The judgments of God shall fall upon the Jews for their manifold sins.
Al sortes of higher and lower degrees transgresse Gods law: 9. and shal be punished.
1Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that executeth judgment, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.Girate per le vie di Gerusalemme, e guardate, e considerate, e cercate per le sue piazze se trovate un uomo, che faccia quello, che è giusto, e che cerchi di esser fedele: ed io farò a lei misericordia.GOE round about the wayes of Ierusalem, and looke, and consider, and seeke in the streetes therof, whether you can finde a man that doth iudgements, and secketh fidelitie: & I wil be propicious vnto him.Circuite vias Jerusalem, / et aspicite, et considerate, / et quærite in plateis ejus, / an inveniatis virum facientem judicium, / et quærentem fidem: / et propitius ero ei. 2And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely.Ma eglino se ancor diranno: Vive il Signore, giureranno anche così il falso.Yea if they say: Our Lord liueth this also they wil sweare falsely.Quod si etiam: Vivit Dominus, dixerint, / et hoc falso jurabunt. 3O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return.Signore, gli occhi tuoi mirano la fede: tu hai percossi costoro, e non sentiron dolore: li flagellasti, e non vollero ammettere correzione: indurarono la loro faccia più di una pietra, e non hanno voluto tornare a te.O Lord thyne eies regard fidelitie: thou hast striken them, & they were not sorie: thou hast broken them, and they haue refused to receiue discipline: they haue hardned their faces more then the rocke, and they would not returne.Domine, oculi tui respiciunt fidem: / percussisti eos, et non doluerunt; / attrivisti eos, et renuerunt accipere disciplinam: / induraverunt facies suas supra petram, / et noluerunt reverti. 4But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.Ed io dissi: Forse sono i poveri, e gl' idioti que', che non conoscon la via del Signore, e i giudizj del loro Dio.But I said: Perhaps they are poore & foolish, not knowing the way of the Lord, the iudgement of their God.Ego autem dixi: Forsitan pauperes sunt et stulti, / ignorantes viam Domini, / judicium Dei sui. 5I will go therefore to the great men, and will speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God: and behold these have altogether broken the yoke more, and have burst the bonds.Io adunque anderò ai principi, e ad essi parlerò: imperocché eglino conoscon la via del Signore, e i giudizj del loro Dio. Ma ecco, che questi anche peggio spezzarono tutti insieme il giogo, strapparono il freno.I wil go therfore to the great men, & wil speake to them: for they haue knowen the way of their Lord: & behold these altogether haue more broken the yoke, haue burst the bondes.Ibo igitur ad optimates, et loquar eis: / ipsi enim cognoverunt viam Domini, / judicium Dei sui: / et ecce magis hi simul confregerunt jugum; / ruperunt vincula.
6Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.Per questo il lione della foresta gli ha sbranati, il lupo alla sera gli ha sterminati: il pardo sta vigilante intorno alle loro città: tutti quelli, che da esse usciranno, saranno presi; perchè si sono moltiplicate le loro prevaricazioni, e si sono ostinati nelle lor ribellioni.Therefore hath the lion out of the wood striken them, the woolf in the euening hath wasted them, the leopard watching vpon their citties: euerie one of them that shal come forth, shal be taken, because their preuarications are multiplied, their reuoltinges are strengthned.Idcirco percussit eos leo de silva; / lupus ad vesperam vastavit eos: / pardus vigilans super civitates eorum: / omnis qui egressus fuerit ex eis capietur: / quia multiplicatæ sunt prævaricationes eorum; / confortatæ sunt aversiones eorum. 7How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot’s house.Per qual titolo potrò io essere propizio a te? i tuoi figliuoli mi hanno abbandonato, e giurano per quegli, che non son dei: io gli ho satollati, ed essi hanno fornicato, e nella casa di donna infame gozzovigliavano.Wherupon can I be propicious to thee? thy children haue forsaken me, and sweare by them, that are not goddes: I filled them, & they committed aduoutrie, and did riotously in the harlots houseSuper quo propitius tibi esse potero ? / filii tui dereliquerunt me, / et jurant in his qui non sunt dii. / Saturavi eos, et mœchati sunt, / et in domo meretricis luxuriabantur. 8They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.Son divenuti come cavalli stalloni quando son in calore: ognuno di essi nitrisce verso la moglie nel prossimo suo.They are become as amarous horses, and stalions: euerie one neyed at his neighbours wife:Equi amatores et emissarii facti sunt: / unusquisque ad uxorem proximi sui hinniebat. 9Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?Forse, che io non punirò tali cose, dice il Signore, e l'anima mia non farà vendetta di una nazione come questa?VVhy, shal I not visite vpon these thinges, saith our Lord? and on such a nation shal not my soule take reuenge?Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus, / et in gente tali non ulciscetur anima mea ? 10Scale the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord’s.Salite sulle mura di lei, e abbattetele, ma non fate fine di essa: toglietele sue propaggini, perchè elle non son del Signore;Scale the walles therof, and dissipate them, but make not a consummation: take away the branches therof, because they are not the Lordes.Ascendite muros ejus, et dissipate: / consummationem autem nolite facere: / auferte propagines ejus, / quia non sunt Domini.
11For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord.Imperocché ha' peccato forte contro di me la casa d'Israele, e la casa di Giuda, dice il Signore.For by preuarication hath the house of Israel preuaricated against me, & the house of Iuda, saith our Lord.Prævaricatione enim prævaricata est in me / domus Israël, et domus Juda, ait Dominus. 12They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.Hanno rinnegato il Signore, ed hanno detto: Non è egli: e non verrà sciagura sopra di noi: non vedremo spada, né fame.They haue denied our Lord, and saied: It is not he: neither shal the euil come vpon vs: we shal not see sword & famine.Negaverunt Dominum, et dixerunt: / Non est ipse: neque veniet super nos malum: / gladium et famem non videbimus. 13The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them.I profeti parlavano in aria, e non ebber essi risposta da Dio. Ad essi adunque avverran cose tali.The prophets haue spoken into the wind, & there was no answer in them: these things therfore shal happen to them.Prophetæ fuerunt in ventum locuti, / et responsum non fuit in eis: / hæc ergo evenient illis. 14Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them.Queste cose dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti: Perchè voi avete proferita questa parola; ecco, che io (o Geremia) pongo nella tua bocca le mie parole qual fuoco, e questo popolo come legno, che ne sarà divorato.Thus saith our Lord the God of hostes: Because you haue spoken this word: behold, I geue my wordes in thy mouth as fire, & this people as stickes, and it shal deuoure them.Hæc dicit Dominus Deus exercituum: / Quia locuti estis verbum istud, / ecce ego do verba mea in ore tuo in ignem, / et populum istum in ligna, / et vorabit eos. 15Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.Ecco, che io farò venir sopra di voi, o casa d'Israele, una nazione lontana, dice il Signore, una nazione robusta, una nazione antica, una nazione, di cui non saprai la lingua, né capirai quel, che ella ti dica.Behold I wil bring vpon you a nation from a far ô house of Israel, saith our Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not know, nor vnderstand what it speaketh.Ecce ego adducam super vos gentem de longinquo, / domus Israël, ait Dominus: / gentem robustam, / gentem antiquam, / gentem cujus ignorabis linguam, / nec intelliges quid loquatur.
16Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.Il suo turcasso è come un sepolcro aperto: ei son tutti valorosi.The quiuer thereof is as an open sepulcher, they are al strong.Pharetra ejus quasi sepulchrum patens; / universi fortes. 17And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.Ella mangerà le tue raccolte, e il tuo pane: divorerà i tuoi figliuoli, e le tue figlie: si nutrirà de' tuoi greggi, e de' tuoi armenti: spoglierà le tue vigne, e le piante di fichi: e rovinerà colla spada alla mano le tue città forti, nelle quali ponevi fidanza.And it shal eate thy corne, and thy bread: it shal deuoure thy sonnes, and thy daughters: it shal eate thy flocke, & thy heards: it shal eate thy vineyard, and thy figge: & it shal destroy thy fenced cities, wherein thou hast confidence, with the sword.Et comedet segetes tuas et panem tuum; / devorabit filios tuos et filias tuas; / comedet gregem tuum et armenta tua; / comedet vineam tuam et ficum tuam: / et conteret urbes munitas tuas, / in quibus tu habes fiduciam, gladio. 18Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.Contuttociò io non farò fine di voi in que' giorni, dice il Signore.But yet in those daies, saith our Lord: I wil not bring you into consummation.Verumtamen in diebus illis, ait Dominus, / non faciam vos in consummationem. 19And if you shall say: Why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.Che se voi direte: Per qual motivo ha egli fatto a noi tutto questo il Signore Dio nostro? tu dirai loro: Siccome voi avete abbandonato me, ed avete servito a dei stranieri nella vostra terra, così a' stranieri servirete in una terra non vostra.And if you shal say: Why hath the Lord our God done al these thinges to vs? thou shalt say to them: As you haue forsaken me, and serued a strange god in your owne land, so shal you serue strange ones in a land not your owne.Quod si dixeritis: / Quare fecit nobis Dominus Deus noster hæc omnia ? / dices ad eos: / Sicut dereliquistis me, / et servistis deo alieno in terra vestra, / sic servietis alienis in terra non vestra. 20Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying:Annunziate questo alla casa di Giacobbe, e fatelo sapere in Giuda, dicendo:Declare ye this to the house of Iacob, and make it heard in Iuda, saying:Annuntiate hoc domui Jacob, / et auditum facite in Juda, dicentes:
21Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not.Ascolta, popolo insensato, e senza cuore, il quale avendo occhi non vedi, e avendo orecchie non odi.Heare thou foolish people, that hast no hart, which hauing eies, seest not: and eares, and hearest not.Audi, popule stulte, qui non habes cor: / qui habentes oculos, non videtis; / et aures, et non auditis. 22Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it.Voi adunque non mi temerete, dice il Signore, e dinanzi a me non vi pentirete? Io sono, che posi per confine al mare l'arena con ordine sempiterno, ch'ei non trasgredirà; e si agiteranno le sue onde, e non oltrepasseranno, e gonfieranno, ma non passeranno quel segno:Me then wil you not feare, saith our Lord: and at my presence wil ye not be sorie? Who haue set the sand a limitie for the sea, an euerlasting precept, that shal not passe, and they shal be moued, and shal not preuaile: and the waues therof shal swel, and shal not passe ouer it.Me ergo non timebitis, ait Dominus, / et a facie mea non dolebitis ? / qui posui arenam terminum mari, / præceptum sempiternum quod non præteribit: / et commovebuntur, et non poterunt; / et intumescent fluctus ejus, et non transibunt illud. 23But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away.Ma questo popolo si è formato un cuore incredulo, e ribelle: si son ritirati, e se ne son'iti.But to this people their hart is become incredulous and exasperating, they are reuolted and departed.Populo autem huic factum est cor incredulum et exasperans: / recesserunt, et abierunt. 24And they have not said in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fulness of the yearly harvest.E non hanno detto in cuor loro: Temiamo il Signore Dio nostro, che dà a noi la prima pioggia, e la serotina; ed a noi conserva la pienezza dell'annuale ricolta.And they haue not said in their hart: Let vs feare the Lord our God, who geueth vs the timely and lateward rayne in due season: who preserueth the fulnes of the yearly haruest vnto vs.Et non dixerunt in corde suo: / Metuamus Dominum Deum nostrum, / qui dat nobis pluviam temporaneam et serotinam in tempore suo, / plenitudinem annuæ messis custodientem nobis.
25Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you.Le vostre iniquità hanno fatto sparir queste cose: e i peccati vostri vi hanno privati del bene;Your iniquities haue turned away these thinges, and your sinnes haue stayed good from you.Iniquitates vestræ declinaverunt hæc, / et peccata vestra prohibuerunt bonum a vobis: 26For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.Perocché si son trovati nel popol mio degli empj, i quali (come gli uccellatori) pongono lacci, e tendono reti per far caccia di uomini.Because there are found impious men in my people, that lye in wate as foulers setting snares & trappes to take men.quia inventi sunt in populo meo impii insidiantes quasi aucupes, / laqueos ponentes et pedicas ad capiendos viros. 27As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched.Come una gabbia è piena di uccelli, così la loro casa è piena di frodi: e per questo si son fatti grandi, e sono arricchiti.As a net ful of birdes, so their houses are ful of guile: therefore are they magnified, & enriched.Sicut decipula plena avibus, / sic domus eorum plenæ dolo: / ideo magnificati sunt et ditati. 28They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, and they have not judged the judgment of the poor.Si sono ingrassati, e impinguati: ed hanno violati pessimamente i miei comandi. Non hanno renduta giustizia alla vedova, non hanno preso a petto la causa del pupillo, e non hanno fatta ragione al povero.They are made grosse and fatte: and haue transgressed my wordes most wickedly. The cause of the widow they haue not iudged; the cause of the pupil they haue not directed, and the iudgement of the poore they haue not iudged.Incrassati sunt et impinguati, / et præterierunt sermones meos pessime. / Causam viduæ non judicaverunt, / causam pupilli non direxerunt, / et judicium pauperum non judicaverunt. 29Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?Forsechè io non punirò tali cose, dice il Signore? O di tal gente non farà vendetta l'anima mia?Shal I not visite vpon these thinges, saith our Lord? or vpon such a nation shal not my soule take reuenge?Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus, / aut super gentem hujuscemodi non ulciscetur anima mea ? 30Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.Cose da sbalordire, cose prodigiose sono avvenute sopra la terra.Astonishment and meruelous thinges are done in the land.Stupor et mirabilia facta sunt in terra:
31The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?I profeti profetizzavano menzogne, e i sacerdoti applaudivano battendo le mani: e il mio popolo amò tali cose: che sarà adunque di lui nella sua fine?The prophets prophecied a lye, & the priests claped with their handes: and my people hath loued such thinges: what shal be done therefore in the later end thereof?prophetæ prophetabant mendacium, / et sacerdotes applaudebant manibus suis, / et populus meus dilexit talia. / Quid igitur fiet in novissimo ejus ?
5:1
Go, Jeremias, and you who publicly adhere to me.
Man. Sodom would have been spared for the sake of ten just people, Genesis 18:32. Before the reform of Josias, Jerusalem was strangely corrupted, though these expressions be hyperbolical, and spoken as it were in the heat of debate. Josias, Holda, and others, were living at this time, and renowned for their piety.
5:2
Calmet
Falsely. Some may confess my name. But they swear falsely, Jeremias 4:2. (Calmet)
Worthington
Unless the requisite conditions be observed, an oath is unlawful. (Worthington)
5:3
Return. The miseries with which, Achaz, etc., were afflicted, produced no amendment.
5:4
Haydock
Foolish idiots, (Calmet) who have had no means of receiving instruction. (Haydock)
Such might be more excusable; but when the chiefs offend, the evil is irremediable.
5:6
Lion. Nabuchodonosor.
Haydock
Wolf. Cambyses, (Calmet) and leopard. Epiphanes. (Haydock)
St. Jerome
The Chaldeans, Persians and Greeks afflict them. (St. Jerome)
Worthington
The first beast may designate Nabuc: the second Nabuzardon: the third, Alexander [the Great?] or Epiphanes. (Worthington)
5:7
Calmet
How can. I have only the character of judge left. (Calmet)
5:8
St. Jerome
Stallions. Hebrew mashcim, (Haydock) "stretching out," as others translate, Ezechiel 23:20. (St. Jerome)
Aristotle
The horse is the most intemperate of all animals but man. (Aristotle, Hist. 6:22.)
