THE PROPHECY OF MICHEAS
MICHEAS, of Morasti, a little town in the tribe of JUDA, was contemporary with the prophet ISAIAS: whom he resembles both in his spirit and his style. He is different from the prophet MICHEAS mentioned in the third book of Kings, chap. 22. For that MICHEAS lived in the days of king ACHAB, one hundred and fifty years before the time of EZECHIAS, under whom this MICHEAS prophesied.
Micheas Chapter 1
Samaria for her sins shall be destroyed by the Assyrians; they shall also invade Juda and Jerusalem.
1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Micheas, the Morasthite, in the days of Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda: which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
1:2. Hear, all ye people: and let the earth give ear, and all that is therein: and let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple.
1:3. For behold the Lord will come forth out of his place: and he will come down, and will tread upon the high places of the earth.
1:4. And the mountains shall be melted under him: and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that run down a steep place.
1:5. For the wickedness of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Juda? are they not Jerusalem?
1:6. And I will make Samaria as a heap of stones in the field when a vineyard is planted: and I will bring down the stones thereof into the valley, and will lay her foundations bare.
1:7. And all her graven things shall be cut in pieces, and all her wages shall be burnt with fire, and I will bring to destruction all her idols: for they were gathered together of the hire of a harlot, and unto the hire of a harlot they shall return.
Her wages.... That is, her donaries or presents offered to her idols: or the hire of all her traffic and labour.—Ibid. Of the hire of a harlot, etc.... They were gathered together by one idolatrous city, viz., Samaria: and they shall be carried away to another idolatrous city, viz., Ninive.
1:8. Therefore will I lament, and howl: I will go stript and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches.
1:9. Because her wound is desperate, because it is come even to Juda, it hath touched the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
It hath touched the gate, etc.... That is, the destruction of Samaria shall be followed by the invasion of my people of Juda, and the Assyrians shall come and lay all waste even to the confines of Jerusalem.
1:10. Declare ye it not in Geth, weep ye not with tears: in the house of Dust sprinkle yourselves with dust.
Declare ye it not in Geth.... Viz., amongst the Philistines, lest they rejoice at your calamity.—Ibid. Weep ye not, etc.... Keep in your tears, that you may not give your enemies an occasion of insulting over you; but in your own houses, or in your house of dust, your earthly habitation, sprinkle yourselves with dust, and put on the habit of penitents. Some take the house of dust (in Hebrew, Aphrah) to be the proper name of a city.
1:11. And pass away, O thou that dwellest in the beautiful place, covered with thy shame: she went not forth that dwelleth in the confines: the house adjoining shall receive mourning from you, which stood by herself.
Thou that dwellest in the Beautiful place, viz., in Samaria. In the Hebrew the Beautiful place is expressed by the word Sapir, which some take for the proper name of a city.—Ibid. She went not forth, etc. ... that is, they that dwelt in the confines came not forth, but kept themselves within, for fear.—Ibid. The house adjoining, etc.... Viz., Judea and Jerusalem, neighbours to Samaria, and partners in her sins, shall share also in her mourning and calamity; though they have pretended to stand by themselves, trusting in their strength.
1:12. For she is become weak unto good that dwelleth in bitterness: for evil is come down from the Lord into the gate of Jerusalem.
She is become weak, etc.... Jerusalem is become weak unto any good; because she dwells in the bitterness of sin.
1:13. A tumult of chariots hath astonished the inhabitants of Lachis: it is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Sion for in thee were found the crimes of Israel.
It is the beginning, etc.... That is, Lachis was the first city of Juda that learned from Samaria the worship of idols, and communicated it to Jerusalem.
1:14. Therefore shall she send messengers to the inheritance of Geth: the houses of lying to deceive the kings of Israel.
Therefore shall she send, etc.... Lachis shall send to Geth for help: but in vain: for Geth, instead of helping, shall be found to be a house of lying and deceit to Israel.
1:15. Yet will I bring an heir to thee that dwellest in Maresa: even to Odollam shall the glory of Israel come.
An heir, etc.... Maresa (which was the name of a city of Juda) signifies inheritance: but here God by his prophet tells the Jews, that he will bring them an heir to take possession of their inheritance: and that the glory of Israel shall be obliged to give place, and to retire even to Odollam, a city in the extremity of their dominions. And therefore he exhorts them to penance in the following verse.
1:16. Make thee bald, and be polled for thy delicate children: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle: for they are carried into captivity from thee.
Micheas Chapter 2
The Israelites by their crying injustices provoke God to punish them. He shall at last restore Jacob.
2:1. Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God.
2:2. And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
2:3. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.
2:4. In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land?
How shall he depart, etc.... How do you pretend to say that the Assyrian is departing; when indeed he is coming to divide our lands amongst his subjects?
2:5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.
Thou shalt have none, etc.... Thou shalt have no longer any lot or inheritance in the land of the people of the Lord.
2:6. Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.
It shall not drop, etc.... That is, the prophecy shall not come upon these. Such were the sentiments of the people that were unwilling to believe the threats of the prophets.
2:7. The house of Jacob saith: Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly?
2:8. But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war.
You have taken away, etc.... You have even stripped people of their necessary garments: and have treated such as were innocently passing on the way, as if they were at war with you.
2:9. You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise forever from their children.
You have cast out, etc.... either by depriving them of their houses: or, by your crimes, given occasion to their being carried away captives, and their children, by that means, never learning to praise the Lord.
2:10. Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.
2:11. Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop.
Would God, etc.... The prophet could have wished, out of his love to his people, that he might be deceived in denouncing to them these evils that were to fall upon them: but by conforming himself to the will of God, he declares to them, that he is sent to prophesy, literally to let drop upon them, the wine of God’s indignation, with which they should be made drunk; that is, stupified and cast down.
2:12. I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.
2:13. For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.
Micheas Chapter 3
For the sins of the rich oppressing the poor, of false prophets flattering for lucre, and of judges perverting justice, Jerusalem and the temple shall be destroyed.
3:1. And I said: Hear, O ye princes of Jacob, and ye chiefs of the house of Israel: Is it not your part to know judgment,
3:2. You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their skins from them and their flesh from their bones?
3:3. Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle, and as flesh in the midst of the pot.
3:4. Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved wickedly in their devices.
3:5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him.
3:6. Therefore night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness to you instead of divination: and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them.
3:7. And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners shall be confounded: and they shall all cover their faces, because there is no answer of God.
3:8. But yet I am filled with the strength of the spirit of the Lord, with judgment and power: to declare unto Jacob his wickedness and to Israel his sin.
3:9. Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: you that abhor judgment and pervert all that is right.
3:10. You that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
3:11. Her princes have judged for bribes: and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.
3:12. Therefore because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple as the high places of the forests.
Micheas Chapter 4
The glory of the church of Christ, by the conversion of the Gentiles. The Jews shall be carried captives to Babylon, and be delivered again.
4:1. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains, and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it.
4:2. And many nations shall come in haste, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
4:3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into spades: nation shall not take sword against nation: neither shall they learn war anymore.
Neither shall they learn, etc.... The law of Christ is a law of peace; and all his true subjects, as much as lies in them love and keep peace with all the world.
4:4. And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken.
4:5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god: but we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God, for ever and ever.
4:6. In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth: and her that I had cast out, I will gather up: and her whom I had afflicted.
4:7. And I will make her that halted, a remnant: and her that had been afflicted, a mighty nation: and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Sion, from this time now and forever.
4:8. And thou, O cloudy tower of the flock, of the daughter of Sion, unto thee shall it come: yea the first power shall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.
4:9. Now, why art thou drawn together with grief? Hast thou no king in thee, or is thy counselor perished, because sorrow hath taken thee as a woman in labour.
