Jeremias assures the remnant of the people, that if they will stay in Juda, they shall be safe; but if they go down into Egypt, they shall perish.
Ieremie praying and consulting God, 7. answereth that al those which remaine in Ierusalem shal be safe: 13. but those that goe into Aegypt shalperish.
1Then all the captains of the warriors, and Johanan the son of Caree, and Jezonias, the son of Osaias, and the rest of the people from the least to the greatest came near:Andarono tutti i capi delle milizie, e Johanan figliuolo di Caree, e Jezonia figliuolo di Osaia, e tutto il rimanente del volgo, piccoli, e grandi,AND there came al the Princes of the men of warre, and Iohanan the sonne of Caree, and Iezonias the sonne of Osaias, and the rest of the common people from litle vnto great:Et accesserunt omnes principes bellatorum, et Johanan filius Caree, et Jezonias filius Osaiæ, et reliquum vulgus, a parvo usque ad magnum, 2And they said to Jeremias the prophet: Let our supplication fall before thee: and pray thou for us to the Lord thy God for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us.E dissero a Geremia profeta: Siano accette dinanzi a te le nostre suppliche, e prega il Signore Dio tuo per noi, e per tutti questi avanzi, che pochi siano noi rimasi di molti, che eravamo, con forme tu vedi cogli occhi tuoi,And they said to Ieremie the prophet: Let our prayer fal in thy sight: and pray for vs to the Lord thy God for al this remnant, because we are left few of manie, as thine eies doe behold vs.dixeruntque ad Jeremiam prophetam: Cadat oratio nostra in conspectu tuo, et ora pro nobis ad Dominum Deum tuum, pro universis reliquiis istis, quia derelicti sumus pauci de pluribus, sicut oculi tui non intuentur: 3And let the Lord thy God shew us the way by which we may walk, and the thing that we must do.E faccia il Signore Dio tuo conoscere a noi la via, per cui dobbiam camminare, e quello, che abbiam da fare.And let our Lord thy God tel vs the way, by which we may goe, and the word that we must doe.et annuntiet nobis Dominus Deus tuus viam per quam pergamus, et verbum quod faciamus. 4And Jeremias the prophet said to them: I have heard you: behold I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words: and whatsoever thing he shall answer me, I will declare it to you: and I will hide nothing from you.E il profeta Geremia disse loro: Ho inteso: ecco, che io farò orazione al Signore Dio vostro a tenore delle vostre parole: qualunque cosa mi risponderà il Signore, io ve la annunzierò, e nulla vi terrò celato.And Ieremie the prophet said to them: I haue heard: behold I pray to our Lord your God according to your wordes: euerie word whatsoeuer he shal answer me, I wil tel you: neither wil I conceale from you anie thing.Dixit autem ad eos Jeremias propheta: Audivi. Ecce ego oro ad Dominum Deum vestrum secundum verba vestra: omne verbum quodcumque responderit mihi indicabo vobis, nec celabo vos quidquam.