5:10
Destroy, at the first taking of the city, ver. 18., and Jeremias 4:27.
Calmet
Branches. Children of Jechonias, (chap. 22:30.) and the people. (Calmet)
Hebrew, "her battlements," (Haydock) Chaldean, "palaces."
5:13
Haydock
Them. The evil shall fall on the head of these impostors. So the wicked deride the prophets (Calmet) impugning the known truth. (Haydock)
5:14
Fire. Thou shalt declare their impending ruin.
5:15
Ancient. Nemrod founded the empire of Ninive and of Babylon, Genesis 10:10. Nabopolassar had succeeded to the ancient Assyrian and Chaldean sovereigns. Under his son, Nabuchodonosor, the dominions were much enlarged.
Say. 4 Kings 18:26.
5:17
Devour. Hebrew, "destroy." They did not eat human flesh.
5:19
Calmet
Own. You shall thus know the difference between the masters. (Calmet)
5:21
Haydock
Understanding. Literally, "heart," Jeremias 4:22. (Haydock)
5:22
It. Nature and chance are improper terms. God regulates all, and has established those laws which preserve the world.
5:24
Calmet
Rain, in autumn and in spring, Deuteronomy 11:14. (Calmet)
Haydock
Fulness. Hebrew, "the weeks for harvest." (Haydock)
5:25
Away. The rain comes unseasonably.
5:26
Haydock
Man. As some tyrants have done, though this implies (Calmet) the eagerness with which the wicked strive to corrupt mankind. (Haydock)
5:28
Calmet
Of the widow, is not in Hebrew. (Calmet)
Haydock
Fatherless. Protestants add, "yet they prosper, and they," etc. (Haydock)
5:29
Worthington
Nation? It is contrary to God's justice not to punish the guilty. (Worthington)
5:31
Calmet
Clapped. Hebrew, "came down to, or received in, or domineered by their hands." The priests concurred with these impostors for their own ends. (Calmet)
5:2
Except al requisite conditiōs be obserued in an othe it is vnlavvful: as vvhen one svveareth by God almighty but vntruly, of rashly, or to do an vnlavvful thing, it is periurie.
5:6
By the lion the prophet semeth to vnderstand Nabuchodonosor.
By the vvulf Nabuzardan.
By the leopard Alexāder the great, or Antiochus Epiphanes.
5:8
Concordance Ezec. 22.
5:18
As before v. 10. & ch. 4. v. 27.
5:28
5:29
It is against Gods iust iudgement to omitte such thinges vnpunished. v. 9. & ch. 9. v. 9.
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Jerem. v. 1, 2 . Is there any that doeth justly, etc.
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.8.3
3. For the same reason, too, do the prophets compare them to irrational animals, on account of the irrationality of their conduct, saying, “They have become as horses raging for the females; each one of them neighing after his neighbour’s wife.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 An Address to Demetrianus 7
… they have not received correction.” And the prophet devoted and dedicated to God answers to these words in the same strain, and says, “Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast scourged them, but they have refused to receive correction.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.15
… Is not then freedom from chastisement a hard thing? But to fail to be corrected by the chastisement is still harder. One of the prophets, speaking of Israel, whose heart was hard and uncircumcised, says, Lord, Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction;
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.11
… yet you returned not to Me, saith the Lord,” and Jeremiah: “I have killed and destroyed thy people, and yet they are not returned from their ways.” And again: “Thou hast smitten them and they have not grieved: Thou hast bruised them and they refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, they have refused to return.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 84
… Accordingly I fear, dearly-beloved, lest that utterance of the Prophet be addressed in rebuke to such men, which says, “thou hast scourged them and they have not grieved: thou hast chastised them, and they have refused to receive correction.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.13
… For let them hear that in them is fulfilled that which is written, If thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, as if with a pestle pounding barley, his foolishness will not be taken away from him ( Prov. xxvii. 22 ). Against these the prophet complains to the Lord , saying, Thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive discipline (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 2.4
… and if on the other hand you make the requisite incision unsparingly, the patient, driven to desperation by his sufferings, will often fling everything away at once, both the remedy and the bandage, and throw himself down headlong, “breaking the yoke and bursting the band.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 28
… For to those who are like wild beasts true and sound discourses are stones. If he be a leopard let him die with his spots. If a ravening and roaring lion, seeking what he may devour of our souls or of our words; or a wild boar, trampling under foot the precious and translucent pearls of the Truth; or an Arabian
5:7
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 13.15
… and the Lord Himself says in the Prophets, Mine heritage became unto Me as a lion in the forest; it gave its voice against Me; therefore have I hated it . I have not refused them, but they have refused Me; in consequence thereof I say, I have forsaken My house
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 33
… I demand your victim of yesterday the old man, the Abraham-like Father, whom on his return from exile you greeted with stones in the middle of the day and in the middle of the city. But we, if it is not invidious to say so, begged off even our murderers from their danger. God says somewhere in Scripture, How shall I pardon thee for this?
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.41.3
… Wherefore the prophet David says, “Man, being placed in honour, is made like unto cattle.” And again Jeremiah says, “They are become like horses, furious about females; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.”
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 1.3
… for we read, “Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites;” for “wine and women will make men of understanding to fall away;” and in another place, “Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth,” manifestly forbidding a plurality of wives. And Jeremiah clearly gives the name of “fed horses”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 3.25
… For instance, in the case of the bad, as when it charges, ‘Be ye not like to horse and mule which have no understanding .’ Or as when it says, complaining of those who have become such, ‘Man, being in honour, hath no understanding, but is compared unto the beasts that perish.’ And again, ‘They were as wanton horses
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 2
… But they are compared to their disgrace to beasts without understanding, and becoming like them in unlawful pleasures, they are spoken of as wanton horses
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 9.13
… the fox to manifest the craft that is in men, and the snake the venomous treachery of friends, and the neighing horse the wantonness of young men
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 45
XVIII. And let the loins of the unreasoning animals be unbound and loose, for they have not the gift of reason which can overcome pleasure (it is not needful to say that even they know the limit of natural movement). But let that part of your being which is the seat of passion, and which neighs,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 13
… I will gratify my belly, I will be a slave to pleasures, I will make full use of the present life; give me to-day, and take tomorrow.” Oh excess of folly! Why, wherein do they who talk so differ from goats and swine? For if the prophet
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 123.13
… And as if their example was not enough, David had many wives and Solomon a countless number. Judah went in to Tamar thinking her to be a harlot; and according to the letter that killeth the prophet Hosea married not only a whore but an adulteress. If these instances are to justify us let us neigh after every woman that we meet;
St Jerome † AD 420 The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary 10
… as in the days of the separation of her sickness shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days. She shall touch no hallowed thing,” and so forth. On your showing, Joseph must at once approach, her, and be subject to Jeremiah’s
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.10
… rather believe that it takes away your crown. For there is one reward: he who stands on the right hand shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Through counsels such as these your swine-herds are richer than our shepherds, and the he-goats draw after them many of the other sex:
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Vigilantius 2
… so that there is nothing to separate us from swine, nothing wherein we differ from the brute creation, or from horses, respecting which it is written:
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.13
… their methods tend to a loose and flabby conduct of life. But let us be of a fervent spirit and keep hold of the fiery words given to us of God, such as Jeremiah received from Him who spoke to him,
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 5.8
… And as to these very stones, the fire was burning in them, as Jeremiah said:— The word of the Lord became in my heart like burning fire and it was hot in my bones. And again He said to Jeremiah:— Lo! I give My word in thy mouth as fire, and this people shall be as wood .
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Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 1.13.9
9. “Blessed art thou who hast believed in me without having seen me. For it is written concerning me, that they who have seen me will not believe in me, and that they who have not seen me will believe and be saved.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.16
… For true knowledge is only acquired by true worshippers of God; and certainly this people does not possess it to whom it is said: “Hear, O, foolish people, thou who hast no heart: ye who having eyes see not, and having ears, hear not.” And again: “Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I also will reject thee from acting as My priest.”