4:10. Be in pain and labour, O daughter of Sion, as a woman that bringeth forth: for now shalt thou go out of the city, and shalt dwell in the country, and shalt come even to Babylon, there thou shalt be delivered: there the Lord will redeem thee out of the hand of thy enemies.
4:11. And now many nations are gathered together against thee, and they say: Let her be stoned: and let our eye look upon Sion.
4:12. But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: because he hath gathered them together as the hay of the floor.
4:13. Arise, and tread, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thy horn iron, and thy hoofs I will make brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples, and shalt immolate the spoils of them to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth.
Micheas Chapter 5
The birth of Christ in Bethlehem: his reign and spiritual conquests.
5:1. Now shalt thou be laid waste, O daughter of the robber: they have laid siege against us, with a rod shall they strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.
Daughter of the robber.... Some understand this of Babylon; which robbed and pillaged the temple of God: others understand it of Jerusalem; by reason of the many rapines and oppressions committed there.
5:2. And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda, out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.
His going forth, etc.... That is, he who as man shall be born in thee, as God was born of his Father from all eternity.
5:3. Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth: and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel.
5:4. And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of the Lord, his God: and they shall be converted, for now shall he be magnified even to the ends of the earth.
5:5. And this man shall be our peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall set his foot in our houses: and we shall raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
The Assyrian.... That is, the persecutors of the church: who are here called Assyrians by the prophet: because the Assyrians were at that time the chief enemies and persecutors of the people of God.—Ibid. Seven shepherds, etc.... Viz., the pastors of God’s church, and the defenders of the faith. The number seven in scripture is taken to signify many: and when eight is joined with it, we are to understand that the number will be very great.
5:6. And they shall feed the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nemrod with the spears thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our borders.
They shall feed, etc.... They shall make spiritual conquests in the lands of their persecutors, with the word of the spirit, which is the word of God. Eph. 6.17.
5:7. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, as a dew from the Lord, and as drops upon the grass, which waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the children of men.
The remnant of Jacob.... Viz., the apostles, and the first preachers of the Jewish nation; whose doctrine, like dew, shall make the plants of the converted Gentiles grow up, without waiting for any man to cultivate them by human learning.
5:8. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forests, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, when he shall go through, and tread down, and take there is none to deliver.
As a lion, etc.... This denotes the fortitude of these first preachers; and their success in their spiritual enterprises.
5:9. Thy hand shall be lifted up over thy enemies, and all thy enemies shall be cut off.
5:10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will take away thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots.
I will take away thy horses, etc.... Some understand this, and all that follows to the end of the chapter, as addressed to the enemies of the church. But it may as well be understood of the converts to the church: who should no longer put their trust in any of these things.
5:11. And I will destroy the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strong holds, and I will take away sorceries out of thy hand, and there shall be no divinations in thee.
5:12. And I will destroy thy graven things, and thy statues, out of the midst of thee: and thou shalt no more adore the works of thy hands.
5:13. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: and will crush thy cities.
5:14. And I will execute vengeance in wrath, and in indignation, among all the nations that have not given ear.
Micheas Chapter 6
God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and sins: for which they shall be punished.
6:1. Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
The mountains, etc.... That is, the great ones, the princes of the people.
6:2. Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with his people, and he will plead against Israel.
6:3. O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me.
6:4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary.
6:5. O my people, remember, I pray thee, what Balach, the king of Moab, purposed: and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Setim to Galgal, that thou mightest know the justice of the Lord.
From Setim to Galgal.... He puts them in mind of the favour he did them, in not suffering them to be quite destroyed by the evil purpose of Balach, and the wicked counsel of Balaam: and then gives them a hint of the wonders he wrought, in order to bring them into the land of Promise, by stopping the course of the Jordan, in their march from Setim to Galgal.
6:6. What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old?
What shall I offer, etc.... This is spoken in the person of the people, desiring to be informed what they are to do to please God.
6:7. May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
6:8. I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God.
6:9. The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and salvation shall be to them that fear thy name: hear O ye tribes, and who shall approve it?
6:10. As yet there is a fire in the house of the wicked, the treasures of iniquity, and a scant measure full of wrath.
Full of wrath, etc.... That is, highly provoking in the sight of God.
6:11. Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the bag?
6:12. By which her rich men were filled with iniquity, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth.
6:13. And I therefore began to strike thee with desolation for thy sins.
6:14. Thou shalt eat, but shalt not be filled: and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not save: and those whom thou shalt save, I will give up to the sword.
6:15. Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not be anointed with the oil: and the new wine, but shalt not drink the wine.
6:16. For thou hast kept the statutes of Amri, and all the works of the house of Achab: and thou hast walked according to their wills, that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of my people.
The statutes of Amri, etc.... The wicked ways of Amri and Achab, idolatrous kings.
Micheas Chapter 7
The prophet laments, that notwithstanding all his preaching, the generality are still corrupt in their manners: therefore their desolation is at hand: but they shall be restored again and prosper; and all mankind shall be redeemed by Christ.
7:1. Woe is me, for I am become as one that gleaneth in autumn the grapes of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat, my soul desired the first ripe figs.
7:2. The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, every one hunteth his brother to death.
7:3. The evil of their hands they call good: the prince requireth, and the judge is for giving: and the great man hath uttered the desire of his soul, and they have troubled it.
7:4. He that is best among them, is as a brier, and he that is righteous, as the thorn of the hedge. The day of thy inspection, thy visitation cometh: now shall be their destruction.
7:5. Believe not a friend, and trust not in a prince: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that sleepeth in thy bosom.
7:6. For the son dishonoureth the father, and the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law: and a man’s enemies are they of his own household.
7:7. But I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God, my saviour: my God will hear me.
7:8. Rejoice not, thou my enemy, over me, because I am fallen: I shall arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.
7:9. I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him: until he judge my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth into the light, I shall behold his justice.
7:10. And my enemy shall behold, and she shall be covered with shame, who saith to me: Where is the Lord thy God? my eyes shall look down upon her: now shall she be trodden under foot as the mire of the streets.
She shall be covered, etc.... Viz., Babylon my enemy.
7:11. The day shall come, that thy walls may be built up: in that day shall the law be far removed.
The law.... Viz., of thy enemies, who have tyrannized over thee.
7:12. In that day they shall come even from Assyria to thee, and to the fortified cities: and from the fortified cities even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
7:13. And the land shall be made desolate because of the inhabitants thereof, and for the fruit of their devices.
The land, etc.... Viz., of Babylon.
7:14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in Basan and Galaad, according to the days of old.
7:15. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, I will shew him wonders.
7:16. The nations shall see, and shall be confounded at all their strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
7:17. They shall lick the dust like serpents, as the creeping things of the earth, they shall be disturbed in their houses: they shall dread the Lord, our God, and shall fear thee.
7:18. Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in no more, because he delighteth in mercy.
7:19. He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea.
7:20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, the mercy to Abraham: which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
THE PROPHECY OF NAHUM
NAHUM, whose name signifies A COMFORTER, was a native of Elcese, or Elcesai, supposed to be a little town in Galilee. He prophesied, after the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and foretold the utter destruction of Ninive, by the Babylonians and Medes: which happened in the reign of JOSIAS.
Nahum Chapter 1
The majesty of God, his goodness to his people, and severity to his enemies.
1:1. The burden of Ninive. The book of the vision of Nahum, the Elcesite.
1:2. The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger, and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is angry with his enemies.
1:3. The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and acquit the guilty. The Lord’s ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
1:4. He rebuketh the sea and drieth it up: and bringeth all the rivers to be a desert. Basan languisheth and Carmel: and the flower of Libanus fadeth away.
1:5. The mountains tremble at him, and the hills are made desolate: and the earth hath quaked at his presence, and the world, and all that dwell therein.
1:6. Who can stand before the face of his indignation? and who shall resist in the fierceness of his anger? his indignation is poured out like fire: and the rocks are melted by him.
