Caesarius of Arles : What do servants think of themselves when they dare to despise the Lord's precepts, not even condescending to reread the letters of invitation whereby he asks them to the blessedness of his kingdom? If any one of us sends a letter to his administrator and he in turn not only fails to do what is commanded but even refuses to read over the orders, that person deserves to receive punishment, not pardon; imprisonment, not freedom. Similarly, one who refuses to read the sacred writings that have been transmitted from the eternal country should fear that he perhaps will not receive eternal rewards and even not escape endless punishment. So dangerous is it for us not to read the divine precepts that the prophet mournfully exclaims, "Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge." … Doubtless, if a person fails to seek God in this world through the sacred lessons, God will refuse to recognize him in eternal bliss. — SERMON 7 Jerome : (Verse 13.) Therefore, my people have been taken captive because they lack knowledge, and their nobles have perished of hunger, and their multitude has dried up with thirst. This happened literally to the people of Judah under the Roman princes Vespasian and Titus, as both Greek and Latin history relate. And even today, they suffer from this spiritually, enduring not the hunger for bread or the thirst for water, but the hunger to hear the word of God. For they have not regarded the works of the Lord, nor considered the deeds of His hands, nor have they obtained His knowledge who has spoken through the prophets (Amos 8). And in the Psalms it is said of them: They shall convert in the evening, and suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go around the city (Ps. 59:16). But the Gospel teaches that every word of doctrine is called bread and water: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Luke 4:4); And, Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst (John 4:13). And in the Psalm it is said: He has led me by the waters of refreshment (Ps. 23:2). And the Lord does not want to send away the hungry in the wilderness, so that they do not faint and fall and be killed by hunger (Matt. XV). And of the just man it is said: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Ps. XXXVI, 25). Some interpret this that is said: My people have been taken away, because they have no knowledge; and the nobles have perished with hunger, and the multitude thereof is dried up with thirst, generally as referring to Hell and Gehenna, where everyone who does not have the knowledge of God will be punished. — Commentary on Isaiah