In the first chapter one sermon is completed, this chapter is another sermon, which may have been preached on different days or at different times. And in the first one he announced the disturbance because of the ungodly hypocrisy: they worshipped images instead of God, which is the head of all ungodly being. In this chapter he treats the same imprisonment or disturbance because of the fruits of ungodliness, such as avarice, robbery, violence, Gal. 5, 19. ff. Therefore, this whole chapter is about gross and outward sins, which have no beautiful appearance, like the first one about apparent holiness.
V. 1. Woe to those who seek to do harm.
XXX actually means "toil" (dolorem), and is found in this first meaning in the 90th Psalm, the Psalm of Moses, v. 10. "When it cometh up, it is eighty years; and when it hath been delicious, it hath been toil and labor." There it is in its first meaning. After that, in the prophets, in figurative or figurative speech, any iniquity is so called, because an iniquity plunges both those who do it and those who suffer it into toil and labor. Here it is taken figuratively, that is, you who are intent on iniquity. He wants to say, "You perish with it in your camp." This is a paraphrase by which he expresses their thoughts and actions, namely, "day and night you deal with it," that is, you practice wickedness. He shows their home
They are intent on doing harm. In the 36th Psalm, v. 5, the same expression is: "They seek to do harm in their camp." Meditatus est, 1) he made a point of it, sought after it, "dealt with it," that is, you have such a good intention. The prophet seems to allude to this Psalm word or to imitate it, namely: never 2) does it occur to them that they want to do good; with constant zeal they set themselves to it. To do harm.
[That they accomplish it early, when it becomes light].
"Early" indicates a certain 3) time; that is strange. I believe that he is talking about the evil that they commit in the court and in the doctrine, how the jurists deal with it, that they make laws and change them again, how they may become rich and oppress the Annen. So do you. Below [Cap. 3, 11.] he says: "Their heads judge for gifts, their priests teach for wages, and their prophets prophesy for money", [which shows/ "that he means the same sin". Early you teach the people and hold judgments, but all that you do
Keyword highlighted. However, it is another interpretation of the Psalm passage just cited according to the Vulgate.
2) Instead of iuiciuitas we have assumed Qunyuuui, which both the Altenburg and Hallic manuscripts have.
3) Instead of yuicl[M, we have assumed ^uidUain, according to the esrtum in the Altenburg manuscript.
teach, you teach in such a way that you profit from the word of God and oppress the poor. This is what happens when the word is gone, and nothing better can happen. Early [you accomplish it/ namely both in teaching and in not teaching, by turning everything in such a way that it brings you profit. To this all [papal] clergy (clerici) have their attention, 1) that they may become rich and live deliciously. The courts of the pope judge that he should have the fourth part. The doctrine in the chairs, the judgments in the spiritual courts [are handled in such a way/ that the belly has abundance/ etc. So 2) it goes with those.
Because they have the power.
Everything they do, they pretend against God. Even though they have the word, they still misuse it, but pretend to be God's image. Otherwise, they would not believe us if we did it in the name of the devil. We must devour the people.
V. 2: They take for themselves the fields and houses they desire.
Here you see their poetry and costumes. This is how they deal with it, how they get rich. Let us only look at our examples: after we have taken hold of a little work, so that one can speak under the name of the Lord, everything amounts to robbery. So they also robbed, not by force, but [saying], Here thou hast the law and the scriptures. So they told us etc. that we have to redeem souls by doing good [Dan. 4, 24/"That means" to rob. Christ says Matth. 23, 14: "You who eat the houses of widows" etc. - XXX, XXX, mean "each one," as one says in common life, "One speaks commonly thus." 3) "They do violence to every man's house," they set ambushes by laws, by doctrines, as things against a man. "It must therefore come to pass" that they may rob all and become rich. This is also found in Isaiah [Cap. 10, 2/ and elsewhere.
