Ambrose of Milan

In his own words on Isaiah

• Isaiah 1:3

  [The righteous person] does not say, "My portion consists of herds of oxen, donkeys or sheep," except, perhaps, he counts himself among those herds which know their owner and wishes to consort with that donkey which does not shun the crib of Christ … [For this person] that sheep is his portion which was led to the slaughter and the "Lamb which was dumb before his shearer and did not open his mouth." In [Christ's] humiliation, judgment has been exalted.

  Letter 59.93

• Isaiah 1:3

  What is more evident than that it is said of the passion of the Lord: "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's crib." Let us, then, know the Lord's crib where we are nourished, fed and refreshed.

  Letter 36.6

• Isaiah 1:6

  Let your exhortations be full of meaning.… Speech is a bandage that ties up the wounds of souls, and if anyone rejects this, he shows his despair of his own salvation. Likewise, with those who are vexed by a serious sore, use the oil of speech that you may soften their hardness of heart; apply a poultice; put on a bandage of salutary advice, so that you may never allow those who are astray or who are wavering regarding the faith or the observance of discipline to perish through the loss of courage and a breakdown of activity.

  Letter 2.7

• Isaiah 1:6

  They had nothing to pour. If they had had any oil, they would have poured it on their own wounds. Isaiah cries, "They cannot apply ointment or oil or bandage." But the church has oil, with which it tends the wounds of its children, that the wound may not harden and spread deep. [The church] has oil which it has received secretly.

  LETTER 41 (EX 1).19-20

• Isaiah 1:11

  By saying that he does not delight in the sacrifices of the people, God is saying this: I abound in my own [sacrifice], I do not seek yours, I do not desire whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and of goats. And do not come so into my sight.

  Interrogation of Job and David 4.9.33

• Isaiah 1:18

  What shall I say of human judgments, since in the judgments of God the Jews are set forth as having offended the Lord in nothing more than violating what was due to widows and the rights of minors? This is proclaimed by the voices of the prophets as the cause that brought upon the Jews the penalty of rejection. This is mentioned as the only cause that will mitigate the wrath of God against their sin, if they honor the widow and execute true judgment for minors. Here also the likeness of the church is foreshadowed. You see, then, holy widows, that that office which is honored by the assistance of divine grace must not be degraded by impure desire.

  Concerning Widows 2:13

• Isaiah 1:18

  [One] who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the law and according to the gospel. According to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; according to the gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the gospel he manifested the glory of his resurrection, [one] then whose guilt is remitted is made whiter than snow.

  On the Mysteries 7:34

• Isaiah 1:19

  Scripture promised these good things to the faithful when it said, "You shall eat the good things of the land." That we may obtain the good things, let us be like that good, the good that is without iniquity and without deceit and without severity but is with grace and holiness and purity and benevolence and love and justice. Thus goodness, like a prolific mother, embraces all the virtues.

  FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 6:36

• Isaiah 3:9-10

  It is the tribes, then, that are meant by the names of the patriarchs. From the tribe of Simeon come the scribes, from that of Levi the chief priests, who brought their wickedness to completion and filled up the entire measure of their fathers' ungodliness in the passion of the Lord. They took counsel against the Lord Jesus, to kill him, even as Isaiah says, "Alas for their souls! Because they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying. 'Let us bind the just one, for he is profitless to us.' " They killed the prophets and apostles who announced the coming of the Lord of salvation and preached his glorious passion and resurrection. Thereafter, in their greed and out of their desire for earthly wickedness, they fled from sharing in the divine, from chastity of body and moderation of spirit, contempt for money and profit in grace.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 3.13

• Isaiah 5:1-2

  And through Isaiah the Lord himself spoke, saying: A vineyard has been made for my beloved in a fertile place. And I have enclosed it with a wall, and have dug around the vineyard of Sorech, and have built a tower in its midst. For it has surrounded her like a wall of celestial precepts, and the guardianship of angels. For the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him. He has placed her in the Church like a tower of the apostles and prophets and teachers, who are accustomed to defend the peace of the Church. He has dug around her, when he has relieved her of the burden of worldly anxieties. For nothing burdens the mind more than the solicitude and desire for wealth or power in this world.

