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CHAPTER 1 "And it came to pass." According to the historical sense, the prophet laments the captivity of Jerusalem that took place at that time, but prophetically and more truly he laments the one that befell her in the time of the Romans because of the lawless audacity against Christ. For in that former case they were recalled from Babylon, but after the capture by the Romans, never again. What is written is also applied to the soul, which has fallen from virtue and been brought down into the various forms of vice, and for this reason has come into confusion—for Babylon is interpreted as confusion—and has been taken captive by the noetic enemies. "She has become like a widow." Having been deprived of the Word, her bridegroom. "Filled full." She who formerly was full of good thoughts. "A ruler among the countries." She who prevailed over the vices has become subject to them. "She wept with weeping." In the invasion of the enemies. But one must know that a soul that sins comes to be in night, being far removed from the Sun of righteousness. "Upon her cheeks." Just as we understand eyes, so also cheeks are spoken of in the soul, through which it is nourished with the powers of the word, smoothing and chewing them. "And there was none to comfort her." According to the historical sense, because the wrath was upon all, and no longer did one comfort another. But one may also understand that the holy angels who formerly loved the soul, when she gives herself over to vice, leave her without comfort. "All who loved her." The inhabitants of Jerusalem who transgressed the divine laws, and the false prophets; and the unclean demons who formerly pretended to love such a soul rejoice, like enemies, at her fall.

Judea was removed." From the place of virtue to that of vice. "And from abundance." For having been stripped of the glory she had, she is handed over to slavery. "She sat among the nations." For having been joined to her adversaries, she was separated far from the rest of God. "They seized her." For a man who has turned aside from the way of God becomes subject to the passions, when, he says, the unclean demons oppress him; since, then, the passions and the demons who work them pursue the soul, the Apostle gives command, saying: Flee fornication. "The ways of Zion mourn." The law commanded all males to appear before the Lord three times in the year: at Passover, at the Feast of Firstfruits, and at Tabernacles; at these three feasts, then, the Jews from everywhere gather together in Jerusalem. According to the history, therefore, since no one comes to Zion because of the destruction of the city, her ways mourn. In the spiritual sense, the teachings through which a man enters into virtue are in dejection, since the readiness of those who learn has been cut off. "All her gates." The teachers, who neither enter into the kingdom of God themselves nor allow those who are coming to enter. "Her priests." In the literal sense, because there are none to offer; in the spiritual sense, the ways that perform the priestly service of virtue, because no one runs to them. "Her virgins." The sound and blameless ways, not walking according to authority because of the corrupting tradition of the teachers. "Those who oppress her have become." The Babylonians were lifted up exceedingly, and the accursed demons.

Her infants." Even those not yet judged through sin suffer for the punishment of those who begot them. Or he also calls the saints "infants," those distressed because of the sins of the many, or "infants" are souls that have only just begun to worship God, and have grown weary in the course of virtue, and have turned back to vice. "Before their face." Those taking them captive, casting the infants in front, force them to walk; and the demons do the same, driving the soul on to whatever they wish. "All her comeliness." As to the literal sense, the temple, the legal worship; as to the meaning, the knowledge of God, because of the introduction of sin. "They became." Whether the priests, or those otherwise leading the people, no longer having those who offer anything to them. As to the meaning, since sin, like a scorching heat, has dried up those who were about to make progress in learning, the ways of teaching find no pasture. "And they walked." Being driven, he says, into captivity; they no longer had strength. Or also thus: they grew weak, unable to face and resist sin. "Jerusalem remembered." They came, he says, to the remembrance of the days before her humiliation, when they dwelt in Jerusalem and had the offerings; or also thus: they came to the remembrance of their own sins, on account of which she came into captivity. "All her desirable things." As to the literal sense, the temple, the festivals, the sacrifices, the offerings, the sacred vessels. As to the meaning: She remembered, he says, her desires, following which she became captive.

Her enemies saw her and laughed." For it is natural for the demons, after casting down the soul, then also to laugh at it. "She sinned a sin." Everyone who sins clearly commits sin; but "to sin a sin" is said of one who sins knowingly. He hints at the Jews, that they crucified the Lord who was proclaimed beforehand and expected by them, when he had come. "All who glorified her." With respect to the literal sense, the synagogue was taken captive; with respect to the meaning, the soul sick with sin, having been shaken from its upright stance. "They humbled her." Either the demons, who formerly raised her up on wings when the synagogue sacrificed to them, whom she later turned away from; or also the souls of the saints, who out of disposition love Jerusalem and glorify her when she fares well, but turn away from her when she sins. "For they saw her shame." For through the severe punishment her sins were uncovered and made manifest, on account of which she also underwent the punishments. "And she herself groaning." The synagogue, no longer serving demons; and such a soul coming to a sense of its own condition, and groaning, and in a certain way wishing to retreat from its sins. "Her uncleanness before her feet." In place of: they are defiled. "She did not remember her latter end." If she had remembered, he says, that there is a recompense, she would have had it in her to humble her pride, so as not to fall under punishment; for the arrogant one is humbled, and the humble one is exalted. "See, the Lord." The saint appropriates from that point the transgressions of those who sin, and offers supplication on their behalf.

