The Holy BiblePart 51 out of 747:19. After this I would diligently learn concerning the fourth beast, which was very different from all, and exceeding terrible: his teeth and claws were of iron: he devoured and broke in pieces, and the rest he stamped upon with his feet: 7:20. And concerning the ten horns that he had on his head: and concerning the other that came up, before which three horns fell: and of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was greater than the rest. 7:21. I beheld, and lo, that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them, 7:22. Till the ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom. 7:23. And thus he said: The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 7:24. And the ten horns of the same kingdom, shall be ten kings: and another shall rise up after them, and he shall be mightier than the former, and he shall bring down three kings. 7:25. And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the most High: and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time. A time, and times, and half a time. . .That is, three years and a half; which is supposed to be the length of the duration of the persecution of Antichrist. 7:26. And a judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end. 7:27. And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him. 7:28. Hitherto is the end of the word. I, Daniel, was much troubled with my thoughts, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the word in my heart. Daniel Chapter 8 Daniel's vision of the ram and the he goat interpreted by the angel Gabriel. 8:1. In the third year of the reign of king Baltasar, a vision appeared to me. I, Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning, 8:2. Saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of Ulai. 8:3. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. Afterward A ram. . .The empire of the Medes and Persians. 8:4. I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great. 8:5. And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes. A he goat. . .The empire of the Greeks, or Macedonians. Ibid. He touched not the ground. . .He conquered all before him, with so much rapidity, that he seemed rather to fly, than to walk upon the earth.--Ibid. A notable horn. . .Alexander the Great. 8:6. And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his strength. 8:7. And when he was come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8:8. And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven. Four horns. . .Seleucus, Antigonus, Philip, and Ptolemeus, the successors of Alexander, who divided his empire among them. 8:9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength. A little horn. . .Antiochus Epiphanes, a descendant of Seleucus. He grew against the south, and the east, by his victories over the kings of Egypt and Armenia: and against the strength, that is, against Jerusalem and the people of God. 8:10. And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them. Unto the strength of heaven. . .or, against the strength of heaven. So are here called the army of the Jews, the people of God. 8:11. And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary. 8:12. And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper. 8:13. And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another I know not to whom, that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot? 8:14. And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days. . .That is, six years and almost four months: which was the whole time from the beginning of the persecution of Antiochus till his death. 8:15. And it came to pass when I, Daniel, saw the vision, and sought the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man. 8:16. And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 8:17. And he came, and stood near where I stood: and when he was come, I fell on my face, trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled. 8:18. And when he spoke to me, I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright. 8:19. And he said to me: I will shew thee what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end. 8:20. The ram, which thou sawest with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians. 8:21. And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king. 8:22. But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it, four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength. 8:23. And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences. 8:24. And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints, 8:25. According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand. 8:26. And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: thou, therefore, seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days. 8:27. And I, Daniel, languished, and was sick for some days: and when I was risen up, I did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, and there was none that could interpret it. Daniel Chapter 9 Daniel's confession and prayer: Gabriel informs him concerning the seventy weeks to the coming of Christ. 9:1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Assuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans: 9:2. The first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem. 9:3. And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. 9:4. And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments. 9:5. We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments. 9:6. We have not hearkened to thy servants, the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 9:7. To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to them that are near, and to them that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities, by which they have sinned against thee. 9:8. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers, that have sinned. 9:9. But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee: 9:10. And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. 9:11. And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him. 9:12. And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which hath been done in Jerusalem. 9:13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on thy truth. 9:14. And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon us: the Lord, our God, is just in all his works which he hath done: for we have not hearkened to his voice. 9:15. And now, O Lord, our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt, with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, 9:16. O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city, Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are a reproach to all that are round about us. 9:17. Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate, for thy own sake. 9:18. Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies. 9:19. O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people. 9:20. Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God: 9:21. As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. The man Gabriel. . .The angel Gabriel in the shape of a man. 9:22. And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand. 9:23. From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore, do thou mark the word, and understand the vision. Man of desires. . .that is, ardently praying for the Jews then in captivity. 9:24. Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be anointed. Seventy weeks. . .Viz., of years, (or seventy times seven, that is, 490 years,) are shortened; that is, fixed and determined, so that the time shall be no longer. 9:25. Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in straitness of times. From the going forth of the word, etc. . .That is, from the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, when by his commandment Nehemias rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, 2 Esd. 2. From which time, according to the best chronology, there were just sixty-nine weeks of years, that is, 483 years to the baptism of Christ, when he first began to preach and execute the office of Messias.--Ibid. In straitness of times. . .angustia temporum: which may allude both to the difficulties and opposition they met with in building: and to the shortness of the time in which they finished the wall, viz., fifty-two days. 9:26. