ought to correct the faults of others—these too are diseased. For the ruler does not even wait for those who would bring offerings; rather, he himself demands gifts, and the judge has spoken peaceable words. The judge does not convict the wrongdoer, he says, but, taking gifts from him, he persuades the man’s opponent to make peace with him, and frames conciliatory and peaceable—that is, peace-making—words.

⁷ It is the desire of his soul. That is, the destruction of the righteous man will suffice for him. Or, that what was done by the wrongdoer pleases him, inasmuch as he too is unjust. But some understand it thus: The judge, taking gifts, speaks peaceable words—that is, pleasant and gratifying ones—to the one who gave the gifts, granting him the victory, which is the desire of his soul, that is, of the opponent.

⁸ And I will take away his good things, like a moth gnawing through and walking upon the beam in the days of watching. Since, he says, my people sin in such ways, both the subjects and the rulers, I will take away the good things of such a people—that is, I will consume them, like a moth within wood, walking upon the beam, that is, the length of the wood, and consuming it utterly. And this shall be in the days when I shall visit you. For by “watching” he means God’s oversight and manifestation, according to what is said in David: The face of the Lord is against those who do evils. But some understand it thus: I will destroy your good things, after the manner of a moth, consuming them and walking upon the beam, that is, upon the rule of right, turning neither to the right nor to the left, as in the days of the watching, that is, of the hill, or of Gibeah, in which there came to pass the hateful deed of the Levite’s concubine, on account of which, when civil war had arisen, many myriads were destroyed[1].

⁹ Woe! your retributions have come; now shall be their weepings. Like an affectionate father he weeps aloud, showing that he does not punish willingly, but under compulsion. You have sinned so greatly, he says, as to force from me the retributions, and to bring punishments upon you already. For now, he says—not after a long time—shall be their weepings, as they famish, consumed simply by one another, suffering from the enemies all the things that have been said above.

¹⁰ Do not put your trust in friends, nor hope in leaders. Guard yourself from the wife of your bosom, so as not to commit anything to her, because a son dishonors a father; a daughter shall rise up against her mother, a bride against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are all those in his house. Since the Israelites, sinning against God, and then hearing the prophets threaten them with certain fearful things, set their hopes on the powers of their own kings and on other human aids, making friends—now of the neighboring kings, now of the Egyptians, and even of the Assyrians themselves, as is said in Hosea—he exhorts them not to be deceived by such hopes. For in the time of dreadful things neither will friend stand up for friend, nor ruler for subject, nor blood-kin for one another; rather, each will work out what is to his own advantage, even if it should harm his own kinsman. But he will even rise up, and display toward him the ways of enemies. For when the Fashioner of nature is angry with someone, then his wrath alters the laws of nature, if this should seem good to him. Yet the children who rise up against fathers being punished by God shall not themselves escape the divine wrath; for if those who have no natural kinship with us are punished by God because they punish us, even though we were handed over to them, much more those joined to us by nature. For they do this not as serving God, but as fulfilling their own malice, which for a time was hidden, but, God permitting, was made manifest. And Absalom bears witness, who rose up against his father when his father had provoked God, but paid the fitting penalty before long. The Master of nature, then, must be propitiated, and one must not be over-confident in natural affections. Yet it must be known that, when this division of nature comes about for the sake of piety, it is praiseworthy, and a friend to Christ, who said that he came for this very thing, that he might work such a division among men. For a son dishonored a father when John and James, leaving their father, followed Jesus; a daughter rose up against her mother, the New against the Old, bringing in the Spirit and abolishing the letter; a bride—the Church wedded to the Son—against the mother-in-law, the Synagogue of the Hebrews who still kept the Law, which had earlier been wedded to the Father, acknowledging him alone as God; but now she has come to loathe even him. For he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. Enemies of the Lord Jesus—who became a man (that is, a human being), and played the man against the strong one within us—were all those in his house, the temple: priests and chief priests. For he came to his own, and his own received him not; but neither did his brothers believe in him. The world too is his house, as belonging to a Master, which has hated him. And he who was formerly a son of the evil father, the devil, dishonors him, whenever he takes the sword of the Gospel, which divides such kinships. And the flesh, the daughter of the pleasure that comes from sins (for in iniquities were we conceived, and in sins were we brought to birth), rises up against such a mother of hers, when we make no provision for it unto lust, but crucify it with its passions and desires. And if the world is a son of matter, to it perception was formerly yoked; and this too rises up against its mother-in-law, matter, whenever it undergoes the praiseworthy division.

