1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. 4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. 6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. 7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine. 9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. 10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. 11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. 12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. 13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. 14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. 15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. 19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD. 20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;) 24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. 25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. 26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. 28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. 29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; 31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; 32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary. 35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: 36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; 37 Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. 38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. 39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. 40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. 41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. 42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. 43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. 44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. 52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. 53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: 54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. 55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD. 59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. 61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: 63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.
[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:1-2
(Chapter 16, Verses 1, 2.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, make known the abominations of Jerusalem and say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, testify against Jerusalem for her iniquities, and say to her: Thus says the Lord God. In which the brief summary of each prophecy was, we have included the entire chapter, immediately following as it seemed to us. However, because this discourse is directed to Jerusalem, testifying and teaching about the sins it has committed; and it extends nearly to the number of two hundred verses, to that place where it is written: 'When I am appeased by you for all that you have done,' says the Lord God, we must divide every prophecy into parts; and we must adapt proper explanations to those things which we have proposed. Under the person of a prostitute woman who was first joined to the company of men, Jerusalem is intertwined with birth, and upbringing, and puberty, and marriage, and adultery, and divorce, and again reinstatement; so that the mercy and judgement of the husband, and the crimes of the adulteress and prostitute may be known, while after all punishments, he raises for her an eternal covenant: that she may remember her iniquity, and be confounded, and may no longer have the courage to speak because of her shame, when he has been appeased by her for all that she has done. For it is very beneficial for sinners to know what they have done. Thus, the repentant one speaks: For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me (Psalm 50:4). However, Jerusalem can be understood in four ways: Either as that which was burned with the fire of the Babylonians and Romans; or as the celestial city of the first ones; or as the Church, which is interpreted as the vision of peace; or as the souls of individuals who, through faith, see God. And that which many think should be interpreted as the celestial Jerusalem, the Church does not accept, lest we be compelled to include in it all the ruins and torments of the heavenly powers, as well as the restoration to their original state, that are woven into the present prophecy.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:2
Why is it that I admire Ezekiel? Because the order was given him to make known to Jerusalem its abominations, and he did not place before his eyes any danger that would result from his preaching, but in order to keep only the precepts of God, he spoke whatever he was told. Let us realize that there was a mystery, that there was the revelation of a mysterious kind on the subject of Jerusalem and all that is said against it. Nevertheless, he prophesied, and accused it of fornication.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Ezekiel 16:2
What do you say, prophet? God punishes, and shall I grieve for those whom he is punishing? Certainly. For God, who punishes, wants us to grieve, since he does not want to punish us, and he grieves when carrying out punishment. Do not rejoice at this. One will say, “If they are justly punished, we ought not to grieve.” What we ought to grieve for is this, that they were found worthy of punishment. When you see your son undergoing medical or surgical treatment, do you not grieve? You do not say to yourself, “What is this?” This cutting is for health, to speed his recovery; it is for his deliverance, this burning? But for all that, when you hear him crying out and unable to bear the pain, you grieve, and the hope of health being restored is not enough to carry off the shock to nature.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:3
Which of the cities in the world were so elevated and so deep in knowledge as the city of God?

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:3
If so many things are said in Jerusalem about which such great and wonderful things are written that have been promised to her, what future is there for unhappy me, if I sin? Who will I have for a father, who will I have for a mother?

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Ezekiel 16:3
If we are on the alert, these evils that came into life as a result of the sins of our forebears will in no way be able to harm us, because in fact they go no further than the level of terminology. It was the first formed human being who through the fall brought on the punishment of death and was responsible for spending his life in pain and distress, and it was he who was the cause of servitude. But Christ the Lord came and permitted all these evils to occur only at the level of terminology, provided we are of the right mind. You see, death is now not death but only carries the name of death—or, rather, even the very name has been abolished.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:3
(Verse 3) Your ancestors and your lineage are from the land of Canaan (Vulgate: Canaan). Your father is Amorite, and your mother is Hittite. Great faith and immense boldness of the prophets, to accuse one man and the whole city of ignobility. Marvelous is Daniel, who dared to say to the delinquent elder, committing adultery and murder: The seed of Canaan, not Judah, has deceived you (Dan. 13:56). Great is also Isaiah, who cries out to the princes and the people of Judah: Hear the word of the Lord, you princes of Sodom, listen with your ears to the words of the Lord, people of Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10). But not less so Ezechiel, who speaks confidently to the whole city: Your root, and your generation from the land of Chanaan: Your father Amorrhite, and your mother Chethite, Although even Stephen, the first martyr of the Gospel, spoke to the insane people (Acts 7:51): You have always resisted the Holy Spirit with stubborn necks and uncircumcised hearts (Al. you resist). And although we may understand that Jerusalem is the root and its generation the land of Chanaan, according to what is said, that the people was called in Egypt and dwelled there for a long time (for Cham, father of Chanaan, was the head of the Egyptian nation), nevertheless, according to the similarity of their crimes, we will say that the root of Jerusalem is the land of Egypt: Hence its father is also called Amorrhite, which means 'being talked about,' that is, being much celebrated in speech. And your mother Chethaea, that is, one who is possessed; who either herself is insane, or who sends others into madness. For everyone who commits sin is born of the devil (John 8:54). Therefore, in the whole world, the famous name of this ancient father is, and he turns many into madness. And it is commanded to Jerusalem, either according to the letter or according to the spirit, to leave the ancient father; and it is said to her: Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear; and forget your people, and your father's house: and the king will desire your beauty (Psalm 45:11). And it is promised to him that if he desires to return to the true father after sin: I will restore you as you were when you were born. What great nobility, that the city of Jerusalem, which descended from the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had God as its father? And yet because he sinned and abandoned the true parent, he deserves to hear: Your root and your generation are from the land of Canaan: Your father is Amorite, and your mother is Hittite. If she heard this: what will happen to us who were called from the filth of the nations, who have lost every stain in the baptism of the Savior, if we defile the garment of Christ and do not have the wedding garment at the banquet? Certainly, it is necessary that we are handed over with bound hands and feet to eternal flames, in which there is weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22).

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:4
Not everyone is washed for salvation. We who have received the grace of baptism in the name of Christ are washed, but I do not know who is washed for salvation.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:4
It is quite difficult that he who is washed should be washed in order to be saved. Listen, catechumens, listen, and from what is said, prepare yourselves, while you are catechumens, while you are not yet baptized, and come to the bath and be baptized for salvation. Do not be so baptized that you are washed but not for salvation.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:4
It is a great work to be rubbed with salt. If we are seasoned with salt, we are full of grace.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:4
The soul that is reborn is barely out of the bath before being enveloped with towels.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:4
To take an example from human relationships, if the Holy Spirit gives, then I travel on to Jesus Christ and God the Father.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:4-5
(Verse 4, 5.) And when you were born, on the day of your birth your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed in water for your own health, nor were you sprinkled with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. No eye had pity on you, to do any of these things out of compassion for you: but you were thrown out into the open field, in the abjection of your soul, on the day you were born. LXX: And on the day you were born, they did not bind your breasts, and your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed in water for your own health, nor were you sprinkled with salt, and you were not wrapped in swaddling clothes; no eye had pity on you, to do any of these things for you, and allow anything to happen to you, and you were thrown out into the open field, in the corruption of your soul, on the day you were born. Let us discuss each point in the order of the reading. When Jerusalem was born from her father Amorite and her mother Hittite, and was poured out from the womb, her umbilicus was not cut, with which fetuses are nourished in the womb like trees and plants, which are nourished by the hidden moisture of the earth through their roots. And just as the seed of men is signified in the loins, so the genitalia of women are called umbilicus in honorable speech according to the custom of the Scriptures, as witnessed by Job, who speaks figuratively of the devil as a dragon: His strength is in his loins, and his power is in the navel of his belly (Job 40:11). For this ancient dragon serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, deceives the world; he has power over men in their loins, and over women in their navels. But this refers to Jerusalem: that it did not immediately receive the law, and that the beginnings of its shameful birth were not cut off; but it first lived a Gentile life; for this reason the Seventy translated: 'On the day you were born, they did not bind your breasts' (Ezek. 7:8), having this holy Scripture custom, that it might use the words heart, bosom, or breast, and breasts according to each appropriate context. Priests in whom there should be doctrine, and they seek the law from their mouth, receive a small breast. John reclines upon the Lord's breast, so that he may draw from the most abundant fountain the flows of wisdom (John 13). In the Song of Songs, the Virgin has two breasts, like two twin young goats that feed among lilies until the day breathes and the shadows flee away (Song of Songs 4). A loving mother, as soon as her little child is born, binds her breasts so that they may cease from tender swelling and preserve her virgin beauty. But when she reaches the age of puberty, it will be said of her: Will the bride forget her adornment, or the virgin her breastband? (Jeremiah II, 32) It follows: And you were not washed in water for salvation. The bodies of babies, as soon as they are born from the womb, are usually washed with water: so too does the spiritual generation require the saving washing. For no one is clean from filth, not even if his life were of only one day (Job XXVI, 14, 15). And in the Psalms we read: In iniquities I was conceived, and in sins my mother conceived me (Psalm 50:6). The second birth dissolves the first birth. For it is written: Unless one is born of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Many are the baptisms that the Pagans have in their mysteries, and the heretics promise: they all cleanse; but they do not cleanse for salvation. Therefore, it is added: and in which you have not been cleansed for salvation. This can be understood not only about heretics, but also about ecclesiastics who do not receive baptism with full faith. It must be said about them that they receive water, but they do not receive the spirit, just like Simon Magus who wanted to buy the grace of God with money. He was indeed baptized in water, but he was by no means baptized unto salvation (Acts 8). Thirdly, it is said: 'not seasoned with salt.' When the tender bodies of infants still hold the warmth of the womb, and they announce the beginnings of laborious life with their first cries, they are usually touched with salt by the midwives to make them drier and more constricted. Furthermore, Jerusalem, which was born of wicked parents, has achieved nothing of taste, nothing of diligence. But those who are reborn in Christ are said to: 'You are the salt of the earth' (Matthew 5); and it is commanded to them by the Apostle: 'Let your speech always be seasoned with grace' (Colossians 4). Hence, both the wise are commonly called salty, and the foolish are called tasteless. And in the book of Leviticus it is established by law: 'All your sacrifices shall be seasoned with salt.' The salt of the Testament of the Lord will not cease from your sacrifices: you shall offer salt with all your offerings (Leviticus 2:13). He who is seasoned with this salt, and has dried up every harmful decay and moisture by its mixture, will no longer say: My wounds have festered and become rotten because of my foolishness (Psalm 37:6). I know that I have read in a certain volume about the Lord Savior, that he himself is the heavenly salt; and not only the earthly and infernal, but also the celestial things are seasoned by its flavor: so that what is written may be fulfilled: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14). The fourth thing is: not wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the Savior was wrapped in swaddling clothes as an infant, and everyone who is born needs God's protection through the swaddling clothes. It is natural, however, that where the diligence of parents is not lacking, the infants' umbilical cords are first cut after birth: then they are washed with water to cleanse the blood. Thirdly, the moisture of the infants' bodies is dried with the addition of salt. Fourthly, so that the tender bodies of infants are wrapped in swaddling clothes, for two reasons: so that the body is dried with salt, and so that it is kept and tightened with the clothes so that it does not flow away; and so that the most delicate limbs are not easily deformed. And even the bodies of the barbarians are more upright than Roman bodies. Until the second and third year, they are always wrapped in cloths. But not such is Jerusalem, whose navel is not cut off, nor are her breasts bound, nor is she washed with water for health, nor seasoned with salt, nor wrapped and bound with infancy cloths. But why she deserved none of these, the following Scripture testifies. The eye has not spared you: to do one of these things, being moved with compassion for you. For which reason, the Seventy determined: 'Your eye spared not over you: that it might make you one of all these.' And it is necessary, that a double edition have a double understanding. The prior signifies this: 'Your eye spared not over you, that it might make one of these things be merciful to you.' And the sense is: No one had mercy on you, having offended God; no one's bowels were moved for you, that out of the four higher Tensions at least one might be made for you; because you did not deserve to receive all things at once. In the second it is said: Your eye did not spare you, so that I may do this one thing for you out of pity for you. And this has the meaning: You have acted in this way, and thus you were born in sin and conceived in guilt by your mother, so that even she does not have pity on you. And when you acted in this way, so that you emerged as cruel against yourself through evil deeds: what could I have done for you, who did not even deserve to receive one thing from your superiors? Therefore, since none of the things that are commonly done for infants was done for you; and this not without cause or without judgement, but due to your fault and sin, for which even you have no pity on yourself: therefore you are cast down upon the face of the earth, or the wayside; and cast down because of the wickedness of your soul on the day you were born. Let us not be thrown down into the face of the field by the wickedness of the soul, in which there is a wide and spacious road that leads to death; in which the cavalry of the Chaldeans revels. It must also be considered that no one can commit any evil on the day of their birth, except at the time of the bath, when the wise generation of the faithful is assumed.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:4
That you were washed in water means washing not only from heretics but also from ecclesiastics who do not receive saving baptism with a full faith, about whom it is said that they will have received the water but not the Spirit.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:6
But see the mercy of God, see his extraordinary goodness. Even though Jerusalem was thrown into the open field, he does not look down on it as thrown out forever, he does not leave it in a state of perversion as entirely forgotten, as not in the end to lift up the fallen. You were thrown out, but I still return to you; my visit is not lacking after your ruin.”

