ℹ️ This corpus has no verse-level morphological tagging. Lemmas come mainly from word-level tagging of other books in the same language (not from this verse), falling back to dictionary form-matching for the rest. Rare homographs can still be misread; verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
After the first siege of Jerusalem, and its utter destruction and desolation by the Babylonians, and after the return from the hostile land to their own country, which took place under Cyrus, king of the Persians -- Jerusalem having just then been raised up again, and the sanctuary and the altar beside it having been renewed under Darius the Persian -- the present prophet prophesies, signifying the second siege of Jerusalem that came after these things, which it suffered at the hands of the Romans, at no other time than after the deeds dared by its inhabitants against our Savior Jesus Christ.
Most clearly, then, here too, are made manifest the coming of our Savior, the Word of God, and the events that occurred in connection with it. These were, all together, the things done at the time of his passion, and the siege that came immediately upon the Hebrew nation, and the capture of Jerusalem, and, in addition to these, the calling of the nations, and the knowledge of the one and only God spreading to every race of mankind.
The Spirit-bearing prophet, then, in a more passionate manner, as one lamenting over his own kinsfolk, those of the circumcision, has made the beginning of his prophecy from an outcry against them. He names, then, the 'days of the Lord,' just as he does elsewhere and here too, thereby signifying the time of Christ's coming to mankind, and clearly showing that the Lord himself, being as it were the true light, would one day become the maker of his own days, and would shine forth upon all men on earth, all the nations receiving both himself and the rays of his light -- at the time when, with all the nations being illumined, in accordance with, 'I have set you as a light of the nations, as a covenant of a race,' the Jewish nation, on account of its unbelief toward him, would fall into the most extreme calamities.
For such is the meaning of, 'Behold, the days of the Lord come, and your spoils shall be divided in your midst, and I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be captured, and the houses shall be plundered, and the women shall be defiled, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity.'
But after the siege of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the Jewish nation that followed it, he next adds, prophesying good things for all: 'And the Lord shall become king over all the earth.' And again, 'The Lord shall be one, and his name one, encircling all the earth and the wilderness.'
But indeed, since the prediction declared that the Jewish nation would suffer such things in the days of the Lord, who would not marvel at the outcome of the prediction? For as soon as Jesus our Savior and Lord was present, those of the circumcision committed impiety against him, and all the things foretold reached their fulfillment for them all together, after the five-hundredth year from the prediction -- calamities of every kind, one after another, not ceasing for them from the time of Pilate himself up until the siege under Nero, Titus, and Vespasian, as one may gather from the history written by Flavius Josephus.
At that time, then, it is likely that half of the city perished in the siege, as the prophecy says; and not long afterward, when a Jewish uprising occurred again under the emperor Hadrian, the remaining half of the city, being besieged, was again driven out, so that from that time to this the place has become altogether inaccessible to them.
But if anyone should say that these things were fulfilled under Antiochus Epiphanes, let him consider whether he is able to render an account of the rest of the prophecy also as pertaining to the times of Antiochus -- for instance, that the people suffered captivity, and that the feet of the Lord stood upon the Mount of Olives, and whether the Lord became king over all the earth in that day, and whether the name of the Lord encircled all the earth and the wilderness, at the time when Antiochus ruled over Syria. And as for the rest of the prediction, how could anyone show what outcome it had while Antiochus was reigning?
But according to us, these things have been fulfilled both literally and also according to another sense. For after the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, their city, this very Jerusalem, and the whole system and constitution of the worship according to the law of Moses, were destroyed. And immediately they suffered captivity of mind as well, in addition to the bodily captivity, in that they did not receive the Savior and Redeemer of human souls, who came to proclaim release to those held captive by evil demons, and recovery of sight to those blind in mind.
While those others suffered these things on account of their unbelief, there were those who recognized their own Redeemer, and became his own -- his disciples, apostles, and evangelists, and a great many others of the circumcision who had believed in him -- concerning whom the Apostle says: 'So too at the present time there has come to be a remnant, according to the election of grace.'
