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a wind equally burns all. It is a characteristic of captives to bow to the ground, so as to show 93.669 the neck rather than the face. Or that of those who are turned away we see not the face, but the neck, which signifies God’s turning away. "For he will not perish." They plotted, saying: Jeremiah is a priest, and of necessity he knows the law, and being a prophet, he knows what will be; and being wise, he knows what is necessary. Come, therefore, it says, let us provoke him with words, and he will certainly tell us what will come to pass. "And the punishment." Saying other things with their tongue, they secretly contrived my destruction. CHAPTER 19. "His ears shall ring." That is, he shall be troubled. For a sound falling upon the ears creates a disturbance. "Polyandrion." A polyandrion is a tomb, and since it was perhaps in ruins, so was the ruin called, the tomb of the son of Hinnom. "And I will slay." Instead of, those who devised the evil plan. "In the surrounding area." When the enemies surrounded the city; that is, to besiege it. "As the place." They are accustomed to throw impurities in places that are falling into ruin. Thus, therefore, he says, I will cause the city to become, and the houses in which they practiced idolatry. "Topheth." Topheth is interpreted as ruin, from where the prophet came and foretold the same evils; and they hardened their neck, just like beasts of burden shaking their heads at the yoke. CHAPTER 20. "And Pashhur heard." This Pashhur was a priest, and the first of the false prophets. "Into the stocks." In a particular place of the temple. "With all his friends." Those who cooperate with you in false prophecy. "You have deceived me." Moreover, the change from worse to better he calls deceit [a good deceit]. But Aquila rendered it: You have charmed me, and I was charmed. What he says is this: You promised me, Lord, to defend me, and you leave me in such circumstances. And he says this, not blaming God, but just as Paul also says, For this I pleaded with the Lord three times. Or also thus: I was deceived, thinking they would become better through your prophecies, and they have not. "For with a bitter word of mine I will laugh at lawlessness." For there is a bitter laughter, uttered from distress of soul. And through this laughter, he says, I show that I suffer hardship from them. "I will speak no more." Because there is no one who obeys. "And it became like a fire." The zeal for God. "Rise up against him." Those plotting against the prophet said this: Watch all his 93.672 words, to see if they are consistent; so that if he is found contradicting himself in any way, they might destroy him as a liar. "For this reason they persecuted." Because God is with me, and because they do things worthy of dishonor. "The day on which my mother bore me." As one who disdains insubstantial and already past things, he utters words against things that cannot receive a curse; in order to show only the circumstance that has befallen him. "Cursed." They say that Julius in his own writings said that Hananiah the false prophet was himself