  The Six Days of Creation, 3.50

• Isaiah 5:8

  Attend to yourself, poor one; for your soul is precious: and if mortal flesh, a temporary soul: and if you lack money, grace does not lack: and if there is no spacious house, widespread possession, heaven is open, the earth is free. The elements have been given to all in common, the ornaments of the world are open equally to the rich and the poor. Are not the faces of the heavens, adorned with shining stars, more beautiful than the most precious gold-leaf ceilings of luxurious houses? Are the riches of the rich wider than the expanses of the earth? Whence it was said to those who join house to house and villa to villa: Will you alone dwell upon the earth? You have a larger house: the poor, in which you cry out and are heard. ... The house of God is common to the rich and the poor.

  The Six Days of Creation, 6.52

• Isaiah 6:3

  Cherubim and seraphim with unwearied voices praise him and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts." They say it not once, lest you should believe that there is but one; not twice, lest you should exclude the Spirit; they say not holies [in the plural], lest you should imagine that there is plurality, but they repeat three times and say the same word, that even in a hymn you may understand the distinction of persons in the Trinity and the oneness of the Godhead, and while they say this they proclaim God.

  On the Holy Spirit 3.16.110

• Isaiah 6:7

  Tell me, then, whoever you are who deny the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit could not be liable to sin, who rather forgives sin. Does an angel forgive? Does an archangel? Certainly not, but the Father alone, the Son alone and the Holy Spirit alone [can forgive sins]. Now one is obviously able to avoid that which he has power to forgive.But perhaps someone will say that the seraph said to Isaiah, "Behold, this has touched your lips and shall take away your iniquities and purge away your sins." Shall take away, he says, and shall purge, not I will take away, but that fire from the altar of God, that is, the grace of the Spirit. For what else can we piously understand to be on the altar of God but the grace of the Spirit? Certainly not the wood of the forests or the soot and coals. Or what is so in accordance with piety as to understand according to the mystery that it was revealed by the mouth of Isaiah that everyone should be cleansed by the passion of Christ, who as a coal according to the flesh burnt up our sins, as you read in Zechariah: "Is not this a brand snatched from the fire? Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments."

  On the Holy Spirit 1.10.112

• Isaiah 9:2

  Therefore, he had the pledge of immortality: but being placed in the shadow of life, he could not see and grasp the hidden life with Christ in God by some common touch and sight. And if not yet a sinner, certainly not of an incorruptible and inviolable nature; for he who has fallen into sin is not yet a sinner. Indeed, he was in the shadow of life; but those who are sinners are in the shadow of death. For the people of sinners, as Isaiah teaches (Isaiah 9:2), sat in the shadow of death, until the light arose through the grace of God, not through their own merit. Therefore, there is no distinction between the breath of God and the food of the tree of life. No man can claim to possess more than what has been bestowed upon him by divine generosity.

  On Paradise 5.29

• Isaiah 9:6

  So we have in another place: "A child is born to us, and a son is given to us." In the term child there is an indication of age; in the term son a reference to the fullness of Godhead. He was made of his mother and born of the Father, but as the same person he was born and given. Do not think of two but of one. For the Son of God is one person, born of the Father and sprung from the virgin. The names differ in order but unite in one, just as the scriptural lesson just read teaches: "Man was made in her, and the Highest himself has founded her." He was man indeed in body, but the Highest in power. And while he is God and man through diversity of nature, he is the same person, not two persons, though being God and man. He has, therefore, something peculiar to his own nature and something in common with us, but in both cases he is one and in both he is perfect.

  On the Death of Satyrus 1.12

• Isaiah 9:6

  Christ, then, is the beginning of our virtue. He is the beginning of purity, who taught maidens not to look for the embraces of humanity but to yield the purity of their bodies and minds to the service of the Holy Spirit rather than to a husband. Christ is the beginning of frugality, for he became poor, though he was rich. Christ is the beginning of patience, for when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he was struck, he did not strike back. Christ is the beginning of humility, for he took the form of a servant, though in the majesty of his power he was equal with God the Father. From him each various virtue has taken its origin.For this cause, then, that we might learn these different virtues, "a son was given us, whose beginning was upon his shoulder." That "beginning" is the Lord's cross—the beginning of strong courage, wherewith a way has been opened for the holy martyrs to enter the sufferings of the holy war.

