Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Enigmas: From Daniel (Stories)
I. Chapter 3, verse 16. "We have no need to answer you in this matter. For behold, our God, whom we worship, can deliver us from the furnace of burning fire, and from your hands, O king, He can set us free. But even if He does not will it, be it known to you, O king, that we do not worship your gods, and we do not adore the golden statue which you have set up."
II. Verse 40. "As in the holocaust of rams and bulls, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be in Your sight this day, that it may please You: for there is no confusion for those who trust in You."
III. Chapter 6, verse 22. "My God sent His Angel, and shut the mouths of the lions, and they have not hurt me: because before Him justice was found in me."
IV. Chapter 9, verse 7. "To You, O Lord, belongs justice: but to us confusion, as it is this day."
V. Chapter 13, verse 22. "I am straitened on every side: for if I do this, it is death to me: but if I do not do it, I shall not escape your hands. But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord." This golden utterance is Susanna's.
VI. Verse 56. "O seed of Canaan, and not of Judah: beauty has deceived you, and lust has perverted your heart: thus you used to do with the daughters of Israel, and they, being afraid, complied with you: but a daughter of Judah would not endure your wickedness."
VII. Verse 59. "Rightly have you also lied upon your own head: for the Angel of the Lord waits, holding a sword, to cut you in two."
Enigmas: From Isaiah
I. Chapter 10, verse 22. "The shortened consummation shall overflow with justice," that is to say, the fewness of the Jews, so reduced by God that it may seem to be a consummation, that is, the consumption and destruction of the same, shall cause the justice and salvation of God to spread and diffuse itself through all nations, and as it were flood them: see the commentary on Isaiah 10.
II. Verse 27. "The yoke shall rot because of the oil," that is to say, all servitude shall vanish in the face of the grace and consolation of God.
III. Chapter 11, verse 1. "A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him." The rod of Jesse is the Blessed Virgin, from whom the flower Christ sprouted, upon whom the sevenfold spirit of the Lord rested.
IV. Verse 6. "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf, and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them." Wolves, leopards, and lions are the barbarous nations, which, converted to the faith of Christ, have laid aside their ferocity, and with the calf and the sheep, that is, with faithful Christians, live in peace and friendship, and allow themselves to be ruled by a child, that is, by a simple pastor.
V. Verse 10. "In that day the root of Jesse shall stand," namely, the glorious Christ, who stands as a sign, that is, a standard for the peoples; the Gentiles shall beseech Him, and His sepulcher shall be glorious.
VI. Chapter 12, verse 3. "You shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of the Savior," that is to say, as the Jews of old, being thirsty, drank from the rock as from a fountain, so Christians shall drink from the fountains of Christ the waters of doctrine and grace to fullness.
VII. Chapter 13, verse 1. "The burden of Babylon," that is to say, the threats and sorrowful oracles against Babylon. "Upon the dark mountain," that is to say, against Babylon, which is covered by the mist of the vapors of the Euphrates and the smoke rising from its many houses and hearths, you, O Persians, raise up the sign, that is, the military banner. "I have commanded My sanctified ones," namely the Persians, who as soldiers and priests are consecrated to Me, so that for My justice they may slay and sacrifice the impious Babylonians.
VIII. Chapter 14, verse 12. "How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, you who rose in the morning? You have fallen to the earth, you who wounded the nations? Who said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the sides of the north. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be dragged down to hell, into the depths of the pit," that is to say, how, O Belshazzar the monarch, who in splendor and glory appeared to be like the morning star, and in pride like Lucifer, once the prince of Angels, have you fallen from the throne of your monarchy, as from heaven, stripped of kingdom and life, and cast down into hell?
IX. Verse 29. "From the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird," that is to say, from David and Uzziah shall be born Hezekiah, who shall afflict you, O Philistines, more grievously than they did, so that he shall seem to you to be a basilisk, which by its gaze and breath kills and swallows even flying birds.
X. Chapter 16, verse 14. "In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away," that is to say, after three years Moab shall be devastated by the Chaldeans, who shall receive its riches as wages from God, because they served Him in the conquest of Jerusalem and the punishment of other nations.
XI. Chapter 18, verse 1. "Woe to the land of the cymbal of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, which sends ambassadors by the sea, and in vessels of papyrus upon the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation torn and rent asunder, to a terrible people, after whom there is no other; to a nation expecting and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have plundered," that is to say, woe to Ethiopia, which proudly displays its forces; though they have nothing but empty show, noise, and as it were the tinkling of a cymbal; which is situated beyond the Nile, and through it in boats of papyrus sends its ambassadors and soldiers to Egypt: for it shall be devastated by Sennacherib, and afterwards by Nebuchadnezzar. Therefore you, O Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, as My messengers, go and devastate the Ethiopians, who are a nation torn apart, that is, to be torn and rent asunder by Me through you, even though they may seem to be terrible.
XII. Chapter 19, verse 18. "In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the City of the Sun," that is to say, the five chief cities of Egypt, that is, all Egypt, shall receive the faith of Christ, and shall worship and praise the true God.
XIII. Verse 19. "In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar of the Lord near its border shall be for a sign and a testimony to the Lord." He calls "pillar" the cross, statues, columns, and temples which the Egyptians, converted to Christ, erected.
XIV. Verse 24. "In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed be My people of Egypt, and the work of My hands, Assyria: and My inheritance, Israel," that is to say, the Egyptians and Assyrians, now enemies to each other, shall under Christ unite in one Church, and together with the Israelites shall worship the true God, and therefore shall be blessed by Him: for the inheritance of God is Israel, that is, the Christian people that arose in Israel.
XV. Chapter 21, verse 1. "The burden of the desert of the sea," that is to say, the threatening prophecy against Babylon, which, having been a sea of nations, shall now be made desolate by God through Cyrus, and reduced to a desert. "As whirlwinds come from the south," so "from the desert comes" the horde and whirlwind of the Persians and Medes against Babylon.
