Jerome

In his own words on Hosea

• Hosea 1:1

  "The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri." LXX similarly. The word of the Lord, which was in the beginning with God the Father, and the Word was God, came to Hosea the son of Beeri, so that he too might make God known as a prophet, with the Savior saying: "If those to whom the word of God came are called gods, and the Scripture cannot be broken: 'Whom the Father has sanctified' and sent into the world, you say I blaspheme because I said, 'I am the Son of God' " (John 10:35-36). Just as God makes gods and stands in the assembly of gods, yet judges among the gods (Psalm 81); and since he himself is the true light that illuminates every person coming into this world (John 1), he speaks to the apostles: "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14), so too the Savior himself makes his prophet a savior. "Hosea," in our language, means "savior": a name that was also given to Joshua, the son of Nun (Numbers 14), before God changed his name. For he is not called "Ause," as is read wrongly in Greek and Latin texts, as it is completely incomprehensible; but "Hosea," that is, "savior," to which is added the Lord's name, so that "savior of the Lord" might be said. Therefore, this savior is the son of "Beeri," which means "my well," which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had dug, and the foreigners had always tried to fill with rubbish. (Gen. 16, 21, 26, 46). Between a well and a lake, that is, a cistern, the difference is that a well has constantly flowing water, and it springs from a living source. The cistern, which cools, possesses its external and adventitious waters. From this, God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah: "They have deserted me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, which cannot contain water" (Jeremiah II, 13). Concerning this fountain, the psalmist proclaims to God: "With you is the fountain of life, and in your light, we will see light" (Psalm XXXV, 10). From this, some think that "Beeri" means "my light"; but the correct translation is superior. "In the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, Ezechias, kings of Judah; and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas, king of Israel." The Septuagint in the same way. Azarias, who is also called Uzziah, from the offspring of David, reigned over the two tribes which were called Judah in Jerusalem for fifty-two years, then his son Joatham succeeded him in the kingdom, who also reigned for sixteen years. After him, his son Achaz reigned for similarly sixteen years. After Achaz, his son Ezechias reigned for twenty-nine years, in whose sixth year the sixteen tribes which were called Israel were captured by Salmanasar, the king of the Chaldeans, and placed in the mountains of the Medes. Since it is clear, with Hosea, Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah and Micah prophesying, who were his contemporaries, that the kingdom of the ten tribes was limited, which from the first king Jeroboam to the last Hosea remained for two hundred and fifty years. But at that time, when Uzziah began to reign over Judah, Jeroboam, the great-grandson of Jehu, was reigning over Israel, to whom the Lord had promised that his offspring would reign up to the fourth generation, because he had struck down two wicked kings of Judah and Israel. We say this so that we may briefly show it to you, Hosea the prophet, both before the captivity of Israel and after its captivity, and that he foresaw the future and announced the coming of the light and rewove the past for the improvement of Judah; which we will try to approve in the very prophet according to history. Uzziah means "the strength of the Lord"; Jotham, "the completion and perfection of the Lord"; Ahaz, "virtue"; Hezekiah, "the Lord's empire." They ruled in the "Juda" people, whose name means "confession." Furthermore, in Israel, Jeroboam, who had made idols for himself and had been separated from God's people, reigned. Jeroboam means "chronology," that is, "temporality" or "delay." He loved the world and thought that by dwelling in it for a long time, he would have a life, delighted not in the future but the present, that was never going to be eternal.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:1

• Hosea 1:2-3

  We should not blame the prophet if he converted a prostitute to virtue, but we should rather praise him because he turned a bad woman into a good one.… Hence we understand that it was not the prophet who lost virtue by joining with a prostitute, but rather the latter gained virtue that she never had before.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA

• Hosea 1:2

  The beginning of the speech of the Lord (in Greek "Domini" and in the Vulgate "Domino") is in Hosea. LXX: "The beginning of the word of the Lord to Hosea." As we said above, they are preferred to other prophets in the title, Ozias, Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias, to whom they prophesied while ruling. Therefore, he now says that among all these, the Lord spoke first in Hosea, and later to the others. But to speak of the Lord in Hosea is one thing, and to speak to Hosea is another. In Hosea, Hosea himself does not speak, but through Hosea to others; but speaking to Hosea, it is meant to bring the discourse to him. Others do not want Hosea to have been the first of all the prophets, from the fact that it is said: "The beginning of the Lord's speaking in Hosea." But it is shown that these which follow, the Lord first spoke to Hosea. "And the Lord said to Hosea: Go, take to thee a wife of fornications." LXX: "And the Lord said to Hosea: Go, take to thee a wife of fornication." The Hebrew word Zanunim does not mean "a harlot" or "fornication", as many believe, but rather means "many fornications". From which it is shown that the woman whom the prophet takes as wife has not committed fornication once, but many times, so that the more sordid she is, the more patient the prophet will be who has taken such a wife. And what is added is: "And ((Vulg. "And make for yourself")) children of fornication: for the land which fornicated shall fornicate with the Lord." LXX: "And the children of fornication: for the land which fornicated shall fornicate with the Lord after." By common consent is understood: Take a wife of fornications for yourself, and take children of fornications for yourself. Both can be understood, that the former harlots receive as their sons those begotten of fornication, and he himself begets sons from a harlot, who are called sons of fornication, because they were begotten of a harlot. The prophet is not to be blamed, as we can see from the narrative, if he converts a harlot to chastity, but rather is to be praised for making good out of evil. For he who is good does not himself become defiled by joining with evil, but he who is evil is transformed into good if he follows the example of the good. From this we understand that the prophet did not lose his chastity by having sexual relations with a whore, but it was rather the harlot who gained chastity she did not have before. Especially since the blessed Hosea did not do this for the sake of lust or pleasure or by his own choice, but rather obeyed God's command, so that we may approve what we read in a carnal sense as having been done spiritually in God. He who received the Synagogue, that is, the people of the Jews serving fornication and lust. To which the Lord speaks through Ezekiel: 'And you, harlot, hear the word of the Lord: For her breasts were broken in Egypt' (Ezech. XXIII, 3); and she dallied in blood, and had been defiled even to the crown, so that there was no part of her body and limbs that did not have a stain of deformity. The Lord covered such a one with a mantle, and joined her to His embrace, giving her honey and oil and meal to eat, and clothed her in the most precious garments, put jewel ornaments on her neck, adorned her ears with gold and precious stones, also provided bracelets for her arms to use in good works. Nevertheless, despite the contempt for the generosity and kindness of the man, who forgot his previous wickedness, the lovers of Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Egyptians, who are of great flesh, followed him. We have spoken in the preface about the type of the Savior and the Church, that he took for himself a fornicating wife who had previously served idols. But if anyone, especially among the contentious gentiles, refuses to receive the figurative saying and mocks the prophet joined to a fornicator, let us oppose him with what Greece often praises and the schools of the philosophers sing. By what reasoning do they praise the highly educated man Xenocrates, who made the most luxurious young Polemon obey wisdom among female musicians and flute players and shameless women, and transformed the most disgraceful young man into the wisest of philosophers? Why should they raise Socrates to heaven, who led Phaedo, from whom Plato's book is named, from the brothel, serving the lust of many because of the cruelty and greed of his master, to the Academy? And whatever they may have replied concerning the teachers of philosophy, we refer to the defense of the Prophet. We have said these things against the pagans and those like them. However, let us briefly explain to our own, who still wish to accept the truth, from the fact that it is said: 'Because the land sinned, it will be fornicating with the Lord,' that not so much the prophet was joined to a harlot as the whole race of men turned away from the society of the Lord. It is also possible from that which is unadded, "all the earth," to now accept Judaea, or properly Samaria and Israel, that is, the ten tribes, which at the time when these things were said, had departed from the Lord.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:2

• Hosea 1:3-4

  "And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Debelaim: and she conceived and bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel." LXX: "And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezreel: for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Judah, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease." The prophets promised so many things about the coming of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles in the centuries that followed, that they may not neglect the present time, lest they seem to play with uncertain and future things and not to teach about those things which are pressing, even when the sermon is called for another purpose. Therefore, Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, who is taken as wife by Hosea, conceives by him and bears him a son named "Jezreel," which means "God sows," and Jehu, or, as the bad mistake has it, "Judah," overthrows the kingdom in vengeance for his blood. And referring to the calling of the nations, it should be attributed to the time under which he is remembered as having begotten a son. And lest I delay the reader's avidity with a long discourse, these two women, of whom one is called Homer and is a whore and bears three children, first Jezreel, the second a girl named Without Mercy, and the third a male who is also called "Not My People." And the other woman, who is hired for fifteen silver shekels, a homer of barley and half a homer of barley, and is called an adulteress, is referred to Israel and Judah, that is, to the ten tribes that were in Samaria under King Jeroboam, who was of Ephraim, and to Judah, who reigned in Jerusalem of the line of David. These are two women, who are said to have wings of a Zachariah hen, or a vulture, or a heron, and to go to the land of Sennaar, where Babylon was founded. These women are signified under the name of two sisters, Oola and Ooliba: they are represented by two rods, which Ezekiel joins into one rod. And because we write commentaries, not lengthy books, reserving proper explanations for each chapter in its proper place, let us now only discuss the present chapter. "Gomer" means "completed," that is, "consummated," and "perfect." Some believe it signifies "breastplates." There are those who suspect it means "measure," or "bitterness," who would say rightly, if it did not have the letter Gimel. "Debelaim" means "palaces," of which there is a great abundance in Palestine, and which the prophet Isaiah orders to be applied to the ulcer of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 38). But it is a mass of fat figs, which are shaped like sides, so that they remain uninjured for a long time, trampled and squeezed. Therefore, Israel, consummated in fornication and perfected as a daughter of pleasure, seems sweet and pleasant to those who enjoy her, and is received as a type of the Lord and Saviour's wife by Hosea; and from her is born the first son of God, that is, "Jezreel"; but it is also the metropolis of ten tribes, in which Naboth was killed ("Al." Nabutha), for whose blood Jehu was raised up, who destroyed the house of Ahab and Jezebel. But Jehu himself, the avenger of the blood of the righteous, entered by the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nabath, who made Israel fornicate and set up golden calves in Dan and in Bethel (III Kings 12), and his kingdom was said to be overthrown; of which Jeroboam's great-grandson, Hosea, began to prophesy: and when he died, his son Zacharias succeeded to the throne; whom Shallum, generated from another family, killed in the sixth month of his reign (IV Kings 15). For what reason it is now said: "Still a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezrael," that is, the slaughter of my people, on the royal house of Jehu, who at that time ruled over Israel. It is not surprising if the house of Jehu is overturned when even the kingdom of the house of Israel, that is, the ten tribes, will be completely destroyed not many years after. From Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, whose ancestor was Jehu, to the ninth year of Hosea, under whom the ten tribes were taken captive, forty-nine years are reckoned. And with the killing of Zachariah, who was the last of the line of Jehu, the kings of Assyria immediately captured Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, which were beyond Jordan; and then many cities of Samaria, and then all of Naphtali, and finally all the remaining tribes. In the Vulgate Edition, "Jehu" is read as "Judah": but this seems to me not the fault of the seventy interpreters, but the ignorance of the scribes who, not knowing the more familiar term "Jehu:", wrote "Judah." However, the type of God's seed and the revenge of His blood is related to the Lord's passion, because of which both the house of Judah and the kingdom of all Israel are said to be overthrown.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:3-4

• Hosea 1:5

  "And in that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel." LXX likewise. When I avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will destroy the kingdom of Israel, with the Assyrians prevailing, then in that day, and at that time, I will break all the power of the army of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. Above we have said that Jezreel, which is now near Maximianopolis, was the metropolis of the kingdom of Samaria, near which are the widest fields, and the valley of vast emptiness, which extends for more than ten thousand paces. In this conflict undertaken, Israel, that is, the ten tribes, which on account of Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim, who caused the first schism among the people, were called Ephraim, was slain by the Assyrians. Sometimes, on account of Joseph, the father of Ephraim, it is called Joseph; sometimes, Samaria, which itself also was the metropolis of the ten tribes, which later was called Augusta by Augustus Caesar, that is, Σεβαστὴ, in which the bones of John the Baptist were buried. After the division therefore of the two and ten tribes, the ancient name of Israel remained in the ten tribes, owing to the great part of the multitude which followed Jeroboam. And on account of the tribe of Judah, which reigned in Jerusalem, the others that were called tribes, Judas. And at the same time the types explain the truth. For just as on account of the blood of Naboth, which was shed in Jezreel, the house of Ahab was destroyed, that Elijah's prophecy might be fulfilled: so on account of the blood of the true Jezreel, that is, of the seed of God, the kingdom of the Jews was destroyed. In all the prophets, but especially in Hosea, the ten tribes are referred to as heretics, whose multitude is greatest. However, the two tribes called Judah possess the person of the Church, which was under the rule of the Davidic dynasty (who "are ruling"). Therefore, the bow of the heretics, of which it is written, "The sons of Ephraim, being armed and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle" (Ps. 77:9), will be broken in the valley of the seed of God, which is humbled and sensed earthly things.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:5

