At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: Ver. 1. _At that time they shall bring out the bones._]... [ Continue Reading ]
And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the... [ Continue Reading ]
And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts. Ver. 3. _And death shall be chosen rather than life._] _Vae victis._ Alas O survivers, they being captives, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?_ Ver. 4. _Shall they fall, and not arise?_] Or, When men fall, will they not arise? Or, Will not one that hath turned aside return? To fall may befall any man; but shall he l... [ Continue Reading ]
Why [then] is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. Ver. 5. _Why then is this people of Jerusalem? &c._] Why else but because they are void of all true reason, and quite beside themselves in point of salvation? Their pertinac... [ Continue Reading ]
I hearkened and heard, [but] they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Ver. 6. _I hearkened and heard._] Or, I have listened to hear; but could not yet hear them lisp out one syllable... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD._ Ver. 7. _Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times._] These souls, though wanting reason, know w... [ Continue Reading ]
How do ye say, We [are] wise, and the law of the LORD [is] with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he [it]; the pen of the scribes [is] in vain. Ver. 8. _How do ye say, We are wise?_] If ye were so, ye would never say so. "Surely I am more brutish than any man," said holy Agur. Pro 30:2 This only I kno... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in them?_ Ver. 9. _The wise men are ashamed._] They have cause to be ashamed of their gross ignorance and folly, Jer 8:7-8 and greater cause than ever humble Augustine had to... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, [and] their fields to them that shall inherit [them]: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. Ver. 10. _Therefore will I give their wives._] For a pu... [ Continue Reading ]
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace. Ver. 11. _For they have healed._] See Jeremiah 6:14 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. Ver. 12. _Were they ashamed?_] See Jeremiah 6:15 .... [ Continue Reading ]
I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: [there shall be] no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and [the things that] I have given them shall pass away from them. Ver. 13. _I will surely consume them, saith the Lord._] _Texitur hic quasi tragoediae scena._ Con... [ Continue Reading ]
Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. Ver. 14. _Why do we sit still?_] Here the people speak (see on... [ Continue Reading ]
We looked for peace, but no good [came; and] for a time of health, and behold trouble! Ver. 15. _We looked for peace, but no good came._] Our false prophets have merely deluded us. So poor souls, when stung by the friars' sermons, were set to penances and good deeds, which stilled them for a while,... [ Continue Reading ]
The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. Ver. 16. _The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan._] See Jeremi... [ Continue Reading ]
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. Ver. 17. _Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices,_] _i.e., _ Chaldees, no less virulent than serpents, as violent as horses. _Serpentum tot sunt venena quot genera,... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 8:18 [When] I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart [is] faint in me. Ver. 18. _When I would comfort myself, &c._] Or, as some render it, O my comfort against sorrow, _i.e., _ O my God; others, My recreation is joined with sorrow.... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: [Is] not the LORD in Zion? [is] not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, [and] with strange vanities? Ver. 19. _Behold, the voice of the cry._] This was it... [ Continue Reading ]
_The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved._ Ver. 20. _The harvest is past, the summer is ended._] They had set God a time, and looked for help that summer at farthest; but the Lord, as he never faileth in his own time, so he seldom comes at ours. Let us think we hear our poor... [ Continue Reading ]
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Ver. 21. _For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt, I am black._] Or, I go in black, mourner like; for I am denigrated and contemned for bewailing my people's misery, who neither feel nor... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 8:22 [Is there] no balm in Gilead; [is there] no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Ver. 22. _Is there no balm in Gilead?_] Yes, surely, there or nowhere; in Gilead grew a balsam, good to make salves for all sores, they say. This balsam grew... [ Continue Reading ]