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.7.52-53

• Isaiah 9:6

  Therefore, in order to call the Gentiles to the grace of his resurrection (for it is indeed a rich and fertile land that produces eternal fruits, fruits a hundred and sixty times over), he subjected his shoulder to work, subjecting himself to the cross, in order to carry our sins. And so the Prophet says: His authority is on his shoulder (Isaiah 9:6), that is, the power of divinity over the bodily passion, or the cross surpassing the body. Therefore, he placed his shoulder on the plow, enduring all insults, subjected to labor in such a way that he was wounded because of our iniquities, and weakened because of our sins.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 6.31

• Isaiah 9:6

  And not only did the Father send the Son but also gave him, as the Son himself gave himself. For we read, "Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins." If they think that the Son was subjected to God because he was sent, they cannot deny that it was of grace that he was given. But he was given by the Father, as Isaiah said: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." But he was given by the Spirit and was sent by the Spirit. For since the prophet has not defined by whom he was given, he shows that he was given by the grace of the Trinity; and inasmuch as the Son himself gave himself, he could not be subject to himself according to his Godhead. Therefore that he was given could not be a sign of subjection in the Godhead.

  On the Holy Spirit 3.2.9

• Isaiah 10:17

  And Isaiah shows that the Holy Spirit is not only light but also fire, saying, "And the light of Israel shall be for a fire." So the prophets called him a burning fire, because in those three points we see more intensely the majesty of the Godhead; since to sanctify is of the Godhead, to illuminate is the property of fire and light, and the Godhead is customarily pointed out or seen in the appearance of fire: "For our God is a consuming fire," as Moses said.

  On the Holy Spirit 1.14

• Isaiah 10:21-22

  This is therefore what the patriarch Isaac said: You will serve your brother. But when you have removed and freed yourself from his yoke on your neck, he is signifying two future peoples, one the son of a handmaid, the other of a free woman (for the letter is a servant, but grace is free), and that people who adheres to the letter will be a servant as long as they follow the interpreter of spiritual doctrine. Then also what the Apostle said will come to pass: That the remnants may be saved according to the choice of grace. Serve your brother, therefore: but then you will feel the benefit of servitude when you begin to obey your brother willingly, rather than forcibly.

  On Jacob and the Blessed Life, 3.13

• Isaiah 11:1

  The root of Jesse the patriarch is the family of the Jews, Mary is the rod, Christ the flower of Mary, who, about to spread the good odor of faith throughout the whole world, budded forth from a virgin womb, as he himself said: "I am the flower of the plain, a lily of the valley."

  On the Holy Spirit 2.5

• Isaiah 11:1

  And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. The root is indeed the family of the Jews, the branch is Mary, the flower is Christ of Mary, who when he shines forth in our land and delights the field of the soul, or blossoms in his Church, we cannot fear the cold, nor dread the rain, but await the day of judgment.

  Second Apology for the Prophet David, 8.43

• Isaiah 11:1

  Moreover, he wonderfully expressed his incarnation, saying: From the shoot, my son, you have ascended; in that he sprouted as a plant of the earth in the womb of the Virgin, and as a flower of sweet fragrance, he ascended for the redemption of the whole world, emitted by the maternal womb with the splendor of new light, just as Isaiah says: A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The root of the family of the Jews is Mary, the branch is Mary, Christ is the flower of Mary. The rod, which is of royal lineage, rightly comes from the house and homeland of David, whose flower is Christ, who has abolished the stench of the worldly filth and has poured out the fragrance of eternal life.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, 4.19-20

• Isaiah 11:2-3

  So, then, the Holy Spirit is the river, and the abundant river, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. This is the great river that flows always and never fails. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said: "The stream of the river makes glad the city of God."60For neither is that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, watered by the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy Spirit, proceeding from the fount of life, by a short draught of whom we are satiated, seems to flow more abundantly among those celestial thrones, dominions and powers, angels and archangels, rushing in the full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit. For if a river rising above its banks overflows, how much more does the Spirit, rising above every creature, when he touches the low-lying fields of our minds, as it were, make glad that heavenly nature of the creatures with the larger fertility of his sanctification. And let it not trouble you that either here it is said "rivers" or elsewhere "seven Spirits," for by the sanctification of these seven gifts of the Spirit, as Isaiah said, is signified the fullness of all virtue; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the Spirit of the fear of God. One, then is the river, but many the channels of the gifts of the Spirit. This river, then, goes forth from the fount of life.

  On the Holy Spirit 1.16

• Isaiah 11:2-3

  And as the Son is the Angel of great counsel, so, too, is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Counsel, that you may know that the Counsel of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is One. Counsel, not concerning any doubtful matters, but concerning those foreknown and determined.

