Jerome

(Vers. 7 seqq.) Nevertheless, listen to this word that I speak in your ears and in the ears of all the people: The prophets who were before me and you from the beginning, prophesied about many lands and great kingdoms, about battles, affliction, and famine. The prophet who prophesied peace, when his word comes, the prophet whom the Lord has sent in truth will be known. Jeremiah could have said to Ananiah: You speak falsely, you deceive the people, you are not a prophet but a false prophet. But if he had said so, the false prophet could also have retorted the same against Jeremiah, so he does no wrong. And he is speaking as if to a prophet. Not only, he says, am I a prophet and you, but there were many others before you and me, among whom were Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, and Amos, and the rest. They prophesied, he says, against many lands and not insignificant kingdoms, but great ones, announcing war and adversity to them, and announcing a scarcity of all things. And on the other hand, there were others who promised peace and prosperity. Both opinions, not through flattery or lies, but proven by the outcome of events. Therefore, following the example of others, Ananias speaks of himself, so that when the end of things comes, the truth of the prophets may be revealed. The Lord himself also spoke through Moses (Deut. 23), that the end of prophecy may be shown. And it should be noted that he does not threaten or intimidate, but confidently rebukes the liar with the truth, and postpones it for the future, so that those who hear may await the outcome of events.

About four hundred years have passed since the preaching of Christ burst on the world, and during that time in which his robe has been torn by countless heresies, almost the whole body of error has been derived from the Chaldaean, Syriac and Greek languages. Basilides, the master of licentiousness and the grossest sensuality, after the lapse of so many years and like a second Euphorbus, was changed by transmigration into Jovinian, so that the Latin tongue might have a heresy of its own. Was there no other province in the whole world to receive the gospel of pleasure and into which the serpent might insinuate itself, except that which was founded by the teaching of Peter, on the rock Christ? Idol temples had fallen before the standard of the cross and the severity of the gospel. Now, on the contrary, lust and gluttony endeavor to overthrow the solid structure of the cross. And so God says by Isaiah, “O my people, they which bless you cause you to err, and trouble the paths of your feet.” Also by Jeremiah, “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every one his life,” and do not believe the false prophets who say, “Peace, peace, and there is no peace,” who are always repeating, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” “Your prophets have foreseen false and foolish things for you. They have not exposed your iniquity in order to call you to repentance. They devour God’s people like bread. They have not called on God. Jeremiah announced the captivity and was stoned by the people. Hananiah, the son of Azzur, broke the bars of wood for the present but was preparing bars of iron for the future. False prophets always promise pleasant things and please for a time. Truth is bitter, and those preaching it are filled with bitterness. For with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth the Lord’s Passover is kept, and it is eaten with bitter herbs.

The Septuagint does not translate “two years,” nor does it call Hananiah a “prophet,” lest it appear to name someone a prophet who was in fact no prophet, as if not many persons in sacred Scripture were named in accordance with the opinion of the time in which they lived or according to the truth of the matter. But Joseph is called the father of the Lord. And Mary, who knew that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit (responding to the angel, “How can this be, since I have never known a man?”), asked her son, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Your father and I have been looking for you desperately.” The prudence, humility and patience of Jeremiah must also be considered. When the pseudo-prophet damaged and broke the yoke around Jeremiah’s neck, which he was not able to do with iron, Jeremiah remained silent and concealed his pain. For what he should say was not yet revealed to him by the Lord, so that sacred Scripture would demonstrate tacitly that a prophet never speaks only on his own decision but also by the will of the Lord, most especially regarding future events, which are known to God alone. Jeremiah departed, it says, and went on his way as though he were well, thus fulfilling the prophecy: “I have become like a person who hears nothing and has no rebukes in his mouth.”