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:6
When she is ready for marriage and her body is becoming beautiful, she did not have clothes to cover her, and she was not protected by the help of God. If people do not have clothing that Christ gives, they are naked; if people are not clothed inwardly with mercy, goodness, humility, chastity, gentleness and patience, they are cast on the earth, and their beauty is defiled in disorder and nudity.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:6-7
(Verse 6, 7.) But passing by you, I saw you trampled in your own blood. And I said to you when you were in your own blood, live: I said to you, indeed, in your own blood, live. I made you multiply like the growth of the field, and you entered and came to womanhood. Your breasts swelled, and your hair grew: and you were naked and full of confusion. LXX: And I passed by you, and saw you mixed in your own blood, and I said to you, multiply your life from your blood, as I gave you growth like the plants of the field, and you multiplied, and you were magnified, and you entered into cities of cities. Your breasts were erect, and your hair was grown; but you were naked and full of shame. After you were cast down on the face of the field, or on the face of the earth, because of the wickedness of your soul, I no longer deserved to help you. Nevertheless, passing by, I saw you trampled upon, or mixed in your own blood, that is, guilty of mortal crimes. And I provoked you, granting you repentance, and said to you: Though you are in blood, nevertheless live in conversion; and there was such an abundance of all things in you, that you had the likeness of the most fertile land, and the blessing of Jacob, with which his father blessed him, saying: Behold the smell of my son is like the smell of a full field, which the Lord has blessed (Gen. XXVII, 27); and you would enter the inner chambers of the Lord, and say with the bride: The king brought me into his chamber (Cant. I, 3); and you would go to the world of women, for which the Seventy translated: and you entered into the cities of cities; so that just as the Song of Songs is called the world of worlds; so let cities be called the cities of cities. Concerning which it is said in the Gospel: You have authority over ten, or over five cities (Luke 19:17, 18): so that you may be called not only a city, but a metropolis city, according to what is read in Isaiah: Faithful mother of cities, Zion (Isaiah 1:26, 27). Moreover, what Symmachus interpreted, and you have reached the adornment of women, or as Theodotio, and you have entered the adornment of adornments, for which we have stated the Hebrew sense: and you have reached the world of women, it shows the time of puberty, when young girls are called marriageable, and can be united with the embrace of husbands. Finally it follows: your breasts have swelled, and your hair has grown. The maturity of young women is indicated by the swelling or raising of the breasts, and the growth of hair. And when she was prepared for marriage, and had the beauty of the body, she did not have the coverings of clothing, nor was she protected by the help of God. If anyone does not have the clothing of Christ, they are naked. If anyone is not clothed with the bowels of mercy, goodness, humility, modesty, meekness, patience, they lie face down on the ground: and their beauty is marred by shame and nakedness.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:8
When we are of a greater age and can therefore sin, angels look for a chance to influence us, and that is as true of the angels of God as it is of the angels of Satan.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:8
Let us pray that the mercy of God will come on us and wash away the blood from our souls.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Ezekiel 16:8
Do not infer from these things that it is about punishment only, but also about the boundless longsuffering of God.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:8
As far as Jerusalem is concerned, let us compare it with our soul, which as long as it is in infancy is unable to sin; but when it comes to that age, many are the lovers of demons and heretics and perverse teachings, which desire to turn aside to it; they are driven away by the protection of the Lord, so that the soul receives not the attendance of the devil but the ministers of a savior.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:8
(Verse 8.) And I passed through you, and I saw you: and behold, your time, the time of lovers. And I spread my garment over you, and covered your shame. Septuagint: And I passed through you, and I saw you, and behold, your time, the time of those who divert: and I spread my wings over you, and covered your shame. What mercy! It was not enough to see her trampled in blood once, and to provoke her to repentance: but again he visited the sinner, and because she was naked, and full of confusion, he came and visited her again, and behold, her time, the time of lovers; whether according to the Septuagint, those who divert, or according to the interpretation of Aquila, the second συναλλαγῆς, namely the betrothal and wedding time; according to the first edition of the same and Theodotion, μαστῶν, which means of breasts: for which Symmachus translates ἀγαπῆς, which signifies love. Therefore, that was the time when women could join men and endure marital intercourse. However, merciful God spread His wings, and He took them in and carried them on His shoulders, according to what is written in the Gospel: \"How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing\" (Luke 12:34)? Or rather, He extended His garment as wings; for this is what the term \"pterygium\" means, with which Ruth covered her feet while sleeping at Boaz's feet (Ruth 3). And on the border, that is, on the hem of our garment, we are commanded to attach hyacinth fringes. This was done in order to cover the shame of Jerusalem, revealing the female genitalia under this name. Indeed, according to the Apostle: We surround the dishonorable parts of our body with greater honor (I Cor. XII, 13). Hence, the Psalmist sings: Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven, and whose sins are covered (Ps. XXXI, 1). This is why Ham, because he did not protect his father, is marked with eternal curse (Gen. IX). Let us turn our thoughts on what we said about Jerusalem to our own soul, which, as long as it remains in infancy, is free from sin. But when the time of its adulthood comes, there are many lovers of demons and heretics, and of perverse teachings, who desire to lead it astray. They are repelled by the protection of God, so that it may not receive the satellites of the devil, but rather the ministers of the Savior. For the diversion of lovers, and the abundance, it is expressed in Hebrew as Dodim (), according to the nature of their language, which means everything that has been turned upside down. The time of love, and the abundance of the lovers of God, can be understood in the cases of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: when the Lord promised to them liberation for their people after the slavery in Egypt.

And I swore to you; and I made a covenant with you, says the Lord God. LXX: And I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says Adonai the Lord. For I spread my cloak, or my wings, over you: and I covered your shame: therefore I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant, or testament, with you: that you would be joined to me rather than others who wanted to turn away from you, according to that, The Lord swore and will not regret it: you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 6). For the end of every controversy is an oath. And I live, says the Lord: unless the sinner repents of evil rather than death (Ezekiel XVIII). Therefore, at the time of the wedding, Israel receives the oath of God, in place of every dowry gift. And because David had said: Remember, O Lord, David, and all his meekness (Psalm CXXXI, 1): he who swears to the Lord, vows to God Jacob; and the Lord himself swears to him, as the Scripture says: The Lord has sworn truth to David, and he will not deceive him (Ibid., 11).

[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Ezekiel 16:9
“Untie the donkey and bring it to me.”He began with a manger and finished with a donkey, in Bethlehem with a manger, in Jerusalem with a donkey. This is like, “Rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold, your king is coming to you, just and lowly and seated on a donkey.”
But the daughter of Zion saw him and was troubled. She looked at him and became sad. He the merciful One, and the Son of the merciful One, had spread his benevolence over her like a father, but she conducted herself as perversely toward him as she had done toward the One who had sent him. Not being able to abuse the Father, she displayed her hatred against his Only Begotten. The daughter of Zion repaid him with evil for the immensity of his grace. The Father had washed her from her blood, but she defiled his Son with her spitting.
The Father had clothed her with fine linen and purple, but she clothed him with garments of mockery.
He had placed a crown of glory on her head, but she plaited a crown of thorns for him.
He had nourished her with choicest food and honey, but she gave him gall.
He had given her pure wine, but she offered him vinegar and soaked it with blood.
The One who had introduced her into cities, she drove out into the desert. The One who had put shoes on her feet, she made hasten barefoot toward Golgotha.
The One who had girded her loins with sapphire, she pierced in the side with a lance.
When she had outraged the servants of God and killed the prophets, she was led into captivity to Babylon, and when the time of her punishment was completed, her return from captivity took place.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:9
Our Lord is anointed with another oil, which is not supposed to soften the grief caused by wounds but nonetheless brings with it joy.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:9
Our loins are girded with fine linen whenever the enticing incentives of lust have to be held back, and nothing of a heavy humor is left, and we are filled with the teaching of the apostle, when he says, “stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth.”

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:9
(V.9) And you became mine, and I washed you with water, and I cleansed your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. For I spread my wings and covered your shame, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you; therefore you have become my possession: that which once belonged to another, when you appeared unclean, you began to belong to me, when I established my covenant with you by oath. Or, according to the custom of the prophets, 'You have become mine,' he said, 'insofar as you are united to me by marriage: and I washed you,' he says, 'with the water of saving baptism.' For unless someone is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). And elsewhere we read: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mark 1:8). Concerning this baptism, Isaiah also speaks, saying: The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion; and he will cleanse the blood from their midst with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning (Isaiah 4:4). But when he has washed and cleansed the blood, just as he healed the woman who was bleeding for twelve years by touching the edge of his cloak (Mark 5), it is not enough for him to wash with water and cleanse with blood, unless he also anoints with oil. This is in accordance with what the Samaritan, who is interpreted as a guardian, did: he first soothed wounds with the infusion of oil, and then restrained them with the severity of wine (Luke 10). But our Lord was anointed with another oil, which did not mitigate the pain of wounds, but bestowed joy, as the Holy Spirit said to him: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions (Ps. 44:8). And there are fake strengths that simulate the gentleness of oil, promising sweet things through heretics; which turn into bitterness, and which the prophet detests when he says: But the oil of the sinner will not anoint my head (Ps. 140:5). But if someone is anointed by unction, that is, Christ is called, see how much Jerusalem has advanced: so that she herself, anointed with spiritual oil, has received the name of Christ; according to which we also read in the Psalms about Abraham: Do not touch my Christs, and do not malign my prophets.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:10
(Verse 10.) And you clothed yourself in various colors. LXX: And you adorned yourself with various garments: engaging in the rituals of the law, you abandoned idols. These are the various garments with which Joseph was clothed: and his brothers could not sell him unless they first stripped him of his varied tunic (Gen. XXXVII). And it is said of the bride in the forty-fourth psalm: The queen stood at your right hand in a robe adorned with gold, surrounded by variety (Ps. XLIV, 10). This is the clothing about which the Apostle speaks: Put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of the Creator (Ephesians 4:24). We want to know what are the various garments? Let the same Apostle teach us, writing to the believers: Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering (Colossians 3:12). What is more beautiful than this variety? About which Job also spoke: Who gives to women the wisdom of weaving, or the skill of variety (Job 38:36, Septuagint). And the high priest, once a year, when he offered incense for the people, entered into the Holy of Holies, using various garments (Exodus XXXIX; Hebrews IX). Certainly, if riches made the variety of garments and not holiness, and if diversity of virtues did not exist, then Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar would be recorded as having had these garments, and not Joseph, who, under a foreign and pastoral father, could not have colored or royal garments.

And you put on purple shoes. LXX: And you put on hyacinth shoes ((Al. Hyacinthino)). Aquila and Symmachus, purple; Septuagint and Theodotion, hyacinth. For which it is written in Hebrew Thas (). And because the speech is beautifully directed towards Jerusalem, and under the persona of a woman, all her adornments are described, purple or hyacinth shoes are mentioned, which do not suit male persons. Finally, for those who will observe Passover it is commanded that they should be dressed in plain clothing, with no diversity of color, and have their loins girded and their feet shod. These are the shoes about which the Apostle writes: having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Philo, a very eloquent man among the Jews, compares the hyacinth in the high priest's garments to the air, through which he believes heavenly and celestial things are signified. Jerusalem is not adorned with hyacinth until it is washed with water. Hence, the feet of the Apostles, to whom the Lord had previously commanded to shake off the dust from their feet (Matthew X), are washed by the Savior. And the bride says in the Song of Songs: I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? (Song of Songs 5:3). And the divine word testifies about both Moses and Joshua (Exodus 3), that they should loosen the strap of their sandals, for the place on which they stand is holy. But once their feet have been washed and cleansed of all dirt, they are adorned with hyacinths or jacinths, which are of a golden and blue color, respectively: so that they may be swept up into the presence of the Lord in the air, and hasten to the heavenly kingdom.


And I have encircled you with fine linen. Jerusalem is adorned not only with various colors and wears hyacinth shoes, but also is girded with fine linen, from which the finest threads are woven into the priest's garment. And the wife in Proverbs, who weaves double garments for her husband, for both the present and future, is said to have made clothing for herself from linen and purple (Prov. XXXI). With this linen, the loins are girded whenever the thick incentives of lust are to be restrained and nothing of gross humor is left in them. And we fulfill the precept of the Apostle who says: Stand therefore, having your loins girded with truth (Ephes. VI, 14); as if he were saying in other words, with linen. And the Lord said to the Apostles: Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning in your hands (Luke 22:35). For unless we shall have bound up the flowing of the loins from rheumatism, we cannot have lamps in our hands. From this the Lord also speaks to Job: Gird up thy loins like a man (Job 38:3). And those who are about to eat the lamb, having their feet shod, holding a staff, standing in the truth of the Gospel, and being prepared for the blood of Christ, are said to have their loins girt (Exodus 12). Elias and John the Baptist also gird themselves with a mortifying girdle around the loins (2 Kings 1; Mark 1). Concerning them, the penitent sighs mournfully, saying: For my loins are filled with illusions (Psalm 37:8).

