The Holy Bible

Part 24 out of 29



judgment: seek the just, seek the meek: if by any means you may be hid
in the day of the Lord's indignation.

2:4. For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be a desert, they
shall cast out Azotus at noonday, and Accaron shall be rooted up.

2:5. Woe to you that inhabit the sea coast, O nation of reprobates: the
word of the Lord upon you, O Chanaan, the land of the Philistines, and
I will destroy thee, so that there shall not be an inhabitant.

2:6. And the sea coast shall be the resting place of shepherds, and
folds for cattle:

2:7. And it shall be the portion of him that shall remain of the house
of Juda, there they shall feed: in the houses of Ascalon they shall
rest in the evening: because the Lord their God will visit them, and
bring back their captivity.

2:8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the
children of Ammon, with which they reproached my people, and have
magnified themselves upon their borders.

2:9. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel,
Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha, the
dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and a desert even for ever: the
remnant of my people shall make a spoil of them, and the residue of my
nation shall possess them.

2:10. This shall befall them for their pride: because they have
blasphemed, and have been magnified against the people of the Lord of
hosts.

2:11. The Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the
gods of the earth: and they shall adore him every man from his own
place, all the islands of the Gentiles.

2:12. You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword.

2:13. And he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy
Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a
place not passable, and as a desert.

The beautiful city, viz. . .Ninive, which was destroyed soon after this,
viz., in the sixteenth year of the reign of Josias.

2:14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst thereof, all the beasts of
the nations: and the bittern and the urchin shall lodge in the
threshold thereof: the voice of the singing bird in the window, the
raven on the upper post, for I will consume her strength.

2:15. This is the glorious city that dwelt in security: that said in
her heart: I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a
desert, a place for beasts to lie down in? every one that passeth by
her shall hiss, and wag his hand.



Sophonias Chapter 3


A woe to Jerusalem for her sins. A prophecy of the conversion of the
Gentiles, and of the poor of Israel: God shall be with them. The Jews
shall be converted at last.

3:1. Woe to the provoking and redeemed city, the dove.

3:2. She hath not hearkened to the voice, neither hath she received
discipline: she hath not trusted in the Lord, she drew not near to her
God.

3:3. Her princes are in the midst of her as roaring lions: her judges
are evening wolves, they left nothing for the morning.

3:4. Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have
polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.

3:5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity: in
the morning, in the morning he will bring his judgment to light, and it
shall not be hid: but the wicked man hath not known shame.

3:6. I have destroyed the nations, and their towers are beaten down: I
have made their ways desert, so that there is none that passeth by:
their cities are desolate, there is not a man remaining, nor any
inhabitant.

3:7. I said: Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction:
and her dwelling shall not perish, for all things wherein I have
visited her: but they rose early, and corrupted all their thoughts.

3:8. Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection
that is to come, for my judgment is to assemble the Gentiles, and to
gather the kingdoms: and to pour upon them my indignation, all my
fierce anger: for with the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be
devoured.

3:9. Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all
may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one
shoulder.

3:10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, shall my suppliants, the
children of my dispersed people, bring me an offering.

3:11. In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein
thou hast transgressed against me for then I will take away out of the
midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt no more be lifted up
because of my holy mountain.

3:12. And I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and needy people:
and they shall hope in the name of the Lord.

3:13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, nor
shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed,
and shall lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid.

3:14. Give praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad, and
rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

3:15. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy
enemies: the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee, thou
shalt fear evil no more.

3:16. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not: to Sion:
Let not thy hands be weakened.

3:17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save: he
will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he
will be joyful over thee in praise.

3:18. The triflers that were departed from the law, I will gather
together, because they were of thee: that thou mayest no more suffer
reproach for them.

3:19. Behold I will cut off all that have afflicted thee at that time:
and I will save her that halteth, and will gather her that was cast
out: and I will get them praise, and a name, in all the land where they
had been put to confusion.

3:20. At that time, when I will bring you: and at the time that I will
gather you: for I will give you a name, and praise among all the people
of the earth, when I shall have brought back your captivity before your
eyes, saith the Lord.




THE PROPHECY OF AGGEUS



AGGEUS was one of those that returned from the captivity of Babylon, in
the first year of the reign of king Cyrus. He was sent by the Lord, in
the second year of the reign of king Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to
exhort Zorobabel the prince of Juda, and Jesus the high priest, to the
building of the temple; which they had begun, but left off again
through the opposition of the Samaritans. In consequence of this
exhortation they proceeded in the building and finished the temple. And
the prophet was commissioned by the Lord to assure them that this
second temple should be more glorious than the former, because the
Messiah should honour it with his presence: signifying withal how much
the church of the New Testament should excel that of the Old Testament.



Aggeus Chapter 1


The people are reproved for neglecting to build the temple. They are
encouraged to set about the work.

1:1. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the
first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus
the prophet, to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, governor of Juda, and
to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, saying:

1:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: This people saith: The time
is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.

1:3. And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet,
saying:

1:4. Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie
desolate?

1:5. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider
your ways.

1:6. You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but
have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with
drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he
that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.

1:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways:

1:8. Go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it
shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord.

1:9. You have looked for more, and behold it became less, and you
brought it home, and I blowed it away: why, saith the Lord of hosts?
because my house is desolate, and you make haste every man to his own
house.

1:10. Therefore the heavens over you were stayed from giving dew, and
the earth was hindered from yielding her fruits:

1:11. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains,
and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all
that the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon
all the labour of the hands.

1:12. Then Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec
the high priest, and all the remnant of the people hearkened to the
voice of the Lord their God, and to the words of Aggeus the prophet, as
the Lord their God sent him to them: and the people feared before the
Lord.