(Verse 10, 11) And Ananias the prophet took a chain (or a yoke, which in Hebrew is called Mutoth) from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, and broke it. And Ananias said in the presence of all the people, saying: Thus says the Lord: I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, within two years from the necks of all nations. And Jeremiah went his way (The Vulgate adds prophet). The Seventy did not transfer two years. Moreover, they did not call Ananias a prophet, lest they seem to be calling someone a prophet who was not a prophet. It is as if not many things are said in the holy Scriptures, according to the opinion of that time in which the events are recounted, and not according to what the truth of the matter contained. Finally, even Joseph is called the father of the Lord in the Gospel, and Mary herself, who knew that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she had responded to the angel: 'How will this be, since I do not know a man?' (Luke 1:34). He speaks to the Son: Son, what have you done to us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow. At the same time, the prudence of Jeremiah, and humility, and patience must be considered. The false prophet does wrong things, and crushes the snatched club from his neck, which he certainly could not do with an iron one. He is silent, and disguises his pain: for the Lord had not yet revealed to him what he should speak. As the holy Scripture shows, prophets do not speak by their own will alone, but by the will of the Lord, especially about the future, of which only God has knowledge. He left, he said, and went on his way, as if defeated, and fulfilling that prophecy: I have become like a deaf man, and like a man who does not have reproofs in his mouth.

When Jeremiah admonishes him, saying, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord did not send you,” he omits the title “prophet,” for how could he call him a prophet who refused to be sent by the Lord? But the truth and order of history is preserved, as we said above, not according to what was but according to what was thought to be at the time. He says, in effect, “You have deceived the people with a falsehood, to prevent them from agreeing with the judgment of God. Hence, you know that this will be the year you die.” But if, when we die, we are liberated from the prison of the body, according to that testimony that has been badly misinterpreted by heretics, “Free my soul from this prison,” how is the death of a pseudo-prophet now imposed as a punishment? It also must be observed, however, that Jeremiah suffered injury from the false prophet and remained silent, the word of the Lord not yet having come to him. Afterwards, however, when sent by the Lord, he boldly convicted him of lying and announced his imminent death. And because he died in the seventh month, which was always customarily understood to represent “rest,” due to the significance of the number, perhaps they were deceived that he died in the seventh month, so that he would be liberated from the evils of the body according to that passage they proffer from Scripture: “Death gives rest to a person.” But we know that the bodies of believers are temples of God, if the Holy Spirit still dwells within them.

[Daniel 9:2] "I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years concerning which the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Jeremiah, that seventy years would be accomplished for the desolation of Jerusalem." Jeremiah had predicted seventy years for the desolation of the Temple (Jeremiah 29:1-10), at the end of which the people would again return to Judaea and build the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. But this fact did not render Daniel careless, but rather encouraged him to pray that God might through his supplications fulfil that which He had graciously promised. Thus he avoided the danger that carelessness might result in pride, and pride cause offense to the Lord. Accordingly we read in Genesis that prior to the Deluge one hundred and twenty years were appointed for men to come to repentance (Genesis 6:3); and inasmuch as they refused to repent even within so long an interval of time as a hundred years, God did not wait for the remaining twenty years to be fulfilled, but brought on the punishment earlier which He had threatened for a later time. So also Jeremiah is told, on account of the hardness of the heart of the Jewish people: "Pray not for this people, for I will not hearken unto thee" (Jeremiah 7:16). Samuel also was told: "How long wilt thou mourn over Saul? I also have rejected him" (1 Samuel 16:1). And so it was with sackcloth and ashes that Daniel besought the Lord to fulfil what He had promised, not that Daniel lacked faith concerning the future, but rather he would avoid the danger that a feeling of security might produce carelessness, and carelessness produce an offense to God.