  On the Holy Spirit, Book 2.2.20

• Isaiah 11:2-3

  Therefore, the fear of the just is the tribunal of Christ's speech and the golden foundation of full prudence. But the good image, like the likeness of truth, is the word of the saints. And see how the fear of the saints is like a golden foundation. Read Isaiah: see how much fear he has subjected, in order to make it blameless and good fear: the spirit, he says, of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of holy fear. By how much fear did he subject, so that he might have something to follow? He is informed through wisdom, instructed through understanding, guided by counsel, strengthened by virtue, governed by knowledge, adorned by piety. Take away from fear of the Lord those things, and it is an irrational and foolish fear, one of those: "Outside are battles, inside are fears," by which even Paul would have been afflicted if he did not have the Lord as his comforter.

  Exposition on Psalm 118, 5.39

• Isaiah 11:7

  Such is the grace of the waters, that their calves and lions flee from them, so that this prophetic saying about the sanctity of the Church rightly applies to them: Then wolves and lambs will graze together, and lions and oxen will eat straw together. No wonder, since even in the Church, water works in the same way, that the washed-away wickedness of the thieves is compared with the innocence.

  The Six Days of Creation, 5.2.6

• Isaiah 11:8

  Listen to how the flesh of God becomes an antidote: The Word became flesh; He put His hand into the den of vipers, He expelled the venom, He removed sin; that is, He condemned sin in the flesh.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 37.4

• Isaiah 12:3

  Between this rich man and the poor man there is a great chasm; because after death, merits cannot be changed, and therefore the rich man is led into hell, desiring to draw something of the poor man's refreshing spirit; for water is the nourishment of the soul in its afflictions, of which Isaiah says: "And water will be drunk with delight from the fountains of salvation." But why is he tormented before judgment? Because punishment is to be deprived of luxuries for the one indulging in them. For the Lord says: "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven." And yet this late rich master begins to be; since he no longer has time for learning or teaching.

  Commentary on Luke, 8.18-19

• Isaiah 12:3

  But perhaps you will say: How can Christ be rich in poverty? Although my intelligence may fail me, divine assistance does not fail in the reading of the Scriptures, for the Apostle says: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes; that through his poverty you might be rich." So what is this poverty that makes us rich? Let us consider it, let us focus on the sacred Sacrament itself. What can be purer and simpler than that? No one is drenched with the blood of bulls, as the sacrifices of the Gentiles are said to be; no sinner is washed with the blood of goats and rams (for no one is purified in this way; flesh is washed, not guilt diluted), but with water, as Isaiah says, with joy from the springs of the Savior; and a heavenly table is prepared before you, and what a splendid intoxicating cup it is! These are the riches of simplicity, in which is the precious poverty of Christ. Poverty is good in character; hence the Lord said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." And in the Psalms we find that the Lord will save the humble in spirit. There is also abundant poverty in humble fellowship, if faith abounds. Hence the Apostle says: "And their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their simplicity."

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 40.4-5

• Isaiah 12:3

  Better is the foolishness that has eyes to see its own wounds than wisdom that does not have them. And therefore, with the gaze of his own foolishness, such a great king admits to being afflicted by miseries; so that he may find the remedy of repentance, which Judas, who possessed a field with the wages of iniquity, could not find. "I am afflicted and bowed down by miseries until the end; I go about in sorrow all day long." Until what end does he say he is bowed down? Is it the legitimate end of repentance? Or moreover, so that we may understand it mystically, until Christ, who is the end of the Law; who allowed himself to be scourged, allowed his body to be stoned to death? But those wounds emitted no smell of repentance, but rather the fragrance of all grace. Finally, death did not consume Him, as it does with other men; rather, the fountain of eternal life gushed forth, as Scripture teaches us, saying: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Therefore, water sprang forth from His wound, so that we might drink salvation. All sinners of the earth will drink, so that they may cast off their sins. Consider each detail. Christ was afflicted with miseries in order to make blessed those who were in misery. Let no one call him who is just miserable, for he himself said: "You will make no one miserable." He was bent down so that we could be raised up; he was sad so that we could be made joyful; as it is written: "For if I cause you sorrow, who then will make me glad, unless the one who is made sad by me." Therefore, whoever is made sad by the Lord Jesus Christ, he himself makes Christ glad; and he himself is made joyful by Christ. Therefore, we also recognize that we must not be satisfied with superficiality. Let us bend until the end, that is, not only having faith in Christ, but also enduring our sufferings, and let us rejoice in our sufferings, just as Christ rejoiced in his sufferings. He took them upon himself for his servants, so let us undergo them for the Lord. This, therefore, is the end. 'I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the Church, of which I have become a minister.' We see what we must undertake, who have taken up the priestly ministry; that we ought to endure courageously not only the afflictions of the body for ourselves, but also for the Church of the Lord.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 37.31-32

• Isaiah 13:8

  The day of the Lord comes suddenly, it says, and in an unexpected way like the pains of childbirth, which forestall all one's efforts to hide them.