1:13. And Aggeus the messenger of the Lord, as one of the messengers of
the Lord, spoke, saying to the people: I am with you, saith the Lord.

1:14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son of
Salathiel governor of Juda, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec
the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people: and they
went in, and did the work in the house of the Lord of Hosts their God.



Aggeus Chapter 2


Christ by his coming shall make the latter temple more glorious than
the former. The blessing of God shall reward their labour in building.
God's promise to Zorobabel.

2:1. In the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in
the second year of Darius the king, they began.

2:2. And in the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of
Aggeus the prophet, saying:

2:3. Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel the governor of Juda, and
to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and to the rest of the
people, saying:

2:4. Who is left among you, that saw this house in its first glory? and
how do you see it now? is it not in comparison to that as nothing in
your eyes?

2:5. Yet now take courage, O Zorobabel, saith the Lord, and take
courage, Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and take courage,
all ye people of the land, saith the Lord of hosts: and perform (for I
am with you, saith the Lord of hosts)

2:6. The word that I convenanted with you when you came out of the land
of Egypt: and my spirit shall be in the midst of you: fear not.

2:7. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet one little while, and I will
move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.

2:8. And I will move all nations: AND THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS SHALL
COME: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts.

2:9. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.

2:10. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the
first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace,
saith the Lord of hosts.

2:11. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second
year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Aggeus the
prophet, saying:

2:12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying:

2:13. If a man carry sanctified flesh in the skirt of his garment, and
touch with his skirt, bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat:
shall it be sanctified? And the priests answered, and said: No.

2:14. And Aggeus said: If one that is unclean by occasion of a soul
touch any of all these things, shall it be defiled? And the priests
answered, and said: It shall be defiled.

By occasion of a soul. . .That is, by having touched the dead; in which
case, according to the prescription of the law, Num. 19.13, 22, a
person not only became unclean himself, but made every thing that he
touched unclean. The prophet applies all this to the people, whose
souls remained unclean by neglecting the temple of God; and therefore
were not sanctified by the flesh they offered in sacrifice: but rather
defiled their sacrifices by approaching to them in the state of
uncleanness.

2:15. And Aggeus answered, and said: So is this people, and so is this
nation before my face, saith the Lord, and so is all the work of their
hands: and all that they have offered there, shall be defiled.

2:16. And now consider in your hearts, from this day and upward, before
there was a stone laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.

2:17. When you went to a heap of twenty bushels, and they became ten:
and you went into the press, to press out fifty vessels, and they
became twenty.

2:18. I struck you with a blasting wind, and all the works of your hand
with the mildew and with hail, yet there was none among you that
returned to me, saith the Lord.

2:19. Set your hearts from this day, and henceforward, from the four
and twentieth day of the ninth month: from the day that the foundations
of the temple of the Lord were laid, and lay it up in your hearts.

2:20. Is the seed as yet sprung up? or hath the vine, and the fig tree,
and the pomegranate, and the olive tree as yet flourished? from this
day I will bless you.

2:21. And the word of the Lord came a second time to Aggeus in the four
and twentieth day of the month, saying:

2:22. Speak to Zorobabel the governor of Juda, saying: I will move both
heaven and earth.

2:23. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and will destroy the
strength of the kingdom of the Gentiles: and I will overthrow the
chariot, and him that rideth therein: and the horses and their riders
shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

2:24. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee, O
Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord, and will
make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.

O Zorobabel. . .This promise principally relates to Christ, who was of
the race of Zorobabel.




THE PROPHECY OF ZACHARIAS



ZACHARIAS began to prophesy in the same year as Aggeus, and upon the
same occasion. His prophecy is full of mysterious figures and promises
of blessings, partly relating to the synagogue, and partly to the
church of Christ.



Zacharias Chapter 1


The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and declares his
visions, by which he puts them in hopes of better times.

1:1. In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word
of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo,
the prophet, saying:

1:2. The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.

1:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye
to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord
of hosts.

1:4. Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried,
saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and
from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they
hearken to me, saith the Lord.

1:5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live
always?

1:6. But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my
servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they
returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according
to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.

1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is
called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came
to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet,
saying:

1:8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he
stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him
were horses, red, speckled, and white.

A man. . .An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the
guardian angel of the church of God.

1:9. And I said: What are these, my Lord? and the angel that spoke in
me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:

1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said:
These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth.

These are they, etc. . .The guardian angels of provinces and nations.

1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the
myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold
all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.

1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts,
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of
Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year.

The seventieth year. . .Viz., from the beginning of the seige of
Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of
king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the
cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity
foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and
ended in the first year of king Cyrus.

1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words,
comfortable words.

1:14. And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying:
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with
a great zeal.

1:15. And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I
was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil.

1:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in
mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and
the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

1:17. Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall
yet flow with good things: and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he
will yet choose Jerusalem.

1:18. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns.

Four horns. . .The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that
persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.

1:19. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: What are these? And he
said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel,
and Jerusalem.

1:20. And the Lord shewed me four smiths.

Four smiths. . .The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber may signify
either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to
nothing the power of persecutors.

1:21. And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These
are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of
them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down
the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of
Juda to scatter it.



Zacharias Chapter 2


Under the name of Jerusalem, he prophesieth the progress of the church
of Christ, by the conversion of some Jews and many Gentiles.

2:1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man, with a
measuring line in his hand.

2:2. And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To measure
Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth thereof, and how great
the length thereof.

2:3. And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and another
angel went out to meet him.

2:4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying:
Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the multitude
of men, and of the beasts in the midst thereof.

Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls. . .This must be understood
of the spiritual Jerusalem, the church of Christ.

2:5. And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about:
and I will be in glory in the midst thereof.

2:6. O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I
have scattered you into the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord.

