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57. God's Accusation Against Wicked

¹ The righteous perish,
   and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
   and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
   to be spared from evil.
² Those who walk uprightly
   enter into peace;
   they find rest as they lie in death.

    ³ “But you—come here, you children of a sorceress,
   you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
⁴ Who are you mocking?
   At whom do you sneer
   and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,
   the offspring of liars?
⁵ You burn with lust among the oaks
   and under every spreading tree;
you sacrifice your children in the ravines
   and under the overhanging crags.
⁶ The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
   indeed, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings
   and offered grain offerings.
   In view of all this, should I relent?
⁷ You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;
   there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
⁸ Behind your doors and your doorposts
   you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
   you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,
   and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.
⁹ You went to Molek Or to the king with olive oil
   and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors Or idols far away;
   you descended to the very realm of the dead!
¹⁰ You wearied yourself by such going about,
   but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found renewal of your strength,
   and so you did not faint.

    ¹¹ “Whom have you so dreaded and feared
   that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered me
   nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent
   that you do not fear me?
¹² I will expose your righteousness and your works,
   and they will not benefit you.
¹³ When you cry out for help,
   let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
   a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
   will inherit the land
   and possess my holy mountain.”

Comfort for the Contrite

¹⁴ And it will be said:

   “Build up, build up, prepare the road!
   Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”
¹⁵ For this is what the high and exalted One says—
   he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
   but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
   and to revive the heart of the contrite.
¹⁶ I will not accuse them forever,
   nor will I always be angry,
for then they would faint away because of me—
   the very people I have created.
¹⁷ I was enraged by their sinful greed;
   I punished them, and hid my face in anger,
   yet they kept on in their willful ways.
¹⁸ I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
   I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,
    ¹⁹ creating praise on their lips.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
   says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”
²⁰ But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
   which cannot rest,
   whose waves cast up mire and mud.
²¹ “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

19. I create the fruit of the lips. This is an explanation of the former statement, or of the manner in which the Lord will give consolation to this people. It is, because he will promise and offer peace to them; for by “the fruit of the lips” he means that he will cause them to hear the glad tidings of peace, by which they shall be filled with joy.

Peace, peace. I think that he speaks of the publication of “peace,” the ministry of which was committed to the prophets, and was afterwards enjoined on the apostles and the other ministers of the Gospel; as Paul teaches that they “are ambassadors for Christ, to reconcile men to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20) The repetition of the word “Peace” is intended to express not only certainty, but also uninterrupted continuance. As if he had said, “You now hear nothing but dreadful threatenings. The doctrine of grace and salvation is silent, because you are incapable of it. Such is your obstinacy that I must deal with you by threatenings and terrors. But I will one day restore the doctrine of ‘peace,’ and open the lips of the prophets, that they may proclaim it to you.”

To them that are far off. This is added, because the people who had been carried into captivity did not think that these things belonged to them, (because they were “far off,”) but perhaps to those who were at home; for captivity was a sort of casting off. But the Prophet foretells that, though they are at a great distance, yet they shall be partakers of this grace.

And I heal him. At length he adds the end or effect, that the Lord determines to heal the people; that is, to make them safe and sound. Hence we infer what I remarked a little before, that all that relates to the full and perfect happiness of the Church is absolutely the gift of God.

Paul appears to have glanced at this passage, when he says that Christ

“brought peace to them that are near, and to them that are far off.” (Ephesians 2:17)

He speaks of Gentiles and Jews; for the Jews were “near,” because God had entered into a covenant with them; but the Gentiles were “far off,” because they were strangers to that covenant. But the Prophet appears to speak of Jews only.

I reply, Paul adheres to the true meaning of the Prophet, if the whole be but carefully examined; for the Jews are said, in this passage, to be “far off,” because the Lord appeared to have driven them out of his house; and in that respect they resembled the Gentiles. Since, therefore, at the time of that casting off, there was no difference between them and the Gentiles, Paul, by putting both, as it were, in the same rank, justly placed them on a level with the Jews, and thus applied to them what the Prophet had spoken about the Jews; as, in a manner not unlike, he elsewhere applies to the Gentiles a passage in Hosea. (Romans 9:25; Hosea 1:10)