Bede : Neither was heaven created in any six-day period and the stars illuminated and the dry land separated from the water and the trees and vegetation planted. Rather, Scripture customarily uses "day" to denote an unspecified period of time, as the apostle did when he said, "Behold, this is the day of salvation." He was not referring to a particular day but to the entirety of the time of the present life in which we labor for eternal salvation. The prophet also spoke not of one specific day but of numerous moments of divine grace, saying, "In that day, the deaf will hear the words of this book." Moreover, it is difficult to understand how in one day God made heaven and earth and all the brush of the field and every plant of every region, unless we say that all creatures were created simultaneously in formless matter, according to which it is written: "He who lives forever created all things together." — Commentary on Genesis 1:2.4-5 Jerome : (Verse 18). On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. But when Lebanon is changed into Carmel, and Carmel into a forest, then those who were deaf and could not hear the words of the prophetic book (of which we have spoken before, that all Holy Scripture is called one book, as Ecclesiastes says: 'The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails fixed deep in, given by one Shepherd') will hear and speak, to whom the Savior will say: Ephphatha (which means, 'Be opened') (Mark 7). And that which we translate, the eyes of the blind shall see darkness and mist, the interpretation of which is easy; Aquila and Theodotion and Symmachus translated: The eyes of the blind shall see darkness and mist: to show the sacraments of Christ to the people of the nations, who were previously blind, according to what is said: Dark water in the clouds of the sky (Ps. 17, 12). And in the same psalm it is written about God: He set darkness as his hiding place (Ibid. 12). And in Proverbs we read: This wise person will be wiser by hearing these things and will have possession of prudent governance and will understand parables and dark sayings spoken by the wise and enigmas (Prov. I, 5, 6). Moreover, Moses, in order to understand and see God (Exod. XX), entered into a cloud and darkness, of which it is said in the Psalm: Darkness is under his feet (Ps. XVII, 10). — Commentary on Isaiah