1) Instead of 8x>66tarliu8 and immediately following üarnn8 .we have assumed 8p6atant and üant.
2) Weimarsche: instead of: 8io; a printing error.
3) Already here, the Weimar has the verse number "3."
V. 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I remember evil against this generation, out of which ye shall not draw your necks, neither shall ye walk so proudly; for it shall be an evil time.
Likewise the Lord opposes his thoughts to their thoughts: You compel yourselves and think; I also compel myself and think: I will retaliate, evil [shall befall you/ You will not pull out your neck. Superbe, with neck raised high. 4) I will take care that such an evil time shall come that your arrogance shall be subdued, that is, the king of Assyria will come, so that you will not oppress the poor because you cannot, for it is an evil time. How?
V. 4. [At the same time a saying will be made of you and lament].
"At the same time," that is, in the evil time. [Parabola,] that is, a proverb. [Instead of:] cantabitur canticum I will read: et plangetur planctus [or] lamentabitur lamentatio, [that is:] "HErr GOtt, behold, a time will come, [then] I will arrange it, that one shall sing and say of you." The enemies will also sing "a song of sorrow." What kind of song? Disturbance will be the theme of the' song; the summa and content of the song, namely: we are utterly disturbed.
[It is over, we are estranged. My people's land (pars) gets a foreign master].
[Instead of] pars [it should rather be] Acker [read] Die Aecker, die Ländereien, die Besitzungen. It is better given above in Amos and Hosea by portio. That which is allotted in the people to each one, just as each citizen has his "theik" from the field. So the people will be caught, that the inheritance, which is allotted to my people, has been changed, that is, it has another Lord. This is the subject. 5)
4) In our template is highlighted as the keyword, but it is only explanatory word to 8ux>6rb6.
5) Here, according to DÜsina, the Weimar edition erroneously has a colon. This error is probably a consequence of the fact that the keyword is not set above.
When will he restore the fields he has taken from us? 1)
Now comes another part of the song. He wants to say (Quomodo recedet a me is interpreted once from the father ThiglathPilesser, and then from his son so: The son Salmanasser will still return), as if he now wanted to make a word play 2) with a new word: How will someone pull me out so that our fields are divided again? I take as an adverb. 3) The prophets express by two verba what we express by a verb and an adverb, as Ps. 71, 21: Conversus consolatus es me ["and comfort me again"]. Thus here: Your property has another lord, who will do me this favor, that he will free me, that I am pulled out, that our fields can be divided up again? That will never happen. If it [the song] is so used by the enemies, it is a mocking song (parabola), if by the prisoners, it is a lament, and I believe that I am not mistaken. Others do not follow this opinion. Verses and poems are more difficult to understand than prose, because, bound by meter and rhythm, they have a different "manner". Thus this little song. The theme: "We are deserted", the fields have a different owner. It will never happen that the land will be given to us again. He is talking about the whole disturbance, so it is not to be understood like this: a part of the people, and it will happen that the kingdom of Israel will perish from the ground up.
V. 5: Yea, ye shall have no part in the congregation of the Lord (in coetu Domini).
For he has already said that it will be distributed as it was distributed in Joshua, where each tribe was assigned its place, and that this will no longer happen after this disturbance. [Coetus Domini is) the Ge-
3) In our original incorrect: uüjsotivo instead of: aävörbio. - The Hebrew word is written: Lkebeä. Who can be served with such a rendering of the Hebrew? Even though Roth may not have been a hero in Hebrew, the editors should have corrected his mistakes.
mine, where the word of God still is. 4) This is what I am thinking of, says God. You deprive the poor, I will cause you to be completely deprived.
