1 The vision of Isaiah the Son of Amos, which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda.
v.1
VERS. 1.-- *The vision of Isaiah,* etc. There are three kinds of vision: the first bodily, by which we see heaven and earth and things of this sort; the second spiritual, by which we see, as in dreams, the images of men and things of this sort; the third intellectual, which is in the reason, by which we know the Creator, and, the Holy Spirit revealing it, understand anything at all. "To see" is also often put for "to understand": whence we often ask, saying: Seest thou, that is, understandest thou? Prophets too are hence called seers, that is, understanders. This vision Isaiah saw by the Holy Spirit, that is, at his intimation, he understood the things that were to come upon them. Whence at the beginning he does not set down visions as Daniel does, nor does he say what he saw; but at once he says: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.. Not only Isaiah, etc., *as far as* they were not therefore ignorant, according to Montanus, who saw in this way. "Isaiah" is interpreted, etc., *as far as* and when he shall have done all things, he says: *I am an unprofitable servant; what I ought to have done, I have done.* *The son of Amos.* Amos, the father of Isaiah, is not the third of the twelve Prophets, etc., *as far as* they contend that they were Prophets. *Upon Judah and Jerusalem.* Isaiah principally concerning the two tribes, etc., *as far as* that these things were foretold for the correction of the two tribes. *The vision of Isaiah,* etc. For Judah, in whom the two tribes are signified, etc., *as far as* of which: *Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come.* *In the days of Ozias.* Ozias is himself the man who is also Azarias, etc., *as far as* so that our histories may appear more ancient than those of the Gentiles.
2 Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.
v.2
VERS. 2.-- *Hear, O heavens,* etc. Above, who the Prophet is, etc., *as far as* since this belongs to the power of God, and not to earthly understanding. *The Lord hath spoken.* Not to you, but to me, that what I have heard in the spirit I may report to you, who do not deserve to hear him yourselves. *I have brought up sons.* In that he says: I adopted them as sons, etc., *as far as* whence: *He gave them power to be made the sons of God.*
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.
v.3
VERS. 3.-- *The ox hath known,* etc. Whence: *Thou shalt not plow with a calf and an ass together*. Like Ebion, etc., *as far as* to whom it is said: *Come to me, you that labor and are burdened.* *The ass.* The Gentile, or the wanton man converted, unclean before, burdened with sins, who has believed the incarnation of Christ, who as soon as he was born was laid in a manger, that by the bridle of his own flesh he might feed all men. *Israel.* The Scribes and Pharisees, having the key of knowledge and of the law. Whence they were called Israel, "those who see God." *He hath not known me.* Whose day, that is, Abraham saw and was glad; whose coming the choir of the Prophets, in awaiting it, foretold.
4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.
v.4
VERS. 4.-- *Woe to the sinful nation,* etc. In this title he records the person, the cause, and the time; secondly, he makes them attentive; thirdly, he tells what the Lord has spoken; fourthly, as though in transports, he rebukes the sinful nation. *Woe to the nation.* etc. He threatens everlasting destruction, because they reject the Son, who brought salvation. *With iniquity.* Whence: *Iniquity sitteth upon a talent of lead*; whence elsewhere: *As a heavy burden they are become heavy upon me*. *Wicked.* Others, "of the most wicked," so that the fault should not be of the seed, but of the malice of those who by their own will have forsaken God. For the nature of the good and of the evil is not to be thought different. *They have blasphemed.* Saying: *Thou hast a devil,* and *Thou art a Samaritan*; and *We have no king but Caesar;* and *Is not this the son of the carpenter?* *They are gone away estranged.* They who were called the portion and the sons of God. It is said of them: *The strange children have lied to me*, whence: *No man putting his hand to the plow,* etc., whence the Apostle: *Stretching himself out to the things that are before, forgetful of the things behind*.
5 For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.
v.5
VERS. 5.-- *For what shall I strike you,* etc.. As if he should say, etc., *as far as* but that there is now no place fit for healing he shows thus: *Every head is sick* etc. *Every head is sick.* Just as gladness of mind sometimes softens the pains of the body, etc., *as far as* whence: *From the sole of the foot,* etc.
