Complete Works of Saint Jerome, Vol. V

A(Verse 22) And there was there [Vulgate: there is] the hand of the Lord upon me, and he said to me: Arise and go forth into the plain, and there I will speak with you. That which we translated from the Hebrew as there, and which is not found in the Septuagint, is positioned significantly, and there is no doubt that it signifies a specific location. For above we read: And I came to the transmigration to the heap of new fruits, to those who were dwelling beside the river Chobar (above, III, 15). And rightly he, to whom it had been said, sit, is commanded to rise. And he who had entered into the transmigration hears, go forth, not into rugged valleys, not into precipitous cliffs, but into the breadth of the plain that can receive the glory of the Lord. Whence it is said to the Corinthians: Be enlarged (1 Cor. 6:13). When he enters among the captives, of whom it is said that they are insane and persecute him, he needs a strong hand so that he may be able to resist and endure the fury of his persecutors. But when he goes forth into the plain, the hand of the Lord indeed comes upon him, for without His help he could not go forth, but the word strong is not added. For he goes forth to see the glory of God, not to fight. And it is to be noted that in the midst of the captives who were sitting, the Prophet himself sitting did not see the glory of the Lord.

(Verse 23) And I arose [Vulgate: rising] and went forth into the plain, and behold the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory which I saw beside the river Chobar. At the Lord’s command he enters, and at His command he goes forth, and sits with those sitting; for the number of captives could not hear him while he stood. Having gone forth into the breadth of the plain, he saw the glory of the Lord standing, which he had previously seen walking, and lifting itself up, and occasionally standing. Because beside the river of this age, Chobar, which can be interpreted or "is interpreted" as most heavy, the glory was perceived: which signifies that all the glory of this world passes by and has no stable footing. But the glory of the Lord, standing and persevering, is seen in the plain with the Prophet who is standing: that glory which, in the midst of the captives, could neither stand nor be seen.

(Verse 24) And I fell upon my face, and the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he spoke to me, and said to me: Enter, and shut yourself in the midst of your house. Not enduring the standing glory of the Lord, he fell upon his face, so that he might be raised by the spirit entering into him. This spirit set him upon his feet, and spoke to him, saying: Enter and shut yourself in the midst of your house. And the meaning is this: Because you have been strengthened by the sight of the Lord’s majesty, do not fear, nor dread anyone; but return into your house: either for the necessities of the body, as some think, or as a sign of the future siege. And just as Isaiah went barefoot and naked (Is. 20), announcing the three years of captivity and the nakedness of the people, so you too, shut in your house, prophesy by that very act the approaching siege of the city of Jerusalem.

B(Verses 25, 26) And you, son of man: behold, bonds are given upon you, and they will bind you with them, and you will not go forth from [Vulgate: into] the midst of them, and I will make your tongue cleave to your palate (or throat), and you will be mute, and not as a man rebuking them [Vulgate: him]: because it is an exasperating house. That he is shut in the house, that he is bound with chains, that he does not go forth to those among whom he dwells, but suffers the solitude of a prison amidst the multitude of captives (as I said above), is an indication of the siege: that Jerusalem, once closed and surrounded by the army of the Chaldeans, will allow none of its inhabitants to go forth. This is the pot of which Jeremiah speaks (Jer. 1), and which this Prophet himself speaks of in the following passages: in which the flesh of the people is consumed. That the Prophet’s tongue cleaves to his palate or throat and he is made mute, having no authority to rebuke, the reason is clear: because, he says, it is an exasperating house. And the meaning is this: They are of such from the context: "bitterness" and of such contention against God that they do not deserve to hear a rebuker. From which it is clear that where there is a multitude of sinners, the sinners are unworthy of being corrected by the Lord.

C(Verse 27) But when I have spoken to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them: Thus says the Lord God: He who hears, let him hear: and he who rests, let him rest: because it is an exasperating house. That which we read in Ecclesiastes: A time to be silent, and a time to speak (Eccl. 3), is also confirmed in the prophetic discourse: that it is the same wisdom to both act and speak in due time, and to give his fellow servants their food in their time. Whence also Isaiah says to the unbelieving people: I have kept silence, shall I keep silent forever? says the Lord (Is. 65). Therefore, he who for a long time kept his mouth closed because of the multitude of sins, because he saw that some could be converted, of whom it was said: He who hears let him hear, and he who rests from evils let him rest and cease: for this reason, with his mouth opened, and not by his own will but by the Lord’s command, he speaks to the people. That which we placed: He who hears, let him hear: and he who rests, let him rest: for which the Septuagint translated: He who hears, let him hear: and he who is incredulous, let him remain incredulous: the second edition of Aquila translated it thus: He who hears will be heard: and he who leaves, will be left. And the meaning is: He who has, it will be given to him: but he who does not have, even that which he seems to have will be taken away from him (Mark 4:25).

D(Chapter IV. — Verses 1, 2) And you, son of man, take to yourself a brick, and place it before you, and describe upon it the city of Jerusalem, and set a siege against it, and build fortifications, and heap up a mound, and set camps against it, and place battering rams in a circle. As we said before: Enter and shut yourself in the midst of your house, and behold bonds are given upon you, and they will bind you, and you will not go forth, is a type of the prophet of the future siege of the city of Jerusalem: so now he is commanded to describe it with geometric art upon a brick, and to place the brick itself in the sight of the prophet, so that after he...