Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to attack the crimes of the Jews, that not even one man among them is righteous: verse 3, their obstinacy; verse 7, their licentiousness; verse 12, their atheism. Hence, at verse 14, he threatens them with terrible destruction by the fierce and savage Chaldeans, who will atrociously ravage the Jews, their estates, their wealth, and their families. Third, at verse 21, he exhorts them to fear God, on account of His power and beneficence, which he teaches they have turned away from themselves by their own deceits and crimes. Whence by an exclamation he cries out and concludes: Astonishment and wonders have been done in the land, because the people applauded the false prophets and priests.
GO ABOUT THE STREETS (in Hebrew it is, search the broad places), WHETHER YOU CAN FIND A MAN — that is to say: If, as in Sodom I would have found ten just men, Genesis 18:32, so in Jerusalem I could find one outstanding righteous man, I would spare it, and would be merciful to it, that is, to the whole city. In the Hebrew it is la, which is feminine, and therefore refers to Jerusalem. See here and be amazed at how great is the inclination and clemency of God, even though most gravely offended, toward sparing and showing mercy: so great is His love of justice that not for ten just men, as God said to Abraham, would He liberate the city; but if He found one in Jerusalem, He would have mercy on the city, says Rabanus. See again the impiety of Jerusalem, in which no outstanding righteous man was found, so that most deservedly and justly it was overthrown by God. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rabanus, Hugo, and St. Thomas.
Oecolampadius and others object: Therefore all the inhabitants of Jerusalem are absolutely sinners, and only outwardly, through the imputed justice of Christ, are they just; for otherwise the city had no righteous man — where then will you find righteous men? They respond first, Lyranus and Isidore say it is hyperbole: if one, that is, if a few, were found. Now it is clear that Jeremiah was then righteous, as were Baruch, and the Ethiopian Abdemelech, and King Josiah, Ecclesiasticus 49:1, and other Prophets who prophesied at that time. Second, Jerusalem was then most wicked: therefore it was easier to find righteous men outside it than within, both in Judea and elsewhere. Third, I would better spare the city if in it I could find
one man, that is, an outstanding and eminent man, just in fulfilling the law and defending the truth, who by his example and authority would keep the people in their duty, and would set himself as a wall against God's anger, Ezekiel 22:30, like Moses and Samuel. For thus in Hebrew they are called 'sons of a man,' that is, illustrious and powerful, such men as Ecclesiasticus chapter 44 and following describes. Diogenes sought a similar man, as I said at the preceding chapter, verse 25. So says Herodotus in his Polymnia: 'Men are very many, but true men are very few.' And a Spartan woman, according to Plutarch, used to say that only Spartan women bear real men. Add that these words refer to the time of the destruction, when Jeremiah alone was prophesying; since he speaks here in the person of God, he does not include himself in this number: for then there were few in Jerusalem who were in any way righteous.
Morally, note here: God seeks men, He seeks heroes. Thus the one heroine, the Blessed Virgin, found grace in His eyes, and drew Him from heaven into her womb. Thus the one John the Baptist was chosen to be the groomsman and forerunner of Christ, because he was great before the Lord, because he was a true man and hero; namely, he shone with faith, was raised up by hope, burned with charity, gleamed with virginity, shone with admirable abstinence, grew rich in poverty, grew great in solitude, and by the increase of all virtues became a kind of heavenly giant, so that one could truly say of him: 'He rejoiced as a giant to run his course.' Therefore Christ says of him: 'Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.' Whence St. Augustine, sermon 4 on St. John the Baptist, says: 'Whoever is greater than John is not merely a man, but also God.'
One man, one Baptist, is worth more before God than a thousand women, indeed than a thousand men. Such a man was that illustrious martyr, who with such greatness of soul resisted the tyrant that he would not even reveal his own name, or that of his nation, or his city, but to all questions answered only: 'I am a Christian.' And Blandina, who in all her torments, unconquered, crying out: 'I am a Christian,' by this very fact soothed, indeed overcame, the pain of her torments. So testifies Eusebius, History, book 5, chapter 1.
