V. 1. This is the word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah etc.
I do not care about the question of Jerome, since he does not only dwell here but also elsewhere with many words, namely whether all those whom he lists here as forefathers were prophets. And the Hebrews have had strange dreams about such things, as their superstition is great. I admit that they belonged to the prophetic state. For there were three classes among the Jewish people (which we have noted above in one place [Amos 1:1]). The first class was that of the prophets, the second of the priests, the third of the wise men. Jeremiah summed them all up [Cap. 18, 18.] For the prophets had their order or pens, in which came together those 1) who learned from the prophets. Not as if they all had the spirit of God, but because they heard the prophets and followed them. These the history of the kings calls "children of the prophets" [2 Kings 4:1]. 2)
V. 2. 3. I will take everything out of the land.
Namely from Judea. He speaks with clear words about the Babylonian captivity. But it is strange that he says [v. 3.] that he will also gather or snatch away the cattle, the birds, and the fish. But this is how he speaks in the figure of synecdoche^, as when he says that all the Jews were carried away to Babylon, while yet the poor remained in the land, as history says. But since the greatest part was carried away, therefore he says that all were carried away. So he also says here that after the people are taken away and the cities in the land are burned, the birds and the fish are also taken away. That is, there will not be such a great benefit of the fish and the birds,
1) Handwriting: 6onv6n6rant. The Wittenberg better: "onvsniskÄQt.
2 > ..These - prophets" is missing in the Wittenberg.
since they, namely the people, are taken away, who either sell or buy them. Therefore he speaks of a well-ordered kingdom, in which there is a quantity of animals and where they are used. This quantity and use ceases when the inhabitants of the land are taken away. For even the Hebrew verb [XXX] does not actually mean to gather, that is, "to gather together," but as the Germans say, "to snatch away. Thus it is written in the 28th 3) Psalm, v. 3: God, "do not drag me among the wicked".
Together with the aergernissen and the godless ones.
The translation of Jerome does not please me as much as that of the seventy interpreters who have translated in this way: And the offences with the ungodly, so that the opinion is: So I will once put an end to all offences, that is, to the idolatry and the ungodly services, with which they have turned away the people from me, who should serve me.
Yes, I will purge the people from the land.
Namely from Judah. Thus, right at the beginning of the prophecy, he described the whole Babylonian captivity in a summa with tremendous words full of threats.
V. 4. I will stretch out my hand over Judah etc.
Now he declares and describes the aversions of which he says that he will take them away from the land. And it is the summa of the opinion, as if he wanted to say: I will call the king of Babylon here, through whom I will exercise my hand, my power and my wrath and show it against Judah.
So I want to spread the rest of Baal.
This is the one part of the astonishment. Under King Josiah, the worship prescribed by the law was not violated.
3) In the Weimarschen: "P8nlm. 25".
the teaching of the law was pure, as this king was exceedingly devoted to godliness, as the books of the kings testify, but nevertheless he could by no means achieve that he completely eliminated the godless Baal service. Always remained with some godless people the desire for godlessness and idolatry. And so the godly king made it so that idolatry did not prevail, but some remnants always remained. Nor can we hope to eradicate all ungodliness so completely that all men would be pious. For if this could have been done, it would certainly have been done by this king, who was most zealous about the law and the worship of God. Therefore, at that time, the best and largest part of the people followed the law, worshipping God with the worship prescribed in the law, while many others, who were godless, remained in their idolatry. In this way Balaam speaks in the fourth book of Moses, 1) when he praises the godliness and the right worship in the people of Israel, 4 Mos. 23, 21. [Vulg.]: "There is no idol seen in Jacob and no graven image in Israel." But Stephen, on the other hand, in Acts Cap. 7, 42. f., accuses all the fathers of the Jews who passed through the wilderness of ungodliness and idolatry, saying, "Did you of the house of Israel ever offer me sacrifices and cattle during the forty years in the wilderness? And ye took the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan" etc. But this is so to unite with each other. The scripture is used to speak in the figure of the synecdoche, that it takes a part for the whole, the whole for a part, as I also said shortly before. And this is called "one (unum) key" to understand the scripture.
