Ephrem the Syrian

In his own words on Isaiah

• Isaiah 5:1-2

  Let the vine give thanks to our Lord, the true vineyard.

  HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 18:21-22

• Isaiah 9:6

  Today was born the child, and his name was called Wonderful! For a wonder it is that God should reveal himself as a baby.

  HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 1

• Isaiah 9:18

  Mary said to him, "How can this be, since no man has known me?" He said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Why did he not mention the Father's name but instead the name of his Power and the name of the Holy Spirit? Because it was fitting that the Architect of the works [of creation] should come and raise up the house that had fallen and that the hovering Spirit should sanctify the buildings that were unclean. Thus, if the Progenitor entrusted the judgment that is to come to his [Son], it is clear that he accomplished the creation of humanity and its restoration through him as well. He was the live coal that had come to kindle the briars and thorns. He dwelt in the womb and cleansed it and sanctified the place of the birth pangs and the curses.

  COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 25

• Isaiah 10:34

  [God spoke] of the branches (thickets), not the root. When the measure of the people's sins was complete, John came and took up the roots of their trees. "For the ax is laid to the roots of the trees," [the roots] which Isaiah had left [untouched]. When will this be, if not at the rising forth of the true One, who was designated by the [image of] the staff and the shoot, and upon whom rests the Spirit, who is referred to as being sevenfold.

  COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 3:15

• Isaiah 11:1

  He is the son of Mary, however, and not the son of Joseph. He did not appear in the body from any other lineage, except from David.

  COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 26

• Isaiah 11:1

  By the fruit of the root he will graft us onto his tree.

  HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 3:17

• Isaiah 39:1-2

  You juxtaposed [events] so that you might not grieve us and that you might save them. Those who had seized our silver brought gold. Those who had wounded our bodies brought myrrh. Those who had burned our sanctuary offered frankincense to your divinity.The myrrh [of the Magi] intercedes for their swords with which they killed us. Their gold intercedes for our treasures, for they plundered the treasuries of the house of Hezekiah. Their frankincense appeases your divinity, for they had angered your Father.… The Babylonians, too, came up [and] afflicted the children in Judah. By you the children have found peace, for by you the vicious have become worshipers. Those who despised old men honor a Child who is older than all. Babylon, too, sent offerings to Hezekiah; the envoys who saw his treasures were amazed. What did you show to the Magi? You showed a wonder, for they rendered you homage although you were poor. However great was the ivory palace of the kings of our people, greater and more beautiful is the little cave in which I bore you.

  HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 19:3-4, 10-12

• Isaiah 40:1

  Hezekiah offered prayers to God because he had been told that death was imminent, but he failed to pray that evil should be averted from his descendants. Hence Isaiah says, "Comfort, comfort my people, you priests."

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 40:1

• Isaiah 40:4

  It is said that the valleys are filled, because the Lord has entered the world, and has redeemed all the peoples from the bondage of the devil, and brought them back to the faith and adoration of their Creator and has taught them to hope in eternal salvation. This is also said, because he has filled the deep valleys and the horrible and inhospitable caves with ascetics, who, after abandoning the cares of this world, exclusively devote themselves to honor and praise God.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 40:4

• Isaiah 40:12

  Let the great sea praise the hands of the Son that measured it, and was astonished.… Blessed be his noble act!

  HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 13:15

• Isaiah 41:14

  Therefore, you will subdue kings and kingdoms with your frailty and will overturn their schemes and proud designs. So [Isaiah] calls the Jews, about whom he is speaking here, "worm," in order that they may understand that they cannot rely on their strength; nonetheless, their weakness will not hinder them, since worms are able to consume hard wood, so that, in the future, they will destroy the pride and power of very strong kingdoms.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 41:14

• Isaiah 41:14

  The Spirit described his generation as a worm that was without meaning. The type that the Holy Spirit shaped attains its meaning.

  HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 1:10

• Isaiah 42:10

  Here [Isaiah] speaks again about the Gentiles and invites them to sing a new song to the Lord. Indeed, if the Jews, redeemed from captivity after seventy years, had to sing a new hymn to the Lord, their liberator, why should not the Gentiles do the same? And should they not burst out into a new song with much more good reason, since they have been delivered from a bondage of many centuries?"His praise from the end of the earth," that is, it happens in a wonderful way that the salvation given by Christ to humankind is celebrated by the remotest nations with hymns and songs. "The coastland and their inhabitants": those nations who submit to the waves of the sea with their ships will praise the Lord. Those who have considered the sea as a divinity and sacrifice to it will recognize, after being enlightened by faith, their true God, and they will consider and preach him as the Lord of the sea.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 42:10

• Isaiah 43:28

  "Your princes profaned the sanctuary." Those who were from the house of Manasseh profaned the sanctuary with the four-faced idol, which they placed inside the sanctuary. Because of those crimes, and in particular because of Manasseh's crime, "I have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reviling."