• Hosea 1:6-7

  "And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And he said to her: Call her name without mercy, for I will not add any more to show mercy to the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them. And I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and I will save them in the Lord their God: and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battles, nor by horses, nor by horsemen." LXX: "And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And he said to her: Call her name, Without mercy: for I will now no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them. But I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and will save them by the Lord their God: and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen." After the bow of Israel was broken and shattered in the valley of Jezreel, and the kingdom of the ten tribes was abandoned, so that they were led into captivity, no longer was Jezreel, that is, the seed of God, nor a son of the male sex born: but a daughter, that is, a fragile sex, subject to the contempt of the victors, and called Without mercy. Therefore she was taken captive, because she had no mercy of God. And the indignation of the Lord must be considered. So that it will never be said to the house of Israel to have mercy on them anymore, but to erase them from his eternal memory; since they serve until today the kings of Persia, and their captivity has never been released. But the house of Judah promises mercy, saying that they will be saved in the Lord their God or in Himself speaking; or the Father will save in the Son according to what is written: "The Lord rained from the Lord" (Gen. XIX, 24) For He saved them ("alt." also) when Israel was handed over to Assyrians, from the hand of Sennacherib, not with bow and sword and war and a multitude of horses, but with His strength, when He sent the Angel and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand from the Assyrian army in one night (IV Reg. XIX). According to the pattern, we say that those who are called the Seed of God, because of His blood, are without mercy, and have dared to say: "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:25), have been serving the Romans until now. But the house of Judah, namely those from the Jews who have confessed the Lord, have been saved not in the strength of an army, but in the preaching of the Gospel. We interpret this in Israel and Judah both according to history and according to pattern, and we refer them to the councils of heretics and to the Church of the Lord and Saviour, which, having been abandoned by them without mercy and losing the kingdom, has overcome by the power of their God.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:6-7

• Hosea 1:8-9

  "And she that was without mercy hath taken him away and conceived and brought forth a son. And he said: Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. " (The Septuagint likewise) And he who was called the seed of God, turned into a woman and, on account of the weakness of his strength and the offence against God, was led captive, not mentioned as having been weaned, but as having been weaned: for he had already lost his strength as a man. He who is weaned departs from his mother and does not feed on a parent's milk, but is sustained by external nourishment. Thus Israel, having been cast out by the Lord, and surrounded by the narrowness of captivity, and sustained with impure foods in Babylon, is called not the people of God, and an eternal sentence of a foreign people is carried, so that it is said, "You are not my people," and will be cast off forever. Which we can rightly understand in all the people of the Jews who, on account of the offense of the seed of God, were handed over to captivity, lost the kingdom and the province, and are called not the people of God; and also in the person of heretics. But if any contentious interpreter will not receive these things which we have said, but will understand that Gomer, the daughter of Deblaim, first bore male and female children, then male again, desiring the Scripture to sound what is read, let him answer how in Ezekiel he explains that where the Lord commands to bear the iniquities of the house of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, and to sleep forever for three hundred and ninety days on one side of the left, although in the LXX they are written as one hundred and ninety, and to sleep so as never to wake up or change sides unless, perhaps, he satisfies his hunger by opening his eyes a little to take the most sordid food of bread baked from wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and millet in human excrement. For the nature of things does not allow that anyone among men should always sleep hidden for three hundred and ninety days in one place. And he says again: 'You will bear the iniquities of the house of Judah, and you will sleep on your right side for forty days.' But these days are calculated ((or were calculated)) as years, during which Israel and Judah are held by a very long siege and captivity, so that, bound and immobilized, they cannot turn from one side to the other. If it cannot approve of these things and others like them which we read in Holy Scripture, but argues that they signify something else, then this harlot and other adulterous women, who were either joined to prophets or were saved by a prophet, indicate not a shameful union of lust but the sacraments of the future.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:8-9

• Hosea 1:9

  "For he proclaims peace to his people, and to his faithful ones, and to those who turn to him from their hearts." I note here a threefold classification: his people, his loyal servants, and those who come back to him in hope. He proclaims peace to his people, not to the Jews of whom in Hosea he says, "You are not my people."

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS, ALTERNATE SERIES 64

• Hosea 1:10

  "And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, that cannot be measured, nor numbered: and it shall be in the place where it shall be said unto them, Ye are not my people: there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." We read of the rejection of the ten tribes, and of the unmeasurable Israel, no longer the people of God, subject to perpetual indignation. Now we learn how the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel are equally gathered together, and place themselves under one head or principality ("Al." beginning), and ascend from the earth, and in the place where previously it was said, "Not my people," they shall be called the sons of the living God, and this will happen because the day of Jezreel is great. To the doubting and wavering in various opinions, the statement of the Apostle Paul writing to the Romans occurs: "And if God, wishing to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy he prepared for glory, whom he also called us, not only from among the Jews, but also from the Gentiles." As Hosea says, "I will call those not my people, my people, and those not beloved, beloved." And they will be called the sons of the living God in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people." But Isaiah cries out for Israel: "If the number of the sons of Israel were like the sand of the sea, the remainder will be saved." Because the word is ending and shortening in righteousness, "for the Lord will shorten the word upon the earth, as Isaiah foretold" (Cap. I, 9): "Unless the Lord Sabaoth had kept us a seed, we would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah. What then shall we say: That the Gentiles who did not follow righteousness have attained righteousness?" But righteousness which is of faith: but Israel, following the law of righteousness, did not come to the law of righteousness" (Rom. IX, 22 seqq.). Therefore, the blessed Apostle, taking testimony from the prophet Hosea and expounding upon the calling of the Gentiles, and the faith of those from the Jews who wished to believe, cut away all difficulty of interpretation for us, affirming that it was completed in the times of Christ, that is, that twelve tribes would be chosen in Israel, that is, all the people of the Jews, and in Judah those who confess Jesus as Lord from among the Gentiles. But if someone alien to the faith of Christ, and not receiving the authority of the New Testament, but responding from the number of circumcision, should say that the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel sound twelve tribes and ten, about which we have often spoken, and in this giving their hand, we will show nothing of our faith being harmed. "But after the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, dispersed throughout the whole world, and the multitude of the people shall have overcome every account, then shall Israel, who is even now captive and before was said to be without mercy and not my people, with the two tribes, that is, Juda and Benjamin, of which a great part believed in Christ, have permission to come to an agreement, so that faith may unite those who were separated in body, and they may have one head and prince, of whom Ezechiel wrote: 'And one prince shall be in the midst of them, my servant David, and they shall rise from the dead,' that is, Juda and Israel, who were dead in unfaithfulness." (Ezechiel 34:24) And all these things will happen, because the day of the seed of God, which is called "Christ," is great. From this it is clear that the blood of Naboth ((or Nabutha)) preceded in Jezrael, so that the truth would be fulfilled in Christ. For in this, and not in that, the great day of Jezrael is, of which it is said: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein." (Psalm 118:24) The third interpretation that we have undertaken, is to be explained as referring to heretics for Israel, and to men of the Church for Judah, and means that, after the Lord shall have come in His glory to reign, those who were once called not His people shall be called the sons of the living God, when they shall have been united with the Jews, that is, with the Church of God, and shall have one Head, Christ, and shall have ascended from the earth, that is, from earthly senses and the humility of the letter, and shall have received the great day of the seed of God. For not having mercy", that is, "without pity", is reported in some copies as "not beloved". But the more true copies have "without mercy", especially because God makes a distinction between Israel, whom he does not have mercy on, and says "But I will have mercy on the house of Judah.

  Commentary on Hosea 1:10

• Hosea 2:1

  "Tell your brothers and sisters, my people, that they have attained mercy." LXX: "Say to your brother, my people, and to your sister, having obtained mercy." Because the day of Jezrael is great, on which Judas and Israel will have one prince, and it will not be said of Israel, "you are not my people," but on the contrary they will be called the children of the living God. Therefore, O men of the tribe of Judah, do not despair of the ten tribes' salvation, but daily provoke them to repentance by speech, prayer, vow and letters because they are your brothers and sisters: brothers because they are called "my people," sisters because they are called "having obtained mercy." Otherwise: You who believe in Christ, being both from the Jews and from the Gentiles, say to those who have been cut off and to the former people, "You are my people," because they are your brothers, and "having obtained mercy" because they are your sisters. "For when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel shall be saved." (Romans 11:25). The same thing is prescribed to us, that we do not completely despair of heretics, but that we provoke them to penance: and we desire their salvation with the affection of brotherhood.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:1

• Hosea 2:2-3

  "Judge your mother, judge her, for she is not my wife and I am not her husband: let her remove her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts: lest perhaps I strip her naked, and make her as on the day of her birth." This is a message directed towards the Israelite people, that is, the ten tribes. Now begins the second chapter, and they are commanded to their sons, that is, the people, to judge against their mother, who bore them, who, becoming a harlot's wife, did not leave previous manners, and again committed fornication with her lovers. And observe the mercy of the husband. She has already been divorced, already rejected, already he has said to her: "This is not my wife, and I am not her husband:" yet he commands his sons, that they should not speak to the wife whom he dismissed, but to their mother who bore them. But let those who provoke to repentance speak, so as to remove fornication from their face, and their adultery from the midst of their breasts. She is a harlot, who lies with many. An adulteress is she who, deserting one man, joins herself to another. Both of these are a Synagogue, which if it remains in fornication and adultery, God will take away from her the clothes and ornaments He had given her. Of whom Ezekiel writes: "In the day when you were born, your navel was not cut, neither were you washed with water for your health; you did not rub yourself with salt, or wrap yourself in swaddling clothes. And when I passed by thee, I saw thee wallowing in thy blood (Ezek. 16:4-5)." And after a little while: "I clothed thee with broidered work and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands and a chain on thy neck." These things were given to her by her exceedingly lavish husband when he found her in Egypt, lusting after idolatry and spreading her legs to all. And now he threatens, if she does not return to her husband, she will become without God and without a husband, just as she once was in Egypt. Let it suffice rarely to have warned us that what has been said agrees with both the Jews denying Christ, and the heretics abandoning the faith of the Lord: whose fornication is properly among the breasts, and is situated in the craft of idols and various doctrines in the heart, who will return on the day of their birth, so that if they do not do penance, they will be compared to the heathen. And I will make it like a wilderness, and set it up like a desert land, and slay it with thirst" (Jeremiah 50:12). The Septuagint translates it as: "And I will make it as a desert, and I will set it up as a land without water, and I will kill it with thirst." If they do not want to turn to better things, I will do to them what I did in the wilderness, so that those led into captivity may fall in a foreign land, patiently enduring thirst for all good things, and unable to return to their homeland. Or certainly, let them hear in the Gospel: "Your house will be left desolate to you" (Matt. XXIII). And the Lord will not send him a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water; but a hunger to hear the word of the Lord (Amos. VIII). About whom Isaiah also speaks: "They shall be like a garden without water" (Isaiah I, 30). Heretics who are rejected by the Lord, if they do not return to their former home, suffer such scarcity of all things that even what they seem to possess falsely will be reduced to nothing.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:2-3

• Hosea 2:4-5

  "And I will not have pity on her sons, for they are the sons of fornication, because their mother has committed fornication: she is confounded that conceived them, because she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me bread, and water, and clothes, and oil, and drink." LXX: "And I will not have mercy on her sons, because they are the children of fornication. For their mother has committed fornication. She that conceived them is covered with shame, for she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread, and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink." I will do more for the one to whom I spoke, not my wife, and I am not your husband, and I will make her like a wilderness, and make her like a barren land. "For when I brought her out of Egypt, I killed their parents and their children entered into the land of promise. But now the children of a harlot mother will perish with their mother the prostitute, since they are sons of fornication and are born of evil. Of them it is said in the Gospel: 'You brood of vipers' (Matthew 3:7). They have come to such shamelessness that they are being compared to the "face of a harlot," and they are disgraced. " (Jeremiah 3:3) Is it not a stubborn and harlot's boldness that one should boast in their own wrongdoing and say, "I will follow my lovers"; I will go to the idols that have provided me with food and clothing. All that is described by the prophetic work, the Jews have received spiritually from the Lord. And since they denied the Son of God, choosing instead Barabbas, a robber and inciter of sedition, and crucifying the Son of God (John 18). Therefore, even today demons follow and refer God's blessings to those who have lost their souls to their own cults. The heretics have bread and water, whose bread is sadness, and their water is muddy, which suffocates and kills the baptized. They also have wool from diseased sheep, and flax that remains black, and oil, of which the prophet says: "The oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head" (Ps. CLX, 5), and the drink of the waters of Egypt, of which Jeremiah cries out: "What to you is the way of Egypt, that you would drink the water of Geon" (Jeremiah II, 18)? And he said: "Why do you want to drink water from the rivers of the Assyrians? We briefly went through everything, so that we can move on to the rest."