2:7. O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon:

2:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he hath sent me
to the nations that have robbed you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth
the apple of my eye:

2:9. For behold, I lift up my hand upon them, and they shall be a prey
to those that served them: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts
sent me.

2:10. Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for behold I come,
and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith the Lord.

2:11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and
they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: and
thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to thee.

2:12. And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the sanctified
land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem.

2:13. Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is
risen up out of his holy habitation.



Zacharias Chapter 3


In a vision Satan appeareth accusing the high priest. He is cleansed
from his sins. Christ is promised, and great fruit from his passion.

3:1. And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right hand to be his
adversary.

Jesus. . .Alias, Josue, the son of Josedec, the high priest of that
time.

3:2. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: and the
Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire?

3:3. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he stood before
the face of the angel.

With filthy garments. . .Negligences and sins.

3:4. Who answered, and said to them that stood before him, saying: Take
away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold I have
taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments.

3:5. And he said: Put a clean mitre upon his head: and they put a clean
mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of
the Lord stood.

3:6. And the angel of the Lord protested to Jesus, saying:

3:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and
keep my charge, thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt keep my
courts, and I will give thee some of them that are now present here to
walk with thee.

I will give thee, etc. . .Angels to attend and assist thee.

3:8. Hear, O Jesus thou high priest, thou and thy friends that dwell
before thee, for they are portending men: for behold, I WILL BRING MY
SERVANT THE ORIENT.

Portending men. . .That is, men, who by words and actions are to
foreshew wonders that are to come.--Ibid. My servant the
Orient. . .Christ, who according to his humanity is the servant of God,
is called the Orient from his rising like the sun in the east to
enlighten the world.

3:9. For behold the stone that I have laid before Jesus: upon one stone
there are seven eyes: behold I will grave the graving thereof, saith
the Lord of hosts: and I will take away the iniquity of that land in
one day.

The stone. . .Another emblem of Christ, the rock, foundation, and corner
stone of his church.--Ibid. Seven eyes. . .The manifold providence of
Christ over his church, or the seven gifts of the spirit of God.--Ibid.
One day. . .Viz., the day of the passion of Christ, the source of all
our good: when this precious stone shall be graved, that is, cut and
pierced, with whips, thorns, nails, and spear.

3:10. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, every man shall call his
friend under the vine and under the fig tree.



Zacharias Chapter 4


The vision of the golden candlestick and seven lamps, and of the two
olive trees.

4:1. And the angel that spoke in me came again: and he waked me, as a
man that is wakened out of his sleep.

4:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I have looked,
and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its lamp upon the top of it:
and the seven lights thereof upon it: and seven funnels for the lights
that were upon the top thereof.

A candlestick, etc. . .The temple of God that was then in building; and
in a more sublime sense, the church of Christ.

4:3. And two olive trees over it: one upon the right side of the lamp,
and the other upon the left side thereof.

4:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me, saying:
What are these things, my lord?

4:5. And the angel that spoke in me answered, and said to me: Knowest
thou not what these things are? And I said: No, my lord.

4:6. And he answered, and spoke to me, saying: This is the word of the
Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with an army, nor by might, but by my
spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

To Zorobabel. . .This vision was in favour of Zorobabel: to assure him
of success in the building of the temple, which he had begun, signified
by the candlestick; the lamp of which, without any other industry, was
supplied with oil, dropping from the two olive trees, and distributed
by the seven funnels or pipes, to maintain the seven lights.

4:7. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou shalt
become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief stone, and shall give
equal grace to the grace thereof.

Great mountain. . .So he calls the opposition made by the enemies of
God's people; which nevertheless, without an army or might on their
side, was quashed by divine providence.--Ibid. Shall give equal grace,
etc. . .Shall add grace to grace, or beauty to beauty.

4:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

4:9. The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house,
and his hands shall finish it: and you shall know that the Lord of
hosts hath sent me to you.

4:10. For who hath despised little days? and they shall rejoice, and
shall see the tin plummet in the hand of Zorobabel. These are the seven
eyes of the Lord, that run to and fro through the whole earth.

Little days. . .That is, these small and feeble beginnings of the temple
of God.--Ibid. The tin plummet. . .Literally, the stone of tin. He
means the builder's plummet, which Zorobabel shall hold in his hand for
the finishing the building.--Ibid. The seven eyes. . .The providence of
God, that oversees and orders all things.

4:11. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees
upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof
?

4:12. And I answered again, and said to him: What are the two olive
branches, that are by the two golden beaks, in which are the funnels of
gold?

4:13. And he spoke to me, saying: Knowest thou not what these are? And
I said: No, my lord.

4:14. And he said: These are two sons of oil who stand before the Lord
of the whole earth.

Two sons of oil. . .That is, the two anointed ones of the Lord; viz.,
Jesus the high priest, and Zorobabel the prince.



Zacharias Chapter 5


The vision of the flying volume, and of the woman in the vessel.

5:1. And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume
flying.

A volume. . .That is, a parchment, according to the form of the ancient
books, which, from being rolled up, were called volumes.

5:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume
flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof
ten cubits.

5:3. And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the
face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written:
and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it.

5:4. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come
to the house of the thief, and to the house of him that sweareth
falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and
shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.

5:5. And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift
up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth.

5:6. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going
forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth.

This is their eye. . .This is what they fix their eye upon: or this is a
resemblance and figure of them, viz., of sinners.

5:7. And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman
sitting in the midst of the vessel.

5:8. And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of
the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.

5:9. And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two
women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings
of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the
heaven.

5:10. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry
the vessel?

5:11. And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land
of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own
basis.

The land of Sennaar. . .Where Babel or Babylon was built, Gen. 11.,
where note, that Babylon in holy writ is often taken for the city of
the devil: that is, for the whole congregation of the wicked: as
Jerusalem is taken for the city and people of God.