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 43:28

• Isaiah 44:27

  "I will dry up your rivers," that is, he will extend his hand over the Euphrates. In a different way, we may intend that the Lord will destroy the devil and his frauds, into which he plunges people as into a sea. And the rivers, which he dries up, are the armies of his iniquity.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 44:27

• Isaiah 45:8

  "Rejoice, O heavens, from above," that is, rejoice over the salvation of the nations. The angels are delighted at the repentance of a single sinner. "And the clouds will rain down righteousness." The clouds, which rain down righteousness, are the apostles and the priests who justify through the absolution, which they give by means of baptism. "Let the earth open, that salvation may be multiplied." Justice, symbolized through the earth, is poured on the mind of the nations, and salvation shall multiply in every region. "And let it cause righteousness to spring up also." In the salvation of the nations also their justice is multiplied, and salvation and justice spring up and grow at the same time.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 45:8

• Isaiah 46:11

  "I call a bird of prey from the east." [Isaiah] either calls the Medes a "bird," who will destroy the Babylonians, or the Israelites, who, in the course of their return, destroyed the Arameans, the Greeks and the house of Gog.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 46:11

• Isaiah 47:9

  "Two plagues shall come to you in one day," because you were deceived by the art of the Chaldeans and ignored your doom. "The loss of children and widowhood shall come on you," that is, sterility. The loss of children indicates the destruction of the city; the widowhood, the privation of the kingdom.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 47:9

• Isaiah 48:16

  "From the time this plague came to be" in all my people, "I have been there." In order that the words he had spoken may not be despised by the sorcerers, the text shows that they do not belong to the prophet as such, but to the Lord and his Spirit, who sent the prophet to preach to them. Indeed, the prophet clearly said as if from the person of the Lord, "I am in all my people, and my right hand extends to the heavens."

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 48:16

• Isaiah 49:24

  "Can the prey be taken from the giant?" These words refer to Christ, who took the imprisoned nations away from the demon, a mighty giant. Therefore the prey shall be snatched away from the mighty demon.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 49:24

• Isaiah 50:4

  "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the doctrine." These words refer to Christ as well, who preached his new doctrine to all the peoples. And therefore all the peoples listened to it and were converted.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 50:4

• Isaiah 51:4

  "Listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go forth from me." And how could it go forth now, if it were the same law that went forth in the days of Moses? But it is evident that here he mystically signifies the spiritual law, which is the New Testament. "And my justice is a light to the peoples," that is, my sacrament. He also means that the conscience of the Gentiles, which is now clouded by idolatry, will be enlightened after all their gods are condemned by the divine sentence.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 51:4

• Isaiah 52:13

  "Behold, my servant shall be wise," that is, shall be illustrious; these words certainly concern our Lord. Indeed, he was called a servant by his Father, because, in the first place, he was sent by his Father in order to fulfill his will in procuring salvation for all humankind, and in the second place, because he assumed the aspect of a servant. "He shall be exalted and lifted up, and he shall be very high" through his virtues and miracles.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 52:13

• Isaiah 53:12

  "Therefore I will divide him a portion among the many," among the many who will eat his body and will drink his blood. "And he shall divide the spoil with the strong" … he calls "the strong" the holy apostles, among whom he divided the nations to be ruled, which he had taken away the power of the devil.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 53:12

• Isaiah 54:16

  "Behold, I have created the blacksmith, who made the vases in his work," that is, I elected the apostles and the disciples of the apostles, who perfectly instruct the peoples through the doctrine of truth. "I have also created the destroyer." I did not prevent the liars and the persecutors from rising against the church at the time of the apostles.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 54:16

• Isaiah 55:13

  "Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle." The spiritual meaning of these words refers to the change of customs, which sprouted and rose up in the advent of Christ among those nations who embraced his faith. Instead of thorns, which represent the sins, and instead of the brier, which is devoid of fruits, the sweet-smelling cypress and the myrtle have risen, which are figures of the actions of virtue, purity and holiness and … are pleasing to God and delight him.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 55:13

• Isaiah 56:6-7

  "And the sons of the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, … these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer." These words refer to the church of the Gentiles, as the Lord himself explained to the Jews, and it is written in the Gospel, "My house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations."

