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On Jeremiah

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Jeremiah 8:21
(Verse 21.) I am crushed with the contrition of the daughter of my people, and I am sorrowful: astonishment has taken hold of me. God replied that he would be seen afflicted in the affliction of Jerusalem, and would be crushed in human likeness by astonishment.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 8:22
(Ver. 22.) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Not only in this place, but also in many other passages of the Scriptures, we find the balm of Gilead being used as a symbol of repentance and healing. And now we wonder, why have the wounds of Jerusalem not been healed, and why have they not yet covered their skin with scars? This is because there are no prophets or priests to administer the healing balm.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:1
(Chapter IX — Verse 1) Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, so that I may weep day and night for the slain daughters of my people? If I could only be turned into weeping, and tears were to flow abundantly like a river, still I would not be able to weep worthy tears for the slain daughters of my people. For their affliction is so great that it surpasses all sorrow. And this can be understood both from the perspective of the Prophet and of the Lord.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:2
(Verse 2.) Who will give me lodging in the solitude of travelers, and I will leave my people and depart from them? LXX: Who will give me a final dwelling place in the solitude, so that I may leave my people and depart from them? It is better, he says, to dwell in extreme solitude than to dwell among such great crimes of men. Hence the Savior spoke in the Gospel: How long shall I bear with you? And in another place it is written: In that time, the one who understands will sit and be silent, for it is a time of great distress (Lamentations 3:28, Micah 2:7).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:3
(Verse 3.) Because they are all adulterers, a gathering of transgressors. And they have stretched out their tongue like a bow of falsehood and not of truth. They have grown strong in the land, for they have gone from evil to evil, and they have not known me, says the Lord. Sinners go from evil to evil, when they exchange idols for idols, and they go from sins to sins, or certainly from the evil of siege to captivity. And indeed, concerning the saints, it is said: They will go from strength to strength (Psalm 83:8). But concerning sinners: They have gone from evil to evil. And the cause of all miseries is that they did not acknowledge the Lord, and there is a gathering of transgressors and their tongues are armed like a drawn bow for blasphemy. And they are comforted on the earth so that they may deserve to hear: You are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen. III).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:4-6

(Verse 4 and following) Let each person guard themselves from their neighbor, and let them not have trust in any brother, for every brother will deceive and every friend will act deceitfully; and a man will mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies (or their tongue has learned to speak lies), in order to act wickedly, they have labored (or acted unjustly) and have not ceased from turning away. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, in deceit (or usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit); they refused (or did not want) to know me, says the Lord. This place should be used in times of persecution and distress, when either faith is rare or non-existent: when neither brother nor neighbor can be trusted, and the enemies of a man are those of his own household (Mich. 7): when, according to the Gospel, the father will betray the son, and the son the father, and two will be divided into three, and three into two. And what it implies, They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, or their tongue has learned to speak falsehood (Ma…

(Verse 4 and following) Let each person guard themselves from their neighbor, and let them not have trust in any brother, for every brother will deceive and every friend will act deceitfully; and a man will mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies (or their tongue has learned to speak lies), in order to act wickedly, they have labored (or acted unjustly) and have not ceased from turning away. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, in deceit (or usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit); they refused (or did not want) to know me, says the Lord. This place should be used in times of persecution and distress, when either faith is rare or non-existent: when neither brother nor neighbor can be trusted, and the enemies of a man are those of his own household (Mich. 7): when, according to the Gospel, the father will betray the son, and the son the father, and two will be divided into three, and three into two. And what it implies, They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, or their tongue has learned to speak falsehood (Matt. X), shows that the habit of lying is somehow turned into nature: and they diligently act so that they may do wicked things. And what follows, Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, in deceit, is specifically directed to the Prophet, that he dwells among a lying people; or as the Seventy translated: Usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: and that they increase their crimes daily, and have no remorse for their previous actions, but rather accumulate past offenses with new ones. They do these things, with all zeal, so that they may not know the Lord, who did not command these things to be done.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:7
(Verse 7.) Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt (or refine) and test them. For what else shall I do from the face of the daughter of my people (or what shall I do from the face of the malice of the daughter of my people)? As often as we are subject to difficulties, we receive evil from God, and we are tested by persecutions, so that whatever adulterous matter is in us, it is consumed (or burned up) by the fires of tribulations and miseries: For the silver of the Lord is refined by fire, tested by the earth, purified sevenfold (Psalm 11:7).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:8-9
(Verse 8, 9.) The arrow that wounds their tongue speaks deceit: in their mouth they speak peace with their friend but hide traps for them secretly. Will I not visit them for these things, says the Lord, or will not my soul take revenge on a nation such as this? Every heretic who wounds the hearts of those who hear and do not understand the scripture possesses an arrow that wounds, and speaks in deceit. And when he promises peace to his neighbor with his mouth, he secretly sets traps. But in the following verses, in which he says: 'Will I not visit these things? says the Lord: or will not my soul be avenged on a nation like this?' he frequently abuses this as a Prophet, so that when he enumerates the individual works of evil, he may infer that he does what he does justly.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:10