XVI. Verse 6. "Go, and set a watchman. And the watchman saw a chariot of two horsemen, a rider on a donkey, and a rider on a camel." The rider on the donkey, that is, the king of the lowly and servile Persians, is Cyrus; the rider on the camel, that is, the king of the noble Medes, is Darius: Isaiah here observed these two, and saw them with their chariots and forces joined together invading Babylon.
XVII. Verse 8. "And the lion cried out: Upon the watchtower of the Lord I stand, standing continually by day," that is to say, I, Isaiah, like a watchful lion, keep perpetual guard, so that I may learn future events from the revelation of God and announce them to others.
XVIII. Verse 10. "O my threshing, and the children of my threshing floor, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you," that is to say, O Jews, who were in Babylon as in a threshing, I shall announce to you what I have heard from God concerning the destruction of Babylon and your liberation.
XIX. Verse 11. "He cries to me from Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said: Morning comes, and also the night: if you would inquire, inquire: turn back, come," that is to say, I, Isaiah, seem to hear the Edomites, frightened at the approach of the Chaldeans, saying to the sentinel: O sentinel, what have you seen, what have you sensed in the night about the Chaldeans? To whom the sentinel responds: "Morning comes, and also the night," that is to say, dawn is at hand, and yet it is still night; therefore if you wish to venture out, if you wish to seek anything outside, make haste, and seek it, and soon return to the city, before the enemy wakes and discovers you, and cuts off your return.
XX. Verse 16. "Within one more year, as the year of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall be taken away." See what was said above at chapter 16, verse 14.
XXI. Chapter 22, verse 1. "The burden of the valley of vision." Jerusalem is called the valley of vision, that is, of prophecy: for it was the seat of the Prophets. It alludes to Mount Moriah, that is, of vision.
XXII. Chapter 23, verse 1. "The burden of Tyre. Wail, O ships of the sea, for the house from which they were accustomed to come is laid waste."
Verse 3. "In many waters the seed of the Nile, the harvest of the river is its produce," that is to say, Egypt becomes fertile from the overflowing waters of the Nile, and yields an abundant harvest and crops.
XXIII. Verse 4. "Blush, O Sidon," because your colony, and as it were your daughter, namely Tyre, has been devastated. "For the sea says: I have not labored, nor have I brought forth, and I have not nourished young men: the sea," that is, Tyre the mistress of the sea, has been so stripped of inhabitants and children by this disaster, as if she had never borne or nourished them.
XXIV. Verse 10. "Pass through your land like a river, O daughter of the sea, there is no longer a girdle for you," that is to say, O daughter of the sea, that is, O Tyre, the Chaldean has taken from you the girdle of the sea that surrounded you on every side: for he filled it with earth, and so conquered you; pass through, therefore, as a captive, not by river, but by land to Babylon.
XXV. Chapter 24, verse 16. "My secret is mine, my secret is mine," etc.
XXVI. Chapter 26, verse 14. "Let the dead not live, let the giants not rise again," that is to say: Let the proud and tyrants, such as the giants were, die an eternal death in hell, and not rise again to the blessed life.
XXVII. Chapter 27, verse 1. "In that day the Lord shall visit with His hard and great and strong sword upon Leviathan the barred serpent, and upon Leviathan the tortuous serpent, and He shall slay the whale that is in the sea." Leviathan, or the whale, is here an enigma of the devil, who is the ancient serpent, strong as a bar: God shall slay him when on the day of judgment He strips him of all his power, which he exercised in this world, and casts him down into the abyss to eternal death.
XXVIII. Verse 6. "Those who rush in upon Jacob, Israel shall flourish and blossom, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed," that is to say: The Apostles, who with great force of spirit shall preach to the descendants of Jacob, that is, to the Jews, shall cause them to flourish with virtues, and they shall fill the world with the seed of the Gospel.
XXIX. Verse 8. "In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, You shall judge it," that is to say: You shall punish it with an equal measure, so that the greatness of the punishment may match the greatness of the guilt.
XXX. Verse 11. "In drought its harvests shall be destroyed, women coming and teaching it: for it is not a wise people," that is to say: The Jews shall be so afflicted by famine that, bereft of counsel, they must be instructed by their own wives as to what should be done in such great distress.
XXXI. Chapter 28, verse 9. "Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand what is heard? Those that are weaned from the milk, those drawn away from the breasts," that is to say: God gives knowledge to those who tear themselves away from carnal pleasures.
XXXII. Verse 10. "For command upon command, command upon command, wait and wait again, wait and wait again, a little here, a little there." These are the words of mockers, who in derision repeat the words of the Prophets. "Command upon command, etc."
XXXIII. Verse 11. "For with stammering lips and in another tongue He shall speak to this people." That is to say: Just as the Hebrews mock the Prophets with lisping speech, so the Chaldeans shall mock them, speaking in Chaldean, not in Hebrew; hence he adds:
Verse 13. "And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command upon command, command upon command, wait and wait again, wait and wait again, a little here, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and ensnared, and captured," that is to say: Because they mocked the word of the Lord and His heralds by saying, "Command upon command, etc.," therefore they shall be overthrown and captured.
XXXIV. Verse 20. "The bed is too narrow for one to fall off: and the short covering cannot cover both," that is to say: You cannot worship Me together with idols, nor place Me with them in the same temple: for My temple and My religion is narrow, and admits Me alone, not idols.
XXXV. Verse 21. "For as in the mountain of divisions the Lord shall stand: as in the valley which is in Gibeon, He shall be angry: that He may do His work, His strange work: that He may perform His work, His work is foreign to Him," that is to say: Just as God at Baal-Perazim, that is, at the mountain of divisions, fighting for David, divided and scattered the Philistines; and just as at Gibeon for Joshua He stopped the sun so that the Canaanites might be slain: so also now He shall scatter and slay His enemies, even though this work of vengeance is, as it were, foreign to Him: for He punishes unwillingly, since His nature is to show mercy.