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people, with their leader, that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. A people with their leader. . .The Romans under Titus. 9:27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end. In the half of the week. . .or, in the middle of the week, etc. Because Christ preached three years and a half: and then by his sacrifice upon the cross abolished all the sacrifices of the law.--Ibid. The abomination of desolation. . .Some understand this of the profanation of the temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots. Others of the bringing in thither the ensigns and standard of the pagan Romans. Others, in fine, distinguish three different times of desolation: viz., that under Antiochus; that when the temple was destroyed by the Romans; and the last near the end of the world under Antichrist. To all which, as they suppose, this prophecy may have a relation. Daniel Chapter 10 Daniel having humbled himself by fasting and penance seeth a vision, with which he is much terrified; but he is comforted by an angel. 10:1. In the third year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel, surnamed Baltassar, and a true word, and great strength: and he understood the word: for there is need of understanding in a vision. 10:2. In those days I, Daniel, mourned the days of three weeks. 10:3. I ate no desirable bread, and neither flesh, nor wine, entered into my mouth, neither was I anointed with ointment: till the days of three weeks were accomplished. 10:4. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, I was by the great river, which is the Tigris. 10:5. And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with the finest gold: 10:6. And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude. 10:7. And I, Daniel alone, saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw it not: but an exceeding great terror fell upon them, and they fled away, and hid themselves. 10:8. And I, being left alone, saw this great vision: and there remained no strength in me, and the appearance of my countenance was changed in me, and I fainted away, and retained no strength. 10:9. And I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard I lay in a consternation upon my face, and my face was close to the ground. 10:10. And behold a hand touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees, and upon the joints of my hands. 10:11. And he said to me: Daniel, thou man of desires, understand the words that I speak to thee, and stand upright: for I am sent now to thee. And when he had said this word to me, I stood trembling. 10:12. And he said to me: Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight of thy God, thy words have been heard: and I am come for thy words. 10:13. But the prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there by the king of the Persians. The prince, etc. . .That is, the angel guardian of Persia: who according to his office, seeking the spiritual good of the Persians was desirous that many of the Jews should remain among them. 10:14. But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall thy people in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days. 10:15. And when he was speaking such words to me, I cast down my countenance to the ground, and held my peace. 10:16. And behold as it were the likeness of a son of man touched my lips: then I opened my mouth and spoke, and said to him that stood before me: O my lord, at the sight of thee my joints are loosed, and no strength hath remained in me. 10:17. And how can the servant of my lord speak with my lord? for no strength remaineth in me; moreover, my breath is stopped. 10:18. Therefore, he that looked like a man, touched me again, and strengthened me. 10:19. And he said: Fear not, O man of desires, peace be to thee: take courage, and be strong. And when he spoke to me, I grew strong, and I said: Speak, O my lord, for thou hast strengthened me. 10:20. And he said: Dost thou know wherefore I am come to thee? And now I will return, to fight against the prince of the Persians. When I went forth, there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming. 10:21. But I will tell thee what is set down in the scripture of truth: and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince. Michael your prince. . .The guardian general of the church of God. Daniel Chapter 11 The angel declares to Daniel many things to come, with regard to the Persian and Grecian kings: more especially with regard to Antiochus as a figure of Antichrist. 11:1. And from the first year of Darius, the Mede, I stood up, that he might be strengthened, and confirmed. 11:2. And now I will shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be enriched exceedingly above them all: and when he shall be grown mighty by his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Three kings. . .Viz., Cambyses, Smerdes Magus, and Darius, the son of Hystaspes.--Ibid. The fourth. . .Xerxes. 11:3. But there shall rise up a strong king, and shall rule with great power: and he shall do what he pleaseth. A strong king. . .Alexander. 11:4. And when he shall come to his height, his kingdom shall be broken, and it shall be divided towards the four winds of the heaven: but not to his posterity, nor according to his power with which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be rent in peices, even for strangers, besides these. 11:5. And the king of the south shall be strengthened, and one of his princes shall prevail over him, and he shall rule with great power: for his dominions shall be great. The king of the south. . .Ptolemeus the son of Lagus, king of Egypt, which lies south of Jerusalem.--Ibid. One of his princes. . .that is, one of Alexander's princes, shall prevail over him: that is, shall be stronger than the king of Egypt. He speaks of Seleucus Nicator, king of Asia and Syria, whose successors are here called the kings of the north, because their dominions lay to the north in respect to Jerusalem. 11:6. And after the end of years they shall be in league together: and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make friendship, but she shall not obtain the strength of the arm, neither shall her seed stand: and she shall be given up, and her young men that brought her, and they that strengthened her in these times. The daughter of the king of the south. . .Viz., Berenice, daughter of Ptolemeus Philadelphus, given in marriage to Antiochus Theos, grandson of Seleucus. 11:7. And a plant of the bud of her roots shall stand up: and he shall come with an army, and shall enter into the province of the king of the north: and he shall abuse them, and shall prevail. A plant, etc. . .Ptolemeus Evergetes, the son of Philadelphus. 11:8. And he shall also carry away captive into Egypt their gods, and their graven things, and their precious vessels of gold and silver: he shall prevail against the king of the north. The king of the north. . .Seleucus Callinicus. 11:9. And the king of the south shall enter into the kingdom, and shall return to his own land. 11:10. And his sons shall be provoked, and they shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and he shall come with haste like a flood: and he shall return, and be stirred up, and he shall join battle with his force. His sons. . .Seleucus Ceraunius, and Antiochus the Great, the sons of Callinicus.--Ibid. He shall come. . .Viz., Antiochus the Great. 11:11. And the king of the south being provoked, shall go forth, and shall fight against the king of the north, and shall prepare an exceeding great multitude, and a multitude shall be given into his hands. The king of the south. . .Ptolemeus Philopator, son of Evergetes. 11:12. And he shall take a multitude, and his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many thousands: but he shall not prevail. 11:13. For the king of the north shall return, and shall prepare a multitude much greater than before: and in the end of times, and years, he shall come in haste with a great army, and much riches. 11:14. And in those times many shall rise up against the king of the south, and the children of prevaricators of thy people shall lift up themselves to fulfil the vision, and they shall fall. 11:15. And the king of the north shall come, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take the best fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, and his chosen ones shall rise up to resist, and they shall not have strength. 