Zacharias Chapter 6


The vision of the four chariots. Crowns are ordered for Jesus the high
priest, as a type of Christ.

6:1. And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four
chariots came out from the midst of two mountains: and the mountains
were mountains of brass.

Four chariots. . .The four great empires of the Chaldeans, Persians,
Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth chariot are represented
the kings of Egypt and of Asia, the descendants of Ptolemeus and
Seleucus.

6:2. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot
black horses.

6:3. And in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot
grisled horses, and strong ones.

6:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me: What are
these, my lord?

6:5. And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the four winds
of the heaven, which go forth to stand before the Lord of all the
earth.

6:6. That in which were the black horses went forth into the land of
the north, and the white went forth after them: and the grisled went
forth to the land the south.

The land of the north. . .So Babylon is called; because it lay to the
north in respect of Jerusalem. The black horses, that is, the Medes and
Persians: and after them Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the
white horses, went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed
upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8, by the
expression of quieting his spirit.--Ibid. The land of the
south. . .Egypt, which lay to the south of Jerusalem, and was occupied
first by Ptolemeus, and then by the Romans.

6:7. And they that were most strong, went out, and sought to go, and to
run to and fro through all the earth. And he said: Go, walk throughout
the earth: and they walked throughout the earth.

6:8. And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they that go
forth into the land of the north, have quieted my spirit in the land of
the north.

6:9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

6:10. Take of them of the captivity, of Holdai, and of Tobias, and of
Idaias; thou shalt come in that day, a shalt go into the house of
Josias, the son of Sophonias, who came out of Babylon.

6:11. And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and
thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high
priest.

6:12. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him
shall he spring up, a shall build a temple to the Lord.

6:13. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he shall bear the
glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a
priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them
both.

Between them both. . .That is, he shall unite in himself the two offices
or dignities of king and priest.

6:14. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and Tobias, and Idaias, and to
Hem, the son of Sophonias, a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

6:15. And they that are far off, shall come and shall build in the
temple of the Lord: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me
to you. But this shall come to pass, if hearing you will hear the voice
of the Lord your God.



Zacharias Chapter 7


The people inquire concerning fasting: they are admonished to fast from
sin.

7:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the
word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth
month, which is Casleu.

7:2. When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him,
sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:

7:3. To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to
the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I
sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?

The fifth month. . .They fasted on the tenth day of the fifth month;
because on that day the temple was burnt. Therefore they inquire
whether they are to continue the fast, after the temple is rebuilt. See
this query answered in the 19th verse of the following chapter.

7:4. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

7:5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying:
When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for
these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?

7:6. And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves,
and drink for yourselves?

7:7. Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the
former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy,
both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants
towards the south, and in the plain?

7:8. And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:

7:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and
shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.

7:10. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger,
and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his
brother.

7:11. But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to
depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.

7:12. And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should
hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit
by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from
Lord of hosts.

7:13. And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so
shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.

7:14. And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know
not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed
through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a
wilderness.



Zacharias Chapter 8


Joyful promises to Jerusalem: fully verified in the church of Christ.

8:1. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

8:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for Sion with a
great jealousy, and with a great indignation have I been jealous for
her.

8:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion, and I will
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city
of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The sanctified
mountain.

8:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old
women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every man with his staff
in his hand through multitude of days.

8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,
playing in the streets thereof.

8:6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the eyes of the
remnant of this people in those days: shall it be hard in my eyes,
saith the Lord of hosts?

8:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will save my people from
the land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun.

8:8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in
truth and in justice.

8:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strengthened, you
that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, in
the day that the house of the Lord of hosts was founded, that the
temple might be built.

8:10. For before those days there was no hire for men, neither was
there hire for beasts, neither was there peace to him that came in, nor
to him that went out, because of the tribulation: and I let all men go
every one against his neighbour.

8:11. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people according
to the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.

8:12. But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall yield her
fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall
give their dew: and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess
all these things.

8:13. And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse among the
Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel: so will I save you, and
you shall be a blessing: fear not, let your hands be strengthened.

8:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed io afflict you,
when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord,

8:15. And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days
to do good to the house of Juda, and Jerusalem: fear not.

8:16. These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak ye truth
every one to his neighbour; judge ye truth and judgment of peace in
your gates.

8:17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his
friend: and love not a false oath: for all these are the things that I
hate, saith the Lord.

8:18. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

8:19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and
the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the
tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great
solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.

The fast of the fourth month, etc. . .They fasted, on the ninth day of
the fourth month, because on that day Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem,
Jer. 52.6. On the tenth day of the fifth month, because on that day the
temple was burnt, Jer. 52.12. On the third day of the seventh month,
for the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41.2. And on the tenth day of the
tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans began to besiege
Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25.1. All these fasts, if they will be obedient for
the future, shall be changed, as is here promised, into joyful
solemnities.

8:20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come and dwell in many
cities,

8:21. And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us go, and
entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts: I also
will go.

8:22. And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord
of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the face of the Lord.

8:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days, wherein ten men of
all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold, and shall hold fast the
skirt of one that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you: for we have
heard that God is with you.

Ten men, etc. . .Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to the Jewish
religion before Christ: but many more were converted to Christ by the
apostles and other preachers of the Jewish nation.



Zacharias Chapter 9


God will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies to the
faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to deliver the
captives by his blood, and to give us all good things.

9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of
Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of
Israel is the Lord's.

Hadrach. . .Syria.

9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they
have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise.

9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together
silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets.

9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength
in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.

9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very
sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded: and the king
shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited.

9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride
of the Philistines.

9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his
abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our
God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite.