Such a man was St. Athanasius, who for God and the faith opposed himself to the whole Arian world, and triumphed over it. Such a man was Blessed Gregory Nazianzen, who, living in exile, said in oration 28: 'For me every land is, and no land is, my homeland.' Such a man was St. Paul, who imbued and enlightened nearly the whole world with God's faith and religion. Such men were St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. Leo, and others who stood firm for God even unto death, and reconciled God to the world. I have listed more such men at Exodus 6, at the end of the chapter.
WHO DOES JUSTICE — 'Does' what is right, equitable, and just according to the law. So says Theodoret.
AND WHO SEEKS FAITHFULNESS — In Hebrew, seeking truth or fidelity, namely one who is faithful to God and to men. Whence follows, 'even if also,' that is to say: So faithless and deceitful are the Jews that even if they swear by the life of the true God, they swear falsely and hypocritically, as if worshipping Me, when their heart is turned away from Me. So says St. Jerome. Alternatively, Maldonatus says: If they swear by the living God, they will deliberately swear falsely, in order to do Him injury.
Morally, learn here how far faithfulness is exiled from among men. Truly Aristotle, in Laertius: 'O friends, there is no friend.' And Seneca in the Hercules Oetaeus: 'Though all the common crowd in your palace / may beat upon your hundred doors at once; / Though you go accompanied by so many peoples, / Among so many peoples there is scarcely one who is faithful.'
Vulgate Text: Jeremiah 5:1-31
1. Go about the streets of Jerusalem, and look, and consider, and seek in its broad places, whether you can find a man who does justice and seeks faithfulness: and I will be merciful to it. 2. Even if they say, 'As the Lord lives,' they will swear falsely. 3. O Lord, Your eyes look upon faithfulness: You have struck them, and they did not grieve; You have crushed them, and they refused to accept discipline; they have hardened their faces more than rock, and have refused to return. 4. But I said: Perhaps they are poor and foolish, not knowing the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. 5. I will go therefore to the great men, and will speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God; and behold, these all the more together have broken the yoke, have burst the bonds. 6. Therefore a lion from the forest has struck them, a wolf at evening has destroyed them, a leopard watching over their cities: everyone who goes out from them will be captured; because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened. 7. For what reason can I be merciful to you? Your children have forsaken Me, and swear by those who are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and reveled in the house of the harlot. 8. They have become lustful horses and stallions: each one was neighing after his neighbor's wife. 9. Shall I not punish for these things, says the Lord? And shall not My soul take vengeance on such a nation? 10. Go up upon its walls, and tear them down, but do not make a full end: take away its branches, for they are not the Lord's. 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against Me, says the Lord. 12. They have denied the Lord, and said: It is not He; nor shall evil come upon us: we shall not see sword and famine. 13. The prophets spoke into the wind, and there was no answer in them: therefore these things shall happen to them. 14. Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold I make My words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15. Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you will not know, nor understand what it speaks. 16. Its quiver is like an open tomb, they are all mighty men. 17. And it shall eat your harvests and your bread: it shall devour your sons and your daughters; it shall eat your flocks and your herds; it shall eat your vineyard and your fig tree; and it shall break down with the sword your fortified cities, in which you trust. 18. Nevertheless in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. 19. And if you shall say: Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? you shall say to them: Just as you forsook Me, and served a strange god in your own land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20. Declare this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying: 21. Hear, O foolish people, who have no heart: who having eyes, do not see; and ears, and do not hear. 22. Will you then not fear Me, says the Lord; and will you not grieve before My face? I who have set the sand as a boundary for the sea, an everlasting decree which it shall not pass: and its waves shall be moved, but shall not prevail; and they shall swell, but shall not pass over it. 23. But this people has an unbelieving and exasperating heart; they have departed and gone away. 24. And they have not said in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives us the early and the late rain in its season; who preserves for us the fullness of the yearly harvest. 25. Your iniquities have turned away these things; and your sins have withheld good from you. 26. For among My people are found wicked men who lie in wait like fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men. 27. As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore they have become great and grown rich. 28. They have grown fat and sleek, and have transgressed My words most wickedly. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not furthered the cause of the orphan, and they have not judged the judgment of the poor. 29. Shall I not punish for these things, says the Lord? Or shall not My soul take vengeance on such a nation as this? 30. Astonishment and wonders have been done in the land: 31. The prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests clapped their hands: and My people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?