  Commentary on Hosea 2:4-5

• Hosea 2:6-7

  Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will fence it with a wall, and she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them: and she shall seek them, and shall not find, and she shall say: I will go, and return to my first husband, because it was better with me then, than now. " The LXX: "Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop up her paths: and she shall not find her way. And she shall pursue her lovers, and shall not take them: and she shall seek them, and shall not find, and she shall say: I will go, and return to my first husband, because then it was better for me than it is now." The prostitute said: "I will follow after my lovers, who gave me abundance of all things. The Lord answered: "I will hedge thy way with thorns, or with stakes, that thou mayest not be able to go where thou desirest, and I will set a wall, or a rampart, and thou shalt not find the paths which thou hast trodden so often, that thou mayest apprehend those whom thou followedst with such great eagerness, so that, obliged by necessity of affairs thou mayest return to thy husband, and say that from the Gospel: 'How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I perish here with hunger. I will arise and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, I am not worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.'" From which we understand that the providence of God often happens to us as evils, so that we may not have those things which we desire, and oppressed with various calamities and miseries of this age, we may be compelled to return to the service of God. But let us understand that the lovers of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, according to the history of that time, include the Assyrians and Chaldeans and Egyptians and other nations, with whose idols they committed fornication, from whom in times of war, and from whom they vainly hoped for help in pressing evils. These lovers, according to spiritual understanding, follow heretics, from whom they are often deserted, and return to the bosom of Mother Church burdened with the weight of their misfortunes. For through all scourges and torments, Israel is taught.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:6-7

• Hosea 2:8

  And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal." LXX: "And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver: but she turned these things which were made for her into silver and gold for Baal." She responded to her lovers, for she said: "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink, all of which she had received, and used in the service of idolatry. But it is bread and wine, which strengthens and makes the heart of man happy (Psalm 103), and oil that illuminates every person coming into this world (John 1), and silver of which we often say: "The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psalm 12: 6) . And gold of which we read: "Though ye have liad among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with the yellow gold." (Psalm 68: 13), is turned into idols, and made "Baal," which is interpreted as "higher and devouring:" while either thinking that they have more important doctrines than the Church, or are devoured in the knowledge of false opinion itself. But that which according to the letter Jerusalem has in abundance - gold and silver and all wealth - will be for the idols Baal demon of the Sidonians, or, as the better opinion holds, of the Babylonians, since he is called "Bel," as Ezekiel expounds more fully in his book, and as the chorus of the prophets bear witness.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:8

• Hosea 2:9

  "Therefore, I will return and take my grain in its time, and my wine in its time, and I will free my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace." LXX: "Therefore I will return and take my wheat in its time, and my wine in its time, and I will take away my garments, and my coverings, not to cover her nakedness." A heavier punishment is when, in the time of harvest and the expected vintage, the crops are taken and the wine, and in a sense the tried ones are taken from the hands. But if in the time of harvest and of the harvest moon, when the earth is fruitful with new crops after the passing of the past barrenness, there is a shortage of all things, what should we think of the remaining season of the year, when the old crops are preserved? And wool and flax, that is, clothing and linens, are released, giving no more coverings to a harlot: so that, by the help of God, she might be stripped; and so that she might depart from the protection of all angels from Him. Therefore, the apostle also says that the creature is freed from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. (Romans 8) Many received gold and silver for wisdom and eloquence, from which they made a seven-branched candlestick of pure gold, and a golden table of the proposition, and a mercy seat, and Cherubim shining with golden radiance, and silver columns, and the wheat of the word of God, and the wine of the joy of the Holy Spirit: also the vestments and linens with which the believers were clothed in Christ: all of which they turned into the worship of idols, composing various doctrines of errors, and deceiving others as they were deceived. Which God will take away all things, so that those who had not perceived the giver in abundance may perceive him in scarcity.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:9

• Hosea 2:10-12

  "And now I will reveal her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand: and I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times. And I will destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, of which she said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me: and I will make her a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour her." LXX: "And now I will reveal her uncleanness in the sight of her lovers; and no one shall take her out of my hand. And I will turn away all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her solemnities. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees, of which she said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me. And I will make her a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour her." What follows: "The birds of the sky and the reptiles of the earth," must be marked with an obelus. Also, concerning the place that is called Jar in Hebrew, and from which comes the name of the city Cariath Jarim, which means "the city of the forests," the LXX translated it "testimony." The similarity of the letters Res and Daleth are false. For if the Res is read as Daleth, it is said "testimony," given that Jod letter does not precede. Therefore, having been freed from clothing and underwear, lest they should no longer cover the shame of the whore, all the foulness of Jerusalem, or the foolishness through which the foulness had been performed, will be revealed in the sight of her lovers, so that they may scorn openly that which they covertly desired. And when she is handed over to her lovers, the Assyrians or demons, to whom both she and the Assyrians serve, no one, he says, will be able to take her from my hand because of her proven demonic weakness, namely that they who had received all good things are not able to liberate those oppressed by evils. But being handed over to the servitude of Babylon, she will not be able to celebrate the three solemnities of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. She will not observe the new moons, that is, the kalends, nor the Sabbaths with joy, nor all the festivals which are comprehended in one name. The vineyard, fig, and abundance of all things will also be corrupted: understand joy in the vineyard, sweetness and pleasantness in the fig, which are taken away by the evils of the most difficult servitude: and they will be taken away for this reason, because they were not given to themselves by God as a spouse, but they were considered as a prostitute by their lovers for the payment of lust. Then it will by no means have fruiting trees, but all will turn into a wooded thicket. And because it had once taken a metaphor from the forests, it ends in the rest, calling enemies, from whom all things are being devoured, beasts. Unhappy Judea suffered this both in history and metaphor; all of its ugliness was revealed to the eyes of the gentiles, and no one was able to rescue it from the hands of God. All ceremonies ceased, festivity was turned to mourning: everything which it thought would be given to it by demons, it now recognizes was taken away on account of the offense to God. First, Assyrians and Chaldeans devoured it, then the Medes and Persians and Macedonians; at the end, the most savage beast, the Roman Empire, tore it to pieces, whose name is hushed in Daniel so that greater fear may be increased for those who are to be devoured. Refer what we have said about Judaea to the heretics, who promising doctrines and knowledge at first, are abandoned by God after leaving the Church, and all their shame is placed in front of those whom they had previously deceived, and given to beasts which the prophet avoids, saying: "Do not give the soul confessing to you to beasts" (Psalm 73, 19), and by their bites they are abandoned.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:10-12

• Hosea 2:13

  "And I will visit upon her the days of the Baals, wherein she burnt incense to them, and adorned herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers: and she forgot me, saith the Lord." LXX: "And I will take vengeance upon her during the days of the Baals, when she sacrificed to them and adorned herself with her earrings and necklaces. She went after her lovers, forgetting me," says the Lord. " Keep in mind a prostitute who is adorned with gold and gems, so that she may please her lovers, and whatever beauty she does not have by nature, she acquires through art. She had earrings, with which her ears had been adorned by the doctrine of God, and these pearls that hung from her neck, so that the bridegroom said to her as husband: 'Your neck is like a chain of gold' (Song of Solomon 1:9), before the feet of pigs, and gave holy things to dogs (Matthew 7). And what we read in Proverbs was fulfilled: 'As golden earrings and a necklace of fine gold: so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.' (Proverbs 25:12). But all this she did, that she might follow her lovers, and leave her husband. And such was the desire of pleasure and lust, that she lost all memory of her marital obligations, and forgot that she had been a wife. Therefore, on those very days on which she burned incense to the demons, she shall be visited with plagues, and shall be seized with punishments. Baal, in the singular number, and Baalim, in the plural, are names of the same idols in the masculine gender. Wherever in the end of a Hebrew word we read the syllable "im," it is plural in number and masculine in gender; but when we have "oth," it is plural in number and feminine in gender. Therefore, we understand Seraphim and Cherubim as being plural in number and masculine in gender. Sabaoth, which means "of armies," "of hosts," or "of powers," is plural in number and feminine in gender. Therefore, Baalim is also plural in number and masculine in gender, although some read the feminine gender, incorrectly, as "tai Baaleim" or "al Balim." But how the heretics deceive their lovers, and are composed in their eloquence and the structure of their words, so that they simulate lies as truth, abandon conjugal chastity, and inflame Baalim, that is, idols, which they have fashioned from their own hearts, we see every day. They do not care for rustic simplicity, which seeks not meretricious ornaments; but rather for the artful and elegant lie, so that they may please their lovers, the devils and demons.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:13

• Hosea 2:14

  "Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope." LXX: "Therefore, behold, I will seduce her, and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart." Because we have said "to open hope," and the Septuagint translated "to open his understanding," Symmachus interpreted it "into the door of hope," that is, "into the gateway of hope," Theodotion "to renew her patience," that is, "to open her expectation." After the disgrace of Jerusalem, or the whore of Judaea, was revealed in the eyes of her lovers, and the entire solemnity had ceased, whether drought or hail had corrupted the vineyard and fig tree, and reduced it to forests and barren trees devoured by beasts, and the Lord had inflicted torture and torment on her; for she had ignited incense for the demons of the Baals, and did not believe that she could rise from the ashes and embers anymore, then, that is, in the coming of His Son Christ, he will open up the hope of salvation and provide room for repentance, and he will speak kindly to her: for this is what "I will give her milk" means; so that, after the magnitude of punishments, he may assuage her earlier pains with the promise of prosperity. "And I will lead her," he said, "into solitude," that is, I will bring her out of hardships, just as I had led [the people] out of Egyptian slavery previously: "and I will speak to her heart" gentle words, consoling words, so that I may temper sadness with joy, according to the idiom of the Scriptures, by which words Sichem spoke to Dinah's heart (Gen. 34), and Joseph in Egypt to his sad and fearful brothers (Gen. 40), so that mourning may be changed into joy. Quod sequitur.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:14

• Hosea 2:15

  "And I will give him its vineyards, from the same place." Because He had previously spoken of flattery and the loneliness of those who left from Egypt, providing it as a similar example. In this example Moses and Aaron had stood as leaders of the Jews, who came from the same people. Now, He promises that he will give him the vineyards from the same place. The vineyard refers to Israel, which is attested by Scripture in both the Old Testament and the New: "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7) and "You brought a vine out of Egypt" (Psalm 80:8). And in the Gospel (Matt. XXI). The father of the family leased his vineyard and did not receive its fruits. And after his son was killed, he leased it to other vinedressers. Therefore, this prophetic saying promises that the leaders of this vineyard, going out from the nations and captives of the enemies or vices, themselves are of the race of Jews, that is, apostles: and the place of tumult and the valley of turmoil, for this is what "Achor" means, is changed into the gate of hope, or to open up hope and patience, which is why he endured punishments and torments, so that through them he could attain prosperity. But the valley called "Achor," in which Achan was killed for stealing those things which had been consecrated to God, is interpreted as "trouble" and "tumult": and some think that it means διαστροφὴ, that is, "perversity," Jesus himself interpreting when he spoke to Achan: "Because you have troubled us, the Lord shall trouble you in this day" (Joshua VII, 23). Hence that place was called Emec Achor, that is, "the valley of trouble." At the same time, we understand in this that at the beginning of the Promised Land near Jericho, when the people came out of the wilderness because of the Jordan, the sorrow was changed into joy with the first victory of the Israelites. There hope was opened where there had been despair: so that, with these punished who have sinned in Christ and committed sacrilege, they may be saved of those who have detested blasphemous Jews and killed them as much as they could. This circumcision and our Judaizers refer to the kingdom of a thousand years, which we see in the beginning to have been completed by the apostles, preachers and many thousands of believers from Israel, and which is fulfilled daily in those who want to believe. And what we said: "I will cherish her," and 70 translated: "I will seduce her," they refer to the time of the Antichrist: so that those who have not received the truth of Christ may receive his lie, and later, with Christ's coming, be saved. "And he will sing there beside the days of his youth, and beside the days of his ascension from the land of Egypt." LXX: "And he shall be humbled according to the days of his infancy, and according to the days of his ascension from the land of Egypt." In the place where we have put "he will sing," and the LXX translated, "he shall be humbled," it is written in Hebrew "Anatha," which Symmachus interpreted as "he shall be afflicted," Theodotion "he shall answer," Aquila "he shall obey," that is, ὑπακούσει: we take more literally from the Hebrew, that is, "he shall sing;" so that because he had once placed the agitation and leading into the wilderness, and the vintners from the same place, and the valley of Achor, and the whole history of those leaving Egypt and going to the holy land in a brief sentence, now also he keeps the likeness of the story. Just as in that time, when they were leaving the land of Egypt and Pharaoh was submerged in the Red Sea, Mary grabbed a timbrel and, leading the others, rejoiced and said: "Let us sing to the Lord, for he is greatly glorified: horse and rider he has thrown into the sea" (Exodus 15:1): so now too, according to the days of her youth or adolescence, when she departed from the land of Egypt, let her sing and rejoice, and let her sing with the choirs of the Church about the kingdom of Christ and her salvation. And take notice that when we depart from Egypt, and pass over to better things, we are said to ascend: because Jerusalem is situated on hills, from which he who wished to descend to Jericho was wounded (Luke X). But to those who seek the aids of Egypt, that is, of this world, it is said: "Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help" (Isa. XXXI, 1). The translation of Aquila and Theodotion, one of whom put ὑπακούσει, that is, "he will hear," the other ἀποκριθήσεται, that is, "he will answer," makes it so that while some sing others answer. "But" he shall be "humbled" and "afflicted," which the LXX and Symmachus translated, does not fit the time of joy, unless perhaps it imitates Paul, who after being called an apostle, laments his ancient sins, and says that he is unworthy of the call of an apostle, because he persecuted the Church of God (I Cor. XV): so that humiliation and affliction in the conscience of past wounds, are not accepted in the pain of present evils.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:15