11:16. And he shall come upon him, and do according to his pleasure, and there shall be none to stand against his face: and he shall stand in the glorious land, and it shall be consumed by his hand. He shall come upon him. . .Viz., Antiochus shall come upon the king of the south.--Ibid. The glorious land. . .Judea. 11:17. And he shall set his face to come to possess all his kingdom, and he shall make upright conditions with him: and he shall give him a daughter of women, to overthrow it: and she shall not stand, neither shall she be for him. All his kingdom. . .Viz., all the kingdom of Ptolemeus Epiphanes, son of Philopator.--Ibid. A daughter of women. . .That is, a most beautiful woman, viz., his daughter Cleopatra.--Ibid. To overthrow it. . .Viz., the kingdom of Epiphanes: but his policy shall not succeed; for Cleopatra shall take more to heart the interest of her husband, than that of her father. 11:18. And he shall turn his face to the islands, and shall take many: and he shall cause the prince of his reproach to cease, and his reproach shall be turned upon him. The prince of his reproach. . .Seipio the Roman general, called the prince of his reproach, because he overthrew Antiochus, and obliged him to submit to very dishonourable terms, before he would cease from the war. 11:19. And he shall turn his face to the empire of his own land, and he shall stumble, and fall, ans shall not be found. 11:20. And there shall stand up in his place one most vile, and unworthy of kingly honour: and in a few days he shall be destroyed, not in rage nor in battle. One most vile. . .Seleucus Philopator, who sent Heliodorus to plunder the temple: and was shortly after slain by the same Heliodorus. 11:21. And there shall stand up in his place one despised, and the kingly honour shall not be given him: and he shall come privately, and shall obtain the kingdom by fraud. One despised. . .Viz., Antiochus Epiphanes, who at first was despised and not received for king. What is here said of this prince, is accommodated by St. Jerome and others to Antichrist; of whom this Antiochus was a figure. 11:22. And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face, and shall be broken: yea, also the prince of the covenant. Of the fighter. . .That is, of them that shall oppose him, and shall fight against him.--Ibid. The prince of the covenant. . .or, of the league. The chief of them that conspired against him: or the king of Egypt his most powerful adversary. 11:23. And after friendships, he will deal deceitfully with him: and he shall go up, and shall overcome with a small people. 11:24. And he shall enter into rich and plentiful cities: and he shall do that which his fathers never did, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall scatter their spoils, and their prey, and their riches, and shall forecast devices against the best fenced places: and this until a time. 11:25. And his strength, and his heart, shall be stirred up against the king of the south, with a great army: and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with many and very strong succours: and they shall not stand, for they shall form designs against him. The king. . .Ptolemeus Philometor. 11:26. And they that eat bread with him, shall destroy him, and his army shall be overthrown: and many shall fall down slain. 11:27. And the heart of the two kings shall be to do evil, and they shall speak lies at one table, and they shall not prosper: because as yet the end is unto another time. 11:28. And he shall return into his land with much riches: and his heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall succeed, and shall return into his own land. 11:29. At the time appointed he shall return, and he shall come to the south, but the latter time shall not be like the former. 11:30. And the galleys and the Romans shall come upon him, and he shall be struck, and shall return, and shall have indignation against the covenant of the sanctuary, and he shall succeed: and he shall return, and shall devise against them that have forsaken the covenant of the sanctuary. The galleys and the Romans. . .Popilius, and the other Roman ambassadors, who came in galleys, and obliged him to depart from Egypt. 11:31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice: and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation. They shall place there the abomination, etc. . .The idol of Jupiter Olympius, which Antiochus ordered to be set up in the sanctuary of the temple: which is here called the sanctuary of strength, from the Almighty that was worshipped there. 11:32. And such as deal wickedly against the covenant shall deceitfully dissemble: but the people that know their God shall prevail and succeed. 11:33. And they that are learned among the people shall teach many: and they shall fall by the sword, and by fire, and by captivity, and by spoil for many days. 11:34. And when they shall have fallen, they shall be relieved with a small help: and many shall be joined to them deceitfully. 11:35. And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be tried, and may be chosen, and made white, even to the appointed time: because yet there shall be another time. 11:36. And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall be lifted up, and shall magnify himself against every god: and he shall speak great things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the wrath be accomplished. For the determination is made. 11:37. And he shall make no account of the God of his fathers: and he shall follow the lust of women, and he shall not regard any gods: for he shall rise up against all things. 11:38. But he shall worship the god Maozim, in his place: and a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall worship with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and things of great price. The god Maozim. . .That is, the god of forces or strong holds. 11:39. And he shall do this to fortify Maozim with a strange god, whom he hath acknowledged, and he shall increase glory, and shall give them power over many, and shall divide the land gratis. And he shall increase glory, etc. . .He shall bestow honours, riches and lands, upon them that shall worship his god. 11:40. And at the time prefixed the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a tempest, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with a great navy, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall destroy, and pass through. 11:41. And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall fall: and these only shall be saved out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the principality of the children of Ammon. 11:42. And he shall lay his hand upon the lands: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 11:43. And he shall have power over the treasures of gold, and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt: and he shall pass through Lybia, and Ethiopia. 11:44. And tidings out of the east, and out of the north, shall trouble him: and he shall come with a great multitude to destroy and slay many. 11:45. And he shall fix his tabernacle, Apadno, between the seas, upon a glorious and holy mountain: and he shall come even to the top thereof, and none shall help him. Apadno. . .Some take it for the proper name of a place: others, from the Hebrew, translate it his palace. Daniel Chapter 12 Michael shall stand up for the people of God: with other things relating to Antichrist, and the end of the world. 12:1. But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come, such as never was from the time that nations began, even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. 12:2. And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always. 12:3. But they that are learned, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity. Learned. . .Viz., in the law of God and true wisdom, which consists in knowing and loving God. 12:4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time appointed: many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold. 12:5. And I, Daniel, looked, and behold as it were two others stood: one on this side upon the bank of the river, and another on that side, on the other bank of the river. 