Part 583 (1/2)

Samaria shall be destroyed. An exhortation to repentance: G.o.d's favour through Christ to the penitent.

14:1. Let Samaria perish, becsuse she hath stirred up her G.o.d to bitterness: let them perish by the sword, let their little ones be dashed, and let the women with child be ripped up.

Perish, because she hath stirred up her G.o.d to bitterness... It is not a curse or imprecation, but a prophecy of what should come to pa.s.s.

14:2. Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy G.o.d: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.

14:3. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.

14:4. a.s.syria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our G.o.ds: for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.

14:5. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

14:6. I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Liba.n.u.s.

14:7. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Liba.n.u.s.

14:8. They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Liba.n.u.s.

14:9. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.

14:10. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

THE PROPHECY OF JOEL

JOEL, whose name, according to ST. JEROME, signifies THE LORD G.o.d: or, as others say, THE COMING DOWN OF G.o.d: prophesied about the same time in the kingdom of Judea, as OSEE did in the kingdom of Israel. He foretells under figure the great evils that were coming upon the people for their sins: earnestly exhorts them to repentance: and comforts them with the promise of a TEACHER OF JUSTICE, viz., CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, and of the coming down of his holy SPIRIT.

Joel Chapter 1

The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people, and invites them to fasting and prayer.

1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.

1:2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

1:3. Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

1:4. That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.

That which the palmerworm hath left, etc... Some understand this literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies.

1:5. Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight; in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.

1:6. For a nation come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's whelp.

1:7. He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.