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Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 1
… And, not content with these things, lest perchance the roaring and rushing waters should seize upon a foreign element at the expense of its human possessor, He has enclosed its limits with shores;
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 4.3
… Thus we often see the furious sea raising mighty waves to the heaven, and, when once it has touched the shore, break its impetuosity in foam and retire. “Fear ye not me, saith the Lord.…which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 9.9
… and hath not encompassed these shores with wood, or stone, or mountains, lest thou shouldest impute the regulation of the elements to such things. And, therefore, God Himself, upbraiding the Jews with this very circumstance, said, “Fear ye not Me, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea that it cannot pass it.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 31
… iv. 7 ), and in many places speaking of Creation, he brings forward these benefits: and Jeremiah mentions first Creation, then Providence (shown) by the rains, so that the Apostle here discourses as taught from those Scriptures. “Filling,” he says, “with food and gladness.” (
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution and Lapse of Hosius 1
… has merely heard of them, will not be greatly amazed, and cry aloud unto the Lord, saying, ‘Wilt Thou make a full end of Israel ?’ Who that is acquainted with these proceedings, will not with good reason cry out and say, ‘A wonderful and horrible thing is done in the land;’ and, ‘The heavens are astonished at this, and the earth is even more horribly afraid
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3. LORD, THY EYES REGARD FAITH. — Faith, that is, faithfulness, as I said verse 1. Secondly, St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo and Dionysius understand faith by which we believe God. Thirdly, St. Thomas: Faith, he says, that is, that which is right. Fourthly, Theodoret: Thy eyes regard faith, he says, that is, as if to say: Thou, O Lord, to whose eyes all things are visible, knowest that I speak truth, thou givest credence to my words. Fifthly, Pagninus and some Hebrews translate the Hebrew emuna as stability, as if to say: Thou, Lord, art always intent that the things which thou hast created remain stable: therefore that thou wishest to destroy the Jews is contrary to custom, and their crimes compel thee. This sense is fitting, the third more fitting, the first most fitting. THOU HAST SMITTEN THEM, AND THEY HAVE NOT GRIEVED. — It is an aphorism of Hippocrates: When a sick or afflicted body does not feel its wounds or pains, it is a certain sign that the mind is diseased, namely suffering from madness, delirium, or stupor. Thus I have seen delirious persons who did not feel sharp cold and torments. In like manner these Jews, not feeling the plagues of God, were suffering from mental stupor and the obstinacy of madness. Thus we see wicked children harden themselves against scourges and care not for them, nor feel them, and bring on a certain ἀναλγισία or insensibility to pain. THEY HAVE HARDENED THEIR FACES ABOVE A STONE, — harder than stone, harder than stone itself, they were shameless and most impudent. Thus in Latin a hard face is called impudence.
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5. THEY HAVE BROKEN THE YOKE (of the law), THEY HAVE BURST ASUNDER THE BONDS — of the commandments of God.
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6. HE SMOTE THEM—A LION FROM THE FOREST (he shall smite them)—that is, Nebuchadnezzar from Syria as from a forest, and going forth from the wooded Lebanon. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret and others in various places. Moreover, the wolf is Nebuzaradan, says Theodoret; the leopard is the army of the Chaldeans. Secondly, St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyran: The wolf, they say, signifies the Persians and Medes, on account of their greed both of food and of kingdoms, from which they are also called half-asses, as I said on Isaiah chapter XXI, 7. The leopard is Alexander, say St. Jerome, Rabanus and Hugo, on account of the variety of his customs, and because he fought against the Medes and Persians with various and very many nations subject to him. Whence also Daniel, chapter VII, verse 6, compares him to a leopard. This leopard is watchful, because Alexander with swift assault from the West even to India overran all things; he did not lay waste the Jews, but terrified them; and spared them as suppliants on account of Jaddus the High Priest. Thus Josephus, XI Antiquities VIII. Theodoret, however, Lyran and St. Thomas understand by the leopard Antiochus Epiphanes, who greatly afflicted the Jews; whence they explain what follows: Whosoever shall go out from them shall be taken by them, thus: by them, namely by the Romans; for after the Greeks, Pompey, Caesar, Vespasian and Titus took and laid waste the Jews. Thirdly and most rightly: Nebuchadnezzar with his army is called a lion on account of ferocity; the same is called a wolf on account of avarice and voracity: for one wolf destroys innumerable sheep; whence it is commonly said, A wolf does not count the number; the same is called a leopard on account of the dexterity and swiftness of seizing. Thus St. Thomas, Vatablus, Isidore and Maldonatus. For Jeremiah always threatens the Jews with the coming of the Chaldeans, not of Alexander, not of Antiochus Epiphanes. A WOLF AT EVENING.—The Septuagint translates, a wolf of Arabia, that is, a wolf a robber and brigand: for the Arabs were infamous for brigandage. St. Jerome translates, a wolf of the setting or west; Vatablus, a wolf of solitudes or deserts; all these things are signified by the Hebrew ערב arab, if you substitute different and different points: for if you read ערב arav, it signifies evening and the west; if ערב arab, it signifies Arabia; if ערב oreb, it signifies solitude: hence both a mountain and a desert are called Oreb. You will ask, what is the wolf at evening? Some think it to be a certain and distinct species of wolves from others, or to be a hyena. Thus Guevarra in the Tavern. But a hyena is not a wolf. See Delrio, ad—I respond therefore that at evening is a common epithet for wolves; for since wolves are more voracious than other beasts, hence by day on account of fear of hunters they lie hidden in caves fasting, from which in the evening, driven out by hunger, as if mad they go forth to prey; for, made savage by prolonged hunger, they rage most fiercely, and are swiftest, and therefore are called evening wolves. Thus Oppian, St. Jerome, the Rabbis, Hugo, Vatablus, Dionysius, Delrio already cited, Ribera. Add that they are called nocturnal wolves, because wolves have this singular property, that they overcome darkness by the keenness of their eyes. Thus Aelian, book X, chapter XVII, and others. Whence Macrobius, book I Saturnalia XVII: The wolf, he says, is called in Greek λύκος, that is, shining, ἀπό τῆς λύκης, that is from light: and Apollo, that is the sun, is named from it λύκιος, because he absorbs and drives out darkness. Hence also the Greeks call the first light which precedes the rising of the sun λύκην from the wolf; whence Homer calls the morning twilight ἀμφιλύκην νύκτα, because then the wolf sees and goes out to prey; indeed that same time is called from this λυκοφῶς, the light of the wolf. Then indeed morning wolves, because voracious, go out again to hunt: for, as Aelian testifies, wolves also see most keenly even in that night; although Macrobius in the place cited thinks the Greeks called the first light λύκην ἀπό τοῦ λευκοῦ, from whiteness, because it is white and is called so, and from this, he says, λυκοφῶς is named. Both are true. Moreover Nebuchadnezzar is aptly called an evening wolf, that is, a nocturnal wolf; because he invaded and took Jerusalem by night, as is evident from Jeremiah chapter LII, and because he raged against the Jews like an evening and famished wolf. Tropologically, evening wolves are demons, who chiefly prowl about by night and incite men to lusts, murders and other crimes. Thus St. Jerome in Habakkuk I, 8. Likewise avaricious and wicked princes, prelates and judges, of whom Zephaniah says, chapter III, 3: Her judges are evening wolves; because as in night and with no one seeing they plunder all things, and, since after the manner of wolves they seize all things, they do not even leave small morsels to the needy, says St. Jerome in the same place. Most certainly, indeed, according to the testimony of Christ, heretics are wolves. For, as St. Ambrose says in chapter X of Luke: Wolves explore the sleep of dogs, the absence or negligence of shepherds. Are not these heretics to be compared to wolves, who lie in wait for the sheep of Christ, and prowl around the folds more in the night time than in the day? Hence we have seen their assemblies conducted by them at night in Belgium, and we know that in France they have raged after the manner of Arabs in robberies and slaughters. Moreover, they put on the appearance of sheep, they feign themselves lovers of piety and truth, that they may deceive, and pour darkness upon the mind. Therefore they arrogate to themselves the name of light, as it were, but in reality they are nocturnal and dark. THE LEOPARD. — It is a fierce beast like a lion, it has a skin sprinkled with spots, it hides itself in foliage, and emits a pleasant odor, by which it allures gazelles, roes and other beasts to itself, seizes them, and tears them. Thus Pliny, book VIII, chapter XVI, and Aelianus, book V, chapter XL. Note: For "watchful" others translate "hastening," "swift," "quick," that is Nebuchadnezzar, as I have said, who watches, that is observes the cities of the Jews, while he besieges them closely and keeps watch, so that no one can go out from them without being immediately captured by him. Tropologically, the leopard is a demon, who by objects of fragrant delights, and by the skin, that is the external appearance, for example of a woman's body, deceives the unwary by painted variety and beauty, and going about seeking whom he may devour. THEIR REBELLIONS HAVE BEEN STRENGTHENED, — that is to say, They have rebelled mightily against me.
