11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
(Vers. 10, 11.) Behold the day, behold it comes, the contraction has gone forth: the rod has blossomed, pride has sprouted. Iniquity has risen in the rod of wickedness, not from them, and not from the people, nor from their noise: and there will be no rest for them. LXX: Behold the day brings forth, behold the end comes, the complex has gone forth, and the rod has blossomed, pride has sprouted, injury has been awakened, and it will crush the strength of the wicked, and not with disturbance nor with haste, and they are not from them, nor is there beauty in them. The day has been contracted, says [someone], and shortened. And approaching is a neighboring captivity. The rod that threatened you for a long time has blossomed, and from the flower of its bloom it has given birth to the fruit of punishments. Your pride has sprouted what you deserved, so that the injustice, which is not from a pitiable people, nor from those who are led like dumb animals by their masters, nor from the shouting and noise with which they vociferated in vain, deceived by the priests and pharisees, may rise up with a united voice and say: 'Crucify, crucify such a one.' (John 19:6) Where there will be no rest for them, but eternal captivity. Furthermore, the Seventy interpreted it in the sense in which it is written: 'For you do not know what the coming day may bring' (Prov. 27:1), saying: 'Behold, the day brings forth what was conceived long before: and the end has come, and the fulfillment has gone forth, which embraces all your evils and holds them, or as Symmachus interpreted, inspection, so that God may see all that you have done and consider your works, and render to each one what he deserves.' And in that which they have likewise transferred, the rod flourished, as we can use that testimony: Do not take the rod away from your son (Prov. XIII, 13). And the Apostle: What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and the spirit of gentleness (I Cor. IV, 21)? But even God speaks through the mouth of the Psalmist: I will punish their iniquities with the rod, and their sins with scourges: but I will not take away my mercy from them (Psalm LXXXVIII, 33, 34). Therefore the Lord visits and strikes, so that every pride which was long hidden and enclosed may arise and be revealed; and injury is aroused against the arising and budding pride, and the strength of the wicked is crushed, not with disturbance or haste. For the end of a flourishing rod is health and correction, which comes not by merit to those who are reproved, nor by beauty which they do not possess in themselves, but by the mercy of the Lord. A difficult passage, and one that differs greatly between the Hebrew and the Septuagint, to which many additions have been made from Theodotion's edition, in order to make it seem to have some consistency.
[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 7:10-11