And I clothed you in fine linen. LXX: And I surrounded you with triple-threaded fabric. For which Aquila used the Hebrew word 'Messe' (meaning 'flourishing' or 'palpable'): Symmachus, with clothing: Theodotio. And when I diligently inquired about the meaning of the word 'triple-threaded', which the LXX translated, and since I could not find its use or etymology in any Greek sources, I finally learned from the LXX that it is a compound (for new things, new names must be created) and that it was clothing of such great delicacy that it is believed to have the thinness of hair and thread. And I, wishing to express the thinness of the garment, translated it as 'subtilibus', because it was woven with a fine thread and a covering. And fittingly to those, about whom he had said, 'This people's heart has become fat, and Jacob ate and drank, and was satisfied and became fat, and kicked, and abandoned his God, their Maker' (Deut. XXXII, 15), now the thinness of clothing is pardoned. For also in the Book of Wisdom, which is inscribed by some as Solomon's, the spirit of wisdom, the only-begotten and manifold, is called 'tenuis' and 'mutabilis' (Sap. VII). And manna, of which it is written, 'Man ate the bread of angels' (Ps. LXXVII, 25), is said to have been as fine as hoarfrost and have resembled coriander seed (Exod. XVI). According to the interpretation of the second edition of Aquila, who translated it floridly, we can understand it as a metaphor for the abundance of the land of Judah or the beauty of divine worship.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:11
When God has given us good works, he surrounds our hands with bracelets.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:11
It is true that a festival such as the birthday of Peter should be seasoned with more gladness than usual; still our merriment must not forget the limit set by Scripture, and we must not stray too far from the boundary of our wrestling ground. Your presents, indeed, remind me of the sacred volume, for in it Ezekiel decks Jerusalem with bracelets.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:11
(Verse 11.) And I adorned you with ornaments. Now he lists the ornaments in general, which he enumerates in the following sections: bracelets and necklaces, earrings and crown, and other ornaments which he gave to Jerusalem, and it is said in Isaiah that she lost everything due to her own fault. For it is written: Because they were lifted up, that is, the daughters of Jerusalem became proud and walked with a haughty neck (Isa. III, 16, 17), and the rest: instead of a belt, they were girded with ropes, and instead of a head ornament, they were disfigured with baldness, and instead of beautiful and soft garments, they were surrounded with the roughness of sackcloth.


And I gave bracelets into your hands. LXX: And I surrounded your hands with bracelets. When God gives us good works, He surrounds our hands with bracelets. Hence it is said that it is likened to the hands of the prophets (Hosea 13), and we often read in the hand of Haggai or Jeremiah and the rest (Haggai 1). In Job, the lip of the dragon is pierced by a bracelet, and all his venomous hisses, which are understood in perverse doctrines, are pierced by the circle of good works (Job 40).


And a chain around your neck. Regarding the chain, which we have interpreted according to the second edition of Aquila and Symmachus, the Septuagint and Theodotion translated it as κάθεμα, which is written not only here but also in Isaiah: The Lord will take away the glory of their garments, their hairnets, their bangles, their crescent ornaments, and their κάθεμα (Isaiah 3:18). But I believe κάθεμα is said by them to refer to various gems descending from the necklace on the chest of women, which is also a most beautiful adornment of women.

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Ezekiel 16:11
The priests are anointed with holy oil and are clothed with embroidered cloth and with silk. It means riches, which the people gained as a result of his providence, as much in spirit as in body.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:12
Almighty God, grant to us to be worthy of the crown and glory on our head.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:12
We are not only anointed with this oil, but we also live.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:12
We have frequently said that gold relates to the mind and silver to eloquence.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:12
After clothing, she shows what she has of food, so that Jerusalem may eat fine flour and honey and oil. This can be either individually or in a mixture of the three, which is a sweeter bread, the bread that comes down from heaven. The three names, as several think, indicate the mystery of the Trinity, not each within a separate substance but diversely, like fine flour and honey and oil, so that the single sweetness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit can be made manifest.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:12
(Verse 12.) And I placed a jewel above the mouth or nostrils. The Hebrew word 'Nezem' (except for Symmachus, who interpreted it as 'ἐπιῤῥίνιον') is translated by all as 'jewel'. Not that the jewels are placed in the nostrils that are called earrings because they hang from the ears, but so that the circles made in the likeness of earrings are called by the same name, and even today among other ornaments of women, golden circles are accustomed to hang from the front of the mouth and hang over the nostrils. We then understand them according to mystical understanding, when we can say with the Apostle: We are the good odor of Christ to those who are saved and to those who perish. To some, we are the odor of death leading to death; to others, we are the odor of life leading to life (II Cor. II, 15). When we live and it can be said of us, the dead shall not praise you, O Lord, but we who live (Psal. CXIII, 17), then God smells the fragrance of our good sacrifice, and we have a golden circle of senses and divine doctrines in our nostrils. When we are truly dead and are turned into mud and in the filth of vices, we have that ring in our nostrils, of which Solomon wrote: Like a gold ring in a pig's snout, so is the beauty of a woman who is ill-tempered.

And circles in your ears. LXX: And wheels upon your ears. Who shuts his ears, so as not to hear the judgment of blood, and encloses them with thorns, so as not to become a partner to the envious and detractors, of whom it is written: Do not associate with detractors, for suddenly their destruction will come, and who knows the ruin of both (Prov. XXIV, 21, 22)? Both the one who detracts and the one who willingly listens to them have these circles and wheels in their ears, not the wheels that follow the Cherubim (for those are of angelic strength), but diminutive wheels that correspond to human frailty. Therefore it is said also to God: The voice of your thunder is in the wheel (Psalm 76:19). For in those who pass through earthly things and barely touch the earth with their small footsteps, of whom it is written: Holy stones are rolled upon the earth (Zachariah 9:16), the voice of the Lord's thunder resounds, and the sound of lofty teachings is heard. But those who are led astray by human errors and do not have solid footsteps, but are carried about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 2), and are expelled from the paradise of stability, dwell in the region of Naid, which means fluctuation, and deserve to bear the judgment of the deceitful tongue, which inflames the wheel of our birth (Genesis 4).


And a crown of beauty on your head. LXX: And a crown of glory upon your head. We have interpreted 'decor' as 'elegance' according to Symmachus for the sake of the senses. Otherwise, in Hebrew it is called 'Thopherth', and in other translations 'καύχησις' or 'gloriation'. The other ornamentations belong to each individual member. The ornamentation of the head is the dignity of the whole body. But the crown is called a diadem for women, with which the hair is bound and ambition is adorned. We want to know what is the crown of beauty on the head of Jerusalem, let us turn to Exodus, in which it is written: And he made a golden plate, and wrote on it the letters deformed with the seal of the sanctification of the Lord, and put it on the head of Aaron (Exod. XXXIX, 29). The sign of the Lord's sanctification, the name of the almighty God, is written with four Hebrew letters (), and among them it is called ineffable, because his name cannot be spoken. Whose majesty even the pagans do not ignore, and the altar of the Athenians testifies to the unknown God. Hence the Apostle says: Him whom you worship as unknown, Him we proclaim to you (Acts 17:23). I believe this crown is the one of which the psalmist speaks: You have put a shine on us in the light of your face, O Lord (Psalm 4:7). And the Apostle said: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge will give to me (2 Timothy 4:7, 8). And in another place to the Believers: My joy and my crown (Phil. 4:1). For the glory of the fathers is the children. And in Solomon it is written: The crown of glory is old age (Prov. 12:6); namely, those who have destroyed those things that belong to children, and after reaching maturity, have come to old age and the names of the fathers, of whom John writes after the children (1 John 2), and the young men who can say: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (1 Cor. 13:11).

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:13
(Verse 13.) And you are adorned with gold and silver. We have often said that gold pertains to the mind, and silver to eloquence. May the Lord grant us to receive divine understanding and wisdom, and to bring forth with eloquence what we conceive in our minds, and by no means to make an idol out of them as heretics do, of whom it is written: 'I gave them silver and gold, but they made a Baal out of silver and gold' (Hosea 2:8). And this, according to spiritual understanding, is more suited to the adornment of women. Otherwise, silver, a cheaper material, is suitable for the adornment of rustic and poor maidservants, which does not befit Jerusalem, which is said to have advanced to being a queen.

And you are dressed in fine linen and embroidered cloth and many colors, 70: And your clothing is made of fine linen, embroidered with multicolored thread. The Hebrew word "Mesi" here, Theodotion has translated as "bysso" above, Aquila has translated it as "ἄνθιμον," Symmachus as "polymitum." But we have said above that "polymitum" is similar to Symmachus' translation, meaning fine linen. The LXX has translated it as "trichapta," preserving the previous interpretation, in order to show a similarity to fine hair in the clothing. But all the adornment of women is described, such as bathing, cleaning, anointing with oil, and dressing in colorful garments, wearing hyacinth on their feet, girding themselves with fine linen, wearing fine and delicate clothes, wearing bracelets and a golden necklace, hanging circles on their ears, and small wheels, wearing a diadem on their head, decorated with gold and silver. Even though silver is a cheaper material and is brought in last. You are dressed in fine linen and multicolored clothes; or, as the Septuagint translated, with a cloak and a mantle, for these things signify not only that she was adorned in her physical appearance and had all the jewelry of women, but also that she was attentive to her bed and couch with marital diligence, so that after fulfilling these things, she would come to the delights of food, and not allow anything to be lacking even in these things. We will adapt all these things according to the higher explanation of spiritual intelligence: so that they may be covered with a fine fabric and delicate, so as not to burden the delicate limbs of the spouse with a heavy load of garments, but also to provide both utility and beauty.

You have eaten both honey and oil, and you have become exceedingly beautiful. After clothing, she takes care of food, so that she may eat the honey and oil, or in parts, as many believe, or in a mixture of the three, sweeter bread, which is the bread that descended from heaven (John 6); and under three names, as some think, it indicates the sacrament of the Trinity: not that there is a different substance for each; but so that through the different names of honey, oil, and flour, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be shown. And it should be noted that in many sacrifices, fine flour is offered, the purest part of the wheat, as it is written: And he fed them with the fat of wheat (Psalm 80:17): not barley or bran, which are only offered when the husband is moved by a spirit of jealousy. In the Book of Judges we read about Deborah (Judges 4), who is interpreted as a bee, whose prophecies are the sweetest honey, and she is related to the Holy Spirit, who is called by the Hebrews in the feminine gender, Rua. In the Gospel of the Hebrews, which the Nazarenes read, the Savior is presented speaking: 'My mother, the Holy Spirit, has taken me just now.' Furthermore, the wheat that is made into dough is related to the Lord, who says about himself, 'Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it yields much fruit' (John 12:24). And the oil, which sustains and refreshes the limbs of the weary, and is the nourishment of light, and with which the constant light of the lamp is kindled in the tabernacle of God, is said to symbolize the Father. All of these bestow grace on those who believe, as the Apostle says: There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all (1 Corinthians 12:4-5). Whoever eats this food, and that most sweet and delightful bread, and is nourished and fed by the splendor of the oil, will be transformed into beauty and become exceedingly beautiful, not once, but repeatedly, excessively, exceedingly. For indeed, the repeated adverb adds weight to the speech: so much so that nothing can be added beyond the greatness of beauty.

And you have succeeded in the kingdom. This is not found in the Septuagint, which perhaps those in Alexandria who were translating the Scriptures from Hebrew to Greek out of fear of offending the king of Egypt did not include, while they were stating that Jerusalem was the rightful kingdom from God. Although learned men attest that they have translated only the five books of Moses (See above, chapter V). After an abundant display of ornaments, after a crown, after an abundance of gold and silver, after beautiful garments and robes, after incredible splendor, he advances to be queen, because she is the city of a great king, of whom it is written: Give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son (Psalm 17:1). And in the Apocalypse of John, Jerusalem is described as a bride adorned and prepared for her husband (Rev. 21). In the Psalms also, it is said of the same: The queen stood at your right hand in a golden robe, adorned with various decorations (Ps. 44:10). But everything we say about Jerusalem, so as not to dwell on individual details and not to make the size of the books tedious for readers, let us refer to the Church. For if Jerusalem, according to the Apostle (Gal. 4), is our mother; and our mother is the Church: therefore, Jerusalem is the Church, the mother of the primitive ones who are described in heaven.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:14
In Ezekiel, God speaks to Jerusalem: “You were perfect through my beauty.” And this is the meaning of the text: “You were not perfect through your own works or through your own knowledge and the boasting of your heart but through my beauty, which I had put on you freely through my mercy.”

