Chapter summaries and lives of the Twelve Prophets 11–12

[Zechariah] 1. An exhortation to repentance, and a reproach of the Jewish people, because they emulated the wickedness of their forefathers. 2. A prophecy of the courses of the apostles, and of renewal, as far as Jerusalem, which itself through the new … has come to be. 3. A riddle of the Gospels, by which the nations were sharpened against the ancient Jerusalem. 4. A prophecy that the new Jerusalem will be built by Christ, and will have a multitude of inhabitants, and … 5. A calling of the nations to the new Zion; a threat against the demons; and the good news of the Lord’s arrival with flesh in Zion, through which the [nations] will turn to him. 6. An account of the cleansing of Jesus, their priest at that time; and a solemn charge to him, as to what he ought to keep. 7. A prophecy of the Saviour’s arrival, on whom the gifts of the Spirit rest; and a prediction of the forgiveness of sins that will come through the saving passion, and of the enjoyment of mystical good things. 8. A contemplation of the images of the dignity and working of the Spirit, of the law concerning it, and of the grace and power of Christ; and a rebuke of the devil, as trying to hinder the saving preaching. 9. A prophecy about Christ and the workings of the Spirit in him; and an image of law and grace, and of those who were to serve the manifestation of the Spirit. 10. A threat against thieves and perjurers, as about to be destroyed with their whole houses. 11. An image of the injustice practised among men, which sin assembles and ungodliness …, having its dwelling in the confusion of error. 12. An image of the way of life which the generations of prophets and of the law, of patriarchs and apostles, ran. 13. A riddle of the crowns that will be for those cleansed from sin through repentance, … sets forth as a figure. 14. An account of what the kings of nations sent to ask about the ark; and a reproof of Israel, that they do not fast or eat according to God’s purpose; … whom they then [asked], Jesus the priest … 15. An admonition as to whom God is pleased with; an accusation of the people’s disobedience; and a threat of their dispersion and of laying waste. 16. A prediction of the good things that will be for [Jerusalem] through the Saviour’s arrival. 17. An account of what [befell] the ancient people before the temple of God was built, and what came to the new people from God after it was built; and a teaching of what they ought to accomplish. 18. An exhortation to fasting for those who confess, as having their gladness in it; and a prediction of the conversion of the nations through the Saviour’s arrival. 19. A prophecy of the destruction of error that will come to the nations; and a prediction of the faith planted among them, through which they no longer fear the devil’s driving. 20. A prophecy about Christ: how, seated on the donkey, he presides over peace for the nations, using the apostles as instruments, and destroys Jewish arrogance …, turning those who had strayed to the preaching of the gospel. 21. That one must receive both grace and the law from God; a denunciation of the Greek soothsayers; a threat against the Jewish shepherds; and a prophecy of the turning to God that will come about through the apostles, by baptism and repentance, for the nations. 22. A prediction of the entrance of the Spirit to the nations, of the fall of the idols, and of the lament of the Jewish shepherds, because their purifications are abolished. 23. A prophecy about Christ, who by the Father’s good pleasure was to shepherd those who had formerly been lost; a threat of the laying waste of the Jews, of the removal of Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, and of the transfer of the written and the natural law to him for the correction of each. 24. A prophecy of the knowledge that will be among the nations, and of the Lord’s …; and how the silver was shown reprobate in it, and the covenant with the people of the Jews became an accusation. 25. A prophecy of what the Antichrist will do, and what he is going to suffer. 26. A prediction of what will befall Jerusalem in the laying waste, and of the good things for those saved through repentance: how they will rise to the rank of the righteous, and the righteous to that of the angels. 27. A prophecy of the destruction of the demons and of the strengthening of the Spirit that comes upon the faithful; of the evils that will befall the Jews at the time of the end; of the extermination of the idols and of the spirit of error; and of what Christ, prophesying, will suffer from the people of the Jews. 28. A prophecy of the Master’s cross, of Peter’s denial, of the scattering of the apostles, of the destruction of the Jews and the receiving of those of them saved through confession, and of Christ’s generalship, which he sets in array against the demons for the salvation of the nations. 29. A prediction of Christ’s ascension, from which the mystery is distributed to all the regions of the world; and a prophecy of the wonders that will be at that time, of the subjection of the nations, and of the settlement of the new Jerusalem. 30. A threat against the nations that did not turn; an account of the wealth of those who confess; and a sentence against sinners, that they will suffer the same as the ungodly. 31. A prophecy of the destruction of error that will come to the nations; and a prediction of the faith planted among them, through which they no longer fear the devil’s driving. 32. A threat against those who do not go up to the new Jerusalem to celebrate the new mysteries of Christ; and a prediction that the nations will be bridled by the gospel word, … of error, and the manifestation of the mysteries, and the advance of the mysteries of Christ to a multitude.

