Part 482 (2/2)

33:21. Because only there our Lord is magnificent: a place of rivers, very broad and s.p.a.cious streams: no s.h.i.+p with oars shall pa.s.s by it, neither shall the great galley pa.s.s through it.

Of rivers... He speaks of the rivers of endless joys that flow from the throne of G.o.d to water the heavenly Jerusalem, where no enemy's s.h.i.+p can come, etc.

33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will save us.

33:23. Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall take the spoil.

Thy tacklings... He speaks of the enemies of the church, under the allegory of a s.h.i.+p that is disabled.

33:24. Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.

Isaias Chapter 34

The general judgment of the wicked.

34:1. Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that cometh forth of it.

34:2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter.

34:3. Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carca.s.ses shall rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

34:4. And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.

And all the host of the heavens... That is, the sun, moon, and stars.

34:5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.

Idumea... Under the name of Idumea, or Edom a people that were enemies of the Jews, are here understood the wicked in general, the enemies of G.o.d and his church.

34:6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

34:7. And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones.

The unicorns... That is, the great and mighty.

34:8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompenses of the judgment of Sion.

The year of recompenses, etc... When the persecutors of Sion, that is, of the church, shall receive their reward.

34:9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

34:10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pa.s.s through it for ever and ever.

34:11. The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.

34:12. The n.o.bles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.

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