(Chapter 29, verses 1 and following) These are the words of the book that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders of the exile, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. After King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem, by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and generate sons and daughters; give your sons wives and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters, and multiply, and do not be few in number. And seek the peace of the city (or land) to which I have led you, and pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace. This letter, or rather book, of Jeremiah the prophet is sent to Babylon by the messengers Sedecias, Ellassa and Gamaria, to those who were transported with Jechoniah and his mother by Nebuchadnezzar: so that, by the opportunity of the royal legation, the Prophet might fulfill his own work and admonish the transplanted people of the things that had been commanded to him by the Lord. He spoke beautifully: Jehoiachin the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Judah, and the rest went out. And: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: They shall seem to have been relocated not by the power of the king of Babylon, but by the will of the Lord. And first, the word is directed to the elders, then to the priests, thirdly to the prophets, fourthly to the whole people of God: so that according to the order of age, letters would also reach the prophets who were being instructed. But they should not rely on their own words, but on the Lord's, to build houses and live in them, and to plant gardens, or orchards, and eat their fruit, take wives, and generate sons and daughters, and multiply in the place of their migration, and not be few in number, and seek the peace of the city or land to which the Lord has brought them, and pray for them ((or it)) to the Lord. And giving reasons, he says, because in the peace of that land there will be peace for you. Jeremiah, because after a short time there was going to be captivity for Jerusalem, it is ordered that he should not take a wife or have children. Hence it is said to us by the Apostle: Time is short, it remains, that those who have wives should be as if they had none (I Corinthians VII, 19). If the use of wives is taken away from those who have them due to the narrowness of time, how much more is it commanded that those who do not have them should not take them! But this whole prophecy warns against the false prophets, who were promising them a return to Jerusalem after a short time; but so that they know that they will stay in Babylon for a long time: in such a way that they should take wives, plant orchards, sow gardens, build houses, and have children. And what he added: Seek the peace of the city, or the land. And again: For in its peace there will be peace for you, it will be compared to the Apostolic, in which he commands: I beseech you therefore, first of all, to offer supplications, prayers, petitions, thanksgivings, for all men, for kings and for all that are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and honesty (2 Timothy 2:1-2). Furthermore, according to mystical understanding, after we have been cast out from Jerusalem, that is, the Church, because of our sins, and delivered to Nebuchadnezzar, about whom the same Apostle says: I have delivered such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (I Cor. 5:5). And again: Whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. 1:20), we should not be secure, nor be sluggish in idleness, nor completely despair of salvation; but first build houses, not on sand, but on rock, and such houses as the midwives built in Exodus: because they feared the Lord (Exod. 1). Then to plant gardens, or orchards, such as the Lord planted a paradise in Eden, and placed in it the tree of life, of which it is written: The tree of life is to those who lay hold of her; and he that takes hold of her is fortunate (Prov. III, 18). Thirdly, to take wives, of whom one is wisdom, of which Solomon writes: Love her, and she will keep you; embrace her, and she will exalt you (Prov. IV, 6). And in another place: I sought to take this spouse for myself, and I became a lover of her beauty (Wis. VIII, 2). It is not enough for us to have one wise wife, unless we also have the other virtues, courage, moderation, and justice, so that we may generate more children from them. Let us also give our daughters to husbands, so that the truth of faith, which is understood in children, may be connected to good works, which are related to daughters, and let good works be joined to the health of faith. By generating such sons and daughters, may we multiply in number, so that as we demolish what is small, and grow into perfect manhood, we may be worthy to hear: I write to you, fathers: because you have known him, who is from the beginning (1 John 2:13); and let us say with the Apostle to our children: For in Christ Jesus by the Gospel, I have begotten you (1 Corinthians 4:15). Let us also seek peace for the Church, our city, and our land, so that we may be deserving to return to it, from which we have been transferred by the judgment of the Lord, to dwell in the error of confusion. For if it receives us, we have peace. Together with the mercy of the Lord to be considered: He has commanded us to pray for our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us, so that we are not content only with our own salvation, but also seek the salvation of our enemies (Luke VI).

