THEOSISJerome of Stridon
And the Spirit lifted me up and transported me in a vision, by the Spirit of God, to the land of Chaldea, where the exiles were. The vision I had experienced was concealed from me. I then relayed to the exiles all the messages from the Lord that had been disclosed to me. Rather than the wording in the Hebrew text that we have translated as “and the vision which I saw was hid from me,” the Septuagint interprets it as “and I departed from the vision which I saw.” Both expressions convey that the prophet, carried by the Spirit rather than in body, was taken from Babylon to Jerusalem.
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When the illuminating vision that had brought him to Jerusalem and unveiled all that he later recounted was hidden from him, he returned to his previous state, sharing everything that had been revealed with the exiles—those mentioned earlier as sitting in his presence: "I sat in my house, and the elders of the Jews sat before me, and the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there, and I saw." (Ezekiel 8:1-2) In a remarkable fashion, the prophet witnessed profound visions while those who came to see him were present, though he was absent from them in spirit, being physically present only. This was all done for the sake of comforting those in captivity, assuring them that they would be restored to the land of Israel, walk in the commandments of the Lord, and that He would be their God, and they would be His people. However, those who refuse to repent and continue in their iniquities will be judged according to their actions. The Scriptures, as we have frequently pointed out, often use the term "words" to signify deeds.