¹¹ But I will look out unto the Lord, I will wait upon my Savior; my God will hear me. The prophet says these things concerning himself: Aposkopeusō[2], giving them a pattern of how one must believe in God. The friends, then, he says, and kinsmen, will be thus faithless, and for this reason vain are those who hope in them; but I will look toward the Lord, and will await the help that comes from him, not taking courage in leaders, not trusting in friends, not hoping in any of my kinsmen according to the flesh. And to one who thus hopes in him without wavering, he will surely hearken to me.

¹² Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, because I have fallen and shall rise again. Having taught the end of hope in God—the being heard, I mean, by him—he takes up the person of Zion, and addresses his words to Idumea, which was ever an enemy and foe. For do not rejoice, he says; for though I have fallen, having met with calamities, yet I shall rise again. But some say these things are spoken to Babylon: Do not exult as having conquered me; for it is not through your power that you have conquered me, but because I have fallen from my standing in God, not acknowledging God; nevertheless I shall rise from this fall. Yet it seems to me that these things are spoken rather to Idumea, as is clear from what follows. And the Church from the nations might also say to the Synagogue: Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, who abominate the nations; for I have fallen by sin and impiety, but, having turned to Christ, who is resurrection, I shall rise.

¹³ For if I walk in the darkness, the Lord is my light. Either: if I come to be in the darkness of calamities and afflictions, the Lord shall be my light, and will make me not perceive such darkness; or: Though I was darkened in mind, saying to the wood: You are my God; and to the stone: You begot me[3]; yet I shall be enlightened by the knowledge of the true God and Father. And the Church will say: Even though, held fast by the darkness of sin, I walk in it and go forward; yet the Lord, who said: I am the light of the world, he shall be light to me.

¹⁴ I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Looking, he says, upon the magnitude of my sins, I know the justice of the punishment, and I will endure the wrath of him who punishes me for my sins—that is, the discipline that comes from wrath. Yet the wrath does not abide unto the end; therefore do not rejoice.

¹⁵ Until he shall vindicate my cause, and execute my judgment, and lead me out into the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. I will await, he says, and endure, being punished for my sins, until he shall vindicate the cause which I have against those who afflict me. For though I have offended him, yet I also have many just claims against those, since, having suffered nothing dreadful at my hands, they treated me so inhumanly. And he will lead me out into the light of freedom from the darkness of slavery; And I shall behold his righteousness, in that he avenged me on those who so unjustly assailed me. And the Church too will say: Even though the Lord was angry with me, and, having thrust me away as one who served idols and the creation, delivered me up to a reprobate mind; yet I will endure, until he shall vindicate me by repentance and baptism, and execute my judgment, condemning the ruler of this world who deceived me, and lead me out into the intelligible light— the Father of lights. And I shall behold his righteousness, namely Christ, who was made righteousness for us from God.

¹⁶ And my enemy shall see it, and shall be clothed with shame, she who says to me: Where is the Lord your God? Idumea, he says, shall see my prosperity, and shall be put to shame, beholding God’s kindness toward me—she who now reproaches him as weak and unable to deliver me from my enemies.

¹⁷ My eyes shall look upon her. Not only, he says, shall she see my prosperity, but I too shall see her misfortune; for she shall not go unpunished.

¹⁸ Now she shall be as a thing trampled, as mire in the streets, in the day of the daubing of bricks; that day shall be your blotting-out. Just as, he says, the mire in the streets—and especially that prepared for the daubing of bricks—is trampled, that it may become more easily crumbled and serve for the work; so you too shall be trampled by all, and that day shall be your blotting-out. And the Church too will say that: My enemy shall be put to shame, beholding the glory with which I have been clothed from baptism; and my eyes shall look upon her, even as in the age to come she is sent away into the fire. For the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out, while I am brought in instead, and ranked with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And now she shall be despised by all, as a thing trampled, as mire in the streets, which is trodden the more continually, and the more if it is prepared for the daubing of bricks. The Lord too said: Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations; or also that day, in which you shall be trodden down—the last day—shall be your blotting-out. Christ too is a Day, who became their blotting-out, being crucified by them. And all these things the common nature of mankind also has occasion to say to the multitude of demons hostile to it, and so does each soul that has begun to repent.

¹⁹ And that day shall thrust away your statutes. That is, your lawless laws shall be abolished. For where will you worship, or how will you perform for the idols the statutes pertaining to their worship, when you have been so handed over to ruin? But Christ also, having abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances, thrust away the statutes of the Scribes.