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:14
(Verse 14) And your name went out among the nations because of your beauty, for you were perfect in my splendor which I had placed upon you, says the Lord God. LXX: And your name went out among the nations in your beauty, for it was complete in the beauty which I had placed upon you, says the Lord God. Symmachus interpreted this passage more clearly: And your name went out among the nations, which was perfect because of my dignity, which I had placed upon you, says the Lord God. And this is the meaning: By my favors and my incredible generosity, you have obtained the title of queen, so that the speech of all nations would speak of you, and you would not be praised for your own merits and virtues, but for my perfect generosity. For unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain (Ps. CXXVI, 1, 2). For neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth (1 Cor. III). For it is not the one who wills or the one who runs, but the mercy of God that makes a difference (Rom. IX, 16): so that after we have done everything we are commanded to do, we may say: We are worthless servants; we have only done what we ought to have done (Luke XVII, 10). Not that by the generosity of God, free will is taken away from man, but rather that freedom itself should have the Lord as its helper.

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Ezekiel 16:14
Since it often happens when preaching is abundantly poured forth in fitting ways that the mind of the speaker is elevated in itself by a hidden delight in self-display, the preacher may exercise great care, lest he who prescribes remedies for the diseases of others should himself succumb through neglect of his own health, lest in helping others he desert himself, lest in lifting up others he fall. For to some the greatness of their virtue has often been the occasion of their perdition. causing them, while inordinately secure in their own strength, to die unexpectedly through negligence. For as virtue strives with vices, the mind flatters itself with a certain delight in it. And it comes to pass that the soul of a well-doer casts aside cautious circumspection and rests secure in self-confidence. And now while the well-doer is in a lazy state, the cunning seducer enumerates all things that it has done well and encourages him in his pride to think himself superior in all beside.…The mind is lifted up by confidence in its beauty, when, glad for the merits of its virtues, it glories within itself in security. But through this same confidence it is led to play the harlot, because, when the soul is deceived by its own thoughts, malignant spirits, which take possession of it, defile it through the seduction of innumerable vices.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:15
(Verse 15) And having confidence in your beauty: you have fornicated in your name, and you have exposed your fornication to everyone passing by, so that they might become like you. A great danger, not to trust in the mercy of God, but in one's own beauty. And the higher one is, the more they should fear lest they fall and fornicate in their own name. Indeed, the adversaries despise ordinary food and desire foreign nourishment. Thus it is said of the devil: His food is choice (Habakkuk I, 16). He does not want to deceive anyone. Saul, the king chosen by the Lord, hastens to supplant Judas the apostle. Therefore, let us not trust in our own beauty, nor consider God's generosity to be our own virtue; but rather let us hear: Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring (Prov. 27:1). And in another place: Brothers, if a man is overtaken in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted (Gal. 6:1). Let us not expose or pour out our fornication to every passerby, so that we may not become not of God, in whom we believe, but of the one by whom we are polluted. He who welcomes all vices, and receives into his bosom the spirit of various sins as they pass by, and spreads his legs to every passerby, he pours out his fornication, and begins to endure the dominion of the one whose guest he has become.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:16
(Verse 16.) And taking from your garments, you made for yourself lofty things sewn on here and there, and you fornicated upon them, as it has not been done, nor will it be in the future. LXX: And you took from your garments, and you made for yourself sewn idols, and you fornicated upon them, and you will not enter, nor will it happen. Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: And when you took from your garments, you made for yourself lofty multicolored things, and you fornicated in them, things that have not been done nor will be in the future. Pro consutis et versicoloribus et excelsis, sive idolis, Aquila et Theodotio ἐμβολίσματα transtulerunt, quod significat diversos pannos hinc inde consutos, et instar emplastri factum idolum, quasi πολύῤῥαφον vestimentum. Vestivi, inquit, te versicoloribus, et induta es bysso, et polymito, et multarum varietate formarum. Tu autem vestimenta tua quibus mealargitate donata es, tulisti: et fecisti tibi idola, vel excelsa, quae Hebraice dicuntur Bamoth (), quod numquam ante factum est, neque fiet; ut quae acceperis ad ornatum, transtuleris ad injuriam donatoris. What can be understood literally about the above Jerusalem is that it has assigned all the precepts of the Law and the abundance of riches and all things to idols, which no other nation has done or will do. For all the nations that have served idols from the beginning are not guilty of such a great crime. But our Jerusalem, which is interpreted as the vision of peace, is divided by heretics when they, taking one and another testimony of the Scriptures from their own places, try to attach them to those things with which they cannot be joined. To whom and above we read in the same prophet: Woe to those who consume pillows under every elbow hand, and make coverings over the head of the whole age (cf. XIII, 18): the Lord, prohibiting this from happening, speaks in the Gospel: No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear becomes worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins (cf. Matthew IX, 16, 17). There are Nazarenes who strive to adapt the observance of the old Law to the grace of the Gospel. And all heretics attempt to impose an interpretation that agrees with their own ideas, while the Domincan tunic, which is woven throughout, cannot be torn apart, but woven by the Holy Spirit it receives no division. What is said according to the LXX, 'You shall not enter, nor shall it exist,' signifies this: when you make idols of perverse doctrines, which you consider superior, and you commit fornication with them, believing in what you yourself have fabricated, you will not be able to enter the temple of God. And your idols shall not have substance, nor shall they endure forever, as the Apostle says: For we know that there is no idol in the world (I Cor. VIII, 4).

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:17
The golden and silver vase, the censers, the cups and the rest of that kind we have in the holy Scriptures. But when we turn the meaning of Scripture into another that is contrary to the truth, we kindle the divine words and turn the things of God into other images.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:17
(Verse 17) And you took the vessels of your adornment from my gold and silver, which I gave to you; and you made for yourself male images, and you committed fornication with them. According to the letter of the Lord's Law, it was commanded that incense burners, vases, candlesticks, the Ark of the Covenant, and all things golden or gilded, and other things made of silver, were to be made. All of these were made in Jerusalem and turned into idols of Baal, Baalim, Chemosh, Ashtaroth, and Milcom. According to spiritual understanding, we make idols out of gold and silver from the Holy Scriptures when we corrupt the grace of perception and eloquence with heretical perversity, and we set our mouth in heaven, while our tongue reaches to the earth. The images in which every heresy commits fornication are called masculine, because each one thinks they are worshipping the most powerful and possessing what they have imagined, and that it cannot be subverted by any attack. These are the images that we have created in our hearts, and which are to be destroyed in the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Prophet pronounces: Lord, in your city you will scatter their image (Ps. LXXII, 20). For whoever is a man and has lost the name of God, it is said of him: Nevertheless, man walks in an image, nevertheless he is troubled in vain (Ps. XXXVIII, 7). But we have one man, and we worship one image, which is the image of the invisible and omnipotent God.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:18
These various clothes and beautiful garments that God has bestowed on us, if we cut them up and rip them and surround them with false teaching to deceive human beings, there is no doubt that we are covering idols with different clothing.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:18
To me who preaches the gospel in the church, the devil always stretches out a noose, in order to confuse the whole church with my conduct.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:18
We do not imitate anyone, but if we want to imitate anyone, we should imitate Jesus Christ.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:18
Incense and oil are the prayer that is offered to God with understanding and in which God delights.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:18
Whoever is born in the teaching of heretics and has taken these principles for his own faith is a child of Jerusalem the fornicator and sinner.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:18
We do this whenever we surround our first heresy with prudence … and all the virtues.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:18
(Verse 18) And you took your multicolored garments and covered them: masculine images are understood: so that every form that he had received for use, he would turn into blasphemy. But we do this whenever we surround heretical depravity with prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, and all virtues, and under the guise of these, we deceive even the simple; so that seeing the sweet honey of virtues, they do not beware of the poison of vices.


And you have set my oil and my incense before them. And you have set my bread (or as the Septuagint translated, my loaves) which I gave to you; fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I nourished you, you have set them before them as a sweet-smelling aroma. The oil of which we have spoken above, and the incense, or the offering, of which the Psalmist proclaims: Let my prayer be directed as incense before you (Ps. 140:2); and the bread of the Presence, which we are commanded to offer to God: also the fine flour, the purest meaning of the Scriptures, and the honey, which Jonathan tasted, and his eyes were opened and he was strengthened (1 Sam. 14), miserable Jerusalem set before idols, or before male images, so that they might be for them a sweet-smelling aroma, which by their nature are sweetest and most pleasant: but while they are offered to idols and false doctrines, they are turned into bitterness.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:20-22
(Vers. 20 seqq.) And it came to pass, says the Lord God, that you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to me, and you sacrificed them to be devoured. Is your fornication of little consequence, sacrificing my sons? And you gave them to consecrate them. And after all your abominations and fornications, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and full of confusion, trampled in your own blood. LXX: And it came to pass after these things, says the Lord God, that you took your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne, and sacrificed them to be consumed, as though you have acted like a whore in doing so. And you killed your sons and offered them up to them, that is, above all your whorings and abominations, and you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and exposed; you lived in your own blood. That their sons and daughters of Jerusalem, of whom it is written, 'I have begotten and exalted sons,' they themselves have despised me (Isa. I, 2); the holy Scripture recounts that they have sacrificed their sons and daughters to idols (Ps. CV, 37). And again: 'They have shed innocent blood' (Ibid., 38), the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan (Exod. IV, 22). But he calls them according to the Hebrew. For he himself had said of them: My firstborn son Israel. Or according to the Seventy, your offspring which you conceived through fornication. But in that place where we have placed them, and you have given them by consecrating them, for which the Seventy have translated, and you have given them to appease, or to atone, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have placed, you have translated and led them: because the pagans either cause their children to pass through fire, or compel them to cross over, whether they are infants or adults. When you do these things, she said, you do not remember your infancy, when I carried you covered in blood and washed you, and after many things that prophetic speech narrated, I united myself to you. Also, our Jerusalem, if it is supplanted by heretical deception, takes away her sons, who are stronger in faith, and daughters who do not have such great strength of faith. Or indeed sons, who know mystical things: daughters who follow a simple history; and delivers them to be devoured by demons, and when she kills them, she believes she is giving them life, and appeasing the idols, with whose slaughter they are satiated. And what is said according to the Septuagint, that is, over all your fornication and abominations, it signifies that the doctrine of demons is worse than all sins and fornications: indeed, it will kill the ones whom it had begotten for God either with much effort or had made them its own sons, whom it had generated in fornication.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Ezekiel 16:20
By the name of such adulterers we are to understand every kind of carnal and lustful concupiscence. Indeed, since the Scriptures so constantly give to idolatry the name of fornication, and since the apostle Paul calls avarice idolatry, who can doubt that every evil concupiscence may be rightly called fornication?

