We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were given birth to wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
Read Chapter 26
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Isaiah also, proclaiming the resurrection to the people, says that he is the announcer of the Lord’s message, for we read thus: “For the mouth of the Lord has spoken, and they shall speak in that day.” And what the mouth of the Lord declared that the people should say is set forth later on, where it is written: “Because of your fear, O Lord, we have been with child and have brought forth the Spirit of your salvation, which you have poured forth upon the earth. They that inhabit the earth shall fall; they shall rise that are in the graves. For the dew which is from you is health for them, but the land of the wicked shall perish. Go, O my people, and enter into your chambers; hide yourselves for a little until the Lord’s wrath pass by.” - "On His Brother Satyrus 2.67"
Their cows did not miscarry, therefore, but gave birth, so that their labor would be increased and that they would beget everything they conceived without reverence for God. The righteous, however, take delight in an altogether different way. They glory not in the abundance of their wealth or the fruitfulness of their livestock but in the Lord, saying, “We were impregnated with reverence for you, and we brought forth the spirit of salvation.” - "The Prayer of Job and David 2.4.15"
Nature provides woman with a womb in which a living person is brought to birth in the course of time. Such too is that characteristic of the soul which is ready to receive in its womblike recesses the seeds of our thoughts, to cherish them and to bring them forth as a woman gives birth to a child. This and no other is the meaning of the words of Isaiah: “We have conceived and brought forth the spirit of salvation.” - "Cain and Abel 1.10.47"
Even now let us rejoice somehow or other in this hope derived from the promises of one most faithful, until that richest of all possible joys arises, when “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is,” and our joy nobody shall take from us. Of this hope, you see, we have also received already the acceptable and freely given pledge that is the Holy Spirit, who produces in our hearts the unutterable groanings of holy desire. “For we have conceived,” as Isaiah says, “and have brought forth the spirit of salvation.” And, “when a woman is in labor,” the Lord says, “she has sorrow, because her day has come; but when she has brought forth, there is great joy, because a human being has been born into the world.” This will be the joy that nobody will take away from us; on the day when we are brought forth into the eternal light from this conception of faith. So meanwhile let us fast and pray, while it is still the day of bringing forth. - "Sermon 210.7"
“When a woman gives birth, she is sorrowful because her hour has come.” He refers to holy church as a woman on account of her fruitfulness in good works and because she never ceases to beget spiritual children for God. He says also in another place about this, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole [mass] was leavened.” A woman took some yeast when the church, by the Lord’s generosity, secured the energy of love and faith from on high. She hid this “in three measures of flour until the whole [mass] was leavened” when she performed her ministry of imparting the word of life to parts of Asia [Minor], Europe and Africa, until all the bounds of the world were on fire with love for the heavenly kingdom. The one who said sadly to those who were departing from the purity of the faith, “My little children, for whom I am again in travail, until Christ be formed in you,” was indicating that he was among this woman’s members. The...
Therefore faith can neither be conceived nor augmented in the human heart unless it is infused and nourished by the Holy Spirit. For we are reborn from the same Spirit from which Christ was born. The Spirit by which Christ is formed according to faith in the heart of each believer, therefore, is also the Spirit by which he was formed bodily in the womb of the Virgin. For this reason, it is in the person of the believer that the prophet cries out to the Lord: “Out of reverence for you, Lord, we conceived in the womb and brought forth; we have brought the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.” - "Letter 17.40"
Wind. Our expectation of aid from others has been disappointed. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "the spirit of thy salvation, which thou hast wrought on the earth. We shall not fall, but the inhabitants of the earth shall fall. "(Haydock)
Their copies must have been different from ours.
Fallen. The Chanaanites are left for our trial and punishment. (Calmet)
Let us talk about how “mercy is put in the balance” as holy Isaiah declares, for goodness is not without discernment, as the first laborers in the vineyard fancied, because they could not perceive any distinction between those who were paid alike. And [let us talk about] how anger, which is called “the cup in the hand of the Lord” and “the cup of falling which is drained,” is in proportion to transgressions, even though he abates to all somewhat of what is their due and dilutes with compassion the unmixed draught of his wrath. For he inclines from severity to indulgence toward those who accept chastisement with fear and who after a slight affliction conceived and are in pain with conversion and bring forth the perfect spirit of salvation. But nevertheless he reserves the dregs, the last drop of his anger, that he may pour it out entire upon those who, instead of being healed by his kindness, grow obdurate, like the hard-hearted Pharaoh, that bitter taskmaster, who is set forth as an ex...
The souls of those believers are pregnant who are able to say at the beginning of faith: “From reverence for you, Lord, we have conceived and given birth.” - "Commentary on Amos 1.1.4–5"
We, however, who heard the Lord our Savior say that those in Judea should flee to the mountains also lift our own eyes to the mountains, concerning which it was written: “I raise my eyes to the mountains, whence comes my assistance.” And in another place [it is written], “Its foundation is in the holy mountains,” and “The Lord surrounds his people as the mountains surround them,” and “The city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden.” We must shed the skin of the letter and, ascending Mount Zion barefoot with Moses, say, “I will cross over and see this great vision.” [This is] so that we can understand those souls to be pregnant who conceived the beginning of faith from the seed of doctrine and from talking with God, who say with Isaiah, “Out of reverence for you, Lord, we have conceived and given birth, bringing the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.” - "Letter 121.4"