²⁰ And your cities shall come to enclosure. That is, they shall arrive at a siege, which came to pass in the case of the Jews.

²¹ And your strong cities shall be for the dividing of the Assyrians. From this it is made clear that all the things said concerning the enemy fit not Babylon, but Idumea. For surely the cities of Babylon were not given for the dividing of the Assyrians, but those of Idumea were divided—that is, plundered by the Babylonians, or inherited one piece by one and another by another—unless one shall call the Medes and Persians “Assyrians.” The Hebrews had strong cities, the legal commandments and observances, but they were handed over for division to the Assyrians, that is, to the nations; for we now divide and cut asunder the letter from the spirit. Human nature too had strong cities, the philosophical and the magical doctrines; but when Paul came to be in Athens and in Corinth, and proclaimed to them the unknown God, Jesus Christ, and him crucified: Dionysius the Areopagite, and the wise men in Corinth, who formerly were high-minded about these things, divided them—receiving the inquiring and contemplative part of them, but thrusting away all that tends toward demons, and error, and the abyss of perdition. And in Ephesus too those who had practiced the curious arts burned their magical books. Each soul too has a proud and lofty mind, which is likened to the Assyrians; and it has cities also, the systems of the various forms of vice within it. When, therefore, it leads over that lofty and Assyrian mind to the recognition of its own worth, and minds the things above, and things worthy of the image; then to such a mind the cities of vice are handed over for division. For the mind that minds the things above, dividing vice into excesses and deficiencies, finds the mean of the virtues.

²² From Tyre, unto the river of Syria. Since other neighboring cities also rejoiced over the calamities of the Jews, he makes mention of Tyre too, and of Syria, and of the others sacked by the Babylonians. And he says which these are, making them known by their boundaries. By “the river of Syria” he means the Euphrates.

²³ And from sea to sea. From the sea lying toward the east, as far as that toward the west.

²⁴ And from mountain to the mountain. From the mountain of the Jews, Carmel, as far as Lebanon. All the cities, then, that lie between shall be captured by the Babylonians—those that formerly rejoiced over the evils of the Jews.

²⁵ A day of water and tumult. That is, just as water borne along with a rushing sound and making tumult; so the army of the enemies shall come on, throwing all into confusion, and sacking the cities spoken of.

²⁶ And the land shall be unto desolation with those who dwell in it. The land of these cities shall itself also be destroyed, with the trees ravaged, and the fruits corrupted and set ablaze; but also those who dwell in it shall be handed over to slaughter.

²⁷ From the fruits of their practices. He shows the cause from which these things shall befall them. For such afflictions, he says, are the fruits of their works. Human nature became earth, on account of the disobedience, having heard: You are earth, and unto earth you shall return, and having minded the things of the earth; and the principalities and powers of darkness dwelt in this earth. But when there came a day of water and tumult—of the Spirit, I mean, and of the sound that filled the house in which the apostles were—the corruption of nature too was done away, and the earthly mind, with those that formerly dwelt in it; for we no longer mind as mortals, we at least who have received and keep the grace of the Spirit. The day of water—and of baptism, and of tears—and of the tumult which the word works in it, shaking it and troubling it as it repents over its former deeds, also does away with each soul that has become earth. Yet it does away, not with its substance, but with the fruits of its practices; for these are done away, but not the nature of the soul.

²⁸ Shepherd your people with the rod of your tribe, the sheep of your inheritance. Having prophesied beforehand the things that should befall the bordering nations, he henceforth announces the peace that should be the people’s after the return, all but saying these things to the whole Israelite[4] generation: that—Those shall suffer these things; but you, shepherd your people, and the sheep of your inheritance, with the rod of your tribe, that is, with the scepter of one tribe of yours, that of Judah. For Zerubbabel, being of it, shepherded the people after the return.

²⁹ Dwelling alone. That is, being in peace and quiet, and having none to war against them; or that they do not mingle with the nations, and learn their works, but are unmixed with the practices of the Gentiles. And the Father might also say to the Son: Shepherd your people, those of the circumcision who have believed, and the rest of the sheep of your inheritance—the nations, that is, which I gave you for an inheritance—with your rod, not the punitive one, with which, as a potter’s vessels, he shatters the disobedient, but the disciplinary, which is a rod of visitation. For I will visit, he says, their iniquities with a rod; but my mercy I will not scatter away from them. Shepherded with the rod of the cross are those too who can say with Paul: But God forbid that I should boast, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. And such men also dwell alone, released from all attachment to the multitude of men and to the confusion of the multitude of affairs, and conversing with God the Lord alone—the One, and beyond the one—and themselves too becoming uniform. So David too said: I am alone; and Jeremiah: I did not sit, he says, in the assembly of those who make sport; I sat alone.