His blood. . .It is spoken of the Philistines, and particularly of
Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,) and contains a prophecy of the
conversion of that people from their bloody sacrifices and abominations
to the worship of the true God.

9:8. And I will encompass my house with them that serve me in war,
going and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pass through them:
for now I have seen with my eyes.

That serve me in war. . .Viz., the Machabees.

9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of
Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he
is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.

9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out
of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak
peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from
the rivers even to the end of the earth.

9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy
prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.

9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I will render
thee double as I declare today.

9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim:
and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I
will make thee as the sword of the mighty.

Thy sons, O Sion, etc. . .Viz., the apostles, who, in the spiritual way,
conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to Christ.

9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go
forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in
the whirlwind of the south.

9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devour, and
subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be
inebriated as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and
as the horns of the altar.

9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as the flock
of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up over his land.

Holy stones. . .The apostles, who shall be as pillars and monuments in
the church.

9:17. For what is the good thing of him, and what is his beautiful
thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins?

The corn, etc. . .His most excellent gift is the blessed Eucharist,
called here The corn, that is, the bread of the elect, and the wine
springing forth virgins; that is, maketh virgins to bud, or spring
forth, as it were, like flowers among thorns; because it has a
wonderful efficacy to give and preserve purity.



Zacharias Chapter 10


God is to be sought to, and not idols. The victories of his church,
which shall arise originally from the Jewish nation.

10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will
make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in
the field.

10:2. For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners
have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity: they comforted in
vain: therefore they were led away as a flock: they shall be afflicted,
because they have no shepherd.

10:3. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon
the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house
of Juda, and hath made them as the horse of his glory in the battle.

10:4. Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him the pin, out
of him the bow of battle, out of him ever exacter together.

10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot the mire of
the ways in battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with
them, and the riders of horses shall be confounded.

10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the house of
Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because I will have mercy on
them: and they shall be as they were when I had not cast them off, for
I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.

10:7. And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and their heart
shall rejoice as through wine: and their children shall see, and shall
rejoice, and their heart shall be joyful in the Lord.

10:8. I will whistle for them, and I will gather them together, because
I have redeemed them: and I will multiply them as they were multiplied
before.

10:9. And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they shall
remember me: and they shall live with their children, and shall return.

10:10. And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and I will
gather them from among the Assyrians: and will bring them to the land
of Galaad, and Libanus, and place shall not be found for them.

10:11. And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and shall strike
the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river shall be
confounded, and the pride of Assyria shall be humbled, and the sceptre
of Egypt shall depart.

10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk in his
name, saith the Lord.



Zacharias Chapter 11


The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. God's dealings with the
Jews, and their reprobation.

11:1. Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars.

O Libanus. . .So Jerusalem, and more particularly the temple, is called
by the prophets, from its height, and from its being built of the
cedars of Libanus.--Ibid. Thy cedars. . .Thy princes and chief men.

11:2. Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are
laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut
down.

11:3. The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is
laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of
the Jordan is spoiled.

11:4. Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,

11:5. Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold
them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their
shepherds spared them not.

11:6. And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the
Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour's
hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land,
and I will not deliver it out of their hand.

Every one into his neighbour's hand, etc. . .This alludes to the last
siege of Jerusalem, in which the different factions of the Jews
destroyed one another; and they that remained fell into the hands of
their king, that is, of the Roman emperor, of whom they had said, John
19.15, we have no king but Caesar.

11:7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the
flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other
I called a Cord, and I fed the flock.

Two rods. . .Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's
dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
Beauty: the other, by bands and punishments, called the Cord. And where
both these rods are made of no use or effect by the obstinacy of
sinners, the rods are broken, and such sinners are given up to a
reprobate sense, as the Jews were.

11:8. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was
straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard.

Three shepherds in one month. . .That is, in a very short time. By these
three shepherds probably are meant the latter princes and high priests
of the Jews, whose reign was short.

11:9. And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die:
and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour
every one the flesh of his neighbour.

11:10. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder
to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people.

11:11. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock
that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord.

11:12. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my
wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty
pieces of silver.

11:13. And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome
price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of
silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary.

The statuary. . .The Hebrew word signifies also a potter.

11:14. And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might
break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.

11:15. And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a
foolish shepherd.

A foolish shepherd. . .This was to represent the foolish, that is, the
wicked princes and priests that should rule the people, before their
utter desolation.

11:16. For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not
visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is
broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of
the fat ones, and break their hoofs.

11:17. O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon
his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and
his right eye shall be utterly darkened.



Zacharias Chapter 12


God shall protect his church against her persecutors. The mourning of
Jerusalem.

12:1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus saith the
Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of
the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in him:

12:2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting to all the
people round about: and Juda also shall be in the siege against
Jerusalem.

A lintel of surfeiting. . .That is, a door into which they shall seek to
enter, to glut themselves with blood; but they shall stumble, and fall
like men stupefied with wine. It seems to allude to the times of
Antiochus, and to the victories of the Machabees.

12:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem
a burdensome stone to all people: all that shall lift it up shall be
rent and torn, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered
together against her.

12:4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every horse with
astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes upon
the house of Juda, and will strike every horse of the nations with
blindness.

12:5. And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart: Let the
inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in the Lord of hosts,
their God.

12:6. In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a furnace of
fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst hay: and they shall
devour all the people round about, to the right hand, and to the left:
and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.

12:7. And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Jada, as in the
beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify themselves against Juda.

12:8. In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and he that hath offended among them in that day shall be as David: and
the house of David, as that of God, as an angel of the Lord in their
sight.

12:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

12:10. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they
shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for
him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as
the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.

12:11. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like
the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon.

Adadremmon. . .A place near Mageddon, where the good king Josias was
slain, and much lamented by his people.