  LETTER 32 (8:56.12)

• Isaiah 14:13-14

  For what proud enemy can there be against the servants of God, who exalts himself against God and says: I will ascend into heaven, I will place my seat above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, above the high mountains that are from the north: I will ascend above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High? Therefore, it is not surprising if he can burden men, who with obstinate spirit do not yield to God. How then will he preserve the measure of truth and faith in man, who promises himself to be equal to the Almighty Lord with blasphemous and shameless falsehood? How he falsely accuses individuals, who has amazed the whole earth, shaken kings, laid waste the entire world, and destroyed cities: he did not release those who were in captivity. Let us beware, therefore, lest he destroy the walls of our soul, lest he demolish the defenses of our mind, lest he set his throne above the stars. He sets it above the stars when he deceives the chosen, when he circumvents the just, whose works shine like stars in the sky.

  Exposition on Psalm 118, 16.15-16

• Isaiah 14:13-14

  When the Lord Jesus redeemed the human race through obedience and restored justice, the serpent introduced sin through disobedience; we can estimate the extent of this vice, of which the author is the devil, whom the Prophet introduces saying: I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. Therefore, since he is most wicked, he did not give honor to our Lord God; nevertheless, he educated worse disciples. For he exalted himself in such a way that he wanted to be equal and similar to the Most High: but his disciple, as signified by the Apostle, would be indignant to be considered equal and similar to God. For it is written: When the man of sin and son of perdition is revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god. Therefore, the teacher considers himself similar, this one superior. And so the Lord said to his disciples: You will do greater things; so that to those whom the serpent had taken away more than he himself had lost, Christ would give greater things than he had done on earth. For he wanted to deceive the prince of the world in himself, to triumph in the disciples.

  Exposition on Psalm 118, 3.34

• Isaiah 19:1

  Hear, for the flesh of the Lord was a shadow: Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and will come to Egypt. And David says: Protect me under the shadow of your wings. Therefore, he became a shadow emptied for us, whom the sun of iniquity had burned. We saw him in the shadow when faith first advanced. But now he illuminates the whole world: and yet we still see him through the shadow of his body, which is the Church, not yet face to face; for the eyes of the body are unable to receive the brightness of divinity. This shadow also protects the entire world every day. Therefore, the conclusion is beneficial; For God has concluded all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all.

  Exposition on Psalm 118, 19.6

• Isaiah 19:11

  And the Father says to him: Return to me, calling him from the earth to heaven, whom he had sent for our salvation. Therefore, raising up his only-begotten Son, he frustrated the plan of the slanderers. Hence, Isaiah also says: The futile plan of your spirit. And the one who had been accusing and directing arrows like a hunter, has disarmed everything: he has crushed the power of those who relied on their own strength and not on God.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, 11.49

• Isaiah 19:20

  He said, I do not have a man; that is, because through a man is death, and through a man is the resurrection of the dead. He could not descend, he could not be saved, who did not believe that our Lord Jesus had taken flesh from the Virgin. But this one who was waiting for the mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, expecting him of whom it was said: And the Lord will send a man to save them; he said: I do not have a man; and therefore he deserved to come to health, because he believed in the one who was coming.

  On the Sacraments, 2.2.7

• Isaiah 20:1-2

  Truly I grieve that while falsehood is so respected, there should be such negligence as regards the truth, that many are ashamed of seeming too devoted to our holy religion, not considering his words who says, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me before men, of him will I also be ashamed before my Father which is in heaven." But Moses was not thus ashamed, for though invited into the royal palace he "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." David was not thus ashamed when he danced before the ark of the testimony in the sight of all the people. Isaiah was not thus ashamed when he walked naked and barefoot through the people, proclaiming the heavenly oracles.…But the things that viewed corporeally are unseemly, when viewed in regard to holy religion become venerable, so that they who blame such things will involve their own souls in the net of blame. Thus Michal reproves David for his dancing and says to him, "How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of his handmaids!" And David answered her, "It was before the Lord, who chose me before your father and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel."

