Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretation on Jeremiah

with enclosures, not of iron; for I will give all your wealth to your enemies, and this will be the recompense for your sins. And to these things he adds also the captivity that has happened. Having foretold these things, the prophet endures danger from those not tolerating to hear, who tried to kill him, and he calls upon the God of all, and says: 15. Remember me, Lord, and visit me, and acquit me from those who persecute me. Instead of: Do not hand me over to those who persecute me; for the innocent one is set free. "In your long-suffering, do not take me away." Some have "cast me away"; that is, by acting with forbearance, and by delaying to punish the unjust, you grieve us who are treated unjustly. "Know that for your sake I have received reproach." 81.600 16. By those who reject your words. For your sake, O Master, I have fallen into these present painful things; for in conveying your words I became an enemy. "Consume them, and your word shall be to me for gladness, and for the joy of my heart, because your name has been called upon me." Since they think I foretell false things, and they attend to the promises of the false prophets as true, confirm my words with deeds, and in this way comfort me. Then he says that he shared with them neither table nor laughter, but he preferred the fear of God above all; and because of their wickedness, and because of the punishment, he remained in sorrow; but immediately the Master comforts him, and says: 19. If you turn, then I will restore you, you will stand before my face; and if you bring out the precious from the worthless, you will be as my mouth. No small reward from me, he says, has been kept for you for undertaking this labor; for if you turn back any of those who are wandering, you will partake of great boldness with me. For this is what "you will stand before my face" signifies. And if you change any of the unholy, and persuade them to choose what is better, you will be likened to my mouth; for I by word made the things that are, and you by word will change the workers of wickedness to virtue. And he promised him again the unassailable and the unconquerable, and reminded him of the promises made from the beginning. CHAPTER 16. And he commands him not to marry, nor to beget children, since both those who bear and those who are born will be given over to famine and plague, and to slaughter, and to slavery. And he exhorts him neither to rejoice with those who rejoice, nor to grieve with those who grieve. "For I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, and my mercy, and my compassions." 6. And great and small shall die in this land. And he says that they will not even be deemed worthy of burial, nor will there be lamentations for them as is customary, nor will the mourners be deemed worthy of any comfort; and he threatens the city with deprivation of every kind of gladness, so that no voice may be brought forth, not of weddings, not of banquets, not of the other things, that provide a pleasant life to men. And when those people ask, he says, and say: For what reason have we fallen into these evils? remind them of their ancestral impiety, and teach them what they have dared to do, and that they have sinned more grievously than their fathers, not living according to my law, but following their own reasonings. For which reason: 81.601 13. I will cast you out from this land into a land which you have not known, you and your fathers, and you shall serve other gods there day and night, who will not give you mercy. Since you love gods that do not exist, I will cast you out from your ancestral land, and I will hand you over to your enemies, so that with them you may serve error. However, he also promises the return; and says that at that time no longer the former good deeds