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Ezekiel 16:20
When the soul disregards the higher law by which it is governed and prostitutes itself as though for a price, then it corrupts itself.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:22
If our Jerusalem were tripped up by the lies of heresy, she would take her own sons who were stronger in the faith and her own daughters who were not as strong in the faith—whether they were sons who knew certain mystical things, or whether the daughters accepted straight history—to be handed over to be devoured by demons, and when she had killed them, she believed that she had made them live and please images and be satisfied by their massacre.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:23
Their bodies are corrupted, and the soul is wounded.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Ezekiel 16:23
I do marvel. You behave in the same way to me, who have been hitherto unknown to you, when even to the Father, of whom you have so much experience, you have done the very same. You have forsaken him, you have run to the devils, drawing to yourselves wicked lovers. With this Ezekiel too was continually upbraiding them.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:23-26
(Verse 23 and following) And it came to pass after all your wickedness: woe, woe to you, says the Lord God. And you built yourself a brothel, and made for yourself a prostitute in all the streets. At every head of the road you built a sign of your prostitution, and you made your abominable beauty, and you spread your feet to everyone passing by, and multiplied your fornications. And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors with great flesh, and you multiplied your fornication to provoke me. LXX: And it came to pass after all your evils, woe, woe to you, says the Lord God. And you built for yourself a dwelling of prostitution, and you made for yourself prostitution in every street. And in the beginning of every way you built your prostitution: and you corrupted your beauty, and spread your legs to every passerby, and multiplied your prostitution: and you committed adultery with the sons of Egypt your neighbors, who are of great flesh, and you committed adultery in many ways, to provoke me to anger. What is said second, woe to you, the Vulgate edition does not have, but it has been added from the edition of Theodotion. And again, where we said: And you built for yourself a brothel, which the Seventy translated as: And you built for yourself a dwelling place of fornication, Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted as πορνεῖον; Aquila, wishing to express the etymology of the Hebrew word Gob (), put βάθυνον, which we can say means pit: to indicate a foul and deep den where the lust of prostitutes dwells. And what follows: And you have made for yourself a brothel in every street, for which Seventy translated ἔκθεμα, in Hebrew it is called Rama: and both Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotio have interpreted it as high or lofty. Finally, in the following passages, where it is written: To every head of the road you have erected a sign of your prostitution, as a sign and fornication, again in Hebrew it is called Rama (), which we have interpreted as either brothel or sign, since among the Hebrews it is one word. However, this is stated because it is lofty; so that for those who desire to fornicate, the place of fornication may be far away and there is no need to search for it. What we have said once and again and again, let it suffice to have said it forever, that under the guise of a woman, after many benefits from her husband, describing the fornication of Jerusalem, how she has departed from God and joined with idols, and was not satisfied with hidden fornication; but rather built herself a brothel and placed a sign on every street for those passing by, so they would come to the prostitute and satisfy their lust, not only their own, but also the one who has spread her legs for every passerby, and has defiled the greatness of beauty with the greatness of fornication: and among other things, she has also been bowing down to the Egyptians, her neighbors, in a love of great flesh. And in order to demonstrate every kind of ugliness, it was deformed by various forms of filth. But there is no doubt that Palestine is near Egypt, as the Lord said to Abraham: I will give you all the land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates (Gen. XV, 18), so that on one side it includes the Egyptians, and on the other side it includes the Assyrians, with whom it is said to have committed fornication in later times. But the fornication of Jerusalem with the Egyptians is an imitation of their idolatry. But against our Jerusalem, whether the Church or the souls of the believers, if they are negligent and exposed to all vices, a double curse is pronounced, so that they may hear: Woe, woe to you, says the Lord God, according to what is written in the Apocalypse of John: Woe to all the inhabitants of the earth (Apoc. 8:13). For if the holy one says: I am a stranger and a sojourner like all my fathers (Psalm 38:13): why is it not said that the sinner is an inhabitant of the earth? However, he builds for himself a brothel, who sins with complete freedom of the forehead; according to what is written: When the sinner comes into the depths of wickedness, he despises (Prov. XVIII, 3). And he constructs the highest place in all the streets: For wide and spacious is the way that leads to death. And at every head of the street he builds; so that he leaves behind no types of sins; but imitating the prostitute of Proverbs, he openly invites foolish young men into his embraces in the streets and in the corners of the streets, and pollutes the beauty of their souls, which they obtained as a benefit from God the creator (Prov. V and VII). And all his journeys are full of filthiness, and he opens his heart to all thoughts that supply the incentives of vices, and he spreads his legs and fornicates with his Egyptian neighbors, whose examples he follows, namely the pagans, who glory in their filthiness, and it is so wicked that it even surpasses them in filthiness. And he does all these things to provoke God to anger. Moreover, the Egyptians are said to have large genitals, either because of the magnitude of their filthiness or because of the deformity of their sins. Wherefore the saint says, 'The flesh of little children, which daily decreases in it, and is attenuated by virtues, so that it is not called flesh, but spirit, and speaks in the psalm: My soul has thirsted for you, O God, how many ways does my flesh long for you (Psalm 62:2): or (as some copies have) how my flesh has been consumed: in a desert and impassable and waterless land, I have appeared to you in the saint (1 Corinthians 5).' Therefore, the Corinthian fornicator is condemned to the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved. Concerning this flesh, it is written: All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever (Isa. XL, 6, 7). The Apostle also spoke about this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. XV, 50). And in Genesis, God speaks: My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh (Gen. VI, 3). And it is said to the believers: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit (Romans VIII, 8, 9). But there is another flesh of the saints, of which it is written: All flesh shall see the salvation of God (Isaiah XL, 5).

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:25
Possessing these things, she is of great beauty, but she is corrupted by the divisions of heretics and foreign religious systems.

[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:25
What then has persuaded you to contradict each other and to procure to yourselves so great a disgrace? You cannot give any good account of it; this supposition only remains, that all you do is but outward profession and pretense.… And you make nothing of accusing the Fathers, and you complain outright of the expressions as being unscriptural; and, as it is written, “opened your legs to every one that passed by;” so as to change as often as they wish, in whose pay and keep you are. Yet, though a person uses terms not in Scripture, it makes no difference, so that his meaning is religious. But the heretic, though he uses scriptural terms, because he is equally dangerous and depraved, will be asked in the words of the Spirit, “Why do you preach my laws and take my covenant in your mouth?”

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:25
She will sit by the waters of loneliness, her pitcher laid aside, and open her legs to every one who passes by and be polluted to the crown of her head. It would have been better for her to have submitted to the yoke of marriage, to have walked in level places, than to aspire to loftier heights and fall into the depths of hell.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:25
A noble alternative only to be embraced in preference to Satan! In the old days even Jerusalem went whoring and opened her legs to everyone that passed by. It was in Egypt that she was first deflowered and there that her teats were bruised.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:25
Our Zion, in which at times there are Philistines and Tyre and Ethiopia; that watchtower, that meretrix, that harlot, that Rahab, that Babylon, that one who, according to Ezekiel, has prostituted herself to everyone on the crossroads; that meretrix, if she wills it, suddenly becomes a virgin. A virgin she becomes, conceives the Son of God and brings him forth. “From your fear, O Lord, we conceived and suffered the pangs of childbirth, bringing forth the spirit of your salvation on the earth.” Understand, therefore, that [Jerusalem], who was a prostitute, conceives of God and is in labor and brings forth the Savior.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:26
You see that she is handed over to the souls of strangers, she who is unworthy to practice the law and the words of God.

[AD 348] Pachomius the Great on Ezekiel 16:26
If we have promised God purity, may we never be found in fornication, of which there are several forms. It is said that they prostituted themselves in a number of ways. My brothers, may no one ever catch us in deeds of this kind. May no one ever find us fallen below every other person.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:27
(Verse 27.) Behold, I will stretch forth my hand over you and will take away your righteousness, and I will give you over to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way. LXX: But if I stretch out my hand against you and take away your lawful possession and give you over to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of foreigners who led you astray from your path. And what follows, 'ἠσέβησας,' that is, 'you acted impiously,' is connected with the following chapter according to the Septuagint, but according to the other translations, it is the end of the previous chapter. However, the Lord stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to correct the wrongdoer and take away its rightful possessions, which, as long as he observed God's commandments, were called the rightful possessions of the Lord. But when he worshiped idols and changed his religion into impiety, they are by no means called his rightful possessions. Which not only in the law and ceremonies, but also in the Sabbaths and feast days and new moons, must be observed. For in the law, it is said: My Sabbaths and my feast days. But when they turned away from God, it is said to them: I will not receive your new moons, and Sabbaths, and great day: my soul hates your fasting and rest, and your solemnities (Exodus 31; Deuteronomy 5; Isaiah 1:14). This is also written about the people (Deuteronomy 7). For when the people, who were previously called the people of God, turned away from the Lord, it is said of them concerning Moses: 'Your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, has sinned' (Exodus XXXII, 7). The stretching out of the hand is here called elsewhere as lifting up or visiting. For when God does not correct the sinner, He withdraws His hand. But if the sinner sins and begins to be sick in God's law, a visitation is sent to him; according to what is sung in the psalm: 'If his children forsake my law and do not walk in my judgements, I will visit their iniquities with the rod' (Psalm LXXXIX, 31, 32). And in this the prophet has written: If the earth sins against me to commit a crime, I will stretch out my hand against it and break its bread supply, and so on. In this we are questioning what the difference is between the stretching out of the hand and its emission. However, the devil speaks to the Lord: Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, unless he blesses you to your face (Job 2:5). And it seems to me that the hand is sent, for the testing of those to whom it is sent; but it is stretched out, for the punishment of those who deserve torment. Not only extension and outreach, but also the stretching out of God's hands is called expansion, as Isaiah proclaims from the perspective of the Lord: 'All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people' (Isa. 65:2). It is also narrated that the holy hands are lifted up, as Scripture says: 'Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice' (Ps. 141:2). But since the legitimate practices of God have been taken away from the people of the Jews, let us ask them what observance of the law they have. The victims, with the temple being destroyed and overturned, cannot be offered; nor can the stoning of adulterers and the execution of other crimes permitted by law be carried out, nor can the year of release of the land and other similar things. However, it is given to the souls of the haters of the daughters of Palestine, when they are delivered to the Palestinians, whom the Seventy indiscriminately call foreigners: which we can understand as the cities or towns of Palestine. Our Jerusalem too, if we neglect the ceremonies of God, and his hand is stretched out against us, and the observance of the entire law is taken away, will be delivered to the daughters of Palestine and not to the sons. For we are not first consigned to more severe punishments, but according to the quality of sins, to lesser ones, so that being corrected in the lesser, we may avoid the greater torments. The Philistines, that is, the Palestinians, with the first part of the word changed, interpret it as falling by drinking, or breaking ((perhaps breaking)). By which it is signified that we are to be handed over to adversarial powers, who have drunk from the cup of Babylon and have fallen, and whose works are perverse. And so great will be the correction and disgrace of wretched Jerusalem, that even the opposing powers themselves will be ashamed at the magnitude of our sins. This we have interpreted according to Symmachus, 'scelerata': Theodotion placed the Hebrew word itself 'Zemma ()'. But with the ceremonies of God removed from the people of the Jews, it has passed to us along with the priesthood and the legislation, with the Scripture saying, 'Establish, O Lord, a legislator over them' (Psalm 9:21). And in another place: Set a law for me, O Lord, in your way (Psalm 26:11).

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:28
When God makes covenants with us and we consent to them, we are blessed. But when we prostitute ourselves to the spirits of evil, then we turn the covenants of God into the land of Canaan, and we make a pact with her.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:28-29
(Verse 28, 29.) And you have committed fornication with the sons of Assyria: because you were not yet satisfied, and after you committed fornication, you were still not satisfied. And you multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan with the Chaldeans, and even then you were not satisfied. LXX: You have acted impiously, and you have committed fornication with the sons of Assyria; and even then you were not satisfied: you have committed fornication, and you have not been filled; and you have multiplied your agreements with the land of Canaan, and with the Chaldeans; and you have not been satisfied with them either. The above is written, Jerusalem fornicated with the sons of Egypt, her neighbors, who are of great flesh: this signifies the other neighboring of the Assyrians. And for this reason, both are handed over to the nations, because they worshiped the idols of both, and entering into Chaldea, which is the land of Canaan, they imitated the errors of those whom they were subject to. According to allegory, we often pass from one sin to another. And when we do not repent of our previous sins, we increase sins with sins, and we are satisfied with no error, but like calves tied with a long rope and an unceasing strap, we drag our sins, and we multiply our covenant, or fornication, in the land of Canaan, which is interpreted as fluctuation, and with the Chaldeans, who also sound like demons (Psalm 39:3). And we always have footprints in the salt, and we can never say: 'He has set my feet upon a rock'. And we are subjected to the malice of heretics, who have the likeness of demons: whether they are Demons themselves, of whom Paul writes: 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places' (Ephesians 6:12).

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:30
As the law is not made for the just but for the lawless and those who are not subjected to God, so the teaching that warns us away from fornication does not become chaste but is for the lawless and the fornicators and the disobedient.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:30
If you understand fornication of the flesh and the soul and the spirit, and if you see someone fornicating in them, you will also see Jerusalem fornicating herself three times.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:30
There is no doubt that the word of the orator provokes the hero to worse things when a heretic builds up his hero in the perversions of heresy by what he says.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:30
Those who have not completely gone away from religion but are conquered by sin and who want their sin to be hidden behave exactly like a prostitute who has been insulted.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:30-31
(Verse 30, 31.) In what shall I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a promiscuous and shameless woman? For you have made your brothel at the head of every street, and your high place you have made in every square; and you have not acted like a prostitute, increasing your price. LXX: What shall I do to your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a prostitute and shameless woman? ÷ And you have committed adultery three times with your daughters ** when you built your brothel at the beginning of every street, and you made your platform in every square; and you have not been like a prostitute gathering wages. And what the Seventy said: 'And you have prostituted yourself thrice with your daughters, which is not found in the Hebrew, nor has any other Interpreter put it.' But God speaks all of this contentiously towards Jerusalem, that He may find a remedy by which He can heal the sick and the half-dead; according to that which Isaiah writes: 'What more could I have done for my vineyard, that I have not done for it?' (Isaiah 5:4). And Hosea said: What shall I do with you, Ephraim? what shall I do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like the morning clouds, and like the dew in the morning that passes away (Hosea 6:4). For your idolatry is not hidden, but committed with complete freedom, as you set up altars and high places at the beginning of every street and on every corner, and you make your bed in every square. And you have not imitated the cunning of prostitutes, who often increase the price of desire with difficulty, and from this incite lovers to madness. Or according to the Septuagint: You were not like a prostitute gathering wages, but you gave what you should have received, so that you would not be protected by the help of those with whom you fornicated and followed demons, but rather, oppressed by various captivities, you would feel your calamities. And this can indeed be applied to every Christian soul, which, having abandoned the worship of God, has given itself over to vices and luxury, and pursuing a worldly life, did not even thrive in it, but lost the riches of religion and did not receive the riches of the world. And there was no difficulty at all in prostituting yourself to it, but you yourself embraced your lovers. Moreover, there is another spiritual fornication, when we forsake the Church and join the heretics, and build our brothel at the head of every road, as the divine word commands: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it (Jeremiah 6:16), namely in the books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets. In the beginnings of all roads, their brothel is constructed, which, to the perversion of doctrine, abuses the testimonies of the Scriptures and says: This is what Isaiah says, this is what Hosea says, this is what Moses said, this is what Daniel said. And he does not place his brothel in the middle of the streets or at the ends of the roads, but at the beginning. For if he comes to knowledge and the depths of divine books, he will not be able to err. He also makes his high place or pedestal in every public square, allowing himself to be corrupted by the depravity and vices of the heathens, even among the heretics when he has been defiled by them, having no grace but exposing himself to contempt, because he easily lost the purity of faith that has passed. But this, which (as we have said above) is not found in Hebrew: Thou art fornicated threefold in thy daughters, or to Jerusalem, according to the letter, that in all kinds in its towns and villages it has fornicated; and there will be no corner or square left, where it has not set up the signs of idolatry: or to the Church and the deceived believers, who have not heard the words of the Apostle: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all things, that your whole spirit, and soul, and body may be preserved blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. V, 23); but they have fornicated in every kind, with body, and soul, and spirit. We read in Proverbs: But you write them in three ways, so that you may answer with words of truth that are proposed to you (Prov. XXII, 20, 21). And it is commanded to us that we understand the words of truth, that is, the holy Scriptures, in three ways. First, according to the letter; second, in the middle through tropology; third, in a higher way, so that we may understand mystical things. According to the letter, it is this: Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and one and twenty thousand fell in one day (I Cor. X, 8). And: Do not murmur, as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer (1 Corinthians 10:10). But according to the sense and tropology, when we depart from the literal meaning and ascend a little to higher things, as the Apostle says: It is written: You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain. And immediately follows: Is God concerned with oxen? Or is He speaking because of us? (1 Corinthians 9:9). But the highest and sublime spiritual understanding, according to the same Apostle: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife. This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the Church (Ephes. 5:31-32). The daughters of the Church are those who fornicate, first of the believers, and afterwards of the deceived in the heresy of the soul, whose fault is attributed to the mother.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:31
Ecclesiastics who are leaders in the church build the house of God, the church, in their own way of life as well as those of their faithful, and their work is the building of God.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:31
We can compare this with every single Christian soul who deserts the worship of God, indulges in vices and luxury and follows secular life, lest it does anything fruitful, and goes so far as destroying the riches of religion and does not even accept the riches of the world. There is no difficulty in her debauchery, for she herself rushes to her lovers.