In addition, the name of the camarim (aedituorum) and priests from that place.
That means that also the name of the Camarim should not be there anymore. Because "to take away the name" means to make it unknown and unglorious. So it is also written here and there in the Psalm [Ps. 9, 6. f. 34, 17.]: I will make their
1) In the manuscript: iü Nurrwris; Wittenberger: in
Take away name under heaven etc. Thus, nowadays, after the Gospel has been revealed by God's grace, the name of the Pope has perished, that is, it is not held in honor, it is no longer famous. By the way, the same word that our Latin interpreter translated by aeditui is also in the books of Kings [2 Kings 23:5]. But they were a peculiar kind of people, well practiced in this ungodly and idolatrous worship, for they have their name from fervent and violent devotion. That is why the prophet says here explicitly: "The names of the Camarim", as if he wanted to say: They were more famous among the people than all other priests, they were more respected, and gave the people the opinion that they were the most zealous in religion and worship before all others. I believe that they were just the kind of people who are nowadays monks who call themselves friars of the observance. Therefore, these godless people were still left under the very godly king Josiah. It is impossible for us to sweep out all ungodly beings and leaven, but we have to make sure that the kingdom of sin does not take place in us, that we do not make our members servants of sin, as the apostle says [Rom. 6:12 ff]. For this we need the constant use of the word, that we always stop, urge, rebuke and punish, so that the kingdom of sin does not overcome etc.
V. 5 And they that worship from the housetops of heaven's host.
This is another trouble, which the prophet Jeremiah often and much reproaches. For he often remembers the queen of heaven [Jer. 7, 18. 44, 17. ff.].But they worshipped the moon and the stars of heaven, which Moses had forbidden in the fifth book [Cap. 17, 3. 4, 19.] by a clear law. Therefore, this had been an ancient worship and a godless worship, since they had taken the beginning of it from the ancestors who had lived in Moses' time. But for this godlessness they put on this appearance of godliness, namely that they "worshipped" the presence of God, which was never to be found in
The people of the world have never seen any creature more clearly than in the sun, the moon and the stars. Then the foolish multitude worshipped not only God under the sun or in the sun, but also the sun and the moon themselves, as no doubt many of our people, who were so fond of idolatry, also worshipped the wooden images of the saints. "On the roofs," that is, in a higher place, in the open air. For they had flat roofs on which they also ate and walked.
Those who worship it, yet swear by the Lord, and at the same time by Malchom.
Some think that Malchom is the idol of the children of Ammon, others want that the king is meant by it, because that is what the Hebrew word means. But how it is to be translated here, I am not sure; but both readings can take place. To swear by the Lord is godly and holy, just as to worship the Lord, but the Lord does not want us to swear by anyone other than Him alone, to worship anyone other than Him alone. He cannot suffer us to limp on either side, as the Scripture says [1 Kings 18:21]. For clearly He says in the law [Deut. 6, 13.], "Thou shalt worship God thy Lord, and serve Him alone." And this limping is here punished by the prophet. But we serve God no less when we obey the authorities according to the will of God, since this pleases Him, as Paul says in the Letter to the Romans [Cap. 13, 5.]: "Not only for the sake of punishment, but also for the sake of conscience." And Solomon 1) says [Proverbs 24:21]: Honor the king. But the Jews swore by Malchom or by the king, that is, they put their trust in the king, which we alone should do against God. For in this they were punished by the Lord, because they had chosen a king against the Lord, that they put their trust in the king, that they would be safer under the king's help and protection than under the protection of the Lord. They did not entrust themselves to God alone, but put their trust in the king, just as the other Gentiles did, as the
1) In the Wittenberg: Peter (Cap. 2, 17.).