³⁰ A forest in the midst of Carmel; they shall feed on Bashan and Gilead. Since he figuratively called men sheep, continuing in the figure, he names a forest and a pasture; and by what he says he signifies that they shall be in all good seasons. For both the region encompassed by Carmel, and Bashan, and Gilead, were the fat parts of Palestine. In order, then, to show that they shall live amid abundant good things, he made mention of the forest. For they say that sheep feeding in the forest, and nourished by the acorns, grow fat; since they also run to the acorns, delighting in the fruit. And since Carmel is interpreted “knowledge of circumcision,” Bashan “shame,” and Gilead “removal of the covenant”; these things shall they feed on who are shepherded by Christ: Carmel, as having recognized what the true circumcision is, and that it is not that of the flesh, but the putting away of hardness of heart that is the spiritual circumcision which God seeks, according as it is said: Be circumcised to God; and: Circumcise the hardness of your heart; and thus, after recognizing, being themselves also circumcised of the fleshly mind of the heart, and of the veil from birth; and Bashan shall they feed on, being ashamed at their former sins, and having the grief that is according to God, which works an eternal joy; and Gilead, as inheriting the removal of the covenant; and instead of living according to the letter, and offering irrational sacrifices, living according to the spirit, and offering themselves to God a living, holy sacrifice.

³¹ According to the days of the age, and according to the days of your going out from the land of Egypt, I will show them marvels. Calling the ancient days “days of the age,” he says: According to those ancient days, in which I took your part, I will show marvels to those who have returned from the captivity. And just as, when you went out from Egypt, I allotted to you the land in Palestine; so now too you shall be masters of it, and shall gain possession of so great a land. Christ too presides over those shepherded under him, both in the present life and in the age to come. For when they mind the things above, and their commonwealth is such as of those who are in heaven, and they are dead to the world, and the world to them, and, being in the flesh, do not war according to the flesh—is not such a course of life an image of the condition of the age to come? But also, just as the Hebrews of old were freed from the slavery of Pharaoh, when he was drowned, having themselves passed through the Red Sea, and after passing through ate the manna from heaven, and drank the water from the rock; so we too, being under the intelligible Pharaoh, the ruler of dark sin, were delivered from him when he was drowned in baptism; and after baptism we eat the bread that came down from heaven—the flesh, I mean, of the heavenly Word and God—and drink the draught from the rock, the blood of Christ. For the rock, he says, was Christ. Thus, then, the marvels that befell them as types he shows truly in our case. He showed marvels also through the hands of the apostles, just as in the ancient days through Moses and Aaron.

³² Nations shall see, and shall be ashamed of all their strength. That is, they shall fall from their former strength, which is the greatest shame to them; and either they shall not even at the outset assail you, beholding my providence over you; or, having assailed and been defeated, they shall war no more, as having become powerless. This the demons too suffered, the nations implacable toward us. For all the forms of their error, in which they formerly were strong, have been abolished by the sojourning of Christ.

³³ They shall lay hands upon their mouth. Not daring to say anything against you, or to mock, or to laugh, as before. But neither do the demons speak any longer through ventriloquists, or an oak, or other things of the like sort.

³⁴ Their ears shall be deafened. Neither will they endure others speaking against you, but shall be as deaf men. The demons too were deafened, no longer having, as before, those who call upon them.

³⁵ They shall lick the dust like serpents dragging the earth. Instead of, “being dragged along the ground.” For they shall fall down, he says, after the manner of serpents dragged along the ground, unable even to lift the head, because they cower. Or he means this: that the serpents, finding no other food, lick up the dust, and drag the earth—that is, take it up into their mouth by the tongue. But the demons too formerly found food in all men (for all sinned, and came short of the glory of God; and death reigned from Adam unto Moses, over those who sinned); but now they find no food in all. For we are justified by the grace of Christ, into whose death we are baptized; and death too has been abolished. The dust, however, they lick, and the earth they drag—namely, the unbelievers, and those who lie below.