  Letter 58.4-6

• Isaiah 20:1-2

  Someone perhaps will say, "Was it not disgraceful for a man to walk naked among the people since he must meet both men and women? Must not his appearance have shocked the gaze of all, but especially that of women? Do we not ourselves generally abhor the sight of naked men? And are not men's private parts covered with clothing that they may not offend the gaze of onlookers by their unsightliness?" I agree, but you must consider what this act represented and what was the reason for this outward show; it was that the young Jewish youths and maidens would be led away into exile and walk naked, "as my servant Isaiah walked," he says, "naked and barefoot." This might have been expressed in words, but God chose to enforce it by an example that the very sight might strike more terror, and what they shrank from in the body of the prophet they might utterly dread for themselves. Wherein lay the greater abhorrence: in the body of the prophet or in the sins of the disbelievers?

  Letter 58.10-11

• Isaiah 20:1-2

  That it may be more fully clear that prophets look not to themselves or what lies at their feet but to heavenly things, Stephen, when he was being stoned, saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Then he did not feel the blows of the stones, he did not heed the wounds of his body, but, fastening his eyes on Christ, he clung to him. So, too, Isaiah did not notice his nakedness but made himself the instrument of God's voice, that he might proclaim what God spoke within him.

  Letter 58.13

• Isaiah 23:4

  Therefore, after being so often ploughed by returning merchants, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, has said the sea." This is the voice of the fatigued element, as it were, saying, "Be ashamed, Sidon"; that is: Merchant, you accuse my waves although you yourself are more restless than they. Blush indeed for shame since you are not disturbed by peril. More modest are the winds than your desires. They have their rests; never do your cravings for gain take holiday. Even when the weather is quiet, never are your ships quiet. The water is churned under the oar when it is at rest from the blast. "I have not been in labor," it says, "nor have I reared, nor have I nourished up young men." Why do they disquiet me whom I do not know, whom I do not acknowledge?

  On Elijah and Fasting 19.71

• Isaiah 23:4

  If all our acts and deeds depend on the fates acquired at our birth and not on principles of morality, why are laws established and statutes promulgated by which punishment is meted out to the wicked and security bestowed on the innocent?… Why does the farmer toil and not rather wait until it is time to convey into his storehouses the produce for which he has not labored, relying on the prerogatives of his birth? If he was destined by birth to be endowed with wealth without the expenditure of labor, he should undoubtedly wait until the earth brings forth fruit spontaneously without seed. If such were the case, he should not sink his ploughshare into the earth or put his hands on the curved scythe or undergo the expense of harvesting the grapes. Rather, the wine would without effort flow plenteously into his stock of jars. Without effort, too, he would let the wild olive berry exude its oil without the labor of grafting upon the trunk of the olive tree. In the same way a merchant who travels over the wide seas would not be in dread of the perils that threaten his own life, for it is within his power, because of a certain destiny allotted to him at birth, to come without labor into a wealth of treasure.But this is far from the accepted opinion. As a matter of fact, the farmer cleaves the earth "with deep-driven plough"; "stripped he ploughs, stripped he sows"; stripped in the glowing "heat he thrashes on the floor the parched ears." The merchant, impatient when the east winds are blowing, ploughs the sea often when the course is unsafe. Insolent and rash men such as these are condemned by the prophet, who says, "Be ashamed, O Sidon, the sea speaks." That is to say, if dangers do not move you, then shame can check and modesty confound you. "Be ashamed, O Sidon," in which there is no place for virtue, no care for safety, no young men exercised in arms and ready to fight in defense of their country. They are anxiously and entirely preoccupied with gain and the benefits derived from commerce.

  The Six Days of Creation 4.4.19

• Isaiah 23:14

  "Howl," he says—he repeats it—"O you ships of Carthage, for your strength is laid waste. And it shall come to pass in that day, Tyre shall be abandoned;" and below, "but after seventy years, Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot." Behold what words the prophet employs, and how he does not avoid the baseness of words of this kind. We ourselves sometimes avoid them, not because our tongue is more chaste than theirs, but our authority inferior. For very great is the force of words in the vivid exposition of such things, so that they who do not blush at their sins blush at least at the names of their sins. "Tyre shall be," he says, "as the song of a harlot." Beware, lest, when someone sees those dances being performed, and unseemly words being sung, he says, "Behold, Tyre has become the song of a harlot."