• Hosea 2:16-17

  And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, I will call my servant, and I will not call him any more Baalim: and I will take away the names of Baalim out of his mouth, and he shall no more remember their names." Similarly the LXX. Ninus, the son of Belus, is reported by all the Greek and Barbarian historians to have been the first who reigned over all Asia, and to have founded the city of Nineveh, called by the Hebrews Ninus, after his own name: his wife was Semiramis, of whom many and wonderful things are related; she built the walls of Babylon, as the famous poet testifies (Ovid. Metam. IV, 58), saying: It is said that Semiramis once encircled the city with sea-fished brick. He fought a great battle against Zoroaster, the king of the Bactrians, and achieved such glory that he referred to his father Bel as God, who is called Bel in Hebrew and in many prophets, especially in Daniel according to Theodotion, under the name of the idol of Babylon. The Sidonians and Phoenicians call him Baal ( ): for between the consonant letters Beth and Lamed, the vocal letter Ain is placed, which, according to the peculiarity of their language, is read now as "Beel," now as "Baal". Therefore even Dido, a Sidonian of royal birth, when she had received Aeneas as a guest, poured wine in this cup to Jupiter, "whom Belus and all from Belus's stock." We have learned the origin of a demon, or rather of a man consecrated into a demon: for all idols grew from the error of the dead. Let us hear the remainder: In the Hebrew and Syrian language, Baal is interpreted by "having," that is, "having." If we want to say, "having me," let us say Baali: and among both nations, they call their husbands their "Baali," that is, "my husband," which is understood as, "having me:" and it is the meaning, he who has me in marriage. The same language of the Hebrews is called "vir is": wherefore also the wife, who is taken from the man, is called in Genesis "Issa" (Gen. II, 1), as though from "vir": a woman. Therefore, what the Lord says is this: with each word, he should be called "my husband" or "my spouse" both with Issi and Baali, however I hate the names of idols so much that even what can be said well, I do not want to be said on account of the ambiguity of the word, but to be called Issi more than Baali: lest, while speaking of one, he should remember the other, and while mentioning a husband [virum nominans], think of an idol. Forgive the obscurity which arises in three ways: either from the difficulty of the subject, or from the incompleteness of the teacher, or from the young age of the learner. For I should not make sport of the Hebrew prophet while delivering oratorical declamations, nor should I sing in the Asian style in stories and conclusions, but with your prayerful aid and incredible dedication to learning, I will reveal what is hidden. Finally, Aquila says, a diligent and curious interpreter: "He will call me his man, and he will not call me anymore having me," that is, Baal.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:16-17

• Hosea 2:18

  And I will strike a deal with them in that day, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the sky and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will shatter from the land, the bow, the sword, and war. And I will cause them to sleep with security. (LXX) And I will make a covenant with them in that day, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the earth; and I will break the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land, and I will cause them to dwell in hope. When all the words of the opposing religion have been taken away from the people confessing the Lord, and he calls me, "my husband," and not "Baal," that is, "my idol," then I will strike a deal and agreement with them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky and with the creeping things on the ground. From this time on, Isaiah speaks: "The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the lion, and the sheep will live together, and a small child will lead them all. The calf and the bear will graze and their young will rest together. The lion will eat straw like an ox." (Isaiah 11:6-7) He desires neither flesh nor blood, but feeds on clean and simple foods. When Peter was instructed to welcome Cornelius among the nations (Acts 10:15), it was revealed and commanded that he should eat all kinds of animals and recognize nothing as unclean, which he received with thanksgiving. Later, he was told: "What God has cleansed, you must not call common." (Ephesians 2:1). Therefore, at the coming of the Lord and Savior, after his triumphs in the resurrection, and his ascent to the Father, two walls were joined together by a corner stone, made one by him who made both ("Al." both): and he called her who was called, "Without mercy, mercy obtained": and those who were said, "Not my people," his people: and with all things pacified, the bow and sword shall be brought to nothing, and war shall cease. For there will no longer be a need for weapons of those who fight, when those who fight no more exist. Israel shall be joined to the Gentiles, and that of Deuteronomy shall be fulfilled: "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people" (Deut. 32:43). "God is known in Judah; his name is great in Israel." And: "In peace his habitation shall be, and his dwelling in Sion" (Psalm 75), that is, in the Church, wherein he hath broken the powers of bows, shield, sword, and battle: which being broken and bruised, the faithful sleep securely, and rest under one shepherd, whether they hope, believing in those things which the eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Cor. 2).

  Commentary on Hosea 2:18

• Hosea 2:19-20

  How great is God's mercy! A prostitute fornicates with many lovers, and because of her offense is handed over to the beasts. After she returns to her husband, she is said not at all to be reconciled to him but rather to be betrothed. Now notice the difference between God's union and that of men. When a man marries, he turns a virgin into a woman—that is, a nonvirgin. But when God joins with prostitutes, he changes them into virgins.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:2

• Hosea 2:19

  "And I will espouse thee to me forever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in compassion. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord." Similarly in the Septuagint. Oh, what great mercy of God! The prostitute who has fornicated with many lovers, and was handed over to the beasts because of her crime; after she returns to her husband, though she is not reconciled to him, she is betrothed. And see what is between the conjunction of God and men: when a man accepts a wife, he makes a woman from a virgin, that is, not a virgin; Moreover, God, united with harlots, changes them into virgins, according to what is said through Jeremiah regarding adulteresses: "Not as thou hast called me, acknowledging me for thy master, and truly, he that is the protector of thy virginity" (Jer. III, 4). So the apostle, after fornication and idol worship, speaks to the Corinthians who believe: "For I have espoused you to one man, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (II Cor. XI, 2). We ask why he repeated the name of betrothal for the third time. For he says first: "I will betroth you to me forever." Second: "I will betroth you to me in righteousness and judgment, and in mercy and compassion." And not content with this, he adds the third: "I will betroth you to me in faith, and you shall know that I am the Lord." He betrothed her first in Abraham, or in Egypt, in order to have an eternal wife. Second on Mount Sinai, giving her the justice and judgment of the Law as a dowry, and joined to the Law mercy if when she sins, she should be delivered into captivity, when she has repented, she shall be recalled unto her country and obtain mercy. Concerning these betrothals in various places the psalmist sings: "I will sing of mercy and judgment to you, O Lord" (Psalm 102:2). And: "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psalm 85:10). We read of these two cups in the seventy-fourth psalm: "The cup in the Lord's hand, full of mixed wine, he inclined from this to that" - of the cup of justice into the cup of mercy, and again of the cup of mercy into the cup of justice. "If you, O Lord, will mark iniquities, Lord, who shall endure it? For with you there is merciful forgiveness." Therefore, this harlot, who had been first united in eternal embrace by the vow of her spouse, so as never to depart from the marital bond, because she departed and committed fornication in Egypt, is again received by the Law. And because he passed by this, after killing the prophets as if they were companions of her spouse (who had been sent to her), finally the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, came. With this crucified one, rising from the dead, she is betrothed not in the justice of the Law but in the faith and grace of the Gospel, so that when she knows the only-begotten, she may also know the Father. For he himself said to Philip: 'I am with you for so long a time, and you have not known me?' 'Philip, he who sees me, sees also my Father; how do you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?' (John 14:10-11). He who is espoused in faith and believes in the Gospel, will immediately know that he himself is a God, believing in him whom he had previously denied.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:19

• Hosea 2:19-20

  First, he [God] betrothed her [Israel] in Abraham (or rather, in Egypt) so that he may have an everlasting spouse. Second, on Mount Sinai in the betrothal, he gave her the equity and judgment of the law and the compassion added to the law, so that whenever she should sin she would be given up into captivity; whenever she should show penitence, she would be brought back to [her] homeland, and she would gain compassion.… By his crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, he [Jesus] betroths [her] not in the equity of the law but rather in faith and the grace of the gospel.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:2

• Hosea 2:20-23

  "And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezrael. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. And I will say to that which was not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God." LXX: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." On that day and at that time when I will espouse you to me in faith, and you will know that I am the Lord, I will hear the heavens, which declare the glory of God (Ps. 18), and the heavens will hear the earth, that it may be watered with heavenly rain, and the earth, from which truth arises (Ps. 84) , and into whose field the householder goes forth to sow his seeds (Matt. 13, 3), will yield wheat and wine and oil, of which we have spoken above, and all these things shall hear Jezrael, which is, the seed of God, that is, the abundance and fertility of all things may be attributed to the seed of God, who is Christ, that it is sown in the earth to bring forth manifold fruits, a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold (Ibid, 8). And that prostitute, who had been joined to God, and had borne three children, two males and one female; the first named Jezrael, the second, Without mercy; the third, not my people, may she see that the words of things have been changed because of the seed of God, and in the faith of Christ have obtained mercy, which was without mercy, and being called the people of God, who before were not called the people. From this we see that all that has been said can be referred both to the ten tribes called Israel, and under the name of the prostitute, they have borne three children, and to every people of Jewish name. On the hearing of heaven and earth, and of wheat, wine, and oil, and Jezrael, this is what some people believe, that after Christ's coming, everything runs in its own order, and the whole creature serves the usefulness of men, as it was established from the beginning. All of which Jews and Judaizers among us wait for corporally after Antichrist at the end of the world.

  Commentary on Hosea 2:20-23

• Hosea 3:1

  And the Lord said to me: Go still, love the beloved woman to a friend and an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they respect (look at) foreign gods, and they love "wine presses of grapes." (Vulgate "they look at") LXX: "And the Lord said to me: Go still and love the woman loving evil and an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they look (respect) to foreign gods, and they love baked goods with wine." The prophet was joined with the former woman as a symbol of the ten tribes, or the whole Jewish people, who committed adultery, and finally brought the abandoned and tortured children to salvation: here he is commanded to still love the adulterous woman. When it is said, 'still,' it shows that he has previously loved fornication: whether that adulteress loves those evils or is loved by a friend and neighbor: For the Hebrew word 'friend' or 'evil' is read. And lest we think that the love of the prophet is for the adulteress, it signifies something other than the love of God for the children of Israel, he brought it in: Just as the Lord loves the children of Israel. Therefore, because the prophet loves the adulteress, yet is not joined to her in marriage, nor is he linked in fornication, but only loves the transgressor, he is a type of God, who loves the most wicked children of Israel, who, though they are loved by the Lord, look to foreign gods and idols and love the grapes of the vineyards that have no wine, and have lost their original grace, just like demons who have fallen from their own dignity and possessing nothing of ancient grace, they are dry and withered by old dryness. From the 'vineyards,' which in Hebrew is called Asise. Aquila translated it as παλαιὰ, that is, 'old.' Symmachus [translated it as] ἀκάρπους, that is, 'sterile:' and they are not only vineyards, but also old vineyards, that ancient sins may be test. And it should be noted that this adulteress signifies the present time of the Jews, who without God and knowledge of the Scriptures and the grace of the Holy Spirit, are loved by the Lord, who awaits salvation for all, and opens the door to those who repent, and they nevertheless love useless things, loving human traditions and dreams of δευτερωσέων and do not have grapes and wine and full presses with must, but old vineyards that are rejected. Regarding "pemmatibus" which the 70 translated, and are eaten with raisins or grapes, we can say in Latin "placentas" or "crustula," which are offered to idols and are called πόπανα in Greek. But the children of Israel in this place are called twelve tribes; above the ten that were in Samaria and possessed the metropolis, Jezrael.

  Commentary on Hosea 3:1

• Hosea 3:2

  And how shall I speak of the whore married by the prophet? She is the figure either of the church as gathered in from the Gentiles, or—an interpretation that better suits the passage—of the synagogue. She, Israel, was first adopted from among the idolaters by Abraham and Moses. She has now denied the Savior and proved unfaithful to him. Therefore she has long been deprived of her altar, priests and prophets and has to abide many days to return to her first husband. For when the faithfulness of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, all Israel shall be saved.

