Jerome

(Verse 26.) To each one against his brother, and to all the kingdoms of the earth that are above its surface. In order not to make it long to enumerate all the regions of the Eastern provinces in detail, he generally placed all the kingdoms of the earth that are mentioned in that land. And that which he said against his brother is implied: I gave them a full measure to make them all rage, vomit, go mad, and fight with each other in mutual battles. And what he brought:

And King Sesach will drink after them; and though it is not found in the Septuagint, it has this meaning: All, he says, will be subject to the Babylonian empire, and it will subject everything to its power, so that all the nations that the previous passage mentioned will serve and drink from its cup. Thus, in the vision against Babylon, it is written: Babylon, the golden cup, that intoxicates the whole earth. (Jeremiah 51:7) And finally, the king of Babylon will drink this potion, offered to him by the charioteer of the chariot, consisting of camels and donkeys, Cyrus the king of the Medes and Persians. However, someone who has at least a small knowledge of the Hebrew language will not struggle greatly to understand how Babylon, which is called Babel in Hebrew (), is also understood as Sesach (). Just as in our case the Greek alphabet is read in order up to the last letter, that is, Alpha, Beta, and so on up to Omega: and again for the memory of children we are accustomed to reverse the order of reading and mix the first letters with the last, so that we say Alpha, O, Beta, Psi: similarly among the Hebrews the first is Aleph, the second Beth, the third Ghimel, and so on up to the twenty-second, and the last letter is Thau, with the penultimate being Sin. Therefore, we read Aleph, Thau, Beth, Sin. And when we come to the middle, Lamed, the letter Chaph appears: and as, if we read correctly, we read Babel: thus, with the order changed, we read Sesach. However, the vowel letters are not placed between Beth and Beth, and Lamed, according to the language of the Hebrew tongue in this name. And I think it was wisely hidden by the holy Prophet, so as not to openly provoke the madness of those who were besieging Jerusalem, and were about to take possession of it very soon. We read that the Apostle also acted against the Roman Empire, writing about the Antichrist: 'Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time,' the Antichrist is understood. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:3-8). He who holds it, shows the Roman empire: for unless this be destroyed, taken out of the way, according to the prophecy of Daniel, the antichrist will not come. But if he had wished to state it openly, he would have aroused foolish persecution against the Christians and the Church, which was then just beginning. We have spoken on this chapter at greater length than the brevity of the Commentaries allows, because it is not found in their codices, the Greeks and Latins perhaps despising it. But what profit will it be when the very Prophet himself says concerning these things which follow in this country: How is Sechach taken, and how is the renowned city of the whole earth captured? How is Babylon become a wonder among the nations? Allegorical interpreters refer this whole place to all the nations which the devil has made drunk with the most bitter cup of sins. And this very man himself will also drink torments and tortures, of whom the Apostle writes: Whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the spirit of his mouth (II Thess. 2:8). And in another place it says: The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26). This is the power of being able to transfer the words of different nations under their etymologies, and to adapt individual vices to individual names.

(Verse 30, 31.) And you shall prophesy to them all these words, and you shall say to them: The Lord will roar from on high (or give a response), and from His holy habitation He will utter His voice. He roars loudly over His glorious place (or responds to His place), His shout resounds like those who trample the earth. The sound (or destruction) reaches to the ends (or above) of the earth: for the Lord has a judgment with the nations: He shall judge all flesh: I have given the wicked (or I gave the wicked) to the sword, says the Lord. First, let us say that the truth of the interpretation is evident. You will prophesy to all nations, he says, and you will declare that the Lord roars from on high, that is, he gives a clear sign of his anger; according to what is written: The lion will roar, and who will not fear? The Lord has spoken, and who will not prophesy? And from his holy dwelling he will make his voice heard, to terrify all who hear it. He will roar over his sanctuary, that is, over the Temple. And when he roars like those treading the winepress, a loud noise will be sung, and during the pouring out of the mutual blood, a mournful song will be chanted: which Symmachus calls a conclusion; Aquila, a remedy. The sound of this singing and song will reach to the ends of the earth, because the judgment of the Lord is with the nations. But if the judgment of the Lord is with the nations, then the merits of the nations are different (Hosea 4). To explain that passage, as some want: Whoever does not believe is already judged (John 3:18). Indeed, he is judged because he did not believe; but those who do not believe among themselves will be subjected to different punishments. He himself is judged with all flesh, so that no one may leave uninjudged. But the ungodly, that is, those who do not believe in the Lord, are handed over to eternal sword. Allegorical interpreters according to the Septuagint explain this passage in such a way that they interpret the Lord's open threat in a positive manner. The Lord, they say, will give a response from on high to those whom he intends to save. And from His holy place He will give His voice, and He will answer with His word in His place. But they, like reapers full of fruit, will respond to His message: Destruction will come upon all the inhabitants of the earth, not upon the whole earth, but upon a part of the earth, namely those who do not believe. Judgment will be among the nations, and He will judge with all flesh. But the wicked will be delivered by the sword.