1:7. The Lord is good, and giveth strength in the day of trouble: and knoweth them that hope in him.
1:8. But with a flood that passeth by, he will make an utter end of the place thereof: and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Of the place thereof.... Viz., of Ninive.
1:9. What do ye devise against the Lord? he will make an utter end: there shall not rise a double affliction.
1:10. For as thorns embrace one another: so while they are feasting and drinking together, they shall be consumed as stubble that is fully dry.
1:11. Out of thee shall come forth one that imagineth evil against the Lord, contriving treachery in his mind.
Shall come forth one, etc.... Some understand this of Sennacherib. But as his attempt against the people seems to have been prior to the prophecy of Nahum, we may better understand it of Holofernes.
1:12. Thus saith the Lord: Though they were perfect: and many of them so, yet thus shall they be cut off, and he shall pass: I have afflicted thee, and I will afflict thee no more.
Though they were perfect, etc.... That is, however strong or numerous their forces may be, they shall be cut off; and their prince or leader shall pass away and disappear.
1:13. And now I will break in pieces his rod with which he struck thy back, and I will burst thy bonds asunder.
1:14. And the Lord will give a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name shall be sown: I will destroy the graven and molten thing out of the house of thy God, I will make it thy grave, for thou art disgraced.
Will give a commandment.... That is, a decree, concerning thee, O king of Ninive, thy seed shall fail, etc.
1:15. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: O Juda, keep thy festivals, and pay thy vows: for Belial shall no more pass through thee again, he is utterly cut off.
Belial.... The wicked one, viz., the Assyrian.
Nahum Chapter 2
God sends his armies against Ninive to destroy it.
2:1. He is come up that shall destroy before thy face, that shall keep the siege: watch the way, fortify thy loins, strengthen thy power exceedingly.
2:2. For the Lord hath rendered the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel: because the spoilers have laid them waste, and have marred their vine branches.
Hath rendered the pride of Jacob, etc.... He hath punished Jacob for his pride; and therefore Ninive must not expect to escape. Or else, rendering the pride of Jacob means rewarding, that is, punishing Ninive for the pride they exercised against Jacob.
2:3. The shield of his mighty men is like fire, the men of the army are clad in scarlet, the reins of the chariot are flaming in the day of his preparation, and the drivers are stupefied.
Of his mighty men, etc.... He speaks of the Chaldeans and Medes sent to destroy Ninive.—Ibid. Stupefied.... consopiti. That is, they drive on furiously like men intoxicated with wine.
2:4. They are in confusion in the ways, the chariots jostle one against another in the streets: their looks are like torches, like lightning running to and fro.
2:5. He will muster up his valiant men, they shall stumble in their march: they shall quickly get upon the walls thereof: and a covering shall be prepared.
Stumble in their march.... By running hastily on.
2:6. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is thrown down to the ground.
2:7. And the soldier is led away captive: and her bondwomen were led away mourning as doves, murmuring in their hearts.
2:8. And as for Ninive, her waters are like a great pool: but the men flee away. They cry: Stand, stand, but there is none that will return back.
2:9. Take ye the spoil of the silver, take the spoil of the gold: for there is no end of the riches of all the precious furniture.
2:10. She is destroyed, and rent, and torn: the heart melteth, and the knees fail, and all the loins lose their strength: and the faces of them all are as the blackness of a kettle.
2:11. Where is now the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, to which the lion went, to enter in thither, the young lion, and there was none to make them afraid?
2:12. The lion caught enough for his whelps, and killed for his lionesses: and he filled his holes with prey, and his den with rapine.
2:13. Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn thy chariots even to smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey out of the land, and the voice of thy messengers shall be heard no more.
Nahum Chapter 3
The miserable destruction of Ninive.
3:1. Woe to thee, O city of blood, all full of lies and violence: rapine shall not depart from thee.
3:2. The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse; and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up,
3:3. And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies.
3:4. Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts.
3:5. Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms.
3:6. And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee, and will make an example of thee.
3:7. And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee?
3:8. Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among the rivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches: the waters are its walls.
Populous Alexandria.... No-Ammon. A populous city of Egypt destroyed by the Chaldeans, and afterwards rebuilt by Alexander, and called Alexandria. Others suppose No-Ammon to be the same as Diospolis.
3:9. Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.
3:10. Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.
3:11. Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemies.
3:12. All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
3:13. Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour thy bars.
3:14. Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick.
3:15. There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.
3:16. Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away.
3:17. Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were.
Locusts of locusts.... The young locusts.
3:18. Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather them.
3:19. Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
THE PROPHECY OF HABACUC
HABACUC was a native of Bezocher, and prophesied in JUDA, some time before the invasion of the CHALDEANS, which he foretold. He lived to see this prophecy fulfilled, and for many years after, according to the general opinion, which supposes him to be the same that was brought by the ANGEL to DANIEL in BABYLON, Dan. 14.
Habacuc Chapter 1
The prophet complains of the wickedness of the people: God reveals to him the vengeance he is going to take of them by the Chaldeans.
1:1. The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.
Burden.... Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as threaten grievous evils and punishments.
1:2. How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?
1:3. Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful.
1:4. Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.
1:5. Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.
1:6. For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.
1:7. They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.
1:8. Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat.
1:9. They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.
1:10. And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.
1:11. Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall: this is his strength of his god.
Then shall his spirit, etc.... Viz., the spirit of the king of Babylon. It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded Dan. 4., and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire.
1:12. Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made him strong for correction.
1:13. Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?
1:14. And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping things that have no ruler.
1:15. He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag, and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.
1:16. Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and his meat dainty.
1:17. For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare continually to slay the nations.
Habacuc Chapter 2
The prophet is admonished to wait with faith. The enemies of God’s people shall assuredly be punished.
2:1. I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to him that reproveth me.
Will stand, etc.... Waiting to see what the Lord will answer to my complaint, viz., that the Chaldeans, who are worse than the Jews, and who attribute all their success to their own strength, or to their idols, should nevertheless prevail over the people of the Lord. The Lord’s answer is, that the prophet must wait with patience and faith: that all should be set right in due time; and the enemies of God and his people punished according to their deserts.
2:2. And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it.
2:3. For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack.
2:4. Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith.
2:5. And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be honoured: who hath enlarged his desire like hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied: but will gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all people.
As wine deceiveth, etc.... Viz., by affording only a short passing pleasure; followed by the evils and disgrace that are the usual consequences of drunkenness; so shall it be with the proud enemies of the people of God; whose success affordeth them only a momentary pleasure, followed by innumerable and everlasting evils.
2:6. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a dark speech concerning him: and it shall be said: Woe to him that heapeth together that which is not his own? how long also doth he load himself with thick clay?
Thick clay.... Ill-gotten goods, that, like mire, both burden and defile the soul.
2:7. Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them?
2:8. Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of the people shall spoil thee: because of men’s blood, and for the iniquity of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
2:9. Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his house, that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered out of the hand of evil.
2:10. Thou hast devised confusion to thy house, thou hast cut off many people, and thy soul hath sinned.
2:11. For the stone shall cry out of the wall: and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer.
2:12. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity.
2:13. Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint.
Are not these things, etc.... That is, shall not these punishments that are here recorded, come from the Lord upon him that is guilty of such crimes.—Ibid. The people shall labour, etc.... Viz., the enemies of God’s people.
2:14. For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea.
2:15. Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness.
2:16. Thou art filled with shame instead of glory: drink thou also, and fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory.
2:17. For the iniquity of Libanus shall cover thee, and the ravaging of beasts shall terrify them because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
The iniquity of Libanus.... That is, the iniquity committed by the Chaldeans against the temple of God, signified here by the name of Libanus.
2:18. What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols.
