THE PROPHECY OF SOPHONIAS
INTRODUCTION
Sophonias, whose name, saith St. Jerome, signifies “the watchman of the Lord,” or “the hidden of the Lord,” prophesied in the beginning of the reign of Josias. He was a native of Sarabatha, and of the tribe of Simeon, according to the more general opinion. He prophesied the punishments of the Jews, for their idolatry and other crimes; also the punishments that were to come on divers nations; the coming of Christ, the conversion of the Gentiles, the blindness of the Jews, and their conversion towards the end of the world. (Challoner) — Some editions read, Ezechias. (Haydock) — But this opinion is not well grounded no more than that of the Jews, who assert (Calmet) that all the ancestors mentioned by the prophets were endued with the prophetic spirit, for which reason Amos specifies none, as he was not the son of a prophet, Amos vii. 14. (St. Jerome) — Sophonias appeared a little before Jeremias, Ezechiel, Baruch, and Daniel, foretelling the captivity and return of the two tribes, the destruction of various nations, the conversion of the Gentiles, and of the Jews also towards the end of the world. (Worthington) — Many of the promises regard only the Christian Church. (Calmet)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Commentary of St Jerome
In Sophoniam
Prologus
antequam sophoniam aggrediar, qui nonus est in ordine duodecim prophetarum, respondendum uidetur his qui me irridendum aestimant, quod omissis uiris, ad uos scribam potissimum, o paula et eustochium. qui si scirent oldam, uiris tacentibus, prophetasse, et debboram iudicem pariter et propheten, hostes israel, barac timente, superasse; et iudith et esther, in typo ecclesiae, et occidisse aduersarios, et periturum israel de periculo liberasse; numquam post tergum meum manum curuarent in ciconiam. taceo de anna et elisabeth, et ceteris sanctis mulieribus, quarum uelut siderum igniculos, clarum mariae lumen abscondit. ad gentiles feminas ueniam, ut et apud saeculi philosophos uideant animorum differentias quaeri solere non corporum. plato inducit aspasiam disputantem, sappho cum pindaro scribitur et alcaeo; themista inter sapientissimos graeciae philosophatur; corneliam gracchorum, id est uestram, tota romanae urbis turba miratur; carneades eloquentissimus philosophorum, acutissimus rhetorum, qui apud consulares uiros et in academia plausus excitare consueuerat, non erubuit in priuata domo, audiente matrona, de philosophia disputare. quid referam catonis filiam, bruti coniugem, cuius uirtus facit ne patris mariti que constantiam tantopere miremur? plena est historia tam graeca quam latina uirtutibus feminarum, et quae integros libros flagitent. mihi tantum, quia aliud operis incumbit, in fine prologi dixisse sufficiat, dominum resurgentem primum apparuisse mulieribus, et apostolorum illas fuisse apostolas, ut erubescerent uiri non quaerere, quem iam fragilior sexus inuenerat.