He stretched out his hand, afflicting." According to the literal sense, the Babylonian was first, and later the Romans also took the desirable vessels, and whatever was noteworthy in Jerusalem. According to the spiritual sense, he says, wickedness dared, spread itself out against the soul, and darkened its desirable knowledge of God. "For she saw the nations." God commanded the Moabites and Ammonites not to enter into the assembly of the Lord; when Jerusalem was therefore laid waste, these also entered into the temple. According to the spiritual sense, certain impure thoughts advanced into the innermost sanctuary of the soul. "Seeking bread." Either the perceptible bread because of the siege, or the nourishing word of the soul. "They gave their desirable things." In the siege, whatever choice thing they had, they gave for the purchase of food, so that they might at least only live, and nourish the failing soul. Or also thus: having betrayed the desirable knowledge of God, they wished to hear something from the false prophets, by which to recover their own despondency. "All who were before you." While Jerusalem stood, travelers often walked through its midst and rested in it. When it was therefore razed to the ground, they passed by outside it. He says therefore: O travelers who pass by me from outside, my word is to you: sympathize with me over so great a wound. According to the spiritual sense he says: Those who do not walk the straight and lawful road, seeing my pain, turn back to the knowledge of God. "Having spoken in me." Having threatened with the reproof of truth; and when by the

For the synagogue: "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." "From his height he sent fire." He says, according to his height, so did he bring to exactness the punishment against me; and it also signifies, after the ascension of the Lord, the chastisement brought upon Jerusalem through the Roman war. "In my bones." For it reaches even to joints and marrow, to thoughts and intentions. "He spread it out." The inescapable punishment. "He turned me back." From good things to worse. "The Lord gave me." In place of, he showed me desolate. "All the day." Continually punished. "It was awakened." Nothing, he says, of my sins was kept silent. "In my hands." What I sowed through my deeds, these I also reaped. Because each bears his own burden. "My strength grew weak." I was not able to act against the adversaries. Or also thus: the strength of the synagogue is the law, which was not able to help it. "Because the Lord gave." In place of, he showed me that I had done things worthy of pain. "I shall not be able." My standing was shaken, that is, my support. "He lifted up all." According to the literal sense, the rulers and the teachers of the law; according to the spiritual sense, the dispositions of the purpose, which sin, standing against and prevailing, makes disappear. "He called upon me." He means the time of darkness. For when the intelligible light fails, darkness enters in its place. "To crush." So that every good disposition of mine might be destroyed. "He trod the winepress." In place of, he gathered all my sins into one, which, having trodden, he made wine; concerning which the Psalmist says, that a cup in the hand of the Lord of unmixed wine, that is, of wrath.

For sins, when examined and, as it were, pressed out, distil divine wrath, which those who sin drink. "My eye has brought down water." The reasoning faculty of the soul, in a manner, weeps and groans over its sins. "He who turns my soul." According to the literal sense, that the Jews are still suffering; according to the deeper meaning, the manner of the remembrance of God, he who turns the soul from death to life. "My sons have become." The various deeds of our enemy the devil, when he becomes more dominant. "He stretched out Zion." From astonishment she kept her hands slackened, having cast away all good deeds. "There is none to comfort her." Not law, not prophet. "The Lord commanded." The Lord gave command, he says. That those who afflict you are round about you—be sober; but he turned aside to negligence. Or thus: It is a command of the Lord, he says: Behold, I have set before your face life and death. Since, therefore, Jacob chose death instead of life, those who afflict him became round about him. "As one set apart." Instead of: She has become more abominable than the enemies in whose midst she finds herself. And so after the captivity she remained in her own uncleanness, not repenting. "For I called my lovers." Her lovers are false prophets, and wonder-workers, and the unclean demons. And they are called her lovers, either because she herself loves their deceit, or because they, pretending to love her, became the cause of divine wrath, being able to help her in nothing. For this is what "They deceived me" signifies. "My priests." These things happened in the siege.