(Verse 32, 33.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, affliction (or evil) will come forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind (or storm) will come forth from the ends of the earth. And those slain (or wounded by the Lord) on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be gathered or buried; they shall lie on the surface of the earth like manure. Let those who try to do violence to the Holy Scripture be ashamed, as they interpret those things which are full of threats in a positive way. But concerning this matter, I believe the Lord also said: 'A nation will rise against a nation, and a kingdom against a kingdom' (Luke 21:10), and the other things that are contained in the sentiment of the Gospel. Let us understand these things either according to the historical events themselves, when all the nations around were subjugated by the Babylonian king and felt the cruelty of his empire, or according to the prophecy that will happen long after in the end of the world. They are said to be killed by the Lord, not because the Lord Himself strikes, but so that in the destruction of the wicked, the will and authority of the Lord may be fulfilled.

(Verse 34, 35.) Howl (or rejoice) you shepherds, and shout, and sprinkle yourselves with ashes, you noble flock (or lament, you rams of the sheep); for your days are fulfilled that you may be slain, and your dispersions, and you shall fall like precious vessels (or like chosen rams). And flight shall perish from the shepherds, and salvation from the noble ones (or rams) of the flock. It should be noted that only in this place have the Seventy interpreted 'jubilum' in a negative sense: for which reason other interpreters have translated it as 'howl' (as it is written in Hebrew). Between shepherds and rams, or leaders of the flock, there is this distinction: the shepherds are rational beings; but the rams and leaders are referred to the wealthy, who themselves are also called part of the flock. And it brings forth: Your days are complete, that you may be killed: then their days shall be completed, when their sins are fulfilled; and they shall be scattered and fall, like precious vessels, so that when broken they cannot be restored; and the more precious they were before, the greater the damage in their breaking; or like chosen rams, desiring to devour a fat sacrifice. He says that the flight of the shepherds will perish when they do not repent. Finally, it is said to the Pharisees: Offspring of vipers, who has shown you how to escape from the coming wrath (Luke 5:7)? And in the Psalms we read: The flight has perished from me (Psalm 141:5). And salvation, he says, from the best of the flock, or from the rams: in common, it is understood that it will perish.

(Verse 36.) The voice of the shepherds crying out, and the howling of the leaders of the flock (or the jubilation of the rams): because the Lord has laid waste to their pastures. And the fields of peace (or the beautiful ones) have fallen silent before the face of the wrathful fury of the Lord. And here it should be noted that in the Septuagint, jubilation is used instead of howling. However, there is a difference between the shepherds and the rams, in that the shepherds are considered to be in the Church, who oversee the flock with wisdom and knowledge and teaching. But the leaders who seem to be in the crowd, have nothing of teaching and wisdom in themselves, and due to excessive simplicity they are almost neighbors of foolishness. But when we will have peace, and we will not understand either the good or beautiful things of peace, but we will give ourselves to luxury, idleness, and pleasures: then the good things of peace will rest, or rather be silenced, and they will be taken away from us because of the anger of the Lord's fury, and that which is written will be fulfilled: 'When they shall say, peace and security, then sudden destruction shall come upon them' (I Thess. V, 3), and when it comes, everything will be silent.

(Verses 37, 38) He has abandoned his shelter (or den) like a lion. (And to be more accurate, his tent: for this is what 'Succho' means in Hebrew.) Because their land has become a desolation (or impassable) from the wrath of the dove (or from the face of the great sword) and from the face of the fury of the Lord. The Lord, of whom it was said above, will roar from on high, and from his holy dwelling he will give forth his voice. Roaring, he will roar over his glory, he himself will abandon his tent, of which it is written: He has made it in peace, or in Salem, that is, his dwelling place, and his habitation in Zion (Psalm 75:2): he himself will abandon his seat, and he will fulfill what he spoke through the same prophet: I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance (Jeremiah 12:7). But it left its den like a lion, so that all the beasts have power over its land. For with the lion as their guardian and ruler, no one dares approach it. It has become, he says, their land, undoubtedly to the point that either the Jewish people or certainly all the nations will be desolated and made impassable by the face of the dove's wrath. It is not surprising that the dove of the Lord is understood to be Nebuchadnezzar, who has read himself being called the servant of the Lord above him. For why they have translated Seventy, a great sword. May we receive a dove and in the person of Jerusalem, that he may be angry and sad, having lost the custody of his lion, and his land coming into desolation.

