If, as I was saying, we are in the church, if we possess the faith of the church, of the apostles, of Christ, the truths of Christian teaching, we are the mountains of Zion. We do not want to be among the valleys of Zion; we want to be mountains of Zion. Zion, indeed, has its valleys; it has plains, too. The sinner is a valley of Zion, not a mountain. Someone may interpose, You are giving us your own opinion. Let us call upon the testimony of Isaiah when Zion had fallen into sin, in which after many visions, the prophet mentions one against Idumea, one against Moab, one against Edom and the sons of Ammon, and lastly, a vision of the valley of Zion. Because Zion had descended from sublime faith, it fell recklessly from the mountain into the valley.

Before all else, then, let us flee from the valleys of Zion and come to the plains; from the plains, let us go to the hills, from the hills up the mountains.

Gog is a Greek word translated in Latin by roof (tectum) and magog by from the roof (de tecto). All pride and false knowledge, therefore, that raises itself against the acknowledgment of the truth is indicated by these words. And this is the roof about which Isaiah spoke in his vision against the valley of Zion: What has happened to you now, that you have all gone up to the empty roof?^[1] We shall understand roof to refer to the leaders of heretics and from the roof to those who accept their teaching. How beautiful it is, after so many mystical prophecies contained in this volume, to find at last a prophecy against Gog and Magog.

Now is the time to utter aloud those words of the prophet who said, Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for the slain of the daughters of my people?^[1] For, even if deep silence enfolds them and they lie dispossessed once and for all of their senses by the horrible deed (for by the deadly blow they have been deprived already of the very awareness of their condition), still we must not tearlessly disregard so great a fall. For, if Jeremiah judged those whose bodies were smitten in war worthy of innumerable laments, what should be said regarding so terrible a disaster to souls? Your slain, it is said, are not slain by the sword, and your dead are not dead in battle. But I bewail the sharp sting that causes real death, that is, grievous sin, and the fiery darts of the evil one, barbarously burning soul and body alike.

Grief is often capable of refreshing distressed souls and of rendering a burdened conscience light: consider how often women, when they have lost their most beloved children, break their hearts and perish if they are forbidden to mourn and to shed tears. But if they do all which those who are sad are apt to do, they are relieved and receive consolation. And what wonder that this should be the case with women, when you may even see a prophet affected in a similar manner? Therefore he was continually saying, Leave me alone. I will weep bitterly. Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people. So oftentimes sadness is the bearer of consolation; and if it is so with regard to this world, much more with regard to spiritual things.

Remember the compassion of God, how he heals with olive oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written, how he that falls rises again, and he that is turned away turns again,^[1] he that has been smitten is healed, he that is caught by wild beasts escapes, and he that confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he return and live.^[2] Be not contemptuous^[3] as one who has fallen into the depths of sins.

There is still time for patience, time for forbearance, time for healing, time for amendment. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand in the way of sinners,^[4] but turn aside; for then you will be saved when turning back you bewail your sins. In fact, from labors there is health; for sweat, salvation. So take heed, lest, in wishing to keep your contracts with others, you transgress your covenants with God that you confessed before many witnesses.^[5] Do not, therefore, because of certain human considerations, hesitate to come to me. For, receiving my dead, I shall lament; I shall care for him, I shall weep bitterly for the devastation of the daughter of my people. All welcome you, all will aid you in your sufferings. Do not lose heart; be mindful of the days of old. There is salvation; there is amendment. Have courage; do not despair. There is no law that passes sentence of death without pity, but grace, exceeding the chastisement, awaits the amendment. Not yet have the doors been closed; the Bridegroom listens;^[6] sin is not the master. Again take up the struggle; do not draw back, but pity yourself and all of us in Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory and might, now and forever, for ages of ages. Amen.

It is, after all, the practice of the prophets and the just to grieve not only for themselves but also for the rest of humankind.

Now we say that the wicked are dead, but not in an ascetic life opposed to sin; nor do they, like the saints, bear about dying in their bodies. But it is the soul which they bury in sins and follies, drawing near to the dead and satisfying it with dead nourishment. [They are] like young eagles which, from high places, fly upon the carcasses of the dead, and which the law prohibited, commanding figuratively, You are not to eat the eagle or any other bird that feeds on a dead carcass.^[1] And it pronounced unclean any other animal that eats the dead, for these kill the soul with lusts and say nothing but let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

That too great lust of food is not to be desired. In Isaiah: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. This sin shall not be atoned for to you, even until you die. Also in Exodus: And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.^[1] Paul, in the first [letter] to the Corinthians: Food does not commend us to God; neither if we eat shall we abound, nor if we do not eat shall we lack.^[2] And again: When you come together to eat, wait one for another. If any is hungry, let him eat at home, that you may not come together for judgment.^[3] Also to the Romans: The kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.^[4] In the Gospel according to John: I have food of which you don’t know. My food is that I should do his will who sent me and should finish his work.^[5]

For all these things^[1] will work for your destruction [i.e., Shebna’s], since you have been deposed and rejected from the high priesthood, of which you showed yourself unworthy, God being a just judge who gives to each according to his worth. On you, then, he will bring these things; but on the other, Eliakim, whom he has assessed as his good servant and slave, he will invest with your robe and will honor by placing on him the crown of the high priesthood, whose ministry you had hitherto been entrusted with. For he is a man worthy of it. And since he has been promoted by God, unlike you he will not be proud and boastful. He will hold the place of a father toward all those who are going to be governed by him. Therefore, as to one who is soothing and gentle, [God] will give the glory of David, the most just and gentle king, in order to rule the people with great authority, so that none will gainsay his deeds. He will be rooted, established and placed securely at his ministry, so that no glorious member of the people shall contend or contrive envy, nor shall jealousy ever come into being on his account, but they shall trust in him as in a father.

When he says, I will call my servant Eliakim (the name Eliakim means resurrection of God), then everyone who is glorious in the house of his father will trust in him [Eliakim]. Yet what is the house of Christ’s Father if not the church? And who are glorious there? Those who put their trust in Christ, and they are not just those who are glorious according to the judgment of this world. On the opposite they may be very small people according to that judgment. But God is just and unprejudiced. He repays everyone according to the measure of their spiritual age [maturity], as in that respect some are fathers yet others are still toddlers, babies and teenagers.