2:19. Woe to him that saith to wood: Awake: to the dumb stone: Arise: can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold, and silver, and there is no spirit in the bowels thereof.
2:20. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Habacuc Chapter 3
3:1. A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES.
For ignorances.... That is, for the sins of his people. In the Hebrew, it is Sigionoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or tune; with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung.
3:2. O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy.
Thy hearing, etc.... That is, thy oracles, the great and wonderful things thou hast revealed to me; and I was struck with a reverential fear and awe.—Ibid. Thy work.... The great work of the redemption of man, which thou wilt bring to life and light in the midst of the years, when our calamities and miseries shall be at their height.
3:3. God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.
God will come from the south, etc.... God himself will come to give us his law, and to conduct us into the true land of promise: as heretofore he came from the South (in the Hebrew Theman) and from mount Pharan to give his law to his people in the desert. See Deut. 33.2.
3:4. His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hands: There is his strength hid:
Horns, etc.... That is, strength and power, which, by a Hebrew phrase, are called horns. Or beams of light, which come forth from his hands. Or it may allude to the cross, in the horns of which the hands of Christ were fastened, where his strength was hidden, by which he overcame the world, and drove out death and the devil.
3:5. Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth before his feet.
Death shall go before his face, etc.... Both death and the devil shall be the executioners of his justice against his enemies: as they were heretofore against the Egyptians and Chanaanites.
3:6. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.
He beheld, etc.... One look of his eye is enough to melt all the nations, and to reduce them to nothing. For all heaven and earth disappear when they come before his light. Apoc. 20.11. Ibid. The ancient mountains, etc.... By the mountains and hills are signified the great ones of the world, that persecute the church, whose power was quickly crushed by the Almighty.
3:7. I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity, the curtains of the land of Madian shall be troubled.
Ethiopia.... the land of the Blacks, and Madian, are here taken for the enemies of God and his people: who shall perish for their iniquity.
3:8. Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy horses: and thy chariots are salvation.
With the rivers, etc.... He alludes to the wonders wrought heretofore by the Lord in favour of his people Israel, when the waters of the rivers, viz., of Arnon and Jordan, and of the Red Sea, retired before their face: when he came as it were with his horses and chariots to save them when he took up his bow for their defence, in consequence of the oath he had made to their tribes: when the mountains trembled, and the deep stood with its waves raised up in a heap, as with hands lifted up to heaven: when the sun and the moon stood still at his command, etc., to comply with his anger, not against the rivers and sea, but against the enemies of his people. How much more will he do in favour of his Son: and against the enemies of his church?
3:9. Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which thou hast spoken to the tribes. Thou wilt divide the rivers of the earth.
3:10. The mountains saw thee, and were grieved: the great body of waters passed away. The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its hands.
3:11. The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear.
3:12. In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath thou wilt astonish the nations.
3:13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked: thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck.
The head of the house of the wicked.... Such was Pharao heretofore: such shall Antichrist be hereafter.
3:14. Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret.
3:15. Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many waters.
Thou madest a way in the sea, etc.... To deliver thy people from the Egyptian bondage: and thou shalt work the like wonders in the spiritual way, to rescue the children of the church from their enemies.
3:16. I have heard and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that are girded.
I have heard, etc.... Viz., the evils that are now coming upon the Israelites for their sins; and that shall come hereafter upon all impenitent sinners; and the foresight that I have of these miseries makes me willing to die, that I may be at rest, before this general tribulation comes, in which all good things shall be withdrawn from the wicked.—Ibid. That I may go up to our people, etc.... That I may join the happy company in the bosom of Abraham, that are girded, that is, prepared for their journey, by which they shall attend their Lord, when he shall ascend into heaven. To which high and happy place, my Jesus, that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell, shall one day conduct me rejoicing and singing psalms of praise, ver. 18 and 19.
3:17. For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.
3:18. But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus.
3:19. The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places singing psalms.
THE PROPHECY OF SOPHONIAS
SOPHONIAS, whose name, saith St. Jerome, signifies The Watchman of the Lord, or The hidden of the Lord, prophesied in the beginning of the reign of Josias. He was a native of Sarabatha, and of the tribe of Simeon, according to the more general opinion. He prophesied the punishments of the Jews, for their idolatry and other crimes; also the punishments that were to come on divers nations; the coming of Christ, the conversion of the Gentiles, the blindness of the Jews, and their conversion towards the end of the world.
Sophonias Chapter 1
For divers enormous sins, the kingdom of Juda is threatened with severe judgment.
1:1. The word of the Lord that came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days of Josias, the son of Amon king of Juda.
1:2. Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of the land, saith the Lord:
Gathering, I will gather, etc.... That is, I will assuredly take away, and wholly consume, either by captivity, or death, both men and beasts out of this land.
1:3. I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord.
1:4. And I will stretch out my hand upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and I will destroy out of this place the remnant of Baal, and the names of the wardens of the temples with the priests:
The wardens, etc.... Viz., of the temples of the idols. AEdituos, in Hebrew, the Chemarims, that is, such as kindle the fires, or burn incense.
1:5. And them that worship the host of heaven upon the tops of houses, and them that adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom.
Melchom.... The idol of the Ammonites.
1:6. And them that turn away from following after the Lord, and that have not sought the Lord, nor searched after him.
1:7. Be silent before the face of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord hath prepared a victim, he hath sanctified his guests.
1:8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the victim of the Lord, that I will visit upon the princes, and upon the king’s sons, and upon all such as are clothed with strange apparel:
1:9. And I will visit in that day upon every one that entereth arrogantly over the threshold: them that fill the house of the Lord their God with iniquity and deceit.
1:10. And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great destruction from the hills.
The Second.... A part of the city so called.
1:11. Howl, ye inhabitants of the Morter. All the people of Chanaan is hush, all are cut off that were wrapped up in silver.
The Morter.... Maktesh. A valley in or near Jerusalem. Ibid. The people of Chanaan.... So he calls the Jews, from their following the wicked ways of the Chanaanites.
1:12. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and will visit upon the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil.
Settled on their lees.... That is, the wealthy, and such as live at their ease, resting upon their riches, like wine upon the lees.
1:13. And their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a desert: and they shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them: and they shall plant vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.
1:14. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation.
1:15. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds,
1:16. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks.
1:17. And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung.
1:18. Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the land.
Sophonias Chapter 2
An exhortation to repentance. The judgment of the Philistines, of the Moabites, and the Ammonites; of the Ethiopians and the Assyrians.
2:1.Assemble yourselves together, be gathered together, O nation not worthy to be loved:
2:2. Before the decree bring forth the day as dust passing away, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s indignation come upon you.
2:3. Seek the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, you that have wrought his judgment: seek the just, seek the meek: if by any means you may be hid in the day of the Lord’s indignation.
2:4. For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be a desert, they shall cast out Azotus at noonday, and Accaron shall be rooted up.
2:5. Woe to you that inhabit the sea coast, O nation of reprobates: the word of the Lord upon you, O Chanaan, the land of the Philistines, and I will destroy thee, so that there shall not be an inhabitant.
2:6. And the sea coast shall be the resting place of shepherds, and folds for cattle:
2:7. And it shall be the portion of him that shall remain of the house of Juda, there they shall feed: in the houses of Ascalon they shall rest in the evening: because the Lord their God will visit them, and bring back their captivity.
2:8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the children of Ammon, with which they reproached my people, and have magnified themselves upon their borders.
2:9. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha, the dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and a desert even for ever: the remnant of my people shall make a spoil of them, and the residue of my nation shall possess them.
2:10. This shall befall them for their pride: because they have blasphemed, and have been magnified against the people of the Lord of hosts.
2:11. The Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the gods of the earth: and they shall adore him every man from his own place, all the islands of the Gentiles.
2:12. You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword.