V. 6. 5) They say not to be baptized; for such baptism does not befall us, we will not be so disgraced.
This is a new passage, not belonging to the preceding, Ne loquamini loquen- tes [in the Vulgate, I translate after the Hebrew by ne stilletis stillam), 6) like Burgensis; I like his opinion and interpretation. This image is ffrequent) in the prophets. [Joel 3, 23.:) "The mountains will ooze." Effundere and stillare are frequently used by the prophets. "Träufen" means to preach, for rain means to preach. Hence, the prophet says this: he accuses those in authority who refuse the prophets to preach calamity. We want to preach evil to them, says Micah, which they do because of the false prophets. And they oppose to us God's majesty and goodness, and say, "You shall not deceive." The godless preachers say to the authorities: You shall not trumpet, that is, you shall not let the prophets preach. The false prophets trumpet, so that we, I and others, shall not trumpet. Ye shall not trumpet such things concerning these (super istos [Vulg.)), that is, concerning us, and shame (confusio) shall not take hold of us. [Confusio is as much as] ignominia [disgrace]. 7) It can be said fauch) in the manner of a threat about the ungodly: We advise and warn the new prophets (so the false prophets said of the holy prophets), who want to be God's prophets, that they should not dream, shall "the devil cheat them". They shall not dream, for they oppress us. 8) "There is no need!" Both views are good. "We shall not be put to shame," we are good.
4) Weimar's interpungirt this sentence like this: "H" eüssm: nb>i ost aMiue vrdmn äei?"
5) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
6) Supplemented by us according to the Altenburg manuscript.
7) lAnomiuia is made the subject of the following sentence in Weimar's.
8) Instead of Hon we have assumed nyk.
V. 7. The house of Jacob comforts itself thus: Do you mean etc.
Dicit domus [that is, they say in the house of Jacob. They boast and this is their glory for which they despise us, Isa. 50, 1) 2. Either Isaiah followed Micah or vice versa. It seems to me rather that Isaiah followed this prophet.
Do you think the Lord's Spirit is shortened?
He wants to say: You prophets say that God is angry and that he threatens destruction. Has he then cut off his spirit and will withhold his mercy in anger? We are his people. He wants to protect lins and overcome for us the enemy people. So the pope says: Do you think that Christ will leave his church and be angry for so many centuries? Those had the promises: You shall be God's people, the people of ownership etc. Therefore the prophets argued against a revealed text; but they knew that not all are Israelites, who are of Israel [Rom. 9, 6.]. He resolves these promises with one word.
[Should he want to do such a thing?]
(Instead of cogitationes it should rather read) studia (that is, he is not at all so minded.
(It is true, my speeches are kind to the pious.)
Here the prophet answers and resolves [their objections] with One Word. I confess, my spirit has promised much, but your ungodliness I do not protect by the word. Thus [we say]: Christ does not abandon his church. This is true, but he does not protect the ungodly. Here you have the strongest proof ground of the ungodly and its resolution: May it be my people or another: whoever keeps my word and walks (rightly) etc.
V. 8. But my people have risen up like an enemy. 2)
That is, it contends (against me as) against an enemy, as if to say: My
1) In our original: lÄn. 54. But the Weimar one has inserted the correct citation in the Hall manuscript.
2) In our template, the word uäv6r8uriu8 is missing here. The text reads: ut 6886t w6U8 i. 6. etc.
Words are indeed kind to those who do right (or walk), but my people behave hostilely against me as is said above (v. 1. f.), they "rebel" as if they were enemies'. They rob the cloak, 'take away the skirt with the cloak.' You are robbers; I speak kindly, you rob. This is the fruit of ungodliness.
(To those who walk along so safely.)
Instead of "surely" the old (Latin translator) has simpliciter. That is, they sow strife. Where there is no strife, they seek opportunity for strife. In the realm of the Pabst we can see how the tyranny of the Officiale, the Notarien etc. And above [v. 2. it was said]: "They do violence to every man's house" etc. Innocent people they brought into great harm by their subpoenas.
V. 9 You drive the wives of my people from their dear homes and always take my jewelry (laudem meam) from their young children.