(Ver. 10.) Over the mountains I will lift up weeping and lamentation, and over the beautiful paths of the deserted plains there will be mourning. For they are burned up because there is no man passing through, and they have not heard the voice of the possessor, from the bird of the sky to the livestock they migrate and depart. With the coming of the Babylonian army, and as it devastates everything, the solitude of the province is prophesied, that there will be lamentation on the mountains, weeping in the desert or on the paths of the wilderness, that everything will fail and burn up, and there will be no one who walks the earth, with everyone slain and nothing remaining that can breathe and live. From the word 'possidente' (possessing), seventy substances were transferred, which in Hebrew is called Macne (): and here substance is not taken in the sense of essence, but in the sense of power and wealth. And what it implies is this: They have withdrawn and gone away from the birds of the air to the cattle, which shows what we have often said, that the whole creation feels the anger of G…

(Ver. 10.) Over the mountains I will lift up weeping and lamentation, and over the beautiful paths of the deserted plains there will be mourning. For they are burned up because there is no man passing through, and they have not heard the voice of the possessor, from the bird of the sky to the livestock they migrate and depart. With the coming of the Babylonian army, and as it devastates everything, the solitude of the province is prophesied, that there will be lamentation on the mountains, weeping in the desert or on the paths of the wilderness, that everything will fail and burn up, and there will be no one who walks the earth, with everyone slain and nothing remaining that can breathe and live. From the word 'possidente' (possessing), seventy substances were transferred, which in Hebrew is called Macne (): and here substance is not taken in the sense of essence, but in the sense of power and wealth. And what it implies is this: They have withdrawn and gone away from the birds of the air to the cattle, which shows what we have often said, that the whole creation feels the anger of God, and not only the birds of the air, but also the fish of the water perish. According to the allegory, we understand weeping upon the mountains, and lamentation upon the beautiful wilderness, when the leaders of the Church sin and nothing of God's substance is found in her, nor is the voice of the Lord who possesses the Church heard through the holy and apostolic men; and from the birds of the air to the cattle, from those who can ascend to the heights to the irrational and simplest creatures who have withdrawn (or have withdrawn) from God's assembly.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:11
(Verse 11) And I will make Jerusalem a heap of sand (or in exile) and a dwelling place of dragons, and I will make the cities of Judah desolate; because there is no inhabitant. When ecclesiastical men and teachers have failed, then Jerusalem is given into exile, or into a heap of sand, so that the heretic's speech prevails in it, and it becomes a dwelling place of dragons, and its cities are reduced to solitude, and there is no habitation of divine discourse in it, and he who says: I will dwell and walk in them, and I will be their God (Leviticus 26:12).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:12-14

(Verse 12 onwards) Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom is the word of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it: why has the land perished and become scorched like a desert, because there is no one to pass through it? And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law that I gave to them, and have not listened to my voice, and have not walked in it, but have followed the stubbornness of their own hearts and after the Baals, which they learned from their fathers. He interrogates the Prophet, if anyone among the wise in Jerusalem is able to find, and those to whom the word of God is spoken, and who are able to announce the will of the Lord, and to provide reasons why Judah has been reduced to a desolation, and with everyone killed, there is no one remaining who can pass through it. And the Lord responds and provides reasons: because they have forsaken His Law that He gave to them, and have not listened to His voice, nor have they done what they should have done; but they have gone after the wickedness of their own hearts. Therefore, it is necessary to confess not acco…

