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The City of God

Chapter 24.--Of the Prophets, Who Either Were the Last Among the Jews, or Whom the Gospel History Reports About the Time of Christ's Nativity.

But in that whole time after they returned from Babylon, after Malachi, Haggai, and Zechariah, who then prophesied, and Ezra, they had no prophets down to the time of the Saviour's advent except another Zechariah, the father of John, and Elisabeth his wife, when the nativity of Christ was already close at hand; and when He was already born, Simeon the aged, and Anna a widow, and now very old; and, last of all, John himself, who, being a young man, did not predict that Christ, now a young man, was to come, but by prophetic knowledge pointed Him out though unknown; for which reason the Lord Himself says, "The law and the prophets were until John." ¹ But the prophesying of these five is made known to us in the gospel, where the virgin mother of our Lord herself is also found to have prophesied before John. But this prophecy of theirs the wicked Jews do not receive; but those innumerable persons received it who from them believed the gospel. For then truly Israel was divided in two, by that division which was foretold by Samuel the prophet to king Saul as immutable. But even the reprobate Jews hold Malachi, Haggai, Zechariah, and Ezra as the last received into canonical authority. For there are also writings of these, as of others, who being but a very few in the great multitude of prophets, have written those books which have obtained canonical authority, of whose predictions it seems good to me to put in this work some which pertain to Christ and His Church; and this, by the Lord's help, shall be done more conveniently in the following book, that we may not further burden this one, which is already too long.

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La cité de dieu

CHAPITRE XXIV.

DES DERNIERS PROPRÈTES DES JUIFS.

Tout le temps qui s’écoula depuis leur retour jusqu’à l’avénement du Sauveur, c’est-à-dire depuis Malachie, Aggée, Zacharie et Esdras, ils n’eurent point de prophètes parmi eux. Zacharie, père de saint Jean-Baptiste, et Elisabeth, sa femme, prophétisèrent au temps de la naissance du Messie avec Siméon et Anne. On peut y joindre saint Jean-Baptiste, qui fut le dernier des Prophètes, et qui montra Jésus-Christ, s’il ne le prédit; ce qui a fait dire à Notre-Seigneur que « la loi et les Prophètes ont duré jusqu’à Jean¹ ».

L’Evangile nous apprend aussi que là Vierge même prophétisa avec saint Jean; mais les Juifs infidèles ne reçoivent point ces prophéties, quoique reçues par tous ceux d’entre eux qui ont embrassé notre religion. C’est véritablement à cette époque qu’Israël a été divisé en deux, de cette division immuable prédite par Samuel et Saut. Pour Malachie, Aggée, Zacharie et Esdras, tous les Juifs les mettent au nombre des livres canoniques; et il ne sera pas hors de propos d’en rapporter quelques témoignages qui concernent Jésus-Christ et son Eglise. Mais cela se fera plus commodément au livre suivant, et il est temps de mettre un terme à celui-ci.