Scripture 1 Sam. 8, 20. clearly testifies: "That we also be like all other nations, that our king judge us and go out before us when we wage our wars" etc. So the prophet says also here that they have attached to the king the honor of swearing, which is due to God alone. But here occasion is given for many questions, since we often read in Scripture that even the saints swore by the life of kings, as [1 Sam. 17, 55.], "As thy soul liveth," etc., and the? Apostle Paul swears [1 Cor. 15, 31.], "By our glory," he says, "which I have in JEsu Christ our Lord, I die daily," etc., while yet one should swear by God alone and serve Him alone. Time does not permit to treat this in detail now, it is also not necessary to repeat this in many words, since I have explained this in my notes on the fifth book of Moses 2) quite abundantly. Although the honor and service or servitude is due to God alone, we must still submit to the brothers through love, so that one may precede the other with reverence, as Paul says in the letter to the Romans [Cap. 12, 10.]. But nevertheless this servitude is transformed into a service of God, namely because for the sake of God one submits to the other in this way through love. The difference that separates the service of the godly and the godless is in the heart, not in external things. Therefore the Jews, whom the prophet here accuses of ungodliness, sinned, because they swore by the oath without faith. For with the same oath the godly swears as the godless, but the latter swears with an unbelieving heart, namely, by not giving glory to God or standing in fear of him, but the latter swears with a believing heart. Thus a godly man uses gold, but he does not put his trust in it, as the godless do in creatures and the abundance of goods, but recognizes it as a creature of God, to whom he attributes everything as received from him. But whoever does not like this conception of the king, may accept the other one of the idol.
2) St. Louis edition, Vol. Ill, 1428 ff.
V. 6: And they that fall away from the Lord, and ask nothing of the Lord, and esteem him not.
The word, which I translate here by "respect", 1) is also in the 14th Psalm, v. 2: "He who asks after God" etc. Therefore the opinion is: I will also gather and destroy all the rest of the ungodly, who do not follow the Lord, do not keep the law of the Lord, and do not inquire after the Lord, who do not make an effort to hear the word of the Lord, and after they have heard it, recognize their ungodliness and repent. Such people are those, 2) who in the parable in the Gospel say [Luc. 14, 19.]: "I have bought five yoke of oxen, I have taken a wife, therefore I cannot come" etc. Namely, because they are immersed in the lusts and cares of this life and have given themselves over to them, they do not care about godliness.
V. 7. Be still before the Lord God.
This is an exhortation, as if to say: Since the Lord will take you all away like this, be quiet, give place to the sermon and the punishment, listen to the word, do not contradict etc.
For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice.
The prophet plays with images, as the prophets are wont to do, as if he wanted to say: "It is a matter of slaughter. The Lord will slaughter a sacrifice for himself, 3) namely you, the wicked.
And invited his guests to it (Et sanctificavit vocatos suos).
That is, he will prepare the Chaldeans, who will be ready to devour this sacrifice, who will destroy and disturb you. For these the Lord has invited as guests to this his banquet. Thus the prophet alludes to the use in sacrifice: when the sacrificial animals were slaughtered, then those who were to eat of the sacrifice were purified or expiated. Thus says
1) The preceding words are missing in the Wittenberg.
2) In the Weimarschen: pjj, c^ui. But pii is neither in the Erlanger nor in the Wittenberger, so we have omitted it.
3) The following words are missing in the Wittenberg.
Here he does the same, by which he indicates the captivity and destruction of the people, namely that the Chaldeans were invited by the Lord as guests, who should eat this his sacrifice. And so he mocks their ungodly sacrifices and offerings, and the outward purifications with which they purified themselves when they sacrificed, while meanwhile the heart was unbelieving and idolatrous etc.