And there is also the saying, 'Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.' Such were preserved untouched, not only by the siege understood by us in a spiritual sense, but also by the one fulfilled literally. For the apostles and disciples of our Savior, and all who from among the Jews had believed in him, having gone far from the land of Judea and being scattered abroad among the rest of the nations, were then able to escape the destruction that came upon the inhabitants of the city.
And this too the prophecy foretold in advance, when it declared: "But the remnant of my people shall by no means be utterly destroyed." To this it adds next: "And the Lord shall go forth and shall array himself for battle against those nations, as is his day of battle array in the day of war."
But against which nations shall the Lord array himself, if not against those who shall besiege Jerusalem? The text shows that the Lord himself will fight on the side of the besiegers, being among them and arraying himself together with them, as though some commander and champion campaigning on their behalf against Jerusalem.
For the text does not say that the Lord will array himself against the nations. Then with whom, and against whom? Against Jerusalem and its inhabitants, of whom the text was speaking. And the words, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, from the east," — what else do they show but the standing and establishment of the Lord God — that is, of the Word of God himself — upon his church, which he here names, in the manner of allegory, "the Mount of Olives"?
For just as a vineyard came to be for the beloved one, and, allegorically, the house of Israel was "the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth," and "the vine of Judah his newly-planted, beloved plant," so too, according to the same manner of contemplation, one might say that his church gathered from the nations became an olive orchard for the Master — an orchard which, though formerly a wild olive tree, he planted, grafting it onto the apostolic roots of the good olive tree after the cutting-off of the former branches, just as the Apostle teaches; and the Lord planted it for himself, all but saying through the prophecy: "A fair, leafy olive tree — the Lord called your name."
For since the first vineyard, when it ought to have produced grapes, produced thorns, and instead of righteousness produced an outcry, God fittingly, since it was fruitless, tore down its fence and its wall, and handed it over to enemies for plunder and trampling, according to the prophecy of Isaiah; and he himself established for himself another field, called on the present occasion "the olive orchard," inasmuch as it has obtained mercy from God and has been planted by Christ with evergreen plants — that is, with holy souls nourished on light, of the sort of which one might say, "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God."
Now this Mount of Olives is said to be opposite Jerusalem, because it was established for God in place of the old earthly Jerusalem and the worship performed in it, after Jerusalem's destruction. Having said above concerning Jerusalem that the city would be taken, and that the hostile and warring nations would be gathered against it, and its spoils divided, the text fittingly does not say that the Lord's feet would stand upon Jerusalem itself.
For how, indeed, could that be, once the city had been utterly destroyed? Rather, the text teaches that, when they had removed from it to the mountain opposite Jerusalem called "of the Olives," it was there that they would stand. This also the prophet Ezekiel, by the divine Spirit, foresaw and beheld in advance.
He says, then: "And the Cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them, above them; and the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain that was opposite the city."
This can also be seen fulfilled, even to this day, in another and literal sense: all who have believed in Christ, from every part of the earth, run together — not, as of old, for the sake of the splendour connected with Jerusalem, nor in order to worship at the sanctuary that once stood upon Jerusalem, but in order to lodge there for the sake, at once, of the history of the capture and desolation of Jerusalem according to the prophecy, and of worship upon the Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem, where the glory of the Lord removed, having left the former city. And in truth, according to the plain and literal narrative also, the feet of the Lord and our Saviour — that is, of the Word of God himself, through whom he assumed the human tabernacle — stood upon the Mount of Olives, by the cave that is shown there; and there he prayed, and to his own disciples, on the slope of the Mount of Olives, he delivered the mysteries concerning the consummation; and from there he made his ascent into the heavens, as Luke teaches in the Acts of the Apostles, saying that, on the Mount of Olives, with the apostles present with him, "while they were looking on, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight."
"And as they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white garments, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him going into heaven.'"
So then, according to the literal sense, the Mount of Olives indicated is indeed opposite Jerusalem and to its east. But in a deeper sense, the holy church of Christ — and the mountain on which it has been founded, concerning which the Saviour teaches, saying, "A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden" — having been raised up in place of Jerusalem, which fell and was not raised, and having been counted worthy of the Lord's feet, is not only opposite Jerusalem but also to its east, having received the rays of the light of true religion, and having come to be far earlier than Jerusalem, and having drawn near to the very Sun of Righteousness himself, concerning whom it has been said: "But unto you that fear me shall the sun of righteousness arise."