  On Elijah and Fasting 20.73-74

• Isaiah 25:8

  Stricken by the indecency of this act [the golden calf], Moses broke the tablets and shattered the head of the calf and beat it to powder in order to destroy all traces of impiety. The first tablets were broken so that the second ones might be repaired whereon, through the teaching of the gospel, faithlessness, now utterly destroyed, vanished. Thus Moses shattered that Egyptian pride and by the authority of the eternal law checked that loftiness overreaching itself. Therefore David says, "And the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon, and shatter them like the calf of Lebanon. Thus the people swallowed all faithlessness and pride, so that impiety and haughtiness might not swallow them. For it is better that each person be master of his flesh and its vices, that it may not be said of him that all-powerful death has devoured him, but rather, "death is swallowed up in victory!"

  Letter 74.5

• Isaiah 25:8

  In the Old Testament the jaw of death is bitter, since it is said, "Strong death is all devouring." In the New Testament the jaw of death is sweet, for it has swallowed death, as the apostle says: "Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

  Letter 44.9

• Isaiah 26:18

  Their cows did not miscarry, therefore, but gave birth, so that their labor would be increased and that they would beget everything they conceived without reverence for God. The righteous, however, take delight in an altogether different way. They glory not in the abundance of their wealth or the fruitfulness of their livestock but in the Lord, saying, "We were impregnated with reverence for you, and we brought forth the spirit of salvation."

  Interrogation of Job and David 2.4.15

• Isaiah 26:18

  Nature provides woman with a womb in which a living person is brought to birth in the course of time. Such too is that characteristic of the soul which is ready to receive in its womblike recesses the seeds of our thoughts, to cherish them and to bring them forth as a woman gives birth to a child. This and no other is the meaning of the words of Isaiah: "We have conceived and brought forth the spirit of salvation."

  On Cain and Abel 1.10.47

• Isaiah 26:18

  Isaiah also, proclaiming the resurrection to the people, says that he is the announcer of the Lord's message, for we read thus: "For the mouth of the Lord has spoken, and they shall speak in that day." And what the mouth of the Lord declared that the people should say is set forth later on, where it is written: "Because of your fear, O Lord, we have been with child and have brought forth the Spirit of your salvation, which you have poured forth upon the earth. They that inhabit the earth shall fall; they shall rise that are in the graves. For the dew which is from you is health for them, but the land of the wicked shall perish. Go, O my people, and enter into your chambers; hide yourselves for a little until the Lord's wrath pass by."

  On the Death of Satyrus 2.67

• Isaiah 27:3

  Therefore let us flee these evils and elevate our soul to the image and likeness of God. The flight from evils is the likeness of God, and the image of God is gained through the virtues. And so, like a painter, he has painted us with the colors of the virtues. "See, I have painted your walls, Jerusalem." Let us not wipe away with the brush of neglect the props of the painted walls of our soul. And so "I have painted the walls," with which we can turn away the enemy. The soul has its walls; from them it stands forth and concerning them it says, "I am a strong city, a city besieged." By these walls it is guarded, and by them it is protected under siege. And truly the soul is a wall, which stretches forth over the camp. And therefore the bride says in the Song of Solomon, "I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers." The wall that the Lord painted is good, even as he says: "On my hands I have painted your walls, and you are always in my sight."

  On the Death of Satyrus 2.17-18

• Isaiah 27:3

  It is the soul, too, that says, "I am a strong city, a city besieged." The city is besieged through Christ, the city is that heavenly Jerusalem, in which there are interpreters of God's law and men skilled in doctrine in great abundance; through them one seeks the Word of God.

  On Isaac and the Soul 5.39

• Isaiah 27:3

  You have in Isaiah the speech made by the soul of a just man or of the church: "I am a strong city, I am a city besieged," defended by Christ and besieged by the devil. But one whom Christ aids ought not to be fearful of a siege. [Such a person] is defended by spiritual grace and is besieged by the perils of this world. Hence also it is said in the Song of Songs, "I am a wall, and my breasts are as a tower." The wall is the church, and the towers are her priests, who have full power to teach the natural and the moral sciences.

  The Six Days of Creation 6.8.49

• Isaiah 28:16

  The foundation of justice therefore is faith, for the hearts of the just dwell on faith. And the just man that accuses himself builds justice on faith, for his justice becomes plain when he confesses the truth. So the Lord says through Isaiah: "Behold, I lay a stone for a foundation in Zion." This means Christ as the foundation of the church. For Christ is the object of faith to all; but the church is as it were the outward form of justice; it is the common right of all.