[AD 450] Peter Chrysologus on Ezekiel 16:31
These Gentile peoples through their desire of worldly eloquence, through the brothels of the schools, through senseless disputation at the meeting places of the philosophical sects, dissipated the property of God the Father. By their conjectures they exhausted everything there was in the line of speech, knowledge, reason and judgment. But, even after that, these poor wretches still suffered the greatest need and most intense hunger to know the truth. Philosophy enjoined the task of seeking God, but of that truth to be learned it gathered no fruit.

[AD 391] Pacian of Barcelona on Ezekiel 16:32
A heretical congregation is an adulterous woman; for the Catholic congregation from the very beginning never left the marriage couch and nuptial chamber of her spouse or ardently desired unsuitable and strange lovers. You have painted a banished form with new colors; you have withdrawn your marriage couch from a long-standing marriage; you have left the body of a mother, the wife of one husband, adorning yourselves with new techniques of pleasing, new allurements of seduction.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:32-34
(Verse 32 and following) But like an adulterous woman, who brings in strangers over her husband. All prostitutes receive payment: but you have given payment to all your lovers, and you would give them anything to come in to you from every direction to fornicate with you. And it happened in you contrary to the custom of women in your fornications, and there will be no fornication after you. For in that you have given payment, and have not received payment: it has become contrary to you. LXX: The adulterous woman − similar to you: receiving rewards from her husband: she gave rewards to all who fornicated with her, and you gave rewards to all your lovers, and you burdened them to come to you, going around in your fornication. And it happened in you that you turned against other women in your fornication, and they did not fornicate after you: because you gave rewards, and rewards were not given to you: and it happened in you that you turned against. What is written in the Septuagint is not found in Hebrew and disrupts the order of the reading, and it raises a significant question: which woman is being referred to when it is said that Jerusalem herself is an adulterous woman? So Jerusalem took all the abundance of things that had been given to her by the generosity of her husband, and she gave them to others, namely demons and idols, according to what is written in Hosea: 'And she did not know that I gave her grain, wine, oil, and multiplied her silver; but she made Baals, silver and gold' (Hosea 2:8). Therefore, in his anger, he immediately declares: 'Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my linen, so as not to cover her disgrace anymore. And now I will uncover her immorality in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.' And while all women usually receive payment from their lovers, Jerusalem did the opposite, giving more than she received. And to show the extent of her generosity, she would burden them, saying, 'Come to me often,' so that there would be no neighbor who would not be mixed up in her dishonor. And indeed, Jerusalem surpassed other prostitutes in this as well, not only giving what she had earned through the shameful practice, but also giving marital gifts to her lovers and her adulterers. So great was the example of the adulteress in all its magnitude of shame, that it is preferred not only to those present, but also to future prostitutes. Hence, we have interpreted it according to Symmachus: 'And after you there shall be no more fornication.' For by comparing yourself, all subsequent fornication will be considered less serious. Whatever we have said about Jerusalem, it applies to the Church and the souls of the believers, who give their lovers the gifts of marriage, namely gold in a metaphorical sense, and silver in speech, and clothing, with which our filthiness and shame are concealed; or to contrary strengths, or to masters of perverse doctrines, when they assert that vice does no harm, and that passive lust, according to the genital parts of the body, demands sexual intercourse by natural law: all foods must be used indiscriminately, created for this purpose, to be consumed. Prudence in that only necessary, that it benefits oneself; and justice does not have a place, which if it prevails, one must beg, and other such things. Jerusalem, miserable when receiving these things, in which the vision of peace should be, perverts the sharpness of intellect and the charm of eloquence into ugliness. And for her lovers, she adorned herself against her husband with these ornaments, in which she was adorned by a man for the abuse of good. And what follows: And you gave them that they may enter to fornicate with you from all sides, signifies all types of sins, so that she is not satisfied with just one sin, but endures a hunger for sinning, and is defiled against the laws of nature with all shameful parts up to her head.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:32
When all fornicating women are accustomed to receive pay from their lovers, Jerusalem does the opposite, so that she may give more than she receives and so that she may show the abundance of her price; she burdened them, in order that they might come to her in a roundabout way, in case there was anyone near her who was not tainted by disgrace.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:33
The husband of the soul is the word of God, a spouse truly loving, who has given her chastity, justice and all the other gifts.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:35-43
(Verse 35 and following) Therefore, prostitute, listen to the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Because your bronze has been poured out, and your disgrace has been revealed in your fornication (in your adulteries), with your lovers, and with the idols of your abominations, in the blood of your sons, whom you have given to them. Behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have mingled, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated, and I will gather them against you from all sides, and I will uncover your disgrace before them, and they will see all your shame. And I will judge you with the judgments of adulteresses, and those who shed blood, and I will give you into the blood (Vulg. blood) of fury and zeal, and I will give you into their hands, and they will destroy your brothel, and they will demolish your prostitution house, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take away the vessels of your beauty, and they will leave you naked, full of shame. And they will bring a multitude upon you, and they will stone you with stones, and they will kill (Al. mutilate) you with their swords. And they will burn your houses with fire, and they will bring judgment upon you in the eyes of many women, and you will cease to fornicate and no longer give bribes. And my indignation will rest on you, and my jealousy will be taken away from you, and I will rest and not be angry anymore, because you have not remembered the days of your youth and you have provoked me in all these things. Therefore, I have given you your ways upon your head, says the Lord God, and I have not acted according to your wickedness in all your abominations. LXX: Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: Because you have poured out your wrath and your shame will be revealed in your prostitution to your lovers, and in all your wicked thoughts, and in the blood of your sons, whom you have given to them. Therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have mingled, and all those you loved with all those you hated, and I will gather them against you from all around, and I will reveal your evil deeds to them, and they will see all your shame. And I will avenge on you the vengeance of adulteries and the shedding of blood, and I will put you in the blood of fury and zeal, and I will deliver you into their hands: and they shall demolish your brothel, and destroy your foundation, and they shall strip you of your garments, and they shall take away the vessels of your glory, and they shall leave you naked and full of shame, and they shall bring a multitude upon you, and they shall stone you with stones, and they shall cut you with their swords. And they shall set fire to your houses, and they shall execute punishments on you in the presence of many women: and I will turn you away from fornication, and you shall no longer give rewards, and I will unleash my fury upon you, and my zeal shall depart from you, and I will rest and will be no longer concerned: because you have not remembered the days of your infancy, and you have grieved me in all these things. And behold, I will bring your ways upon your head, declares the Lord God, so that you have done wickednesses above all your other wickednesses. We lay the foundations of the story first. Because you have done these things and those things which the previous speech comprehends: therefore hear, O harlot, what you have done and what you will suffer. You poured out your brass which you received from me, and you gave payment to your lovers, which you should have received, and you killed your sons as you offered them to idols: so that you have become not only an adulteress, but also a murderer of your own children. Therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have prostituted yourself, both those whom you have loved and those whom you have hated, and I will expose you as an adulteress and reveal your nakedness, so that all may see your shame and the genitals for which you were once consumed with passion. All these things are said metaphorically of an adulterous and murderous woman, who not only committed acts of adultery against her husband, but also killed her children. They are spoken concerning Jerusalem and the gathering of all the nations against her, of which she worshiped idols and turned all of God's gifts into their worship, and the temple of Baal must be destroyed and the altars of every city must be overturned by fire, so that nothing remains in her. And just as it is customary for all to throw stones at the adulteress and to slay the harlot, so that she may be killed by the wounds of each: so shall all women see the punishment of the fornicator. Thus, in the sight of others, in the surrounding cities and nations, Jerusalem shall be abandoned. And this shall be done, so that she may cease her whoring and no longer give wages to her lovers, and the anger of God may rest, and He may not be angered by her when she ceases to love. From this we understand that there is great offense, not taken care of by God, but allowed for man's crimes and sins. My zeal will be removed from you, I will rest, and no longer be angry, as if it were someone else, and what has departed from me, and which I have handed over to eternal nakedness. But if Jerusalem has endured this, because it fornicated with idols, what do we think it will endure, when it has killed God's Son? And you have done all these things, forgetting past kindnesses, and you have provoked me to anger, or saddened me, when you should have provoked me to joy with your good works. Therefore, I have also rendered your deeds upon your head. And when I destroy you, O adulteress, I will exercise less of my anger against you than you deserve, so that divine mercy may be shown, that sins may be greater than punishments. According to tropology, every soul receives spiritual money from God, according to the Gospel (Mt. 25, Lk. 19) which is spoken in five and two parables, and of one talent, and ten servants receiving each a single mina, who, when they act negligently, become debtors of fifty (or ten) denarii and five hundred, and because of this, in the presence of lovers, whom we understand as demons and contrary virtues, the ignominy of Jerusalem is revealed, either on the day of judgment or at the time of repentance when they are reproached. And indeed only the omnipotent God sees hidden things, as the Gospel says: And the Father who sees in secret (Matthew 6:6). And in another place: God, who searches the heart and reins (Psalm 7:10). And in the book of Kings: You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men (2 Kings 8). But when it is fulfilled: There is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor secret that will not be revealed (Luke 12:2). And in another place: Judge not before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God (1 Corinthians 4:5); and when the time of correction comes, then shall be fulfilled what Hosea says: Now their own thoughts have surrounded them (Hosea 7:2). And in another place: Mutual accusations or defenses of thoughts, on the day when God will judge the hidden things of men (Rom. II, 15). And again: Behold the man, and his works before his face. And all who had fornicated with her before will see her disgrace, and God will give it to them in the blood of fury and zeal. For the fury of a man is full against an adulterous wife, and it cannot be redeemed at any price. And the blood of the children can be understood in this way, that we call the good thoughts of men implanted by God in them the children of Jerusalem; the adulteress kills them when she turns to evil deeds. It is also advantageous for Jerusalem, that its brothel be dug up, and the entire seedbed of fornication be destroyed. For when this has been done, it will no longer provide wages, and the wrath of God will rest, and he will not be jealous of its chastity: namely, according to those who understand in a positive sense what is said. Others, however, as we have said above, take the opposite view, that it is a great anger of God not to be angry, since he has once despised the fornicator, and has despaired of his salvation. But if heretics who do not accept the old Testament according to the Septuagint edition criticize this passage that was said: And you were grieved in all these; because God not only receives wrath but also submits to sorrow and sadness, let us ask them how they accept what is certainly a commandment of the good God: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed on the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). Whatever they may say in defense of that testimony, we will include it in the satisfaction of the present discourse.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:42
If you do not recover your senses when you have been chastised, if you are not corrected when you have been reproved, if you despise when you are beaten, you must realize that if you go on continually sinning his jealousy will depart from you and that which is said to Jerusalem by the prophet Ezekiel will be said to you: “Therefore my jealousy will depart from you, and I will no longer be angry with you.” Behold the mercy and piety of the good God.… This is terrible! This is the end when we are no longer reproached for sins, when we offend and are no longer corrected. For then, when we have exceeded the measure of sinning “the jealous God” turns his jealousy away from us, as he said above, or my jealousy will be removed from you, and I will no longer be angry over you.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:42
Mighty is the wrath of the Lord when he is not angry with us here, for, then, he reserves us like a calf for slaughter. In fact, he says to Jerusalem, “Many are your sins and many your iniquities, but I will not be vexed with you.” In other words, when you were only an adulteress, I loved you with a jealous love; but when you had many lovers, I despised you, and I will not be vexed with you. In this same way, a man is jealous of his wife when he loves her; but if he is not jealous, he hates her and does not imitate the words of him who says, “I will punish their crime with a rod” but, “I will not punish your daughters for their harlotry.”