Verse 3
3. O LORD, YOUR EYES LOOK UPON FAITHFULNESS — 'Faithfulness,' that is, fidelity, as I said at verse 1. Second, St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, and Dionysius understand it as the faith by which we believe in God. Third, St. Thomas says: 'Faithfulness,' that is, what is right. Fourth, Theodoret says: 'They look upon faithfulness,' that is to say: You, O Lord, to whose eyes all things are visible, know that I speak the truth; You confirm my words. Fifth, Pagninus and some Hebrews translate the Hebrew emuna as 'stability,' meaning: You, O Lord, are always intent on preserving stable the things You have created; therefore, in wanting to destroy the Jews, You act contrary to Your custom, and their crimes compel You. This last sense is apt, the third is more apt, the first is most apt.
YOU HAVE STRUCK THEM, AND THEY DID NOT GRIEVE — It is an aphorism of Hippocrates: 'When a sick or afflicted body does not feel its wounds or pains, it is a certain sign that the mind is diseased,' that is, it is suffering from madness, delirium, or stupor. So I have seen delirious persons who did not feel sharp cold or torments. In the same way, these Jews, not feeling God's blows, were suffering from mental stupor and insane obstinacy. So we see wicked boys harden themselves against the rod, and pay no attention to it, nor feel it, and put on a kind of insensibility or indifference to pain.
THEY HARDENED THEIR FACES MORE THAN ROCK — more than rock, harder than rock; they were brazen and utterly shameless. So in Latin a 'hard face' means impudence.
Verse 4
4. PERHAPS THEY ARE POOR (that is, common people of lowly condition) — that is to say: Perhaps it is the ignorant multitude, who have not learned the law of God, and who are of slow and rude intelligence for grasping the words of God. These therefore deserve excuse and pardon for their transgression. 'I will go therefore to the great men.'
Verse 5
5. THEY HAVE BROKEN THE YOKE (of the law), THEY HAVE BURST THE BONDS — of God's commandments.
Verse 6
6. A LION FROM THE FOREST HAS STRUCK (will strike) THEM — that is, Nebuchadnezzar, coming forth from Syria as from a forest, and from the wooded Lebanon. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, and others generally. Moreover, the wolf is Nabuzardan, says Theodoret; the leopard is the army of the Chaldeans. Second, St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, and Lyranus say: The wolf signifies the Persians and Medes, on account of their voracity both for food and for kingdoms, from which they are also called 'half-asses,' as I said at Isaiah chapter 21:7. The leopard is Alexander, say St. Jerome, Rabanus, and Hugo, on account of the variety of his character, and because he fought against the Medes and Persians with the various and very many nations subject to him. Whence Daniel also, chapter 7, verse 6, compares him to a leopard. This leopard is 'watching,' because Alexander with swift attack overran everything from the West to India; he did not devastate the Jews, but terrified them; and when they came as suppliants, he spared them on account of the high priest Jaddus. So says Josephus, Antiquities 11, chapter 8. Theodoret, however, Lyranus, and St. Thomas understand the leopard as Antiochus Epiphanes, who greatly afflicted the Jews; whence what follows — 'Everyone who goes out from them will be captured' — they explain thus: 'by them,' namely by the Romans; for after the Greeks, Pompey, Caesar, Vespasian, and Titus captured and devastated the Jews.
Third and best: Nebuchadnezzar with his army is called a lion for his ferocity; the same is called a wolf for his greed and voracity — for one wolf destroys innumerable sheep, whence the common saying, 'The wolf does not care about the number'; the same is called a leopard for his skill and speed in capturing. So say St. Thomas, Vatablus, Isidore, and Maldonatus. For Jeremiah always threatens the Jews with the coming of the Chaldeans, not of Alexander, not of Antiochus Epiphanes.