In their deeper meaning, the teachers who were judged unworthy of the word of God, who proved untrustworthy stewards of the salvation of the peoples, did not find those they taught, who are their food, since the people were swept away together with the impiety of their teachers. "My belly" — that is, all that is within me. And "belly" and "heart," according to the laws of figurative usage, are the receptive and life-giving powers of the soul, by which its faculties are nourished and exercised. "From without the sword has bereaved me." In the historical sense, the Romans kept killing those who came out of the siege; in the deeper meaning, he says, the assault of the unseen enemies from without — that is, not being connatural to us — destroyed my good thoughts; just as from within comes the impulse of our free choice toward what is worse; for this is what "death in the house" indicates. "All my enemies." The enemies of the soul are the unclean demons, who are also called its lovers. For though they are enemies, they pretend to love; and after making one sin, they also set about his fall. "You have brought on a day" — the day of punishment. "Woe, woe" — the doubling signifies the intensity of the pain. "Let all enter in." May the examination of those who repay me with evils come, he says, according to your truth; for the face of God is truth. "Glean for them." Gleanings are the small clusters of grapes that often escape even the vintagers. At any rate, those who gather them pick them out, examining the vines carefully. As, then, the demons bitterly attacked me —

Or also, just as the false teachers and false prophets who deceived me have caused my sins to be examined precisely, so precisely examine them according to your judgment, O Lord. {CHAPTER 2} "How has he darkened." How, as if with some darkness, he has handed her over to the assault of enemies. "He has cast down from heaven to earth." He says that the heaven-fitting comeliness of Jerusalem he transferred to dishonor, having thrust her away from his own continual visitation. "And he did not remember." He calls the temple God's footstool, as the divine visitation from heaven reaches to it, or also the Israelite people, who were deemed worthy of the knowledge of God. For heaven is called the throne of God, as God rests in the most pure rational beings there. And the earth is his footstool, as the knowledge of him reaches even to us according to the proportion that applies to us. "All the beautiful things." As to the literal sense, all the legal worship; as to the deeper meaning, the ways of piety. "He has brought down." He means a bringing down, a movement from the foundations. "The strongholds." As to the literal sense, the temple, or also the mighty ones in her; as to the deeper meaning, the invincible virtues he has cast away to earthly things. "He has profaned her king." As to the literal sense, the mighty ones in her; as to the deeper meaning, he says he has shown to be unclean the ways that are preeminent in her. "Every horn." According to the history, all the tribes, or all the mighty ones; as to the contemplation, every victorious disposition of the soul. "He has turned back." Or he has turned back the right-hand deeds of Israel himself to the lesser, that is, to the left;

For the left things are behind the right; or God restrained his own power, and did not come to their aid when they were warred upon by their enemies. "And he kindled." The capture through the Romans. God's wrath, then, like fire, kindled against Iakob its examining power. "He bent his bow." He means the complete turning away of God; when this happens, deadly blows are brought on by enemies. "And he killed." According to the literal sense, their sons and daughters, and whatever living creature was honored among them; according to the deeper sense, the better desires of the soul. For this is what the turning away of God does. For his visitation is life. "In the tent of the daughter of Sion." According to the history, in the temple in which they were slain; according to the deeper sense, in the rests of the soul. "The Lord became." When they made themselves enemies of God through their transgressions against him; for God does not hate. "He destroyed." According to the literal sense, he means the walls, and the temple, and the houses; according to the deeper sense, the good thoughts that fence in the soul. [And otherwise:] That no longer among the Jews, after their audacity against Christ, is there prophet, nor revelation, nor lawful priestly service. "Being brought low." After the history, he means those taken captive by sin. "And he spread out like a vine." Either he says this, that the Synagogue, which was formerly spread out like a vine, he handed over to the enemies; or thus, that he laid it open to those who plunder it like an uncovered vine. "He destroyed his feast." Of Jerusalem, the feasts of the law; of the soul, the joy over what is better.