6 From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.
v.6
VERS. 6.-- *A wound and a bruise.* As if he should say, etc., *as far as* and they slew the merciful physician who had been sent to them. *Nor dressed with medicine.* Whence: *We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed,* the city, that is, of confusion and of vices, etc., *as far as* and he expressed the irremediable captivity of the Jews.
7 Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.
v.7
VERS. 7.-- *Your land is desolate,* etc. These things were fulfilled in part under the Babylonians, etc., *as far as* whence: *Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain,* etc.
8 And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste.
v.8
VERS. 8.-- *The daughter of Sion,* etc., With the affection of a most loving father. And: *For we are all by nature the sons of God*, but by our own fault we are made strangers. Whence Babylon is often called *daughter*.
9 Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.
v.9
VERS. 9.-- *Unless the Lord.* This from the person of the Prophet, etc, *as far as* so the Almighty, [he] is the Son of the Almighty.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
v.10
VERS. 10.-- *Hear the word.* The remnant being saved, etc., *as far as* and now he is discerned by the mind, when he is believed to be invisible.
11 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.
v.11
VERS. 11.-- *I am full.* As if he should say: Do you think that I have need of these things, or take delight in them? But I am full, that is, I have need of nothing. *For mine is the earth and the fulness thereof.* Or, I am full, that is, affected with weariness, because you do not offer rightly. *The holocausts of rams,* etc., as far as: *To judge for the fatherless,* etc. He rejects the sacrifices of the Jews, he commends the obedience of the Gospel: *The holocausts of rams,* etc. He points to the last destruction of the temple, which endures for ever. For after the Babylonian captivity the temple was built by Zorobabel, and sacrifice was offered in it for a long time. *The holocausts of rams.* It can also be taken of those who, while they despise the precepts of God, wish to appease him by a multitude of sacrifices, and to buy themselves licence to sin. Or of those who offer robbery and avarice upon the altar, and bestow them on the poor. *I would not.* Using the past tense, he shows that he never loved the sacrifices of the Jews, but bore with them for a time on account of what they signified; and that, the true sacrifice being fulfilled, he reckoned them as nothing.
12 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?
v.12
VERS. 12.-- *When you came.* God did not seek these sacrifices as though he were in need; but that they might not sacrifice to demons, and that through carnal and typical things they might come more easily to the spiritual and true sacrifice. *Who required?* Let the Ebionites hear this, who after the passion of Christ think that the law is to be kept: let their fellows hear this, who decree that it is to be kept only by the Israelite race.
13 Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.
v.13
VERS. 13.-- *The new moon,* etc, The feast of the new moon, which they used to celebrate at the beginning of the months: *Neos,* new, *mene,* moon; whence: *Blow up the trumpet to the Lord on the new moon*. *Your assemblies are wicked,* etc. Because they do not offer spiritual victims; whence: *A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit*.Vers. 14.-- *My soul hath hated.* Ανθρωποσπαθῶς. Not that he has a soul, but he speaks after our manner; as if to say, I have utterly hated. *I have labored,* etc. Symmachus. *I have failed in pitying,* etc., *as far as* but thou art saved by my help alone.
14 My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.
15 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.
v.15
VERS. 15.-- *For your hands are full of blood,* etc. Of the Prophets, and at last of their Lord, etc., *as far as* they keep watch in prayer by day and by night.
16 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely,
v.16
VERS. 16.-- *Be washed,* etc. As if he should say: This I have hated: the truth of the Gospel pleases me: *Be washed,* in the blood of Christ, in the water of baptism. *Be clean,* abiding in innocence of life. For baptism alone avails unto the remission of sin, whence: *Unless a man be born again*, etc. And elsewhere: *Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,* etc.. The chief order, etc., *as far as* but also in the sight of God, from whom nothing can be hidden. *Cease to do perversely.* It sounds that saying of the Gospel, etc., *as far as* whom they follow in the Apocalypse who shine with the whiteness of virginity.
