Jerome

(Vers. 5, 6.) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch (or a righteous king); and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness. In Hebrew, it is called Sadecenu. This which is wrongly added in the Septuagint, in the Prophets, must be completely cut off. For another chapter follows, which they have omitted, after which there is the title 'to the Prophets' or 'against the Prophets', about which we will speak in its proper place. Therefore, after casting off the shepherds of the synagogue, namely the Scribes and Pharisees, and saving the remnants of Israel, and establishing the Apostles of the Gospel in place of the former leaders, the shepherd of shepherds is introduced, and the prince of princes, and the king of kings, and the Lord of lords, namely Christ our Savior, who is properly the righteous branch, or the righteous Rising Sun, about whom we read: 'In his days shall justice spring up' (Psalm 71:7). And in another place: Behold the man, his name is Oriens (Zach. VI, 12), and under him it will rise, and he will build a temple to the Lord: just as in Isaiah he is called Emmanuel, which means, God is with us (Isai. VII, 14): so in Jeremiah he will receive the name of our righteousness. Therefore the apostle also speaks: He who became wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (I Cor. I, 30). Against him is the Antichrist, and his inhabitant the devil, called the foolish shepherd in Zechariah (Zach. XI). And he will execute judgment and justice on the earth, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). In those days, the twelve tribes of Judah and Israel will be saved together. And of the two sticks, according to Ezekiel, one stick will be made (Ezekiel 37). And his name, if according to the Septuagint, the Lord will call him Josedech, which means the Lord is righteous; if according to the Hebrew, those who say his name will call him, it will be said, the Lord is our righteousness. For this signifies Adonai Sadecenu (), for which Symmachus translates, Lord, justify us.

(Vers. 7, 8.) Because of this, behold, days are coming, says the Lord. And they shall no longer say, As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt; but they shall say, As the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall live on their own soil. This entire chapter is not found in the Septuagint. The meaning here is that the people of God will not be delivered from Egypt by Moses, but by Jesus Christ from all the corners of the earth, to which they had been dispersed. What is now being completed in the world in part will be completed in its entirety when those from the East and the West, the North and the South come and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 8). So that after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved (Romans 11).

To the Prophets (or in the Prophets, or against the Prophets). This designation, as we have said above, is placed at the end of the previous chapter in the Septuagint edition, where we read the following script: and this is the name by which the Lord will call him Josedech, in the Prophets. Many ignorant people, not knowing this, invent various delusions of explanation. And it would have been much better to simply confess their ignorance than to make others heirs to their incompetence. But this is a discourse against the prophets, rather, the false prophets of Jerusalem and Samaria, whom he now calls collectively and commonly Prophets, concerning whom it is written in the following passages: And in the prophets of Samaria I saw wickedness; and immediately after: And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw horrible things. However, when he uses the conjunction 'and', he shows that the previous statements were said by the Lord concerning the prophets themselves, who also turned out to be like false prophets.

(Verse 9) My heart is broken within me (or within myself), all my bones tremble (or are trembling); I have become like a drunken man, like a man drenched (or overwhelmed) with wine, before the face of the Lord, and before the face of His holy words (or and before the face of the beauty of His glory). When contemplating the countenance of the almighty God, that is, the Father, and when contemplating the countenance of the Son, who according to the Apostle is called the brightness of His glory, and the very image of His substance (Hebrews 1), the Prophet is filled with dread in both mind and body, and understands that he is nothing, as it is also said in another place: "I have become like a beast before you" (Psalm 73:22). Whether it offers to God a victim of conscience and humility, according to that which is read in the Psalms: A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 50:19). But let us understand that the shaking or movement of the bones is spoken of, of which the same David sings: All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? (Psalm 34:10) He was made like a drunken man, and like a wet person: having no understanding, nor sapience. For the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain (Psalm 93:11) . But if this is so, where are those who preach perfect justice in man? And if they respond that they say this about the saints, not about themselves, certainly I believe there is no one holier than Jeremiah, who is a virgin, a Prophet, and sanctified in the womb, his very name foreshadowing the Lord Savior. For Jeremiah means 'exalted of the Lord.'