2:13. And he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a place not passable, and as a desert.
The beautiful city, viz.... Ninive, which was destroyed soon after this, viz., in the sixteenth year of the reign of Josias.
2:14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst thereof, all the beasts of the nations: and the bittern and the urchin shall lodge in the threshold thereof: the voice of the singing bird in the window, the raven on the upper post, for I will consume her strength.
2:15. This is the glorious city that dwelt in security: that said in her heart: I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desert, a place for beasts to lie down in? every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
Sophonias Chapter 3
A woe to Jerusalem for her sins. A prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles, and of the poor of Israel: God shall be with them. The Jews shall be converted at last.
3:1. Woe to the provoking and redeemed city, the dove.
3:2. She hath not hearkened to the voice, neither hath she received discipline: she hath not trusted in the Lord, she drew not near to her God.
3:3. Her princes are in the midst of her as roaring lions: her judges are evening wolves, they left nothing for the morning.
3:4. Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.
3:5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity: in the morning, in the morning he will bring his judgment to light, and it shall not be hid: but the wicked man hath not known shame.
3:6. I have destroyed the nations, and their towers are beaten down: I have made their ways desert, so that there is none that passeth by: their cities are desolate, there is not a man remaining, nor any inhabitant.
3:7. I said: Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction: and her dwelling shall not perish, for all things wherein I have visited her: but they rose early, and corrupted all their thoughts.
3:8. Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection that is to come, for my judgment is to assemble the Gentiles, and to gather the kingdoms: and to pour upon them my indignation, all my fierce anger: for with the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be devoured.
3:9. Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one shoulder.
3:10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, shall my suppliants, the children of my dispersed people, bring me an offering.
3:11. In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt no more be lifted up because of my holy mountain.
3:12. And I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and needy people: and they shall hope in the name of the Lord.
3:13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed, and shall lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid.
3:14. Give praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad, and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
3:15. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy enemies: the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee, thou shalt fear evil no more.
3:16. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not: to Sion: Let not thy hands be weakened.
3:17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save: he will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he will be joyful over thee in praise.
3:18. The triflers that were departed from the law, I will gather together, because they were of thee: that thou mayest no more suffer reproach for them.
3:19. Behold I will cut off all that have afflicted thee at that time: and I will save her that halteth, and will gather her that was cast out: and I will get them praise, and a name, in all the land where they had been put to confusion.
3:20. At that time, when I will bring you: and at the time that I will gather you: for I will give you a name, and praise among all the people of the earth, when I shall have brought back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.
THE PROPHECY OF AGGEUS
AGGEUS was one of those that returned from the captivity of Babylon, in the first year of the reign of king Cyrus. He was sent by the Lord, in the second year of the reign of king Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to exhort Zorobabel the prince of Juda, and Jesus the high priest, to the building of the temple; which they had begun, but left off again through the opposition of the Samaritans. In consequence of this exhortation they proceeded in the building and finished the temple. And the prophet was commissioned by the Lord to assure them that this second temple should be more glorious than the former, because the Messiah should honour it with his presence: signifying withal how much the church of the New Testament should excel that of the Old Testament.
Aggeus Chapter 1
The people are reproved for neglecting to build the temple. They are encouraged to set about the work.
1:1. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, governor of Juda, and to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, saying:
1:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: This people saith: The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.
1:3. And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying:
1:4. Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie desolate?
1:5. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider your ways.
1:6. You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.
1:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways:
1:8. Go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord.
1:9. You have looked for more, and behold it became less, and you brought it home, and I blowed it away: why, saith the Lord of hosts? because my house is desolate, and you make haste every man to his own house.
1:10. Therefore the heavens over you were stayed from giving dew, and the earth was hindered from yielding her fruits:
1:11. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all that the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon all the labour of the hands.
1:12. Then Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and all the remnant of the people hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, and to the words of Aggeus the prophet, as the Lord their God sent him to them: and the people feared before the Lord.
1:13. And Aggeus the messenger of the Lord, as one of the messengers of the Lord, spoke, saying to the people: I am with you, saith the Lord.
1:14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son of Salathiel governor of Juda, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people: and they went in, and did the work in the house of the Lord of Hosts their God.
Aggeus Chapter 2
Christ by his coming shall make the latter temple more glorious than the former. The blessing of God shall reward their labour in building. God’s promise to Zorobabel.
2:1. In the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king, they began.
2:2. And in the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet, saying:
2:3. Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel the governor of Juda, and to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and to the rest of the people, saying:
2:4. Who is left among you, that saw this house in its first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in comparison to that as nothing in your eyes?
2:5. Yet now take courage, O Zorobabel, saith the Lord, and take courage, Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and take courage, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord of hosts: and perform (for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts)
2:6. The word that I covenanted with you when you came out of the land of Egypt: and my spirit shall be in the midst of you: fear not.
2:7. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.
2:8. And I will move all nations: AND THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS SHALL COME: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts.
2:9. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
2:10. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
2:11. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Aggeus the prophet, saying:
2:12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying:
2:13. If a man carry sanctified flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touch with his skirt, bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat: shall it be sanctified? And the priests answered, and said: No.
2:14. And Aggeus said: If one that is unclean by occasion of a soul touch any of all these things, shall it be defiled? And the priests answered, and said: It shall be defiled.
By occasion of a soul.... That is, by having touched the dead; in which case, according to the prescription of the law, Num. 19.13, 22, a person not only became unclean himself, but made every thing that he touched unclean. The prophet applies all this to the people, whose souls remained unclean by neglecting the temple of God; and therefore were not sanctified by the flesh they offered in sacrifice: but rather defiled their sacrifices by approaching to them in the state of uncleanness.
2:15. And Aggeus answered, and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before my face, saith the Lord, and so is all the work of their hands: and all that they have offered there, shall be defiled.
2:16. And now consider in your hearts, from this day and upward, before there was a stone laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.
2:17. When you went to a heap of twenty bushels, and they became ten: and you went into the press, to press out fifty vessels, and they became twenty.
2:18. I struck you with a blasting wind, and all the works of your hand with the mildew and with hail, yet there was none among you that returned to me, saith the Lord.
2:19. Set your hearts from this day, and henceforward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month: from the day that the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid, and lay it up in your hearts.
2:20. Is the seed as yet sprung up? or hath the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree as yet flourished? from this day I will bless you.
2:21. And the word of the Lord came a second time to Aggeus in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying:
2:22. Speak to Zorobabel the governor of Juda, saying: I will move both heaven and earth.
2:23. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and will destroy the strength of the kingdom of the Gentiles: and I will overthrow the chariot, and him that rideth therein: and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
2:24. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee, O Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
O Zorobabel.... This promise principally relates to Christ, who was of the race of Zorobabel.
THE PROPHECY OF ZACHARIAS
ZACHARIAS began to prophesy in the same year as Aggeus, and upon the same occasion. His prophecy is full of mysterious figures and promises of blessings, partly relating to the synagogue, and partly to the church of Christ.
Zacharias Chapter 1
The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and declares his visions, by which he puts them in hopes of better times.
1:1. In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:
1:2. The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.
1:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts.
1:4. Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the Lord.
1:5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live always?
1:6. But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.
1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:
1:8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him were horses, red, speckled, and white.
A man.... An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the guardian angel of the church of God.
1:9. And I said: What are these, my Lord? and the angel that spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:
1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth.
These are they, etc.... The guardian angels of provinces and nations.
1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.
1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year.
The seventieth year.... Viz., from the beginning of the seige of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and ended in the first year of king Cyrus.
1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words, comfortable words.
1:14. And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with a great zeal.
1:15. And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil.
1:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
1:17. Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet flow with good things: and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he will yet choose Jerusalem.
1:18. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns.
Four horns.... The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.
