The Holy Bible

Part 22 out of 29



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.



Osee Chapter 13


The judgments of God upon Israel for their sins. Christ shall one day
redeem them.

13:1. When Ephraim spoke, a horror seized Israel: and he sinned in
Baal, and died.

13:2. And now they have sinned more and more: and they have made to
themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the
whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye
that adore calves.

13:3. Therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew
that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of
the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

13:4. But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt
know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me.

13:5. I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.

13:6. According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full:
and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me.

13:7. And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of
the Assyrians.

13:8. I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I
will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there
as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.

13:9. Destruction is thy own, O Israel: thy help is only in me.

13:10. Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy
cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Give me kings and princes.

13:11. I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in
my indignation.

13:12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden.

13:13. The sorrows of a woman in labour shall come upon him, he is an
unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.

13:14. I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them
from death: O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite:
comfort is hidden from my eyes.

13:15. Because he shall make a separation between brothers: the Lord
will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall
dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall
carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.



Osee Chapter 14


Samaria shall be destroyed. An exhortation to repentance: God's favour
through Christ to the penitent.

14:1. Let Samaria perish, because she hath stirred up her God to
bitterness: let them perish by the sword, let their little ones be
dashed, and let the women with child be ripped up.

Perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness. . .It is not
a curse or imprecation, but a prophecy of what should come to pass.

14:2. Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down
by thy iniquity.

14:3. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take
away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves
of our lips.

14:4. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither
will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods: for thou
wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.

14:5. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath
is turned away from them.

14:6. I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his
root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.

14:7. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive
tree: and his smell as that of Libanus.

14:8. They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall
live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall
be as the wine of Libanus.

14:9. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will
hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me
is thy fruit found.

14:10. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and
he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the
just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.




THE PROPHECY OF JOEL



JOEL, whose name, according to ST. JEROME, signifies THE LORD GOD: or,
as others say, THE COMING DOWN OF GOD: prophesied about the same time
in the kingdom of Judea, as OSEE did in the kingdom of Israel. He
foretells under figure the great evils that were coming upon the people
for their sins: earnestly exhorts them to repentance: and comforts them
with the promise of a TEACHER OF JUSTICE, viz., CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD,
and of the coming down of his holy SPIRIT.



Joel Chapter 1


The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people,
and invites them to fasting and prayer.

1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.

1:2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your
fathers?

1:3. Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their
children, and their children to another generation.

1:4. That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and
that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which
the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.

That which the palmerworm hath left, etc. . .Some understand this
literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others
understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other
enemies.

1:5. Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take
delight; in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.

1:6. For a nation come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his
teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's
whelp.

1:7. He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my
fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches
thereof are made white.

1:8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her
youth.

1:9. Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the
priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned:

1:10. The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn
is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.

1:11. The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the
wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is
perished.

1:12. The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the
pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the
trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the
children of men.

1:13. Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of
the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because
sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

1:14. Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the
ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God:
and cry ye to the Lord:

1:15. Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand,
and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.

1:16. Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from
the house of our God?

1:17. The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed,
the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.

1:18. Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low?
because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are
perished.

1:19. To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the
beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the
trees of the country.

1:20. Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a
garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are
dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the
wilderness.



Joel Chapter 2


2:1. Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain,
let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the
Lord cometh, because it is nigh at hand.

The day of the Lord. . .That is, the time when he will execute justice
upon sinners.

2:2. A day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds and
whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people as the morning spread upon the
mountains: the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall
be after it, even to the years of generation and generation.

A numerous and strong people. . .The Assyrians, or Chaldeans. Others
understand all this of an army of locusts laying waste the land.

2:3. Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning
flame: the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a
desolate wilderness, neither is there any one that can escape it.

2:4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and they
shall run like horsemen.

2:5. They shall leap like the noise of chariots upon the tops of
mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, as
a strong people prepared to battle.

2:6. At their presence the people shall be in grievous pains: all faces
shall be made like a kettle.

2:7. They shall run like valiant men: like men of war they shall scale
the wall: the men shall march every one on his way, and they shall not
turn aside from their ranks.

2:8. No one shall press upon his brother: they shall walk every one in
his path: yea, and they shall fall through the windows, and shall take
no harm.

2:9. They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon the wall, they
shall climb up the houses, they shall come in at the windows, as a
thief.

2:10. At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved:
the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their
shining.

2:11. And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army:
for his armies are exceedingly great, for they are strong, and execute
his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who
can stand it?

2:12. Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your
heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.

2:13. And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord
your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy,
and ready to repent of the evil.

2:14. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing
behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God?

2:15. Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
assembly,

2:16. Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the
ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the
breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of
her bridal chamber.

2:17. Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's
ministers, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people:
and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule
over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their God?

2:18. The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his
people.