5And they said to Jeremias: The Lord be witness between us of truth and faithfulness, if we do not according to every thing for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.E quegli dissero a Geremia: Il Signore sia testimone tra noi della verità, e della sincerità nostra, se noi non faremo appuntino tutto quello, che il Signore Dio tuo manderà a dire a noi per bocca tua.And they said to Ieremie: Be our Lord witnes betwen vs of truth and faith, if we doe not according to euerie word, for the which our Lord, thy God shal send thee to vs.Et illi dixerunt ad Jeremiam: Sit Dominus inter nos testis veritatis et fidei, si non juxta omne verbum in quo miserit te Dominus Deus tuus ad nos, sic faciemus: 6Whether it be good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee: that it may be well with us when we shall hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.Dolce, od acerba, che ella sia, noi ubbidiremo alla voce del Signore Dio nostro, verso del quale noi ti mandiamo: affinchè abbian felice esito le cose nostre, quando avremo ascoltata la voce del Signore Dio nostro.Whether it be good, or euil, we wil obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee: that it may be wel with vs, when we shal heare the voice of the Lord our God.sive bonum est, sive malum, voci Domini Dei nostri, ad quem mittimus te, obediemus, ut bene sit nobis cum audierimus vocem Domini Dei nostri. 7Now after ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.E passati che furono dieci giorni, il Signore parlò a Geremia:And when ten dayes were accomplished, the word of our Lord was made to Ieremie.Cum autem completi essent decem dies, factum est verbum Domini ad Jeremiam, 8And he called Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the fighting men that were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.Ed egli chiamò Johanan figliuolo di Caree, e tutti i capi delle milizie, che erano con lui, e tutto il popolo, piccoli, e grandi.And he called Iohanan the sonne of Caree, and al the princes of the men of warre, that were with him, and the whole people from litle to great.vocavitque Johanan filium Caree, et omnes principes bellatorum qui erant cum eo, et universum populum, a minimo usque ad magnum. 9And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, to whom you sent me, to present your supplications before him:E disse loro: Queste cose dice il Signore Dio d'Israele, verso del quale mi avete mandato, perch'io umiliassi davanti a lui le vostre preghiere:And he said to them: Thus saith our Lord the God of Israel, to whom you sent me, that I should prostrate your prayers in his sight:Et dixit ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus Israël, ad quem misistis me ut prosternerem preces vestras in conspectu ejus:
10If you will be quiet and remain in this land, I will build you up, and not pull you down: I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for now I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you.Se voi starete tranquilli in questa terra, io vi ristorerò, e non vi distruggerò: vi pianterò, e non vi sradicherò: imperocché io son già placato col male, che vi ho fatto.If resting you wil abide in this land, I wil build you, and not destroy you; I wil plant, and not plucke you vp: for now I am pacified vpon the euil that I haue done to you.Si quiescentes manseritis in terra hac, ædificabo vos, et non destruam: plantabo, et non evellam: jam enim placatus sum super malo quod feci vobis. 11Fear not because of the king of Babylon, of whom you are greatly afraid: fear him not, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.Non temete il re di Babilonia, di cui voi avete tanto spavento, noi temete, dice il Signore; perocché io sono con voi per salvarvi, e liberarvi dalle sue mani.Feare not at the face of the king of Babylon, of whom you being feareful are afraid: feare him not, saith our Lord: because I am with you, to saue you, and to deliuer you out of his hand.Nolite timere a facie regis Babylonis, quem vos pavidi formidatis: nolite metuere eum, dicit Dominus, quia vobiscum sum ego ut salvos vos faciam, et eruam de manu ejus: 12And I will shew mercies to you, and will take pity on you, and will cause you to dwell in your own land.E farò misericordia con voi, e avrò di voi pietà, e farò, che abitiate nella vostra terra.And I wil geue you mercies, and wil haue mercie vpon you, and wil make you dwel in your owne land.et dabo vobis misericordias, et miserebor vestri, et habitare vos faciam in terra vestra. 