A WOLF AT EVENING — The Septuagint translates, a wolf of Arabia, that is, a wolf who is a robber and brigand: for the Arabs were infamous for their brigandage. St. Jerome translates, a wolf of the setting [sun] or of the west; Vatablus, a wolf of the wildernesses or deserts; for all these things are signified by the Hebrew arab, if you substitute different vowel points: for if you read arav, it signifies evening and the west; if arab, it signifies Arabia; if oreb, it signifies wilderness — for from this word the mountain and desert are called Horeb.
One may ask, what is a 'wolf at evening'? Some think it is a certain and distinct species of wolf from others, or that it is a hyena. So says Guevarra in the Tabernacle. But a hyena is not a wolf. See Delrio. I respond therefore that 'at evening' is a common epithet for wolves; because wolves are more voracious than other beasts, they hide during the day in their lairs, fasting, from fear of hunters; from these lairs in the evening, driven by hunger, they rush out as if mad for prey; for, made fierce by prolonged hunger, they are most savage and most swift, and therefore are called 'vespertine' (evening wolves). So say Oppian, St. Jerome, the Rabbis, Hugo, Vatablus, Dionysius, Delrio already cited, and Ribera.
Add that wolves are called nocturnal because wolves have this singular quality, that they overcome darkness by the keenness of their eyes. So says Aelian, book 10, chapter 17, and others. Whence Macrobius, Saturnalia book 1, chapter 17: The wolf, he says, is called in Greek lykos from lyke, that is, from light, meaning 'shining'; and Apollo, that is, the sun, was called Lykios from its name, because he absorbs and expels darkness. Hence the Greeks also call the first light that precedes sunrise lyke, from the wolf; whence Homer calls the morning twilight amphilyken nykta, because then the wolf sees and goes out to prey; indeed, the same time is called from this lykophos, 'wolf-light.' For then the morning wolves, because they are voracious, go out again to hunt; for, as Aelian attests, wolves see most keenly even on a moonlit night; although Macrobius at the place cited thinks the Greeks called the first light lyke from leukos, from whiteness, because it is white and is so called, and hence, he says, it is named lykophos. Both are true.
Moreover, Nebuchadnezzar is aptly called an 'evening wolf,' that is, a nocturnal one; because he invaded and captured Jerusalem by night, as is clear from Jeremiah chapter 52, and because he raged against the Jews like an evening and hungry wolf.
Tropologically, evening wolves are demons, who rage most at night and tempt men to lusts, murders, and other crimes. So says St. Jerome on Habakkuk 1:8. Likewise princes, prelates, and judges who are greedy and unjust, of whom Zephaniah says, chapter 3:3: 'Her judges are wolves of the evening'; because as if in the night and with no one watching they plunder everything, and, since they seize everything after the manner of wolves, they do not even leave small morsels for the needy, says St. Jerome in the same place.
But most of all, as Christ Himself testifies, wolves are heretics. For, as St. Ambrose says in his commentary on Luke chapter 10: 'Wolves spy out the sleep of the dogs, the absence or negligence of the shepherds. Are not those heretics to be compared to wolves, who lie in ambush for the sheep of Christ, who prowl around the sheepfolds more by night than by day?' Hence we have seen them holding their conventicles at night in Belgium, and we know that in France they raged with brigandage and slaughter in the manner of Arabs. Moreover, they put on the appearance of sheep, pretending to be lovers of piety and truth, in order to deceive and cast darkness over the mind. Therefore they arrogate to themselves the name of light, like wolves, but in reality they are nocturnal and creatures of darkness.
THE LEOPARD — It is a beast savage like a lion; it has a skin spotted with marks; it hides itself in foliage and emits a pleasant odor, attracting gazelles, roe deer, and other animals to itself, seizing and tearing them. So say Pliny, book 8, chapter 16, and Aelian, book 5, chapter 40.
Note: For 'watching,' others translate 'hastening, swift, quick,' that is, Nebuchadnezzar, as I have said, who watches, that is, observes the cities of the Jews while he closely besieges and keeps watch over them, so that no one can go out from them without being immediately captured by him.
Tropologically, the leopard is the devil, who by presenting fragrant pleasures, and by the painted variety and beauty of his skin, that is, of outward appearance — for example, of a woman's body — deceives the unwary, and 'goes about seeking whom he may devour.'