The Lord has forgotten." He disregarded, he says, even his own legislation, which exhorted them to keep festival and Sabbath. "And he provoked." He permitted them to be oppressed further, either himself being provoked, or himself provoking them at the prosperity of their enemies. "The Lord has rejected." The legal [dispensation], so that the spiritual [dispensation] of the New Covenant might be brought in its place. But if it is understood of the captive soul, it is because it appeared unworthy of the worship of God. "He has shaken off." He cast it away abruptly. "They gave their voice." The enemies rejoicing the more. "The wall of the daughter." He judged [variant: destroyed] the wall, the law. "He has not turned back." He prolonged the collapse [variant: the crushing]. "And she mourned." He did not spare to cast down into trampling those who sin against him persistently. "They have sunk." Those entrusted with the teaching were plunged into earthly things. "He has destroyed." He made her ordinances disappear, so that one who wished to enter was at a loss, and sought them. "They sat upon the ground." They were brought low, having set their minds on earthly things. "They fell silent." They lost the dignity of teaching, they were struck dumb. "They brought up." According to the history, the mourning posture, as in captivity. According to the spiritual sense, he says that of their own choice they preferred earthly things to their own salvation. "They brought down to the ground." They brought down to earthly things the synagogues, or even the souls that could be saved. "They fainted in tears." Because piety was not troubled by the Gentiles, but was corrupted by the bastard sons, "To their mothers." The sinful souls to the Churches. "Where is the grain?" Where is the boldness of the mystery?

They say these things, as those not deemed worthy of the mysteries because of their sins. "In being loosened." That is, by sin and unto death. "In being poured out." And yet, while they are in their mothers' bosoms, they still fail through famine of teaching. "What shall I testify to you?" What good thing shall I testify on your behalf? "Or to what shall I liken you?" What sin shall I compare to yours? For truly the slaughter against the Lord is surpassing. "For it has been magnified." The vengeance of your sin. "Who shall heal you?" In place of: no one, except God alone. "Your prophets." Some are false prophets foretelling false things, and others are false teachers introducing false opinions. "And they did not uncover." They did not make the truth manifest to you, he says, so that you, having come to know that you are doing unjust things, might turn back and not become a captive. "And they saw for you." False prophecies and vain opinions, driving you away from God. "They clapped." According to the historical sense, those who behold the fall of the people, struck with amazement, clap their hands and hiss, shaking the head; but according to the spiritual sense, men who walk outside of religion, atheists, or even unclean demons do these things, rejoicing over the fall of those formerly in virtue. "If this is the city." In the case of the temple, because of its being conspicuous everywhere; but in the case of the soul they will say, Is this the one called perfect and glorious in virtue? "They opened upon you." They hissed, they attacked in a beastly manner; for hissing is the sound of beasts. "And they gnashed." To gnash is to grind the teeth. "Nevertheless this day." The confusion that comes from sins; and it was expected, because God foretold and threatened those who sin. "The Lord has done." He judged righteously.

He has finished the matter." He brought the eternal judgments to completion, so as not to keep silent in sins. Moreover, he testified to the Israelites also through Moses. "Arise." Be roused, he says, and examining yourself, understand, and anticipate the beginnings of the guard, that is, the ordinances. In place of: Do the ordinances, and propitiate God. And "in the night" he says because of the assault of the enemies. "Pour out as water." Extend your zeal toward God more abundantly. "Lift up toward him." Of those who are loosened at the beginning of every virtue—for instance, someone perhaps began almsgiving, did not have the one urging and teaching him, and remained there being loosened. Another of self-control, and so on. For having been cut off from progress, in what they are they also remain, or even going backward, being loosened in the famine. "Behold, Lord." For the Lord had said that such affliction has not happened, nor shall it be. "If they will eat." After the events according to the history, he speaks of the risings of the Churches against their children. "Gleanings." They were roasted, he says, or even boiled—the children whom they ate in the siege. But as for the meaning, the one from the beginning

Satan, having practiced murder against the vital parts of the virtues—which are the marrow—subjected them to anger. "They shall be put to death." If, he says, you show that those who are able to propitiate you and to teach have been destroyed. The nurslings of the Church shall be put to death; but "in the sanctuary of the Lord," because the ways [or: places] of holiness seem to stand, but the power has been denied. You will observe these things after the history. "They slept into." According to the literal sense, those who ought to rest slept themselves into the earth [or: laid themselves to rest]. According to the meaning, both the inexperienced and the knowledgeable rested in the places of turning away; for to depart is to turn away. So to speak, having gone out from the boundaries of piety, they set their minds on earthly things. "My virgins." Even those, he says, who live in incorruption and manliness have been dragged down by sin. "By the sword." By the enemy's assault. "And by famine." By the absence of the word. "You called." According to the literal sense he speaks thus: Those from the whole surrounding region fled to me, Jerusalem, as to a strong city, just as when they ran together at a festival. According to the meaning, the soul says: Because you turned your face away from me, you prepared my enemies to celebrate. For he calls strangers the enemies who dwell among us. "And they did not become." For unless someone falls into complete sin, he is not handed over to cutting anger. "As I prevailed." According to the literal sense: Having grown strong, she says, in sin, I caused you to bring a multitude of enemies against me. According to the meaning: I was blinded, and I multiplied the enemy ways. {CHAPTER