13But if you say: We will not dwell in this land, neither will we hearken to the voice of the Lord our God,Ma se voi direte: Noi non abiteremo in questa terra, e non ubbidiremo alla voce del Signore Dio nostro,But if you shal say: We wil not dwel in this land, neither wil we heare the voice of the Lord our God,Si autem dixeritis vos: Non habitabimus in terra ista, nec audiemus vocem Domini Dei nostri, 14Saying: No, but we will go into the land of Egypt: where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor suffer hunger: and there we will dwell.E direte: Non sia così: ma noi ce n'anderemo nella terra d'Egitto, dove non vedremo la faccia della guerra, e non udiremo romor di tromba, e non patiremo la fame, ed ivi ce ne staremo:saying: No, not so, but we wil goe forward to the Land of Aegypt: where we shal not see warre, and not heare the sound of the trumpet, and shal not susteyne famine: and there we wil dwel.dicentes: Nequaquam, sed ad terram Ægypti pergemus, ubi non videbimus bellum, et clangorem tubæ non audiemus, et famem non sustinebimus, et ibi habitabimus:
15For this now hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Juda: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to go into Egypt, and enter in to dwell there:Udite adesso sopra di questo la Parola del Signore, o avanzi di Giuda: Queste cose dice il Signore degli eserciti, il Dio d'Israele: Se voi vi ostinerete a voler andare in Egitto, e vi anderete per abitarvi,For this now heare the word of our Lord ye remnant of Iuda: Thus saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel: If you shal set your face to goe into Aegypt, and shal enter to inhabite there:propter hoc nunc audite verbum Domini, reliquiæ Juda: Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Si posueritis faciem vestram ut ingrediamini Ægyptum, et intraveritis ut ibi habitetis, 16The sword which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt: and the famine, whereof you are afraid, shall cleave to you in Egypt, and there you shall die.La spada, di cui temete, vi troverà nella terra d'Egitto, e la fame, di cui vi mettete in pena, sarà addosso a voi nell'Egitto, ed ivi morrete.the sword which you feare, shal there take you in the Land of Aegypt: and the famine, for the which you are careful, shal cleeue to you in Aegypt, and there you shal dye.gladius quem vos formidatis ibi comprehendet vos in terra Ægypti: et fames, pro qua estis solliciti, adhærebit vobis in Ægypto, et ibi moriemini. 17And all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt, to dwell there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: none of them shall remain, nor escape from the face of the evil that I will bring upon them.E tutti coloro, che si saranno ostinati a voler andar in Egitto per ivi abitare, morranno di spada, di fame, e di peste: nissuno di essi resterà in vita, né fuggirà il male, ch'io farò cadere sopra ai loro;And al the men, that shal set their face to goe into Aegypt, to dwel there, shal dye by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: none of them shal remaine, nor escape from the face of the euil, that I wil bring vpon them.Omnesque viri qui posuerunt faciem suam ut ingrediantur Ægyptum, ut habitent ibi, morientur gladio, et fame, et peste: nullus de eis remanebit, nec effugiet a facie mali quod ego afferam super eos. 18For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my indignation hath been kindled against the inhabitants of Jerusalem: so shall my indignation be kindled against you, when you shall enter into Egypt, and you shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach: and you shall see this place no more.Imperocché queste cose dice il Signore degli eserciti, il Dio d'Israele: Come si accese il furor mio, e la mia indegnazione contro gli abitanti di Gerusalemme; così si accenderà la mia indegnazione contro di voi, quando sarete entrati in Egitto, e sarete oggetto di esecrazione, di spavento, di maledizione, e di obbrobrio, e non vedrete mai più questo luogo.Because thus saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel: As my furie is powred our, and mine indignation vpon the inhabitants of Ierusalem: so shal mine indignation be powred out vpon you, when you shal be entered into Aegypt, and you shal be into an othe, and into astonishment, and into a curse, and into reproch: and you shal no more see this place.Quia hæc dicit Dominus exercituum, Deus Israël: Sicut conflatus est furor meus et indignatio mea super habitatores Jerusalem, sic conflabitur indignatio mea super vos cum ingressi fueritis Ægyptum: et eritis in jusjurandum, et in stuporem, et in maledictum, et in opprobrium, et nequaquam ultra videbitis locum istum.