12:12. And the land shall mourn: families and families apart: the
families of the house of David apart, and their women apart:

12:13. The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their women
apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart:
the families of Semei apart, and their women apart.

12:14. All the rest of the families, families and families apart, and
their women apart.



Zacharias Chapter 13


The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be extirpated:
Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried by fire.

13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and
of the unclean woman.

13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall
be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the
unclean spirit out of the earth.

13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any
more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall
say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the
name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall
thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.

13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be
confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy,
neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive:

13:5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is
my example from my youth.

13:6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of
thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of
them that loved me.

13:7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that
cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones.

13:8. And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in
it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be
left therein.

13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine
them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They
shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my
people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.



Zacharias Chapter 14


After the persecutions of the church shall follow great prosperity.
Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all that will not serve God in
his church.

14:1. Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy spoils shall be
divided in the midst of thee.

14:2. And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, and the
city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women
shall be defiled: and half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
and the rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city.

I will gather, etc. . .This seems to be a prophecy of what was done by
Antiochus.

14:3. Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against those
nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

14:4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
which is over against Jerusalem towards the east: and the mount of
Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the
west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be
separated to the north, and half thereof to the south.

14:5. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the
valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall
flee as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias
king of Juda: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with
him.

14:6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no
light, but cold and frost.

No light. . .Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of Antiochus, when
it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7) because they neither had the
comfortable light of the day, nor the repose of the night.

14:7. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day
nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light:

In the time of the evening there shall be light. . .An unexpected light
shall arise by the means of the Machabees, when things shall seem to be
at the worst.

14:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall
go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them
to the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter.

Living waters. . .Viz., the gospel of Christ.

14:9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there
shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one.

14:10. And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill
to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and
shall dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the
place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from
the tower of Hananeel even to the king's winepresses.

All the land shall return, etc. . .This, in some measure, was verified
by the means of the Machabees: but is rather to be taken in a spiritual
sense, as relating to the propagation of the church, and kingdom of
Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the
anathema of destruction, or God's curse.

14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an
anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.

14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all
nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one
shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away
in their mouth.

The flesh of every one shall consume, etc. . .Such judgments as these
have often fallen upon the persecutors of God's church, as appears by
many instances in history.

14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among
them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
shall be clasped upon his neighbour's hand.

14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of
all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver,
and garments in great abundance.

Even Juda, etc. . .The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join
in persecuting the church.

14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the
camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those
tents, shall be like this destruction.

Shall be like this destruction. . .That is, the beasts shall be
destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers as well as their
leaders.

14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against
Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord
of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

They that shall be left, etc. . .That is, many of them that persecuted
the church shall be converted to its faith and communion.--Ibid. To keep
the feast of tabernacles. . .This feast was kept by the Jews in memory
of their sojourning forty years in the desert, in their way to the land
of promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all such
Christians as in their earthly pilgrimage are continually advancing
toward their true home, the heavenly Jerusalem; by the help of the
sacraments and sacrifice of the church. And they that neglect this must
not look for the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to
their souls.

14:17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go up of the
families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the King, the Lord of
hosts, there shall be no rain upon them.

14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come: neither shall it
be upon them, but there shall be destruction wherewith the Lord will
strike all nations that will not go up to keep the feast of
tabernacles.

14:19. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all nations,
that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

14:20. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be
holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as
the phials before the altar.

That which is upon the bridle, etc. . .The golden ornaments of the
bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in the house of God. And
there shall be an abundance of caldrons and phials for the sacrifices
of the temple; by which is meant, under a figure, the great resort
there shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ, and her
sacrifice.

14:21. And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be sanctified to
the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice shall come, and take of them,
and shall seethe in them: and the merchant shall be no more in the
house of the Lord of hosts in that day.

The merchant shall be no more, etc. . .Or, as some render it, The
Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the profane and unbelievers
shall have no title to be in the house of the Lord. Or there shall be
no occasion for buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the
house of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the temple.




THE PROPHECY OF MALACHIAS



MALACHIAS, whose name signifies The Angel of the Lord, was contemporary
with NEHEMIAS, and by some is believed to have been the same person as
ESDRAS. He was the last of the prophets, in the order of time, and
flourished about four hundred years before Christ. He foretells the
coming of Christ; the reprobation of the Jews and their sacrifices; and
the calling of the Gentiles, who shall offer up to God in every place
an acceptable sacrifice.



Malachias Chapter 1


God reproaches the Jews with their ingratitude: and the priests for not
offering pure sacrifices. He will accept of the sacrifice that shall be
offered in every place among the Gentiles.

1:1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of
Malachias.

1:2. I have loved you, saith the Lord: and you have said: Wherein hast
thou loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob, saith the Lord, and I
have loved Jacob,

I have loved Jacob, etc. . .I have preferred his posterity, to make them
my chosen people, and to lead them with my blessings, without any merit
on their part, and though they have been always ungrateful; whilst I
have rejected Esau, and executed severe judgments upon his posterity.
Not that God punished Esau, or his posterity, beyond their desert: but
that by his free election and grace he loved Jacob, and favoured his
posterity above their deserts. See the annotations upon Rom. 9.

1:3. But have hated Esau? and I have made his mountains a wilderness,
and given his inheritance to the dragons of the desert.

1:4. But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and
build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They
shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the
borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for
ever.

1:5. And your eyes shall see: and you shall say: The Lord be magnified
upon the border of Israel.

1:6. The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then
I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my
fear: saith the Lord of hosts.

1:7. To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein
have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and
you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of
the Lord is contemptible.

1:8. If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you
offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if
he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith the
Lord of hosts.

1:9. And now beseech ye the face of God, that he may have mercy on you,
(for by your hand hath this been done,) if by any means he will receive
your faces, saith the Lord of hosts.