XXXVI. Chapter 29, verse 1. "Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city which David stormed. Ariel," that is, the lion or the ram of God, is Jerusalem; because in it was the altar on which rams were sacrificed to God: therefore she herself, defended by God, was formidable to the Gentiles like a lion: but now, abandoned and devastated by Him, she shall be like a ram slaughtered and sacrificed to divine vengeance.
Verse 2. "And I will lay siege to Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning, and it shall be to Me as Ariel," that is, as a ram sacrificed to My justice.
XXXVII. Verse 17. "Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?" Lebanon, a part of Phoenicia, is an enigma of the Gentiles; Carmel of the Jews; that is to say: The Phoenicians, that is, the Gentiles, through Christ shall flourish with faith and grace, while the Jews themselves, rebellious, shall wither and become wild.
XXXVIII. Chapter 30, verse 6. "The burden of the beasts of the south," that is to say: The threats of God against the Jews, who like beasts of burden loaded with their goods flee into Egypt, which lies to the south of Judea: for on the journey, that is, in the desert, they shall encounter lions, vipers, and basilisks, which shall tear them apart. For this is what he adds: "In the land of trouble and anguish, the lioness and the lion from among them, the viper and the flying basilisk, carrying their riches upon the shoulders of their beasts, and their treasures upon the humps of their camels, to a people that cannot profit them."
XXXIX. Verse 33. "For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep and wide. Its nourishment is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it." Topheth is an enigma of hell, because just as in Topheth infants were burned in honor of Moloch, so in Gehenna the damned are burned at the pleasure of the Devil.
XL. Chapter 32, verse 14. "The joy of wild donkeys, the pastures of flocks, until the spirit be poured upon us from on high," that is to say: The desolation of Judea shall endure, so that not men but wild donkeys graze in it, until Christ sends upon them the spirit of faith and grace, which shall convert them to God and salvation.
Verse 17. "And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness and security forever," that is to say: The reward of the faithful shall be that, justified by Christ, they shall obtain, first, peace of conscience; second, quietness, that is, supreme rest and tranquility; third, the secure confidence of eternal blessedness.
XLI. Verse 19. "And the hail in the descent of the forest." That is to say: The wrath of God shall hail down upon and strike the Jews, who have forsaken the true worship of God and their own glory and descended, and have become like a deserted and overgrown field.
XLII. Verse 20. "Blessed are you who sow upon all waters, sending forth the foot of the ox and the donkey," that is to say: O blessed are you, Apostles, who into all waters, that is, into all peoples, send forth oxen and donkeys, that is, workers and preachers of the Gospel.
XLIII. Chapter 34, verse 4. "And all the host of the heavens shall waste away, and the heavens shall be folded up like a book: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls from the vine and from the fig tree," that is to say: At the end of the world the stars shall fall from heaven, and the heavens shall be so darkened that they will seem to waste away and vanish.
XLIV. Chapter 41, verse 2. "Who raised up the just one (Abraham) from the east, and called him to follow Him? He gave (that is, He has given) nations before him, and He shall obtain kings: He shall give them as dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow," that is to say: Who called Abraham and made him glorious and triumphant over the four kings, Genesis 14, was it not I, God?
Verse 4. "Who has wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first and the last, I am He." For God is the king of the ages, establishing, disposing, and ordering them.
XLV. Verse 27. "The first shall say to Zion: Behold, they are here" — the Apostles and heralds of the Gospel — "and I will give to Jerusalem an Evangelist," that is, Evangelists and preachers of Christ and salvation, "I will give."
XLVI. Chapter 43, verse 8. "Bring forth the blind people who have eyes; the deaf who have ears," that is to say: My people has eyes, and yet is blind; because it shuts them: and it has ears, and yet is deaf; because it stops them against the warnings of God. Again, seeing it does not see, hearing it does not hear; because it does not wish to understand what is seen and heard, and to fulfill it in deed.
XLVII. Verse 20. "The beast of the field shall glorify Me, the dragons and the ostriches: because I have given waters in the desert, rivers in the wilderness, that I might give drink to My people, to My chosen one," that is to say: The Gentiles, who in their paganism lived like beasts and dragons, now through Christ having been made men, indeed Angels, shall glorify God; because I gave them rivers of graces.
XLVIII. Chapter 44, verse 5. "This one shall write with his hand, To the Lord," that is, 'I am a servant of the Lord': "and he shall be surnamed by the name of Israel," that is, he shall be called Israel, or Israelite.
XLIX. Chapter 46, verse 1. "Bel is broken, Nebo is crushed," that is to say: Babylon with its gods, Bel and Nebo, has been overthrown and destroyed.
L. Chapter 50, verse 11. "Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who are girded with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled." The sinner through his sins, as if through bellows and dry wood, kindles for himself the fire of the wrath of God, of vengeance, and of hell; whence follows what comes next: "In sorrows shall you sleep."
LI. Chapter 51, verse 1. "Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the cavity of the pit from which you were cut." The cutting from rock and a cavern is an enigma of the generation of Abraham and Sarah, who were barren, just as rock is barren. For the Hebrews call begetting 'building a house,' and they call sons 'banim,' as if 'abanim,' that is, 'stones,' from which each person builds a house.
LII. Chapter 52, verse 11. "Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing: go out from the midst of it, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord," that is to say: Go out from Babylon, O Israelites, lest you be defiled by its crimes, as well as by its disaster and slaughter.
LIII. Verse 14. "As many were astonished at You, so shall His appearance be without glory among men, and His form among the sons of men. He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouths before Him." This is an enigma of Christ, who was without glory in His birth, life, and death, but with His blood sprinkled and washed all nations, and therefore they, together with their kings, submitted themselves to Him. Whence follows: "For those to whom it was not told of Him have seen; and those who had not heard have contemplated," that is to say: The Gentiles, who were ignorant of God and salvation, through Christ beheld it.
LIV. Chapter 53, verse 9. "He shall give the impious for His burial, and the rich for His death," that is to say: God shall subject the impious and the rich to Christ, as the reward of His death and burial, and specifically He shall cause Joseph of Arimathea, a noble and rich man, to bury Him with honor.
LV. Chapter 55, verse 13. "Instead of the shrub there shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle there shall grow the myrtle," that is to say: In the Church, in place of vices, virtues shall grow.
LVI. "And the Lord shall be named as an eternal sign, which shall not be taken away," that is to say: God shall have in the Church a name and praise and a perpetual memorial.
LVII. Chapter 56, verse 10. "His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping, and loving dreams: and most impudent dogs that never had enough." These watchdog-sentinels are an enigma of wicked pastors, who care not for the salvation of their flock, but devote themselves to their own gluttony, sloth, and greed. Hence, explaining further, he adds: "The shepherds themselves knew no understanding: they all turned aside to their own way, each one to his own avarice, from the greatest to the least: Come, let us take wine, and let us fill ourselves with drunkenness."
LVIII. Chapter 57, verse 3. "But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress; seed of the adulterer and the harlot. Upon whom have you jested? Against whom have you opened wide your mouth and put forth your tongue? Are you not wicked children, a lying seed?" These are enigmas and descriptions of idolaters and the impious, who, given over to auguries and superstitions, are children not of God but of the devil and impiety. Hence concerning them he adds: "You have received the adulterer (a foreign god): you have enlarged your bed, and made a covenant with them: you have loved their bed with open hand. And you have adorned yourself for the king (the idol Moloch) with ointment, and you have multiplied your perfumes."
LIX. Verse 16. "The spirit shall go forth from My face, and breathing I will make." This is an enigma of God, who alone creates the souls of men, and bestows upon them and inspires both the vital breath, the natural breath of life, and the supernatural breath of grace.
LX. Verse 19. "I created the fruit of the lips, peace," that is to say: The fruit of piety and prayer is peace. For "the wicked" are "like a raging sea, which cannot rest."
LXI. Chapter 59, verse 5. "They have broken the eggs of asps, and have woven the webs of spiders: whoever eats of their eggs shall die: and that which is hatched shall break out into a basilisk." This is an enigma of the wicked, who infect others with their wickedness, that is to say: Just as the asp can lay no egg that is not an asp's egg and venomous; so these wicked people are so full of wickedness that they produce nothing but what is wicked and harmful: whoever therefore associates with them, from them and with them shall reap nothing but destruction and plague. He compares the same to the futile webs of spiders, that is to say: The wicked by their deeds always harm and never benefit.
LXII. Chapter 60, verse 8. "Who are these who fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" Clouds and doves are an enigma of the faithful, who when the Apostles preached flew in throngs to the Church, just as when the wind blows dense clouds fly through the air, and when rain threatens, doves fly back in flocks to their nest.
LXIII. Verse 17. "Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; and instead of wood bronze, and instead of stones iron: and I will make your visitation peace, and your overseers justice." He alludes to the temple of the Jews, and compares and prefers the Church to it, that is to say: The Church shall succeed the Synagogue, in which all things shall be more noble and more magnificent than they were in the temple. For in it I shall bring truth in place of figure, light in place of shadow, the spirit of love and liberty in place of the spirit of fear and servitude, all nations in place of a few Jews, spiritual charisms in place of bodily goods, heavenly things in place of earthly, eternal in place of temporal, divine in place of human.
LXIV. Chapter 61, verse 5. "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks: and the sons of foreigners shall be your husbandmen and vinedressers. But you shall be called the priests of the Lord, the ministers of our God." The shepherds, husbandmen, and vinedressers are the Bishops and pastors of the Gentiles: the priests are the Apostles and hierarchs.
LXV. Chapter 63, verse 1. "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This beautiful one in His robe, striding in the greatness of His strength." This enigma the Angels propose concerning Christ fighting and conquering the demons, and all the princes and peoples of the Gentiles who were subject to them through idolatry and wickedness, to whom Christ, resolving it, responds: "I who speak justice, and am a champion to save." The Angels press further: "Why then is Your garment red, and Your clothing like those who tread in the winepress?" Christ responds: "I have trodden the winepress alone, etc., I have trampled them in My wrath: and their blood has been sprinkled upon My garments," that is to say: I am reddened both with My own blood, shed in My passion; and more so with the blood of My enemies, whom through My passion and death I have conquered.
LXVI. Verse 16. "Abraham knew us not, and Israel was ignorant of us: You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer; Your name is from eternity," that is to say: Abraham cannot care for us and save us; hence he seems not to know us and to be ignorant of us: but You, O Christ, care for us and save us: You therefore are our Father and our Redeemer.
LXVII. Chapter 64, verse 1. "O that You would rend the heavens and come down: at Your face the mountains would melt away. As fire burns, they would consume; the waters would burn with fire." This is an enigma of the coming of Christ, most ardently desired. He alludes to the coming of God on Sinai, when He gave the law to Moses: for then, contrary to the usual order, fires and lightning were mingled with violent rains. That is to say: Would that similarly now, O Christ, You would come down to us in the flesh, and with the fire of Your divine love melt the frost of our hearts, and turn the waters of our torpor and vices into flames of fervor and zeal.
LXVIII. Chapter 65, verse 10. "The plains shall be for the folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor for the resting place of herds, for My people who have sought Me." For 'plains' the Hebrew has 'Sharon,' which was a place in Judea most praised for its pastures. Similar was 'the valley of Achor.' Both places are an enigma and symbol of the Church. Therefore God here promises her that, like Sharon and the valley of Achor, she shall be a common pasture; because indeed in her the faithful shall be fed with the word of God, with the Sacraments, and with other gifts of God. The herds are the more robust in faith, who are fit for teaching and governing: the flocks are the weaker and the subjects.