19This is the word of the Lord concerning you, O ye remnant of Juda: Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have adjured you this day.Il Signore parla a voi, o avanzi di Giuda: Non andate in Egitto: tenete ben a mente, che io ve l'ho protestato in questo dì,The word of our Lord is vpon you ô remnant of Iuda: Enter not into Aegypt: knowing you shal know that I haue adiured you this day,Verbum Domini super vos, reliquiæ Juda: Nolite intrare Ægyptum: scientes scietis, quia obtestatus sum vos hodie, 20For you have deceived your own souls: for you sent me to the Lord our God, saying: Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord our God shall say to thee, so declare unto us, and we will do it.Conciossiachè voi avete ingannate le anime vostre: mentre voi mi avete mandato a parlare al Signore Dio nostro, dicendo: Prega per noi il Signore Dio nostro, e tutto quello, che il Signore Dio nostro dirà a te, riferiscilo tu a noi, e noi il faremo.because you haue deceiued your soules: for you sent me to the Lord our God, saying: Pray for vs to the Lord our God, and according to al thinges whatsoeuer the Lord our God shal say to thee, so tel vs, and we wil doe.quia decepistis animas vestras. Vos enim misistis me ad Dominum Deum nostrum, dicentes: Ora pro nobis ad Dominum Deum nostrum, et juxta omnia quæcumque dixerit tibi Dominus Deus noster, sic annuntia nobis, et faciemus. 21And now I have declared it to you this day, and you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, with regard to all the things for which he hath sent me to you.Ed io oggi ve l'ho riferito, e voi non avete ascoltata la voce del Signore Dio vostro riguardo a tutte quelle cose, delle quali mi ha mandato a parlarvi.And I haue told you this day, and you haue not heard the voice of the Lord your God concerning al thinges, for which he hath sent me to you.Et annuntiavi vobis hodie, et non audistis vocem Domini Dei vestri super universis pro quibus misit me ad vos. 22Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence in the place to which you desire to go to dwell there.Ora adunque tenete ben a mente, che voi morrete di spada, di fame, e di peste colà, dove avete voluto andare per abitarvi.Now therefore knowing you shal know that by sword, and famine, and pestilence you shal dye in the place, to which you would enter for to dwel there.Nunc ergo scientes scietis quia gladio, et fame, et peste moriemini in loco ad quem voluistis intrare ut habitaretis ibi.
42:1
Year of the World 3417.
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Few; comparatively, though there was a great number, Jeremias 43:5.
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Calmet
Witness. Jeremias knew their fickle temper. They will obey, only if God comply with their desires. (Calmet)
Worthington
They began with piety, but soon refused to obey the directions given, Jeremias 43:2. (Worthington)
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Challoner
Good or evil. That is, agreeable or disagreeable. (Challoner)
Worthington
It would have been well for them if they had been sincere, (ver. 10.; Haydock) and determined to comply whether the prophet announced prosperity or the reverse. (Worthington)
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Days. The Spirit breathes where he will, and the prophets must wait his good time. Jeremias prayed for ten days in that place. He now resumes his discourse, Jeremias 40:1.
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Appeased. Hebrew, "comforted." Septuagint, "at rest." I forget (Calmet) or pardon (Haydock) the past.
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And will. Hebrew, "and he will." The king will take pity on you.
Dwell. Septuagint, "return;" which is less correct.
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Faces; obstinately, ver. 17., and Jeremias 44:12.
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Kindled. Hebrew, "hath dropped," 2 Paralipomenon 12:7.
Calmet
Curse. People can wish no greater misery to their enemies. (Calmet)
Worthington
They shall be execrated, Isaias 65:15. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Deceived. Septuagint, "done ill in your souls." Your intention was bad. You thought that I should speak conformably to your wishes. (Calmet)
Haydock
He saw by the prophetic light, or by their deportment, that they were bent on going. (Haydock)
Worthington
They were doubly guilty in neither observing their promise nor obeying God's decree. (Worthington)
42:6
Good or evil.... That is, agreeable or disagreeable.
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I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you.... That is, I am appeased, as I have sufficiently punished you, and now I am reconciled with you.
42:1
This consultation was piously begune seeking to know Gods wil by his prophet: but the same people erred greuously in not folowing his direction, as he forsaw they would not. v. 21 And he further recordeth that they rebelliously opposed against him. ch. 43. v. 2.
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the thing.
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VVhether it seme to bring prosperitie or aduersitie.
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An othe of execration. as Isa. 65. v. 15.