  LETTER 123:13

• Hosea 3:2

  "And I dug it for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a cor of barley, and half a cor of barley, and I said to her." The LXX reads, "And I brought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and a gomor of barley, and a vessel of wine, and I said to her." Gomor in Hebrew is written Omer, which all interpreters, except the LXX, have translated as "cor". In Greek, especially in the dialect of Palestine, it represents thirty modii. And for nebel vini, in Hebrew it is written Lethech Seorim, which other interpreters have translated as "half a cor of barley," which constitutes fifteen modii. That which is joined in the Vulgate edition: "Neither will you be the husband of another: (you will be) the other" is not present in Hebrew, but simply, "You will not be the husband." For if "another" is inserted, it implies that she belongs to her own husband. However, when it is said absolutely, "You will not be the husband" we understand that she is not connected to anyone at all, and remains without marital union. We read the measurement of the heart in Ezekiel (Ezek. XLV) and in the Gospel (Luke XXVI). Therefore he, that is the adulterer, dug it himself, or hired it for fifteen pieces of silver. When he says 'dig,' he is showing the vineyard, which is planted by the Lord, and is put in many places in Scripture, signifying the Jewish people. But if we read 'I hired,' it is the price of an adulteress, not that he should sleep with a prophet, but that, content with her wages, she should stop committing adultery and not be joined with others indiscriminately. The heart of barley is also dug or hired, and with half a measure of barley, that is, forty-five bushels, accepted as payment, he heard from the Lord:

  Commentary on Hosea 3:2

• Hosea 3:3

  "You shall wait for many days for me: you shall not fornicate, and you shall not be a man's wife; but I will also wait for you." LXX: "You shall sit for many days with me, and you shall not fornicate, nor be with another man, and I to you." This means, you will not shamefully prostitute yourself to other lovers, nor will you join me, the man whom you are hired by, in legitimate marriage. And so that you do not think that an injustice has been done to you because I said "you will wait for me," I will repay in kind by saying "and I will wait for you." On the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan, the firstborn of the Egyptians were struck, and the people of Israel were led out of Egypt and hired into the service of God (Exodus XII). Finally, for the firstborn of Israel who did not feel the common plague, receive five shekels of silver (Num. III), which are offered as a gift to the temple. Most of our people refer "fifteen" to the week of the Law, and "eight" to the Gospel, that is, the Sabbath and the day of resurrection, which exercises spiritual circumcision. But how can they explain the Testament if the adulterous woman, who feeds on barley and is another man's, receives both as a reward? On the forty-fifth day, the people reached Mount Sinai and immediately on the next day separated themselves from sexual relations for three days in order to prepare to receive God's law. After three days, on the fiftieth day, Moses ascended the mountain and received the Ten Commandments. The Jewish people, who were once brought for fifteen pieces of silver and forty-five bushels of barley, now await the coming of the Lord and his man. And that which he says: "Thou shalt not commit fornication, and thou shalt not be a man," shows that at the time being she does not serve idols, nor yet has God; but rather be stripped for both lovers and a man. And because she has no man, she does not eat human food, wheat and pulse, but barley of irrational animals, ruminating the vileness of the letter that kills, and not having the enlivening spirit. Whence, in the law, a woman who is accused of adultery by her husband, in the drink of accusation, that is, "conviction," when charged with sin, takes barley meal (Num. 5) , for she is like the horses and mules, which have no understanding (Ps. 32) , and are sustained with the food of horses and mules. For half a bushel of barley, the Septuagint translated 'a skin of wine,' which is not in the Hebrew at all. And we can say that in 'a skin of wine,' that is, a measure full and completely intoxicated adulteress, is afflicted with full punishments. Hence, Jeremiah offers the cup of wine to the peoples and Jerusalem as well (Jer. 15). A man also sits, or rather waits for the repentance of the adulteress, so that when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered and the last of Israel will believe, so that the head, which had been the tail, will be turned into a head and the tail into a head (Deut. 28), then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

  Commentary on Hosea 3:3

• Hosea 3:4-5

  "For many days the children of Israel shall sit without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. And after these things the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." LXX: "For many days the children of Israel shall sit without a king, without a prince, without sacrifice, without an altar, without priesthood, without manifestations" (which in Greek are called δήλοι). "And after this the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king: and they shall be astonished at the Lord, and at his goodness in the latter days." For "ephod" and "teraphim" the Septuagint have translated "sacerdotium," meaning "priesthood," and "manifestations." However, it should be known, as we have frequently said, that "ephod" signifies a priestly garment, which is called in the LXX by the word βαθύπεταλον, meaning "superhumeral," and by Aquila it is called ἐπένδυμα, meaning "outer garment." But "teraphim" properly denote μορφώματα, that is "figures" and "images," which we can, for the present place only, call "Cherubim" and "Seraphim," or any others which were commanded to be made for the decoration of the temple. But because the seventy have translated the clear things, for which Aquila translated (introduced) enlightenments. And these indeed are the (meanings) in the "Rational" account, that is, we understand that in the heart and mind of the bishop, truth and enlightenments, that is, "truth" ought to be, as well as "doctrine": so that he may not only know the correct faith but also be able to utter what he knows. Which Apostle Paul also writes to Titus, teaching what kind of bishop ought to be ordained: "For a bishop must be without crime as the dispenser of God, not proud, not irritable, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy for filthy lucre: But hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, continent, embracing him who is according to the "sound doctrine, faithful in speech, so he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to contradict those who oppose it" (Titus 1: 7-9). We read of the ephod and theraphim in the book of Judges (Chapters 17 and 18), which the Levites made for themselves; later on, they departed with 600 armed men from the tribe of Dan. From the passion of the Savior until the present day, a little over 400 years have elapsed, and as for how much time remains until the day of judgment, neither the angels nor the Son know. He says that he doesn't know for this reason, because it is not beneficial for us to learn. These are indeed many days on which the unfortunate Synagogue and adulterous woman are fed with barley, and sits contracted, because she cannot stand with Christ. Without a king, of whom the Father said: "I have raised up a king with justice" (Isa. XLV, 13). And He himself says in the Psalm: "But I am appointed king by him over his holy mount Zion" (Psal. II, 6). Without a prince, either the Lord and Savior Himself, or certainly a pontiff, of whom it is written: "Thou shalt not revile the princes of thy people." (Exod. XXII). And without sacrifice, and without altar. For with the temple overthrown, and Jerusalem burned, neither sacrifice nor Judaic priesthood can exercise. And without ephod and without teraphim, that is, the instruments of the priestly habit. Concerning this king and Jacob in the blessing of Judah the patriarch speaks: "The leader shall not fail from Juda, nor the ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations." (Gen. XLIX, 10) Therefore, after the prince of Judah had fallen, and the leader from his thigh, and Herod, a foreigner and proselyte, had taken over the empire, we understand that someone has come to whom the kingdom was entrusted, and he himself was the expectation of the nations. This is the blindness that happened in part to Israel, so that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter, and then all Israel would be saved (Romans 11): and later they will return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, who was born from David's lineage and interprets "strong by hand." For he himself freed his captive people and gave remission to the prisoners. And when the children of Israel shall see him that was rejected by his own brethren reigning in the majesty of his Father and his own, they shall fear and marvel at the Lord and at his good things. For the good son is born of a good father, whether to the good things of the Lord spoken of by the saint: "I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. 26:13): for the earth in which we dwell, sinners, is the land of the dead. The present chapter, among others of the Jews, is interpreted concerning the Babylonian captivity, when the temple was desolate for seventy years, and there was no altar, sacrifice, or priesthood, but afterwards they returned to their former seats under Zorobabel. Others, like us, delay for the future time ("they abandon" "Al.") and they cannot find any other cause of such a great offense that they have been abandoned for such a long time, especially since they do not worship idols, except for the killing of the Savior.

  Commentary on Hosea 3:4-5

• Hosea 4:1-2

  "Hear the word of the Lord, sons of Israel; for judgment is for the Lord with the inhabitants of the earth: for there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Cursed, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery have overflowed: and blood has touched blood." LXX: "Hear the word of the Lord, sons of Israel; for judgment is for the Lord with the inhabitants of the earth: for there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God over the earth. Curse, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery have been spilt over the earth, and they have mixed blood with blood." From the beginning of the prophet to this point, under the description of a prostitute and an adulteress, whose punishment is severe and long-lasting, a later restoration to their former or a better state is made for the ten tribes or two, and the sins of all are counted. Again now to Israel, that is, the speech turns to the ten tribes, explaining that God, angered, does not threaten and inflict such great punishments in vain: lest perhaps the sentence be not seen to have been passed justly, but by the power of God on those who have not sinned. Hear, said the prophet, the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel: for the Lord desires to judge with his people and to expose the reasons for his anger. There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land. For truth cannot be sustained without mercy, and mercy without truth makes the negligent; therefore, the one is mingled with the other, and whoever does not have either also does not have knowledge of God. But on the contrary, for truth there is falsehood, and for mercy there is cursing, murder, theft, adultery. He did not say, "there is"; but to demonstrate the abundance of sins, he uses the expression, "they have inundated" (Al. "they have overflowed"); and for the knowledge of God, which is not on earth, blood touched blood, or blood mingled with blood, so that they could increase sins with sins and add new ones to old. Indeed, those who are inhabitants of the earth and not sojourners are called to judgment: for from the face of the North evils blaze forth upon the inhabitants of the earth. And in the Apocalypse of John: Woe, woe, woe is said to the inhabitants of the earth. But he who is able to say with the prophet: "I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Psa. 38:13), and passes through this world like a stranger and a sojourner, follows after truth and mercy and the knowledge of God, lest he be overwhelmed by an inundation of curses and falsehood, of murder, and theft, and adultery, and of blood.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:1-2

• Hosea 4:3

  Therefore the earth will mourn, and all who dwell in it will be weakened: in the beast of the field and in the bird of the sky, and even the fish of the sea will be gathered. " LXX: "Therefore the earth will mourn and be diminished with all who dwell in it, with the beasts of the field," "with the serpents of the earth, and with the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea will fail." For there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God on earth, but on the contrary, curse, lying, homicide, theft, and adultery have flooded in and blood has touched blood: therefore the earth will mourn with its inhabitants, and be weakened, so that it will not have beasts of the field, and birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea will fail. For when the captivity of the ten tribes shall have come, with the inhabitant being taken away, even the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea shall fail; and even the mute elements shall feel the wrath of the Lord. Let whoever does not believe that this happened to the people of Israel look at Illyria, look at Thrace, at Macedonia and Pannonia, and the entire land that stretches from Propontis and the Bosphorus to the Julian Alps, and they will prove that all creatures, which were previously fed by the Creator for human use, will fail along with men. But if we wish, as some think, to interpret savage men as beasts, and birds of the air as those who are lifted up in pride, and all things human as those which are contemptible, and fishes of the sea as those which are irrational, and so brutes that they have absolutely no sense, and do not see free air and sky: this is not so much the wrath as the mercy of the Lord, that the evils which are among men may be taken away from the earth.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:3

• Hosea 4:4-5

  "Nevertheless, let no one judge, and let no man be accused: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest, and thou shalt fall this day, and the prophet shall fall with thee." LXX: "That no one be judged, nor anyone be rebuked: but my people are like a priest who is contradicted, and shall be weakened" "during the day, and the prophet shall be weakened with thee." According to the Septuagint interpreters, what we have placed "that no one be judged or rebuked," should be combined with the previous chapter, but we follow the Hebrews. Summoned to the judgment of God, children of Israel, who dwelt in the land so that they might hear the reasons for the indignation of the Lord, and recognize past sins for which they would be delivered to their enemies, now because they persist in wickedness and contemptuously face God, they hear: It is not necessary for you to come to judgment, so that you may be accused of your shameful deeds; for you are of such impudence, that even when convicted, you have neither shame nor modesty; but you contradict me, as if a disciple contradicts his master, the priest of the people, who does not have the dignity of priesthood. And because you are such, therefore you fall today, that is, you are led into captivity, and the kingdom of Israel is lost. What he says, "today," means the present time, or not by fraud and deceit, but by clear light you are led into captivity, and such will be your weakness that even the prophets, who used to prophesy falsehood to you, will fall with you and feel the captivity. We must accept either prophets or false prophets, or certainly all prophetic grace. For as long as the ten tribes were not captured, they had both the prophet Elijah and Elisha, and the other sons of the prophets who prophesied in Samaria. Hence the prophet Amos, who was from the tribe of Judah and from the village of Tekoa, was forced to return to his homeland, lest he prophesy in a foreign kingdom and in Samaria.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:4-5

