Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her.
Read Chapter 18
Bede
AD 735
rejoice: So also the Lord in the Gospel, when predicting the ruin of the world, added, "When ye shall see these things come to pass, look up and lift up your heads;" that is, make your hearts glad.
avenged: This is the judgment which the souls of the saints sought with the great cry, "How long, O Lord God, holy and true, dost Thou not avenge our blood?" <a
Rejoice. Heaven, the holy apostles and prophets, and all the holy ministers of the gospel: and holy men are invited here to rejoice, because the divine justice is accomplished in the ruin of that guilty city. (Pastorini)
By the words prophets are not meant those of the old law, as pagan Rome had not been the cause of their deaths, but here only includes all the prophets, saints, and martyrs, who had been put to death for Christ throughout the whole Roman empire. (Haydock)