3. "I am the man." This is spoken in the person of the Lord, on account of the measures of his emptying. But in the person of the prophet, he confesses with good judgment the poor and changeable nature of humanity; for evil is not by nature, but by turning. "By the rod of his anger." This is spoken in the person of the Lord, according to what is said: Your anger was set upon me. And in the person of the prophet: The enemy, he says, the devil, used his rod of anger against me—the turning toward sin; whence also, having taken me, he led me away into darkness, and not light. But he brings these things forward from the common condition of humanity. "Only against me." Not only, he says, was the enemy satisfied to lead me away into darkness, but he also punished me. And "all the day" is instead of "all the time" that he has been under him. "He has made my flesh old." In the person of the Lord: The lie, he says, was built up against me, for they spoke many falsehoods against him. And in the person of human nature: Not only, he says, was the enemy satisfied to punish me, but he also walled me in so that I could not escape. "In dark places." David previously foretold this concerning the Lord, on account of the tomb. But if it is said from the common condition of the soul, that he filled it with darkness, having deprived it of the intelligible light. "He has walled in." In the case of the Lord, because those who placed him in the tomb thought he would no longer rise. But in the case of the soul, on account of the guard set against it. "He has made my bronze heavy." In the case of the Lord, on account of the seals placed on his tomb; but in the case of the soul, on account of the collars of sin that the enemy placed around it.

And indeed that I shall cry out." He says that, having multiplied the practices of sins, she blocked her supplication to God. And the soul says these things because she even worshipped idols. "He built up." From the Church, he says, the people of the Jews became of every sort to hinder the teaching of the preaching; and he likens this one both to a lion and to a bear on account of its raging; and this, he says, he set me as one destroyed against himself. And from the person of the soul: The enemy, he says, shut up my paths. "It troubled me, a bear." The bear is sin, lying in wait, attacking in various ways and beast-like. "He himself is to me as a lion." The bear is less than the lion for fear. Therefore the devil, first troubling the soul through sin, thereafter himself attempts to swallow it down by his fierceness. And "in secret places," instead of "in cunning ways," first troubling through sin. "He pursued." Instead of "he cast down." "He bent his bow." The people of the Jews, employing all kinds of insults and slanders against the Lord; and the devil too, having taken the soul under his hand. "He brought into my kidneys." Against the Lord, the demands for death; but against the soul, the devil brought deadly counsels against the soul. "It became a laughingstock." The Lord, to that of the unbelievers; but the soul, to the multitudes of the demons. "Their psalm." Instead of "gladness, joy." "He filled me." For they gave him gall to drink at the cross; and the bitterness of the soul is sin. "And he cast me out by lot." The Lord, he says, because he answered nothing to Pilate.

And the soul says that the devil, by the cunning of sin, darkened my senses. "And he thrust away." The people of the Jews, not willing to be at peace with their own Savior; and the devil, having separated the soul from the peace of God. "And I said, He is lost." The Savior says these things concerning the people of the Jews, who formerly were his inheritance, and the hope of boasting. And the soul also says that, when my sins were multiplied, I supposed that my recall was not possible. "I remembered." The Savior says that, having remembered my voluntary emptying, and the sufferings which I endured, and having these things and keeping them in myself, I endure, so that by my long-suffering I may also gain the Jews. And from the person of the one who sinned you will understand it thus: of poverty, of the turning; for after the turning the soul is handed over to the persecutions of sin. "Of my bitterness." Of the things that happened to me in the region of sin. "And my soul shall murmur against me." Meditating on these things in herself, she will condemn herself. "This I will set." The memory, he says, of the self-condemnation I will store up in my own heart. "Therefore I will wait." For he who knows that he sinned by choice waits for the discipline of God, and the mercy that comes from him. "And he will wait." Securely, he says, he will hope in the help of Christ and Savior. For he himself is the salvation of the Lord, according to Symeon who says: For my eyes have seen your salvation. "He will sit alone." The school of the newer deeds. "He will sit." He abides in the truth; for this alone is, but sin is much, and manifold.