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7. FOR WHAT CAUSE (for what reason, on what merit, on what title, in what respect) CAN I BE MERCIFUL TO THEE? — What have you that would not provoke and kindle my pardon and clemency, and rather my wrath and indignation? Maldonatus and others take the Hebrew על מה as lazot, that is "for what cause," for איך ech, that is "how." THEY HAVE COMMITTED ADULTERY. — Properly and corporally, it is evident from what follows. Thus Theodoret, Rabanus, St. Thomas. Otherwise Hugo, Lyran and Dionysius: they have committed adultery, they say, spiritually with idols: thus they rush to idols, as adulterers satiated rush to harlots.
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8. HORSES LOVERS OF LUST. — In Hebrew muzanim, that is "satiated," "well fed," and from this "wanton," and, as our translator renders it, "lovers of lust"; because in the heat of lust they rush upon and neigh at females. Whence the Septuagint translates: Horses raging toward females; for muzanim descends from the root zun, that is "to feed," "to nourish," "to satiate." Thus R. Jacob, Vatablus, Pagninus. Whence also the Chaldean translates "strong horses," "fierce" or "wild." Wherefore R. David Kimchi less correctly reads menuzzanim for muzanim, that is, he says, "armed," "caparisoned," from the root iazan; for this root is not found elsewhere. Wherefore by the error of scribes it came to pass that mevuzzanim crept in here for muzanim, and in the margin meiuzanim, as Forsterus, though heterodox, correctly noted in his Lexicon. AND STALLIONS. — They are common horses, which are kept for this purpose, that mares may be brought to them, which they may impregnate. The Hebrew mosechim, which St. Jerome says all the Greeks translate ἕλκοντες, that is "dragging," namely their genitals on account of their size, as a sign of great lust, according to Ezekiel XXIII, 20: Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses. Secondly, the Rabbis read mezachim, that is "Coming forth from the region of Mosoch" (who was the son of Japheth, Genesis X, 2), that is from Muscovy; or, as Josephus, I Antiquities chapter XI, from Cappadocia; or, as R. Abraham, from Tuscany; or rather from Arabia near Cedar, as appears from Ezekiel XXVII, 13; for from there strong horses, and those prone to females, came forth. Thirdly, R. Kimchi, Vatablus and Pagninus read muskim, that is "neighing in the morning," from the root sacham, that is "to rise in the morning," that is to say, As horses, fed by sleep and food at night, when they go out in the morning, neigh at mares: so also the Jews at females. Moreover, how great is the lust of horses, and their ardor toward mares, Aristotle teaches, book VI of the History of Animals, chapter XXII. Whence men given over to Venus are called ἱππομανοῦ and are said ἱπποβατεῖν, that is to burn and rage like a horse. Whence St. Basil, in the book On Virginity, teaches that man was created as it were a centaur, so that in the upper part he might be man and rational, in the lower part a horse desiring and burning with lust.
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10. ASCEND (O Chaldeans, my soldiers) THE WALLS — of Jerusalem. God speaks here as a commander ordering the Chaldeans to overthrow Jerusalem. BUT DO NOT MAKE CONSUMMATION, — that is, do not utterly destroy it, so that remnants may be preserved and saved, Isaiah X, 20. TAKE AWAY HER SHOOTS (that is, do not root out the people entirely, but take away only the shoots, which) ARE NOT OF THE LORD, — namely the wicked Jews, who have given themselves over to idols and demons, and therefore have been abandoned by the God whom they abandoned, says St. Jerome. For every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up, says Christ, Matthew XV, 13. Secondly, because the Hebrew natas signifies to let go, to extend: hence the Septuagint translates: Take away her supports; the Chaldean, her palaces; Vatablus, the teeth of her walls, that is the battlements or pinnacles, which project from the walls so that enemies cannot ascend. Christopher a Castro translates: Take away what is abandoned or forsaken by me, and consequently, those things, since they have no master, will be the property of the first occupant. Thus he who has forsaken God is exposed to the prey and dominion of men and demons. Thirdly, Theodoret and Eusebius, book II of the Demonstration, chapter LV, repeat from the Hebrew the negation: do not do, do not take away her shoots, that is, leave Zerubbabel and some others, who may propagate the Jewish nation, lest it perish. Thus Theodoret. Or, as Eusebius says, leave Christ and the Apostles as remnants and support of the Jews.
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12. THEY SAID: HE IS NOT, — namely the Lord, who has providence over us, who punishes us if we do evil; or rewards us if we do well. And therefore the evils which he threatens us with will not happen. Thus St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugh, St. Thomas, Lyran.
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13. THE PROPHETS (namely of the true God) HAVE SPOKEN IN WIND (that is, in vain to you) — because you have hardened yourselves to hear them. Thus St. Jerome, Rabanus and Hugh. Secondly, Theodoret and Vatablus: False prophets have spoken in wind, that is, they have predicted vain and false things to you. Thirdly and most rightly, you should understand these words as if the wicked Jews continue to speak and say: The prophets, such as Jeremiah and others, have spoken in wind, that is, in vain and rashly; the answer, that is the oracle of God, was not in them: therefore these evils which they threatened us with will happen to them: that is, we wish that they happen to them, and return upon their own head.
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14. IN THY MOUTH IN FIRE, — that is, I inspire you with oracles efficacious like fire; for I cause that by your mouth, O Jeremiah, you prophesy most certainly of the coming Nebuchadnezzar, who like fire in general will consume the people, whom I will abandon like wood to the fire, and expose to the Chaldeans to be burned. Note: Thus he speaks as if Jeremiah by his words were about to burn the people, and this first, to signify the force and certainty of the prophecy, and to refute the blasphemous voice of the Jews, verse 13: The prophets have spoken in wind; to these he says that Jeremiah prophesies not in wind, but in fire; secondly, to signify that Jeremiah does not prophesy from himself, but from God, and therefore he speaks as it were in the person of God, and by God's command and decree was about to burn the people like wood in fire, that is, to the vengeance of the Chaldeans. Thus Vatablus, Lyran and Hugh. Otherwise St. Jerome, Rabanus, St. Thomas: The threats are so efficacious to them, that they seem to themselves to be tormented, scourged, and burned in fire, so that it is a catachresis.
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15. I WILL BRING UPON (AGAINST) YOU A NATION FROM FAR, — from Chaldea. ANCIENT, — which from ancient times has learned and been accustomed to wage war, to kill, to plunder; namely from the time of Nimrod, who first reigned in Babylon, in the year after the flood, as I have shown in Genesis X, 18. From that time indeed the empire of the Chaldeans began, which together with the kingdom of the Assyrians was held by Belus the father of Ninus, and the following Assyrian kings almost up to Nebuchadnezzar. WHOSE LANGUAGE THOU SHALT NOT KNOW, — that is, I will bring against you Chaldeans, a barbarous nation unintelligible, inexorable; for neither will they understand your prayers, nor you their demands. This was threatened to them by Moses, Deuteronomy XXVIII, 49.