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It was a dul le fault, in that they neither obeyed God speaking by his prophet, not stood to their owne promise. v. 5.
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 40
… Let us be made lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life; that is, let us be made a quickening power to others. Let us lay hold of the Godhead; let us lay hold of the First and Brightest Light. Let us walk towards Him shining, before our feet stumble upon dark and hostile mountains.
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2. Let our supplication fall before thee. — That is, let our prayer be pleasing and acceptable to thee, that our prayer which is that thou wouldst pray to God for us may be heard by thee; whence verse 4 Jeremiah answers: 4. I have heard, — that is I have been entreated, or I have obeyed, I have complied with your petition. 3. Let the Lord be among us a witness of truth and faith. — It is a formula of swearing, as if to say, Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness. Thus the Septuagint, the Chaldee and Vatablus. That is, we testify God as witness true and faithful: or rather, we swear and testify God, who is witness and avenger of truth and faith, that we will truly and faithfully do whatever thou hast commanded in the mouth of God, whether good or evil, that is whether it be prosperous or calamitous; and unless we do it, we wish that God punish us. Excellently Aristides, tom. II Orat. Sicula poster.: "Those who pray," he says, "ought to ask the greatest and most pleasant things from the gods: thus those who deliberate ought to choose the safest things, unless afterwards either these wish to blame themselves, or those the gods." But the safest things are those which God suggests. The same, tom. II Orat. Rhodiac.: "Not so much," he says, "by abundance of things, as by counsel, confidence, and patience are most things accomplished." In which (to which announcing) the Lord hath sent thee.
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7. Ten days. — Note: Jeremiah persisted in prayer for ten days so that he might understand God's will concerning the flight of the Jews into Egypt: and this was done for so long, so that the people might understand themselves to be unworthy of being heard by God, and so that the charity of Jeremiah might be more clearly revealed.
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10. I will build you up. — He compares the Jews metaphorically to a house, that is to a family built in Judea as in its own place, whose foundation is Abraham and Jacob; the walls are various families joined together from various stones, that is from sons, and rising upward.
15. If you set your face, — that is, if you firmly determine to flee into Egypt; for where the heart is, there the face looks intently: where the eyes are, there is love: where the hand is, there is sorrow. Secondly, he compares them to a garden, in which beautiful trees, that is sons, are planted. The Apostle follows both metaphors, I Cor. III, verse 9: "You are God's husbandry, you are God's building." Both signify both the firmness of the Synagogue and Church solidly founded and rooted, and its increase and propagation, so that like a basilica it may be built upward, and like a tree it may luxuriate in leaves and fruit, and become like a vast forest. I am pacified concerning the evil which I have done to you, — that is to say, I have already taken sufficient punishments from you, and therefore I am now pacified and reconciled to you. In Hebrew it is: It repents me of the evil which I brought upon you, that is I will remove the scourges with which I struck you. He alludes to what he promised in chapter XVIII, 8: "If that nation shall do penance, etc., I will also do penance."