1:19. And I said to the angel that spoke to me: What are these? And he said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem.
1:20. And the Lord shewed me four smiths.
Four smiths.... The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors.
1:21. And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of Juda to scatter it.
Zacharias Chapter 2
Under the name of Jerusalem, he prophesieth the progress of the church of Christ, by the conversion of some Jews and many Gentiles.
2:1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man, with a measuring line in his hand.
2:2. And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth thereof, and how great the length thereof.
2:3. And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him.
2:4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the multitude of men, and of the beasts in the midst thereof.
Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls.... This must be understood of the spiritual Jerusalem, the church of Christ.
2:5. And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about: and I will be in glory in the midst thereof.
2:6. O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have scattered you into the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord.
2:7. O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon:
2:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he hath sent me to the nations that have robbed you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye:
2:9. For behold, I lift up my hand upon them, and they shall be a prey to those that served them: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me.
2:10. Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith the Lord.
2:11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to thee.
2:12. And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the sanctified land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem.
2:13. Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is risen up out of his holy habitation.
Zacharias Chapter 3
In a vision Satan appeareth accusing the high priest. He is cleansed from his sins. Christ is promised, and great fruit from his passion.
3:1. And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right hand to be his adversary.
Jesus.... Alias, Josue, the son of Josedec, the high priest of that time.
3:2. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3:3. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he stood before the face of the angel.
With filthy garments.... Negligences and sins.
3:4. Who answered, and said to them that stood before him, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold I have taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments.
3:5. And he said: Put a clean mitre upon his head: and they put a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the Lord stood.
3:6. And the angel of the Lord protested to Jesus, saying:
3:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and keep my charge, thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt keep my courts, and I will give thee some of them that are now present here to walk with thee.
I will give thee, etc.... Angels to attend and assist thee.
3:8. Hear, O Jesus thou high priest, thou and thy friends that dwell before thee, for they are portending men: for behold, I WILL BRING MY SERVANT THE ORIENT.
Portending men.... That is, men, who by words and actions are to foreshew wonders that are to come.—Ibid. My servant the Orient.... Christ, who according to his humanity is the servant of God, is called the Orient from his rising like the sun in the east to enlighten the world.
3:9. For behold the stone that I have laid before Jesus: upon one stone there are seven eyes: behold I will grave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will take away the iniquity of that land in one day.
The stone.... Another emblem of Christ, the rock, foundation, and corner stone of his church.—Ibid. Seven eyes.... The manifold providence of Christ over his church, or the seven gifts of the spirit of God.—Ibid. One day.... Viz., the day of the passion of Christ, the source of all our good: when this precious stone shall be graved, that is, cut and pierced, with whips, thorns, nails, and spear.
3:10. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, every man shall call his friend under the vine and under the fig tree.
Zacharias Chapter 4
The vision of the golden candlestick and seven lamps, and of the two olive trees.
4:1. And the angel that spoke in me came again: and he waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
4:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its lamp upon the top of it: and the seven lights thereof upon it: and seven funnels for the lights that were upon the top thereof.
A candlestick, etc.... The temple of God that was then in building; and in a more sublime sense, the church of Christ.
4:3. And two olive trees over it: one upon the right side of the lamp, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me, saying: What are these things, my lord?
4:5. And the angel that spoke in me answered, and said to me: Knowest thou not what these things are? And I said: No, my lord.
4:6. And he answered, and spoke to me, saying: This is the word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with an army, nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
To Zorobabel.... This vision was in favour of Zorobabel: to assure him of success in the building of the temple, which he had begun, signified by the candlestick; the lamp of which, without any other industry, was supplied with oil, dropping from the two olive trees, and distributed by the seven funnels or pipes, to maintain the seven lights.
4:7. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief stone, and shall give equal grace to the grace thereof.
Great mountain.... So he calls the opposition made by the enemies of God’s people; which nevertheless, without an army or might on their side, was quashed by divine providence.—Ibid. Shall give equal grace, etc.... Shall add grace to grace, or beauty to beauty.
4:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
4:9. The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house, and his hands shall finish it: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to you.
4:10. For who hath despised little days? and they shall rejoice, and shall see the tin plummet in the hand of Zorobabel. These are the seven eyes of the Lord, that run to and fro through the whole earth.
Little days.... That is, these small and feeble beginnings of the temple of God.—Ibid. The tin plummet.... Literally, the stone of tin. He means the builder’s plummet, which Zorobabel shall hold in his hand for the finishing the building.—Ibid. The seven eyes.... The providence of God, that oversees and orders all things.
4:11. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof?
4:12. And I answered again, and said to him: What are the two olive branches, that are by the two golden beaks, in which are the funnels of gold?
4:13. And he spoke to me, saying: Knowest thou not what these are? And I said: No, my lord.
4:14. And he said: These are two sons of oil who stand before the Lord of the whole earth.
Two sons of oil.... That is, the two anointed ones of the Lord; viz., Jesus the high priest, and Zorobabel the prince.
Zacharias Chapter 5
The vision of the flying volume, and of the woman in the vessel.
5:1. And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume flying.
A volume.... That is, a parchment, according to the form of the ancient books, which, from being rolled up, were called volumes.
5:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
5:3. And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it.
5:4. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.
5:5. And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth.
5:6. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth.
This is their eye.... This is what they fix their eye upon: or this is a resemblance and figure of them, viz., of sinners.
5:7. And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.
5:8. And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
5:9. And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the heaven.
5:10. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry the vessel?
5:11. And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own basis.
The land of Sennaar.... Where Babel or Babylon was built, Gen. 11., where note, that Babylon in holy writ is often taken for the city of the devil: that is, for the whole congregation of the wicked: as Jerusalem is taken for the city and people of God.
Zacharias Chapter 6
The vision of the four chariots. Crowns are ordered for Jesus the high priest, as a type of Christ.
6:1. And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four chariots came out from the midst of two mountains: and the mountains were mountains of brass.
Four chariots.... The four great empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth chariot are represented the kings of Egypt and of Asia, the descendants of Ptolemeus and Seleucus.
6:2. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses.
6:3. And in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot grisled horses, and strong ones.
6:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me: What are these, my lord?
6:5. And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the four winds of the heaven, which go forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth.
6:6. That in which were the black horses went forth into the land of the north, and the white went forth after them: and the grisled went forth to the land of the south.
The land of the north.... So Babylon is called; because it lay to the north in respect of Jerusalem. The black horses, that is, the Medes and Persians: and after them Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the white horses, went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8, by the expression of quieting his spirit.—Ibid. The land of the south.... Egypt, which lay to the south of Jerusalem, and was occupied first by Ptolemeus, and then by the Romans.
6:7. And they that were most strong, went out, and sought to go, and to run to and fro through all the earth. And he said: Go, walk throughout the earth: and they walked throughout the earth.
6:8. And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they that go forth into the land of the north, have quieted my spirit in the land of the north.
6:9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6:10. Take of them of the captivity, of Holdai, and of Tobias, and of Idaias; thou shalt come in that day, and shalt go into the house of Josias, the son of Sophonias, who came out of Babylon.
6:11. And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest.
6:12. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord.
6:13. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
Between them both.... That is, he shall unite in himself the two offices or dignities of king and priest.
6:14. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and Tobias, and Idaias, and to Hem, the son of Sophonias, a memorial in the temple of the Lord.
6:15. And they that are far off, shall come and shall build in the temple of the Lord: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. But this shall come to pass, if hearing you will hear the voice of the Lord your God.
Zacharias Chapter 7
The people inquire concerning fasting: they are admonished to fast from sin.
7:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
7:2. When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
7:3. To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
The fifth month.... They fasted on the tenth day of the fifth month; because on that day the temple was burnt. Therefore they inquire whether they are to continue the fast, after the temple is rebuilt. See this query answered in the 19th verse of the following chapter.