περιβο λαίοις, μὴ σιδηροῖς· πάντα γὰρ ὑμῶν τὸν πλοῦτον παραδώσω τοῖς πολεμίοις, καὶ ἔσται τοῦτο τῶν σῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀντίδοσις. Προστίθησι δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὴν γεγενημένην αἰχμαλωσίαν. Ταῦτα προειπὼν ὁ προφήτης, κίνδυνον ὑπομένει τῶν ἀκούειν οὐκ ἀνεχο μένων, ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν πειραθέντων, καὶ παρακαλεῖ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, καί φησι· ιεʹ. Μνήσθητί μου, Κύριε, καὶ ἐπίσκεψαί με, καὶ ἀθώωσόν με ἀπὸ τῶν καταδιωκόντων με. Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Μὴ παραδῷς με τοῖς καταδιώκουσί με· ὁ γὰρ ἀθῶος ἐλευθεροῦται. "Μὴ εἰς μακροθυμίαν σου λάβῃς με." Ἔνια "βάλῃς με" ἔχει· τουτέστιν, ἀνεξι κάκως χρώμενος, καὶ κολάζειν τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἀναβαλλόμενος, τοὺς ἀδικουμένους ἡμᾶς ἀνιᾷς. "Γνῶθι, εἰ ἔλαβον περὶ σοῦ ὀνειδισμόν." 81.600 ιϛʹ. Ὑπὸ τῶν ἀθετούντων τοὺς λόγους σου. Σοῦ χάριν, ὦ ∆έσποτα, τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀλγεινοῖς περι πέπτωκα· τοὺς σοὺς γὰρ λόγους διαπορθμεύων δυσμενὴς ἐγενόμην. "Συντέλεσον αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἔσται ὁ λόγος σου ἐμοὶ εἰς εὐφροσύνην, καὶ εἰς χαρὰν καρδίας μου, ὅτι ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐπ' ἐμέ." Ἐπειδὴ νομίζουσι ψευδῆ με προλέγειν, ταῖς δὲ τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν ὑποσχέσεσιν ὡς ἀληθέσι προσέχουσι, τοὺς λόγους μου τοῖς ἔργοις βεβαίωσον, καὶ ταύτῃ με ψυχαγώγησον. Εἶτα λέγει, ὡς οὔτε τραπέζης αὐτοῖς, οὔτε γέλωτος ἐκοινώνησεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θεῖον πάντων προετίμησε δέος· καὶ διὰ τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν, καὶ διὰ τὴν τιμωρίαν, ἀνιώμενος διετέλεσεν· ἀλλ' εὐθὺς αὐτὸν ὁ ∆εσπότης ψυχαγωγεῖ, καί φησι· ιθʹ. Ἐὰν ἀποστρέψῃς, καὶ ἀποκαταστήσω σε, πρὸ προσώπου μου στήσῃ· καὶ ἐὰν ἐξαγάγῃς τίμιον ἀπὸ ἀναξίου, ὡς στόμα μου ἔσῃ. Οὐ μικρός σοι, φησὶ, παρ' ἐμοῦ πεφύλακται μισθὸς τοῦτον ἀναδεξαμένῳ τὸν πόνον· ἐὰν γάρ τινα τῶν πλανωμένων ἐπιστρέψῃς, πολλῆς παρ' ἐμοὶ παῤῥη σίας μεθέξεις. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ "πρὸ προσώπου μου στήσῃ." Κἄν τινα τῶν ἀνοσίων μεταβάλῃ, καὶ πείσῃς ἑλέσθαι τὰ ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον, τῷ στόματί μου ἀπεικασθήσῃ· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ λόγῳ τὰ μὲν ὄντα ἐποίησα, καὶ σὺ λόγῳ τοὺς τῆς κακίας ἐργάτας μετα βάλῃς εἰς ἀρετήν. Ὑπέσχετο δὲ αὐτῷ πάλιν τὸ ἄμαχον καὶ ἀήττητον, καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς γεγενημένων ἀνέμνησεν ὑποσχέσεων. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ιςʹ. Παρεγγυᾷ δὲ αὐτῷ, μὴ γῆμαι, μηδὲ παιδοποιῆ σαι, ὡς καὶ τῶν τικτόντων, καὶ τῶν τικτομένων, λιμῷ καὶ λοιμῷ, καὶ σφαγῇ, καὶ δουλείᾳ παραδοθη σομένων. Παρακελεύεται δὲ μήτε εὐφραινομένοις συνευφραίνεσθαι, μήτε ἀλγοῦσι συναλγῆσαι. "Ἀφέστακα γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν εἰρήνην μου ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, φησὶ Κύριος, καὶ τὸν ἔλεόν μου, καὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμούς μου." ϛʹ. Καὶ ἀποθανοῦνται μεγάλοι καὶ μικροὶ ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ. Λέγει δὲ ὡς οὐδὲ ταφῆς ἀξιωθήσονται, οὐδὲ θρῆνοι ἐπ' αὐτοῖς συνήθως γενήσονται, οὐδὲ ψυχαγωγίας τινὸς οἱ πενθοῦντες ἀξιωθήσονται· καὶ ἀπειλεῖ παντὸς εἴδους εὐφροσύνης ἀποστέρησιν τῇ πόλει, ὡς μηδεμίαν ἐπενεχθῆναι φωνὴν, μὴ γάμων, μὴ συμποσίων, μὴ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα θυμήρη τοῖς ἀν θρώποις παρέχει ζωήν. