God did not approve of Hezekiah’s proposal. The fact that he mentioned only himself in his prayer and not the people was blameworthy. That is why the prophet says in what follows, Comfort my people, says the Lord.

Hezekiah offered prayers to God because he had been told that death was imminent, but he failed to pray that evil should be averted from his descendants. Hence Isaiah says, Comfort, comfort my people, you priests.

Hezekiah was at a loss for a defense. Since he could offer no excuse for his crimes, he said that God’s word was good, even though it foretold things that should have made him shed tears. Then he asks for peace in his own days, bidding goodbye, as it were, to those who were to come after him and thereby neglecting his native land, his own city and his own race. But it would have been better for him to be sorry for the things that had been predicted and to ask God for mercy and happiness (not temporary and restricted) on behalf of those to come after him.

Observe, you who are our beloved sons, how merciful yet righteous the Lord our God is; how gracious and kind to me. And yet most certainly he will not acquit the guilty,^[1] although he welcomes returning sinners and revives them, leaving no room for suspicion to those who wish to judge sternly and reject offenders entirely, refusing to promise exhortations to them that might otherwise bring them to repentance. In contradiction to people like this, Isaiah says to the bishops, Comfort, comfort my people, you priests. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem. It therefore behooves you, on hearing those words of his, to encourage those who have offended and lead them to repentance. Give them hope that it is not in vain that you enter into their situation of sin, because you love them. Readily receive those who are penitent and rejoice over them. Judge the sinners with mercy and compassion. For if somebody was walking beside the river and ready to stumble, and you pushed him and threw him into the river, instead of offering him your hand to help, you would be guilty of murdering your brother or sister. Instead, you should lend a helping hand when they’re ready to fall. Otherwise they will perish without anyone to help. And you do this so that the people watching are warned and so that the offenders may not utterly perish. It is your duty, O bishop, neither to overlook the sins of the people nor to reject those who are penitent so that you may not unskillfully destroy the Lord’s flock or dishonor his new name, which he has imposed on his people. And you yourself should also be above reproach as those ancient pastors were of whom God speaks to Jeremiah and others.^[2]

The God of the universe has left the king aside to invite the priests to give courage back to Jerusalem, as if the chastisement with which it had been threatened had already occurred. This is made clear in the passage to follow: Comfort [Jerusalem], for its humiliation is accomplished. The words of the threat have received a perfect accomplishment. [Its] sin is put away: for it has received of the Lord’s hand double the amount of its sins. It is worthwhile to admire the kindness of the Master at this point: because he is good and his compassion is unfathomable, and although he inflicted a punishment less than equal to the sin, he says, by reason of great benevolence, that this lesser punishment is double the amount of the sin. Now that the chastisement was less than the sin, the same prophet has cried in testimony: Your chastening was to us with small affliction.^[1] Nevertheless, because he tempers his justice with infinite mercy, the lesson that the victims of the chastisement call small, the judge has called double [the amount of the sin]. Then he teaches the comforters the means of comfort.

How is it that some receive at the Lord’s hand double for their sins and the measure of their wickedness is doubly filled up, as in the correction of Israel, while the sins of others are removed by a sevenfold compensation?^[1] What is the measure of the Amorites that is not yet full?^[2] And how is the sinner either acquitted or chastised again, acquitted perhaps, because reserved for the other world, chastised because healed thereby in this?

There is also another type of consolation to those who remove heavy punishments, as you have it written in the book of Isaiah: Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord. Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, comfort it, for its humiliation is complete, its sin is removed, for it has received from the Lord’s hand double for its sins. Although faith was lacking, punishment makes good; those who are not absolved by the praise of merits are relieved by the removal of punishments.

The Lord wants to find in you a path by which he can enter into your souls and make his journey. Prepare for him the path of which it is said, Make straight his path. The voice of one crying in the desert—the voice cries, prepare the way.

Now the way of the Lord is made straight in two ways: by contemplation, which is clarified by truth unmixed with falsehood, and by activity, which follows sound contemplation of the appropriate action to be taken, which is conformed to the correct sense of these things to be done.