THEIR REBELLIONS ARE STRENGTHENED — that is to say: They have powerfully rebelled against Me.
Verse 7
7. FOR WHAT REASON (for what cause, by what merit, by what title, in what respect) CAN I BE MERCIFUL TO YOU? — What have you that would call forth pardon and clemency, and not rather provoke and kindle My wrath and indignation? Maldonatus and others take the Hebrew al mah, that is, 'for what,' as equivalent to ekh, that is, 'how.'
THEY HAVE COMMITTED ADULTERY — Properly and bodily, as is clear from what follows. So say Theodoret, Rabanus, and St. Thomas. Alternatively, Hugo, Lyranus, and Dionysius say: they committed adultery spiritually with idols — they rush to idols as sated adulterers rush to harlots.
Verse 8
8. LUSTFUL HORSES — In Hebrew muzanim, that is, well-fed, well-nourished, and therefore wanton, and, as our Translator renders, 'lustful'; because in the heat of lust they charge and neigh at females. Whence the Septuagint translates: 'Horses raging for females'; for muzanim descends from the root zun, that is, to nourish, to feed, to satiate. So say R. Jacob, Vatablus, and Pagninus. Whence also the Chaldean translates, 'strong horses, fierce or maddened.' Therefore R. David Kimchi less correctly reads menuzzanim for muzanim, meaning, he says, 'armed, caparisoned,' from the root iazan; for this root is not found elsewhere. Hence by a scribal error it happened that mevuzzanim crept in here for muzanim, and in the margin meiuzanim, as Forster, although a heterodox, rightly notes in his Lexicon.
AND STALLIONS — These are common horses kept for the purpose of having mares brought to them, which they cover. The Hebrew mosechim, which, says St. Jerome, all the Greeks translate as helkontes, that is, 'dragging' — namely their genitals because of their great size, as a sign of great lust, according to Ezekiel 23:20: 'Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses.' Second, the Rabbis read mezachim, meaning: coming forth from the region of Mosoch (who was a son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2), that is, from Muscovy; or, as Josephus says, Antiquities 1, chapter 11, from Cappadocia; or, as R. Abraham says, from Tuscany; or rather from Arabia near Cedar, as is clear from Ezekiel 27:13; for from there came horses that were strong and inclined toward females.
Third, R. Kimchi, Vatablus, and Pagninus read muskim, that is, 'rising early,' from the root sacham, that is, to rise in the morning, meaning: Just as horses, having been fed with sleep and food during the night, neigh for mares when they go out in the morning, so too the Jews neigh for women. Moreover, how great is the lust of horses, and their ardor for mares, Aristotle teaches in book 6 of the History of Animals, chapter 22. Whence men who are given to lust are called hippomanou and are said to hippobatein, that is, to burn and rage like a horse. Whence St. Basil, in his book On Virginity, teaches that man was created as a kind of centaur, so that in his upper part he is a man and rational, in his lower part a horse burning with desire.
Verse 10
10. GO UP (O Chaldeans, My soldiers) UPON ITS WALLS — of Jerusalem. God speaks here as a commander ordering the Chaldeans to overthrow Jerusalem. BUT DO NOT MAKE A FULL END — that is to say: Do not utterly destroy it, so that a remnant may be preserved and saved, Isaiah 10:20. TAKE AWAY ITS BRANCHES (that is: Do not tear up the people by the roots, but only remove the branches, which) ARE NOT THE LORD'S — namely the wicked Jews, who have given themselves over to idols and demons, and therefore have been forsaken by the God whom they forsook, says St. Jerome. 'For every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up,' says Christ, Matthew 15:13.
Second, because the Hebrew natas means to let go, to extend: hence the Septuagint translates: 'Take away its supports'; the Chaldean, 'its palaces'; Vatablus, 'the teeth of its walls,' that is, the battlements or pinnacles that project from the walls to prevent enemies from climbing. Christopher a Castro translates: 'Take away things abandoned or forsaken by Me, and consequently, since they have no lord, they shall belong to the first to seize them.' Thus whoever has forsaken God is exposed to the prey and dominion of men and demons.