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:42
It is when God shows no anger to sinners that his anger is great. So in the case of Ezekiel he said to Jerusalem, “Now I shall not be angry with you, my jealousy has left you.” … So that I may not go too far and overrun the length of a letter by piling up instances from the Old Testament, I shall tell you a brief story that happened in the days of my childhood. When the blessed Antony was summoned by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, to the city of Alexandria to confute heretics, and Didymus, a most learned and blessed man, had a meeting with him, they had a discussion about the holy Scriptures. Antony admired the other’s brain and praised his mental sharpness. Then he asked, “I imagine that your blindness does not depress you?” Didymus in his shame said nothing. But when Antony asked a second and third time, he finally succeeded in eliciting from Didymus a simple expression of grief. Antony said to him, “I am surprised at a wise man grieving at the loss of what ants, flies and gnats have rather than rejoicing at having what only the saints and apostles have deserved to get.” From this you can realize that it is much better to see with the spirit than with the flesh and to possess the eyes that the mote of sin cannot enter.

[AD 435] John Cassian on Ezekiel 16:42
Like a skillful physician, who has tried all saving cures and sees there is no remedy left which can be applied to their disease, the Lord is, as it were, overcome by their iniquities and is obliged to desist from his kindly chastisement. And so he denounces them saying: “I will no longer be angry with you, and my jealousy has departed from you.”

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:44
(Verse 44.) Behold, everyone who speaks a commonly-known proverb, will apply it to you, saying: Like mother, like daughter. You are the daughter of your mother, who has cast away her husband and her sons, and the sister of your sisters, who have cast away their husbands and their sons. Seventy: These are all the things that they have spoken against you in a parable, saying: Like mother and daughter. You are the daughter of your mother, who has rejected her husband and her sons; and the sisters of your sisters, who have rejected their husbands and their sons. In the catalog of vices and corrections ((otherwise known as repentance)) in Jerusalem, by which one is drawn back to salvation, a well-known proverb in the common speech of the people is adapted, or as the Seventy translated it, a parable: Like mother, like daughter. The mother, however, is called Jerusalem, as is written above and in the following passages, and she is called Chethaea, which means raging or turning to madness: through her, the provocations of this world are shown, which lead the captive soul to destruction and separate her from her husband (no doubt, this is said by the word of God and his teaching). And the sister of their sisters, as we have read a little later, is called Sodom, and Samaria: one of which signifies the Gentile life and luxury, the other the deceitful followers of heretics. Moreover, what is read in the Septuagint, 'the sisters of your sisters, who rejected their husbands and their sons,' has no meaning. For what other sisters did Sodom and Samaria have, who are sisters to Jerusalem? And it must be asked, which husbands did Sodom and Samaria send away, and which sons did they reject? Unless, perchance, we are able to say this: that the feet of those who always wander are tossed about and there are no solid footsteps which are contrary to the truth; but they run hither and thither, and are carried about by every wind of doctrine, until they pass from falsehood to another falsehood (Ephesians IV). And when they realize that they have labored in vain at first, they proceed to second and third things.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:45
Where there are sins, where there are multitudes of people, there are schisms, there are heresies, there are dissensions. But where there is virtue, there is unity, union, from which the single heart and spirit of all believers were made.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:45
To put it more clearly, the origin of all evils is the multitude, but the origin of good things is to retire from the crowd and to confine oneself to the solitary life.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:45
As the Father and Son are one, so those who have one Spirit are brought together in unity.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:45
When they have completed their crimes, they are cut into parts, and being no longer together, they plunge into the great crowd of people who are not able to ascend the mountain with Jesus.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:45-47
(Verse. 45 seqq.) Your mother Hethaea (also spelled Chethaea), and your father Amorrhaeus, and your older sister Samaria: she and her daughters who live on your left. But your younger sister, who lives on your right, is Sodom and her daughters. But you did not walk in their ways, nor did you commit crimes like theirs, but rather, you committed even more wicked things in all your ways. LXX: Your mother Chethaea, and your father Amorrhaeus, your older sister Samaria: she and her daughters who live on your left, and your younger sister, who lives on your right, is Sodom and her daughters: and even so, you did not walk in her ways, nor did you act according to her wickedness, but rather, you transgressed against them in all your ways. He had said above: your father is Amorrhæan, and your mother Chethæan; here with the order and number changed: Your mother is Chethæan, and your father is Amorrhæan. For when they have advanced in wickedness, they are divided into parts; and deserted unity, they make progress into a tumult and multitude, which is not able to ascend to the mountains with Jesus. But Jerusalem is the sister of Samaria, and Sodom, of which one is on the left, the other on the right, even according to the carnal understanding, if you look from the temple at Jerusalem towards the East, you will approve. Majorca is said to be Samaria, because it sinned first and was led into captivity by the Assyrians; and Minor and younger Sodom, which is related to a multitude of nations. Otherwise, at that time Sodom was not there, which we read about before in the Scriptures, with Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, it was destroyed by divine fire (Gen. 19). However, in between the two sisters, Jerusalem, which is also called Judah, was led into Babylon by the Chaldeans; and Jerusalem sinned much more wickedly than Samaria and Sodom, worshipping the idol of Baal in the temple, and later killing the Son of God. Furthermore, according to tropology, Samaria and Sodom, that is, heretics and the Gentiles, often commit less serious sins than those who are considered Jerusalem, that is, the Ecclesiastics. Therefore, it is said to the Corinthians, who indeed believed in Christ but were oppressed by evil works: Certainly there is heard among you fornication, and such fornication that not even among the Gentiles, so that one has his father's wife (I Cor. V, 1), and so on. The heretics, however, who still accept the old Testament, understand three natures from this place: spiritual, animal, and earthly. And they refer the spiritual to Jerusalem; the animal to Samaria; the earthly to Sodom. Let us briefly ask them how the three natures, spiritual, animal, and earthly, which are certainly distinct from each other, are said to have one mother and one father? This does not correspond to their fabrication. And how will the animal and earthly nature be restored to their original state, that is, the spiritual state, according to this same prophet? This is contrary to their own reasoning. Moreover, the understanding that Samaria refers to heresies is confirmed in the prophet Hosea and many other places, especially by this testimony: Woe to those who despise Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria, they have taken the firstfruits of the nations (Amos 6:1). For all heretics despise Zion, which is interpreted as a watchtower, and is referred to the Church; and they trust in themselves on the mountain of Samaria, namely in the pride of perverse doctrines, which they think are sublime, and through these fraudulent preachings, they plunder and pillage the beginnings of nations, so that, through the wonder of teachings, they may draw even the powerful ones of the Gentiles into heretical error.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:46
Virtue makes me to have Christ as my brother, so that I may be both good and well-mannered.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:46
What are these two sisters of Jerusalem the sinner? Schism and division of the people created Samaria.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:46
This is to despise Zion and to trust in the mountain of Samaria. For if we ecclesiastics sin, heretics are certainly not strangers to us in the perversion of their teaching.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:48-49
(Verse 48, 49) I live, says the Lord, that Sodom, your sister herself and her daughters did not do as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, abundance, and idleness of herself and her daughters; and they did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominations before me, and I took them away as you saw. And Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you surpassed her in your wickedness, and you have justified your sisters in all your abominations that you have done. LXX: I live, says the Lord Adonai: this is what your sister Sodom did, and her daughters did the same as you and your daughters. However, the wickedness of your sister Sodom was pride, fullness of bread, and abundance. She and her daughters lived in luxury and had an abundance, but they did not support the poor and needy. They were proud and committed iniquities in my sight, so I took them away as you have seen. And Samaria has not sinned half as much as your sins, and you have multiplied your iniquities upon them; you have justified your sisters in all your iniquities which you have done. What the LXX has placed, she and her daughters also have, but it is not found in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, there is the oath of God: As I live, says the Lord (Num. XIV, 21). But in the New Testament: Truly, truly, I say to you (John XIII, 16). But if this is common with others: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Mark XII, 16, 27). And in another place: I will please the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. CXIV, 9): we seek to understand how the common term properly belongs to God. But how is it said, a good tree, and a good man, and a good shepherd, and a good servant (Luke XVIII); for no one is absolutely good, except God alone: so when the angels and other virtues, as well as patriarchs and prophets, and even the apostles, are called living in comparison to almighty God, they are called dead. For what is the man who lives, and does not see death? (Psalm LXXXVIII, 49). Hence, the apostle Paul also said about God: He alone, he said, has immortality and dwells in inaccessible light (I Timothy VI, 16). And about the fountain of life: Our life, he says, is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians III, 3). Therefore, this person who swears and says: As I live, says the Lord, describing the crimes of Sodom and its daughters, established the first pride, the very own of the devil, and the first sin. Wherefore as the same Apostle says: 'Lest being inflated with pride, he fall into the judgment of the devil' (1 Timothy 3:6), on account of which he says: 'And his pride fell from heaven' (Isaiah 14:12). For he had said: 'I will do it in the strength of my hand, and by wisdom of my understanding I will take away the bounds of the people, and I will rob their strength, and I will make their cities desolate: and I will break them asunder, and they shall not be able to stand, nor shall they be able to resist my force' (Isaiah 10:13-14). And: 'God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble' (James 4:6). We also read in another place: 'Why do you boast, O earth and ashes?' And the Gospel tells of the Pharisee's pride overcome by the humility of the tax collector (Luke 18): whose seedbed is the abundance of bread and all things, and leisure; or as the Septuagint translated, the luxury and opulence of delights. That rich man in the Gospel, dressed in purple (Luke 16), is reported to have had no other fault except that, being abundant in wealth and riches, he had burst forth with such pride that he did not reach out his hand to the needy and poor Lazarus: and thus he had forgotten his own condition, to the point that he did not even give this miserable man what was to be thrown away. For what reason and in another place it is written: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke XIV, 11). Pride, gluttony, abundance of all things, leisure and indulgence, are sins of Sodom, and because of this, the forgetfulness of God follows, which considers present goods to be perpetual and never in need of necessities. Therefore, it is also commanded by the law: Take care lest, while eating and drinking and being satisfied, you build good houses and possess sheep and oxen, silver and gold, you forget the Lord your God (Deuteronomy VIII, 11). And in another place it is written about Israel: 'He ate and drank, and was satisfied, and grew fat, and kicked' (Deut. XXXII, 15). Knowing this, the wisest of all, Solomon, prays in Proverbs: 'Give me what is necessary and sufficient, so that I may not become full and deny you, saying: Who will see me? Or becoming poor, steal and profane the name of my God' (Prov. XXX, 8, 9). And what follows: 'And you justified your sisters in all your abominations, which you have done, not simply judging Sodom and Samaria to be wicked, but with a comparison to the worse: as the Publican, of whom we have spoken above, is not called absolutely righteous, but in comparison to the worse.' And yet even though Sodom and Samaria were such, they did not even sin half as much as Jerusalem. For the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke XII, 47). And: The mighty shall suffer torments mightily (Wisdom VI, 7). Furthermore, that which is contained in Hebrew for luxury (or wealth), should be understood to refer to this meaning: In desires is the entire soul idle; that is, that there should always be something to do: lest the field of our heart, with the hand resting, be occupied by the thorns of evil thoughts.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:49
To know that sins are unequal you only have to look at the teaching of the Scriptures, which will leave you in no doubt.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:49
What then is the sin most great of all sins? It is the one for which the devil fell.… Pride is greater than all sins, and the principal sin of the devil.… Often the reason for pride is for him who disregards having an ecclesiastical dignity.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:49
Often having a fullness and an abundance of bread is the cause of arrogance. But often the sin of pride also arises over spiritual gifts, and discernment is needed to distinguish the one from the other.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Ezekiel 16:49
Do not ask those things from God that you receive from the devil. For it is God’s part to give a contrite and humbled heart, sober, self-possessed and awestruck, full of repentance and compunction. These are his gifts, since it is these things that we most need.

