Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Isaiah 5:18

Western Saints

Jerome

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope. Those who say: let his work speed up and come quickly, so that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel approach and come, so that we may know it. As for the cart rope, the Septuagint translated it as a strap of the yoke of a heifer or a cow. And it is more commonly read that the ropes are called sins. Among them is this: Each one is bound by the cords of their own sins (Proverbs 5:22). …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Bede

Our Lord shows what reward awaits hypocritical workers when he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple. They are cast out as sharers of the inheritance of the saints if, after they are chosen to be among the saints, they either perform good acts deceitfully or evil acts openly. He also drives out the sheep and oxen when he shows the life and teaching of such persons deserve condemnation. …

Homilies on the Gospels 2:1 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

185. Woe to you that draw. Here he denounces the pertinacity of their sinning: and first, he denounces their fault, second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore as the tongue of the fire devours the stubble (Isa 5:24). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he denounces the fault in general, second, he explains it in particular, where it says, that say (Isa 5:19). …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