LXIX. Verse 16. "In whom (in the Lord) he who is blessed upon the earth shall be blessed in God, amen: and he who swears upon the earth shall swear by God, amen," that is to say: In the Church of Christ the faithful shall swear and worship God of the 'amen,' that is, the true God, not a false one, namely not the idols which they formerly worshipped, and therefore equally truly they shall be blessed by the God of the 'amen,' that is, the true God.
LXX. Verse 20. "There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man who does not fill up his days," that is to say: True Christians shall be perfect in faith and virtues; "for a child of a hundred years shall die, and (that is) a sinner of a hundred years shall be accursed."
LXXI. Verse 22. "According to the days of the tree" of life, "shall be the days of My people," that is to say: Christians shall live forever, as if they had eaten from the tree of life in paradise.
LXXII. Chapter 66, verse 24. "They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me: their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched: and they shall be a spectacle even to the satiety of all flesh." This is an enigma of hell and of the damned; for their bodies shall be like the corpses of the slain, fuel for fire and the worm, an eternal spectacle and reproach before God, the Angels, and all the Saints.
Enigmas: From Jeremiah
I. Chapter 2, verse 23. "A swift runner unfolding her ways." The swift and fast runner is an enigma of the camel, which from its swift running is called a dromedary, that is to say: Just as the she-camel, when driven and maddened by the frenzy of lust, runs toward the male: so you, O Jerusalem, driven by insane superstition, have run toward idols.
II. Verse 24. "A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, in the desire of her soul she drew in the wind of her love: none shall turn her aside: all who seek her shall not fail, in her monthly courses they shall find her," that is to say: Just as the wild donkey, burning with lust, draws in the breeze to cool its heat, and burning runs to the she-donkey: so you with your whole eager soul and at full speed run toward idols. If anyone seeks you, there in the monthly courses and filth of your fornication, that is, of your idolatry, he shall find you.
III. Verse 31. "Have I become a wilderness to Israel, or a land of late harvest?" That is to say: Have I been useless and barren to Israel, as a wilderness is, or a land that produces nothing outside itself, or only late? Not at all: for I gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. "Why then has My people said: We have departed, we will come no more to You?"
IV. Verse 34. "In your wings was found the blood of the souls of the poor and innocent: I did not find them in ditches, but in all those things which I have mentioned above." This is an enigma of the hawk, which when it kills its prey stains its wings with its blood, that is to say: You, O Israel, like a hawk swooping upon the poor and innocent, have stained your garments with their blood: and this "not in ditches" in the manner of thieves and robbers, but in the groves and forests of idols, where you sacrificed them as victims.
V. Chapter 4, verse 3. "Break up for yourselves a new field, and do not sow upon thorns," that is to say: Just as in a field, for it to be capable of receiving seed, the thorns must first be pulled up and the field plowed so that it becomes new ground: so also you must cleanse the field of your hearts from the thorns of vices, and plow it with humility and contrition; so that it becomes new ground capable of receiving the divine seed, namely grace and virtues. Hence, explaining further, he adds: "Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins" not of the flesh, but "of your hearts."
VI. Verse 7. "The lion has come up from his lair, and the destroyer of nations has set out." This destroyer and lion is Nebuchadnezzar, and any tyrant; his lair is Chaldea.
VII. Verse 23. "I looked upon the earth, and behold it was void and nothing; and upon the heavens, and there was no light in them. I looked upon the mountains, and behold they were trembling," that is to say: So great shall be the terror and consternation in the destruction of the Jews that to them the heaven and earth shall seem to shake, perish, and pass away.
VIII. Chapter 5, verse 1. "Go about the streets of Jerusalem, etc., and seek in its squares whether you can find a man who does justice and seeks faith: and I will be merciful to it," namely to Jerusalem for the sake of one man. God seeks a man who is a true man in solid virtue: He values him more than a hundred women: women are soft and unstable in virtue. Diogenes sought a similar man in Athens.
IX. Verse 6. "Therefore a lion from the forest has struck them, a wolf at evening has laid them waste, a leopard watching over their cities." This is a threefold enigma of Nebuchadnezzar. For he is called first a lion, on account of the terror and might he inspires; second, a wolf, on account of his voracity; third, a leopard, on account of his speed and vigilance.
X. Verse 14. "Behold, I will make My words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them," that is to say: I will cause your oracles and your threats to be effective and to be fulfilled in reality, so that like fire they shall consume the Jews as dry wood.
XI. Verse 16. "His quiver (of the Chaldean nation) is like an open sepulchre," that is to say: The Chaldeans, by piercing the Jews with their strong arrows, shall send them all to death and the grave.
XII. Chapter 9, verse 21. "Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our houses, to destroy children from without and young men from the streets." Death is an enigma of the Chaldeans, and in the tropological sense, of the demons and allurements, who breathe nothing but slaughter and death.
XIII. Chapter 12, verse 5. "If you have run with footmen and they have wearied you: how will you contend with horsemen?" If you cannot endure the lesser things, how will you endure the greater? If, O Jeremiah, you cannot bear the persecutions of your fellow citizens of Anathoth, how will you bear the violence and fury of the Jerusalemites? In the tropological sense: if you cannot endure lying words, how will you endure blows and martyrdom?
XIV. Verse 13. "They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns," that is to say: The Jews hope for prosperity, but shall experience adversity: their happiness shall be turned into misery, their abundance into want, their sowing into thorns.
XV. Chapter 13, verse 16. "Give glory to the Lord your God," worship God and obey Him, "before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains," to which you will flee in the destruction of the city: "you will look for light, and He will turn it into the shadow of death and into darkness." The shadow of death is an enigma of the most sorrowful things, of the utmost anguish and danger. Hence he adds:
Verse 25. "This is your lot, and the portion of your measure from Me, says the Lord, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood."