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14. Nay, — namely we will not hear the voice of the Lord, so as to remain in Judea, but we will flee into Egypt. 20. You have deceived your own souls, — that is to say, you have deceived me, pretending that you wish to acquiesce in God's will; for now when you understand it to be that you remain in Judea, you show by your very sad and averted countenance that you do not wish to acquiesce. And so you have not so much deceived me as your own souls: because for disobedience and perjury God will punish you, and will take your souls from you, and will kill you in Egypt. Whence the Septuagint and the Chaldean translate: You have done evil to your own souls. For it would have been better not to ask God, nor to resign themselves to his will, and that with an oath, than having asked and received a response to rebel. For this is to mock God: either you pretended that you would obey God; or if you then had a serious will to obey, and changed it during these ten days which have elapsed from your petition and oath verse 7, you are lighter and more inconstant than a chameleon, liars and perjurers; and so you deal with God as if he were a boy, a buffoon or a fool. What is more unworthy? By what plagues is this to be expiated? 16. Famine, etc., shall cleave to you, — either because God will insert and enclose perpetual famine in your bowels, even if you have abundance of bread. For just as God sends fever and other diseases to men, so also he sends bulimia and canine hunger to men, so that whatever they eat, they are always nevertheless hungry, Psalm LVIII, 7: "They shall suffer hunger as dogs." Or rather, because he will bring sterility to Egypt, and consequently famine, especially when Nebuchadnezzar invades it and lays it entirely waste. 18. It is melted. — In Hebrew נתך nittach, that is it is poured out. It is a metaphor from metals, which when they are melted and liquefied, burst forth and pour out with great force like a fiery torrent, that is to say, Just as suddenly by my fury, like melted iron or lead, the citizens of Jerusalem were overwhelmed and burned: so you will be overwhelmed in the same way in Egypt. The Septuagint translates: As my fury dripped, like a dark and dense cloud, which when dissolved by the sun, pours down and pours forth torrents of waters. Note: The reason why God forbade the Jews to go into Egypt, although he permitted them to be led into Babylon, was that the Egyptians were most devoted to the worship of many idols, and would easily turn the prone Jews to the worship of the same, and to their customs, as indeed they immediately did, as is evident in chapter XLIV, verses 19, 23. For it was better for the Jews to be bound with iron chains in Babylon, than to be addicted to idols in Egypt. Morally, learn here how much the company of the impious is to be avoided, lest they rub their impiety upon us. King Saul prophesied among the Prophets; but among the wicked he acted wickedly, I Kings XIX. St. Peter was steadfast with Christ: but when he was in the courtyard with the servants, he denied Christ. Hear what God says to Jehoshaphat confederated with Ahaziah the impious king of Israel: "Because you have made a league with Ahaziah, the Lord has broken your works, and your ships are broken, and they could not go to Tarshish," II Paralipomenon XX, 37. And again, chapter XIX, 2: "You give aid to the impious (Ahab), and you join in friendship with those who hate the Lord, and therefore you have deserved the wrath of God: but good works have been found in you." St. Ambrose, sermon On the Calends of January, forbidding the company of Jews, thus says: "We ought to avoid not only the company of Gentiles, but also of Jews, whose very conversation is a great pollution. For they insinuate themselves into men by craft, they penetrate houses, they enter praetorian halls, they trouble the ears of judges and public affairs, and therefore they prevail the more, the more shameless they are." St. Augustine teaches from evil association he became worse, lib. II Confess. cap. III, VIII, IX and X: "I was rushing headlong, he says, in such blindness that among my peers I was ashamed of a lesser disgrace than I heard them boasting of their crimes, and glorying so much the more, the more base they were; and it pleased me to do not only from lust of the deed, but also from desire of praise. What is worthy of blame except vice? So that I might not be blamed, I became more vicious, and where there was no crime by which I could equal the lost, I feigned that I had