But if the text goes on to say that "the Mount of Olives shall be split, half of it toward the east and the sea, a very great chasm, and half of it shall lean toward the north, and half of it toward the south," this may signify the spreading-out of the church over the whole inhabited world of mankind, since it has filled both the regions of the sunrise, that is, the eastern and orient nations, and stretches also to the western sea and the islands in it; and indeed it has reached as far as the south and the noonday regions, and as far as the north and the Bear.
For everywhere and in every place the olive orchard of the Lord signified figuratively — his church — has been planted. But it can also, in a deeper sense, hint at the schisms and heresies that have occurred, and are still occurring, within the church of Christ, as well as at the moral failings distant from right conduct in life, understood as things split off; for it says the mountain shall be divided, half of it toward the east and half of it toward the sea, a very great chasm, and half of the mountain shall lean toward the north and half of it toward the south, so as to be divided into four parts — two the more dignified and better, and two the opposite.
And observe whether by these the parts toward the east and toward the south do not signify two orders of those who have laid hold of progress in godliness: the one, of those brought to perfection in knowledge and reason and the remaining gifts of the divine Spirit; the other, of those who succeed through right living, though they remain among the chosen.
The remaining two parts would be distinguished from the former, namely, that toward the sea and toward the north, both signifying what pertains to evil. For it says, "From the face of the north evils shall be kindled against all who dwell upon the earth"; and the dragon is said to make his abode by the sea.
So that here too, fittingly, two ways are again shown of those who fall away from the church: the one who sins in his moral conduct, and the one who slips away from sound and orthodox knowledge — these being the divisions of the aforesaid Mount of Olives that the prophecy hints at.
Next after these it is added: "And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up, and the ravine of the mountains shall cleave together as far as Azal; and it shall be stopped up in the manner in which it was stopped up before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah." Now what could "the valley of the mountains of God" here be but the bodily and Jewish religion, formerly performed of old in Jerusalem according to the law of Moses — which the present text foretells will be shut up, as though closed off, saying: "And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up, and the ravine of the mountains shall cleave together as far as Azal, and it shall be stopped up"?
In place of these words Symmachus has rendered: "And the ravine of my mountains shall be stopped up, and the ravine of the mountains shall further draw near to what lies beside it, and it shall be stopped up" — by which he sets forth the cause of the ravine's being stopped up. And what was this but its drawing near and approaching what lay beside it? And this was the Lord's mountain, already named "of the Olives," which is called "Azal" by the Seventy.
And this, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies "the work of God." Thus, he says, the old ravine, having drawn near to the mountain and to the church of Christ, that is, to the work of God, shall be stopped up and shut off, in the manner in which it was stopped up before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Now, inquiring within myself and searching through the divine Scriptures whether the ravine here indicated was ever stopped up in the days of Uzziah by reason of the earthquake, I found nothing in the histories of the Kingdoms; for neither is any physical earthquake recorded as having occurred in his time, nor is anything of the kind said or written concerning a ravine in them.
It is indeed recorded that Uzziah was righteous in his early years, but was later denounced as having been lifted up in mind, and as having dared to offer sacrifice to God by himself — for which reason leprosy also broke out upon his face. This, then, is what the book of Kingdoms records. But Josephus, who has also accurately examined the outside Jewish traditions, being himself a Hebrew of Hebrews, gives us to hear what he tells occurred in his time; he says that, as the priests urged Uzziah to go out of the temple and not to transgress against God, he became angry and threatened them with death if they would not keep quiet.
But in the meantime an earthquake shook the earth, and, the temple having been split apart, a bright radiance shone forth and fell upon the king's face, so that leprosy at once ran over him; and before the city, at the place called "Eroge," the western half of the mountain broke off, and, having rolled four furlongs, came to rest against the eastern mountain, so that the roads were blocked, as were the royal gardens.