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16. HIS QUIVER IS AS A SEPULCHRE, — that is, the quiver of the Chaldaeans shall not be satisfied with slaughter, just as neither does an open sepulchre become full, that is, is filled with corpses. Thus Hugo, as if to say the Chaldaeans will strike down very many with their arrows. Thus Vatablus. Secondly, St. Thomas: As an open sepulchre strikes those beholding it with horror of corpses: so also arrows infected with the blood of the slain in the quivers of the Chaldaeans will strike those beholding them. Thirdly, Lyran: The quiver, that is by metonymy their arrows, will certainly pierce those whom they wish: just as certainly are dead those whom the sepulchre receives. Fourthly, a Castro and Theodoret: The quiver, that is the arrow of the Chaldaeans, is a sepulchre, that is sepulchral, funereal, lethal, that is certainly bringing death, and leading into an open sepulchre. Fifthly and most plainly, the quiver of the Chaldaeans is a sepulchre, that is it has the form and appearance of a sepulchre; for just as a sepulchre contains the dead, and consumes and incinerates them without end and number: so their quiver contains death, that is very many deadly arrows, which will bring death to very many, so that the quiver a sepulchre, all the arrows seem to be dead. Therefore this phrase signifies that the Chaldaeans have strong and penetrating arrows, and are most skilled in shooting, so that as many arrows as they have in their quiver, so many men they know they will kill. Thus Maldonatus. This fifth sense is the fullest, because it involves and embraces the third and fourth. Thus St. Ambrose calls the rich, who absorb the fortunes of the poor, and their coffers, the sepulchres of the poor. ALL MIGHTY, — as if to say, nor is this wonderful, because all the Chaldaeans themselves are most mighty men: therefore with their arrows they will drive very many into death and the sepulchre.
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17. SHALL DEVOUR, — the Chaldaean, shall kill. SHALL BREAK IN PIECES (in Hebrew vroses, that is shall uproot, that is shall overthrow) THY CITIES.
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18. I WILL NOT MAKE A CONSUMPTION OF YOU, — I will not utterly consume you.
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19. YOU HAVE SERVED A STRANGE GOD IN YOUR OWN LAND, SO SHALL YOU SERVE STRANGERS IN A LAND THAT IS NOT YOUR OWN. — He opposes strange gods to strange lords, that is the Chaldaeans, whom the Jews shall serve. Again, to their own land he opposes a land not their own; for it was a greater fault of the Jews that they served strange gods in their own land, than if they had done so compelled by a king in a foreign land: hence likewise it was a greater punishment for them to serve in a foreign land, than in their own. Thus Maldonatus. In Hebrew it is, so let it be done to them, namely as we have threatened them, although St. Jerome thinks these therefore shall come to pass for them, to be the words of Jeremiah, as if to say, These, that is the impending punishments, shall come to pass for them. BEHOLD I GIVE MY WORDS IN THY MOUTH FOR A FIRE, — as if to say, I inspire you with oracles efficacious like fire; because I effect that by your mouth, O Jeremiah, by predicting most certainly the coming Nebuchadnezzar, who generally like fire shall consume the people, whom like wood I shall abandon to fire, and expose to the Chaldaeans for burning.
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20. DECLARE (O Prophets) THIS TO THE HOUSE OF JACOB (that is say these things to the two tribes; whence he explains, adding): AND MAKE IT HEARD IN JUDA. — For Juda and the house of Jacob are the same. For he speaks to the two tribes; not however to the other ten, as they had long before been led away into Assyria.
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21. HEAR, O FOOLISH PEOPLE, THAT HAVE NO HEART. — Who have no sense, mind, understanding; wisdom; who speak and act foolishly, imprudently and stupidly. Thus Osee VII: Ephraim is called a dove deceived not having a heart; and Proverbs XI: He that despiseth his friend is wanting in heart. Note: The heart is a symbol, and according to Galen, the seat of wisdom; whence the Poet: The heart is wise, and the lung speaks, the gall stirs up anger, / The spleen causes laughter, the liver compels to love.
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22. WILL YOU NOT THEREFORE FEAR ME? SAITH THE LORD; — for if I am your Lord, where is my fear? AND WILL YOU NOT GRIEVE AT MY PRESENCE? — will you not repent; the Chaldee, will you not tremble; the Septuagint, will you not fear. God exacts two things from sinners, namely fear and repentance. WHO HAVE SET THE SAND A BOUND FOR THE SEA, as if to say, — Will you not fear me, who am so mighty, that sand, a thing so small and weak, as with a wall, I restrain the whole sea and all its waves? AND THEY SHALL BE MOVED (the waves of the sea, as follows), AND SHALL NOT BE ABLE, — shall not prevail against the bound and shore appointed by God, so that they may cross and leap over it.
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23. BUT THIS PEOPLE HATH A REBELLIOUS AND A FAITHLESS HEART. — In Hebrew it is leb sorer umoreh, that is a heart departing and embittering; because they turn away from me to idols, and thus they exasperate me. The Septuagint: a heart not hearing, nor obeying, as if to say, The insane waves of the sea obey me, and the shores and bounds appointed to them by me they dare not transgress; but the Jews, although they are sane and wise men, rebel against me, against me, I say, who am mighty equally and liberal toward them, so much so that I have appointed for them constant and perpetual rain, fruits and harvest. Whence it follows:
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24. WHO GIVES US THE EARLY RAIN (that is, the autumnal rain at the time of sowing) AND THE LATTER RAIN,—that is, the spring rain for harvest. See what is said in chapter III, verse 3. KEEPING FOR US THE FULLNESS OF THE ANNUAL HARVEST.—The Interpreter translates clearly; for the Hebrew has it thus word for word: who, namely God, keeps for us the harvest (namely complete) of the appointed weeks. Secondly, Aquila, Symmachus and Vatablus translate: Who keeps for us the appointed weeks (by himself and by nature) of harvest, namely the seven weeks, which are from Passover until Pentecost. For Pentecost was the feast of weeks, and at that time was the time of harvest among the Jews; hence they then offered loaves of the firstfruits. This sense is very proper to this place, and is favored by the Septuagint and the Chaldean. Hence thirdly, more fully Maldonatus thus translates: who (namely God) keeps for us the weeks of precepts, that is, reserves for us clear and dry weather, in the space of seven weeks, which he commanded us to number and observe from the offering of the first fruits at Passover until Pentecost, to reconcile his providence, and thus to mature the wheat harvest, so that it be harmed by no storm. Fourthly, others translate: who by appointed oaths keeps the harvest for us (for in Hebrew shabua signifies first, seven; secondly, a week; thirdly, an oath: because formerly they swore by seven, as I said in Genesis XXI, 29, and Genesis XXVI, 33), that is, who according to his promises and oaths, Genesis VIII, 22, Leviticus XXVI, keeps the harvest for us.
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25. YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE TURNED AWAY THESE,—have averted, namely the appointed rain and harvest from you, as I said in chapter III, 3. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret.
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27. AS A SNARE FULL OF BIRDS.—He calls a snare the cage of a fowler, in which they place tame birds, so that they may attract others of their kind by their appearance and song, and thus those which enter the cage are caught. Whence the cage is called a snare, because it deceives birds, as if to say: As the fowler's snare is full of birds both deceiving and deceived: so the houses of the Jews are full of deceit, that is, of usuries and frauds, and likewise of goods obtained through usuries and frauds. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret, and it is evident from what follows.