12:6. And I said to the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? 12:7. And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn by him that liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished. 12:8. And I heard, and understood not. And I said: O my lord, what shall be after these things? 12:9. And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time. 12:10. Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire: and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall understand. 12:11. And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days. 12:12. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days. 12:13. But go thou thy ways until the time appointed: and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days. Daniel Chapter 13 The history of Susanna and the two elders. This history of Susanna, in all the ancient Greek and Latin Bibles, was placed in the beginning of the book of Daniel: till St. Jerome, in his translation, detached it from thence; because he did not find it in the Hebrew: which is also the case of the history of Bel and the Dragon. But both the one and the other are received by the Catholic Church: and were from the very beginning a part of the Christian Bible. 13:1. Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was Joakim: 13:2. And he took a wife, whose name was Susanna, the daughter of Helcias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared God. 13:3. For her parents being just, had instructed their daughter according to the law of Moses. 13:4. Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his house: and the Jews resorted to him, because he was the most honourable of them all. 13:5. And there were two of the ancients of the people appointed judges that year, of whom the Lord said: That iniquity came out from Babylon, from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern the people. 13:6. These men frequented the house of Joakim, and all that hand any matters of judgment came to them. 13:7. And when the people departed away at noon, Susanna went in, and walked in her husband's orchard. 13:8. And the old men saw her going in every day, and walking: and they were inflamed with lust towards her: 13:9. And they perverted their own mind, and turned away their eyes, that they might not look unto heaven, nor remember just judgments. 13:10. So they were both wounded with the love of her, yet they did not make known their grief one to the other. 13:11. For they were ashamed to declare to one another their lust, being desirous to have to do with her: 13:12. And they watched carefully every day to see her. And one said to the other: 13:13. Let us now go home, for it is dinner time. So going out, they departed one from another. 13:14. And turning back again, they came both to the same place: and asking one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust: and then they agreed together upon a time, when they might find her alone. 13:15. And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in on a time, as yesterday and the day before, with two maids only, and was desirous to wash herself in the orchard: for it was hot weather. 13:16. And there was nobody there, but the two old men that had hid themselves, and were beholding her. 13:17. So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me. 13:18. And they did as she bade them: and they shut the doors of the orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within. 13:19. Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and ran to her, and said: 13:20. Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody seeth us, and we are in love with thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us. 13:21. But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send away thy maids form thee. 13:22. Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I shall not escape your hands. 13:23. But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord. 13:24. With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders also cried out against her. 13:25. And one of them ran to the door of the orchard, and opened it. 13:26. So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the back door, to see what was the matter. 13:27. But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed: for never had there been any such word said of Susanna. And on the next day, 13:28. When the people were come to Joakim, her husband, the two elders also came full of wicked device against Susanna, to put her to death. 13:29. And they said before the people: Send to Susanna, daughter of Helcias, the wife of Joakim. And presently they sent. 13:30. And she came with her parents, and children and all her kindred. 13:31. Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful to behold. 13:32. But those wicked men commanded that her face should be uncovered, (for she was covered) that so at least they might be satisfied with her beauty. 13:33. Therefore her friends, and all her acquaintance wept. 13:34. But the two elders rising up in the midst of the people, laid their hands upon her head. 13:35. And she weeping, looked up to heaven, for her heart had confidence in the Lord. 13:36. And the elders said: As we walked in the orchard alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, ans sent away the maids from her. 13:37. Then a young man that was there hid came to her, and lay with her. 13:38. But we that were in a corner of the orchard, seeing this wickedness, ran up to them, and we saw them lie together. 13:39. And him indeed we could not take, because he was stronger than us, and opening the doors, he leaped out: 13:40. But having taken this woman, we asked who the young man was, but she would not tell us: of this thing we are witnesses. 13:41. The multitude believed them, as being the elders, and the judges of the people, and they condemned her to death. 13:42. Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: O eternal God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come to pass, 13:43. Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me: and behold I must die, whereas I have done none of these things, which these men have maliciously forged against me. 13:44. And the Lord heard her voice. 13:45. And when she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel: 13:46. And he cried out with a loud voice: I am clear from the blood of this woman. 13:47. Then all the people turning themselves towards him, said: What meaneth this word that thou hast spoken? 13:48. But he standing in the midst of them, said: Are ye so foolish, ye children of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth, you have condemned a daughter of Israel? 13:49. Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against her. 13:50. So all the people turned again in haste, and the old men said to him: Come, and sit thou down among us, and shew it us: seeing God hath given thee the honour of old age. 13:51. And Daniel said to the people: Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them. 13:52. So when they were put asunder one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him: O thou that art grown old in evil days, now are thy sins come out, which thou hast committed before: 13:53. In judging unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and letting the guilty to go free, whereas the Lord saith: The innocent and the just thou shalt not kill. 13:54. Now then if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them conversing together: He said: Under a mastic tree. 13:55. And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thy own head: for behold the angel of God having received the sentence of him, shall cut thee in two. 13:56. And having put him aside, he commanded that the other should come, and he said to him: O thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived tee, and lust hath perverted thy heart: 13:57. Thus did you do to the daughters of Israel, and they for fear conversed with you: but a daughter of Juda would not abide your wickedness. 