(Vers. 11, 12.) For the prophet and the priest have become polluted, and in my house I have found their evils," says the Lord. "Therefore, their way will be like a slippery path in the darkness. They will be pushed and fall in it, for I will bring upon them the year of their visitation," says the Lord. "When evils are found in the Church of God, especially in its leaders, let us know that the prophecy and the priesthood have become polluted. In my house I have found their evils," says the Lord. But the house of Christ is the Church, of which the Apostle writes to Timothy: That you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. III, 15). In the prophet, receive a teacher; in the priest, the dignity of the ministry. If they consent with a perverse mind, their way will be slippery and dark; and they will not have the Lord speaking to them: I am the light of the world; he who believes in me shall not remain in darkness (John XII, 46). Where the Saint says, fleeing all darkness: Signet is upon us the light of your face, O Lord; you have given joy in my heart. But when they are in darkness and on a slippery path, namely the path of heresy, they will be driven to every movement and will fall. And the Lord brings evils upon them, not because evils are theirs, so that the Lord may bring evils, but evils are for those who endure punishment. Otherwise, the same things are both evil and good. Evil, according to those who are tormented; good, according to those who are corrected. And this must be noted, that the year of the Lord's visitation, the correction of sinners is called and the torment, according to that which is written: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes: but my mercy I will not scatter away from him (Psalm 88:33-34).

(Verse 14.) And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw a likeness (or dreadful things), adultery and the path of lies, and they strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that each one would not turn away from their evil ways. They have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. Not only, he says, are these things found in the assemblies of heretics, but also in the prophets of Jerusalem, that is, the teachers of the Church, I saw similar things, or dreadful things, the adulterating of the word of God and the walking in the way of lies, so that they might acquiesce in the deceits of heretics and strengthen the hands of the wicked, adding their evils to their own sins, and leading those whom they should have corrected to destruction. Let those who have done this not consider themselves unpunished. For they and those who support them will be like Sodom, and all those who dwell with them will not depart from such evil, like Gomorrah. Therefore, let the worst doctrine rejoice as much as it wants, and let the prophets of Jerusalem boast that they have obtained through lies and strengthened the hands of the wicked. Their end will be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

(Verse 16, 17.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, and deceive you. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those who despise me (or reject my word), the Lord has spoken, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. So that the people may not think they are innocent if they follow the wicked teachers, do not listen, he says, to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you deceit, and deceive you. For there will be punishment for both the master and the disciple. They do not speak from the Lord's mouth, but rather things they have concocted in their own hearts. They say to those who blaspheme against me, namely heretics and perverted individuals, or those who reject my message: what do they say? The Lord has spoken, there will be peace for you. Do not fear harsh punishments, nor be frightened by empty threats. There will be peace and tranquility for you, and whatever we say and announce to you, the Lord has spoken; nor will any evil come upon you that you fear out of a guilty conscience; but rather the good that the Lord has spoken to you will come.


Who indeed was present in the counsel of the Lord, and saw, and heard His word? Who considered His word, and heard it? Where we have interpreted, in the counsel, and in Hebrew it is written Basod (): Aquila, secretum: Symmachus, sermonem: Septuagint and Theodotion, substance or essence. And the sense is: Do not believe, O uninformed crowd, the false prophets who announce to you, saying, 'The Lord has spoken this, peace will be upon you; no evil will come upon you.' For where can the secrets of God be known, or by whom have we learned the counsel of God? How does the word of divine arrangement reach them? Some of our people think they have found this place, where the substance of God is described.

(Verse 19, 20.) Behold, a whirlwind (or a storm, and commotion) of the Lord's indignation will go forth, and a bursting storm will come upon the head of the wicked, and the Lord's fury will not turn back until He has done, and until He has fulfilled the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days, you will understand His plan. Those who previously said, 'The Lord has spoken to us, there will be peace for you,' and those whom He corrected because they could not know the future or understand God's judgment, now He reveals the opposite, that they do not know at all. For the sake of peace and security, the storm will come to Babylon, and it will not come upon just anyone, but upon the heads of the wicked, whether the entire people or those who falsely reported to the people. Not like in past times when God's anger and fury were appeased, but what he foretold and threatened many times must be fulfilled by action, and the thoughts and intentions of the wicked must be proven by punishments. When, he says, the end of captivity comes and the triumphant conqueror takes hold of you, and the hands bind you with the clanking of chains, then you will understand his plan, which you now boast of knowing in vain.