• Hosea 4:6

  "At night, I made your mother be silent, my people have become silent, because they have no knowledge: for you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you, and you will not serve as a priest to me; and you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons." LXX: "I have compared thy mother to the night, and my people to have no knowledge. Since thou hast refused knowledge, I will also refuse thee, that thou shalt not be a priest to me. Thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, and I will forget thy children." Not because there are other mothers and other sons, does she call herself mother and sons; but just as the Lord spoke to the Jewish people and said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest those sent to thee, how often I have desired to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and thou didst not want it." (Matthew 23, 5). Not as another Jerusalem, and another people thereof: for it did not speak without the people to the building of the city and the wood and the stones. Thus the mother is called the crowd of the people and every multitude of the Hebrew nation, to whom it speaks: but the sons, either single or dispersed through the towns and villages of the people. Therefore in the night and darkness of captivity, mourning and pressing distress, Israel is surrendered and its people remain silent in eternal silence; because it did not have knowledge of the law, nor did it keep the commandments of God, and received what it had done. For she herself has rejected God's law, and thus she has lost the priesthood forever, and worships the golden calves in Dan and Bethel; and because she has forgotten God's law, and entirely enslaved herself to Egyptian idols, therefore the Lord will also forget her children, delivering them to eternal captivity: "For he who is ignorant, let him be ignorant." (I Cor. XIV), and in the Psalms we read: "They did not know, nor did they understand, they walked in darkness." (Ps. LXXXI, 5). We can refer everything that is said about the ten tribes to the heretics who have left the kingdom of David and Jerusalem, that is, Christ and the Church: and therefore they are covered with eternal night, they do not have the knowledge of God, and they are rejected by the Lord so that they may not perform the priesthood to him, and they never remember the children they have generated, because they have become aliens to him.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:6

• Hosea 4:7

  "According to their abundance, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame." LXX: "According to their abundance, so they sinned against me, I will turn their glory into shame." Israel had as many altars built for demons as they had men, in whose sacrifices they sinned against me. Therefore, I will exchange their glory, in which they boasted to themselves and preferred to God, into ignominy, so that both the priests and the people may be captured. It is easy to understand about heretics, that the more there are, the more they sin against God and glory in the people.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:7-9

• Hosea 4:8

  [The priests] are feasting on the sins of my people, approving the crimes of the sinners. For when they behold them sinning, not only do they not argue but they praise and extol them, calling them fortunate.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:4

• Hosea 4:8

  "they will eat the sins of my people, and lift up their souls to their iniquity." LXX: "they will eat the sins of my people, and receive them in their iniquities; others their souls." For indeed, the priests eat the sins of my people, concerning whom it is written: "Those who devour my people, like bread" (Ps 13:8). And therefore they eat the sins of my people, consenting to the crimes of wrongdoers since, when they witness them sinning, not only do they not rebuke them, but they praise and exalt them and call them blessed. About whom Isaiah speaks: "My people, who call you blessed, deceive you, and they 'supplant' the paths of your feet" (Isa. III, 12). Concerning them, the Psalmist cries out: "For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and the unjust is blessed" (Ps. IX, 24). And so [heretics] deceive the unfortunate, so that they may eat the sins of the people, and by sweet words devour the houses of widows (Luke XX). For when they see some sinning, they say: God seeks nothing else but the truth of faith, which if you keep, he does not care what you do. For by saying these things, they lift up their souls in their iniquities, so that they not only do not repent or humble themselves, but rejoice in their wicked deeds and walk with heads held high.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:7-9

• Hosea 4:9

  "and it shall be as the people, so the priest, and I will visit upon him his ways, and render to him his thoughts." LXX: "and it will be as the people, so also the priest, and I will take vengeance on him for his ways, and render to him his thoughts." Hence, both the people and the priest will equally endure the sentence of God's indignation; for not only will He visit the works that they call "ways," in which they walk, but also the thoughts which they have entertained to do such things. For not only the work, but also the contemplation of evil deeds will pay the penalty. Therefore both the people and the priest, the learned and the teachers of the law, will be equally punished.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:7-9

• Hosea 4:10

  "And they shall eat, and not be satisfied: and they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not keeping him." LXX: "And they shall eat, and not be filled: they have committed fornication, and shall not be directed: because they have forsaken the Lord, to keep not his law." Insatiable pleasure is created, and the more one is captured by it, the more hunger it creates. On the contrary, blessed are the hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will be satisfied. As justice satisfies, so too does iniquity, having no substance, delude those who consume it deceitfully and leave the stomachs of the devourers empty. They have committed fornication and have not ceased. Their strength fails in fornication, and the desire to fornicate does not rest. They committed fornication with the idols of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and left their Lord God, not keeping what he had commanded, saying: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (Deuteronomy 6:13).

  Commentary on Hosea 4:10-12

• Hosea 4:10

  Desire is insatiable, and the more it is felt, the more it creates in those who enjoy it a greater hunger. On the contrary: "Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied." For righteousness satisfies, while wickedness—because it has no substance—deceives by fraud those who feed on vain things and leaves empty the stomachs of those who hunger. "They played the whore continually." In fornication they run out of strength, yet the ardent desire of the fornication does not make a pause. The ten tribes played the whore with the idols of Jeroboam son of Naboth.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:4

• Hosea 4:11

  "fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the heart." LXX: "fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the heart of my people." But it should be read emphatically: Fornication and wine and drunkenness take away the heart. For just as wine and drunkenness make him who drinks thereof incapable of his own mind, so does fornication and pleasure pervert the senses and weaken the spirit; and it turns a rational man into a brute animal, so that he pursues brothels, dens of vice, and places of debauchery.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:10-12

• Hosea 4:12

  "My people hath consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God." LXX: "They consulted their wood, and their staff answered them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God." And when his heart is stirred out of its place, he holds wood and stones as gods, and worships the works of his own hands. Hence the prophet, as if amazed and bewildered, speaks: "My people who were once called by my name have asked counsel of a wooden idol, and have sought intuition from rods, which the Greeks call divination by rods." Therefore in Ezekiel we read that Nebuchadnezzar mixed his rods against Ammon and Jerusalem, and a rod went forth against Jerusalem (Ezek. 25): and the cause of this madness of fornication is the spirit that deceived them, so that they might fornicate against their God. But he calls fornication idolatry, according to what we read in Jeremiah: "And they committed adultery with wood and stone, and I said, After they have committed adultery with all these things, return to me, but she did not return with all her heart, but with lies." And again: "You have left me and said, I will go on every high hill, and under every green tree I will spread myself in my fornication" (Jer. 3:5, 6). And in the Psalm it is said: "You have destroyed all who commit fornication away from you" (Ps. 72:27). For the beginning of fornication is the invention of idols. Heretics are never satisfied with their own error, and do not cease from the disgracefulness of fornication. They do not keep the holy Law and Scriptures, abandon the Lord, become insane and inebriated, and, with the judgment of their mind destroyed, worship idols which they themselves have fashioned from their hearts and are possessed by the spirit of fornication.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:10-12

• Hosea 4:12

  The unclean spirit before had been in the synagogue and had led them into idolatry. Of him it is written, "The spirit of harlotry has led them astray." The spirit had gone out of a man and was roaming in the dry places in search of a resting place and could find none. He took with him seven other demons and returned to his former dwelling place. All these spirits were in the synagogue and could not bear the presence of the Savior. Indeed, "what harmony is there between Christ and Belial?" Christ and Belial could not abide in the same assembly. "Now in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, 'What have we to do with you?' " Who is asking, "What have we to do with you?" He is only one, but he cries out the recognition of many. He is aware that in his own defeat, his devils have been vanquished with him.

  HOMILIES ON MARK 76

• Hosea 4:13

  "On the tops of the mountains, they sacrificed, and on the hills, they burned incense under an oak and a poplar and a terebinth because its shade was good." According to the Law, it is commanded that one should not offer sacrifice to the Lord anywhere other than the place that the Lord God chooses. Trees are not to be planted near the altar so that a passive and indulgent religion does not overthrow the austerity of the one true religion. On the contrary, Israel was sacrificing on the mountains and burning incense on the hills, loving the high places of the earth, for they had forsaken the Most High God and sought shadows, having lost the truth. This is what we read about each king: "But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places" (3 Kings 22:44), which in Hebrew is called Bama. Heretics promise themselves the sublimity of their doctrines and sacrifice under oak, poplar and terebinth, under barren trees, having neither fig nor vine, under which the Saint is said to rest. However, they sometimes assume a terebinth for themselves, which, according to Isaiah, has no leaves, so that they may seem to imitate the example of Abraham. (Isaiah VI)

  Commentary on Hosea 4:13

• Hosea 4:14

  "Therefore, your daughters will prostitute themselves, and your daughters-in-law will commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because they themselves consorted with prostitutes and offered sacrifices with effeminate men, and the people who do not understand will be punished." LXX: "Therefore your daughters will prostitute themselves, and your brides will commit adultery; I will not punish them for prostitution nor for adultery, because they went to prostitutes and arranged pagan temple rites with sacred prostitutes; a senseless people they are." The word Cadesoth, which was translated by Aquila ἐνηλλαγμένων, by Symmachus ἑταιρίδων, by the Seventy τετελεσμένων, by Theodotion κεχωρισμένων, we translate as "effeminate" in order to convey the meaning of the word to our ears. These are they who serve today in Rome, not the gods but the demons, who are called Gauls, because the Romans castrated men of this tribe for the honor of Atys (whom the goddess harlot had made a eunuch) and appointed them to be priests. Therefore, the men of the Gaulish race are effeminate, so that those who captured the city of Rome are struck by this ignominy. There was such idolatry in Israel, mostly by women, who worshiped Beelphegor for the obscenity of his magnitude, whom we can call Priapus. Therefore, Asa the king took away the lofty ones of the people and such priests and deposed his mother from her august throne, as is testified in the scripture, saying: "And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David his father, and took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. And also Maacha his mother, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Cedron. But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days." (III Kings 15, 11 seqq.) It must be known however, that at present in Kadesh, "prostitutes," are called "sacerdotes" or "priests" of Priapus. In other places, we read of Ca'desim, men who, driven by lust have been castrated, of whom Isaiah says, "And the mockers shall rule over them," for which in Hebrew it is written, "And the eunuchs shall rule over them," which we translate to mean "effeminate" people. But Aquila, giving an interpretation, that is to say, "those who have been changed," wanted to show that their nature had changed, and that men had been made women. Symmachus properly called them "prostitutes." The Septuagint called them "consecrated and initiated" to show themselves as idol worshipers. Theodotion called them "separated from the people" who seemed to have something more than the common people. We have briefly discussed the words, now let us return to the meaning of the chapter. It is a great offense to not merit the anger of the Lord after you have sinned. Israel had fornicated with their God, and were seduced by a spirit of fornication: therefore their daughters and brides fornicate, and are left unpunished in their sin, so that they may feel what their sons and wives did to their true parents and husbands, and understand the pain of God from their own pain, who is so angry that he does not strike these sinners. For the Apostle also testifies in mystical language, writing to the Romans: "For saying they were wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents. Therefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." And in order that we may know that the visitation of God is inflicted upon us when we are wounded and weak, in order that by means of the cauterization of bitter potions we may be cured of sickness – let us listen to the Lord speaking through the prophet: "I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes; but my mercy will I not take from him" (Ps. 88:33-34). Therefore, he who is loved is corrected; he who is neglected is left to his own sins. And so great was the number of fornicators in Israel that vengeance ceased, despairing of amendment. For what is more shameful than to be joined to the worship of harlots and to offer sacrifices of their lust with effeminate men? And what the phrase, "A people that doth not understand shall be beaten," which in the Septuagint is translated: "And a people not understanding adhered to the harlot," means is that such a people shall be scourged in captivity and shall be visited with various plagues in order that, by means of pain, it may receive discipline. The easy understanding about heretics is that their children will fornicate and their spouses, namely, the souls which they have begotten in error and married to their doctrines. Such persons are unworthy of correction by God, for their every form of worship is fornication and they mingle foul deeds with foul doctrines. Therefore, they shall be beaten so that they may finally understand what God they seek. When you see a sinner abound in riches, boast in power, rejoice in health, delight in his spouse, be surrounded by a garland of children, and fulfill that which is written: "They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men" (Ps. 73:5), say that the Prophet's threat has been accomplished in him: "I will not visit upon your daughters when they commit fornication, nor upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery."