God, indeed, never descends from any place, for he says, I fill heaven and earth.^[1] But he seems to descend when the Word of God enters our hearts, as the prophet has said, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. We are to do this, so that, as he himself promised, he may come together with the Father and make his abode with us.^[2]

While the heavenly powers rejoice, let the souls that are to be united to the spiritual bridegroom make themselves ready. For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord. For this is no light matter, no ordinary and indiscriminate union according to the flesh but the all-searching Spirit’s election according to faith.

They were not reborn, those who were baptized by John’s baptism, by which Christ himself was baptized.^[1] Rather, they were prepared by the ministry of a forerunner, who said, Prepare a way for the Lord—for him in whom alone they could be reborn.

John [the Baptist] was filled with the Holy Spirit; and he had a baptism from heaven, not from human beings. But how long did he have it? He said, Prepare the way for the Lord. But when the Lord was known, he himself became the way; there was no longer need for the baptism of John, by which the way was to be prepared for the Lord.

The true consolation, the genuine comfort and the real deliverance from the iniquities of humankind is the incarnation of our God and Savior. Now the first who acted as herald of this event was the inspired John the Baptist. Accordingly, the prophetic text proclaims the realities that relate to him in advance, for that is what the three blessed Evangelists have taught us and that the most divine Mark has even made the prologue of his work. As for the inspired John, whom the Pharisees asked whether he himself was the Christ, he declared on his part: I am ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord’ as the prophet Isaiah said;^[1] I am not God the Word but a voice, for it is as a herald that I am announcing God the Word, who is incarnate. Moreover, he refers to the Gentiles as the untrodden [land] because they have not yet received the prophetic stamp.

In that the Word has now become flesh and dwelled among us, now there will not be in any way the voice of a prophet in the desert but the voice of the archangel, preparing the way for the one coming not in the humility of the flesh but for him who is with the Father. And in those days they were going out into the desert, so as to hear the forerunner of the assumed man and to see the sand perturbed by the wind.

I am the voice of one that cries out in the desert. This means, I am not the Word that was with God from the beginning and that was God, but I am rather a voice; in other words, I am a minister of the Word, in order that through me he may reach the hearing and senses of [people]. For this reason the blessed Baptist exclaimed with equal humility, He must increase, while I must decrease.^[1]

Since even then by Isaiah it was Christ, the Word and the Spirit of the Creator who prophetically described John as the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. And [he] was about to come forth for the purpose of terminating from that point onwards the course of the law and the prophets: by their fulfillment and not their extinction.

There it is written, a voice of one crying in the wilderness, the Word is conceived in the virgin’s womb. If the voice is not the Word, it is then a loud clanging of metal.^[1] For one then would not be able to say that every word is a sound but not every sound is a word. For it is not unfitting to take the way as that which came up to the very heart and filled us inwardly. Indeed, the heart became his place to which he comes and remains.

Do you see that both by the words of the prophet and by his own preaching, this one and only thing is manifested, that he came, making a way and preparing beforehand, not bestowing the gift, which was the remission, but ordering in good time the souls of such as should receive the God of all?

He has clearly shown by these terms the facility of the evangelical proclamation: thanks to this facility, in a short time it filled the whole world. One should understand by filled valleys and mountains and hills brought low that literally it relates to a way that is level and cleared of all obstacles, but in a figurative sense, the souls of the unbelievers are the valleys, those who are lying in some way at the bottom of a pit and who do not have the intelligence to turn toward the heavens, while the mountains and the hills are the demons who are worshiped on the mountains and on the hills, whose deceit has been ended by the incarnation of our Savior.

It is said that the valleys are filled, because the Lord has entered the world, and has redeemed all the peoples from the bondage of the devil, and brought them back to the faith and adoration of their Creator and has taught them to hope in eternal salvation. This is also said, because he has filled the deep valleys and the horrible and inhospitable caves with ascetics, who, after abandoning the cares of this world, exclusively devote themselves to honor and praise God.