1:10. Who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle
the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord
of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of your hand.

1:11. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is
great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and
there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great
among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.

A clean oblation. . .Viz., the precious body and blood of Christ in the
eucharistic sacrifice.

1:12. And you have profaned it in that you say: The table of the Lord
is defiled: and that which is laid thereupon is contemptible with the
fire that devoureth it.

1:13. And you have said: Behold of our labour, and you puffed it away,
saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought in of rapine the lame, and the
sick, and brought in an offering: shall I accept it at your hands,
saith the Lord?

Behold of our labour, etc. . .You pretended labour and weariness, when
you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it
with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in
itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion.

1:14. Cursed is the deceitful man that hath in his flock a male, and
making a vow offereth in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord:
for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful
among the Gentiles.



Malachias Chapter 2


The priests are sharply reproved for neglecting their covenant. The
evil of marrying with idolaters: and too easily putting away their
wives.

2:1. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is to you.

2:2. If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give
glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon
you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you
have not laid it to heart.

2:3. Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and will scatter upon
your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with
it.

I will cast the shoulder to you. . .I will cast away the shoulder, which
in the law was appointed to be your portion, and fling it at you in my
anger: and will reject both you and your festivals like dung.

2:4. And you shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my
covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

2:5. My covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear:
and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name.

2:6. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in
his lips: he walked with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many
away from iniquity.

2:7. For the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall
seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of
hosts.

The angel. . .Viz., the minister and messenger.

2:8. But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to
stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the
Lord of hosts.

2:9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all
people, as you have not kept my ways, and have accepted persons in the
law.

2:10. Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why then
doth every one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our
fathers?

2:11. Juda hath transgressed, and abomination hath been committed in
Israel, and in Jerusalem: for Juda hath profaned the holiness of the
Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

2:12. The Lord will cut off the man that hath done this, both the
master, and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that
offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts.

2:13. And this again have you done, you have covered the altar of the
Lord with tears, with weeping, and bellowing, so that I have no more a
regard to sacrifice, neither do I accept any atonement at your hands.

With tears. . .Viz., by occasion of your wives, whom you have put away:
and who came to weep and lament before the altar.

2:14. And you have said: For what cause? Because the Lord hath been
witness between thee, and the wife of thy youth, whom thou hast
despised: yet she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant.

2:15. Did not one make her, and she is the residue of his spirit? And
what doth one seek, but the seed of God? Keep then your spirit, and
despise not the wife of thy youth.

2:16. When thou shalt hate her put her away, saith the Lord, the God of
Israel: but iniquity shalt cover his garment, saith the Lord of hosts,
keep your spirit, and despise not.

Iniquity shall cover his garment. . .Viz., of every man that putteth
away his wife without just cause; notwithstanding that God permitted it
in the law, to prevent the evil of murder.

2:17. You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: Wherein
have we wearied him? In that you say: Every one that doth evil, is good
in the sight of the Lord, and such please him: or surely where is the
God of judgment?



Malachias Chapter 3


Christ shall come to his temple, and purify the priesthood. They that
continue in their evil ways shall be punished: but true penitents shall
receive a blessing.

3:1. Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my
face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the
testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold, he
cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.

My angel. . .Viz., John the Baptist, the messenger of God, and
forerunner of Christ.

3:2. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who
shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the
fuller's herb:

3:3. And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall
purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver,
and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice.

3:4. And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord,
as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.

3:5. And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness
against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that
oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows, and the fatherless: and
oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.

3:6. For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are
not consumed.

3:7. For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my
ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to
you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we
return?

3:8. Shall a man afflict God, for you afflict me. And you have said:
Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits.

3:9. And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole
nation of you.

3:10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat
in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you
the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to
abundance.

3:11. And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not
spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be
barren, saith the Lord of hosts.

3:12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a
delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.

3:13. Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.

3:14. And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have
said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that
we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before
the Lord of hosts?

3:15. Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work
wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.

3:16. Then they that feared the Lord, spoke every one with his
neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of
remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and
think on his name.

3:17. And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts,
in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth
his son that serveth him.

3:18. And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the
just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that
serveth him not.



Malachias Chapter 4


The judgment of the wicked, and reward of the just. An exhortation to
observe the law. Elias shall come for the conversion of the Jews.

4:1. For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the
proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that
cometh shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not
leave them root, nor branch.

4:2. But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise,
and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like
calves of the herd.

4:3. And you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under
the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of
hosts.

4:4. Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in
Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments.

4:5. Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of
the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

4:6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and
the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the
earth with anathema.

He shall turn the heart, etc. . .By bringing over the Jews to the faith
of Christ, he shall reconcile them to their fathers, viz., the
partiarchs and prophets; whose hearts for many ages have been turned
away from them, because of their refusing to believe in Christ.--Ibid.
With anathema. . .In the Hebrew, Cherem, that is, with utter
destruction.




THE FIRST BOOK OF MACHABEES



These books are so called, because they contain the history of the
people of God under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren:
and he, as some will have it, was surnamed Machabeus, from carrying in
his ensigns, or standards, those words of Exodus 15.11, Who is like to
thee among the strong, O Lord: in which the initial letters, in the
Hebrew, are M. C. B. E. I. It is not known who is the author of these
books. But as to their authority, though they are not received by the
Jews, saith St. Augustine, (lib. 18, De Civ. Dei, c. 36,) they are
received by the church: who, in settling her canon of the scriptures,
chose rather to be directed by the tradition she had received from the
apostles of Christ, than by that of the scribes and Pharisees. And as
the church has declared these two Books canonical, even in two general
councils, viz., Florence and Trent, there can be no doubt of their
authenticity.