Let this stand, from me, as taken from Josephus's treatise, the Jewish Antiquities. And in the prophet Amos I also found, at the beginning of his prophecy, that he began to prophesy in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, two years before the earthquake — though he does not go on to say clearly which earthquake.
I think that this same prophet, further on, describes this earthquake, in the passage where he says: "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said, 'Strike upon the altar, the altar, and the porches shall be shaken; and cut through unto the heads of all; and I will slay their remnant with the sword.'"
By these words, I judge, is foretold the earthquake, and the destruction of the once-venerable institutions of the Jewish nation and of the religion performed by them in Jerusalem, together with the ruin that overtook them after the coming of our Saviour, when, having rejected the Christ of God, the true high priest, leprosy broke out upon their souls — just as also in the case of Uzziah, when the Lord himself, standing by their altar with invisible power, gave authority to the one who strikes, saying, "Strike the altar."
This indeed he showed in effect when he said, "Your house is left to you desolate." At once, then, at his Passion, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, just as Josephus records occurred in the days of Uzziah; and first the porches were shaken, when the earth was shaken at the time of his Passion; and not long afterward it also underwent its final fall, and the one who strikes, having received authority, cut through unto the heads of all.
It was, then, at this very time that the valley of the mountains of God was stopped up, just as also happened in the case of Uzziah — in the literal and plain sense, at the Roman siege, during which I think certain such things occurred; and in the deeper sense, when the bodily and lowlier worship of the law of Moses was shut off from being performed any longer, because of the earthquake that came prophetically upon the Jewish nation from that time onward, and because of the rest of what has been recorded. After this, the text, resuming the theme of the Lord's coming, proclaims it yet more clearly, saying: "And the Lord my God shall come, and all the holy ones with him."
— whether he names his apostles and disciples "his holy ones," or certain invisible powers and ministering spirits, concerning whom it has been said, "And angels came, and ministered unto him." Then, concerning the coming of the Lord, it says: "There shall be a day, and there shall be no light; and there shall be cold and frost for one day."
In place of this Symmachus has rendered: "And on that day there shall be no light, but there shall be cold and frost for one day, which is known to the Lord — neither day nor night — but toward evening there shall be light." And observe whether by these words it does not most plainly indicate the day of our Saviour's Passion, on which day the words "there shall be no light" were fulfilled, when from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour; and the words "but cold and frost" were fulfilled when, according to Luke, having taken Jesus, they led him to the house of the high priest; "and Peter followed afar off."
"And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard," according to Mark, he sat with the rest, warming himself. And John expressly recalled the cold as well, saying: "The servants and officers stood having made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves."
"This day," it says, "was known to the Lord, and it was not day, and it was not night" — not day, because of what was said before, "there shall be no light," which was also fulfilled when, from the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land unto the ninth hour; nor was it night, because of what is added next, "toward evening there shall be light," which likewise reached its fulfilment when, after the ninth hour, the day again received its accustomed light.
And in a deeper sense also these things were fulfilled: generally, with regard to the Jewish nation, darkness and frost and cold having come upon it after its audacity against Christ, their understanding having been darkened so that the illumination of the gospel did not shine in their hearts, and their love toward God having grown cold; but, on the contrary, toward evening, the light of the knowledge of Christ has risen, so that those who formerly sat in darkness and in the shadow of death have seen a great light, according to the words of Isaiah.
On this very day of the Lord, then, it says, "living water shall go out from Jerusalem." This was the reasonable, drinkable, life-giving, and saving draught of the teaching of Christ, concerning which he himself, teaching the Samaritan woman in the Gospel according to John, said: "If you knew who it is that says to you, 'Give me to drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." This same saving draught, then, went forth from Jerusalem itself.
From here, then, his gospel set out, and its heralds filled the whole inhabited world; and this is also shown by its being said that the living water would go forth "unto the first sea and unto the last sea" — by which the ends of the whole earth are indicated: what is called the "first sea," by the eastern ocean, and what is signified by the "last sea," toward the setting sun — regions which the living water of the saving and evangelical teaching has indeed filled, concerning which he again taught, saying: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst forever." And again: "Rivers," he says, "shall flow out of his belly, of living water, springing up into eternal life."