[Daniel 4:27] "'Wherefore, O king, let my counsel meet with thy favor, and make up for thy sins by deeds of charity, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps God will forgive thy transgressions.'" Since he had previously pronounced the sentence of God, which of course cannot be altered, how could he exhort the king to deeds of charity and acts of mercy towards the poor? This difficulty is easily solved by reference to the example of King Hezekiah, who Isaiah had said was going to die (Isaiah 38:1); and again, to the example of the Ninevites, to whom it was said: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed" (Jonah 3:4). And yet the sentence of God was changed in response to the prayers of Hezekiah and the city of Nineveh, not by any means because of the ineffectualness of the judgment itself but because of the conversion of those who merited pardon. Morever in Jeremiah God states that He threatens evil for the nation (Jeremiah 18:7-8), but if it does that which is good, He will alter His threats to bestow mercy. Again, He affirms that He directs His promises to the man who does good; and if the same man thereafter works evil, He says that He changes His decision, not with regard to the men themselves, but with regard to their works which have thus changed in character. For after all, God is not angered at men but at their sins; and when no sins inhere in a man, God by no means inflicts a punishment which has been commuted. In other words, let us say that Nebuchadnezzar performed deeds of mercy toward the poor in accordance with Daniel's advice, and for that reason the sentence against him was delayed of execution for twelve months. But because he afterwards while walking about in his palace at Babylon said boastingly: "Is this not the great Babylon which I myself have built up as a home for the king by the might of my power and the glory of my name?" therefore he lost the virtue of his charitableness by reason of the wickedness of his pride.

"It may be that God will forgive thy sins." In view of the fact that the blessed Daniel, foreknowing the future as he did, had doubts concerning God's decision, it is very rash on the part of those who boldly promise pardon to sinners. And yet it should be recognized that indulgence was promised to Nebuchadnezzar in return, as long as he wrought good works. Much more, then, is it promised to other men who have committed less grievous sins than he. We read in Jeremiah also of God's direction to the people of the Jews, that they should pray for the Babylonians, inasmuch as the peace of the captives was bound up with the peace of the captors themselves (Jeremiah 29:7).

He also adds, “Seek the peace of the city or the land,” “for in its peace will be your peace.” This is confirmed by the apostolic exhortation: “I urge, first of all, that intercessions, prayers, requests and thanksgivings be made for all persons, for kings and all who are in high office, that we might live a quiet and tranquil life in all reverence and chastity.” Furthermore, according to the mystical understanding, after we are expelled on account of our sins from Jerusalem, that is, the church, and delivered to Nebuchadnezzar, about whom the same apostle said “delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord,” and again, “they are those whom I delivered to Satan, that they would learn not to blaspheme,” we must not be careless or idle, so as to despair inwardly of salvation, but first we must build homes—on rock, not on sand—the kind of homes that the midwives built in Exodus because they feared the Lord. Second, we must plant gardens or orchards, the kind that the Lord also planted in paradise in Eden, placing within it the tree of life, about which it is written, “The tree of life is for those who will receive it, and blessed is the one who lays hold of it.” Third, we must take wives, one of whom is wisdom, about whom Solomon wrote, “Love her, and she will keep you. Embrace her, and she will exalt you,” and, in another passage, “I sought to make her my bride, and I became enamored of her beauty.” Nor is the one spouse, wisdom, sufficient for us, unless we have the others as well: fortitude, temperance and justice, that we might generate many children with them. We also must give our daughters away to men, that the truth of the faith, which is translated into sons, might espouse good works, which refers to daughters, and good works be united to those healed by faith. And we must multiply the number of such fruitful sons and daughters, so that, destroying what is childish and growing into perfection, we may deserve to hear, “I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning,” and may say to our children, along with the apostle, “I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Let us furthermore seek the peace of the city and land in which our church is located, that we might deserve to return to it from whom we were transferred by the judgment of the Lord, to live in the error of “confusion.” For if the church will receive us, we will have peace. The mercy of the Lord must also be taken into account, who commanded us to pray for our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us, that we would not be content with our salvation alone but would also seek the salvation of our enemies.