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 56:7

• Isaiah 57:14

  "And it shall be said, 'Remove every obstruction from my people's way.' " Probably he said these words with regard to the Jewish Zealots, who killed their fellow citizens, because they had lapsed into idolatry and had been an obstacle for their fellows in the days of the Greeks.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 57:14

• Isaiah 58:3

  "Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself?" Do not fast as if with the aim to fulfill your evil intentions, as if you had made a certain vow in order to obtain one thing or another and so that misfortunes might befall your enemies. Through this kind of fasting and prayers, he says, you seek to delight your will and not mine, and, since you despise me, you say on high, "Why have we fasted, and you do not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you do not notice?"

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 58:4-5

• Isaiah 59:10

  At times even we, when we were in error, mired in the pride of our mind as if our feet were stuck in the mud, did not perceive our error of the divine gospel each day. We would "grope around in the dark like blind people," because our inner mind did not possess that which is necessary for discernment. Then, as if from a deep sleep, the mercy of the Most High poured out like pure rain, was sprinkled on our drowsiness, and from our sleep we were roused and boldly took up this mirror to see our self in it. At that very moment we were convicted by our faults, and we discovered that we were barren of any good virtue and that we had become a dwelling place for every corrupting thought and a lodge and abode for every lust.

  LETTER TO PUBLIUS 11

• Isaiah 59:12

  For just as the deeds of the wicked are their accusers before the righteous Judge, making them bend and bow down their heads silently in shame, so also their beautiful deeds plead cause for the good before the good One. For the deeds of all humankind are both silent and speak silently by their nature, yet they speak when one sees them.In that place there is no interrogation, for [God] is the judge of knowledge; nor is there any response, for when he sees it, he hears. He hears with sight, and he sees with hearing.

  LETTER TO PUBLIUS 9:1-2

• Isaiah 59:20

  "And he will come to Zion as Redeemer," that is, Zerubbabel. Therefore the spiritual Zion and the hill of visions and revelations is the church. The Redeemer, who comes to it, is Christ, that great Zerubbabel. "This is my covenant with you," which I made with your ancestors on the mountain, so that my words might never be lacking from the mouths of your descendants.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 59:20-21

• Isaiah 60:4

  "Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice." He says these words with regard to the righteous ones of the synagogue, who gather from every land and come to it; however, in a figurative sense, these words signify the children of the holy church, the dispersed peoples, I mean, who were quite far away and distant from God. The gospel of Christ, preached to them by the holy apostles, gathered them, so that the apostles carried them as if in their arms and introduced them into the sheepfold of the church, their mother.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 60:4-5

• Isaiah 61:1

  "The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted," that is, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, after being incarnated and clothed with a human body, as is said, he has received the Spirit and has been anointed with the Spirit, because he has received the Spirit for us and has anointed us with it."The Spirit of the Lord is on me." That Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and is his essence, is in me, who am the Word and the Son of the Father, and through my incarnation I received the anointment of the economy of salvation.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 61:1

• Isaiah 62:5

  "For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you." He calls sons the apostles, the priests and the righteous ones of the church, who constitute the head of the body of the church, as the husband is the head of a woman. These are like husbands to the church through its doctrine and constantly generate spiritual sons to it.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 62:5

• Isaiah 63:14

  "Like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you did lead your people." Through all these words that the prophet speaks about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, he leads the mind back to the wonders that God performed by means of his servant Moses, whom he called the shepherd of his flock, and through whose right hand, which moved the staff, he divided the sea. The staff, therefore, prefigured the cross of Christ, who is the hidden arm of the glory of the Father.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 63:14

• Isaiah 64:7

  "There is no one who calls on your name." Since they worshiped the idols, they did not remember your name. "There is no one who bestirs himself to take hold of you." They certainly put all their faith in the idols.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 64:7

• Isaiah 65:17

  "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth." These words point to the church, referring to the heavenly and spiritual gifts that have been granted to it. Indeed, if the Lord took care of the Israelites for the earthly things promised to them, how much more will he provide for the church, thanks to the joy that peoples have experienced in their conversion to it. Therefore, he also calls new heavens and new earth the new and spiritual life granted to the church by the advent of Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 65:17

• Isaiah 66:19

  "And from them I will send" the sign "to Tarshish, Tubal and Javan," and to all the other cities, which came to help the house of Gog in its fight against Zerubbabel, that is, against Christ, who was symbolized by Zerubbabel, the king of the people in its return from captivity to the land of the inheritance of the Lord. Therefore the revolt of the nations against Zerubbabel prefigured what the prophet foretold about Christ by saying, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed."

  COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 66:19