According to the plain teaching of the Lord, the king’s highway is easy and smooth, though it may be felt as hard and rough. For those who piously and faithfully serve him, when they have taken on them the yoke of the Lord and have learned of him, that he is meek and lowly of heart, at once [they] somehow or other lay aside the burden of earthly passions and find no labor but rest for their souls, by the gift of the Lord. [To this] he himself testifies by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Stand on the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls.^[1] For to them at once the crooked shall become straight and the rough ways plain; and they shall taste and see that the Lord is gracious.^[2] And when they hear Christ proclaiming in the Gospel, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you, they will lay aside the burden of their sins and realize what follows: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.^[3] The way of the Lord then has refreshment if it is kept according to his law.

The one who has made these declarations, he says, is incapable of deceit. As for me, I am greatly astonished at those who think that the prophet has made these prophecies on the subject of the return from Babylon; for they should have considered that the prophetic text has clearly proclaimed in advance that the salvation of God would be evident for all people, whereas this return [from exile] was not evident for all, while the cross of the Savior and the sufferings of the Master have reached even to the ends of the earth.

But when he took on flesh, he took on the universal logos of flesh. For he triumphed over the powers of all flesh in the flesh, and thus he came to the aid of all flesh, as is said in Isaiah, all flesh will see the salvation of God, and in the psalms, All flesh will come to you.^[1]

He [Christ] was a reproach but at the same time also the majesty of the Lord, as it is written, And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see the salvation of God. What had he lost if he had nothing less? He had neither comeliness nor beauty, but he had not ceased to be the power of God. He appeared a man, but the divine majesty and glory of the Father shone on earth.

And this is the Lord of glory, and we too have come to know his glory. However, those of old did not see it when he showed himself during the dispensation in which he was made man, equal to God the Father in strength, operation and glory, bearing all things by the word of his power and with great tranquillity performing godly works, enhancing creation, raising the dead and performing other deeds of wonder effortlessly. For the glory of the Lord appeared, and all flesh saw the salvation of God, that is, of the Father. For he has sent us his Son from heaven to salvation and redemption. For the law brings no one to perfection, for the sacrifices in prefigurative form were unable to deal with sin. But we have been perfected in Christ and reconciled from every fault as we have been honored with the spirit of sonship.

The voice of the Lord is on the waters.^[1] In many places you might find the word voice occurring. Therefore, for the sake of understanding what the voice of the Lord is, we should gather, as far as we are able, from the divine Scripture what has been said about the voice; for instance, in the divine warning to Abraham: And immediately the voice came to him: He shall not be your heir.^[2] And in Moses: And all the people saw the voice and the flames.^[3] Again in Isaiah: The voice of one saying, Cry. With us, then, voice is either air that has been struck or some form that is in the air against which he who is crying out wishes to strike. Now, what is the voice of the Lord? Would it be considered the impact on the air? Or air, which has been struck reaching the hearing of him to whom the voice comes? Or neither of these but that this is a voice of another kind, namely, an image formed by the mind of people whom God wishes to hear his own voice, so that they have this representation corresponding to that which frequently occurs in their dreams? Indeed, just as, although the air is not struck, we keep some recollection of certain words and sounds occurring in our dreams, not receiving the voice through our hearing but through the impression on our heart itself, so also we must believe that some such voice from God appeared in the prophets.

This is the nature of all flesh and of the human who bears the image of the earthly; I mean the body-lover who lives according to the flesh. In like manner the grass of the earth and the beautiful flowers rise up and bloom for a short time, but soon they wither through their unstable nature. . . . The voice in the desert prophesying about God the Word is John teaching about Christ, as only from then on will it stand forever, and it guards those who stand with it and run with it as those who are becoming models of its salvation.