  Commentary on Hosea 4:14

• Hosea 4:15-16

  "If you fornicate, Israel, let not at least Judah sin, and do not enter into Gilgal, and do not ascend into Bethaven, neither shall you swear, by the living Lord, for as an wanton heifer, Israel has sinned. Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place." LXX: "But you, Israel, do not ignore, and Judah, do not enter into Galgala, nor ascend into the house [ὢν] and do not swear, the Lord lives: for as a refuge-killed cow, Israel went insane. Now the Lord will feed them like a lamb in a spacious place." "For home" [ὢν] being read in some copies, and most particularly in Theodotion as "house of iniquity," which Aquila and Symmachus interpreted as ἀνωφελοῦς ["house of the profitless,"] that is, "useless" which is of no benefit, and is designated by another word "idol". But Bethel was formerly called the "House of God," but after the calves were placed in it, it was called "Bethaven," that is, "useless house" and "house of idols," which we have expressed as we read it in Hebrew. But it seems to me that both the people of Israel and Jeroboam the son of Nebat made a golden calf to be worshipped in the wilderness, and fashioned golden calves as they had learned in Egypt, where the bulls are worshipped as gods in their superstition. Let us discuss the meaning of the chapter: Sisemel, O Israel, you have been deceived by error and have mixed with prostitutes, so that whoever fulfills the act of offering and giving gifts to the king or himself, would become a priest of the high places. At least you, Judah, who possess Jerusalem and have Levites from the law and perform temple ceremonies, should not imitate the examples of your former sister Oolla in fornication and worship idols with her. Do not enter Galgala, about which we read in this same prophet: 'All their wickedness is in Galgala' (Hosea 9:15), where Saul was anointed king, where the people, coming out of the wilderness, camped for the first time, and were purified by a second circumcision. From that time on, in this notorious place, error of an opposing religion crept in. And do not go up to Bethaven, that is, what was once called Bethel, because after golden calves were placed there by Jeroboam son of Nabath, it is not called the House of God but the house of an idol. For which reason, I wonder why the Septuagint interpreted it as "unless I make a mistake, the middle Jod letter which is surrounded on both sides by Aleph and Nun letters was believed to be Vau based solely on its size." "You shall not make a false oath by my name," says the Lord. For I do not want my name to be mentioned on your lips, which is tainted by the memory of idols. For just as a cow that is wanton and throws off her yoke, so too Israel, that is, the ten tribes, turned away from the service of the Lord. For the wanton cow, the Seventy translated παροιστρῶσαν, which stung by desire and struck by the asylum, which they commonly call "tabanus". About which Virgil also reports in the third book of the Georgics. ...The name of the asylum is Roman: the Greeks called it "oestrum," a harsh and bitter name that drives all the herds to flee in terror from the woods. The sky roars and trembles with their cries, and the banks of the dry Tanagra shake. And so because Israel had become insane and, struck by the spirit of fornication, went mad with unbelievable fury, not much longer afterwards, but while the prophet's body was still possessed by the spirit, the Lord said: "I will feed them as a lamb in a spacious place." He kept the metaphor of a cow in heat, in the same way that he had used it before, calling the captivity in Assyria and the dispersion of Israel into the widest land of the Medes, the pasture of a wide field and of flocks of sheep and lambs. A predisposition is present against heretics, concerning whom or about whom it is said: If you fornicate once, heretic, at least, do not offend, church-goer, and do not enter into Galgala, the meetings of heretics, where the sins of everyone are exposed, and are rolled in the mud like pigs. Do not assume that you rise up to the proud and arrogant fictions of false teachings. For there is not the house of God, but the house of an idol. And do not swear by the name of Christ, whose majesty you have defiled by mingling it with idols. For just as a slaughtered cow falls in the asylum, so the heretics are struck by the burning arrows of the devil and abandon knowledge of the Law. Therefore, they will graze in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, and the patience of the Lord and the care of the good Shepherd will nourish them unto their own destruction.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:15-16

• Hosea 4:17

  "Partaker of their idols is Ephraim, leave him." LXX: "Ephraim, a participant in idols, has placed scandals for himself." Ephraim, of whose tribe Jeroboam son of Nabath, who first set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan, is king of ten tribes. Therefore, O Judah, whom I mentioned above, if Israel commits fornication, let at least Judah not sin. Listen to my advice, do not disregard the words of the prophets; for Ephraim once was a friend and partner with idols. Leave him, do not follow his impiety, for his worship and religion and food are separated from your fellowship. This same thing can also be referred to heretics, and it is said to Judah, that is, to an ecclesiastical man, because Israel, who is interpreted as bearing fruit, promises himself a false richness of doctrine, and fruitful teachings, and once was a friend of demons, dismiss him and despise him: especially since their sacrifices are separated from your own sacrifices.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:17-19

• Hosea 4:18

  "he is separated from their congregation: they have committed fornication in their fornication; they loved to bring disgrace upon their protectors." LXX: "he has provoked the Canaanites, they have committed fornication, they have loved disgrace from his roar." They serve idols once, sacrificed to devils, fornicating every day, and loving their fornication. Indeed, its leaders and protectors, that is, the kings, took pleasure in bringing dishonor to the people, that is, in the vice of the princes. That which the Seventy translated ("Al." placed) as "provoked the Canaanites," is not found in Hebrew, but it can be thus interpreted, that we say only that Israel had such zeal for the worship of idols, that it did not imitate the Canaanites, that is, the heathen; but it provoked them to emulate its own error. And what is said, "He provoked the Canaanites," can be referred to heretics in the same sense, that most heretics have invented such abominations and filthy things, and have impure sacrifices, so that idolatry is inferior. Or certainly because "Cananaean" means "trader," or μετάβολος, that is, "translator," all those who make the Father's house a house of trade (John 2), and seek profits from the people, and transfer the truth of the Church into falsehood, are to be called Canaanites. For this is what is said: their gathering has been separated, they committed fornication once, and their leaders have deceived the unhappy people; and for the worship of God they have imbued them with the disgrace of idols.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:17-19

• Hosea 4:19

  "his spirit is bound up in their wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices." LXX: "a whirlwind of spirit will whistle in his wings, and they will be confounded from their altars." The unhappy people received the worship of idols, whose unclean spirits bound Israel in their wings and do not allow it to fly freely. Therefore they shall be confounded in their sacrifices, and they shall receive disgrace for their confusion. Symmachus, because we have interpreted it as "he bound his spirit on his wings," translates it into Greek in this way, as if one binds the wind in the wings of the wind, so that both the princes and the people, indeed both demons and Israel, may assert that they are vainly coupled with vanities. For wind and spirit are called "Rua" in one word in Hebrew. And devilish spirits have bound them on their wings, who are carried around by every wind of doctrine; and they cannot remain firm on the solid foundation of the Church. Those who truly are confounded in their sacrifices, because their bread is the bread of sorrow.

  Commentary on Hosea 4:17-19

• Hosea 5:1-2

  "Hear these things, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, and O house of the king, give ear; for judgment is for you. For you have become a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor, and victims on high have been turned aside into the depths." LXX: "Listen to these things, priests, and attend, House of Israel, and House of the King, perceive with your ears, for judgment belongs to you, since you have become a snare for speculation, and like a net spread out over Italy, those who capture it have established a hunt." The priests of the ten tribes are called to judgment, and the kings, not because the priests are from the tribe of Levi, but because the priests are called by the people. So even the priests of Baal, and four hundred and fifty prophets whom Elijah slew (1 Kings 18), and later Jehu the son of Namshi (2 Kings 9:10), in the presence of Jonadab the son of Rechab, were called priests. But even Israel, that is the people, is called to judgment, and none is excused, so that both priests and people and kings, who had led the people and appointed priests, hear together what they did and why they are handed over to enemies. I have appointed you as spies," he said, "and as leaders among the people, and have placed you on the high pinnacle of dignity, so that you might guide the wandering people. But you have become a trap, and are to be called not so much spies and leaders as hunters. For you have spread your net over Mount Tabor, which the Seventy translated as Itabyrium, having the custom of using Greek speech to decline Hebrew names, just as Edom, that is, Esau, and Seir are always interpreted as Idumea. But Mount Tabor is in Galilee, located in a plain, round and lofty, and finished equally on every side. About this mountain, we also read in the Psalms: "Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name". (Psalm 88:13). This mountain was translated as "Itabyrium" by the Seventy translators [of the Septuagint], as in Jeremiah. Birds are often caught in traps set upon this mountain. "And ye have cast off my fear, and have not kept my covenant. I also will cast off you for ever." (Jeremiah 34:15-16). The kings and priests have prohibited the people from going to the Temple of Jerusalem; therefore, they are said to have turned down sacrifices into the depths. According to the trope, the people are accused not to consider themselves strangers to crime, if they are induced by kings and priests, whom we understand as leaders of heretics. The leaders themselves are also accused of having taken the people like a trap and, with spies placed in the Church, led them astray. And on the lofty and most beautiful mountain "Tabor", which is interpreted as "coming light", they set traps, so that they could draw every deceiving person into the abyss, and offer them as sacrifices to demons, and steer them into the pit, lest they ever come to their senses, or sigh for the house of God, the Church. Some think that Thabor means a lake, that is, a cistern, and is suitable for the immediate meaning, that the heretics dug a lake and fell into the pit which they made. (Ps. LVI).

  Commentary on Hosea 5:1-2

• Hosea 5:3-4

  "And I am skilled in all of them, and I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me: for now Ephraim has committed fornication, Israel is contaminated: they will not give their thoughts, to turn again to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord." LXX: "For I am your master: I have known Ephraim, and Israel has not departed from me; for now Ephraim has fornicated, Israel is defiled. They have not given their thoughts to turn back to the Lord their God, for the spirit of fornication is in them and they have not known the Lord." O priests and kings, who deceived my people; and you, the people, who have been deceived, have sinned so gravely that you have not only killed victims, but also sent them down to the depths of hell: do not think that the magnitude of your crimes has caused you to be completely separated from me. I am your teacher, indeed a scholar, who desires to improve, not punish; and to save, not destroy. "I know Ephraim," he says, "that is, Jeroboam, from whom the people were persuaded; and all the kings who followed him in both rank and wickedness, and Israel was not hidden from me, that is, the people of ten tribes, because Israel was contaminated by a fornicating king. At first the king began to fornicate from the worship of God, desiring to worship golden calves, and the people wanting to follow him, they fulfilled equal impiety with equal zeal." (III Kings 12) Finally, they shall not return to the Lord because they found what they wanted, and the spirit of fornication, which according to the apostle, works in the sons of diffidence, possesses their captive hearts, and therefore under that ruler, they did not know, no, they forgot their Creator. (Ephesians 2). Therefore, the leaders of perverse teachings and the people of the Lord do not ignore: not because they are worthy of His knowledge, but because nothing of what they do in secret is hidden from Him, of whom some were deceived and others fell. And they will not give their thoughts to repentance, who always advance in destruction. For the spirit of fornication, by which they have committed fornication in the Church and have departed from true marriage, is in their midst: therefore they have not known the Lord.

  Commentary on Hosea 5:3-4

• Hosea 5:4

  First the king [Jeroboam I] chose to play the whore away from the worship of God, wishing to adore golden calves. And the people followed him willingly—with equal zeal they accomplished equal ungodliness. They do not return to the Lord, for they found what they were looking for, and the spirit of whoredom—which according to the apostle "works in the sons of distrust"6—holds their hearts captive. As long as it governs, they will not know the Lord. In fact, they forgot their Creator.… They—whoever advances in ruin—do not have thoughts of penitence. For the spirit of whoredom, by which they played the whore in the church and by which they went away from the true marriage, dwells in their midst. That is why they did not know the Lord.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:5

• Hosea 5:5

  "And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity: Juda shall also fall with them." LXX: "And the injury of Israel will be humbled before him: and Israel and Ephraim will be weakened in their iniquities, and Judah will also be weakened with them." The word "Gaon" is interpreted by Septuagint and Symmachus as "injury," by Aquila and Theodotion as "pride." Therefore, whatever Israel did, whether acting arrogantly against the Lord or worshipping idols to injure the Creator, will be answered in its face so that it may not go unpunished, but rather its humiliation will be humbled, and both people and kings will fall or weaken in their injustice, so that those who were strong in wickedness are forced to return to the Lord in weakness. And this will not only happen to Israel and Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes and their kings, so that they will be led into captivity; but Judah also, that is, the two tribes which ruled in Jerusalem, will follow the footsteps of the captives, that as they imitated the crime, they may imitate the punishment. Heretics have the mother of their iniquity in their pride, while they boast that they always know more, and rage against the Church. But their pride will weaken, and the people and teachers will equally fall: even Judah, who appears to be in the house of God, and in the Church, dwells not in mind but in body: and he has the same opinion in error with heretics; he is useless in promising the ecclesiastical name, because he also must be punished with the heretics. We rush towards what is clear, so that we may linger in the more obscure.