7:4. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
7:5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
7:6. And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7:7. Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?
7:8. And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:
7:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
7:10. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.
7:11. But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.
7:12. And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts.
7:13. And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
7:14. And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.
Zacharias Chapter 8
Joyful promises to Jerusalem: fully verified in the church of Christ.
8:1. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
8:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for Sion with a great jealousy, and with a great indignation have I been jealous for her.
8:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The sanctified mountain.
8:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every man with his staff in his hand through multitude of days.
8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the streets thereof.
8:6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days: shall it be hard in my eyes, saith the Lord of hosts?
8:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will save my people from the land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun.
8:8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and in justice.
8:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strengthened, you that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, in the day that the house of the Lord of hosts was founded, that the temple might be built.
8:10. For before those days there was no hire for men, neither was there hire for beasts, neither was there peace to him that came in, nor to him that went out, because of the tribulation: and I let all men go every one against his neighbour.
8:11. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people according to the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.
8:12. But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew: and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.
8:13. And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse among the Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel: so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing: fear not, let your hands be strengthened.
8:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord,
8:15. And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days to do good to the house of Juda, and Jerusalem: fear not.
8:16. These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak ye truth every one to his neighbour; judge ye truth and judgment of peace in your gates.
8:17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his friend: and love not a false oath: for all these are the things that I hate, saith the Lord.
8:18. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
8:19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.
The fast of the fourth month, etc.... They fasted, on the ninth day of the fourth month, because on that day Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem, Jer. 52.6. On the tenth day of the fifth month, because on that day the temple was burnt, Jer. 52.12. On the third day of the seventh month, for the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41.2. And on the tenth day of the tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans began to besiege Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25.1. All these fasts, if they will be obedient for the future, shall be changed, as is here promised, into joyful solemnities.
8:20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come and dwell in many cities,
8:21. And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us go, and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts: I also will go.
8:22. And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the face of the Lord.
8:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days, wherein ten men of all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold, and shall hold fast the skirt of one that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
Ten men, etc.... Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to the Jewish religion before Christ: but many more were converted to Christ by the apostles and other preachers of the Jewish nation.
Zacharias Chapter 9
God will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies to the faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to deliver the captives by his blood, and to give us all good things.
9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of Israel is the Lord’s.
Hadrach.... Syria.
9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise.
9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets.
9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.
9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded: and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited.
9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.
9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite.
His blood.... It is spoken of the Philistines, and particularly of Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,) and contains a prophecy of the conversion of that people from their bloody sacrifices and abominations to the worship of the true God.
9:8. And I will encompass my house with them that serve me in war, going and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pass through them: for now I have seen with my eyes.
That serve me in war.... Viz., the Machabees.
9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth.
9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.
9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I will render thee double as I declare today.
9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim: and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I will make thee as the sword of the mighty.
Thy sons, O Sion, etc.... Viz., the apostles, who, in the spiritual way, conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to Christ.
9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in the whirlwind of the south.
9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devour, and subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be inebriated as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the altar.
9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as the flock of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up over his land.
Holy stones.... The apostles, who shall be as pillars and monuments in the church.
9:17. For what is the good thing of him, and what is his beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins?
The corn, etc.... His most excellent gift is the blessed Eucharist, called here The corn, that is, the bread of the elect, and the wine springing forth virgins; that is, maketh virgins to bud, or spring forth, as it were, like flowers among thorns; because it has a wonderful efficacy to give and preserve purity.
Zacharias Chapter 10
God is to be sought to, and not idols. The victories of his church, which shall arise originally from the Jewish nation.
10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
10:2. For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity: they comforted in vain: therefore they were led away as a flock: they shall be afflicted, because they have no shepherd.
10:3. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Juda, and hath made them as the horse of his glory in the battle.
10:4. Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him the pin, out of him the bow of battle, out of him ever exacter together.
10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot the mire of the ways in battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders of horses shall be confounded.
10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the house of Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because I will have mercy on them: and they shall be as they were when I had not cast them off, for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
10:7. And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: and their children shall see, and shall rejoice, and their heart shall be joyful in the Lord.
10:8. I will whistle for them, and I will gather them together, because I have redeemed them: and I will multiply them as they were multiplied before.
10:9. And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they shall remember me: and they shall live with their children, and shall return.
10:10. And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and I will gather them from among the Assyrians: and will bring them to the land of Galaad, and Libanus, and place shall not be found for them.
10:11. And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and shall strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river shall be confounded, and the pride of Assyria shall be humbled, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.
10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name, saith the Lord.
Zacharias Chapter 11
The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. God’s dealings with the Jews, and their reprobation.
11:1. Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars.
O Libanus.... So Jerusalem, and more particularly the temple, is called by the prophets, from its height, and from its being built of the cedars of Libanus.—Ibid. Thy cedars.... Thy princes and chief men.
11:2. Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut down.
11:3. The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled.
11:4. Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,
11:5. Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their shepherds spared them not.
11:6. And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land, and I will not deliver it out of their hand.
Every one into his neighbour’s hand, etc.... This alludes to the last siege of Jerusalem, in which the different factions of the Jews destroyed one another; and they that remained fell into the hands of their king, that is, of the Roman emperor, of whom they had said, John 19.15, we have no king but Caesar.
11:7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the flock.
Two rods.... Or shepherd’s staves, meaning the different ways of God’s dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of Beauty: the other, by bands and punishments, called the Cord. And where both these rods are made of no use or effect by the obstinacy of sinners, the rods are broken, and such sinners are given up to a reprobate sense, as the Jews were.
11:8. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard.
Three shepherds in one month.... That is, in a very short time. By these three shepherds probably are meant the latter princes and high priests of the Jews, whose reign was short.
11:9. And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his neighbour.
11:10. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people.
11:11. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord.
11:12. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
11:13. And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary.
The statuary.... The Hebrew word signifies also a potter.
11:14. And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.
11:15. And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
A foolish shepherd.... This was to represent the foolish, that is, the wicked princes and priests that should rule the people, before their utter desolation.
11:16. For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and break their hoofs.
11:17. O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
Zacharias Chapter 12
God shall protect his church against her persecutors. The mourning of Jerusalem.
12:1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in him:
12:2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting to all the people round about: and Juda also shall be in the siege against Jerusalem.
A lintel of surfeiting.... That is, a door into which they shall seek to enter, to glut themselves with blood; but they shall stumble, and fall like men stupefied with wine. It seems to allude to the times of Antiochus, and to the victories of the Machabees.
12:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all people: all that shall lift it up shall be rent and torn, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered together against her.
12:4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes upon the house of Juda, and will strike every horse of the nations with blindness.
12:5. And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart: Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in the Lord of hosts, their God.
12:6. In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a furnace of fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst hay: and they shall devour all the people round about, to the right hand, and to the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.
12:7. And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Juda, as in the beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify themselves against Juda.
12:8. In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that hath offended among them in that day shall be as David: and the house of David, as that of God, as an angel of the Lord in their sight.
12:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
12:10. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.
12:11. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon.
Adadremmon.... A place near Mageddon, where the good king Josias was slain, and much lamented by his people.
12:12. And the land shall mourn: families and families apart: the families of the house of David apart, and their women apart:
12:13. The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their women apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart: the families of Semei apart, and their women apart.
12:14. All the rest of the families, families and families apart, and their women apart.
Zacharias Chapter 13
The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be extirpated: Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried by fire.
13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman.
13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of the earth.
13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.
13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy, neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive:
13:5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is my example from my youth.
13:6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me.
13:7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones.
13:8. And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein.
13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.
Zacharias Chapter 14
After the persecutions of the church shall follow great prosperity. Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all that will not serve God in his church.
14:1. Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.