³⁶ They shall be troubled in their enclosure. By “their enclosure” he means the constraint, as in a siege, from every side. They shall be brought, then, he says, into helplessness, being enclosed and constrained on every side. The demons too were troubled at Christ, saying: What have we to do with you? and they besought that he would not send them into the abyss, which was an enclosure for them.

³⁷ At the Lord our God shall they be amazed. That is, they shall be astounded at your unspeakable kindness toward us, how you had mercy on those who so provoked you.

³⁸ And they shall fear because of you. The fear shall come upon them not from your power, but from you. Or: They shall fear you, and shall recognize you to be a fearful God—those who formerly feared the idols, and worshipped them, and supposed them to be strong gods. The opposing powers too were amazed at the Lord God, the Only-begotten, who took flesh and was called God-man, the most novel of things, and they feared because of you the Father; and this is also to have feared because of him: for the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. And they show it even until now, fleeing from the name of Christ.

³⁹ Who is a God like you, taking away iniquities, and passing over injustices for the remnant of his inheritance? Having looked upon the unspeakable abundance of the kindness of God, and having seen how he counted worthy of so great a mercy those who had committed unpardonable faults: thereupon he cries aloud in amazement, as from the person of the people: Who is a God like you? For you do not exact the reckonings of transgressions, but take away iniquities—that is, you wipe them out, you make them vanish; and you pass over injustices—that is, you overlook them, you reckon them as nothing. And these things you work for us who have been left from the people, whom, as remnants of your inheritance, you were pleased to bring back from Babylon. But also through baptism he takes away the iniquities of the remnant of the Hebrews, kept for salvation; concerning which it is written: The remnant shall be saved. And through repentance he passes over the injustices of all those who were not taken captive by despair, but had within themselves some remnants of a better hope.

⁴⁰ He did not keep his wrath for a testimony, because he is one who wills mercy. These things resemble what was spoken by the blessed David: He will not be angry to the end, nor will he keep his wrath forever; he has not dealt with us according to our iniquities, nor recompensed us according to our sins. And now the prophet cries that he did not retain and keep his wrath for very long, unto the reproof and testimony of the people’s lawlessness, because he wills to have mercy rather than to reprove and punish.

⁴¹ He will turn back from his wrath, and will pity us; he will sink our sins, and they shall be cast into the depths of the sea. That which God cries in Isaiah, saying: I am he who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember your injustices; this Micah too now says concerning him, that he will not only forgive us our sins, but will also cast them out of memory altogether, and will, as it were, consign them to oblivion in the deep. For this he intimates by saying: He will sink them into the depths of the sea. For just as that which is let go into the deep of the sea is utterly invisible; so too he will consign our sins to complete oblivion.

⁴² All our sins he will give for truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, according as you swore to our fathers in the days of old. All, he says, our sins he will give into the depths of the sea; for it is possible to take this in common. And these things he will do that the things he promised to Jacob may appear true, and that he may show that he has mercy on Abraham and his seed. As you swore, he says, O Lord, to such fathers of ours in the times of old. So David too says: He remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, which he covenanted with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac. But there is also another reading: He will sink our sins, and they shall be cast into the depths of the sea, all our sins; and it stops at this point; so that it is understood that the prophet says that God will sink our sins; and, resuming for greater clarity, he says: Not these or those, but all. And from another beginning again: You will give your truth to Jacob, and so forth; that is, When you do this, you will give beyond dispute your truth to Jacob. And if the law works wrath when transgressed (for where there is no law, neither is there transgression); and the same is called a testimony, as testifying to the people what they ought to do, and what not, and that, if they do not serve God, they shall suffer such and such things; observe what he says: that, being compassionate and merciful, he did not retain his wrath, which the law wrought when transgressed by us, but will turn back to us whom he had turned away from, and, taking flesh, will be seen upon the earth, and will sink our sins in the font of baptism, and they shall be cast into the depths of the sea, where is the author of sin. For against him our sins were thrown up to battle, and he it is who is liable to render account for them, in return for which he defiled the creature of God with them. But thanks be to him who both had mercy on those of old, and has mercy on us, and casts our sins into the depths of the sea of his own compassions and makes them vanish; who may he also grant to us, imitating the virtue of Jacob, to trip up the passions by the practical life, and becoming emulators of Abraham, not to be drawn away together with these corruptible things, nor to deify them through our relation to them; but rather, from their unevenness, to run up to him, and to his unshaken kingdom, so that we may even be called fathers of many nations born to us, both through the good being taught by us, and through their emulating us in the good life—in which may we also be established through the grace of Christ himself, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.