XVI. Chapter 15, verse 12. "Shall iron be allied with iron from the north, and bronze?" That is to say: The Jews are hard and brazen, just as the Chaldeans of the north are; therefore they cannot be allied, nor will a treaty made between them endure.
XVII. Verse 19. "If you separate the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth," that is to say: If you, O Jeremiah, separate yourself from the frivolous, impious, and unbelieving Jews, if you consecrate your mind and your mouth to Me and to My word, not to trifles and vanities, you shall be as My mouth: because you will use the same thoughts and words as I do, and I through you, as through My mouth, shall proclaim My words to them and to the whole world; and its efficacy and fruit shall be what he adds: "They shall be converted to you, and you shall not be converted to them."
XVIII. Chapter 17, verse 11. "The partridge hatches what she did not lay: one makes riches, and not by right: in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and in his latter end he shall be (that is, shall appear) a fool," that is to say: Just as the partridge, stealing the eggs of others, sits on them and hatches chicks; but these, as they grow and hear the voice of their true mother, fly away to her: so also riches gained by theft and fraud shall fly away from the thieves and the fraudulent to their other true owners.
XIX. Verse 12. "A throne of glory on high from the beginning, the place of our sanctification," that is to say: I fix my hope not in man, but in God, and to His throne I send my prayers: for from there I expect holiness, freedom, and every good.
XX. Chapter 18, verse 14. "Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or can the cold flowing waters that gush forth be plucked away? Because My people have forgotten Me," that is to say: Just as the snow and waters cannot fail from Lebanon, so neither can there fail in Me, who am the fountain of living water, the flow of goods and benefits to men, especially to the faithful, such as the Jews are. How then can they forget these things, and forget Me?
XXI. Chapter 20, verse 3. "The Lord has not called your name Pashur, but terror on every side. For thus says the Lord: Behold I will give you over to terror, you and all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword."
XXII. Verse 14. "Cursed be the day on which I was born: let the day on which my mother bore me not be blessed." This curse is an enigma of the evils and miseries into which we enter through birth as through a door. Hence he immediately adds: "Why did I come forth from the womb, to see labor and sorrow, and that my days should be consumed in confusion?"
XXIII. Chapter 21, verse 8. "Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death." The way of death is: "Whoever dwells in this city shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence." The way of life is: "But whoever goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who are besieging you, shall live, and his life shall be to him as a spoil," that is to say: If you resist the Chaldean, you shall be killed; but if you surrender yourselves to him, you shall live: for God wills that you submit to him, and that you willingly undergo this penance of subjection and captivity for your sins.
XXIV. Chapter 22, verse 6. "Gilead, you are to me the head of Lebanon," that is to say: Just as Gilead is the head of Lebanon, so the royal house of David is the head of Jerusalem.
XXV. Verse 19. "He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey (that is, in a dung heap, king Jehoiakim killed by the Chaldeans), rotting and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem."
XXVI. Chapter 31, verse 22. "A woman shall encompass a man," namely the Blessed Virgin shall conceive and give birth to Christ.
XXVII. Verse 23. "The Lord bless you, O beauty of justice, O holy mountain," that is to say: May God bless you, O Church, who are adorned with every justice and holiness.
XXVIII. Chapter 46, verse 20. "Egypt is a fair and beautiful heifer, but a goad shall come upon her from the north," that is to say: Egypt exults in riches and pleasures like a frolicking heifer; but soon Nebuchadnezzar, coming from Chaldea, shall restrain her, and with his goads shall so sting her that she shall not know which way to turn.
XXIX. Chapter 48, verse 11. "Moab has been fruitful from his youth, and has settled upon his lees: he has not been poured from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste has remained in him, and his scent has not been changed," that is to say: Moab, neighbor of Sodom, drew from it bad flavors and odors, that is, bad morals and loves, upon which as upon lees he always settled; because he was never poured from vessel to vessel, that is, because he never left his home and the vicinity of Sodom, nor ever went into captivity. Therefore, so that he may change these ways, I shall transfer him to Babylon, just as wine that has gone flat on its lees is poured from them into another vessel so that its taste and scent may be changed and improved. Hence he adds:
XXX. Verse 12. "I shall send him arrangers and pourers of bottles, and they shall overthrow him, and shall empty out his vessels, and shall dash their bottles together," that is to say: I shall send him the Chaldeans, who like travelers shall lay out the bottles, as if to pour wine from one into another; but in truth they shall drain the wine and smash the bottles, that is, they shall plunder and consume the citizens and riches of Moab.
XXXI. Chapter 51, verse 7. "Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, making all the earth drunk: the nations drank of her wine, and therefore they were disturbed." That is to say: God served to the Jews and other nations the cup of His wrath and vengeance, though outwardly golden and gleaming, and those who drained it were thrown into turmoil, and from grief became as if drunk and out of their minds. This cup is the war and slaughter which Nebuchadnezzar inflicted upon all.
XXXII. Verse 9. "We cured Babylon, and she is not healed: let us forsake her, and let each one go to his own land: for her judgment," that is, her punishment and wound, "has reached to the heavens." This is the voice of the Angels, or rather of the neighboring nations, who like physicians wished to cure Babylon and defend her against Cyrus; but seeing her disaster and destruction, they fled and returned to their own lands.
XXXIII. Verse 13. "You who dwell upon many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the foot-measure of your cutting off." This is an enigma of Babylon and its destruction, that is to say: O Babylon, who are surrounded by the Euphrates and abound in riches, the calamity has come that shall bring you to an end and shall cut you off, and it is "by the foot," that is, equitable and measured out as if to the foot in proportion to your crimes.