Where we have laudem [in the Vulgate), the Hebrew reads "adornment," as one often reads in the second Bliche of Moses [Cap. 28 and 39) of the priests who are to clothe themselves gloriously and beautifully (induere magnificentiam), as translated by the interpreter. [Ps. 110:3:] "Thy people shall serve thee in glorious adornment." Decus is) "an ornament or adornment." The former s "adornment") is the better. It seems to me to say of the robbery of the priests and other great ones, but others interpret it differently. That is, you plague the old women and the widows by collecting [debts) in such a way that they are forced to sell their houses, in which they have their pleasure, and drive them into poverty, and my ornaments, which I had procured for the young children, "that (they) might be fat and grow," 3) (you have taken away, and not spared), but have again plunged them into poverty in such a way that they can no longer be helped. You have
3) In our original: "proviäerut das fet waren und wischen." That we have made "wischen" into "wüchsen", compare the analogous metathesis at the end of the first chapter: "teuschtz" - "deutsch". Instead of proviüernt we have assumed providerain. We did not succeed in finding a completely satisfactory solution for the German words. The other manuscripts give no clue.
so that it is a description of violence and oppression. Because you have done this, receive your reward, namely:
V. 10. Therefore arise, you must leave, you shall not stay here.
I will take away what you delight in and your jewelry, "will make you beggars again."
For the sake of their impurity, they must be destroyed rudely (putredine pessima).
And the destruction will be a hard, strong, violent one. You who have a beautiful reputation, before me you are "shameful" inside and out, namely you are robbers. [Instead of] putredine [stands I Kings 2, 8.] maledictione pessima [, since Shimei shamefully cursed against David. That is, it [the destruction] will be cruel and very bad etc.
V. 11: If I were a false spirit and a liar (Utinam essem vir ambulans vento).
Above in Hosea [Cap. 9, 7.] 1) we had: Scitote virum venti, that means ventosum. That is, that I would be a windy man, that is, a vain one, who would be moved by the wind. It pains him that this is so true, what is in store for these so godless people: "Would God" that I were false and lying etc., then I would only preach to you of wine and drunkenness. "I will be a liar unto him." "I would also preach unto thee" at thy pleasure, and be silent from the cross, and (preach) good days and peace, as thy false prophets do.
[That would be a preacher for this people.]
[Instead of et erit super quem stillatur populus iste in the Vulgate read thus:] stillator erit stillans populi hujus. "Well," you like to hear the words of the vain prophets. Would to God that I were void in these words of mine, that I might preach of good things that should befall thee; but it cannot be done.
1) Not "Hof. 12, 1.", which the Weimar offers. In the place we cite, the Vulgate has: Lmtoto ... . viruni spiritnulkm, which Luther explains in the Zwickau manuscript by viruna venti.
happen, because the Assyrian will come. He who will not hear the father must hear the executioner. - In the following, the prophet passes from the kingdom of Israel to the kingdom of Christ.
V. 12: But I will gather you, Jacob, completely.
As I said above, it must be noted in all the prophets that when they have said enough about the disturbance of the people, they pass on to the future kingdom that was expected after that was disturbed. As in the other prophets above, these transitions seem inconsistent and a little harsh, but we must defer to the way of the prophets. This text cannot be interpreted of the return from the Babylonian or the Assyrian captivity, but of the kingdom of Christ, for it was certain that the kingdom of Israel should not be returned, and the people cried out because the kingdom of Israel was now desolate. He is speaking of Jacob, not Judah, hence he says of the whole people to be brought back. If he said of the return of Judah, it could have been understood of the return from the Babylonian captivity. He therefore speaks of a spiritual assembly, he therefore says of the gospel which has been sent throughout the whole world. How then was it gathered together in its entirety, since only a very small part believed? These sayings must always be understood of the ministry of the gospel; whoever does not heed this, runs into many places. The whole people has not been gathered and yet it is gathered. It is the same with [Gen. 12:3], "In thee shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed." It is another thing for all nations to be blessed, and it is another thing for the blessing to be received. Though it goes upon all, it is not received [by all]; that is, the blessing is scattered upon all nations, but few receive it. The assembly is indeed there, that is, the sending forth of the gospel extends over all Israel, but not all receive this assembly. Therefore, he speaks of the ministry of the word; the work is spread over all, "among all creatures," as Paul says [Col.
