Isaias 21:2
A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Visio dura nuntiata est mihi : qui incredulus est infideliter agit ; et qui depopulator est vastat. Ascende, Ælam ; obside, Mede ; omnem gemitum ejus cessare feci.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- τὸ ὅραμα καὶ σκληρὸν ἀνηγγέλη μοι. ὁ ἀθετῶν ἀθετεῖ, ὁ ἀνομῶν ἀνομεῖ. ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ οἱ Ἐλαμεῖται, καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις τῶν Περσῶν ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ἔρχονται. νῦν στενάξω καὶ παρακαλέσω ἐμαυτόν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- חָז֥וּת קָשָׁ֖ה הֻגַּד לִ֑י הַבּוֹגֵ֤ד בּוֹגֵד֙ וְהַשּׁוֹדֵ֣ד שׁוֹדֵ֔ד עֲלִ֤י עֵילָם֙ צוּרִ֣י מָדַ֔י כָּל אַנְחָתָ֖ה הִשְׁבַּֽתִּי
Haydock's commentary
Spoileth. Baltassar is incorrigible, or his opponents must proceed. (Calmet)
Elam; that is, O Persia: (Challoner) Cyrus, and Darius, the Mede. (Calmet)
The former nation was weak, and the latter strong. (Worthington)
Cease. The enemy will shew no pity; nor shall I; as Babylon did not heretofore. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Gregory Nazianzen On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail
11. Perchance He will say to me, who am not reformed even by blows, I know that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, the heedless is heedless and the lawless man acts lawlessly, naught is the heavenly correction, naught the scourges. The bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed, as I once reproached you by the mouth of Jeremiah, the founder melted the silver in vain, your wickednesses are not melted away. Can ye abide my wrath, saith the Lord. Has not My hand the power to inflict upon you other plagues also? There are still at My command the blains breaking forth from the ashes of the furnace, by sprinkling which toward heaven, Moses, or any other minister of God’s action, may chastise Egypt with disease. …
St Gregory Nazianzen The Fifth Theological Oration. On the Holy Spirit
III. They then who are angry with us on the ground that we are bringing in a strange or interpolated God, viz.: the Holy Ghost, and who fight so very hard for the letter, should know that they are afraid where no fear is; and I would have them clearly understand that their love for the letter is but a cloak for their impiety, as shall be shewn later on, when we refute their objections to the utmost of our power. But we have so much confidence in the Deity of the Spirit Whom we adore, that we will begin our teaching concerning His Godhead by fitting to Him the Names which belong to the Trinity, even though some persons may think us too bold. The Father was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world. The Son was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world. The Other Comforter was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world. …