XXXIV. Verse 41. "How is Sheshach taken, and the famous one of all the earth seized? Sheshach" is an enigma of Babylon; for if you exchange the first letters of the Hebrew alphabet with the last in reverse order, 'Sheshach' is the same as 'Babel.' Hence, explaining, he adds: "How has Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?"
XXXV. Verse 60. "Jeremiah wrote in one book all the evil that was to come upon Babylon, and said to Seraiah: When you arrive in Babylon, and see and read all these words, you shall say: O Lord, You have spoken against this place to destroy it. And when you have finished reading this book, you shall tie a stone to it and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates." This symbol and enigma he explains when he adds: "And you shall say: Thus shall Babylon be submerged, and shall not rise up from the affliction which I bring upon her, and she shall be dissolved."
Enigmas: From Lamentations
I. Chapter 1, verse 14. "The yoke of my iniquities has watched: they are wound together in His hand, and put upon my neck." Sins are like ropes and chains, from which is made a tangled yoke, which is placed upon the neck of the sinner. This yoke 'watches,' because the eye of the watchful God is always upon it, and prompts Him at the appointed time, namely when the measure of sins is full, to punish and avenge them. Hence follows:
II. Verse 15. "He called against me a time (of vintage, that is, of vengeance), to crush me; the Lord trod the winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah," when in the destruction He pressed and crushed her as in a winepress, through the Chaldeans.
III. Chapter 3, verse 63. "Behold their sitting down and their rising up: I am their song," that is to say: See how in all places, activities, and assemblies they mock me, they sing songs about me, and hurl taunts. "You shall render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands: You shall give them a shield of the heart, Your labor;" so that with toil and sorrow, as with a shield, they shall be covered and surrounded on every side.
Enigmas: From Baruch
I. Chapter 3, verse 15. "Who has found the place (of wisdom and prudence)? And who has entered into its treasures?" This is an enigma about true wisdom, namely practical wisdom, which makes blessed; not speculative wisdom, which puffs up: for it seeks its place and manner and the way of attaining it, and teaches that it dwells not with philosophers but with Angels; not on earth but in heaven; not with men but with God, and that from there it must be sought. Hence he adds:
II. Verse 16. "Where are the princes of the nations, who ruled over the beasts of the earth, who took their pleasure in the birds of the air, who hoarded up silver and gold? They are cut off and have gone down to hell: and they knew not the way of discipline. It has not been heard of in the land of Canaan, nor has it been seen in Teman. The children of Hagar also, who seek prudence which is of the earth, the storytellers and seekers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they knew not."
Verse 26. "There were the giants skilled in war. The Lord did not choose these. And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their foolishness." He then adds that wisdom is in heaven with God. "Who has gone up into heaven and received it, and brought it down from the clouds? There is none who can know its ways: but He who knows all things knows it, and has found it out by His prudence. He who sends forth the light, and it goes; and He called it, and it obeys Him with trembling."
Verse 34. "The stars have given light in their watches and rejoiced: they were called and they said: Here we are: and they shone with joyfulness for Him who made them. This is our God. He has found out every way of discipline, and has given it to Jacob (and the descendants of Jacob, namely Moses and the Hebrews) His servant, and to Israel His beloved."
III. Verse 38. "Afterwards He was seen on earth, and conversed with men." And there He taught us with His own mouth true and perfect wisdom, and the way to heaven and blessedness. He then adds that wisdom consists in the observance of the commandments of God, when He says: "This is the book of the commandments of God and the law which is forever: all who hold fast to it shall attain life; but those who have forsaken it, unto death."
Enigmas: From Ezekiel
I. Chapter 7, verses 5 and 7. "Affliction upon affliction, behold it comes: the end comes, the end comes, it has awakened against you: behold it comes." That is to say: Your destruction, O Jerusalem, is imminent; the end and the final day press upon you. Hence he adds: "Destruction comes upon you who dwell in the land: the time has come, the day of slaughter is near, and not of the glory of the mountains" — in the Hebrew, not of the vintagers' shout of joy — that is to say: Recently the vintagers on the mountains sang a joyful shout; now they sing dirges and lament therein the slaughter of their own.
II. Verse 10. "Behold the day, behold it comes, it has gone forth" — the bud (that is, the first sprout, namely a tightly folded bud) — "the rod has blossomed, pride has budded," that is to say: The pride and impiety of the Jews first went forth as a bud, like a tightly folded shoot, then blossomed and grew into a rod, with which God chastised them. For this is what he adds: "Iniquity has risen into a rod (that is, has grown into a rod) of impiety."
III. Verse 23. "Make a chain (conclude all these threats in a brief word, as a summary): because the land is full of the judgment (that is, the condemnation) of blood (namely of the blood of those condemned and shed by unjust judgment), and the city is full of iniquity."
Verse 26. "Trouble upon trouble shall come, and rumor upon rumor," that is to say: One calamity shall come upon another, one report and sad tidings shall soon bring and be followed by another.
IV. Chapter 17, verse 2. "Son of man, propose a riddle. A great eagle with great wings, with long limbs, full of feathers and variety, came to Lebanon and took the marrow of the cedar." This eagle is Nebuchadnezzar, powerful in forces and ruling far and wide, who from Judea captured King Jehoiachin and carried him off to Babylon.
Verse 7. "And there was another great eagle, with great wings and many feathers: and behold this vine, as if sending its roots toward it, stretched its branches toward it, that it might water it from the beds of its planting." This eagle is Pharaoh, the vine is Zedekiah and Judea, which against the Chaldeans implored the aid of Pharaoh, but in vain: for both were defeated by the Chaldeans. So the Prophet explains in verse 12.
V. Chapter 21, verse 21. "The king of Babylon stood at the crossroads, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, shaking the arrows: he consulted the idols, he inspected the entrails. At his right hand the divination fell upon Jerusalem." Nebuchadnezzar took an omen by means of two arrows, whether he should march against the Ammonites or against the Jews, and when the arrow and the lot fell toward Jerusalem, he marched against it.