V. 8. and on the day of the Lord's sacrifice I will visit etc.
The prophet continues his threat as he began. But then we will recognize the intention and the opinion of the prophet all the more easily if we consider, on the one hand, the fervor and zeal of the prophet, and on the other hand, the obduracy and stubbornness of the princes, the priests and false prophets, and the godless people, against whom the prophet thus flares up, threatening them with approaching calamity and the wrath of the Lord. For this is the manner of the word, that it contends against the mighty, the wise, and the holy. For this is a continual strife, as all Scripture indicates. So we see the same thing in this passage. The prophet had stiff-necked listeners who, filled with false delusion, ridiculed the prophet; false teachers who turned the people away from the right word of God, who taught the opposite and persuaded the rulers otherwise: it would not happen that the Lord would destroy his people, his city and his temple, of which he had promised that he would be present in it. Nor would the king, appointed by God, perish, as the prophet threatens here, saying, "And the king's children." No one expected that this would ever happen, for this kingdom had been established and confirmed by God through His Word. Then they had the very clear promises that had happened to David [1 Kings 8:25] that he would not lack a son from his loins to sit on his throne etc. Against these exceedingly clear promises Zephaniah prophesies here. Therefore the prophecy seemed to them impossible and lying. Because they cried out against the prophets, as it is
Jeremiah [Cap. 7, 4J] says: "Here is the temple of the Lord, here is the temple of the Lord" etc. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, God's people! and such other words. But these are the miraculous works of God, as we have said above several times in the other prophets, that He deposes the kings whom He has appointed, that He causes them to be carried away captive, as Jechaniah son of Josiah was carried away to Babylon, and yet He has miraculously preserved the kingdom and the kings, as He had promised to preserve the same. For even though Jechaniah was carried away captive to Babylon, even though he was thrown into prison, nevertheless, after Nebuchadnezzar died, he was exalted above the kings of Babylon, etc. as sacred history says. Namely, God was able to preserve the king in his own way, even in the midst of enemies, in the midst of despair, when nothing else was in sight but that the kingdom would fall and the king would perish. But because this seemed impossible to reason and to the godless Jews, they easily accused all the prophets of lying.
Who wear a foreign dress.
Here the interpreters agonize in many ways. Some think that the prophet is here punishing the imitation of the idolatrous worship of the pagans, and that the priests were also dressed in clothes similar to those of the pagan priests. But since this does not fit in with what has gone before, nor with what follows, what is the use of tearing the prophet's opinion so miserably to pieces? It is clear that he is talking about the princes and the king's children. Therefore, I believe that the prophet is also speaking here of the king's nobles or powerful men, who have imitated foreign customs, the dress and habits of foreign peoples who were situated all around, and have abandoned the paternal customs, habits and dress, as nowadays the Germans in general are the apes of all nations, since they dress after the manner of all nations, soon after that of France, soon after that of Spain. 2c, which is the sign of a great frivolity and a fickle mind, as it is among the French, and among the Germans
who follow the French in this. The poet Ennius was quite right:
Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque [By the ancient customs and the ancient men the Roman being endures].
V. 9. Also at the same time I will afflict those who leap over the threshold (qui arroganter ingreditur super limen).
The Latin interpreter did not translate clumsily, because he had the sense in mind, not the words. For so it is written in the Hebrew: He who leaps over the threshold at that time. The same word is also in the Song of Songs [Cap. 2, 8.], "My friend leapeth upon the mountains, and leapeth upon the hills." Here again the interpreters seek out something different. For they interpret this passage of the priests of Dagon, who did not step upon the threshold of the temple of Dagon after their idol Dagon was mutilated, as 1 Sam. 5, 4. f. is written. But as I said above, I do not have the way to tear the prophets apart, as those do, who look for new opinions almost at every single sentence; and with them everything hangs quite inconsistently on each other. But my opinion is this: As shortly before he had punished the godless princes and threatened them with imprisonment, likewise the king's children, so here he attacks the flatterers and servants of the princes who agree with and flatter their lords who act godlessly. For quite inconsistently the Latin interpreter has translated it [qui complent domum Domini Dei sui iniquitate et dolo], while according to the Hebrew it is thus: "Who fill their lords' house with robbery and deceit." But he calls them knights, that is, all too sure and brazen people, since they rely on their lords, whom they try to please by cheating the subjects with false measure and false goods, likewise unjustly and with obvious violence oppress others, if only their lords become rich; as today everywhere in all territories of princes and in all courts are the bailiffs and stewards, to whom the highest power is given. For they rage more and exercise greater violence by extorting and oppressing their subjects than
the princes themselves. These are nothing else than a ruin of the whole world, even under good princes, as they were also here under the very good king [Josiah] 1). The whole world is full of such examples; we need only look at all the courts of all princes.