14:2. And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women shall be defiled: and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city.
I will gather, etc.... This seems to be a prophecy of what was done by Antiochus.
14:3. Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
14:4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is over against Jerusalem towards the east: and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the north, and half thereof to the south.
14:5. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall flee as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias king of Juda: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him.
14:6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no light, but cold and frost.
No light.... Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of Antiochus, when it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7) because they neither had the comfortable light of the day, nor the repose of the night.
14:7. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light:
In the time of the evening there shall be light.... An unexpected light shall arise by the means of the Machabees, when things shall seem to be at the worst.
14:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them to the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter.
Living waters.... Viz., the gospel of Christ.
14:9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one.
14:10. And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and shall dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower of Hananeel even to the king’s winepresses.
All the land shall return, etc.... This, in some measure, was verified by the means of the Machabees: but is rather to be taken in a spiritual sense, as relating to the propagation of the church, and kingdom of Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the anathema of destruction, or God’s curse.
14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.
14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
The flesh of every one shall consume, etc.... Such judgments as these have often fallen upon the persecutors of God’s church, as appears by many instances in history.
14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his neighbour’s hand.
14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance.
Even Juda, etc.... The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join in persecuting the church.
14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those tents, shall be like this destruction.
Shall be like this destruction.... That is, the beasts shall be destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers as well as their leaders.
14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
They that shall be left, etc.... That is, many of them that persecuted the church shall be converted to its faith and communion.—Ibid. To keep the feast of tabernacles.... This feast was kept by the Jews in memory of their sojourning forty years in the desert, in their way to the land of promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all such Christians as in their earthly pilgrimage are continually advancing toward their true home, the heavenly Jerusalem; by the help of the sacraments and sacrifice of the church. And they that neglect this must not look for the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to their souls.
14:17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go up of the families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, there shall be no rain upon them.
14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come: neither shall it be upon them, but there shall be destruction wherewith the Lord will strike all nations that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
14:19. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all nations, that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
14:20. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as the phials before the altar.
That which is upon the bridle, etc.... The golden ornaments of the bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in the house of God. And there shall be an abundance of caldrons and phials for the sacrifices of the temple; by which is meant, under a figure, the great resort there shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ, and her sacrifice.
14:21. And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be sanctified to the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice shall come, and take of them, and shall seethe in them: and the merchant shall be no more in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.
The merchant shall be no more, etc.... Or, as some render it, The Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the profane and unbelievers shall have no title to be in the house of the Lord. Or there shall be no occasion for buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the house of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the temple.
THE PROPHECY OF MALACHIAS
MALACHIAS, whose name signifies The Angel of the Lord, was contemporary with NEHEMIAS, and by some is believed to have been the same person as ESDRAS. He was the last of the prophets, in the order of time, and flourished about four hundred years before Christ. He foretells the coming of Christ; the reprobation of the Jews and their sacrifices; and the calling of the Gentiles, who shall offer up to God in every place an acceptable sacrifice.
Malachias Chapter 1
God reproaches the Jews with their ingratitude: and the priests for not offering pure sacrifices. He will accept of the sacrifice that shall be offered in every place among the Gentiles.
1:1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachias.
1:2. I have loved you, saith the Lord: and you have said: Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob, saith the Lord, and I have loved Jacob,
I have loved Jacob, etc.... I have preferred his posterity, to make them my chosen people, and to lead them with my blessings, without any merit on their part, and though they have been always ungrateful; whilst I have rejected Esau, and executed severe judgments upon his posterity. Not that God punished Esau, or his posterity, beyond their desert: but that by his free election and grace he loved Jacob, and favoured his posterity above their deserts. See the annotations upon Rom. 9.
1:3. But have hated Esau? and I have made his mountains a wilderness, and given his inheritance to the dragons of the desert.
1:4. But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever.
1:5. And your eyes shall see: and you shall say: The Lord be magnified upon the border of Israel.
1:6. The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts.
1:7. To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible.
1:8. If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith the Lord of hosts.
1:9. And now beseech ye the face of God, that he may have mercy on you, (for by your hand hath this been done,) if by any means he will receive your faces, saith the Lord of hosts.
1:10. Who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of your hand.
1:11. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.
A clean oblation.... Viz., the precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice.
1:12. And you have profaned it in that you say: The table of the Lord is defiled: and that which is laid thereupon is contemptible with the fire that devoureth it.
1:13. And you have said: Behold of our labour, and you puffed it away, saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought in of rapine the lame, and the sick, and brought in an offering: shall I accept it at your hands, saith the Lord?
Behold of our labour, etc.... You pretended labour and weariness, when you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion.
1:14. Cursed is the deceitful man that hath in his flock a male, and making a vow offereth in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.
Malachias Chapter 2
The priests are sharply reproved for neglecting their covenant. The evil of marrying with idolaters: and too easily putting away their wives.
2:1. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is to you.
2:2. If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it to heart.
2:3. Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and will scatter upon your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with it.
I will cast the shoulder to you.... I will cast away the shoulder, which in the law was appointed to be your portion, and fling it at you in my anger: and will reject both you and your festivals like dung.
2:4. And you shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
2:5. My covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear: and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name.
2:6. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many away from iniquity.
2:7. For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.
The angel.... Viz., the minister and messenger.
2:8. But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
2:9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all people, as you have not kept my ways, and have accepted persons in the law.
2:10. Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why then doth every one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers?
2:11. Juda hath transgressed, and abomination hath been committed in Israel, and in Jerusalem: for Juda hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
2:12. The Lord will cut off the man that hath done this, both the master, and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts.
2:13. And this again have you done, you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and bellowing, so that I have no more a regard to sacrifice, neither do I accept any atonement at your hands.
With tears.... Viz., by occasion of your wives, whom you have put away: and who came to weep and lament before the altar.
2:14. And you have said: For what cause? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee, and the wife of thy youth, whom thou hast despised: yet she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant.
2:15. Did not one make her, and she is the residue of his spirit? And what doth one seek, but the seed of God? Keep then your spirit, and despise not the wife of thy youth.
2:16. When thou shalt hate her put her away, saith the Lord, the God of Israel: but iniquity shall cover his garment, saith the Lord of hosts, keep your spirit, and despise not.
Iniquity shall cover his garment.... Viz., of every man that putteth away his wife without just cause; notwithstanding that God permitted it in the law, to prevent the evil of murder.
2:17. You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: Wherein have we wearied him? In that you say: Every one that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please him: or surely where is the God of judgment?
Malachias Chapter 3
Christ shall come to his temple, and purify the priesthood. They that continue in their evil ways shall be punished: but true penitents shall receive a blessing.
3:1. Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold, he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.
My angel.... Viz., John the Baptist, the messenger of God, and forerunner of Christ.
3:2. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller’s herb:
3:3. And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice.
3:4. And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.
3:5. And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.
3:6. For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed.
3:7. For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we return?
3:8. Shall a man afflict God? for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits.
3:9. And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you.
3:10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to abundance.
3:11. And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be barren, saith the Lord of hosts.
3:12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.
3:13. Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.
3:14. And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?
3:15. Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.
3:16. Then they that feared the Lord, spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name.
3:17. And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.
3:18. And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.
Malachias Chapter 4
The judgment of the wicked, and reward of the just. An exhortation to observe the law. Elias shall come for the conversion of the Jews.
4:1. For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch.
4:2. But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd.
4:3. And you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
4:4. Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments.
4:5. Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
4:6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema.
He shall turn the heart, etc.... By bringing over the Jews to the faith of Christ, he shall reconcile them to their fathers, viz., the partiarchs and prophets; whose hearts for many ages have been turned away from them, because of their refusing to believe in Christ.—Ibid. With anathema.... In the Hebrew, Cherem, that is, with utter destruction.