And he will be silent." In the sense of, he will put a stop to such a manner. "For he has taken up." The yoke, clearly. "He will give to the one who strikes." According to the one who said: If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And with respect to the meaning, to the reproach against God. "He will be filled." In this age, so that he may not be in the age to come. "And he did not answer." He, it says, did not prepare Adam and those from him to sin; for God did not legislate sin, but we voluntarily endured the change. "To humble." The discourse follows what was said above: that God declared that the adversary be humbled under his feet. And the prisoners of the earth, that is, those bound by the cords of their own sins. "To turn aside judgment." To turn the faculty of judgment toward opposing the Most High. "To condemn." God, it says, did not command that one be condemned by the adversary when one is judged against him. "Who has spoken thus?" The manner of disobedience, and the sower of deceit. "From the mouth." But only the good. "If a man grumbles." Let no one, it says, blame God as the cause of sin, because man, having sinned voluntarily, is also able to repent; and the pretexts are vain. "It has been searched out." For the Judge is unerring. "Upon our hands." That is, having lifted up our souls from earthly things, let us offer them to God; offering our own souls as a kind of offering through our deeds. "We have sinned." Since we provoked you, you were not propitiated—in the sense of, we have suffered justly.

You have covered." You have concealed, he says, like the clouds, so that my prayer might not pass through to you. "To close my eyes." The turning away, he says, of your face produced for me an absence of light, and just as for those who close their eyes, darkness came upon me. "You have placed us in the midst of the peoples." Of sensible peoples, or intelligible ones, because of the betrayal that comes from sins. "They opened their mouths against us." Reviling us, or seeking to swallow us down. "Fear and dismay." From the various assaults. "Exaltation and crushing." Either, he says, because of exaltation and arrogance we were crushed, or because our enemies, being exalted against us, crushed us. "My eye has been swallowed up." It has encompassed, he says, my faculty of sight [that is, darkness]. And I lament, seeking recovery. "My eye." Precisely, he says, it will hold, and the faculty of sight of the soul searches out [that is, it will look and search out] the transgressions beyond the remedies that come through actions; for the daughters of the city, he says, are the actions of the common life. "Hunting." By tyranny, though they had suffered no prior wrong. "They put to death." The Jews, then, having put to death the author of life, and the demons the soul in their counsel beneath the earth. "And they laid." The Jews, so that they might cover over the tomb, and the demons the weight of sins upon the soul, persuading it to despise the better things. "Water overflowed." Against the Lord, the various afflictions, and against the soul, the waves of sin. "I said: I am cast away." The Lord, having become man through the passion, speaks in a human way, according to what is in the Psalms: I became like a man without help. But the soul of the sinner says this because of sin.

I called upon." Whence they cast me out. "Do not hide your ears." Similar is this: Incline your ear to my supplication. "For my help." Our Lord and God Jesus Christ foretells his resurrection; but the penitent says these things because God is by nature present everywhere. "You have judged, Lord." From the person of Christ, because the Jews paid the penalties worthy of the offenses committed against him, being handed over to the Romans. And from the person of those saved through Christ, because of the resurrection, that he condemned the ruler of this age. "You have redeemed." From the person of Christ because of the resurrection. And the one being saved, he says, speaks to him, that You redeemed me, having deemed me worthy that you pay my debts through yourself. "You saw, Lord, my troubles." Which the Lord endured from the Jews, or also which the soul endured from the invisible enemies. "I heard." Prophetically the things set forth are referred to the person of the Lord concerning what he suffered from the Jews; but they are also spoken from the person of the soul entreating the Father himself against the invisible enemies. "Their sitting down." That at one time they pretend to be at peace, puffing themselves up, or also suggesting negligence to the soul, as though it had come to impassibility, but suddenly they rise up against it. "Look upon." Instead of, upon their purpose; for whatever they do, they do it for the destruction of the soul. "You will render to them a shield of my heart, toil." He says, shielding my heart, you will render toil to the enemies. You yourself will pursue in anger; for it belongs to no one else to pursue and rout the accursed demons than to our Lord Jesus Christ. {CHAPTER

4. "Gold." The evangelical teaching. "It shall be changed." The Mosaic law—and it is good, because it alone is God-inspired for them, although there are many laws among men. "Stones were poured out." Each became common in the purpose of the polity set before them. The word also has a reference against the demons who work these things. "Those lifted up in gold." He has taken the word from the image of those weighed in a balance. Those, he says, who are counterbalanced. For this is what "lifted up in gold" means, that is, in everything precious: how did they become easily broken vessels, crushed by the assault of sin? Or from not persisting in the better things, evidently. "Breasts." The venomous doctrines, or misinterpretations. "Their cubs." Those who obey them. "The daughters of my people." The souls that have received their corrupting teachings, caught through helplessness. "Those who eat delicacies." Those from the word and from spiritual teaching. "They were brought to nothing." They were changed in their purposes. Or also thus: having begun spiritually, they are completed in the flesh. For to begin in virtue,