(Verse 8, 9) For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, nor give heed to your dreams which you dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. The prophet Ezekiel testifies that there were prophets, or rather false prophets, and diviners and dreamers in Babylon, among those whom Nebuchadnezzar had brought with Jehoiachin and his mother, as he writes against them, to whom Jeremiah also commands not to believe (Ezekiel 13). However, at the time when this Epistle was being directed, Ezechiel had not yet begun to prophesy in Babylon. For this speech is sent in the beginning of the reign of King Sedeciae. But Ezechiel, in the fifth year of the exile of Jechonias, began to prophesy, which was also the same year of the reign of Sedeciae. Furthermore, according to the allegory, we should consider as false prophets those who interpret the words of Scriptures differently than the Holy Spirit sounds. And we should consider as divine those who pronounce their own conjecture and uncertain future events as if they were true, without the authority of divine words. And also the dreamers, who do not heed that writing: Neither give sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids (Prov. VI, 4); of whom the apostle Judas speaks: Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion (Judae 8): whose mind is not awake, but is oppressed by the sleep of arrogance and error, and is surrounded by the horror of night, of whom the apostle Paul speaks: Awake, thou that sleepest? And arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Ephes. V, 14).

(Vers. 10 seqq.) Because this is what the Lord says: When seventy years are completed in Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill my good word to bring you back to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of affliction, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me, and you will go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart, and I will be found by you (or I will appear to you), says the Lord. Do not, he says, believe in false prophets, diviners, and dreamers of yours, who promise you the return to Jerusalem soon. For unless seventy years are completed, while Cyrus, the king of the Persians, releases the captives, you will not return to your homeland; and then I will fulfill my promises, to bring you back to this place: For I know the thoughts that I think about you, says the Lord. It is said that we know what he thinks, but they, together with their prophets, gods, and dreamers, are ignorant. The knowledge of the future, therefore, belongs only to God. 'I will give you,' he says, 'an end and patience: the end of captivity and the patience of present struggles, or the hope of the future. Then you will call on me and go to Jerusalem: and you will pray, and I will hear you. Certainly, without the invocation and prayer of the captives, the Lord could fulfill what he promised; but he encourages them to pray, so that they may deserve to receive what was promised. You seek me, and you will find me, when you seek with all your heart; according to that Gospel: Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you (Matt. VII, 7). According to the anagoge, we are immersed in the confusion of this world as long as we merit to receive the rest of the sevenfold number, and having received penance, may God fulfill what He has promised, and may we be restored to our place in the Church. Therefore, the Lord has seemed to strike us in order to heal us: He will give us an end to our labor and patience: and we will call upon Him, and return to the Church, and we will pray, and be heard: we will seek and find Him when we have sought Him with all our heart, and then He will appear to us. Some interpret seventy years according to what is written: The days of our years in them are seventy years (Psalm 89:10), which when completed, we shall return to the Lord with all our heart, and we shall be heard, and the end of our labor and patience shall come: for now we possess all things in shadow and in image.