2:19. And the Lord answered, and said to his people: Behold I will send
you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them: and I
will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

2:20. And I will remove far off from you the northern enemy: and I will
drive him into a land unpassable, and desert, with his face towards the
east sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea: and his stench
shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he hath done
proudly.

The northern enemy. . .Some understand this of Holofernes and his army:
others, of the locusts.

2:21. Fear not, O land, be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord hath done
great things.

2:22. Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for the beautiful places of
the wilderness are sprung, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit,
the fig tree, and the vine have yielded their strength.

2:23. And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord
your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will
make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the
beginning.

2:24. And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall
overflow with wine, and oil.

2:25. And I will restore to you the years which the locust, and the
bruchus, and the mildew, and the palmerworm hath eaten; my great host
which I sent upon you.

2:26. And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall
praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you,
and my people shall not be confounded for ever.

2:27. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the
Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be
confounded forever.

2:28. And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy:
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

2:29. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will
pour forth my spirit.

2:30. And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire,
and vapour of smoke.

2:31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood:
before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.

2:32. And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon
the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in
Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue
whom the Lord shall call.



Joel Chapter 3


3:1. For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back
the captivity of Juda, and Jerusalem:

3:2. I will gather together all nations and will bring them down into
the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people,
and for my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the
nations, and have parted my land.

3:3. And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put
in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might
drink.

3:4. But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the
coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you
revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon
your own head.

3:5. For you have taken away my silver, and my gold: and my desirable,
and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.

3:6. And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have
sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off
from their own country.

3:7. Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have
sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

3:8. And I will sell your sons, and your daughters, by the hands of the
children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far
off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

3:9. Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war, raise up the
strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

3:10. Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears.
Let the weak say: I am strong.

3:11. Break forth, and come, all ye nations from round about, and
gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong
ones to fall down.

3:12. Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of
Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.

3:13. Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down,
for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is
multiplied.

3:14. Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the
Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

3:15. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn
their shining.

3:16. And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord
shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of
Israel.

3:17. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion,
my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass
through it no more.

3:18. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall
drop down sweetness, aud the hills shall flow with milk: and waters
shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come
forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

A fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, etc. . .Viz., the
fountain of grace in the church militant, and of glory in the church
triumphant: which shall water the torrent or valley of thorns, that is,
the souls that before, like barren ground brought forth nothing but
thorns; or that were afflicted with the thorns of crosses and
tribulations.

3:19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed:
because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have
shed innocent blood in their land.

3:20. And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to
generation and generation.

Judea--and Jerusalem. . .That is, the spiritual Jerusalem, viz., the
church of Christ.

3:21. And I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed: and the
Lord will dwell in Sion.




THE PROPHECY OF AMOS



AMOS prophesied in Israel about the same time as OSEE: and was called
from following the cattle to denounce GOD'S judgments to the people of
Israel, and the neighbouring nations, for their repeated crimes, in
which they continued without repentance.



Amos Chapter 1


The prophet threatens Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon with the
judgments of God, for their obstinacy in sin.

1:1. The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Thecua: which he
saw concerning Israel in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the
days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel two years before the
earthquake.

The earthquake. . .Many understand this of a great earthquake, which
they say was felt at the time that king Ozias attempted to offer
incense in the temple. But the best chronologists prove that the
earthquake here spoken of must have been before that time: because
Jeroboam the second, under whom Amos prophesied, was dead long before
that attempt of Ozias.

1:2. And he said: The Lord will roar from Sion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem: and the beautiful places of the shepherds have mourned,
and the top of Carmel is withered.

1:3. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four I
will not convert it: because they have thrashed Galaad with iron wains.

For three crimes--and for four. . .That is, for their many unrepented of
crimes.--Ibid. I will not convert it. . .That is, I will not spare them,
nor turn away the punishments I design to inflict upon them.

1:4. And I will send a fire into the house of Azael, and it shall
devour the houses of Benadad.

1:5. And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the
inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the
sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be
carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.

1:6. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four I will
not convert it: because they have carried away a perfect captivity to
shut them up in Edom.

1:7. And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour
the houses thereof.

1:8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that
holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon: and I will turn my hand against
Accaron, and the rest of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord
God.

1:9. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Tyre, and for four I will
not convert it: because they have shut up an entire captivity in Edom,
and have not remembered the covenant of brethren.

1:10. And I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour
the houses thereof.

1:11. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Edom, and for four I
will not convert him: because he hath pursued his brother with the
sword, and hath carried on his fury, and hath kept his wrath to the
end.

1:12. I will send a fire into Theman: and it shall devour the houses of
Bosra.

1:13. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon,
and for four I will not convert him: because he hath ripped up the
women with child of Galaad to enlarge his border.

1:14. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba: and it shall
devour the houses thereof with shouting in the day of battle, and with
a whirlwind in the day of trouble.

1:15. And Melchom shall go into captivity, both he, and his princes
together, saith the Lord.