13:58. Now, therefore, tell me, under what tree didst thou take them conversing together. And he answered: Under a holm tree. 13:59. And Daniel said to him: Well hast thou also lied against thy own head: for the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to cut thee in two, and to destroy you. 13:60. With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and they blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him. 13:61. And they rose up against the two elders, (for Daniel had convicted them of false witness by their own mouth) and they did to them as they had maliciously dealt against their neighbour, 13:62. To fulfil the law of Moses: and they put them to death, and innocent blood was saved in that day. 13:63. But Helcias, and his wife, praised God, for their daughter, Susanna, with Joakim, her husband, and all her kindred, because there was no dishonesty found in her. 13:64. And Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that day, and thence forward. 13:65. And king Astyages was gathered to his fathers; and Cyrus, the Persian, received his kingdom. Daniel Chapter 14 The history of Bel, and of the great serpent worshipped by the Babylonians. 14:1. And Daniel was the king's guest, and was honoured above all his friends. The king's guest. . .It seems most probable, that the king here spoken of was Evilmerodach, the son and successor of Nabuchodonosor, and a great favourer of the Jews. 14:2. Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel: and there was spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine. 14:3. The king also worshipped him, and went every day to adore him: but Daniel adored his God. And the king said to him: Why dost thou not adore Bel? 14:4. And he answered, and said to him: Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, that created heaven and earth, and hath power over all flesh. 14:5. And the king said to him: Doth not Bel seem to thee to be a living god? Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day? 14:6. Then Daniel smiled, and said: O king, be not deceived: for this is but clay within, and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any time. 14:7. And the king being angry, called for his priests, and said to them: If you tell me not who it is that eateth up these expenses, you shall die. 14:8. But if you can shew that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall die, because he hath blasphemed against Bel. And Daniel said to the king: Be it done according to thy word. 14:9. Now the priests of Bel were seventy, beside their wives, and little ones, and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. 14:10. And the priests of Bel said: Behold, we go out: and do thou, O king, set on the meats, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring: 14:11. And when thou comest in the morning, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else Daniel, that hath lied against us. 14:12. And they little regarded it, because they had made under the table a secret entrance, and they always came in by it, and consumed those things. 14:13. So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king set the meats before Bel: and Daniel commanded his servants, and they brought ashes, and he sifted them all over the temple before the king: and going forth, they shut the door, and having sealed it with the king's ring, they departed. 14:14. But the priests went in by night, according to their custom, with their wives, and their children: and they eat and drank up all. 14:15. And the king arose early in the morning, and Daniel with him. 14:16. And the king said: Are the seals whole, Daniel? And he answered: They are whole, O king. 14:17. And as soon as he had opened the door, the king looked upon the table, and cried out with a loud voice: Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit with thee. 14:18. And Daniel laughed: and he held the king, that he should not go in: and he said: Behold the pavement, mark whose footsteps these are. 14:19. And the king said: I see the footsteps of men, and women, and children. And the king was angry. 14:20. Then he took the priests, and their wives, and their children: and they shewed him the private doors by which they came in, and consumed the things that were on the table. 14:21. The king, therefore, put them to death, and delivered Bel into the power of Daniel: who destroyed him and his temple. 14:22. And there was a great dragon in that place, and the Babylonians worshipped him. 14:23. And the king said to Daniel: Behold, thou canst not say now, that this is not a living god: adore him, therefore. 14:24. And Daniel said: I adore the Lord, my God: for he is the living God: but that is no living god. 14:25. But give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club. And the king said, I give thee leave. 14:26. Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon's mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worship. 14:27. And when the Babylonians had heard this, they took great indignation: and being gathered together against the king, they said: The king is become a Jew. He hath destroyed Bel, he hath killed the dragon, and he hath put the priests to death. 14:28. And they came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house. 14:29. And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently: and being constrained by necessity: he delivered Daniel to them. 14:30. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days. The den of lions. . .Daniel was twice cast into the den of lions; one under Darius the Mede, because he had transgressed the king's edict, by praying three times a day: and another time under Evilmerodach by a sedition of the people. This time he remained six days in the lions' den; the other time only one night. 14:31. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not given unto them, that they might devour Daniel. 14:32. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the field, to carry it to the reapers. Habacuc. . .The same, as some think whose prophecy is found among the lesser prophets but others believe him to be different. 14:33. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner which thou hast into Babylon, to Daniel, who is in the lions' den. 14:34. And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den. 14:35. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon, over the den, in the force of his spirit. 14:36. And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee. 14:37. And Daniel said, Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee. 14:38. And Daniel arose, and eat. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. 14:39. And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. 14:40. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art thou, O Lord, the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions' den. 14:41. But those that had been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him. 14:42. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den. THE PROPHECY OF OSEE OSEE, or Hosea, whose name signifies A saviour, was the first in the order of time among those who are commonly called lesser prophets, because their prophecies are short. He prophesied in the kingdom of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, about the same time that Isaias prophesied in the kingdom of Juda. Osee Chapter 1 By marrying a harlot, and by the names of his children, the prophet sets forth the crimes of Israel and their punishment. He foretells their redemption by Christ. 1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Osee, the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joas, king of Israel. 1:2. The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osee: and the Lord said to Osee: Go, take thee a wife of fornications, and have of her children of fornications: for the land by fornication shall depart from the Lord. A wife of fornications. . .That is, a wife that has been given to fornication. This was to represent the Lord's proceedings with his people Israel, who, by spiritual fornication, were continually offending him.--Ibid. Children of fornications. . .So called from the character of their mother, if not also from their own wicked dispositions. 1:3. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Debelaim: and she conceived, and bore him a son. 1:4. And the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezrahel: for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezrahel upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. 1:5. And in that day I will break in pieces the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrahel. 