done what I had not done, lest I should appear more abject, the more innocent I was; and lest I be held viler, the more chaste I was." Then he adds: "Behold with what companions I was journeying through the streets of Babylon, and I was wallowing in its mire, as in precious cinnamon and ointments. And in its midst, the more closely I clung to it, the invisible enemy trampled me and seduced me, because I was seducible, etc. O friendship too hostile, seduction of the mind inscrutable from the game and sport of harming eagerly, and desire of another's loss, with no gain of mine, no desire of vengeance; but when it is said: Let us go, let us do, and one is ashamed not to be shameless." The same Augustine in the same place confesses that he was not drawn to the theft of apples except to please his companions: "What fruit, he says, did I wretched one ever have from those things which now recalling I blush, especially in that theft; in which I loved the theft itself, nothing else, when even that itself was nothing, and by that very thing I was more wretched? And yet I would not have done it alone, thus I remember my mind then, I would not have done it alone at all. Therefore I loved there also the fellowship of those with whom I did it." Nebridius, a fellow student of Augustine, although among courtiers he did not change his ways, yet he left the court lest he be changed. Hear St. Jerome concerning him, epist. 9 to Salvina: "Forgetting, he says, his dignity, he afterwards had all fellowship with monks and clerics. For who entered the furnace of the king of Babylon without being burned? Whose young man did the Egyptian mistress not hold by his garment? What wife of a eunuch bears no children when pleasure is spent?" Amaziah the king had hired with a hundred talents of silver a hundred thousand soldiers: but the prophet warned him to dismiss them; for they were impious and would be unhappy, II Paral. cap. XXV. Our Maffaeus writes, lib. XVI Hist. Indic., that nothing so hindered the conversion of the Chinese to Christ as the vices and scandals of certain Christians. He writes the same of the Brazilians lib. XV. "It happened, he says, an untamed and widely spreading evil, and than which nothing more powerfully blocked the way and passage to the Gospel: the licentiousness and forwardness of old Christians, unworthy of such a name and profession, joined with anxious greed and filth, so that their arrival in the villages of barbarians, and their manner of living, while it gravely offended all, then created great envy and infamy for the Christian name." Gordiana, the aunt of Gregory the Great, as he himself laments in lib. IV Dialogorum, cap. XVI, although she enjoyed the most holy example of her sisters, Tharsilla and Aemiliana; yet because she rejoiced overmuch in the company of lay girls and those devoted to this world, after the death of her sisters she was miserably seduced. You shall be in an oath,—you shall be in אלה ala, that is in an execratory oath, so that whoever wishes to curse someone, may say: God destroy you, as he destroyed the Jews, who against the Lord's will fled into Egypt.
42:19
19. Do not enter Egypt (for if you enter it): you shall know you shall know (that is, know and remember) that (which) I have adjured you this day,—as if to say: When you shall perish in Egypt, remember that I foretold this to you and besought you not to do it. Secondly and better, know that "I have adjured," that is protested, and you yourselves and your faith, and the oath vers. 5 given by you, I have called as witnesses, as indeed I do here; "that," that is, "you have deceived your souls," and that you are rushing of your own accord to your destruction, and in Egypt you shall die by the sword and by famine. 20. You have deceived your souls,—as if to say: You have deceived me, pretending that you wish to acquiesce in God's will; for now when you understand it to be that you remain in Judea, you show by your very sad and averted countenance that you do not wish to acquiesce. Therefore you have not so much deceived me as yourselves; nay, you have not so much deceived as brought your souls (that is, yourselves) into extreme peril and danger, while you resist God in so great a matter. Otherwise Vatablus: You have deceived, he says, me in your souls, because the thought of your mind did not correspond to your words and promises made to me: for you feigned that you wished to obey God in all things; and yet you held firm the purpose of fleeing into Egypt, even if I and God dissuaded it. Morally, learn here that the disobedient create danger for themselves and are caught in their own snare. For just as Jonah, fleeing God, fell into the belly of the whale: so the Jews, fleeing the counsel of God and Jeremiah, fell into the belly of that great dragon, namely Nebuchadnezzar. Let them therefore consider that saying of the Poet: Whither do you flee, Enceladus? Wherever you go, Under Jupiter you shall always be. Here ends the Commentary of St. Thomas on Jeremiah: because prevented by death he was not able to complete it.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
