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Jeremias xvii.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 1. The.
Grabe (de Vit. p. 8.) observes that the four first verses were omitted in the Septuagint by some careless transcriber, long
before the days of Origen, who restored them from the Hebrew and the other Greek versions. On such occasions his work was
very useful; but the marks being soon neglected, great confusion ensued. (St. Jerome) (Kennicott, Dis. ii.) --- Grabe has
restored these verses in his edition. (Haydock) --- Eusebius (Dem. x.) and Theodoret acknowledged them; and Nobilius found
the first verse thus expressed in many copies, (Calmet) as it is in Grabe: "The sin of Juda is expressed in writing with a
finger nail of adamant, cleaving to the breast of," &c. (Haydock) --- Altars, to appear more conspicuously
to the latest times. This excited God's indignation. (Calmet) --- These figurative expressions shew the inveterate malice
of the people. (Worthington)
Ver. 3. Sin
of idolatry, chap. xv. 13.
Ver. 4. Be
left. Protestants, "discontinue from thine," &c. (Haydock) --- The land shall have its sabbaths, which thou wouldst
not allow. (Chaldean) (Exodus xxii. 11., and Leviticus xxvi. 34.)
Ver. 5. Thus.
Septuagint continue from the last chapter, "cursed," &c. (Haydock) --- Sedecias had formed alliances with several princes,
instead of turning to the Lord, chap. xxvii., and xxxvii. (Calmet) --- Our chief dependence must be on God, not on human policy.
(Worthington)
Ver. 6. Tamaric.
A barren shrub, that grows in the driest parts of the wilderness. (Challoner) --- Harhar denotes some sort (Haydock)
of "useless wood." (Symmachus) See chap. xlviii. 6., and Isaias xvii. 2. --- Salt, like the environs of Sodom, the
fruits of which were bad.
Ver. 8. Fruit.
See Psalm i. 3. (Pindar, Nem. viii.) How different from the wicked! (Calmet)
Ver. 9. Perverse.
Septuagint, "deep." --- Unsearchable. Septuagint, "man, who shall know him?" (Haydock) --- God alone can search the
heart by his own power. He enables saints to do it by the light of glory, or of prophecy; as Eliseus and St. Peter knew secret
transactions. (Worthington)
Ver. 11. Partridge.
Hebrew kore, (Haydock) may mean the "coucou." The kra lays many eggs, all of which she does not hatch.
(Calmet) --- Protestants, "As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not," &c. (Haydock)
--- It is rare that all produce birds; so the unjust do not succeed (Calmet) in the end. (Haydock)
Ver. 12. Throne.
The temple. We may also read "O high," &c., chap. xiv. 21.
Ver. 13. Earth,
where alone their portion shall be, (Apocalypse iii. 5,) or they shall be forgotten. It is a proverbial expression, like that
of Catullus:
Dixit: sed mulier cupido quod dixit amanti
In vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua.
--- Living, which never fail, unlike those of the wicked, chap.
ii. 13.
Ver. 15. Come.
We have several instances of such impious sarcasms, Isaias xxviii. 10., and xxxiv. 13., Amos ii. 12., and Micheas ii. 6. (Calmet)
--- We fear not the Chaldeans. (Menochius)
Ver. 16. Troubled.
Hebrew, "in haste to be a pastor after thee." Chaldean, "I delay not, at thy command, to announce thy truths to them," chap.
i. 6. Jeremias was aware of the dangers attending his office, yet not dismayed. --- Day: approbation, (1 Corinthians
iv. 3.) or advantages of the world. (Calmet) --- Of man. Hebrew also "of the wretched:" anush. I wished rather
for the people's welfare, (Haydock) and sought not their ruin. (Chaldean) (Theodoret)
Ver. 18. Let
them be confounded, &c. Such expressions as these in the writings of the prophets, are not to be understood as imprecations
proceeding from malice or desire of revenge, but as prophetic predictions of evils that were about to fall upon impenitent
sinners, and approbations of the ways of the divine justice. (Challoner) --- The prophet has already prevented this objection,
ver. 16. (Haydock)
Ver. 19. Gate
of the palace, or that by which the kings entered the temple, on the west. The time when this admonition was given is not
ascertained.
Ver. 21. Souls.
Those who broke the sabbath were to die, Exodus xxx. 15., and Numbers xv. 32. --- Burdens, or servile work. (Calmet)
--- The Jews trifle in deciding what is a burden. (Origen, prin. iv. 2.) --- Sabbath often denotes the observance of the whole
law. (Worthington)
Ver. 25. David.
I will observe my covenant, 2 Kings vii. 12. --- Horses: in prosperity, (Menochius) provided this law, as well as all
the rest, be observed. (Haydock) --- Such temporal rewards were commonly proposed under the law, as spiritual ones are now.
(Worthington)
Ver. 26. Sacrifices.
Hebrew mincha, (Haydock) "offerings" of flour, wine, &c. (Calmet)
Ver. 27. Fire,
by means of Nabuzardan. (Menochius) --- The city shall be entirely destroyed. (Calmet)
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Bible Text & Cross-references:
For their obstinacy in sin the Jews shall be led captive.
He is cursed that trusteth in flesh: God alone searcheth the heart, giving to every one as he deserves. The prophet prayeth
to be delivered from his enemies: and preacheth up the observance of the sabbath.
1 The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a
diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of their altars.
2 When their children shall remember their altars, and their groves,
and their green trees upon high mountains,
3 Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy treasures
to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders.
4 And thou shalt be left stript of thy inheritance, which I gave thee:
and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it
shall burn for ever.
5 Thus saith the Lord: *Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
6 *For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when
good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert, in a salt land, and not inhabited.
7 Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be
his confidence.
8 *And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth
out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the
time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit.
9 The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know
it?
10 I am the Lord *who search the heart, and prove the reins: who
give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices.
11 As the partridge hath hatched eggs which she did not
lay: so is he that hath gathered riches, and not by right: in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and in his
latter end he shall be a fool.
12 A high and glorious throne from the beginning is the place
of our sanctification:
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee, shall be confounded:
they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved:
for thou art my praise.
15 Behold, they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it come.
16 And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have not
desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my lips, hath been right in thy sight.
17 Be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of affliction.
18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded:
let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy
them.
19 Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children
of the people, by which the kings of Juda come in, and go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem:
20 And thou shalt say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings of
Juda, and all Juda, and all the inhabitant of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates.
21 Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to your souls, and carry no burdens
on the sabbath-day: and bring them not in by the gates of Jerusalem.
22 And do not bring burdens out of your houses on the sabbath-day, neither
do ye any work: sanctify the sabbath-day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they did not hear, nor inclined their ear: but hardened their
neck, that they might not hear me, and might not receive instruction.
24 And it shall come to pass: if you will hearken to me, saith the Lord,
to bring in no burdens by the gates of this city on the sabbath-day: and if you will sanctify the sabbath-day, to do no work
therein:
25 Then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes,
sitting upon the throne of David, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.
26 And they shall come from the cities of Juda, and from the places round
about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing
holocausts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense, and they shall bring in an offering into the house of the Lord.
27 But if you will not hearken to me, to sanctify the sabbath-day, and
not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath-day: I will kindle a fire in the gates
thereof, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
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*
5: Isaias xxx. 2. and xxxi. 1.; Jeremias xlviii. 7.
6: Jeremias xlviii. 6.
8: Psalm i. 3.
10: 1 Kings xvi. 7.; Psalm vii. 10.; Apocalypse ii. 23.
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