Third, Theodoret and Eusebius, Demonstration book 2, chapter 55, derive from the Hebrew the negation 'not': do not do it, do not remove its branches, meaning: Leave Zerubbabel and some others, who may propagate the Jewish nation, lest it perish. So says Theodoret. Or, as Eusebius says, leave Christ and the Apostles as the remnant and support of the Jews.
Verse 12
12. THEY SAID: IT IS NOT HE — namely the Lord, who has providence over us, who would punish us if we act wickedly, or reward us if we act well. And therefore the evils which He threatens us with will not come to pass. So say St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, and Lyranus.
Verse 13
13. THE PROPHETS (namely of the true God) SPOKE INTO THE WIND (that is, in vain to you) — because you refused to hear them. So say St. Jerome, Rabanus, and Hugo. Second, Theodoret and Vatablus: The false prophets spoke into the wind, that is, they predicted empty and false things to you. Third and best, understand these words thus: the wicked Jews continue to speak, and say: 'The Prophets, like Jeremiah and others, spoke into the wind, that is, they said empty and rash things; God's answer, that is, His oracle, was not in them; therefore these evils which they threatened us with shall come upon them' — that is, we wish that they would come upon them, and fall back upon their own heads.
Verse 14
14. IN YOUR MOUTH AS FIRE — that is to say: I inspire in you oracles as efficacious as fire; because I bring it about that by your mouth, O Jeremiah, I more certainly foretell the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, who will generally consume the people like fire, whom, like wood given to fire, I will abandon and expose to the Chaldeans to be burned.
Note: He speaks as if Jeremiah were going to burn the people with his words, and this first, to signify the power and certainty of the prophecy, and to refute the blasphemous words of the Jews at verse 13: 'The prophets spoke into the wind'; for to these He says that Jeremiah prophesies not into the wind but into fire; second, to signify that Jeremiah does not prophesy of himself but from God, and therefore speaks as it were in the person of God, and by God's command and decree was about to consign the people like wood to fire, that is, to the vengeance of the Chaldeans. So say Vatablus, Lyranus, and Hugo.
Alternatively, St. Jerome, Rabanus, and St. Thomas say: He hurls at them threats so efficacious that they seem to be tormented, scourged, and burned by fire — so that it is a catachresis.
Verse 15
15. I WILL BRING AGAINST YOU A NATION FROM AFAR — from Chaldea. AN ANCIENT NATION — which from ancient times has learned and been accustomed to wage war, to kill, and to plunder; namely from the time of Nimrod, who first reigned in Babylon, in the year after the flood, as I showed at Genesis 10:18. For from that time the empire of the Chaldeans began, which together with the kingdom of the Assyrians was held by Belus, father of Ninus, and the succeeding Assyrian kings almost down to Nebuchadnezzar.
WHOSE LANGUAGE YOU WILL NOT KNOW — that is to say: I will bring against you the Chaldeans, a barbarous, unintelligible, inexorable nation; for they will not understand your pleas, nor will you understand their demands. Moses threatened them with this, Deuteronomy 28:49.
Verse 16
16. ITS QUIVER IS LIKE A TOMB — that is, the quiver of the Chaldeans will not be sated with slaughter, just as an open tomb is never sated, that is, filled with corpses. So says Hugo, meaning: The Chaldeans will slay very many with their arrows. So says Vatablus.
Second, St. Thomas says: As an open tomb strikes horror with its corpses, so also the arrows stained with the blood of the slain in the quivers of the Chaldeans will strike terror in those who behold them. Third, Lyranus says: The quiver, that is, by metonymy, their arrows, will certainly pierce whomever they wish, just as those whom the tomb receives are certainly dead. Fourth, a Castro and Theodoret say: The quiver, that is, the arrow of the Chaldeans, is a tomb, that is, sepulchral, funereal, lethal — certainly bringing death and casting into the open grave. Fifth and most plainly, the quiver of the Chaldeans is a tomb, that is, it has the form and appearance of a tomb; for just as a tomb contains the dead and consumes and reduces them to ashes without end or number, so their quiver contains death, that is, very many deadly arrows, which will bring death to very many, so that the quiver seems to be a tomb, and the arrows all seem to be the dead. This phrase therefore signifies that the Chaldeans have strong and piercing arrows, and are most skilled in archery, so that they know they will kill as many men as they have arrows in their quiver. So says Maldonatus. This fifth sense is the fullest, because it includes and encompasses the third and fourth. So St. Ambrose calls the rich, who swallow up the fortunes of the poor, and their coffers, 'the tombs of the poor.'
