The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
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Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
Prey will not be taken in advance. Sound of whips, sound of rumbling wheels, pursuing horses, hurtling chariots, charging horsemen, flashing swords, gleaming weapons, numbers of wounded, heavy casualties. There was no respite for its nations; they will be weak in their bodies from the great degree of prostitution. Again the treatment is developed on the basis of what normally happens. Bird catchers, you see, envelop the densely compact bushes with nets, and in many cases catch those hidden under them by laying hold of them—no mean feat. He says that prey will not be taken in advance by them; in other words, some would not hunt as in the past, seizing others’ possessions for themselves, nor would there be a snare and trap for the weaker ones, since a different concern occupied them and a struggle for the ultimate hung over them with the sound of whips being heard there. I have the impression that once again the prophet describes clearly the tumult arising from wa...
O city of blood, completely false, full of iniquity. He gave it the name city of blood; those who reigned over Nineveh were bloodthirsty and disposed to murder, while on a different note its inhabitants were warlike, ever on the alert to conduct wild sorties against whomever they met. He says it was false because awash with idols, whose utter falsity could not be gainsaid; its handmade gods, falsely named, stole glory from the Divinity, being only “silver and gold, works of human hands,” as Scripture says. Jeremiah in his wisdom somewhere calls it “a land of statues.” In another way as well, it could be understood to be false, the falsity being taken to refer to knavery, scheming, and deceit that is hated by God, obviously because accompanying iniquity. After all, where there are deceit and scheming, there follows without question iniquitous behavior as well. Now, Jerusalem, killer of the Lord, was also city of blood, completely false, full of iniquity; we recall Christ’...
And again: “I will reestablish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am Lord, that you may remember and be confounded and may no more open your mouth because of your confusion, when I shall be pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God.” Thus it is clearly indicated by these divine words what was meant in another place by the statement “And though cleansing you he shall not make you innocent.” Even the just, being restored to their former state after committing sin, do not dare open their mouth but say with the apostle, “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