I want the marvel of creation to gain such complete acceptance from you that, wherever you may be found and whatever kind of plants you may chance on, you may receive a clear reminder of the Creator. First, then, whenever you see a grassy plant or a flower, think of human nature, remembering the comparison of the wise Isaiah, that all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of humanity as the flower of the grass. For the short span of life and the briefly enduring pleasure and joy of human happiness have found a most apt comparison in the words of the prophet. Today he is vigorous in body, grown fleshy from delicacies, with a flowerlike complexion, in the prime of life, fresh and eager, and irresistible in attack. Tomorrow that same one is piteous or wasted with age or weakened by disease.

We are still alive, but part of us has already perished in old age. Even though our soul is the same, nevertheless, we who suffer the loss of the pristine vigor of youth are, in a real sense, other than we were.

Indeed, if anyone regards how weak the flesh is, that we wax and wane with the minutes of the clock and that we do not remain in the same state . . . there can be no doubt that flesh is rightly called grass and its glory like the flower of the grass or the rushes of the fields. The one who was once an infant is suddenly a boy; the boy is suddenly a youth and up to old age is changed through stages. A beautiful woman who carries a train of young men behind her becomes wrinkled, her brow all furrowed; she who before was fit for love is afterwards fit for loathing. . . . But the one who has and guards the image of the heavenly, such humanity discerns the Lord’s salvation, is renewed daily in knowledge after the image of the Creator and puts on an incorruptible and immortal body; it changes its glory but not its nature.^[1]

Wonder not that you will be a sharer of [Christ’s] eternity. For he first became a sharer of your flesh, which is like grass. Will he who assumed from you what was lowly deny to you what is exalted with respect to you? . . . How great, then, is the hope of the grass since the Word has been made flesh? He who abides forever has not disdained to assume grass, that the grass might not despair of itself.

So those flourishing, wicked people are like grass, sprouting in winter, drying up in summer. Take care that you, though, fix your roots in the Word of God, which abides forever, and that you are a tree living in a hidden way. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.^[1] That is where your root is; that is where you are alive. That, you see, is where you have placed your hope. . . . So do not let the winter time get you down. In the winter many prolific fruit trees lack the ornament of leaves and without the grace of fruit are like withered trees, and yet they are not in fact withered. When the grass is flourishing, they haven’t even got leaves . . . the summer is the judge . . . the sun of justice is the judge.

Let all who long to be refreshed by the sweetness of the living bread, all who love to be renewed by the banquet of heavenly grace, sit down on the grass. Let them trample on the bloom of the grass. Let them chastise the body and subject it to slavery.^[1]

And [Christ] commanded all the multitudes to sit down on the grass because of what is said in Isaiah, All flesh is grass. That is to say, he commanded them to subjugate the flesh and to keep in subjection the mind of the flesh,^[1] so that one might be able to partake of the loaves that Jesus blesses.

Both what is being thought of by intelligence and what is sounding out loud in speech is changeable and dissimilar. The first will not remain when you have forgotten it, nor will the second when you stop speaking. But the Word of the Lord remains forever and abides unchanged and unchangeable.

What advancement, then, was it to the Immortal to have assumed the mortal? Or what promotion is it to the Everlasting to have put on the temporal? What reward can be great to the everlasting God and King in the bosom of the Father? Do you not see that this too was done and written because of us and for us, that the Lord, having become a human being, might make immortal us who are mortal and temporal and bring us into the everlasting kingdom of heaven? Do you Arians not blush, speaking lies against the divine oracles? For when our Lord Jesus Christ was among us, we indeed were promoted, as rescued from sin; but he is the same, nor did he change when he became man, but, as has been written, the Word of God abides forever. Surely as, before he became human, he, the Word, dispensed to the saints the Spirit as his own, so also when made human, he sanctifies all by the Spirit and says to his disciples, Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Word of the Father dwells in our hearts through faith. When we receive the riches of his divine Spirit, then we have him in ourselves as that which is most worth having, since he is the giver of eternal life. For when the Word dwells in us, he remains there forever, sustaining and enlivening us. Now if anyone wishes to know from the Word of God his commandment, then we say that this is immeasurably useful. For God guards both the commandment and those who observe it for the life which is yet to come. As was said by the Lord himself, Truly I tell you, that if anyone keeps my word, he shall not see death.^[1]