He says that they "jump over the threshold", that is, they are servants, not heirs. They serve only with going out and coming in, as those who serve today in the family, will be expelled again tomorrow. Namely, this is what God intended when He commanded that the servant's ear be pierced with an awl, Deut. 15:17.
V. 10: In that day, saith the Lord, there shall be a loud cry from the fish gate.
How Jerusalem was situated, see in Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah described this very carefully. It had two hills: a higher one, called Zion, on which was the castle of David; a lower one, on which was Mount Moriah, on which the patriarch Jacob slept, and on which the temple is built. The Fish Gate is the one that lies on the side toward the evening, toward the Mediterranean Sea, into which all who come by ship to Jerusalem must enter. Therefore Jerome says correctly: The fish gate is the one that leads to Joppa. Then, as the prophet says:
And a howl from the other Thor,
So this is to be understood in this way: There was an outer wall in Jerusalem, which also had its houses. Within this wall there was another wall, which was called "the other part", which is also mentioned in the scriptures, as one reads about the prophetess Hulda, that she lived in the outer part, as it is written in the second book of Kings [Cap. 22, 14]. And from this part they called the gate "the other gate". According to this, the hills are the innermost part of the city, the castle of Zion and the temple, as I said. It is therefore the short epitome of the opinion: the whole city will be full of your screaming and howling. For it shall be utterly desolate, ye
1) "Josiah" is in the Wittenberg.
shall be miserably afflicted and all carried away into captivity, so that nothing shall be left.
V. 11: Hay, you who live in the mill (pilae).
He gives them the name of the future effect, since he calls them inhabitants of the mill. Here the interpreters go again extraordinarily apart. Jerome thinks that Jerusalem is called a mortar (pilam) from the Hiuabsteigen or from the valley Siloah. Likewise Lyra means that it is called so from Tiberias, which lies in a valley etc. I do not hold it with them at all. But first it must be remembered that in our reading there is an ambiguity, since we read habitatores pilae. One must be careful, however, that we do not introduce an ambiguity in the translation, which, as we see, has happened here. But pila does not mean a ball with which one is wont to play, but a mortar, ïëìïò, as Jerome translated. Hence this image of the prophet is taken from the use of a mortar, and the opinion is, So great will be the calamity and the crushing in this city, that, just as in vain mortar herbs and other things which we pound are turned to dust, so also Jerusalem will become to you like a mortar, in which you will be pounded and turned to nothing. Or if anyone does not like this opinion, let him follow the other which Solomon gives in Proverbs [Cap. 27, 22.], "If you pound the fool in the mortar," etc., so that the opinion would be, Jerusalem is as it were a mortar of the Lord, in which the Lord pounds you by the prophets whom he sends to reprove and punish you, but he adjusts nothing. For as much as you are daily crushed, yet foolishness does not depart from you. Therefore, he will crush you once through the king of Babylon, as he adds:
For all the merchant people are gone (Quoniam conticuit omnis populus Chanaan).
This word is frequent in the minor prophets, therefore one must pay attention to it, since they often speak of silence, of being still.
But it means "to be silent": to be made to nothing, and so the prophets do not indicate both the silence of the mouth and that of the things, namely that there is no more use of the things, everything lies down and is not respected, but despised, as we said above [v. 3] at the beginning of this prophet about the "raffle away" of the fish and birds. Then, since he says Chanaan, it is uncertain whether this word has an appellative meaning or is a proper name. Appellatively it means a merchant. But there is no doubt that the prophet understood Canaan to mean the Jews. It therefore remains the image [which indicates] why he calls them so. Now if it is an appellative word, the prophet is punishing the avarice and wicked artifices of the merchants of Judea, by which they obtained goods by defrauding other people. But if it is a proper name, this seems to me to be the opinion, as if he wanted to say: Furthermore, you are now no longer Judah, but Canaan, since the Lord will not act differently with you, as with the Cananites, who have all been driven out of the country and destroyed. This conception fills me best. In a similar way Ezekiel speaks [Cap. 16, 3.], "Thy father is of the Amorites, and thy mother of the Hittites." And Daniel says [History of Susanna, v. 56.], "Thou Canaanite kind, and not Judah."
And all those who collect money are wiped out.