  On the Duties of the Clergy 1.29

• Isaiah 29:8

  Let us speak of him who thought he was happy since he was chief butler and believed that this was the summit and crown of all power, that he would give the cup to the king. This was his glory, this was his grandeur in this world; when he was deprived of this he felt sorrow, and when he was restored to it he rejoiced. But this is a dream, and all worldly power is a dream, not a reality. To be sure, he saw by way of a dream that his preeminent position was restored to him. Isaiah also says that people of this kind are such as take delight in prosperity in this world. One who eats and drinks in his sleep thinks he is filled with food and drink, but when he awakens, he begins to be more hungry; then he understands how insubstantial were that dreamer's food and drink. Just so, one who is asleep in this world and does not open his eyes to the mysteries of God, as long as he is in a deep corporeal sleep, supposes that such worldly power is of some importance, seeing it, as it were, in his dreams. But when he has awakened, he discovers how insubstantial the pleasure of this world is.

  On Joseph the Patriarch 6.38

• Isaiah 29:13

  Again the form of righteousness is described and magnified when Scripture says, "The law of his God is in his heart, and his stride will not be broken." The law of God is in the heart of the righteous. Which law? It is not the written law but the natural law, because "the law was not laid down for the righteous but for the unrighteous." The law is in his heart, not superficially, as it is on the lips of the Jews, for "he who believes with his heart is justified." The one who believes also speaks, but the one who speaks does not necessarily believe. For instance, the people did not believe about whom it is written: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms 36.69

• Isaiah 31:1

  Let our course take us to regions above, because it is better to ascend. Finally, as was read today, "Woe to them that go down to Egypt." Surely it is not wrong to go to Egypt, but to change to the ways of the Egyptians, to change to the violence of their treachery and to the ugliness of their wantonness—this is wrong. He that changes in this way descends, and one who descends falls. Let us keep away, then, from the Egyptian who is a man, but [let us] not [keep away] from God. Even the king of Egypt himself fell under the dominion of his own vices and in comparison with him Moses was accounted a god, ruling over kingdoms and subjecting powers to himself. So we read that it was said to Moses: "I shall make you a god to Pharaoh."

  Letter 28.8

• Isaiah 32:20

  Accordingly, like a perfect man learned in the law and made firm in the gospel, accept the faith of both Testaments, for, as we read today, "Blessed is he who sows upon every water, where the ox and the donkey tread," that is, who sows upon the people who follow the teaching of both Testaments. This is the ploughman's ox, wearing the yoke of the law, of which the law says, "You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out your corn," for this ox has the horns of holy Scripture. But in the Gospel the Lord, representing the people of the Gentiles, mounts the colt of a donkey.

  Letter 63.88

• Isaiah 35:3

  Therefore the traders came from Gilead, that is, from their possessions of or dwelling in the law, and brought their wares to the church, so that that balm might heal the sins of the nations. Of them it is said, "Be strong, you hands that are feeble and you knees that are without strength." The balm is unspoiled faith. Such a faith Peter exhibited when he said to the lame man, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk." And he arose and walked, as was right. Such a faith Peter had when he said to the paralytic, "Aeneas, the Lord Jesus heals you; get up and make your bed." And he got up and made his bed. Such a faith he had when he said to the dead woman, "Arise in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." And the departed woman arose. With the mortar made from this cement those stones are fastened together from which God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

  On Joseph the Patriarch 3.17

• Isaiah 35:3

  Then let us flee the wickedness of this world, in which "the very days are evil," and flee it relentlessly. On that account Isaiah cries out, "Be strong, you hands which are feeble and you knees which are without strength." This means: Be strong, you knees, not of the body but of the soul, so that the footstep of the spirit can rise up straightway to the heights of heaven. Thus conduct will be more stable, life more mature, grace more abundant and discretion more guarded.

  Flight from the World 7.37

• Isaiah 35:10

  [God] is the same one who said to Jeremiah, "Behold, I place my words in your mouth as a fire." David, therefore, also received this tongue of fire, so that he could speak of divine knowledge while enkindled with zeal: "Make known to me my end, O Lord." He was not here asking about his own death or about the final resurrection. He was inquiring into that end of which the apostle spoke: "For the end will come when the Lord Jesus hands over the kingdom to God the Father and when he destroys every principality and power and when death is the last of all things to be destroyed," such that evil is defeated and eternal goodness is ignited. Therefore it was said, "Pain and wailing will flee."

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms 38.16

• Isaiah 40:2

  There is also another type of consolation for those who have paid heavy penalties, as it is written in the book of Isaiah: 'Comfort, comfort my people,' says the Lord. 'Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' Even if faith was lacking, punishment was satisfied. The penalties are mitigated for those who are acquitted by commendation of their merits.

  Exposition On Psalm 118, Sermon 18