1, 23. 1)] says. That is, I will spread the gospel over all, both over Judah and over Jacob. The same is what follows:
[And bring the rest of Israel in heaps.]
The "others" are not only those who are in the country, but also those who are in the whole world.
I will put them together like a herd in a stable, and like a flock in their hurdles.
XXX 2) [in the midst of] the hurdles. Neuchlin says it means when the sheep are on the drift, "in the driving out." The opinion is clear, so let us not argue what it means. Into a sheepfold, into the same pasture. I will give them the gospel, and they will drink the same spirit.
That it should sound of people.
There will be a roar from the multitude of people. He seems to me to add that the Gentiles are to be brought to the gospel, that is, so great will be the multitude of those gathered to the faith that there will be a roar, as there is with a gathering of the people; there will be a very great gathering of them.
V. 13. a breaker shall come up before them, they shall break through, and go out to the gate, and their king shall go before them, and the Lord before them.
[Here it says XXX. Ps. 17, 4. [means XXX] a murderer. is] to divide, as in the 1st book of Moses [Cap. 38, 29.], "Why hast thou for thy sake torn such a rift? And they called him Perez." "A specialist maker," that is, a ripper. Therefore they will break through and go out and in to the Thor. And it is ["breaker through"] a designation of Christ, and a beautiful text, namely: who first breaks through and makes the way, "a breaker of the way." So it is Christ, he calls him. He has made the way, so that one can go through the obstacles, as there are the sin, the law, the wrath of God. The
1) Both the Erlanger and the Weimarsche incorrect: Col. 1, 13.
2) In our prelims: äakar.
means, I will lead them to One sheepfold. Christ says [John 10:28], "I give unto them eternal life." But it comes to stand tall. Someone must go ahead to make the way. The law, sin, the wrath of God and the devil stood in the way, and still stand in the way; everything hinders 3) etc. This way is not easy for the flesh. The pasture is sweet, but bitter for the flesh. Our righteousness, the world, the wicked and our flesh are set against us. Joh. 16, 33. [Christ says]: "I have overcome the world", that is, I have broken through. "The breaker" will go up before them. Pandens iter ["who breaks the way," in the Vulgate] is too weakly spoken. "A fine text." 4) But nothing has stood in the way of this, he is the breaker, 5) so that nothing stands in the way; therefore they will break through the door to life, which was closed by sin, the law, the world. They will go out of this world of misery into eternal life. Death is the door to life. A beautiful indication of how great the power of faith in Christ is: we break through to life according to Christ. These words do not indicate a temporal kingdom. The King is risen from the dead and has gone ahead into glory. Now our leader and head always 6) goes before us, that we may overcome death, that we may enter into life. This King has no successor, as they [the papists] want, but it is A Breaker Through. From this text it is clear that Christ is true God. For the breaker is man, and the king who goes before them is also the Lord, whose name is Jehovah (tetragrammaton). Thus he indicates that Christ is true God and man, and summarizes in short words Christ's death, resurrection and everything, Christ's innocence and His whole kingdom.
3) Instead of iwpsndunt in our template, we adopted impediunt.
4) The Weimar edition has here so interpungirt: "kerruptor LseenÜet nute sos punZsus iter. moliitvi' dietum eyn feyner text." We have followed the Altenburg manuscript.
5) We have adopted pSrruptor 68t instead of psrksotus 68t, which seems to us to give no suitable sense.
6) In the Erlanger: 86p6; in the Weimarschen 8L6P6; we have assumed sernxer.