Melchom. . .The god or idol of the Ammonites, otherwise called Moloch,
and Melech: which in Hebrew signifies a king, and Melchom their king.



Amos Chapter 2


The judgments with which God threatens Moab, Juda, and Israel for their
sins, and their ingratitude.

2:1. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four I will
not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom
even to ashes.

2:2. And I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses
of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the
trumpet:

2:3. And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay
all his princes with him, saith the Lord.

2:4. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will
not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and
hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to
err, after which their fathers have walked.

2:5. And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses
of Jerusalem.

2:6. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four I
will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and
the poor man for a pair of shoes.

2:7. They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and
turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone
to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.

2:8. And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and
drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.

2:9. Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was
like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I
destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath.

2:10. It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led
you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land
of the Amorrhite.

2:11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men
for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?

2:12. And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the
prophets, saying: Prophesy not.

2:13. Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden
with hay.

I will screak. . .Unable to bear any longer the enormous load of your
sins, etc. The spirit of God, as St. Jerome takes notice, accommodates
himself to the education of the prophet and inspires him with
comparisons taken from country affairs.

2:14. And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not
possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life.

2:15. And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of
foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his
life.

2:16. And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in
that day, saith the Lord.



Amos Chapter 3


The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their sins.

3:1. Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye
children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out
of the land of Egypt, saying:

3:2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore
will I visit upon you all your iniquities.

Visit upon. . .That is, punish.

3:3. Shall two walk together except they be agreed?

3:4. Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the
lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

3:5. Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no
fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath
taken somewhat?

3:6. Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?

Evil in a city. . .He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine,
pestilence, desolation, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God
is not the author.

3:7. For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his
servants the prophets.

3:8. The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken,
who shall not prophesy?

3:9. Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land
of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria,
and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer
oppression in the inner rooms thereof.

3:10. And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord,
storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.

3:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in
tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be
taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.

3:12. Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the
lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of
Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a place of a bed, and in
the couch of Damascus.

3:13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the
God of hosts:

3:14. That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of
Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the
horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.

3:15. And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the
houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith
the Lord.



Amos Chapter 4


The Israelites are reproved for their oppressing the poor, for their
idolatry, and their incorrigibleness.

4:1. Hear this word, ye fat kine that are in the mountains of Samaria:
you that oppress the needy, and crush the poor: that say to your
masters: Bring, and we will drink.

Fat kine. . .He means the great ones that lived in plenty and wealth.

4:2. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall
come upon you, when they shall lift you up on pikes, and what shall
remain of you in boiling pots.

4:3. And you shall go out at the breaches one over against the other,
and you shall be cast forth into Armon, saith the Lord.

Armon. . .A foreign country; some understand it of Armenia.

4:4. Come ye to Bethel, and do wickedly: to Galgal, and multiply
transgressions: and bring in the morning your victims, your tithes in
three days.

4:5. And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven: and call free
offerings, and proclaim it: for so you would do, O children of Israel,
saith the Lord God.

4:6. Whereupon I also have given you dulness of teeth in all your
cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned
to me, saith the Lord.

4:7. I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet
three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon on city, and
caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon: and
the piece whereupon I rained not, withered.

4:8. And two and three cities went to one city to drink water, and were
not filled: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.

4:9. I struck you with a burning wind, and with mildew, the palmerworm
hath eaten up your many gardens, and your vineyards: your olive groves,
and fig groves: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.

4:10. I sent death upon you in the way of Egypt, I slew your young men
with the sword, even to the captivity of your horses: and I made the
stench of your camp to come up into your nostrils: yet you returned not
to me, saith the Lord.

4:11. I destroyed some of you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, and
you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet you returned
not to me, saith the Lord.

4:12. Therefore I will do these things to thee, O Israel: and after I
shall have done these things to thee, be prepared to meet thy God, O
Israel.

4:13. For behold he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind,
and declareth his word to man, he that maketh the morning mist, and
walketh upon the high places of the earth: the Lord the God of hosts is
his name.



Amos Chapter 5


A lamentation for Israel: an exhortation to return to God.

5:1. Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a
lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.

5:2. The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to
raise her up.

5:3. For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a
thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there
came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.

5:4. For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and
you shall live.

5:5. But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you
pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel
shall be unprofitable.

Bethel,--Galgal,--Bersabee. . .The places where they worshipped their
idols.

5:6. Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with
fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.

5:7. You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the
land,

5:8. Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth
darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth
the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
The Lord is his name.

Arcturus and Orion. . .Arcturus is a bright star in the north: Orion a
beautiful constellation in the south.

5:9. He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and
waste upon the mighty.

With a smile. . .That is, with all ease, and without making any effort.

5:10. They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred
him that speaketh perfectly.

5:11. Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey
from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell
in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink
the wine of them.



 


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