1:6. And she conceived again, and bore a daughter, and he said to him: Call her name, Without mercy: for I will not add any more to have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them. Without mercy. . .Lo-Ruhamah. 1:7. And I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and I 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. 1:8. And she weaned her that was called Without mercy. And she conceived, and bore a son. 1:9. And he said: Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. Not my people. . .Lo-ammi. 1:10. And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, that is without measure, and shall not be numbered. And it shall be in the place where it shall be said to them: You are not my people: it shall be said to them: Ye are the sons of the living God. The number, etc. . .Viz., of the true Israelites, the children of the church of Christ. 1:11. And the children of Juda, and the children of Israel, shall be gathered together: and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land: for great is the day of Jezrahel. One head. . .viz., Christ.--Ibid. Great is the day of Jezrahel. . .That is, of the seed of God; for Jezrahel signifies the seed of God. Osee Chapter 2 Israel is justly punished for leaving God. The abundance of grace in the church of Christ. 2:1. Say ye to your brethren: You are my people: and to your sister: Thou hast obtained mercy. Say to your brethren, etc. . .or, Call your brethren, My people: and your sister, Her that hath obtained mercy. This is connected with the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and relates to the converts of Israel. 2:2. Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts. Your mother. . .The synagogue. 2:3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born: and I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land that none can pass through and will kill her with drought. 2:4. And I will not have mercy on her children. for they are the children of fornications. 2:5. For their mother hath 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. 2:6. Wherefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths. 2:7. 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. 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. 2:9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its season, and I will set at liberty my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace. 2:10. And now I will lay open her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand: 2:11. And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times. 2:12. 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 as a forest and the beasts of the field shall devour her. 2:13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, to whom she burnt incense, and decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord. 2:14. Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart. I will allure her, etc. . .After all her disloyalties, I will still allure her by my grace etc., and send her vinedressers, viz., the apostles: originally her own children, who shall open to her the gates of hope; as heretofore at her coming into the land of promise, she had all good success after she had satisfied the divine justice by the execution of Achan in the valley of Achor. Jos. 7. 2:15. And I will give her vinedressers out of the same place, and the valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there according to the days of her youth, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt. 2:16. And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord: That she shall call me: My husband, and she shall call me no more Banli. My husband. . .In Hebrew, Ishi. Baali, my lord. The meaning of this verse is: that whereas Ishi and Baali were used indifferently in those days by wives speaking to their husbands; the synagogue, whom God was pleased to consider as his spouse, should call him only Ishi, and abstain from the name of Baali, because of its affinity with the idol Baal. 2:17. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name. Baalim. . .It is the plural number of Baal: for there were divers idols of Baal. 2:18. And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure. 2:19. And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations. I will espouse thee, etc. . .This relates to the happy espousals of Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved. 2:20. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 2:21. 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. Hear the heavens, etc. . .All shall conspire in favour of the church, which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of God. 2:22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel. 2:23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. 2:24. And I will say to that which is not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God. That which was not my people, etc. . .This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles. Osee Chapter 3 The prophet is commanded again to love an adulteress; to signify God's love to the synagogue. The wretched state of the Jews for a long time, till at last they shall be converted. 3:1. And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress: as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the grapes. 3:2. And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a core of barley, and for half a core of barley. 3:3. And I said to her: Thou shalt wait for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be no man's, and I also will wait for thee. 3:4. For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim. Theraphim. . .Images or representations. 3:5. And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord, their God, and David, their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, in the last days. David their king. . .That is, Christ, who is of the house of David. Osee Chapter 4 God's judgment against the sins of Israel: Juda is warned not to follow their example. 4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land. 4:2. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood. 4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the heat of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together. 4:4. But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest. Let not any man judge, etc. . .As if he would say: It is in vain to strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil. 4:5. And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent. 4:6. My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children. 4:7. According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. 4:8. They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity. 4:9. And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices. 4:10. And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing the law. 4:11. Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness, take away the understanding. 4:12. My people have 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. 4:13. They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall your daughters commit fornication, aud your spouses shall be adulteresses. 4:14. I will not visit upon your daughters, when they shall commit fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery: because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be beaten. 4:15. If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend: and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not swear: The Lord liveth. Galgal and Bethaven. . .Places where idols were worshipped. Bethel, which signifies the house of God, is called by the prophet, Bethaven, that is, the house of vanity, from Jeroboam's golden calf that was worshipped there. 4:16. For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer now will the Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place. 4:17. Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone. 4:18. Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication: they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon them. 4:19. The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices. Osee Chapter 5 God's threats against the priests, the people, and princes of Israel, for their idolatry. 5:1. Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you, because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over and a net spread upon Thabor. O priests. . .What is said of priests in this prophecy is chiefly understood of the priests of the kingdom of Israel; who were not true priests of the race of Aaron; but served the calves at Bethel and Dan. 5:2. And you have turned aside victims into the depth and I am the teacher of them all. 5:3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me for now Ephraim hath committed fornication, Israel is defiled. 5:4. They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. 5:5. And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel, and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Juda also shall fall with them. 5:6. With their flocks and with their herds, they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find him: he is withdrawn from them. 5:7. They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten children that are strangers: now shall a month devour them with their portions. Children that are strangers. . .That is, aliens from God: and therefore they are threatened with speedy destruction. 5:8. Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin. 5:9. Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be. 5:10. The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. As they that take up the bound. . .That is, they that remove the boundary, encroaching on the property of their neighbors: figuratively: going beyond the boundary of the laws of God. 5:11. Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he began to go after filthiness. 5:12. And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the house of Juda. 5:13. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda 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. 5:14. For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and there is none that can rescue. 5:15. I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek my face. Osee Chapter 6 Affliction shall be a means to bring many to Christ, a complaint of the untowardness of the Jews. God loves mercy more than sacrifice. 6:1. In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord. 6:2. For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us. 6:3. He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth. 6:4. What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning. 6:5. For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light. 6:6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts. 6:7. But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have they dealt treacherously against me. 6:8. Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood. Supplanted with blood. . .that is, undermined and brought to ruin, for shedding of blood: and, as it is signified in the following verse, for conspiring with the priests (of Bethel) like robbers, to murder in the way such as passed out of Sichem to go towards the temple of Jerusalem. Or else . . .upplanted with blood. . .signifies flowing in such manner with blood, as to suffer none to walk there without imbruing the soles of their feet in blood. 6:9. And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out of Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness. 6:10. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled. 6:11. And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back the captivity of my people. Osee Chapter 7 The manifold sins of Israel, and of their kings, hinder the Lord from healing them. 7:1. When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without. 7:2. And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face. 7:3. They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the princes with their lies. Made the king glad, etc. . .To please Jeroboam, and their other kings they have given themselves up to the wicked worship of idols, which are mere falsehood and lies. 7:4. They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened. 7:5. The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners. 7:6. Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he himself was heated as a flaming fire. 7:7. They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges: all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth unto me. 7:8. Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned. 7:9. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it. 7:10. And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these. 7:11. And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians. 7:12. And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their congregation hath heard. 7:13. Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them: and they have spoken lies against me. 7:14. And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed from me. 7:15. And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they have imagined evil against me. 7:16. They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt. Osee Chapter 8 The Israelites are threatened with destruction for their impiety and idolatry. 8:1. Let there be a trumpet in thy throat like an eagle upon the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and have violated my law. 8:2. They shall call upon me: O my God, we, Israel, know thee. 8:3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall pursue him. 8:4. They have reigned, but not by me: they have been princes, and I knew not: of their silver and their gold they have made idols to themselves, that they might perish. 8:5. Thy calf, O Samaria, is cast off, my wrath is kindled against them. How long will they be incapable of being cleansed? 8:6. For itself also is the invention of Israel: a workman made it, and it is no god: for the calf of Samaria shall be turned to spiders' webs. 8:7. For they shall sow wind, and reap a whirlwind, there is no standing stalk in it, the bud shall yield no meal; and if it should yield, strangers shall eat it. 8:8. Israel is swallowed up: now is he become among the nations like an unclean vessel. 8:9. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers. 8:10. But even though they shall have hired the nations, now will I gather them together: and they shall rest a while from the burden of the king, and the princes. 8:11. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin: altars are become to him unto sin. 8:12. I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign. 8:13. They shall offer victims, they shall sacrifice flesh, and shall eat it, and the Lord will not receive them: now will he remember their iniquity, and will visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. 8:14. And Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and hath built temples: and Juda hath built many fenced cities: and I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof. Osee Chapter 9 The distress and captivity of Israel for their sins and idolatry. 9:1. Rejoice not, O Israel: rejoice not as the nations do: for thou hast committed fornication against thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor. 9:2. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the wine shall deceive them. 9:3. They shall not dwell in the Lord's land: Ephraim is returned to Egypt, and hath eaten unclean things among the Assyrians. 9:4. They shall not offer wine to the Lord, neither shall they please him: their sacrifices shall be like the bread of mourners: all that shall eat it shall be defiled: for their bread is life for their soul, it shall not enter into the house of the Lord. 9:5. What will you do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the Lord? 9:6. For behold they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them together, Memphis shall bury them: nettles shall inherit their beloved silver, the bur shall be in their tabernacles. 9:7. The days of visitation are come, the days of repaying are come: know ye, O Israel, that the prophet was foolish, the spiritual man was mad, for the multitude of thy iniquity, and the multitude of thy madness. 9:8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: the prophet is become a snare of ruin upon all his ways, madness is in the house of his God. 9:9. They have sinned deeply, as in the days of Gabaa: he will remember their iniquity, and will visit their sin. 9:10. I found Israel like grapes in the desert, I saw their fathers like the firstfruits of the fig tree in the top thereof: but they went in to Beelphegor, and alienated themselves to that confusion, and became abominable, as those things were, which they loved. 