For many; but to complete them, few. "Who were brought up on scarlet." Either on the flowering virtues, or on crimson—that is, on the ways of redemption through the blood of Christ. "They were clothed." Having thrust away the royal garment, which is signified by the crimson, they were shriveled up by their own sins, having put on the defiled tunic of the flesh. "And it was magnified." He compares Jerusalem to Sodom, and shows that she has sinned more greatly because of the slaughter of the Lord. And he foretells her downfall [that is, destruction]. "As if with haste." For the land of Sodom had a sudden and swift destruction. "And they did not labor." In place of: they did not grow weary in doing evil; and this while God bears with evil, [who the same]—he who sins in the same way as those men is not punished in the same way. "The Nazirites were purified." Nazirites in the law are those set apart to God from the womb; he means, then, those who have no share in wickedness. "More than milk." In place of: they were not poured out, but were solidified in virtue. "More than stone." Precious, he says, and incorruptible was their election. "It grew dark." Of those who possess virtue in hypocrisy. "They were not recognized." They were abhorred in their ways. "The skin was solidified." Because they did not have the moisture of the Spirit; but these things also happened to the captives from their hardship. "They were dried up." Cut off from the life of God, and withered. "They were beautiful." Better, he says, were those who had not at all known the way of truth, but were under death, than those who had known it but were deprived of the true food, which is the word of orthodoxy.

They went about pierced through from the produce of the fields." From worldly deeds. For the world is often regarded as a field. "The hands of women." According to the historical sense, one of these was a certain Mary, who, pressed by the violence of the rebels, who always seized what was procured, and by famine, ate the flesh of her own child. According to the contemplative sense, those who seem to be the hands of the Churches—the false prophets and false teachers, whom they begot in the faith—held them fast in temptations, and perhaps for the sake of money or something else put their souls to death. "They became." Those who traffic in God are said, for their own gain, to devour the souls of men, according to what is in the Psalms: Those who devour my people as a meal of bread. "In the crushing." Because of the many sins, the people was permitted to come under such leaders. "And it devoured her foundations." The steadfastness, the stability of the soul; and these things happened according to the historical sense. "They did not believe." Those who are pre-eminent in virtue, the royal priesthood. "All who dwell." The multitude that is always sheltered by God; for the other is desolate. "That he will enter." Because the Lord said: The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, just as indeed they did not prevail, even if they were permitted to trouble it for a time. "From sins." That is, not from the weakness of the mystery, but from the sins of those entrusted to administer it. "Of those who shed blood." These things happened to Jerusalem by the Romans because of the blood of Christ.

In general he speaks about those who crucify the Son of God and make a public example of them by overturning through empty words the redemption that was accomplished once for all. "They were shaken." In the case of Christ, because of the fear of the Jews, even the pious among them were disturbed. But in the general sense, he says, her equals to angels were disturbed from their steadfastness in their ways. "They were defiled." For he who is unable to resist sin is polluted by it. "They touched their garments." As many of you, he says, as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ; he says, then, that they even endangered the faith itself. "Depart." Exhort one another to depart from unclean things. For "Call them" is instead "Let each one admonish his neighbor." "For they have been kindled." For they have become subject to wrath. "Say among the nations." Say to them, he says: Do not continue to sojourn among the nations—that is, Do not mingle with strangers. "The face of the Lord." This is the portion and the lot of those worthy of God: to stand continually before him. He does not look upon those who think or even do things unworthy of his contemplation. "The face of the priests." Instead: they were not ashamed. "They did not pity the elders." They did not pity those grown old in virtue, but the heresiarchs and the leaders of the Jews even perverted them. "Our eyes failed." In the literal sense those in the siege say: While we were alive, our eyes were consumed by famine. In the spiritual sense: Although, he says, we had experience of life, we were confounded by darkness.

They say these things who after knowledge have come under sin. "For help." The one group in the siege, because they vainly hoped to hold out against the Romans; the other through sin, because, he says, abandoning their confidence in God, they vainly looked to their own help. "We looked about." Having looked to human help, we raged. "We hunted." According to the history, that in the siege they did not allow the infants to go out into the marketplaces; according to the meaning, he says, we deprived our thoughts of fine things, so as not to be led by the impulses of pleasures into the broad streets; it is clear, then, that even if we guard ourselves in every way, and do not hope in God, we are led away as captives. "The time has drawn near." The word is from the saints, who make their own the sufferings of those who suffer through sin. "Those who pursue us." According to the history, the Babylonians and the Romans; according to the meaning, the demons; For our struggle is not against blood and flesh. "Upon the mountains." According to the literal sense, that the enemies, overtaking those who fled in the mountains, destroyed them; according to the meaning, he says, they were inflamed against excessive deeds. "In the wilderness." In inhuman ways. "The spirit of our face." In place of, He himself is our life; he himself is our soul. "Was taken." For because of our sins he was handed over. "Whom we said." Whom we confessed, that, sheltered by him, we would be kept from our adversaries. "Rejoice and be glad." Idumea is always taken for the oldness of sin. "And indeed upon you the cup of the Lord shall pass." By the oldness of sin the prophet signifies the cup, the removal through the cross.