(Verse 12 onwards) Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom is the word of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it: why has the land perished and become scorched like a desert, because there is no one to pass through it? And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law that I gave to them, and have not listened to my voice, and have not walked in it, but have followed the stubbornness of their own hearts and after the Baals, which they learned from their fathers. He interrogates the Prophet, if anyone among the wise in Jerusalem is able to find, and those to whom the word of God is spoken, and who are able to announce the will of the Lord, and to provide reasons why Judah has been reduced to a desolation, and with everyone killed, there is no one remaining who can pass through it. And the Lord responds and provides reasons: because they have forsaken His Law that He gave to them, and have not listened to His voice, nor have they done what they should have done; but they have gone after the wickedness of their own hearts. Therefore, it is necessary to confess not according to our will, but in the Lord. For the heart is corrupt in all things. And from our heart come evil thoughts. And after the Baals, they went, as it is said, whom they learned from their fathers. Baal is the idol of the Sidonians, and Baalim is the plural number. Therefore, neither the error of our parents nor of our ancestors should be followed, but rather the authority of the Scriptures and the command of God, who teaches us.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:15-16

(Verses 15, 16.) Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood (or distress), and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them among the nations, which neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until they are consumed. It can also be prophesied about the near future, when they were taken captive by the Chaldeans, and specifically about this time, when they were dispersed among the nations, which they and their fathers had not known, and were divided throughout the entire world, and were fed with wormwood, or with hardships and distress. And they drank a drink of water mixed with gall, which signifies either the magnitude of their evils, or the eternal yoke of captivity: or certainly, because of their ignorance of God's law, they are about to receive Antichrist in place of Christ. But a sword is sent after them, to consume them even to their destruction. Or certainly, a sword that divides them and does not allow them to have agreement in evil, so that they may perish in what i…

(Verses 15, 16.) Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood (or distress), and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them among the nations, which neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until they are consumed. It can also be prophesied about the near future, when they were taken captive by the Chaldeans, and specifically about this time, when they were dispersed among the nations, which they and their fathers had not known, and were divided throughout the entire world, and were fed with wormwood, or with hardships and distress. And they drank a drink of water mixed with gall, which signifies either the magnitude of their evils, or the eternal yoke of captivity: or certainly, because of their ignorance of God's law, they are about to receive Antichrist in place of Christ. But a sword is sent after them, to consume them even to their destruction. Or certainly, a sword that divides them and does not allow them to have agreement in evil, so that they may perish in what is evil.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:17-18
(Verse 17, 18.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider (or understand) and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the wise women, that they may hurry, and let them take up a lamentation for us (or for you), and let our (or your) eyes shed tears, and let our (or your) eyelids flow with water; for the voice of lamentation is heard from Zion (or in Zion). Because of the future captivity and destruction of Jerusalem, he orders the mourners to be called, who are accustomed to wailing, striking their chests with a lamenting voice, to provoke the people to tears. For this custom remains in Judaea even to this day, that women with their hair scattered and their breasts exposed, with a melodious voice, stir everyone to weeping. And God joins Himself with compassionate feeling, or the Prophet, so that whatever the people endure, he may declare that he himself endures and feels it. But what follows is: Because the voice of lamentation is heard from Zion, immediately follows what this voice is.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:19
(Verse 19.) How desolate and utterly confused we are! Because we have forsaken the land, for our tents have been abandoned. This is the voice of those lamenting Zion: how desolate and utterly confused we are! And immediately they answer themselves and explain the reasons for their devastation, saying: Because we have forsaken the land, through our own fault and sin, and our tents have been abandoned, which once possessed as if passing by. Let them say this also to the crowds of once believing, in persecution: that they have been devastated and confused because they have abandoned the land of the Lord and have deserted their tents.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:20-21