(Verse 14 and following) And I will restore your captivity, and gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have driven you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile. For you have said, 'The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.' Thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your fellow countrymen who did not go with you into exile. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send against them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, because they are so bad. And I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will give them as a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and an object of scorn among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not listen to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to them by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord. So hear the word of the Lord, all the exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. + Up to this point, it is not found in the seventy, which I have marked with asterisks. For the rest, in which either individual verses or a few words have been omitted, I did not want to note, so as not to make the reading tedious. But the Lord promises to those who were in exile that after seventy years of captivity he will make them return from all the nations and from all the places to which he has driven them, and after the captivity has been ended, they will regain their former state and homeland. And when I, says he, shall do these things of my own accord, and shall surely return to you at a certain time, you are being deceived in vain, and you think you have prophets in Babylon who promise you false things. So you should know that you should by no means hope for a return now: but build houses, plant orchards, take wives, and give birth to children, and multiply in number, and wait for the promised time. Hear what the Lord speaks to Zedekiah, who now reigns in Jerusalem, and to all the inhabitants of his city, that is, to your brothers, who did not want to obey my advice, and to migrate to Babylon with you, because they can by no means escape captivity, but will die by sword, and hunger, and pestilence. And I will set them like a basket of bad figs, which Theodotio interpreted as rotten figs: the second worst: Symmachus, the last: which in Hebrew are called Suarim (), but due to the mistake of the scribes, instead of the middle syllable or letter Alpha, the Greek Delta is written: so instead of Suarim, it is read as Sudrim. However, just as a basket or a crate, which had good figs, is said to have had first figs: likewise, the other basket, which had bad figs, is written to have had last figs. And I will pursue, he says, those who now dwell in the city of Jerusalem, with sword, famine, and pestilence: so that as soon as they are able to break through the siege and escape, they may be scattered throughout all lands, and may be an example to all of curse, shame, hissing, and reproach: to whom I will cast out (Ah, you), because they did not listen to my words, says the Lord, which I spoke to them through my servants, rising up early and sending them: and I have never ceased warning them, that they should imitate you who now enjoy peaceful leisure in exile, until the promise of the Lord is fulfilled. But you, who have obeyed my command and handed yourselves over to the Babylonian king, listen to what I have to say. And in this place, a delusional Interpreter dreams of the downfall of heavenly Jerusalem and suspects that the prophecy is directed to those who dwell in the region of Babylon in this world: that they willingly descend into these bodies and build homes in the land of the Chaldeans, plant orchards, take wives, bear children, and through good works be restored after seventy years to their original place and to heavenly Jerusalem. But those who refuse of their own will to descend to earthly matters will suffer these things that the Lord threatens to Zedekiah and his people. Those who refuse to imitate their brothers and come to Babylon will be struck by the sword, famine, and pestilence, that is, a scarcity of all things, and they will be like the worst figs that cannot be eaten; and they will be pursued by an eternal sword, and will be a vexation to all the kingdoms of the earth, so that they will not become humans, but demons, aerial powers, and they will be among all the Angels who preside over each province as a curse, astonishment, hissing, and reproach to all nations. And this they will endure for this reason, because they refused to listen to the words of the Prophets in heavenly Jerusalem, who urged them to descend to earthly things and assume a humble body; and after true Sabbath observance, to possess the original place through acts of repentance. He said these things. When his disciples hear them, and the refuse of the Grunnian family, they think they hear divine mysteries. And we who despise these things are regarded as mere animals and called 'mud people,' because being formed in the mud of this body, we are unable to perceive heavenly things.

(Verses 21-23) This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says to Ahaziah son of Coliah, and to Zedekiah son of Maasiah, who prophesy to you falsely in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes. And a curse will be taken up against all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, 'May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahaziah, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they have done foolishness (or wickedness) in Israel and have committed adultery with the wives of their friends (or fellow citizens); and they have spoken a false word in my name, which I did not command them. I am the judge and witness, says the Lord.' The Hebrews say that these are the elders who have done foolishness in Israel and have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors. To one of them, Daniel speaks: Old age of evil days. And to another: The seed of Chan has deceived you, not Judah, and desire has undermined your heart. This is what you did to the daughters of Israel, and they, being afraid, spoke with you; but the daughter of Judah did not endure your wickedness. And what the Prophet now speaks: And they have spoken a word in my name falsely, which I did not command them; they think that it signifies that those wretched women who are carried about by every wind of doctrine have deceived them, by saying to them that because they were of the tribe of Judah, Christ was to be born from their own seed; enticed by desire, they offered their bodies as if they were future mothers of Christ; But what is said at present: whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, seems to contradict the story of Daniel. For he asserts that they were stoned to death according to the judgment of Daniel by the people: but here it is written, that the king of Babylon cast them into the fire. Hence, by most and almost all Hebrews, it is not received as a true story, nor read in their synagogues, as if it were a fable itself. For, say they, how could it happen that captive princes and their prophets had the power of stoning? And they affirm more strongly that this is true, which Jeremiah writes, that the elders were convicted indeed by Daniel, but that the judgment against them was pronounced by the king of Babylon, who held dominion over the captives as a victor and lord. How many, similar to Ahab and Zedekiah from our flock, prophesy falsehood in the name of the Lord, and commit foolishness in Israel, and commit adultery with the wives of their fellow citizens who were born in the same city of the Church! Those whom the true Nebuchadnezzar freezes in the fire of sin, as the prophet Hosea says: 'All those who commit adultery are like an overheated oven, ignited by the baker' (Hosea 7:4). Blessed is he who takes off the yoke from his youth, and sits alone, because he is filled with bitterness (Lamentations 3); he can say with David: 'I have not sat in the council of the wicked, and I will not enter with the evildoers' (Psalm 26:4). And what the Prophet now declares: 'I am the judge and witness,' says the Lord, has this meaning: 'What I say about the two false prophets, who speak my word falsely in my name, which I did not command them, I did not know by mere opinion, but I know for sure to be true, which no one can hide, nor escape from the truth of my judgment.'