1 Machabees Chapter 1


The reign of Alexander and his successors: Antiochus rifles and
profanes the temple of God: and persecutes unto death all that will not
forsake the law of God, and the religion of their fathers.

1:1. Now it came to pass, after that Alexander the son of Philip the
Macedonian, who first reigned in Greece, coming out of the land of
Cethim, had overthrown Darius, king of the Persians and Medes:

1:2. He fought many battles, and took the strong holds of all, and slew
the kings of the earth:

1:3. And he went through even to the ends of the earth: and took the
spoils of many nations: and the earth was quiet before him.

1:4. And he gathered a power, and a very strong army: and his heart was
exalted and lifted up:

1:5. And he subdued countries of nations, and princes; and they became
tributaries to him.

1:6. And after these things, he fell down upon his bed, and knew that
he should die.

1:7. And he called his servants, the nobles that were brought up with
him from his youth: and he divided his kingdom among them, while he was
yet alive.

Divided his kingdom, etc. . .This is otherwise related by Q. Curtius;
though he acknowledges that divers were of that opinion, and that it
had been delivered by some authors, lib. 10. But here we find from the
sacred text, that he was in error.

1:8. And Alexander reigned twelve years, and he died.

1:9. And his servants made themselves kings, every one in his place:

1:10. And they all put crowns upon themselves after his death, and
their sons after them, many years; and evils were multiplied in the
earth.

1:11. And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus the
Illustrious, the son of king Antiochus, who had been a hostage at Rome:
and he reigned in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of
the Greeks.

Antiochus the Illustrius. . .Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the
Great, who usurped the kingdom, to the prejudice of his nephew
Demetrius, son of his elder brother Seleucus Philopater.--Ibid. Of the
kingdom of the Greeks. . .Counting, not from the beginning of the reign
of Alexander, but from the first year of Seleucus Nicator.

1:12. In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they
persuaded many, saying: Let us go and make a covenant with the heathens
that are round about us: for since we departed from them, many evils
have befallen us.

1:13. And the word seemed good in their eyes.

1:14. And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the
king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the
heathens.

1:15. And they built a place of exercise in Jerusalem, according to the
laws of the nations:

1:16. And they made themselves prepuces, and departed from the holy
covenant, and joined themselves to the heathens, and were sold to do
evil:

1:17. And the kingdom was established before Antiochus, and he had a
mind to reign over the land of Egypt, that he might reign over two
kingdoms.

1:18. And he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots,
and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships:

1:19. And he made war against Ptolemee king of Egypt; but Ptolemee was
afraid at his presence and fled, and many were wounded unto death.

1:20. And he took the strong cities in the land of Egypt: and he took
the spoils of the land of Egypt.

1:21. And after Antiochus had ravaged Egypt, in the hundred and
forty-third year, he returned and went up against Israel.

1:22. And he went up to Jerusalem, with a great multitude.

1:23. And he proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the
golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels
thereof, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the
vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns,
and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them
all in pieces.

1:24. And he took the silver and gold, and the precious vessels: and he
took the hidden treasures, which he found: and when he had taken all
away, he departed into his own country.

1:25. And he made a great slaughter of men, and spoke very proudly.

1:26. And there was great mourning in Israel, and in every place where
they were:

1:27. And the princes, and the ancients mourned, and the virgins and
the young men were made feeble, and the beauty of the women was
changed.

1:28. Every bridegroom took up lamentation: and the bride that sat in
the marriage bed, mourned:

1:29. And the land was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the
house of Jacob was covered with confusion.

1:30. And after two full years, the king sent the chief collector of
his tributes to the cities of Juda, and he came to Jerusalem with a
great multitude.

The chief collector, etc. . .Apollonius.

1:31. And he spoke to them peaceable words in deceit; and they believed
him.

1:32. And he fell upon the city suddenly, and struck it with a great
slaughter, and destroyed much people in Israel.

1:33. And he took the spoils of the city, and burnt it with fire, and
threw down the houses thereof, and the walls thereof round about:

1:34. And they took the women captive, and the children, and the cattle
they possessed.

1:35. And they built the city of David with a great and strong wall,
and with strong towers, and made it a fortress for them:

The city of David. . .That is, the castle of Sion.

1:36. And they placed there a sinful nation, wicked men, and they
fortified themselves therein: and they stored up armour; and victuals,
and gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem;

1:37. And laid them up there: and they became a great snare.

1:38. And this was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an
evil devil in Israel.

An evil devil. . .That is, an adversary watching constantly to do harm,
as the evil spirit is always watching and seeking whom he may devour.

1:39. And they shed innocent blood round about the sanctuary, and
defiled the holy place.

1:40. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away by reason of them and
the city was made the habitation of strangers, and she became a
stranger to her own seed, and her children forsook her.

1:41. Her sanctuary was desolate like a wilderness, her festival days
were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honours were
brought to nothing.

1:42. Her dishonour was increased according to her glory, and her
excellency was turned into mourning.

1:43. And king Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people
should be one: and every one should leave his own law.

1:44. And all nations consented, according to the word of king
Antiochus.

1:45. And many of Israel consented to his service, and they sacrificed
to idols, and profaned the sabbath.

1:46. And the king sent letters by the hands of messengers to
Jerusalem, and to all the cities of Juda; that they should follow the
law of the nations of the earth.

1:47. And should forbid holocausts and sacrifices, and atonements to be
made in the temple of God.

1:48. And should prohibit the sabbath, and the festival days to be
celebrated.

1:49. And he commanded the holy places to be profaned, and the holy
people of Israel.

1:50. And he commanded altars to be built, and temples, and idols, and
swine's flesh to be immolated, and unclean beasts,

1:51. And that they should leave their children uncircumcised, and let
their souls be defiled with all uncleannesses, and abominations, to the
end that they should forget the law, and should change all the
justifications of God.



 


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