ALL OF THEM MIGHTY MEN — that is to say: Nor is this surprising, because all the Chaldeans are the bravest of men; therefore with their arrows they will drive very many to death and the grave.
Verse 17
17. IT SHALL DEVOUR — the Chaldean translates, 'it shall kill.' IT SHALL BREAK (in Hebrew vroses, that is, it shall uproot, that is, overthrow) YOUR CITIES.
Verse 18
18. I WILL NOT MAKE A FULL END OF YOU — I will not utterly consume you.
Verse 19
19. YOU SERVED A STRANGE GOD IN YOUR OWN LAND, SO YOU SHALL SERVE STRANGERS IN A LAND NOT YOUR OWN — He contrasts strange gods with strange masters, that is, the Chaldeans, whom the Jews will serve. Again, He contrasts their own land with a land not their own; for the guilt of the Jews was greater because they served strange gods in their own land, than if they had done it under compulsion from a king in a foreign land. Hence
likewise the punishment was greater for them to serve in a foreign land than in their own. So says Maldonatus.
In Hebrew it is, 'so may it befall them,' namely as they have threatened us — although St. Jerome thinks the words 'therefore these things shall come upon them' are the words of Jeremiah, meaning: These things, that is, the impending punishments, shall come upon them.
BEHOLD I MAKE MY WORDS IN YOUR MOUTH A FIRE — that is to say: I inspire in you oracles as efficacious as fire; because I bring it about that by your mouth, O Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar is more certainly foretold to come, who will generally consume the people like fire — the people whom, like wood given to fire, I will abandon and expose to the Chaldeans to be burned.
Verse 20
20. DECLARE (O Prophets) THIS TO THE HOUSE OF JACOB (that is, say these things to the two tribes; whence he explains, adding): AND PUBLISH IT IN JUDA — For Juda and the house of Jacob are the same. For he speaks to the two tribes, not to the other ten, since these had long since been carried away to Assyria.
Verse 21
21. HEAR, O FOOLISH PEOPLE, WHO HAVE NO HEART — Who have no sense, no mind, no understanding, no wisdom; who speak and act foolishly, imprudently, and stupidly. So Hosea 7 says: 'Ephraim is called a seduced dove without a heart'; and Proverbs 11: 'He who despises his friend is wanting in heart.'
Note: The heart is a symbol, and according to Galen, the seat of wisdom; whence the Poet says: 'The heart knows, the lung speaks, bile provokes wrath, / The spleen makes one laugh, the liver compels love.'
Verse 22
22. WILL YOU THEN NOT FEAR ME? SAYS THE LORD — for if I am your Lord, where is the fear due to Me? AND WILL YOU NOT GRIEVE BEFORE MY FACE? — will you not repent? The Chaldean translates, 'will you not tremble?'; the Septuagint, 'will you not be afraid?' God requires two things from sinners, namely fear and repentance.
I WHO SET THE SAND AS A BOUNDARY FOR THE SEA, that is — Will you not fear Me, who am so powerful that by sand, a thing small and weak, as by a wall, I restrain the entire sea and all its waves? AND THEY SHALL BE MOVED (the waves of the sea, as follows), AND SHALL NOT PREVAIL — they shall not overcome their boundary and shore, appointed by God, so as to pass over and leap beyond it.