42:2
Hic incipit populi congregati instructio. Et dividitur in partes duas. Primo ponitur populi instructio generalis; secundo specialis Baruch, cap. 45: verbum quod locutus est Jeremias ad Baruch. Circa primum duo. Primo ponitur prophetae instructio; secundo populi contradictio, ibi (cap. 43): factum est autem, cum complesset Jeremias loquens ad populum. Circa primum duo. Primo ponitur instructionis petitio; secundo ponitur instructio, ibi, cum autem completi essent decem dies. Circa primum duo. Primo petunt orationis suffragia: ubi ponitur petitio: cadat oratio nostra in conspectu tuo; quasi dicat: locum habeat apud te. Eccli. 35: oratio humiliantis se nubes penetrabit, et donec propinquet non consolabitur, et non discedet donec altissimus aspiciat. In quo captant benevolentiam. Et ora pro nobis; ubi petunt beneficium. Isa. 37: leva ergo orationem pro reliquiis quae repertae sunt. Qui derelicti sumus pauci: in quo flectunt ad misericordiam. Deuter. 28: remanebitis pauci numero, qui prius eratis sicut astra caeli prae multitudine, et annuntiet: in quo expetitur orationis fructus. Dominus. Isa. 8: numquid non populus a Deo suo requiret visionem pro vivis, ac mortuis? Viam, quia non in Aegyptum ire decreverant. Supra 10: non est hominis via ejus, nec viri est ut ambulat, et dirigat gressus suos. 2 Paral. 20: cum ignoremus quid agere debeamus, hoc solum habemus residui ut oculos nostros dirigamus ad te. Ponitur etiam prophetae promissio, ibi, dicit. Promittit autem orationes, ecce ego. 1 Reg. 12: absit a me peccatum hoc in domino, ut cessem orare pro vobis.
42:4
42:10
Hic ponitur instructio: et circa hoc tria. Primo inducit revelantis auctoritatem: haec dicit dominus, quasi mediator inter vos, et Deum, deferens orationes vestras ad Deum et responsum ipsius ad vos. Deut. 5: ego sequester, et medius fui inter Deum et vos in tempore illo, ut annuntiarem vobis verba ejus. Secundo hortatur ad quietem dupliciter. Excludendo mala divinae punitionis, ponens promissum: aedificabo, bona conferendo, plantabo, confirmando. Et excludens impedimentum: jam enim placatus sum. Exod. 32: et placatus est dominus ne faceret malum adversus populum suum. Psal. 102: non in perpetuum irascetur, neque in aeternum comminabitur. Et excludit timorem hostilis persecutionis faciens securitatem: nolite timere. Isa. 51: quis tu ut timeas ab homine mortali, et a filio hominis, qui quasi fenum ita arescet?
42:11
Et promittit auxilii opem: quia vobiscum sum. Supra 20: dominus mecum est tamquam bellator fortis. Idcirco qui persequuntur me cadent, et infirmi erunt, et confundentur vehementer: quia non intellexerunt opprobrium sempiternum, quod numquam delebitur. Isa. 50: dominus Deus auxiliator meus, et ideo non sum confusus.
42:1
Azarias (Hebrew: 'Azaryah[û] «Yahweh helps»)
… Jerusalem (586 B.C.), he accused Jeremiah of deceiving the people by dissuading them from emigrating to Egypt; he was among those who dragged the prophet himself with his secretary Baruch into Egypt (Jer. 43:2-6). He is identified with "Jezaniah" of Jer. 42:1 (and, it seems, of 40:8).
Jezonias (Hebrew Ja'āzāujah and Jēzaujāh [ā] "Yahweh Has Heard")
… He was the son of a Maachathite, perhaps so called from the name of his village or from that of a famous ancestor (cf. 1 Chron. 2, 48; 4, 19). J. had to go to Egypt with the fugitive group after the assassination of Gedaliah (2 Kings 25, 23-26; Jer. 40, 8); but in Jer. 42, 1, where J. appears as the chief promoter of that resolution, "Azariah" should rather be read.
42:11
… Phoenician sailors (IV, 42). Shortly afterward he undertook a campaign against Nabopolassar, king of Assyria (Herodotus, II, 159), and since King Josiah of Judah, despite the pharaoh's protest that he was not marching against him (II Chron. 35, 20-25, cf. Jer. 42, 11), went against him (II Kings 23, 29), he was defeated at Megiddo on the Kishon near Carmel and killed (II Chron. 35, 23-24), leaving the kingdom to his son Jehoahaz, whom N. put in …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.