(Verses 21, 22). I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in my council and had made my words known to my people, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their actions. This sentiment is explained by the Apostle to the Romans: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. (Rom. 1:28, 29), and so on. For when false teachers have once surrendered themselves to lies and perjuries and the deaths of the deceived, they do not run slowly, nor with careful steps, but headlong into destruction, both their own and those whom they have deceived. The Lord does not speak to them, but they themselves speak as if from the mouth of the Lord, concerning whom it is also said: If they had stood in my counsel, that is, if they had been willing to acquiesce to my will, and had made my words known to my people, not flattering them and corrupting them with flattery, so that they would say, you have no sins; you possess perfect justice; holiness and chastity and righteousness are found only in you: and I would not have given them over to uncleanness and shame, to do what is not fitting, and to follow their wicked thoughts. Let us consider the heretics, how once despairing of salvation, they surrender themselves to gluttony and pleasures, feast on meats, frequently visit baths, smell of perfume; being adorned with various ointments, they seek bodily beauty. For they do not hope for things to come, nor do they believe in the resurrection. Although they do not speak of these things in words, they show them in their actions. For if they believed, they would not do such things. And in this passage where it is written: if they had stood in my counsel, let Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotio, and the Seventy, likewise translated it above.

(Ver. 23, 24.) Do you think that I am a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God from afar? If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. LXX: I am a God who approaches, says the Lord, and not a God from afar. If a man hides himself in hiding places, shall I not see him? says the Lord; do I not fill heaven and earth? The Lord says, 'Am I a God who is near, and not a God who is far away?' Aquila and Symmachus likewise interpreted it: 'Am I a God who is near, and not a God who is far away?' But the Septuagint and Theodotion translated it in the opposite sense, saying: 'I am a God who is approaching,' says the Lord, 'and not a God who is far away.' The latter meaning asserts that God not only knows what is near, but also what is far away; and not only sees what is present, but also what is future. Truly, they consider God to be present everywhere, and there is no place where God is not. For God is close to all, especially the saints, as if a garment were adhering to the skin. But sinners who distance themselves from Him will perish. We read this meaning in the Psalms as well: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10). Amos also agrees with these words, saying: If they descend to the grave, from there my hand will bring them out; and if they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search for them and take them away. And if they hide from my eyes in the depths of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them (Amos 9:2-3); and again in the previous psalm: For darkness will not hide from you; and night will be as bright as day: as its darkness, so its light (Psalm 139:12). But what is frequently said in the Prophets, 'Thus says the Lord,' is always added, so that the words of the Prophets are not despised, but rather, it is constantly reminded that they are the words of God that they speak.

(Verse 25 onwards) I have heard what the prophets have said, prophesying in my name lies and saying: I had a dream (or I saw a vision). How long will this deceit be in the hearts (or minds) of the prophesying prophets, who desire (or think) to make my people forget my name because of their dreams, which each one tells to their neighbor, just as their fathers forgot my name for Baal (or in Baal). Because the previous title is against the Prophets, or to the Prophets, whom we clearly understand to be false prophets (and there are many types of prophesying: one of which is dreams, such as in Daniel), therefore the prophetic discourse is directed towards those who believe in dreams and think that everything they see is a divine revelation, which is properly revealed to the saints and servants of God. And if we read about Pharaoh (Gen. XLI) and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. II) seeing true dreams, it was not because of their merit that they saw them; but rather so that through their occasion the holy men Joseph and Daniel might shine forth, and the hard and unyielding hearts of the tyrants might feel the majesty of the Lord through their own conscience. Today there are also dreamers in the Church, and especially in our flock, who boast their own errors as the prophecy of the Lord, and frequently insert, 'I dreamed, I dreamed.' These the Lord rebukes, saying, 'How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? For they do these things, that, as the ancient people, that came out of Egypt, forgot my name,' However, this prophecy is not in the name of the Lord, but in the name of Baal, which is properly the idol of the Sidonians or Babylonians, and is also called Bel.