VI. Verse 25. "And you, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come in the time appointed for iniquity: Thus says the Lord God: Remove the mitre, take off the crown: is not this she who raised up the lowly and brought down the exalted?" He speaks to Zedekiah, the impious and treacherous, that is to say: When you were humble, the crown of the kingdom raised you up: now that you act proudly, the same shall humble you and cast you from the throne. Hence he adds:
VII. "Iniquity, iniquity, iniquity will I make it." For 'iniquity,' the Hebrew has 'crookedness,' 'distortion,' that is to say: I will bend and cast down the crown of Zedekiah a second and a third time.
VIII. Chapter 39, verse 3. "Behold I am against you, O Gog, prince of the chief of Meshech and Tubal, and I will turn you around, and lead you out, and cause you to come up from the sides of the north: and I will bring you upon the mountains of Israel." Gog and Magog shall be kings and nations fierce and barbarous, who shall fight for the Antichrist residing in Judea. Hence there they shall be slain by Christ, and shall be buried in a place which shall thereafter be called the valley of the multitude of Gog, near the city of Amona, as he says in verses 11 and 16.
IX. Chapter 40, verse 3. "Behold a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, and a linen cord in his hand, and a measuring reed in his hand: and he stood in the gate. And he measured the breadth of the building with one reed, etc." This man is an Angel representing Christ; who measures and designs the structure of the new temple and all its parts. This is the blueprint of Christ's building, namely the new Christian Church, both militant and triumphant. See the commentary on chapter 40.
X. Chapter 44, verse 1. "And He brought me back to the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, which looked toward the east: and it was shut. And the Lord said: This gate shall be shut: it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it; because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it, and it shall be shut for the prince. The prince Himself shall sit in it." The closed gate is the Blessed Virgin, from whom without the union of a man Christ was conceived, and in whom He dwelt for nine months, and through her, remaining closed, He passed and leapt into the world. The God of Israel entered through her, namely the Holy Trinity: God the Father, espousing and wedding her to Himself; God the Holy Spirit, overshadowing and making her fruitful; God the Son, assuming flesh in her.
XI. Chapter 47, verse 1. "Behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house toward the east, and behold overflowing waters, and he brought me through the water up to the ankles. And again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the water up to the loins. And he measured a thousand, a torrent which I could not cross: for the waters had risen deep in the torrent, which cannot be forded." These waters and this torrent are the wisdom and doctrine of the Gospel and of Sacred Scripture, which is an impenetrable abyss.
XII. Verse 12. "And upon the torrent, on its banks on both sides, shall grow every fruit-bearing tree: the leaf shall not fall from it, and its fruit shall not fail: every month it shall bring forth first-fruits, because its waters issue from the sanctuary: and its fruits shall be for food, and its leaves for medicine." These trees are Christians, who watered by the waters of the Gospel and of Sacred Scripture, always are green with and bear the fruits of virtues. The fruits therefore are the works of virtue, by which the soul is nourished; the leaves are ceremonies, which provide salutary instruction and healing. In the anagogical sense, these trees and fruits are the endowments of blessedness, namely of the vision of God, which the Blessed enjoy in heaven, as is clear from Revelation 22:1. Hence Ezekiel, concluding this entire construction of the new temple and city, in the last chapter, last verse, says: "And the name of the city shall be: The Lord is there."
Enigmas: From Daniel (Prophecies)
I. Chapter 9, verse 25. "From the going forth of the word, that Jerusalem be built again, unto Christ the leader, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks," that is, altogether sixty-nine weeks. "And after the sixty-two weeks (adding the seven already mentioned, that is, after 483 years), Christ shall be slain."
II. Verse 27. "And He shall confirm the covenant with many in one week (that is to say: Christ shall preach and establish the new testament in three and a half years), and in the middle of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail." For Christ by His death and sacrifice shall abolish all the sacrifices of the Jews.
III. "And there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation and the end," that is to say: After, and on account of the death of Christ, Jerusalem and its temple shall be laid waste by Titus and the Romans, and this desolation shall last until the end of the world.
IV. Chapter 11, verse 5. "And the king of the south shall be strengthened, etc., and after the end of years they shall make an alliance: and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make friendship, etc." Daniel recounts in this entire chapter up to verse 36 the wars waged over 140 years between the kings of the south, that is, of Egypt, and the kings of the north, that is, of Syria; namely between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, or the Antiochuses: see the commentary on Daniel 11. Therefore this entire chapter is one continuous enigma.
V. Verse 37. "He shall not regard the God of his fathers (the king of the north, namely not so much Antiochus Epiphanes as the Antichrist, of whom he was the type and precursor), and he shall be given to the lusts of women, nor shall he care for any of the gods, because he shall rise up against all things. But the god Maozim (that is, of fortresses) he shall worship in his place.
VI. Verse 45. "And he shall fix his tabernacle in Apadno between the seas, upon the glorious and holy mountain: and he shall come even to the top of it, and no one shall help him," that is to say: At Apadno, on the holy mountain, the Antichrist shall be slain.
VII. Chapter 12, verse 6. "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man who was clothed in linen, who stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, and times, and half a time," that is to say: For a year, and two years, and half a year, namely for three and a half years, the persecution of the Antichrist shall last. Hence he adds:
VIII. Verse 11. "And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away (by the Antichrist), and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be 1290 days." That is to say: The persecution of the Antichrist shall last 1290 days, that is, three and a half years.
IX. "Blessed is he who waits and arrives at 1335 days," for after the death of the Antichrist, at least 45 days shall be given to the faithful who fell under him, for repentance.
X. Verse 13. "But you (Daniel), go to the appointed end (to death, which is appointed and determined for all): and you shall rest, and shall stand in your lot (among the elect and the blessed) at the end of days, on the day of judgment.