(Verse 20, 21.) Therefore, listen, women, to the word of the Lord, and let your ears receive the speech of His mouth, and teach your daughters lamentation, and each one her neighbor mourning. For death has entered through our windows, it has come into our houses: to destroy the children from outside, the young men from the streets. In the previous chapter, He had said: call for the mourning women to come, and send for the wise women, and let them hurry: now He speaks as if they were present, in condemnation of the priests and the teachers and all men: so that when they cease from teaching, these women may hear the word of the Lord, and receive the words of His mouth, and teach their daughters and neighbors the causes of mourning and the reasons for tears: For death has entered through our windows, it has come into our houses. Although it can be understood spiritually, because through all the senses death enters the soul's destruction of sins; yet it can also be understood about the attack of the Babylonians: that their strength and swiftness in fighting is so great that they do not w…

(Verse 20, 21.) Therefore, listen, women, to the word of the Lord, and let your ears receive the speech of His mouth, and teach your daughters lamentation, and each one her neighbor mourning. For death has entered through our windows, it has come into our houses: to destroy the children from outside, the young men from the streets. In the previous chapter, He had said: call for the mourning women to come, and send for the wise women, and let them hurry: now He speaks as if they were present, in condemnation of the priests and the teachers and all men: so that when they cease from teaching, these women may hear the word of the Lord, and receive the words of His mouth, and teach their daughters and neighbors the causes of mourning and the reasons for tears: For death has entered through our windows, it has come into our houses. Although it can be understood spiritually, because through all the senses death enters the soul's destruction of sins; yet it can also be understood about the attack of the Babylonians: that their strength and swiftness in fighting is so great that they do not wait to unlock doors; but they climb through windows and rooftops, to lay waste to the houses of Jerusalem. And the children who are outside perish, and leave Jerusalem; and the young ones, to whom John also writes, who do not enter through the narrow and restricted path that leads to life; but they walk through the streets, of which it is written: How broad and spacious is the path that leads to death (Matthew 7:13).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:21-22
O Lord, keep watch over my mouth, for it is written, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Again, you have declared, “I tell you, that of every idle word people speak, they shall give account on the day of judgment.” The prophet prays, therefore, that his words may not be vain but holy and pleasing to God. “Set a guard at the door of my lips.” He is asking for a guard around his lips like the rampart of a castle, that he may never capitulate to sin. It is Jeremiah who says, “Death has come up through our windows.” A person has five windows: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. If I look at a woman to lust after her, I have already committed adultery in my heart, and death has come through my window of sight. If the sound of the harp, organ or flute unnerves me, death has entered my soul through the sense of hearing. Again, if I touch something soft and supple, and wantonness breaks down the resistance of my flesh, death has entered through touch, and so down the line.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 51 (PS 140)
Jeremiah 9:22

(Verse 22.) Speak these things, says the Lord, and the mortality of man (or the corpses of men) will fall like dung on the face of the region (or the field) and like hay behind the reaper, and there is no one to gather. The Hebrew word, which is written with three letters Daleth, Beth, Res (for it does not have vowels in the middle), signifies speech for a consequence and at the discretion of the reader if it is read as Dabar (), it signifies a word; if Deber, it signifies death; if Daber, it signifies speak. And both the Septuagint and Theodotion joined that previous chapter, so that they said, 'They will scatter the little ones outside, and the young men will die in the streets.' But Aquila and Symmachus translated λάλησον, which means 'speak': so that God commands the Prophet to speak what follows: Thus says the Lord, and the rest. And the meaning is: When death ascends through our windows, and enters the houses of Jerusalem, and the little ones and young men outside perish in the streets: then there will be their death, or the corpses of the dead, like dung on the face of the ear…