17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.
v.17
VERS. 17.-- *Learn to do well.* Not trusting in nature, etc., *as far as* the thresholds of masters must be worn away. *Seek judgment,* etc. To the victims of the Jews the commandments of the Gospel succeed. Provision is made for orphans and widows, so that the martyrs, secure concerning their wives and children, may go forth to their battles.
18 And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.
v.18
VERS. 18.-- *As scarlet,* etc. The same thing is the scarlet grain and the scarlet, and the little worm, namely a great sin, and murder and adultery, etc. But what is signified by snow, this is signified by wool: the purging, that is, and the washing away of sins. *As snow.* Because they shall be cold against the incitements of vices: *And as wool,* because they are clothed against the cold of faithlessness. *White wool,* etc. Of which the garment of Christ is made.
19 If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.
v.19
VERS. 19.-- *If you be willing and will hear,* etc. Free will is preserved, etc., *as far as* religion might pass over to the praise of God. Morally; the faithful soul, and full of judgment, while it obeys God, God dwells in it, who is the justifying justice; but if it withdraws from God, not by place but by desert, it is inhabited by malignant spirits, who are the murderers of souls.
20 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.
v.21
VERS. 21.-- *Justice.* Justice, in the Hebrew *sedek* צדק, which rather signifies "the just," so that we may understand that the Lord tarried in her, of whom: *But the just man, what hath he done?* which in Ezechiel is signified by Ooliba, which is interpreted *tabernacle,* or *my tabernacle in her.*
22 Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water.
v.22
VERS. 22.-- *Silver,* etc. The bright, that is, and the shining have turned back to vices. *Into dross.* Dross, in Hebrew *siggim* (סגים): which is the rust of metals, or the refuse and filth that are burned off by fire. *Thy wine,* etc. Others: *Thy vintners mingle wine with water.* Symmachus: *Thy wine is mingled with water.* Morally: *Thy wine is mingled with water:* because the precepts of Holy Scripture, by which they ought to correct their hearers, he softens to the will of those hearers, and, his own meaning being mixed in, he corrupts the wine. *Thy wine,* etc. Heretics too corrupt the Gospel, worst of vintners, making water out of wine, whereas the Lord turned water into wine, at which the steward of the feast marvels: and the queen of Saba, at Solomon's banquet, praising his cupbearers and the servers of the wine.
23 Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cause cometh not in to them.
v.23
VERS. 23.-- *Companions of thieves.* Receiving from the Scribes and Pharisees the gifts which they were taking away from the poor. In the passion of the Lord also they were unbelieving, unwilling to believe in Christ; and companions of thieves, that is, of the Scribes and Pharisees and of Judas the traitor, *Companions of thieves,* etc. We too ought to beware that we do not receive gifts from those who gather riches out of the tears of the poor, lest we be companions of thieves, and lest it be said of us: *If thou didst see a thief, thou didst run with him,* etc. *They follow after rewards.* Because they do not count them friends, etc., *as far as* that is, bear it patiently.
24 Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies.
v.24
VERS. 24.-- *The Strong One of Israel.* LXX: *Woe, ye strong ones of Israel,* etc., *as far as* or in character. *Ah, I.* With the affection of a loving father he laments and strikes them (though they be enemies), because they perish and will not repent. *I will comfort myself,* etc. He comforts himself by vengeance, etc., *as far as* wherein he signifies that they shall suffer torments.
25 And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dross, and I will take away all thy tin.
v.25
VERS. 25.-- *Thy tin.* The false doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees, which is like the true, as tin is like silver. And I will give the pure and perfect knowledge of the law and of the Gospel.
26 And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city.
v.26
VERS. 26.-- *And I will restore thy judges,* etc. Not only after the captivity, as Zorobabel, Esdras, and the others who ruled over the people down to Hircanus; but also after the coming of the Lord, the Apostles and the other doctors of the Church. *The city of the just, the faithful city Sion, shall be redeemed in judgment.* The Church, in which they are called back to living justly. For a city is a gathering of men for living justly.
27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice.
28 And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen.
30 When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.
v.30
VERS. 30.-- *As an oak with the leaves falling.* As from an oak shaken by drought, etc., *as far as* it does not bring forth even herbs, which a sick man might eat.
31 And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.