(Chapter 26, Verse 1 and following) In the beginning of the reign of Joahim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying: Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the house of the Lord, and speak to all the cities of Judah, from which they come to worship in the house of the Lord, all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not withhold a word, lest they listen and each one turn away from their evil way. And I may repent of the evil (or remain silent about the evil) that I intend to do to them because of the wickedness of their deeds. This prophecy is superior to the previous one: although it was made under the same king. For that one was made in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, but this one at the beginning of the same king, as the Scripture says: In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. Therefore, as we have often said, the order of history should not be woven in the prophets, since at present, the earlier things are spoken afterwards, and the later things, before. But whoever is going to speak the word of the Lord, must stand with Moses (Deut. V), and listen with the Psalmist: Those who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God (Psalm CXXXIV, 2). And it is commanded that he speaks to all the cities of Judah: although the seventy cities did not translate, lest it should appear unseemly to speak in the court of the house of the Lord to cities that were not present: but when he speaks to the people and to the citizens, he speaks to those cities. But it stands beautifully in the atrium and vestibule of the Temple of the Lord, so that by the opportunity of the Lord's prayer and adoration, they are compelled to hear the words of the Prophet. Do not, he says, withhold the word: though it may be sad, though the rage of the listeners may be stirred up against you, nevertheless say what has been commanded to you: not fearing the persecutions of those who are stirred up against you, but the command of the Lord who orders it. Perhaps, he says, they may hear and be converted. An ambiguous word, perhaps, cannot befit the majesty of the Lord, but it speaks to our affection: that man's free will be preserved, so that he is not compelled to do or not to do anything by its foreknowledge, as if by necessity. For it is not because God knows something will happen that it will therefore happen, but because it will happen, God knows it, as if he were prescient of future events. And yet it is to be understood, according to this same Jeremiah: if the Lord predicts evil and the people repent, he will also repent of the punishment he threatened to carry out. And if he has promised prosperity and the people act negligently, God may change his judgement and bring misfortunes instead of blessings. Such a thing is also mentioned in the Gospel: 'I will send my son, perhaps they will respect him' (Luke 20:13). This is indeed spoken from the perspective of almighty God. In fact, he also says this in the present: 'Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways, so that when they have repented and I have relented of the disaster I had planned to bring on them, I will not carry out my plan.' But I think to do [it] because of the wickedness of their studies, which if they are changed, my opinion will be changed. Let us read the story of Jonah and Nineveh.

Jeremiah is also instructed to speak to all the cities of Judah, although the Septuagint does not translate the word cities, lest it seem indecorous to speak to cities from the court of the house of the Lord, to which they are not present. Yet, when he addresses the people and the citizens, he speaks to the cities themselves. And he stands beautifully in the court and the vestibule of the temple of the Lord, that the people may be brought together to hear the words of the prophet through the occasion of praying to the Lord and adoring him. “Do not remove a word,” he is told, even though it may be sorrowful, even though your audience may be incited to rage against you, nevertheless speak what you have been commanded to say, not yielding to the fear that they will persecute you but only to the rule of the Lord! “Perhaps,” he thinks, “they will listen and be converted.” However, an ambiguous word like “perhaps” cannot be reconciled with the majesty of the Lord but speaks instead of our desire that human free will be served and that it not be compelled from the Lord’s foreknowledge, as though of necessity, either to act or to refrain from acting. For it is not because God knows the future that the future comes about, but it is because of what will happen that God knows it before it occurs. Nevertheless, Jeremiah knew that if the Lord warned of bad consequences and the people did penance, they would be repenting for the sake of what the Lord threatened to do to them. Likewise, if the Lord had promised prosperity and the people then acted with negligence, God would exchange the favorable outcome for a bad one. Such is what is also found in the Gospel: “I will send my son; perhaps they will respect him,” spoken indeed from the person of the omnipotent God. Furthermore, in the present passage, he says, “If, perhaps, they listen and are converted each one from his wicked way, then after they repent, I will change my punishment and not do to them what I had planned to do because of their evil, but only if they change first.” We should also read the story of Jonah and Nineveh.

(Vers. 4 seqq.) And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you do not listen to me and walk in my law, which I have given you, and listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have sent to you, rising up early and sending them, and you have not listened: I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. Therefore, it is within our power to do or not to do: provided that whatever good work we desire, strive for, and accomplish, we attribute it to the grace of God, who has given us both the will and the ability to do (Phil. 2). But if it sufficed to walk once in the law, which was given to us by Moses, as a foolish sect suspects, how did he add: 'That you may hear the words of my servants the prophets.' Who, indeed, were sent after the law, and not once, but frequently: not leisurely and without care, but always and with concern. 'I have sent,' he says, 'to you my servants the prophets daily, and rising by night: if you will not listen to them, I will give this house, that is, the temple of God, as Shiloh, where the tabernacle was.' And when the temple will have been destroyed, consequently the city will be cursed by all the nations of the earth. Just as when the temple was built in the area of Ornan, and on Mount Moriah, that is, the place of vision, where it is narrated that Abraham offered his son Isaac, the religion of Shiloh ceased, and no sacrifices were celebrated there afterwards: so when the Church was built, and the spiritual victims were offered in it, the ceremonies of the Law ceased (2 Chronicles 3); and the city of the Jews was given over to curse by all the nations of the earth: from which the Lord has delivered us, as the Apostle says: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).