So long as we are held down by this frail body, so long as we have our treasure in earthen vessels, so long as the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, there can be no sure victory. “Our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” “You make darkness,” David says, “and it is night, in which all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.” The devil does not look for unbelievers, for those who are outside, whose flesh the Assyrian king roasted in the furnace. It is the church of Christ that he “hurries to spoil.” According to Habakkuk, “His food is the choicest.” Job is the victim of his scheming, and after devouring Judas he seeks power to sift the other apostles. The Savior came not to send peace on the earth but a sword. Lucifer fell, Lucifer who used to rise at dawn, and he who was raised in a paradise of delight had the well-earned sentence passed on him, “Though you exalt yourself as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.” For he had said in his heart, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,” and “I will be like the most High.” Therefore God says every day to the angels, as they descend the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, “I have said you are gods, and all of you are children of the most High. But you shall die like mortals and fall like one of the princes.” The devil fell first, and since “God stands in the congregation of the gods and judged among the gods,” the apostle writes to those who are ceasing to be gods, “Since there is among you envy and strife, are you not carnal and walk as humans?”

(Verse 24 and following) And to Semeias the Nehelamite you shall say. And what follows: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Since you have sent in your name letters to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest. And again from the Hebrew: And to all the priests (the Vulgate adds saying). And then the story continues: The Lord made you a priest to Joiada the priest, so that you may be a leader (or teacher and bishop) in the house of the Lord over every man seized and prophesying, to send him into punishment and into prison (or custody) and into the trap, which Symmachus translated as μόχλος, but Aquila put the Hebrew word itself, Sinac.

And why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you? For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying: 'Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits.' So the priest Zephaniah read this book in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah. Shemaiah of Nehelam, who was brought to Babylon with King Jehoiachin, also prophesied falsely to the people, saying that they would quickly return to Jerusalem. However, the following words of Jeremiah demonstrate that he was a false prophet: 'Thus says the Lord to Shemaiah of Nehelam, Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.' It is evident, then, that Jeremiah sent letters to those who were in Babylon, instructing them to build houses and dwell in them, to plant gardens and eat their produce, to take wives and have sons and daughters, and to seek the welfare of the city where they were in exile. He warned them not to listen to the false prophets among them, who were prophesying lies in the name of the Lord. Jeremiah knew that Shemaiah was one of those false prophets, so he sent a letter to Jerusalem addressed to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to the rest of the priests. In the letter, Jeremiah asked why he was not being reprimanded by Zephaniah, whose responsibility it was to distinguish between true prophets and false prophets. Jeremiah requested that Shemaiah be put in prison as a punishment for his lies, so that he would stop deceiving the people and causing more harm. Joiada was a priest who handed over the kingdom to Joash after the death of Athaliah, and he killed the priests of Baal (2 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 23). This is therefore what it says: Why don't you imitate the priest Joiada and kill the false prophet Jeremiah? The Lord has established you as a successor to Joiada, to take care of the temple, and especially to discern those who speak with the Holy Spirit from those who speak with a demonic spirit. But the discernment of spirits is a gift of divine grace, as the Apostle John mentions (1 John 4). Why, he said, did you not rebuke Jeremiah of Anathoth? And because he himself deserved it as a false prophet, he turns it against the true prophet, and distorts the truth by lies. Thus, the more intelligent ones are considered sons of darkness to the sons of light in this generation. While we, who act with patience and await the salvation of the wretched, are preceded by the heretics, and they call us by their own name, leading the blind blind into the pit. He sent, he said, to us in Babylon, saying: It is far away. This is all that he lamented: why Jeremiah wrote the truth against his own lie, that it was a long way off, and that they would return to Jerusalem after seventy years: from where they should build houses, plant orchards, and eat their fruits, take wives, and have children, as the past speech narrated. When the priest Zephaniah received these letters, which were specifically written to his name, he read them to Jeremiah, rebuking him in a way and reproaching the reading itself, questioning why he dared to write such things in Babylon.