Zechariah is interpreted “memory of the Most High,” or “victor of the people.” He was of the tribe of Levi, and was born in Gilead. Coming from the Chaldeans when already advanced in years, and having prophesied much about the temple, he gave this as a proof: he told Jozadak that he would beget a son, who would serve as priest in Jerusalem, as a type of the true high priest. He also blessed Salathiel over his son and gave him the name Zerubbabel. And in the time of Cyrus he gave a sign …; he prophesied about his service, which he would perform in Jerusalem, and blessed him greatly. And he saw … Jerusalem; and he set out his prophecy about the end of Israel, the beginning of the nations, the end of the temple, …, its overthrow from the foundations, the ceasing of prophets, priests and Sabbaths, and a double judgment. And he died in great old age, and when he passed away he was laid near Haggai.

Chapter headings of Malachi the prophet 1. That God loves man, but turns from and hates the devil; and a reproach of Israel, because they did not come to God either as Saviour or as Master. 2. An accusation of the Jewish priests for …; a prophecy of the godliness of the nations; and a threat against those who promise good things to God but offer bad things instead. 3. A threat against the Jewish priests, as the covenant with them is about to be scattered. 4. A prophecy about Christ; and a threat against the Jewish rulers, because they became the cause of the transgression of the law. 5. A rebuke against the Jews, that they did not keep brotherly love; and a curse against those who live in soft luxury and in idolatry and offer these things, at which others groaned. 6. A reminder of what was given by God concerning the law of the marriage bond with a wife; and a refutation of those who think that God is pleased with the wicked. 7. A prophecy of the coming of John the Forerunner, of the Saviour’s arrival, and of the wonders he works on arriving. 8. An accusation of the Jewish synagogues and of the people for many transgressions and for ingratitude in the firstfruits; … he gave a promise of good things to those who are set right. 9. A discourse of God himself with the righteous, because they complained that sinners fared better; and a promise of the good things that will come to the righteous, and of the evils to the wicked, in the age to come, through Christ’s first arrival. 10. An exhortation to remember what was spoken by God at Horeb, since he foretold Christ in them; and a promise of the coming of the Tishbite, [for the] turning …

… is born in Sopha …, of the tribe [of Zebulun]. While still very young he lived a good life; and since all the people honoured him as blameless and gentle, they called him Malachi, which means “angel”; for he was also comely in appearance. Moreover, whatever he himself said in prophecy, on the same day an angel of God appeared and repeated his words; but no unworthy person saw the angel, but only heard his voice, while the worthy saw his form too, as happened in the days of the anarchy, as it is written in Sophtim, that is, in the book of Judges. And while still young he was added to his fathers, in a good life, and was buried with his fathers.

[Isaiah] 1. A testimony of the elements against the lawlessness of the Jews, and an account of their blow; and a prophecy of the rejection of their feasts and sacrifices, because they pursued wicked and bloodthirsty deeds. 2. An exhortation to baptism; an accusation of the ancient Jerusalem; a threat against its rulers; and a promise of the renewal of Jerusalem, which is understood of the new one; and as this is renewed, the destruction of all the lawless in the ancient Jerusalem is announced. 3. A prophecy that the new Jerusalem and Zion will be manifest to all the nations; a rejection of the ancient people, because they emulated the ways of the lawless nations; and a prediction of the destruction of the idols and the extermination of the blasphemers. 4. A prediction that the ancient Jerusalem will lose the good things of Christ’s coming, because, besides their other wickedness, in their rebellion against Christ they emulated the lawlessness of Sodom. 5. A denunciation of the licentiousness of the Jewish people; a prediction of the stripping of their notables; and a prophecy that the workings of the Spirit will be joined to Christ’s dispensation, so that those of the circumcision who believe are enrolled for life, and every church is walled by the presence of the Spirit. 6. The rejection of the Jewish vineyard, because at Christ’s coming it bore rebellion as fruit. 7. A complaint against those who live in greed and lawless luxury; and how for them the spiritual Hades is widened, while God will be glorified in the judgment, when the righteous then receive back what they are now deprived of. 8. Woe to those who join sins to sins, who slander good things and commend evil, and who trust in their own wisdom, …

Malachi is interpreted “angel.” He, after the …