(Verses 7-9.) And the priests and prophets (or false prophets) and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and prophets (or false prophets) and all the people seized him, saying, 'You shall surely die! Because you have prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant.' The priests and prophets, whom the LXX have more clearly translated as false prophets, are angry with Jeremiah because he preaches the truth, that the religion will perish with the Temple and the deserted city, and the profits that come from religion; therefore they seize him and, with the consent of the people, condemn him to death. Thus he says in the name of the Lord, just as Shiloh will be this house and the city will be desolate, because there is no inhabitant. Therefore, if at any time the priests, or false prophets, or the deceived people become angry with us because of the commands of the Lord and the truth of faith, let us not care greatly, but let us carry out God's will, considering not present evils but future goods in our minds.

(Verse 10) And all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, and the leaders of Judah heard these words and came from the king's house to the house of the Lord, and sat at the entrance of the Lord's gate (Vulgate: house of the Lord) new. Jeremiah was prophesying in the temple of the Lord, and he had said: I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. And immediately, a sedition arose among the priests and prophets and the people, and the entire crowd gathered against the Prophet in the Temple, where the Prophet and the priests and prophets and the people were held by force. When the leaders of the city, who were staying in the royal house, heard this, they crossed over or went up from the king's house to the house of the Lord. And it should be noted that going to the house of the Lord was always an ascent. And they sat at the entrance of the new gate of the Lord. For it was the duty of the princes to sit at the gate of the house of the Lord, and there to discern the truth of matters and seditions. And the gate was called new because those who sat in it and presided over judgment resisted the slander of the priests and false prophets.

(Verse 12 and following) And Jeremiah said to all the leaders and to all the people, saying: The Lord has sent me to prophesy to this house (or over this house) and to this city (or over this city) all the words that you have heard. Therefore, now make your ways and your pursuits good, and listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent of the evil that He has spoken against you (or the Lord will cease from the evils that He has spoken against you). But behold, I am in your hands: do to me what is good and right in your eyes (or what is expedient for you). However, know and understand that if you kill me, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants. Truly, the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. While the people were present, the princes sat in the gate of the city and accused Jeremiah the prophet to the priests and the prophets, and they conspired to bring about his death. Jeremiah spoke to the princes and to all the people, whom the faction of priests and false prophets had incited, wisely and humbly, yet steadfastly. Prudently, because he said that he had been sent by the Lord to speak against the temple and the city, and to give advice, that if they would listen to his advice and repent, the Lord would also change His decision. Yet humbly, in what he said: Behold, I am in your hands: do to me what is good and right in your eyes. Furthermore, firmly: The Lord has sent me to you in truth, to speak all these words in your ears. And he speaks in other statements: If you are angry because I have spoken against the temple and the city of the Lord, and you are concerned about the salvation of the city and the temple: why do you increase sins with sins, and make the city and its inhabitants guilty of my blood? Therefore, if and when we need humility due to the constraints of necessity, let us accept it in such a way that we do not abandon truth and steadfastness. For it is one thing to arrogantly insult the judge, which is a sign of foolishness; it is another thing to avoid impending danger in such a way that you do not subtract anything from the truth.

(Verse 17 onwards) And the men of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to the whole assembly of the people, saying: Micaiah of Moresheth was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did they not fear the Lord and pray to the face of the Lord? And the Lord repented of the evil that he had spoken against them. Therefore, we are doing great evil against our own souls. The leaders of the city and the people understand the truth of judgment. However, the elders, whose duty it was to know the ancient things, recount the history - and the prophecy of Micah from Moresheth, who prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah, they compare it with the prophecies of Jeremiah, for which he is being threatened with death; and they show that he said more serious things, and yet suffered nothing from the righteous king Hezekiah: but that those who turned to repentance, the sentence of the Lord turned into a good one. For Micah said: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height (Micah 3:12). And Jeremiah further said: I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth (Jeremiah 26:9). And they devised a plan, thinking that what Micah had prophesied would not come to pass, because a long time had passed without it happening due to the people's repentance. And this also, that Jeremiah spoke, it will by no means happen if they follow his counsel in their good ways and pursuits, and listen to the voice of the Lord their God, so that the Lord does not bring upon them the evil that he had threatened. At the same time, they break the fury of the accusers and join with them saying: Therefore, we commit great evil against our own souls: not that they should do so, but because if they do, they will not harm the accused, but their own souls, which they can free through a change of sentence.