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28. THEY HAVE TRANSGRESSED MY WORDS MOST WICKEDLY,—as if to say: They have violated my laws by their most wicked and criminal conduct. Our Interpreter reads devarai, that is, my words; now others with different pointing read divre, and connect it with the following divre ra, that is, words of malice. Whence Maldonatus translates, they have transgressed words of malice, that is, they have lived so wickedly that their depravity cannot be explained in any words; but Vatablus, Pagninus and Kimchi translate, they have surpassed things and deeds of malice, that is, the worst of all.
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30. ASTONISHMENT AND WONDERS (in Hebrew, astonishment and shame; in the Septuagint, astonishment and horrible things; in the Chaldean, admiration and foulness, that is, things astonishing and most foul) HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE LAND,—namely in Judea, to wit, the Prophets and Priests, who ought to have been guides to the people toward good, have become guides to evil.
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31. And the priests applauded.—Thus both the Septuagint and Theodoret; but Vatablus, Pagninus, Kimchi and Isidore translate: the priests received gifts in their hands, or, through their hands, namely of the false prophets; because namely they became partakers of those things which were given by the people, and were exacted by the false prophets. Thirdly others translate, and the priests ruled through their hands, because namely the false prophets made the people obedient to the priests in all wickedness. WHAT THEREFORE SHALL BE DONE IN THE END THEREOF?—What shall be the end, what the reward of such great crimes? namely it shall be a worthy and just reward, the final calamity and destruction of the nation by the Chaldeans. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Hugh, Rabanus and others.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
5:1
Hic excludit remedia in quibus confidere poterant: et primo hominum sanctitatem; secundo regiae urbis fortitudinem, cap. 6: confortamini; tertio divini cultus religionem, cap. 7: verbum quod factum est ad Jeremiam a domino, dicens et cetera. Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit eorum malitiam in generali; secundo prosequitur vitia in speciali, ibi, super quo tibi propitius esse potero? Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit culpam; secundo comminatur poenam, ibi, idcirco percussit eos leo de sylva. Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit malitiam praelatorum: secundo subditorum, ibi, ego autem dixi et cetera. Circa primum duo. Primo proponit dominus universalem populi malitiam quantum ad pravitatem actionis: virum, etiam unum, facientem judicium, idest juste se habentem ad proximum suum, secundum regulam justi judicii, quaerentem fidem, idest fideliter agere; et propitius ero ei, non tantum propter decem, sicut dixit Abraham de Sodomitis, Gen. 18. Sed poterat dici: non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum: Psal. 13: et quantum ad perversitatem actionis in his, si qua bona exterius videbantur: quod si etiam, vivit dominus, dixerint; et hoc falso jurabunt: quia in corde dominum non venerabantur, sicut ore ostendebant; vel quia ad litteram perjurabant.
5:2
Supra 4: jurabis, vivit dominus, in veritate, et in judicio, et in justitia. Isa. 29: populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est a me.
5:3
Secundo propheta confirmat domini sententiam: et primo ponit sententiae veritatem: domine, oculi mei respiciunt fidem, idest quod rectum est; quasi dicat: recte judicasti. Prov. 16: omnes viae hominum patent oculis ejus, spirituum ponderator est dominus. Hab. 1: mundi sunt oculi tui ne videas malum, et respicere ad iniquitatem non poteris. Secundo adjungit populi incorrigibilitatem, quia nec emendatur percussione: percussisti, levibus flagellis, non doluerunt, de peccatis suis: attrivisti, morte et captivitate. Supra 2: frustra percussi filios vestros; disciplinam non receperunt. Aggaei 2: percussi vos vento urente, et aerugine et grandine omnia opera manuum vestrarum: et non fuit in vobis qui reverteretur ad me: dicit dominus. Nec confusione: induraverunt; quasi dicat: non immutantur verecundia. Ezech. 3: omnis quippe domus Israel attrita fronte est, et duro corde.
5:4
Hic ostendit malitiam praelatorum contra aestimationem prophetae: et primo proponit populi ignorantiam, quasi in excusationem ipsorum: forsitan pauperes sunt, illi quos malos in plateis reperi, ignorantes viam, per quam incedant judicium, quod timeant. 1 Cor. 8: non in omnibus est scientia. Secundo proponit praelatorum scientiam, quae auferebat opinionem culpae: ibo ergo ad optimates, et loquar eis: ipsi enim cognoverunt viam, per quam incedant, judicium, quo inter alios etiam judicent. Sap. 6: ad vos, reges sunt hi sermones, ut discatis sapientiam, ne excidatis.
5:5
Tertio proponit culpam: et ecce magis quam populus, quia audacius, minus timentes, simul cum populo. Psal. 2: astiterunt reges terrae et principes convenerunt in unum adversus dominum. Jugum legis, vincula praeceptorum. Psal. 2: dirumpamus vincula eorum, et projiciamus a nobis jugum ipsorum.
5:6
Hic comminatur poenam: et primo determinat poenam, quantum ad interfectionem virorum, leo de sylva, quasi ferox, Nabuchodonosor propter ferocitatem; in quo regnum Chaldaeorum. Quantum ad vastationem regionum, lupus ad vesperam, idest propter velocitatem: sunt enim hora vespertina lupi velociores vacuati cibo, et aspirant ad praedam nocturnam. Vel in lupo regnum Persarum. Quantum ad obsidionem urbis, pardus vigilans, idest Nabuchodonosor propter fraudulentiam, vel regnum Graecorum propter varietatem regnorum, quae sibi subjecerat. De regno autem Romanorum tacet: quia adhuc in longum imminebat, vel etiam ipsum significat per hoc quod dicit: omnis qui egressus, idest evaserit manus praecedentium, capietur. Thren. 3: ursus insidians factus est mihi leo in abscondito. Habac. 1: leviores sunt pardis equi eorum, et velociores lupis vespertinis. Secundo resumit causam, multiplicatae sunt, quantum ad numerum, confortatae quantum ad usum, aversiones, a Deo. Isa. 59: multiplicatae sunt iniquitates nostrae coram te, et peccata nostra responderunt nobis.
5:7
Hic prosequitur peccata eorum in speciali: et primo peccata subditorum; secundo peccata praelatorum, ibi, quia inventi sunt in populo meo impii insidiantes. Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit populi culpam; secundo peccantium stultitiam, ibi, annuntiate. Circa primum tria. Primo arguit in populo culpam idolatriae: super quo propitius tibi esse potero? Idest, quam rationabilem causam potero invenire vobis parcendi? Jurant, eis divinam reverentiam impendentes. Deut. 32: ipsi provocaverunt me in eo qui non erat Deus; et irritaverunt in vanitatibus suis; et ego provocabo eos in eo qui non est populus. Secundo arguit culpam luxuriae, ponens peccati perpetrationem, sive peccandi occasionem: saturavi, affluentiam temporalium bonorum conferens. Unde Glossa: sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus: amici enim sunt venter et genitalia. Moechati, adulterati, in domo meretricis; ex ipso loco turpitudo peccati augetur Ezech. 16: haec fuit iniquitas Sodomae sororis tuae, superbia et saturitas panis, et abundantia, et otium ipsius et filiarum ejus; et manum egeno et pauperi non porrigebant; et elevatae sunt, et fecerunt abominationes coram me: et abstuli eas sicut vidisti.
5:8
Ponens etiam concupiscentiae fervorem: equi amatores, quando scilicet sunt in tempore luxuriae suae, emissarii, quia ad hoc opus jumenta specialiter emittuntur. Hinniebat, quasi libidine insaniens. Psal. 31: nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus, in quibus non est intellectus.
5:9
Ponens etiam poenae recompensationem, ubi comminatur vindictam: numquid super his non visitabo? Corrigens peccata eorum poenis. Anima, affectus. Soph. 1: visitabo super viros defixos in faecibus suis.