Verse 23
23. BUT THIS PEOPLE HAS AN UNBELIEVING HEART — In Hebrew it is leb sorer umoreh, that is, a heart withdrawing and rebelling; because they defect from Me to idols, and thus provoke Me. The Septuagint: 'a heart not hearing, nor obeying,' meaning: The raging waves of the sea obey Me, and do not dare to transgress the shores and boundaries appointed for them by Me; but the Jews, though they are rational and wise human beings, rebel against Me — against Me, I say, who am equally powerful and generous toward them, even to the point of giving them regular and perennial rain, crops, and harvest. Whence follows:
Verse 24
24. WHO GIVES US THE EARLY RAIN (that is, the autumn rain at sowing time; AND THE LATE RAIN — that is, the spring rain at harvest. See what was said at chapter 3, verse 3. WHO PRESERVES FOR US THE FULLNESS OF THE YEARLY HARVEST — The Translator renders it clearly; for the Hebrew has it word for word thus: God, who by the appointed weeks preserves the harvest (namely the whole harvest) for us. Second, Aquila, Symmachus, and Vatablus translate: Who keeps for us the appointed weeks (by Himself and by nature) of the harvest, namely the seven weeks which are from Passover to Pentecost. For Pentecost was the feast of weeks, and at that time was the harvest season among the Jews; hence they then offered the loaves of the first fruits. This sense is very appropriate to this passage, and the Septuagint and Chaldean favor it.
Hence third, more fully, Maldonatus translates thus: God, who keeps for us the weeks of the commandments, that is, reserves for us clear and fair weather during the space of seven weeks, which He commanded us to count and observe from the offering of the first fruits at Passover until Pentecost, in order to win His providence, and thus to ripen the wheat harvest, and so that it may not be harmed by any storm.
Fourth, others translate: who by His established oaths preserves the harvest for us (for the Hebrew schabua means first, seven; second, a week; third, an oath — because anciently they swore by seven, as I said at Genesis 21:29 and Genesis 26:33), that is, who according to His promises and oaths, Genesis 8:22, Leviticus 26, preserves the harvest for us.
Verse 25
25. YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE TURNED AWAY THESE THINGS — have averted, namely the regular rain and harvest from you, as I said at chapter 3:3. So say St. Jerome and Theodoret.
Verse 27
27. AS A CAGE IS FULL OF BIRDS — He calls a cage the trap of fowlers, in which they place tame birds, so that by their appearance and song they may attract others to themselves, and thus those that enter the cage may be caught. Hence the cage is called a 'trap' (decipula) because it deceives (decipit) birds, meaning: Just as a fowler's cage is full of birds, both the decoys and the deceived, so the houses of the Jews are full of deceit, that is, of usury and fraud, and also of goods obtained through usury and fraud. So say St. Jerome and Theodoret, and it is clear from what follows.
Verse 28
28. THEY HAVE TRANSGRESSED MY WORDS MOST WICKEDLY — that is to say: They have violated My laws by their most wicked and criminal conduct. Our Translator read devarai, that is, 'my words'; now with different vowel points others read divre, and connect it with the following divre ra, that is, 'of malice.' Whence Maldonatus translates, 'they have surpassed words of malice,' that is, they have lived so wickedly that no words can express their depravity; Vatablus, Pagninus, and Kimchi translate, 'they have surpassed the deeds and acts of malice,' that is, of the worst of men.
Verse 30
30. ASTONISHMENT AND WONDERS (in Hebrew, astonishment and turpitude; the Septuagint, astonishment and horrible things; the Chaldean, amazement and foulness, that is, things astonishing and most foul) HAVE BEEN DONE IN THE LAND — namely in Judea: namely, the Prophets and Priests, who ought to have been guides to the people toward good, have become their guides toward evil.
Verse 31
31. And the priests clapped their hands. — So also the Septuagint and Theodoret; but Vatablus, Pagninus, Kimchi, and Isidore translate: the priests received gifts in their hands, or, through their hands, namely of the false prophets; because they became sharers in the things donated by the people and exacted by the false prophets. Third, others translate: and the priests exercised dominion
through their hands, because the false prophets made the people obedient to the priests in every iniquity. WHAT THEN SHALL BE DONE IN THE END THEREOF? — What will be the end, what the reward of such great crimes? Surely the fitting and just reward will be the utter calamity and destruction of the nation by the Chaldeans. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Hugo, Rabanus, and others.