9:11. As for Ephraim, their glory hath flown away like bird from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. 9:12. And though they should bring up their children, I will make them without children among men: yea, and woe to them, when I shall depart from them. 9:13. Ephraim, as I saw, was a Tyre, founded in beauty: and Ephraim shall bring out his children to the murderer. 9:14. Give them, O Lord. What wilt thou give them? Give them a womb without children, and dry breasts. 9:15. All their wickedness is in Galgal, for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their devices I will cast them forth out of my house: I will love them no more, all their princes are revolters. 9:16. Ephraim is struck, their root is dried up, they shall yield no fruit. And if they should have issue, I will slay the best beloved fruit of their womb. 9:17. My God will cast them away, because they hearkened not to him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations. Osee Chapter 10 After many benefits, great affliction shall fall upon the ten tribes, for their ingratitude to God. 10:1. Israel a vine full of branches, the fruit is agreeable to it: according to the multitude of his fruit, he hath multiplied altars, according to the plenty of his land he hath abounded with idols. 10:2. Their heart is divided: now they shall perish: he shall break down their idols, he shall destroy their altars. 10:3. For now they shall say: We have no king: because we fear not the Lord: and what shall a king do to us? 10:4. You speak words of an unprofitable vision, and you shall make a covenant: and judgment shall spring up as bitterness in the furrows of the field. 10:5. The inhabitants of Samaria have worshipped the kine of Bethaven: for the people thereof have mourned over it, and the wardens of its temple that rejoiced over it in its glory because it is departed from it. The kine of Bethaven. . .The golden calves of Jeroboam. 10:6. For itself also is carried into Assyria, a present to the avenging king: shame shall fall upon Ephraim, and Israel shall be confounded in his own will. Itself also is carried, etc. . .One of the golden calves was given by king Manahem, to Phul, king of the Assyrians, to engage him to stand by him. 10:7. Samaria hath made her king to pass as froth upon the face of the water. 10:8. And the high places of the idol, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed: the bur and the thistle shall grow up over their altars: and they shall say to the mountains Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon us. 10:9. From the days of Gabaa, Israel hath sinned, there they stood: the battle in Gabaa against the children of iniquity shall not overtake them. 10:10. According to my desire, I will chastise them: and the nations shall be gathered together against them, when they shall be chastised for their two iniquities. Their two iniquities. . .Their two calves. 10:11. Ephraim is a heifer taught to love to tread out corn, but I passed over upon the beauty of her neck: I will ride upon Ephraim, Juda shall plough, Jacob shall break the furrows for himself. 10:12. Sow for yourselves in justice, and reap in the mouth of mercy, break up your fallow ground: but the time to seek the Lord is, when he shall come that shall teach you justice. 10:13. You have ploughed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy ways, in the multitude of thy strong ones. 10:14. A tumult shall arise among thy people: and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed as Salmana was destroyed, by the house of him that judged Baal in the day of battle, the mother being dashed in pieces upon her children. As Salmana, king of the Midianites, was destroyed by the house, that is, by the followers of him that judged Baal; that is, of Gideon, who threw down the altar of Baal; and was therefore called Jerubaal. See Judges 6 and 8. 10:15. So hath Bethel done to you, because of the evil of your iniquities. Osee Chapter 11 God proceeds in threatening Israel for their ingratitude: yet he will not utterly destroy them. 11:1. As the morning passeth, so hath the king of Israel passed away. Because Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of Egypt. I called my son. . .Viz., Israel. But as the calling of Israel out of Egypt, was a figure of the calling of Christ from thence; therefore this text is also applicable to Christ, as we learn from Matthew 2.15. 11:2. As they called them, they went away from before their face: they offered victims to Baalim, and sacrificed to idols. They called. . .Viz., Moses and Aaron called; but they went away after other gods and would not hear. 11:3. And I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my arms: and they knew not that I healed them. 11:4. I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love: and I will be to them as one that taketh off the yoke on their jaws: and I put his meat to him that he might eat. 11:5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king: because they would not be converted. 11:6. The sword hath begun in his cities, and it shall consume his chosen men, and shall devour their heads. 11:7. And my people shall long for my return: but a yoke shall be put upon them together, which shall not be taken off. 11:8. How shall I deal with thee, O Ephraim, shall I protect thee, O Israel? how shall I make thee as Adama, shall I set thee as Seboim? my heart is turned within me, my repentance is stirred up. Adama, etc. . .Adama and Seboim were two cities in the neighborhood of Sodom: and underwent the like destruction. 11:9. I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath: I will not return to destroy Ephraim: because I am God, and not man: the holy one in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city. 11:10. They shall walk after the Lord, he shall roar as a lion: because he shall roar, and the children of the sea shall fear. 11:11. And they shall fly away like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of the Assyrians: and I will place them in their own houses, saith the Lord. 11:12. Ephraim hath compassed me about with denials, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Juda went down as a witness with God, and is faithful with the saints. Osee Chapter 12 Israel is reproved for sin. God's favours to them. 12:1. Ephraim feedeth on the wind, and followeth the burning heat: all the day long he multiplied lies and desolation: and he hath made a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt. 12:2. Therefore there is a judgment of the Lord with Juda, and a visitation for Jacob: he will render to him according to his ways, and according to his devices. 12:3. In the womb he supplanted his brother: and by his strength he had success with an angel. 12:4. And he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us. 12:5. Even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial. 12:6. Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and hope in thy God always. 12:7. He is like Chanaan, there is a deceitful balance in his hand, he hath loved oppression. 12:8. And Ephraim said: But yet I am become rich, I have found me an idol: all my labours shall not find me the iniquity that I have committed. 12:9. And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the feast. 12:10. And I have spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets. 12:11. If Galaad be an idol, then in vain were they in Galgal offering sacrifices with bullocks: for their altars also are as heaps in the furrows of the field. If Galaad be an idol, etc. . .That is, if Galaad with all its idols and sacrifices be like a mere idol itself, being brought to nothing by Theglathphalasar: how vain is it to expect, that the idols worshipped in Galgal shall be of any service to the tribes that remain. 12:12. Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and was a keeper for a wife. 12:13. But the Lord by a prophet brought Israel out of Egypt: and he was preserved by a prophet. 12:14. Ephraim hath provoked me to wrath with his bitterness, and his blood shall come upon him, and his Lord will render his reproach unto him.
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