That is, the rich who are miserly and glowing with greed.
V. 12: At that time I will search Jerusalem with lanterns.
He goes on to make this pounding great, as if to say, "So great will be the disturbance, so carefully will I search all the innermost and most hidden places in Jerusalem, that none may escape my wrath. All of them I will pound in this mortar, from which they will not escape. But one who is in a mortar will not easily escape, as it is commonly said, "He is so clever that you would not want to hit his head in the mortar."
And wants to haunt the people who lie on their heels.
That is, those who have become immobile, rigid, resting on their heels. This is a prophetic image of this prophet. This passage can also be understood in two ways. First, in an ignominious manner and with an exceedingly contemptuous word, he calls their righteousnesses and false beliefs "yeasts," with which they defile themselves by trusting in them, and turn the right word of God and the promises 1) into the most hideous delusion, which they have invented, while they, being sure, do not hear the prophets who threaten them with destruction, but defend their godlessness and protect their error by false and foolish opinions which they have learned from the false prophets. The other view is this: just as the yeast is the last thing in the vessel, so also this people is the last thing, very close to destruction, captivity is imminent for them. So also Isaiah Cap. 7, 4. calls the two kings "two smoking extinguishing fires", as if he wanted to say: there is nothing of strength left in them, soon they will be completely extinguished, since they are only smoking. Thus, because these prophetic images are uncertain and ambiguous, we cannot determine anything certain about the opinion. But I like the first view better, of their teachings or opinions, with which they protect their errors, so that they do not hear the prophets, since the following passage explains the same.
And say in their heart, The Lord will do neither good nor evil.
As if he wanted to say: I am not regarded differently among them, as if I were a nonsense or a Thor. For they do not believe that I speak of the true God when I threaten them with God's wrath, therefore they mock and deride me. For they boast of the promises made by God to the fathers, that they should be preserved, of the everlasting kingdom, of the lasting possession of the land etc. But me, because I prophesy against these their opinions,
1) Wittenberger: vsrtunt; manuscript: vsrtsruot; we have assumed the former.
They laugh at me together with my God, whom I praise and whose wrath I preach, saying, "Our God has promised us salvation and the kingdom, but you threaten destruction and captivity from your God. Away with you, you 1) stay with your god. The evil you threaten us with will not happen. "Your God will leave us in peace," since our God protects and preserves us, as He has promised etc. Namely, this is the right opinion of this passage. Let no one think that the Jews were so nonsensical as to deny that God takes care of everything etc., but they denied that this God is the true God of whom Zephaniah said that He threatens them with calamity etc. So also today they deny that this is the true Christ and the Gospel of Christ that we preach.
V. 13. And their goods shall become plunder.
He now describes the visitation with which he will afflict the people who lie on their heels, of whom he had just said, namely that all theirs will come to ruin. Because the prophet calls at this place "their strength" (fortitudinem) their fortune, their property and their wealth.
They will build houses.
That is, they sit securely, not even thinking that such a thing will happen, however much I shout about the future disturbance. For the more I threaten them with judgment and wrath, the more nonsensical they become. Therefore, they are safe, fear nothing for themselves, rmd build houses, plant as if they want to stay on earth forever; me they accuse of lying etc. Therefore, misfortune will overtake them unawares. So also Christ says [Luc. 17, 27. f.],it will happen that men will build, plant, take wives before the day of judgment etc. And Paul [1 Thess. 5, 3.]: "For when they shall say, There is peace, there is no danger, then destruction shall quickly overtake them" etc. For so it always happens and
1) In our opinion, a comma must be placed between apa^e and sis; it is not in our original. The Wittenberger has even made both words into one.
