Jer. ix. 10. St. Ambrose follows the text of the LXX. with one or two variations in the punctuation. What St. Ambrose renders as “vox substantiæ” (“word of substance” or “voice of substance”) appears in the LXX. as “φωνὴ ὑπάρξεως” (which vox substantiæ represents verbatim), and in Vulg. as “vox possidentis” (“the voice of the possessor”—i.e. landowner); in the A.V. and R.V. as “the voice of the cattle.”—ὐπαρξις and substantia should be taken in the concrete sense (as they clearly represent a concrete term), like our “substance,” or “possessions.” Now in primitive society—like, e.g., that of the nomad Tartars—possessions consist mainly in horses and cattle. Cf. the evolution of the term pecunia=money.