the first to tell Hilkiah the father of Jeremiah that a male child was born to him. Rightly, therefore, he curses him as having become a cause of destruction for the people. But according to the spiritual sense, you should understand it thus: Scripture in many places calls the devil "man." Cursed, therefore, he says, be the devil, who said to our Father, God, "Behold, the man is male," that is, courageous; "grant that I may test him." "Let him hear a cry." As for the literal sense, quickly; but as for the spiritual sense, "May the devil be terrified," he says, "at the epiphany, and at the rising of the true sun, Jesus our Lord." "And a shout of alarm." As for the literal sense, "Furthermore," he says, "Hananiah, being called to account, will hear the voice of the enemies"; but as for the spiritual sense, "At midday the Lord is crucified; when also the devil was completely defeated; for a shout of alarm is a cry over fallen enemies." "Because he did not kill me." Hananiah was not able to do this; so it is more just to see it allegorically. He says, therefore, that he did not check the impulse of the will, before it received its turn toward evil, revealing to me the wickedness of sin, and not with justifications and concealment

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ἄνεμος ἐπίσης ἅπαντας καταφλέγει. Ἴδιον τῶν δορυαλώτων τὸ κύπτειν εἰς γῆν, ὡς 93.669 αὐχένα δεικνύναι μᾶλλον ἢ πρόσωπον. Ἢ ὅτι τῶν ἀπεστραμμένων οὐ τὸ πρόσωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸν αὐχένα ὁρῶμεν, ὅπερ τοῦ Θεοῦ δηλοῖ τὴν ἀποστροφήν. "Ὅτι οὐκ ἀπολεῖται." Ἐβουλεύσαντο λέγοντες· Ὁ Ἱερεμίας ἱερεύς ἐστι, καὶ ἀναγκαίως οἶδε τὸν νόμον, καὶ προφήτης ὢν, οἶδε τὸ ἐσόμενον· καὶ συνετὸς ὢν οἶδε τὸ δέον. ∆εῦτε οὖν, φησὶν, ἐρεθίσωμεν αὐτὸν λόγοις, καὶ πάντως ἐρεῖ ἡμῖν τὰ ἐκβησόμενα. "Καὶ τὴν κόλασιν." Ἄλλα διὰ γλώττης προφέροντες, τὴν κατ' ἐμοῦ ἀπώλειαν κρυπτῶς ἐμηχανῶντο. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΘʹ. "Ἠχήσει τὰ ὦτα αὐτοῦ." Τουτέστι θορυβηθήσεται. Ἦχος γὰρ ἐμπίπτων ἀκοαῖς θόρυβον ἐμποιεῖ. "Πολυάνδριον." Πολυάνδριον τάφος, καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἴσως κατεῤῥυηκὼς ἦν, οὕτως ἐκαλεῖτο ἡ διάπτωσις, ὁ τάφος υἱοῦ Ἐννόμ. "Καὶ σφάξω." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, τοὺς βουλευσαμένους τὴν κακὴν βουλήν. "Ἐν τῇ περιοχῇ." Ἐν τῷ περισχεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους τὴν πόλιν· τουτέστι, πολιορκῆσαι. "Καθὼς ὁ τόπος." Ἐν τοῖς διαπίπτουσι τόποις τὰς ἀκαθαρσίας ῥίπτειν πεφύκασιν. Οὕτως οὖν, φησὶ, παρασκευάσω γενέσθαι τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὰς οἰκίας, ἐν αἷς εἰδωλολάτρουν. "Ταφέθ." Τὸ Ταφὲθ, διάπτωσις ἑρμηνεύεται, ὅθεν ἐλθὼν ὁ προφήτης τὰ αὐτὰ προλέγει κακά· ἐσκλήρυναν δὲ τὸν τράχηλον, καθάπερ τὰ ὑποζύγια ἀνανεύοντα πρὸς ζυγόν. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Κʹ. "Καὶ ἤκουσε Πασχώρ." Πασχὼρ, ἱερεὺς ἦν οὗτος, καὶ πρῶτος τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν. "Εἰς τὸν κατάῤῥακ." Ἐν ἰδιάζοντι τόπῳ τοῦ ναοῦ. "Σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς φίλοις." Τοῖς συμπράττουσί σοι ἐν τῷ ψευδοπροφητεύειν. "Ἠπάτησάς με." Ἔτι μὲν ἀπάτην καλεῖ [ἀπάτη καλὴ] ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ χείρονος ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολή. Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας· Ἔθελξάς με, καὶ ἐθέλχθην, ἐξέδωκεν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ὑπέσχου μοι, Κύριε, ὑπερασπίζειν μου, καὶ ἐᾷς με ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις περιστάσεσιν. Φησὶ δὲ τοῦτο, οὐ Θεὸν αἰτιούμενος, ἀλλ' ὅπερ καὶ Παῦλός φησιν, Ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν Κύριον παρεκάλεσα. Ἢ καὶ οὕτως· Ἠπατήθην, νομίζων αὐτοὺς βελτίους γενέσθαι διὰ τῶν προῤῥήσεων τῶν σῶν, καὶ οὐ γεγόνασι. "Ὅτι πικρῷ λόγῳ μου γελάσομαι ἀθεσίαν." Ἔστι γὰρ γέλως πικρὸς, ὑπὸ συνοχῆς ψυχῆς ἐκφερόμενος. Καὶ διὰ τοῦ γέλωτος τούτου, φησὶν, ὑποδείκνυμι, ὅτι ταλαιπωρῶ ὑπ' αὐτῶν. "Οὐ μὴ λαλήσω ἔτι." ∆ιὰ τὸ μηδένα εἶναι τὸν πειθόμενον. "Καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς πῦρ." Ὁ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Θεοῦ ζῆλος. "Ἐπισυστῆτε." Ταῦτα ἔλεγον οἱ ἐπιβουλεύοντες τῷ προφήτῃ, ὅτι Τηρήσατε αὐτοῦ πάντας τοὺς λό 93.672 γους, εἰ σύμφωνοί εἰσιν· ἵνα ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ κατά τι αὐτῷ ἐναντιούμενος, ἀνέλωσι αὐτὸν ὡς ψεύστην. "∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐδίωξαν." Ὅτι Θεὸς μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐστι, καὶ ὅτι ἀτιμίας ἄξια πράττουσιν. "Ἡ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ ἔτεκέ με ἡ μήτηρ μου." Ὡς ὀλιγωρῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀνυπόστατα καὶ ἤδη παρῳχηκότα, τὰ μὴ δυνάμενα κατάραν δέξασθαι ἐκφέρει τοὺς λόγους· ἵνα δείξῃ μόνον τὴν συμβᾶσαν αὐτῷ περίστασιν. "Ἐπικατάρατος." Φασὶν τὸν Ἰοῦλον ἐν οἰκείοις συγγράμμασιν εἰρηκέναι, ὡς Ἀνανίας ὁ ψευδοπροφήτης αὐτὸς πρῶτος εἶπε τῷ Χελκίᾳ τῷ πατρὶ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου, ὅτι ἐτέχθη αὐτῷ παιδίον ἄῤῥεν. Ἐνδίκως οὖν αὐτῷ καταρᾶται ὡς αἴτιον τῷ λαῷ γενόμενον ἀπωλείας. Πρὸς διάνοιαν δὲ οὕτω νοήσῃς· Ἄνθρωπον ἡ Γραφὴ πολλαχοῦ τὸν διάβολον καλεῖ. Ἐπικατάρατος οὖν, φησὶν, ἔστω ὁ διάβολος, ὃς εἴρηκεν τῷ Πατρὶ ἡμῶν τῷ Θεῷ, Ἰδοὺ ἄρσεν ἐστὶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τουτέστιν ἀνδρεῖος· δὸς ἵνα πειράσω αὐτόν. "Ἀκουσάτω κραῦγος." Πρὸς μὲν τὸ ῥητὸν, ταχύ· πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, Πτοηθείη, φησὶν, ὁ διάβολος ἐν τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ἡλίου Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν. "Καὶ ἀλαλαγμοῦ." Πρὸς μὲν τὸ ῥητὸν, Ἔτι, φησὶν, εὐθυνούμενος ὁ Ἀνανίας ἀκούσει τῆς φωνῆς τῶν πολεμίων· πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, Ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ σταυροῦται ὁ Κύριος· ὅτε καὶ τελείως ἡττήθη ὁ διάβολος· ἀλαλαγμὸς γὰρ, βοὴ κατὰ πεπτωκότων πολεμίων. "Ὅτι οὐκ ἀπέκτεινέ με." Τοῦτο ποιεῖν Ἀνανίας οὐκ ἠδύνατο· ὡς δικαιότερον εἰς θεωρίαν ἰδεῖν. Φησὶν οὖν, ὅτι Οὐκ ἀνέκοψε τὴν ὁρμὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως, πρὶν τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ φαῦλον δέξασθαι τροπὴν, φανερώσας μοι τὴν κακίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ μὴ μετὰ δικαιωμάτων καὶ ἐπικρύψεως