(Verse 28, 29.) The prophet who has a dream, let him tell the dream, and the one who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is straw compared to wheat? says the Lord. Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer (or an axe) shattering rock? It is for them to interpret the dream who are deserving of having the word of God, and to say: Thus says the Lord; to whom the Lord has spoken, in whom there is truth, and not deceitful lies. What do the heretics' chaff have to do with the wheat of the Church? about which John the Baptist speaks more fully (Matt. III), that the Lord may cleanse his threshing floor, and by the winnowing fan scatter the chaff to be burned by the winds, and leave it to be consumed by fire; but may store the wheat in the barns, that it may become heavenly bread; and let each believer say: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet (Ps. XXXIII, 9). And fittingly is false doctrine compared to chaff, which has no substance, nor can it nourish the people of believers, but it is crushed by empty husks. And because heretics usually promise prosperity and open the kingdoms of heaven to sinners, saying, 'The kingdoms of heaven are prepared for you', you can imitate the majesty of God, so that you may be without sin; for you have received the power of free will and the knowledge of the law, by which you may attain what you desire. And they deceive the wretched with flatteries, especially the women burdened with sins, who go about listening to every wind of doctrine, always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth, and they deceive all their hearers with adulation (Ephesians 4); therefore the Lord, comparing his words to the chaff of heretics, says: Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock? For my part, he said, my speech announces future punishments so as to deter people from sinning; and he threatens the fire of sinners to the chaff, so that the hardened hearts of heretics, like flint, may be crushed by the hammer of his word: taking away a heart of stone, so that he may put in its place a heart of flesh, namely, one that is soft and capable of receiving and understanding God's commands. The Lord speaks of such a thing through Ezekiel as well (Ezek. 13), because false prophets smear the wall with their seductions and without mortar, which is later destroyed by a violent rain and the truth of judgment. And the false prophets may sew pillows under every arm to make sinners rest, and by no means soothe the wrath of God with tears. For a hammer, they have interpreted the axe of the Seventy, which undoubtedly John the Baptist speaks of: Now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees (Matthew 3:10). This axe cuts down unfruitful trees, and this hammer crushes the hardest stones. Therefore, the Prophet Nahum also speaks: His fury, undoubtedly God's, will consume the principalities and the rocks will be crushed by Him (Nahum 1:6). This is against heretics. Moreover, it is written about Ecclesiastical men, that the hammer and axe are not heard in the house of the Lord (3 Kings 6).

(Verse 30 and following) Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who steal my words from each other (or from their neighbor). Behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the Lord, 'who use their own tongues and say, "declares" (or who sleep and dream). Behold, I am against the prophets who dream lies,' declares the Lord, 'and tell them, and lead astray (or have led astray) my people with their lies and with their miracles (or with their wonders and terrors), when I did not send them or command them; they are of no benefit to this people,' declares the Lord. Always does a lie imitate truth: and unless it has some resemblance to what is right, it cannot deceive the innocent. Therefore, in the olden days, the prophets used to deceive the people and say: Thus says the Lord. And, I saw the Lord; and, the Word of the Lord that came to him, or to her: in the same way, heretics assume testimonies of the Scriptures from the old and new Testaments, and steal the words of the Savior from one another, from the Prophets and Apostles, and the Evangelists: and they use their tongues to pronounce the poison of their hearts, and they sleep a deep sleep, about which it is truly said: They have dozed off, and have found nothing (Psalm 76:5). Or according to the Hebrew: And they say, so that the Lord may be understood, or certainly (alternatively), divine speech. Therefore, the Lord threatens (alternatively, adds now) that He Himself will come against such masters, who deceive His people with their lies and with stupors and miracles. For they promise great and incredible and enormous (alternatively, imperceptible) things, in order to deceive the miserable ones who have done nothing to benefit the people of God. And they fulfill this Apostolic teaching, teaching that it is not necessary for the sake of shameful gain: those who are accustomed to announce prosperity to the wicked and adversity to the righteous.