  Commentary on Hosea 5:5

• Hosea 5:6-7

  "In their flocks and herds they will go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. They have transgressed against the Lord, for they have produced illegitimate children. Now the month and its parts will devour them." LXX: "When they go with sheep and calves seeking the Lord, but shall not find him, he hath withdrawn himself from them. Because they have forsaken the Lord, and have brought up strange children, their rust shall devour them and their portions." Not only Israel and Ephraim will go with flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but also Judah, of whom it is written above: "Judah will also fall with them," all having this struggle, that they may try to appease with sacrifices those whom they have offended with their transgressions; and they will not find whom they seek, because he also departed from those who were departing. Especially when elsewhere he says, "Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?" And again, "I will not accept a bull from your house, nor goats from your flocks" (Ps. 49:13 and 9). And in Isaiah: "I do not want the sacrifices of rams or the fat of lambs or the blood of goats and bulls" (Isaiah 1:11). For they have transgressed against the Lord; because fornicating with idols, they did not beget children to God, but to demons. Some think that this signifies what is said in Ezra much later (1 Esdras 10) when they took foreign wives, creating children with them, and later were compelled to repudiate them. But it is better to accept foreign children who were generated in idolatrous error or whom they consecrated to idols by leading them through fire. Because, therefore, they did this, shortly afterwards, not after infinite periods of years, and as I used to predict before, far from the future; but now and in the present, the Assyrian and Chaldean will come and devour them with their parts, that is, with the possessions that they received in the division of the land according to the measure of the rope. Because we said "he will devour them," the Seventy translated "rust" for "them"; yet indeed rust, that is, ἐρυσίβη, in Hebrew is called Hasil, as they also said in the Prophet Joel: "The remnants of a worm will eat rust," which is to say, Hasil. But the month is called Hodes; finally Aquila translated "neomenias," that is, "Kalendas"; Symmachus and Theodotion translated "month"; and the sense is, the enemy will come each month and devastate all things. We read the Books of Kings and Chronicles, and we find that under King Pekah, who reigned over ten tribes, Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, came and took a great part of the people of Samaria to the Assyrians, at which time, according to the Greeks, it was the second year of the first Olympiad; and among the Latins (not yet founded Rome) Amulius was ruling in the twentieth year, whom later Romulus drove out of the kingdom. Heretics suspect that God is pleased with the multitude of sacrifices; and ecclesiastics, that by giving alms, they redeem sins, in which they remain: whereas every sacrifice except past sins, not present ones; thus, they do not find the Lord, Who removes Himself from such things, and retreats far away. These have truly ($"Al." however$) acted deceitfully against God, and have begotten children for the devil, not for Christ: therefore their works are cursed at all times, and all things that they do, the rusty color of blood lays waste, because they are closely related to blood and killing. But the rusty color is said in a proper sense to come down in the night dew, and to stain the lactating grains of wheat with the color of vermilion or red lead, and suitably in accordance with conversion, it devastates the clergy of heretics, of whom it is said, "Their clergy shall not " "profit them" (Jeremiah XII, 13, according to the LXX).

  Commentary on Hosea 5:6-7

• Hosea 5:8-9

  Blow the horn in Gabaa, trumpet in Rama: howl at Bethaven after your back, O Benjamin: Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke, among the tribes of Israel have I made known the truth." LXX: "Blow the trumpet on the hills, sound on the high places," "proclaim it in the house." ὢν: "Benjamin's mind has failed, Ephraim has become desolate in the days of reproof, in the tribes of Israel I have shown faithfulness." Ephraim and Israel and Judah shall each month, or the rust with its parts, devour. Therefore, I command you who listen that you do not sound a trumpet with a lofty voice, but a clear one: for there is a need for a clear hearing, so that all who are around may hear. "Blow the trumpet in Gabaa," which the Septuagint translated the etymology into "hills": and "sound the trumpet in Rama," which means "high": and these two are in the tribe of Benjamin, cities close to each other, that is, Gabaa, where Saul was born; and Rama, which is near Gabaa, situated on the seventh stone from Jerusalem; and which the king of Israel tried to occupy, to close the exit and entrance of the tribe of Judah. In Gabaa and in Rama, therefore, a clear trumpet and tuba resound, whose trumpet is pastoral, and the horn is made curved; whence it is properly called a Hebraic Sophar, and a κερατίγνυμι in Greek. But the tuba is made of bronze or silver, with which they rattled in wars and ceremonies. Above Bethaven, which was once called Bethel, and is in the tribe of Ephraim, where there was a golden calf, there is a need for not a clangor and sound, but a wailing: because there is a nearby captivity. And he said beautifully that Bethaven is located behind Benjamin, for where the tribe of Benjamin finishes, not far in the tribe of Ephraim, this city was founded. Therefore, I say and command: Blow the trumpet in Gabaa, and the horn in Rama, and howl in Bethaven, because the regal house of Ephraim, or Ephraim himself, that is the empire of Israel, will now be in desolation; and the neighboring captivity approaches. On the day of correction and supplication of the ten tribes of Israel, I showed my faithful words that I threatened through the prophets, so that I might prove, by action, what I had announced by word. Certain people who were near Bethaven according to the Seventy who said the house was the "city of the sun," were interpreted as saying that Christ, the sun of righteousness, was the city, and they wanted his Church to be that city. But this displeases me, for the house of an idol, which Aquila interpreted as "useless house," cannot be referred to the Church by means of tropology. But let us say this, that the heretics who promise themselves lofty knowledge in Gabaa and Rama, are ordered to howl ((or "jubilate")) in the house of an idol; and they should not be before the face of Benjamin, who is interpreted as "son of the right hand," but rather behind him, where he does not have eyes. For all the boasting of Ephraim, which means "abundance," he will soon be in desolation, and when the day of judgment and time of correction comes, I will show that my words are not in vain. Because we translated "Benjamin at your back," the Seventy translated it as "Benjamin's mind was moved," always adapting Benjamin, a man of the church, to excess of mind. Hence in the sixty-seventh psalm it is said: "There Benjamin, the youth, is in excess of mind." And in Jacob's blessings, in the person of Benjamin, from whom Paul the Apostle was descended, we read: "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil." (Gen. XLIX, 27). For he who persecuted the Church in the beginning, later on throughout the whole world, bestowed nourishment upon those who believed in the Gospel. From this it happened that Saul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, raving with madness, prophesied among the choir of prophets all day long until evening (1 Kings 10).

  Commentary on Hosea 5:8-9

• Hosea 5:10

  "The leaders of Judah have become like those who remove a boundary; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water." LXX: "The leaders of Judah have become like those who move boundary lines. I will pour out my rage on them like a flood, raging and swift." After the captivity of Ephraim and Israel, and their land became desolate, the leaders of Judah who should have wept and encouraged their people to turn away from idolatry, lest they suffer similarly, began to rejoice and be happy that their land was opened wide for them to possess. They became like those who remove boundary lines and expanded their kingdom and possession in the former places of Israel. Therefore, thus says the Lord: And upon those princes of Judah shall come the Babylonians; and they shall take them: their bowels will not be of force, but of my indignation. And he also speaks to the princes of Judah, that is, the Church, that they ought not to exult; and to estimate their own salvation through the perdition of heretics, but rather to mourn because they are lost. Wherefore even the Apostle Paul teaches the ecclesiastical men not to glory in the breaking off of the Jewish branches, but rather to fear lest they themselves be broken off (Rom. XI). And in another place: "Who," he says, "is scandalized, and I am not burned." (2 Corinthians 2:29)? Otherwise, against such leaders who glory in the miseries of others, and therefore think that they are standing if others fall, the Lord will pour out His anger like water. Seventy interpreted the word "impetus" as wrath, and some think that it should be understood as a blessing, according to what we read elsewhere: "The impetus of a river rejoices the city of God" (Ps. 45:4). But more correctly (as all except the Seventy have translated) anger should be received, especially since the name of effusion and anger is appropriate, as the prophet says to the Lord: "Pour out your anger upon them, and let the fury of your wrath take hold of them" (Ps. LXVIII, 25). The princes of Judah have moved the boundaries which their fathers had set, when they change truth with falsehood, and they preach something different from what they have received from the apostles.

  Commentary on Hosea 5:10

• Hosea 5:11

  "Ephraim endures slander, broken in judgement, because he started to follow after filth." LXX: "Ephraim oppressed his adversary, trampled justice, because he began to pursue vain things." If Ephraim is wicked, and because of his wickedness he will be destroyed, how can it now be said: "Ephraim endures slander, broken in judgement?" For he who endures slander is also broken, his judgement oppressed unjustly, especially when a just cause is stated for which he was given up to captivity. For it follows: 'since he began to leave behind filth', that is, behind the idols which are compared to filth. Therefore, what he says is this: Ephraim is oppressed by the Assyrians, first by Pul, then by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15), and afterwards by Salmanazar; not because they were righteous who oppressed him, and therefore he was handed over to them; but because those who were once my people, when I abandoned them, were handed over to punishment, and in this there seems to be slander, not towards God ("Al." from God), who inflicts just sentence: but towards those who endure torments, while they are handed over to more wicked adversaries. And the Lord brought upon them the cause of contempt in this part, and to be delivered unto the worst, and no judgment to be had toward them: for Ephraim began to go after idols, and to forsake God: for he himself had made golden calves. According to the interpretation of the Septuagint, Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam, oppressed his adversary Rehoboam, that is, the tribe of Judah, and in it he oppressed: because he followed the filthy idols of the Egyptians, and deserted Jerusalem and the temple. The meaning concerning heretics is clear: that with their false sophisms and dialectical art they often suppress churchmen; but when they have done this, they do not follow the purity of true faith, but the filth of lies; who are given over to the devil and his angels and seem to suffer slander and have the truth of judgment broken within them. Thus Israel is laid waste; and all its labors are devastated by the Assyrian conqueror; and the bishop lost God and therefore he is broken in judgment; because he followed idols.

  Commentary on Hosea 5:11

• Hosea 5:12

  Just as the moth consumes clothing and decay or dry-rot consumes wooden things (which both occur over a long time), in the same manner God, giving a place of penitence over a long time to the ten tribes and then afterward to the two tribes—summoning to salvation those who treasure for themselves wrath for the day of wrath—becomes like a moth or rot.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 2:5

• Hosea 5:12

  "And I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like rottenness to the house of Judah." LXX: "And I am like a tribulation to Ephraim, and like a stimulus to the house of Judah." In the Hebrew language "moth" is called "Recob" for "rot and decay"; one of which consumes clothes and the other wood: for which the LXX translated as "turbulence", which is "disorder" or "turbulence", and "stimulus". And it should be noted that the moth pertains to Ephraim, and the rottenness to the house of Judah. Therefore, how does a clothes moth consume clothing, and decay or rot consume wood; which both take a long time: In the same way, God gave a place for repentance to the ten tribes, and later to the two tribes for a long time, calling them to salvation, storing up His wrath for the day of wrath, like a moth or decay, not because God is a moth or decay, disturbance or affliction, but because to those who suffer punishment all these things seem so. Therefore, first consumed was Ephraim and Israel, then followed was the house of Judah: not Judah himself, but his house; otherwise, it was reserved for the genealogy of Judah, among whom He had been placed: And He was the expectation of the nations. However, the heretics, who are understood to be Ephraim, and also Judas, namely, those who remain with the Church, and who are con­tained in the errors or vices of heretics, will be subject to the same judgment.

  Commentary on Hosea 5:12

• Hosea 5:13

  "And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you." LXX: "And Ephraim saw his weakness, and Judah his pain, and Ephraim went to the Assyrians, and sent ambassadors to king Jareb, and he will not be able to free you, nor will he make an end of your pain." Embassies are not held in Hebrew. And where the Septuagint place "Jarib," we translate it as "avenger" according to Symmachus; for Aquila and Theodotion translated it as "judge." And this name "Jarib," signifying "avenger" and "judge," is shown by the name of Gideon who, when the worshippers of Baal sought him for punishment, because he had overthrown the grove of Baal and its altars, answered his father, "Let Baal therefore plead against him" or "avenge" himself, and he was afterward called "Jerubbaal," that is to say, "Let Baal plead against him." Therefore, understanding their own weakness, Ephraim sought not aid from Him who could loose them, but from the King of the Assyrians, to whom they were in sinfulness bound together with the ten tribes. We read that under King Manahen, who ruled over ten tribes (IV Kings XV), Israel sent gifts to the Assyrians; and Judah under King Ahaz, sought aid from Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, who was unable to deliver them from those who opposed God, nor could he loosen the bonds of captivity. We can refer to those bonds, for which it is written in Hebrew as Mezur, and which Aquila interpreted as ἐπίδεσιν or συνδεσμὸν, that is, "binding" or "conspiracy," and to that time when Rezin and Pekah son of Remaliah devastated many thousands of men from the tribe of Judah (Ibid. XVI), and Judah pleaded in vain for help against not two, but the aid of the kings of Assyria. Some people, according to the trope of Ephraim and Judah, refer both to heretics and to men of the church, because both they and Judas, the sinners, are bound with the chains of sins, according to what is written: "With the cords of his sins every one is bound" (Prov. 5:22). They have sent to Assyria and to the avenging king, that is, to the devil, of whom we read: "That thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger" (Ps. 8:3). And because they did not beseech the true helper or judge; therefore He has made them abide in the pain of sickness and the chains of their own offenses. I have read in the commentaries of someone that the King "Jarib" is interpreted as Christ. And because it follows: "He will not be able to heal you," this argument is used, that Christ cannot heal heretics or sinning Christians at the time of judgment, where there is no mercy, according to what is written: "But in hell, who shall confess to thee?" (Ps. VI). And that he cannot heal or free, not because of his weakness, but because of their merit, who have sought help too late. How our Lord was said to have been unable to work miracles in his own country, and the reason why he was unable, he explains: 'Because,' he says, 'they did not believe in him.' He said these things: we will interpret the king unfavorably. Because we explained 'Jarib,' which means 'avenger:' others read Jarim with the letter Mem, which is transferred to 'woods:' hence Cariath Jarim, interpreted as 'the village of woods.'

  Commentary on Hosea 5:13