has happened in such a way that when very great and powerful kingdoms have grown to the highest, the disturbance and downfall has immediately followed. For this is God's play in human affairs, as also the prophet says in the Psalm [Ps. 73, 18]: You have made a mockery of them, you have overthrown them when they were set on the slippery slope. 2) Almost all poets' writings are full of this. Thus that poet has said very finely: What is great will not last long. 3)
V. 14: For the great day of the Lord is near.
Always the prophet urges with so many words and so much vehemence the future calamity against the hopeful and sure despisers who accused the prophet of lying, who said that the Lord would not do them evil etc. For, as we have said, they were sure and feared nothing for themselves, being strengthened by a false conviction. But so it is with the wicked: when they are most flourishing and ruling, when nothing less is seen than that they will perish, then a sudden destruction comes upon them. For, as the prophet says in the Psalm [Ps. 55:24], the wicked will not bring their life to the half, as also Christ says in the Gospel parable [Luc. 12:46] of your unrighteous servant, that the Lord will come then, because that servant does not understand. For because they remain obstinate, they are not moved by the threats of God; therefore, destruction comes upon them suddenly and unawares. For human nature cannot be inflated other than by prosperity, and cannot solve the riddle of how far the highest misfortune is from the highest happiness, as one is wont to say. For it cannot fear misfortune in prosperity etc. The prophet says the same thing here, as if to say: You have good confidence in this your prosperity, but do not think that the Lord will deceive you when he foretells your captivity, for it is already before you.
2) Instead of etevarentur in our original, the Vulgate will read atlsvarentur.
3) Thus Luther translates the words: LIaAnisoue turn Stare diu. Cf. St. Louis edition, vol. XIII, 1229, 8 20.
When the cry of the Day of the Lord will come.
That is, those who cry out and suffer in the day of the Lord. He presents the calamity as if it were already present. For he pictures the people in captivity, the houses destroyed, that the people howl, cry out and weep miserably. For he calls the great day of the Lord the day of the Babylonian captivity, not the last day, as Jerome thinks, who, in his way, attributes a special opinion to almost every single sentence of the prophets.
Then the strong will cry out bitterly.
I do not fully understand the Hebrew word which the prophet has used here. Because the Latin interpreter has passed over the letter n in haste and has meant, it is an n. The newer linguists say this word means: shout loudly. The newer linguists say that this word means: to shout loudly. Because we have nothing better, also nothing else can determine about the' meaning of the word, we want to follow them. For these newer grammarians have also been more careful, and still are, in comparing the places in the language when such a special word occurs, than the ancients were. Accordingly I translate after the Hebrew thus: There the strong shall cry out fiercely, so that the singular stands for the plural, that is: The brave warriors, who before were an object of fear to all in the people, all the strongest shall cry out more, shall fear more than the rest of the common people etc.
V. 15. For this day is a day of wrath.
This passage has been frequently used in all churches, namely when the mass priests suck soul masses, and they have drawn it to the day of the last judgment. But here we see quite obviously that they have twisted it quite inconsistently, because the prophet speaks of the Babylonian captivity. But what we read [in the Vulgate]: dies calamitatis [instead of: "a day of weather"], is badly translated from the Hebrew. It
should have been translated in the same way as the evangelist Lucas Cap. 21, 25: "The sea and the waves shall roar," and as it is said in the Proverbs of Solomon [Cap. 3, 25]: "That thou fear not the sudden terror, nor the tempest of the wicked," and Ps. 65, 8: "Thou that stillest the roaring of the sea, the roaring of its waves." Hence it should have been translated thus, "a day of weather and tempest." But the prophet indicates that the Babylonians will come with a very great tempest and will rage against the Jews, not unlike when the sea, stirred up by violent winds, is wont to roar and make a noise.
A day of darkness and gloom.
The prophet imagines a storm by which he indicates and describes the extremely violent and heated attack of the Chaldeans, namely the Jews would not be able to resist in any way, they would have to perish.
V. 16. A day of trumpets and drums.
Namely, the Chaldeans, as if the Chaldeans, certain of victory, would shout and rejoice, so that you could already die by the so terrifying and great roar.
Against the solid cities and high castles.
That is, the Lord will bring the army of the Chaldeans against you so that you will be destroyed and led away into captivity. You will not be able to resist, for even your strongest cities will not be of any use to you, not even Jerusalem, nor will any defense, however strong, nor any fortification be so great that you will be able to withstand them. There is no counsel, no wisdom, no strength against the Lord.