[AD 700] Isaac of Nineveh on Ezekiel 16:49
The soul … that devotes herself to the recollection of profitable things finds rest in her freedom; her cares are small, and she repents of nothing. She takes forethought for virtue, she bridles the passions, she keeps guard upon excellence, and thus she enjoys growth [that is unhindered], joy free of solicitude, a good life and a perilless haven.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:51
My Lord Jesus Christ is justified according to the dispensation of the flesh that he purified for our salvation, by Abraham, by Isaac, by Jacob and by the rest of the prophets.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:51
Before Christ it was not possible for the light of the righteous to shine.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:52
O you who are subject to pain, do not go into exile with mourning.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:52
It is an infamy to be separated from the people of God and from the church; it is a dishonor in the church to leave the bench of presbyters, to be expelled from the rank of the diaconate.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:52
If we justify providence, we cleanse our disgrace; but if we do not receive the judgments of God, we will multiply our disgrace.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:52
The more we come very near to God the more we come near the beatitude; and when we have sinned, we shall be far from it and very near terrible and very great punishments.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:52
The person who is “very small” deserves mercy more quickly.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:52
One carries his disgrace who is racked with a proper conscience and bears his torture with a proper will, lest he should have to bear eternal torments.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:52
(Verse 52.) So you also bring your own confusion, having surpassed your sisters in your sins, acting more wickedly than them ((Other version: against them)): for they have been justified by you. Septuagint: And you will bear your torment because you have corrupted your sisters in your sins, in which you have acted unjustly against them, and you have justified them against yourself. The second tablet after the shipwreck is to be ashamed when you have sinned, and not to subject yourself to the reproach that is said against Jerusalem: You have become like a prostitute, you do not know how to blush (Jeremiah III, 3). But he carries his own torture, who is tormented by his own conscience, and in this world endures torment by his own will, lest he endure eternal torments (Genesis IV). And we corrupt our brothers and sisters through our sins, when they are provoked to greater crimes by our own sins. What I say will become clearer: Imagine someone in a priestly position not living well, and dishonoring their dignity with their actions. Surely by imitating his vices, the lay brother is corrupted? For even he who scandalizes one of the least of these, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the depths (Matthew XVIII, 6). Likewise, the sisters of Jerusalem are justified like Sodom and Samaria, not because they are inherently righteous, but as we said, by comparison with the worse.

So you will also be confounded; and your own shame, which you have justified, will become your gate. Seventy: So you will also be confounded, and you will bear your shame, because you have justified your sisters. Confusion follows shame: shame correction: correction consolation: consolation salvation: according to that of the Apostle: Tribulation works patience: patience provenance: provenance hope: but hope does not confound (Rom. V, 3-5). There is no doubt that in the future: because in its present state it has wiped out its sins through confusion. Something like this and that of the Gospel is said: There is confusion that leads to death, and there is confusion that leads to life (Eccl. 4:25). The Holy Spirit also urges sinners in the Psalms: Let all my enemies be confused and ashamed: let them turn back and be confused very quickly (Psalm 39:15). It is written also in another place: Declare your sins first, so that you may be justified (Isa. 43:26, sec. LXX). And again: The just one is his own accuser in the beginning of the discourse (Prov. XVIII, 17). Therefore, it is not surprising if Jerusalem is called to confusion and disgrace; she has sinned so much that she had to justify her sisters, to whom it is then said: And you, and your daughters, return to your former state.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Ezekiel 16:52
It is one thing to have an action set forth as praiseworthy in itself and another to have it extolled in comparison with something worse than itself. We rejoice in one way when a sick person is cured and in another when he improves a little. Even in the sacred Scriptures, Sodom is spoken of as justified in comparison with the crimes of the people of Israel.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:53
Anger is something other than God himself, so that it is never part of him, nor does he share in it in any way.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:53-54
(Verse 53, 54.) And I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore your own fortune among them, so that you may bear your shame and be confounded in everything you have done, consoling them. LXX: And I will restore their fortunes like the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, I will restore the fortune of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortune among them, so that you may bear your punishment and have shame for everything you have done, in order to provoke me to anger. Jerusalem made great progress, that after the confusion and ignominy that was brought upon it by the judgment of God, it willingly accepted and carried, saying: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him, let restoration be promised to it in its former state. But yet, because by the comparison of its crimes, Sodom and Samaria were justified, of which one is on the right and the other on the left; first, the conversion or captivity of Sodom is restored, as Aquila interpreted; secondly, the captivity of Samaria, as Aquila and Symmachus also translated; and lastly, Jerusalem, which was oppressed by greater iniquity, will be restored, and it had shown that its sinful sisters were just in comparison to itself. For of whom is it doubted that among three sinners, rather sinners, a gentile, a heretic, and a churchman, he is more deserving of greater punishments, who is deserving of greater dignity? For the powerful, as we have said, endure torments powerfully (Wisdom 6:7). But he who is least deserving is deserving of mercy. And the servant who knows the will of his master, and does not do it, will be beaten with many (Luke 12:47). Therefore Peter also says: It is time for judgment to begin with God's house (1 Peter 4:17). And in this same place, the prophet commands those who have axes: 'From my saints begin' (Above, IX, 6) , that Jerusalem, having been converted and restored to its former state before its sisters, may bear its own shame, and be confounded, and blush over those things which it has sinned, and in all things may console its sisters, while it endures more weighty things (Jerem. VI) . Or certainly, it is confounded and blushes for this reason, because it has provoked God to anger. From this it is clear that the anger of God is not natural, but rather that the God who is most kind and gentle is provoked to anger by our vices, as the Apostle says: “Do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Rom. II, 4, 5). You, however, with your hard and impenitent heart, are storing up wrath for yourself, which is not according to the nature of God. And in another place it is written: You have sent forth your wrath, which consumed them like stubble (Exodus 15:7). For what is joined and united in one body cannot be sent, but that which is outside the body. For example, a spear, weapon, arrow, sword. We also read in the Gospel (Matthew 10:15) that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for the one who does not receive the apostles.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:54
It is plain that the just and good God of the law and the gospels is one and the same and that he does good with justice and punishes in kindness, since neither goodness without justice nor justice without goodness can describe the dignity of the divine nature.

[AD 345] Aphrahat the Persian Sage on Ezekiel 16:54
Consider and observe, my hearer, that if God had given a hope to Sodom and to its fellows, he would not have overthrown them with fire and brimstone, the sign of the last day of the world, but would have delivered them over to one of the kingdoms to be chastised.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:54
To whom is there any doubt that among three types of sinners, certainly wicked people, the Gentile, the heretic, the ecclesiastic, the one who deserves considerable punishment is the one who is of greater rank?

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:55
(Verse 55) And your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their former state. And Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state. And you and your daughters will return to your former state. LXX: And your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored as they were at the beginning, and Samaria and her daughters will be restored as they were at the beginning. And you and your daughters will be restored as you were from the beginning. The Jews, among their many fables and endless genealogies and delusions that they invent, even dream of this: that in the coming of their Christ, whom we know to be the Antichrist, and in his thousand-year reign, Sodom will be restored to its ancient state, so that it may be like the paradise of God, and like the land of Egypt; and that ancient Samaria will regain its prosperity, so that the Assyrians may return to the land of Judah (2 Kings 17, 18). For we read that the ten tribes were captured by the kings of Assyria, namely Phul, and Salmanassar, and Teglathphalassar, and they have remained captive there until today. Also, at that time, Jerusalem must be rebuilt, along with all its daughters, that is, the cities, villages, and castles that will be under its future power, they will flourish as they once did, and Jerusalem itself must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones, as prophesied by Isaiah: I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning, and after this you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother of cities, Zion (Isa. I, 26); and our Apocalypse speaks of this (Apoc. XXI): And David sings: Do good, O Lord, in your good will to Zion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be rebuilt (Ps. L, 20). And in another place: The cities of Judah shall be built, and they shall dwell there, and they shall remain there, and their offspring shall be established forever (Ps. LXVIII, 36). But we, leaving the perfect knowledge of these things to the judgment of God, or rather, confidently confessing, after the second coming of the Lord and Savior, that nothing humble, nothing earthly will be in the future; but the heavenly kingdoms which are first promised in the Gospel, we say that in the state of the Church, all things are complete and are being completed daily. Sodom returns to its ancient state, when it regains its original nature and the impious soul recognizes the Creator. Samaria regains its ancient blessedness, having rejected the error of heretics and joined to the teaching and faith of Christianity. And when they have returned, and Jerusalem, the vision of peace, which is interpreted as the Church, will return to its former state. Of which it is written: 'His place was made in peace' (Psalm 75:2); and: 'Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together' (Psalm 122:3); and in the Apostle: 'But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all' (Galatians 4:25); and in the same: 'You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal gathering' (Hebrews 12:22). And he returns with his daughters, who are scattered throughout the whole world. We have discussed this more fully in Isaiah's explanations.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:56-58
(Verse 56 and following) However, your sister Sodom was not heard in your mouth on the day of your pride before your wickedness was revealed, like it is now with the disgrace of the daughters of Syria, and all the daughters of Philistia around you who surround you. You carried your own wickedness and disgrace, says the Lord God. LXX: If your sister Sodom had not been heard in your mouth on the days of your pride before your wickedness was revealed, like it is now with the daughters of Syria, and if this had not been so, what would have happened to you and all the foreign daughters around you who surround you? You carry your impieties and your iniquities. Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: Because your sister Sodom was not heard through your mouth on the day of your pride, before your disgrace was revealed, like the time of reproach of the daughters of Syria and all the daughters of Palestine around you, who surround you in a circle. You will bear your crime and your wickedness. Theodotus interpreted it as follows: And your sister Sodom was not heard through your mouth on the day of your pride, before your evil was revealed: like the time of reproach of the daughters of Syria and all the daughters of foreign nations around it, who abhor you in a circle. Your fornication and your contaminations, you have borne, says the Lord Adonai. Our translation agrees with the Aquila edition; all of which I have placed, so that from the comparison of all, we may find some trace of meaning, and in the meantime without prejudice from others, it seems to us that the order of the reading must be restored as follows: In the days of your pride, when you were sinning, you did not remember the overthrow of your sister Sodom, before your wickedness was revealed to such an extent that you became a reproach to all the cities of Syria and Palestine which are around you. Therefore, because you have overcome in the crime against your sister, and you were not terrified by her example, so as not to endure similar things, and you did not refrain from stepping forward: now, however, your disgrace has been revealed, listen to the sentence of God. Either you have carried, according to the Septuagint: or you have carried, according to Aquila and Theodotion: or you will carry, according to Symmachus, your crime and disgrace, so that after you have endured punishment for sacrilege, you may obtain forgiveness not by your own terms, but by my clemency. Syria is said to be called Aram in the Hebrew language, which means 'sublimity'. And according to the explanation of that passage of the prophet Isaiah, in which Aram and Ephraim conspire against Judah and Jerusalem, the clever wisdom of the nations and the claim of sublimity in knowledge, joined with the malice of heretics, attacks Judah, in which there is true confession and cannot be overcome. Here also the same arrogance of Syria, that is, of the philosophers with the daughters of foreigners, in which the manifold errors of various doctrines are shown among nations, mocks Jerusalem and reproaches her, though she is overcome by her own vices.

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 16:59-63
(Verse 59 and following) Thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath and broken the covenant. But I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both the older and the younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of the covenant. I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord, so that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you for all that you have done, says the Lord God. LXX: Thus says the Lord God: And I will do to you as you have done, as you have despised these things, in order to go against my covenant. And I will remember my covenant, which I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant, and you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older sisters with your younger ones, and I will give them to you as a test, not according to your covenant. And I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, so that you may remember and be ashamed, and there shall be no more opening of your mouth from the face of your disgrace, when I have been propitious to you according to all that you have done, says the Lord God. Therefore I said to you: your crime and your disgrace you carry, whether you have carried or will carry; in order to receive what you deserve: because you have despised my oath, and nullified my covenant. But when it is fulfilled, I will kill, and I will give life: I will strike, and I will heal (Deut. XXXII, 39): then I will remember my covenant, which I once had with you. And I will raise up for you a covenant, not of the Law that has passed, but an eternal covenant of the Gospel: so that when you remember your ways, and receive your older and younger sisters, Samaria and Sodom and their companions, I will give them to you as daughters, or as a proof (for there must be factions (I Cor. XI, 19) and heresies, so that those who are approved may be made manifest), not based on your merit, but based on my mercy, and then you will know that I am the Lord; and you will remember my benefits, and be confounded, and say according to the Apostle: I am not worthy to be called an Apostle: because I have persecuted the Church of God (I Cor. XV, 9). And may your mouth no longer be closed because of your confusion. For it is the duty of the holy to open their mouth, as the Apostle says: My mouth is open to you, O Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:11), and of the Lord Savior, who opened his mouth and taught them (Matthew 5), as it is also said in the psalm: I will open my mouth in parables (Psalm 78:2). But to the sinner it is said: You have sinned, be silent (Genesis 4). And: Why do you speak my covenant through your mouth? (Psalm 49:16). And: A sinner's praise is not beautiful on the lips (Sirach 15:9). And only a saint deserves to hear: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Psalm 80:11). From this, we understand that even when we have regained our original glory through the mercy of God, indeed when we have received the eternal covenant of the Gospel, after the Lord has been appeased towards us in all that we have done, we should still have the memory of past sin and always keep our mouths shut, for we are saved not by our own works, but by the grace of God.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:61
After receiving the price of my sins and being re-established, and the covenant made with me, then do I understand my evil deeds, and I am confounded, and within I punish myself.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Ezekiel 16:61
Let us pray with all our heart that God would grant us to fight for truth to the very end of our mind and body.