(Verse 33 and following) So if this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, saying: what is the burden of God (or what is the assumption of the Lord)? you shall say to them: You are the burden (or assumption). For I will cast (or hurl) you away, says the Lord. And the prophet and the priest and the people, who says the burden (or assumption) of the Lord, I will visit (or avenge) upon that man and upon his house. Each one will say to his friend (nearest in the Vulgate) and to his brother: what did the Lord answer, and what did the Lord speak? And the burden (or assumption) of the Lord will not be remembered anymore, because the burden (or assumption) will be each one's own word (in the Alexandrian version). The Hebrew word massa means burden and weight, as interpreted by Aquila as ἅρμα, that is, burden and weight: Symmachus, Septuagint, and Theodotion translate it as assumption. Therefore, wherever it is heavy, what the Lord threatens, and full of weight and labor, and unendurable, it is also called a burden in the title ἅρμα, that is, weight. Wherever, indeed, the Lord promises prosperity, or after a threat, he promises better things, there the Vision is spoken, or certainly the word of the Lord: and it was clear from the very title of the prophecy of the weight, or vision, and the Word of God, what kind of prediction would follow. Therefore, since the Prophets used to announce sad things and threaten punishments to the sinful people, in order to turn them back to repentance: but the merciful and compassionate Lord delayed his judgment for a long time, the deceived people, led astray by the fraud of false prophets, thought that what the Lord threatened would not come true, and they turned the true matter into a game and a joke; and mocking the prophets, they said: Here again he sees the weight and burden of the Lord. And so it happened that, not at all seriously but as a joke and mockery, the burden and weight were called the Vision. Therefore, the Lord instructed that whether the people, the prophets, or the priests asked Jeremiah what the burden or assumption of the Lord was, he should respond to them and say: You are the burden, and you are the assumption. For I will take you and cast you away, and I will crush you and make you perish. But if anyone thereafter, whether a prophet, a priest, or a member of the people, dares to name the burden and weight of the Lord, I will visit," he said, "upon that man and upon his house; and I will destroy him forever. Therefore let each person say to his neighbor and friend, 'Surely it is not the burden of the Lord?' But what did the Lord respond? And what did the Lord say? You have forgotten the Old: burden and weight, or assumption, should no longer resound in your mouth. For to each person, his own words and deeds will be considered a burden and weight, according to what is written: 'By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned' (Matthew 15).

(Verses 37 onwards) And you pervert the words of the living God: the Lord of hosts, our God. This is what you say to the Prophet: What did the Lord respond to you, and what did the Lord say? But if you say the burden of the Lord. Up to this point, it is not found in the Septuagint, and it continues: Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Because you have said this word, the burden of the Lord, and I have sent to you, saying: Do not say, the burden of the Lord: therefore, behold, I will take you up and cast you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers away from My presence, and I will make you an everlasting reproach and an eternal disgrace, which will never be forgotten. The Lord commanded that the discourse of burden and weight and assumption should never be spoken among the people; but rather the response to the word of God: because the people had scorned to fulfill it, the word itself is interpreted over them, and it says, 'Because you have said that I did not want this, even though I have often sent prophets and commanded you not to say it: therefore I will fulfill your discourse of assumption, burden, and weight in you by action. Indeed, I will assume you and lift you up and carry you, and I will make you stumble and cause you to fall from the heights to the ground.' Not only you, but also your city, which I gave to your fathers. And I will make you a disgrace and eternal ignominy, which will never be erased by forgetfulness. And we know that this happened during the Babylonian captivity; but it is more fully and perfectly fulfilled after the passion and resurrection of the Savior, when the Lord spoke: Your house will be left deserted to you (Luke 13:35): and this sentence will remain until the end. Let us also speak in another way, only according to the Septuagint: the word λῆμμα not only signifies assumption, but also gift and gift. Because the people always promised themselves prosperity, it says that they should not say this anymore. For they are unworthy of God's gifts and favors, rather they should be rejected and completely abandoned by God's help. However, often things are shown from the words and interpretation of names, as in the case of Abraham, Sarah, and Peter, and the names of the sons of Zebedee, where the changing of names signifies a change in circumstances. And in this same prophet, Phasur is said to mean fear, or translation, and colonus, or foreigner. It should be noted that the words 'Dei viventis,' 'Domini exercituum,' 'Dei nostri' are not found in the Latin and Greek manuscripts, and the Hebrews themselves read against this in their volumes, as it properly signifies the mystery of the Trinity.