(Verse 22.) Speak these things, says the Lord, and the mortality of man (or the corpses of men) will fall like dung on the face of the region (or the field) and like hay behind the reaper, and there is no one to gather. The Hebrew word, which is written with three letters Daleth, Beth, Res (for it does not have vowels in the middle), signifies speech for a consequence and at the discretion of the reader if it is read as Dabar (), it signifies a word; if Deber, it signifies death; if Daber, it signifies speak. And both the Septuagint and Theodotion joined that previous chapter, so that they said, 'They will scatter the little ones outside, and the young men will die in the streets.' But Aquila and Symmachus translated λάλησον, which means 'speak': so that God commands the Prophet to speak what follows: Thus says the Lord, and the rest. And the meaning is: When death ascends through our windows, and enters the houses of Jerusalem, and the little ones and young men outside perish in the streets: then there will be their death, or the corpses of the dead, like dung on the face of the earth, and like straw that is left behind by those who have reaped, and is not collected as useless. He wants to show by these things that such a great slaughter will happen in Jerusalem and around the city that there will be no one to bury the fallen.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:23-24

(Verse 23, 24.) Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his strength, and let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” All of humanity's pride is removed, as their wisdom, strength, and wealth are considered as nothing. The only true boast is to know and understand that He is the Lord who practices love, justice, and righteousness on the earth. All things are governed by God's providence and justice, and what may seem to lack reason to us is filled with justice and reason. For these things alone please God, and in them is his will. So where are those who say that man can reign according to his own will, and thus the power of free will is given, so that the mercy of God is taken away and justice? Hence the Apostle, taking up this testimony, sets forth an example: Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17)…

(Verse 23, 24.) Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his strength, and let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” All of humanity's pride is removed, as their wisdom, strength, and wealth are considered as nothing. The only true boast is to know and understand that He is the Lord who practices love, justice, and righteousness on the earth. All things are governed by God's providence and justice, and what may seem to lack reason to us is filled with justice and reason. For these things alone please God, and in them is his will. So where are those who say that man can reign according to his own will, and thus the power of free will is given, so that the mercy of God is taken away and justice? Hence the Apostle, taking up this testimony, sets forth an example: Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9:25-26

(Vers. 25, 26.) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will visit everyone who is circumcised and has the foreskin, including Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all those who have shaved their heads and live in the desert, for all the nations are uncircumcised. But the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. Many of the nations, especially those bordering Judea and Palestine, still practice circumcision to this day, particularly the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and all the region of the Saracens who dwell in the wilderness and are said to have shaved heads and live in the desert. Therefore, Judah, who is mixed with the aforementioned Gentiles, should not boast, because he does not have foreskin, but is circumcised according to God's law. For there are others who do these things and do not keep the commandments of the law, and they are ignorant of the God of Israel. Circumcision does not profit, which is given as a sign, unless the commandments of the Lord are fulfilled; just as the hair, which signifies a nation, does not provide strength…

(Vers. 25, 26.) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will visit everyone who is circumcised and has the foreskin, including Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all those who have shaved their heads and live in the desert, for all the nations are uncircumcised. But the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. Many of the nations, especially those bordering Judea and Palestine, still practice circumcision to this day, particularly the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and all the region of the Saracens who dwell in the wilderness and are said to have shaved heads and live in the desert. Therefore, Judah, who is mixed with the aforementioned Gentiles, should not boast, because he does not have foreskin, but is circumcised according to God's law. For there are others who do these things and do not keep the commandments of the law, and they are ignorant of the God of Israel. Circumcision does not profit, which is given as a sign, unless the commandments of the Lord are fulfilled; just as the hair, which signifies a nation, does not provide strength of body and the might of warriors. And what follows: All nations have foreskin, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. This has the meaning that, except for the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, and the Ishmaelites who dwell in the wilderness, most of whom are circumcised, all other nations throughout the world are uncircumcised in flesh; but the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart, not in flesh; and this uncircumcision leads to death. For that is the flesh, this is the spirit.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 10:1
(Chapter 10, Verse 1) Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the ways of the nations or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity. He specifically speaks against those who worship the celestial bodies and use the signs of the years, seasons, months, and days to determine the fate of humankind and to govern earthly matters based on celestial causes. And what he says: Laws, or legal regulations, of the people are empty, it shows that all human wisdom is futile, and has no usefulness in itself.

Commentary on Jeremiah