So, in the manner of drunkenness and fall, and beyond measure, her destruction is stretched out once for all. For "you will pour out" signifies that her destruction is stretched out forever. Then also the last enemy, death, is abolished. "Your lawlessness has failed." Through the death of the Lord according to the flesh. "He will not add." This does not fit the history; for after the Babylonians they were again deported by the Romans, and to this day they are in exile. You will understand, then, that the law had a succession, but grace is endless. "He has visited your lawlessness." That which was long ago defiled in the old age of sin, and called by its name. {CHAP. 5} "Our inheritance." After the history, understand it thus: the freedom according to nature has become subject to sin through the disobedience that comes from choice. "Our houses." The distribution of rights. For the one obedient to him is plundered by the enemy. "We have become orphans." The word of teaching. "Our mothers." The churches are not widows, but as widows because of temporary affliction. "Our water." For the gift graciously given by God, the invention of sin subjected to sale. "Our wood." When the sons of Israel inherited the land of promise, laying crafted wood upon the neck of the kings of the nations, treading upon them they killed them. What we did to the enemies, helped by you, these things we have suffered, being overlooked. And according to the deeper meaning, understand it thus: the unyoked yoke of the Son of God, he says, is sold with reconciliation of money.

We were pursued." For when the yoke has been lawlessly despised, rest also departs, and thereafter the persecution of sin sets in. "Egypt gave." When the Romans were besieging Jerusalem, the Assyrians were sending provisions to the camp, while the Egyptians, fighting alongside, were mercilessly killing the Jews. But you may understand it according to the deeper sense as follows: Egypt is taken as a figure of sojourning, and the Assyrians of captivity. So sojourning can be understood as the vanity of this present age, and Asshur as the working out of worse things. "Our fathers." For you, says the Lord, are sons of those who killed the prophets, and so you too fill up the measure of your fathers. But according to the contemplative sense, those who came before are a kind of pre-dispositions to sins, whose memory, after they have passed, is extended, tormenting the conscience. "Slaves have ruled over us." The dispositions, being slaves, when they prefer sin, rule over the will; for by nature the will is also mistress of every counsel. But when it has turned to sin and preferred the opposite to the good, the sin that was preferred, together with its deliberations, rules over it. "There is no one to redeem." For no one is by nature able to redeem except God alone. "In their souls." According to the historical sense: those under siege, risking danger, used to go out secretly from the wall, in the hope that they might at least obtain herbs for food. But according to the deeper sense, standing against sin signifies the struggle unto death. "From the face of the sword." According to the history, he says that the nations which warred against the Jews are desolate, having long been desolate.

In terms of the deeper meaning, this refers to the savage and inhuman nature of sin. "Our skin." For those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. "They were drawn together." From a most violent and intense famine, whether the perceptible famine according to the historical sense, or the intelligible famine according to the contemplative sense. "Women in Zion." According to the historical sense, those who treated them shamefully; according to the deeper meaning, the persecutors of the Church. "Princes in their hands." In the hands of those who write against the truth. "Elders." For when the truth is set aside, the elders too are dishonored along with it. "The chosen." Lamenting over what has happened. "And young men." So strong in faith as even to be crucified for Christ. "And old men." According to the historical sense, those who sat in the gates of Jerusalem and provoked the people to bitterness were, he says, put to death in those very places. But if you refer the passage to the martyrs, you will understand that from their departure from this age they ceased, that is, they were perfected. "The crown has fallen." The Jews say this because of the law, while those of the Church say it because of those who mock the mystery of the cross. "Concerning this they grew dark." For the desolation of the land provided us with darkness from despondency, since the beasts that delight in solitude multiplied in it; but it has not become desolate of you, who are present everywhere and watch over all. "Foxes." Those of the heterodox who are most bitter in their cunning. "But you, Lord, forever." That is, restore us at some time, as you are eternal. "Why unto victory?" Why do you keep silent until we are defeated?

You will abandon us." He is extending the abandonment. "Turn us back." Since because of the multitude of sins we are cast away, the prophet asks for a propitiation, through which the turning back to the Lord is made eagerly. "And renew us." Insofar as you also foreordained the salvation of man according to foreknowledge.