And again: "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink." Now, after this saving and reasonable stream had rained down from Jerusalem upon every race of men — a thing shown more clearly elsewhere by the words, "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the nations" — "the Lord," it says, "shall be king."
"But he shall not be [king] in Jerusalem, nor over the Jewish nation, but over all the earth, in that day. And the Lord shall be one, and his name one," encircling the whole earth. These also agree with what was cited from the Psalms, where it was said, "God has become king over the nations," and again, "Say among the nations, the Lord has become king." All these things together are prophesied to come to pass in the days of the Lord.
At the very beginning of the whole prophecy, then, it says: "Behold, the days of the Lord are coming, and these things shall be." What are these things but the siege of Jerusalem, and the removal of the Lord to the Mount of Olives, according to the words "the Lord shall come," and the events surrounding the day of his Passion, and the living water that flowed over all the inhabited world, and, over and above all these, the kingdom of the Lord ruling over all the nations, and his one name filling all the earth — things whose fulfilment we have set forth, as it were, in summary.
It is also plain how, from the appellation of the Christ of God, the name "Christians" has filled the whole inhabited world; and this too is set forth by the text that says, "and his name one," encircling all the earth and the desert. And it will be possible for you, at leisure, having tested each word, to consider at length what has been understood. From Baruch.
"Who has gone up into heaven and taken her" — he means Wisdom — "and brought her down out of the clouds? Who has crossed over the sea and found her, and will bring her for choice gold? There is none who knows her way, nor one who considers her path; but he who knows all things knows her, he found her out by his understanding — he who prepared the earth for the time of eternity, and filled it with four-footed beasts; he who sends forth the light, and it goes; he called it, and it obeyed him, trembling; and the stars shone in their watches, and were glad; he called them, and they said, 'We are here.'"
"They shone with gladness for him who made them. This is our God; no other shall be reckoned beside him. He found out every way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward he was seen upon the earth, and lived among men." Nothing needs to be added to these divine words, which plainly bear upon the question at hand. From Isaiah.
"The vision concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt made with hands shall be shaken before his face, and their heart shall be overcome within them; and the Egyptians shall be roused up against the Egyptians, and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his neighbour; city against city, and law against law. And the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled within them, and I will scatter their counsel; and they shall inquire of their gods, and their images, and of those who speak out of the earth, and of the ventriloquists; and I will hand over Egypt into the hands of harsh masters, and harsh kings shall rule over them" — and what follows next.
Now the present prophecy signifies that he who is second after the God and Lord of all — that is, the Word of God himself — will come into Egypt; and that he will come not obscurely, nor invisibly, nor without some bodily covering, but borne upon a light cloud, or rather upon a light mass — for that, they say, is what the Hebrew wording means.
Let, then, the children of the Hebrews say when, after the time of Isaiah, the Lord sojourned among the Egyptians, and which Lord — for the God over all is one — and how it is said that he is borne upon a light mass and treads locally upon some part of the earth.
And when, moreover, is it recorded that the things spoken in this prophecy came to their fulfilment — I mean, the shaking of the idols made with hands in Egypt, and the Egyptians warring against Egyptians on account of the coming of the Lord among men; and their gods, that is, the demons, once so powerful, no longer having strength, nor answering those who inquire of them, because of fear of the Lord; and into whose hands, of what harsh masters, of what kings, Egypt was handed over after the foretold coming of the Lord, and why, with the Lord present, they are handed over to harsh rulers? Let whoever wishes explain these and the rest of the like matters.
For we say that these things came about in no other way than through the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ alone among men. For he, being the Word of God and the power of God, both in deeper sense and in the literal sense, sojourning in the land of Egypt by means of a light cloud, fulfilled what had been foretold. Now he allegorically calls "light cloud" his coming by means of the body he assumed from the Virgin and the Holy Spirit — just as the Hebrew text and Aquila have more clearly hinted, saying: "Behold, the Lord rides upon a light mass, and comes upon Egypt," calling the body from the Holy Spirit a "light mass."