V. 17. I will make people anxious.
I do not understand this Hebrew word either. Because it does not mean "plague" (tribulare), as our Latin interpreter translates it. I give it in such a way: And I will trumpet among the people, "I will also let myself be heard. I will raise a shout among you," that is, I will strike fear into your hearts.
that you may know that I am waging war, that I am fighting against you. For this is how God wages war, to take away the heart and courage of those whom He wants to destroy, as I have reminded you several times above in the other prophets. For so it comes to pass that they are quite easily, without any effort on the part of the enemy, even put to flight by a leaf of a tree. For then they fight quite unhappily. And this opinion he expresses, since he adds:
That they should walk around like the blind.
As if he wanted to say: Through this despondency of the hearts I will cause them to be deprived of all counsel. They will not be able to come to themselves again; in their consternation they will not know at all whether they want to flee or resist the enemy or make peace proposals. They will be as confused and helpless as the blind.
Because they have sinned against the Lord.
Everything fits very well to my view. For he gives here the reason for the preceding, as if he wanted to say: I will make them feel their sins; this feeling or revelation of sin in their hearts will make them ashamed. For now they do not recognize their sin, but rather they defend their sin, with which they have sinned against the Lord. But then there will be no remedy, they will become powerless in their sins etc.
Their blood shall be shed as if it were dust (sicut humus).
It is not to be read: fumus [smoke]. For the Hebrew word means excavated earth, which can be scattered like ashes or dust, from which also the first man Adam was created, and therefore it is often translated by dust, as [Gen. 3, 19. Vulg.]: Remember, man, "that thou art dust, and shalt return to dust".
And her body as if it were dung.
According to the Hebrew I read most correctly so: And their bread as if it were dung. Furthermore, it is a Hebrew way to speak, because with
the name Brod is used by the Hebrews to refer to food or nourishment. Therefore it should have been translated like this: And their food, as if it were dung. Thus Paul spoke of his legal righteousness in the letter to the Philippians Cap. 3, 8: "I count all things as dung." Perhaps Paul was looking at this passage of the prophet. It is therefore the opinion: although they will endeavor to propitiate God with flesh and blood, namely with that of the sacrificed animals; as much as they want to sacrifice to the Lord, still their sacrifices will not be pleasing. The enemies will come and scatter all the sacrifices, their blood and their bread, like dust. Thus in the third book of Moses we often find that the sacrifices are called meat, because they were given to the priests. In general, the Hebrew word [XXXX] denotes what the Latin expresses by the general word esca [food]. But also the evangelists followed the Hebrew way of speaking and translated it by the word bread. In a similar way Hosea spoke on this opinion, above Cap. 9, 4.: Their bread is the bread of the afflicted, and Israel eats that which is unclean etc., that is, their sacrifices are in mourning; these the Lord does not want. For this was forbidden in the law, see Deut. 26:14. This passage is extremely noteworthy, for it rejects all righteousness of the flesh and calls it dung, as the apostle Paul also calls it. Therefore, he indicates that nothing is required for true righteousness but faith in the Word of God.
V.18. Their silver and gold will not save them.
He says that everything will be of no use to them. First of all, he rejects their righteousness, their worship, their sacrifices, and says that they will not be pleasing to the Lord, that he should deliver them [therefore] from the enemies, because everything will be considered dung. They themselves also will feel in their consciences sin against the Lord, so that they must despair. And so the temptation will teach them to know the word, as Isaiah says [Cap. 28, 19]. He also adds this, that they will not find help in outward things either for
This misfortune is wealth, gold and silver, that is, they will not be able to redeem themselves with gold or silver, so that they will not be killed or taken into captivity, because the Chaldeans will either kill them all or take them away.
But the whole land shall be consumed by the fire of his zeal.
This means that the anger of the Lord that has been kindled cannot be mitigated. The Lord
will not allow the Chaldeans to accept gold or silver to buy themselves off, as they usually do in wars. Therefore, there is nothing left but for the whole land of Judah to be consumed by the fire of the Lord's zeal. For it will suddenly come to an end with all who dwell in the land, so that they cannot be delivered from this Babylonian captivity either by their righteousness or by a ransom etc.