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The City of God

Chapter 30.--What Micah, Jonah, and Joel Prophesied in Accordance with the New Testament.

The prophet Micah, representing Christ under the figure of a great mountain, speaks thus: "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the manifested mountain of the Lord shall be prepared on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall hasten unto it. Many nations shall go, and shall say, Come, let us go up into the mountain of the Lord, and into the house of the God of Jacob; and He will show us His way, and we will go in His paths: for out of Zion shall proceed the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off." ¹ This prophet predicts the very place in which Christ was born, saying, "And thou, Bethlehem, of the house of Ephratah, art the least that can be reckoned among the thousands of Judah; out of thee shall come forth unto me a leader, to be the prince in Israel; and His going forth is from the beginning, even from the days of eternity. Therefore will He give them [up] even until the time when she that travaileth shall bring forth; and the remnant of His brethren shall be converted to the sons of Israel. And He shall stand, and see, and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, and in the dignity of the name of the Lord His God: for now shall He be magnified even to the utmost of the earth." ²

The prophet Jonah, not so much by speech as by his own painful experience, prophesied Christ's death and resurrection much more clearly than if he had proclaimed them with his voice. For why was he taken into the whale's belly and restored on the third day, but that he might be a sign that Christ should return from the depths of hell on the third day?

I should be obliged to use many words in explaining all that Joel prophesies in order to make clear those that pertain to Christ and the Church. But there is one passage I must not pass by, which the apostles also quoted when the Holy Spirit came down from above on the assembled believers according to Christ's promise. He says, "And it shall come to pass after these things, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream, and your young men shall see visions: and even on my servants and mine handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit." ³

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXX: Quae Michaeas et Ionas et Ioel nouo testamento congruentia prophetarint.

Michaeas propheta Christum in figura ponens magni cuiusdam montis haec loquitur: erit in nouissimis diebus manifestus mons domini paratus super uertices montium et exaltabitur super colles. et festinabunt ad eum plebes, et ibunt gentes multae et dicent: uenite, ascendamus in montem domini et in domum dei Iacob, et ostendet nobis uiam suam, et ibimus in semitis eius; quia ex Sion procedet lex et uerbum domini ex Hierusalem. et iudicabit inter plebes multas, et redarguet gentes potentes usque in longinquum. praedicens iste propheta et locum in quo natus est Christus: et tu, inquit, Bethleem, domus Ephrata, minima es, ut sis in milibus Iuda; ex te mihi prodiet, ut sit in principem Israel; et egressus eius ab initio et ex diebus aeternitatis. propterea dabit eos usque ad tempus parturientis, pariet, et residui fratres eius conuertentur ad filios Israel. et stabit et uidebit et pascet gregem suum in uirtute domini, et in honore nominis domini dei sui erunt; quoniam nunc magnificabitur usque ad summum terrae. Ionas autem propheta non tam sermone Christum, quam sua quadam passione prophetauit, profecto apertius, quam si eius mortem et resurrectionem uoce clamaret. ut quid enim exceptus est uentre beluino et die tertio redditus, nisi ut significaret Christum de profundo inferni die tertio rediturum Ioel omnia, quae prophetat, multis uerbis conpellit exponi, ut quae pertinent ad Christum et ecclesiam dilucescant. unum tamen, quod etiam apostoli commemorauerunt, quando in congregatos credentes spiritus sanctus, sicut a Christo promissus fuerat, desuper uenit, non praetermittam. et erit, inquit, post haec, et effundam de spiritu meo super omnem carnem; et prophetabunt filii uestri et filiae uestrae, et seniores uestri somnia somniabunt, et iuuenes uestri uisa uidebunt; et quidem in seruos et ancillas meas in illis diebus effundam de spiritu meo.