(Chapter XXIV. - Verse 1ff.) The Lord showed me, and behold, two baskets (or baskets) full of figs, placed before the temple of the Lord. After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes, the craftsmen, and the captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that ripen early, and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were bad. And the Lord said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said: I see good figs, very good; and bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten, because they are bad. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: As these good figs, so will I know the captivity of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. And I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land, and I will build them up, and not tear them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart. And as the fig tree, which cannot be eaten, because it is bad: thus saith the Lord, so will I give (or hand over) Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, that remain in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt. And I will give them for vexation, affliction (or dispersion) to all the kingdoms of the earth as a reproach, and as a parable, and as a proverb, and as a curse in all places where I have driven them. And I will send upon them the sword, and famine, and the pestilence, until they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers. The two baskets, or baskets of good and evil (or of good things and evil things), are interpreted in the Law and in the Gospel; the Synagogue and the Church; the Jewish people and the Christians; Gehenna and the Kingdom of Heaven, of which one pertains to the punishment of sins, and the other to the dwelling place of the Saints. But we, knowing according to the Apostle Paul (Rom. VII) that the law is good and holy, and the commandment is good and holy, and that the God of both Testaments is one, or rather let us refer to those who believed and did not believe in the coming of the Lord Savior, who, instigated by the Scribes and priests, cried out, saying: Crucify, crucify such a one (Luc. XXIII, 21), let them be baskets of bad figs; but those who believed after his ascension, let them be referred to as good figs and the best basket and basket. But let us follow a simple and true history, which Jechoniah, who had surrendered himself to the counsel and command of Jeremiah and God, had called the basket of good figs, to whom the Lord also promises prosperity. But of Zedekiah, who went against the advice of God, he was captured, his eyes were blinded, and he was led to Babylon, where he died (2 Kings 25). However, God showed favor to those who obeyed His command and brought them back to their land. He built and did not destroy, planted and did not uproot, and gave them a heart to know Him, so that they would be His people and He would be their God. Even in captivity, God looked upon them and allowed them to work the land, build houses, and plant gardens in the region of Babylon. Daniel, through the signs and miracles, became a ruler suddenly from being a captive (Daniel 5), and the three young men were gloriously delivered from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). And after seventy years, under Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, Ezra, and Nehemiah, a great number of people returned to Jerusalem, which is recorded in the book of Ezra (Ezra 2). It should also be noted that this vision was given to the prophet during the time of Zedekiah, after Jehoiachin was taken into exile. For he did not mention captivity, since he had willingly surrendered himself. However, we should understand the blacksmiths and the enclosers, or the interpreters and teachers of the law, or the craftsmen and enclosers of gold and gems, which art is most precious among barbarian nations. They were interpreted for the jailers as referring to the seventy who were bound, in order to signify the evil of their captivity; and they added something of their own, the wealthy, which is not found in the Hebrew. Moreover, he compares a basket which had good figs, and very good ones, the figs of the first season, which in Greek are called πρώἳμα, namely, those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Aaron, and Job, and the other holy men, concerning whom one of the twelve Prophets speaks: I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness, and as figs in the fig tree's first season I found your fathers. And we are also called sons of Abraham. And on the contrary, it is said to the Jews: If your father were Abraham, you would do his works (John 8:39). However, these nets, which had good and bad figs, were not outside and outside the Church, but in front of the temple of the Lord, because all of that knowledge is open: nor do these figs outside have such bitterness, as those which have been changed after the confession of faith through transgression. They lack the sweetness of a good fig, which are not in the presence of the temple of God: such were the worldly philosophers, who, though they seemed more to praise than to follow the virtues, recognized the natural good and intelligence of the Creator: how great is the sweetness of the figs that are in the temple of God, of which the Prophets and Apostles were, of whom one fig spoke: I have given you milk, not solid food (I Cor. III, 2). And: My little children, of whom I am in travail again until Christ be formed in you (Galat. IV, 19). Where it is said that in the sight of the temple of God, the good figs were very good; and the bad figs were very bad. And so that we do not think that our interpretation is incorrect, Scripture itself explains. Just as it says, these figs are good: so I will acknowledge the transmigration of Judah, which I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans for good: signifying Jeconiah and the princes who were taken captive with him. And, on the contrary, concerning the basket that had the bad figs; and just as the figs, it says, which cannot be eaten because they are bad: so I will give Zedekiah the king of Judah and his princes, and those who fled to Egypt, and those who remained in this city, into vexation and affliction for all the kingdoms of the earth (Jeremiah 42), when they were also taken captive in Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar set his throne in Tahpanhes, and the Lord sent against them the sword, famine, and pestilence until they were consumed from the land that he gave to their fathers. But what he said about the good figs: I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, is similar to the Apostle's: It is God who works in you both to will and to do (Philippians 2:13), so that not only our actions, but also our desires rely on the help of God. In this passage, the allegorical interpreter goes astray, always wanting to give a historical meaning to the truth, referring to those captured and taken to Chaldea from the heavenly Jerusalem, and then returning to their original place, like Jeremiah and the other holy prophets; but he says that the others who were sinners will die in this land and in the valley of tears. I placed the entire vision here without any cutting, so as not to divide the meaning in the explanation.