5:10
Et determinat poenam quantum ad destructionem murorum, ascendite, o Chaldaei: et quantum ad destructionem hominum, auferte propagines, idest filios qui ex his propagantur, sicut ex propagine vites. Deut. 28: destruentur muri tui firmi atque sublimes, in quibus habebas fiduciam, in omni terra tua. Et resumit poenae causam: quia non sunt domini, abalienati ab ipso per peccatum. Isa. 24: praevaricantes praevaricati sunt, et praevaricatione transgressorum praevaricati sunt.
5:12
Tertio arguit in eis peccatum blasphemiae: et primo ponit culpam quantum ad blasphemiam in Deum: negaverunt dominum, negantes providentiam ipsius super res inferiores. Non est ipse, cujus nutu omnia fiunt neque veniet, quamvis contra ipsum peccaverimus. Thren. 3: quis est iste qui dixit ut fieret, domino non jubente? Et Ezech. 9: dixerunt: dereliquit dominus terram et dominus non videt. Et quantum ad blasphemiam in prophetas, in ventum, idest in vanum. Responsum, divinum. Job 6: ad increpandum tantum eloquia concinnatis, et in ventum verba profertis. Secundo comminatur poenam: et primo ponit poenam contra blasphemiam in prophetas: haec ergo, quae sequuntur. In ignem, idest dabo verbis tuis efficaciam, ut ipsa verba tua quasi ignes comburant. Infra 23: numquid non verba mea sunt quasi ignis ardens? Dicit dominus. Et contra blasphemiam in Deum, determinans hostium conditionem, quia potentes: ecce ego de longinquo, scilicet Chaldaea, robustam viribus, antiquam, quia ipsis praefuit Nembrot, gigas: unde exercitata ab antiquo in armis.
5:15
Item ostendit gentem inexorabilem: gentem cujus ignorabis linguam. Item armis munitam, pharetra, quia prompte inde sagittas emittunt; et quia ibi apparent sanguinolentae, sicut cadavera in sepulcris. Infra 50: ecce populus veniet ab Aquilone, et gens magna, et reges multi consurgent a finibus terrae, et cetera. Et ponit poenae inflictionem: et comedet. Deut. 28: adducet super te dominus gentem de longinquo, et de extremis terrae finibus in similitudinem aquilae volantis in impetu, cujus linguam intelligere non possis.
5:18
Tamen cum misericordiae admixtione: verumtamen in diebus illis, ait dominus, non faciam vos in consummationem. Supra 4: consummationem autem non faciam. Secundo resumit poenae causam: quod si dixeritis. Infra 16: ejiciam vos de terra hac in terram quam ignoratis vos et patres vestri.
5:21
Hic ostendit populi peccantis stultitiam: et primo proponit ipsam: audi popule stulte, qui non habes cor, qui habentes oculos, exteriores, non videtis, corde. Isaiae 6: excaeca cor populi hujus. Secundo probat: et primo ex comparatione insensibilium creaturarum, proponens earum obedientiam, me ergo non timebitis? Arenam, littus, commovebuntur: fluctus scilicet; idest, quamvis commoveantur. Job 38: circumdedi illud terminis meis. Et populi inobedientiam.
5:23
Populo autem huic factum est cor incredulum. Ezech. 2: noli esse exasperans sicut domus exasperatrix est. Secundo probat ingratitudinem beneficiorum, ponens ingratitudinem, recesserunt. Temporaneam, in principio post seminationem, serotinam, tempore maturationis fructuum, dominum; scilicet custodientem.
5:25
Et beneficiorum cessationem, iniquitates vestrae. Isa. 59: peccata vestra diviserunt inter vos et Deum vestrum.
5:26
Hic prosequitur culpam praelatorum, quae est frequenter causa culpae subditorum; et ideo dicit: quia inventi sunt in populo meo impii insidiantes. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo arguit ipsorum culpam quantum ad violationem justitiae; secundo quantum ad perversitatem doctrinae, ibi, stupor et mirabilia facta sunt in terra. Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit eorum injustitiam quantum ad injustam et fraudulentam oppressionem pauperum, ponens dolum, insidiantes. Psal. 10: insidiatur ut rapiat pauperem. Plenae dolo, divitiis quas dolo conquisierunt.
5:27
Et doli effectum in multiplicatione divitiarum: ideo magnificati, in honoribus, ditati, in divitiis. Infra 17: perdix fovit quae non peperit, fecit divitias, sed non in judicio. Et in multiplicatione peccatorum, et praeterierunt. Deut. 32: incrassatus est dilectus et recalcitravit, incrassatus, impinguatus, dilatatus.
5:28
Secundo ostendit eorum injustitiam quantum ad justi judicii omissionem, causam viduae. Isa. 1: pupillo non judicant, et causa viduae non ingreditur ad eos.
Hic comminatur poenam. Deut. 32: reddam ultionem hostibus meis, et his qui oderunt me retribuam.
5:31
Hic arguit perversitatem doctrinae: et primo ponit admirabilem culpam: stupor, idest stupenda res, prophetae prophetabant mendacium, quorum erat veritatem docere. Ezech. 22: prophetae ejus liniebant eos absque temperamento videntes vana, et divinantes eis mendacium. Applaudebant, consentientes mendaciis, quorum erat prophetas corrigere. Infra 29: dedit te dominus sacerdotem pro Jojada sacerdote, ut sis dux in domo domini super omnem virum arreptitium et prophetantem ut mittas eum in nervum et carcerem. Et nunc quare non increpasti Jeremiam Anathothitem qui prophetat vobis? Et populus meus. Eccli. 10: qualis rector civitatis, tales et inhabitantes in ea. Secundo innuit admirabilem poenam: quid igitur fiet in novissimo ejus? Scilicet captivitatis, vel mortis. Isa. 27: in mensura contra mensuram cum abjecta fuerit, judicabit eam et cetera. Notandum, quod est multiplex paupertas; scilicet terrenae possessionis. Jacobi 2: nonne Deus elegit pauperes in hoc mundo, divites in fide, et heredes regni quod repromisit Deus diligentibus se? Humilitatis. Matth. 5: beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum. Afflictionis. Psal. 68: ego sum pauper et dolens: salus tua, domine, suscepit me. Cognitionis. Apoc. 3: nescis quia tu es pauper. Imperfectionis. Thren. 3: ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus. Item notandum, quod multiplex est visitatio; scilicet consolationis. Lucae 1: visitavit nos oriens ex alto. Correptionis. Psal. 88: visitabo in virga iniquitates eorum. Damnationis. Infra 8: in tempore visitationis suae corruent, dicit dominus congregans congregabo eos, ait dominus. Item notandum, quod verbum Dei dicitur ignis, quia illuminat. Psal. 118: lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum. Quia inflammat. Psal. 104: eloquium domini inflammavit eum. Quia infirma penetrat. Infra 20: et factus est sermo domini in corde meo quasi ignis aestuans, claususque in ossibus meis. Hebr. 4: vivus est sermo Dei, et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti, et pertingens usque ad divisionem animae ac spiritus, compagum quoque ac medullarum, et discretor cogitationum et intentionum cordis. Quia liquefacit. Psal. 147: emittet verbum suum, et liquefaciet ea; flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aquae. Quia consumit inobedientes. Isa. 30: labia ejus repleta sunt indignatione, et lingua ejus quasi ignis devorans. Joan. 15: si non venissem, et locutus non fuissem eis, peccatum non haberent. Nunc autem excusationem non habent de peccato suo.
5:8
… In the Mosaic law very severe penalties are sanctioned against adulterers, particularly when the woman is guilty (cf. Gen. 39:7-20; Ex. 20:14, 17; Lev. 18:20; 20:10; Deut. 22:22; II Sam. 11:2 ff.; Jer. 5:8 ff.; Ex. 23:20; Hos. 4:2). It is the severity found in other Semitic legislations (cf. code of Hammurabi, § 129; Hittite and Middle Assyrian laws in G. Furlani, Leggi dell'Asia anteriore …
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.