(Verse 30 and following) And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: Send to all the exiles, saying: Thus says the Lord to Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you trust in a lie, therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall have none of his own people sitting in the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord. The false prophet Semeias, truly a Neelamite, who had taken foreign and turbid waters from the stream, becomes angry because he had written the truth about Jeremiah against his own lie, and he sends letters to the priest Sophonias. He desires that the prophet be imprisoned so that he cannot speak. He also secretly accuses the prophet Sophonias while reading the letter of the liar, and boasts that he has an accusation against him. The more of a crime are those who defend false prophets, and foster lies, and make other people's evil acts their own sins! Let the false prophet hear, let the priest understand what he deserves to hear from him: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will visit Semeiah. The Lord speaks this, not the prophet, that he might visit Semeiah the Neelamite, not for healing, but for punishment of the liar, according to what is written: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with scourges (Psalm 89:33). He not only visits the false prophet himself, but also his followers, whom he has deceived with his error. There will be, he says, no man seated in the midst of this people. Let the wicked brood be erased from the council of the saints, and let him not sit among the quiet ones, who, when he could not stand with those who stand, neither heard this: 'If he had stood in my substance' (Jer. XXIII). And although the Lord promises the perfection of all virtues at the end of a set time, he will not see the good that he claimed for himself in the present time. However, all this will happen because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord, saying that those captured by sins will return to Jerusalem; to whom the Apostle threatens: You are already full, you have already become rich, you have reigned without us; and I wish you would reign, so that we could reign with you (I Cor. IV, 8)!

(Chapter XXX—Verse 1 and following) This word, which was made to Jeremiah by the Lord, saying: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you, in a book. For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will turn the conversion of my people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will convert them (or I will cause them to sit) in the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it. For those who sent out false prophets to Babylon, to quickly bring back the people who had been captured with Jechoniah, and Ananiah son of Azur in Jerusalem preaching the same, Jeremiah the prophet affirmed that it would indeed happen, not within two years as they lied, but at the end of seventy years. And then he is commanded to write in a book and hand down to memory what the Lord predicts will come. From where it is clear that the time of the prophecy is not at hand, but many things must be fulfilled after these times, when Israel and Judah return to their land, and that which Ezekiel prophesied is fulfilled: two sticks to be joined together, and David reigning over them, as it is written: And my servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd for all of them (Ezek. XXXVII, 24). Therefore, whatever we have said in that prophecy, it should also be understood in the present place, especially since Ezekiel in Babylon and Jeremiah in Jerusalem prophesied at the same time.

(Verse 4 and following) And these are the words that the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah, for this is what the Lord says: We have heard the voice of terror (or fear), and there is no peace. Inquire and see if a male gives birth. Why then do I see every man with his hand on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces have turned pale? First, sadness is announced, so that after the magnitude of evils, joy may follow. Indeed, good health is more pleasant when illness has been driven away; and the magnitude of pain is turned into the magnitude of joys. But what he says is this, that such will be the fear and such the terror, that with peace driven away, everything will be filled with wars and blood, and even men (whose proper role is to fight against enemies) will be overcome by feminine fear: and their hands will not be directed to weapons, but to holding onto their kidneys, as if a woman in labor were holding onto her loins. And so the appearance of all will be turned into rust, the terror of the heart, the paleness of the countenance testifying. Some interpret this place according to tropology, so that they think that testimony: From fear of you, O Lord, we have conceived, and brought forth, and brought forth: we have made the spirit of your salvation upon the earth (Isaiah 26:17-18), and that Apostolic one in which it says: My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you (Galatians 4:19), is compared to this example: which is manifestly not to be pertained to terror, but to joy, since the present Scripture denotes the devastation of Israel, and the time of ruin.