אֽוֹי־לִ֣י אִמִּ֔י כִּ֣י יְלִדְתִּ֗נִי אִ֥ישׁ רִ֛יב וְאִ֥ישׁ מָד֖וֹן לְכָל־הָאָ֑רֶץ לֹֽא־נָשִׁ֥יתִי וְלֹא־נָֽשׁוּ־בִ֖י כֻּלֹּ֥ה מְקַלְלַֽונִי׃ (ס)
¡Ay de mí, madre mía, que me has engendrado hombre de contienda y hombre de discordia á toda la tierra! Nunca les dí á logro, ni lo tomé de ellos; y todos me maldicen.
On the Confusion of Tongues
The “symphony” of evil suggests the “symphony” of good, and this appears in the words of the patriarchs “we are men of peace, sons of one man.” The one man is the Divine Logos, and only those who acknowledge him are men of peace, while the opposite creed of polytheism breeds discord (40–43). Yet this peace is also a war against the symphony of evil. This thought leads to an exposition of Jeremiah 15:10, particularly of the description by the prophet of himself as a “man of war” (43–51), and hence to the “symphony” gained by the Captains who fought against Midian (52–57), and the highest of all symphonies, when Israel would “do and hear,” that is would do God’s will even before they heard the commandment (58–59).
On the Confusion of Tongues
§ 44. Jer. 15:10. Other MSS. of the LXX have οὐκ ὠφέλησα οὐδὲ ὠφέλησάν με, and so some of the MSS. of Philo. Origen, however, remarks that while most of the copies of the LXX have ὠφέλ-, the best and those most conforming to the Hebrew have ὠφείλ-. Wendland adopted ὠφείλ- on the grounds (1) that the better MSS. of Philo have it, (2) that it is supported by the interpretation given in § 50. This last seems to me very doubtful, and altogether there is little or nothing to choose between the two.
On the Confusion of Tongues
[44] The truth of my words is attested first by the consciousness of every virtue-lover, which feels what I have described, and secondly by a chorister of the prophetic company, who possessed by divine inspiration spoke thus: “O my mother, how great didst thou bear me, a man of combat and a man of displeasure in all the earth! I did not owe, nor did they owe to me, nor did my strength fail from their curses” (Jer. 15:10).