_The prayer, &c. This title is not in Hebrew, Septuagint, &c. Theodoret has passed over the chapter, as if he doubted of its authenticity. It does not follow the order of Hebrew letters like the preceding, and seems to be a form of prayer for those who retired into Egypt. (Calmet) --- Jeremias fores... [ Continue Reading ]
_Aliens. The Idumeans seized and kept possession of the southern parts._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Father. Many had none surviving, and all had lost their king. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Water. Even this was not given for nothing._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hand; engaged to serve Egyptians, Babylonians, (Calmet) or other nations, to procure sustenance. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Iniquities. This was the usual complaint of the Jews, (chap. xxxi. 29.) as if they had committed no offence themselves. If any virtuous people were involved in common ruin, they bore it with resignation, and acknowledged that they had deserved it, 1 Esdras ix. 6., and 2 Esdras i. 6., and Esther xiv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Servants. One had command over another, Matthew xxiv. 45. The Chaldeans were like slaves, and the race of Cham was condemned to servitude, Genesis ix. 26. (Calmet) --- The Jews had formerly dominion over Edom, &c., who now treated them so cruelly. (Menochius) (Lyranus)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sword. Any one might kill us._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Oppressed. Hebrew, "afflicted." Brutal insolence prevailed. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hand. Thus Leonidas was treated, after his head was cut off, by Xerxes. (Herodotus vii. 238.)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Indecently, like the Sodomites. Hebrew, "they made the young men grind" at the mill, in their prison, (Haydock) as Samson (Judges xvi. 21.) and Sedecias (according to the Septuagint, chap. lii. 11.) were forced to do. To grind is often used in a bad sense; but it is not necessary to adopt it here.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gates, where sentence was usually passed. (Haydock) --- The Jews had judges at Babylon, (Daniel xiii. 5.) but not at first, nor everywhere._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Crown, used at feasts; (Calmet) or, we have lost the sovereign power. (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Dim, the natural consequence of extreme want, 1 Kings xiv. 27._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Foxes, which were very common, Judges xv. 4. Thus, Horace says: Agros atque lares patrios, habitandaque fana_ Apris relinquet et edacibus lupis. (Epod. 16.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Convert. Thy grace must work upon our hearts, (Calmet) before we can expect redress, (Haydock) and an end of our banishment. (Tirinus) (Grotius) --- Beginning, when our fathers observed the law. (St. Thomas Aquinas) (Menochius) See chap. xxxi. 18.; St. Augustine, City of God ii., and iv. (Worthingt... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER V. _ Thou hast. We might read with an interrogation, (Haydock) in Hebrew, "Hast thou?" &c. The Jews superstitiously repeat the last verse, for fear of ending the book in an ominous manner, as they do at the end of Isaias and Malachias. (Calmet) --- Having treated us so severely, stop thy ha... [ Continue Reading ]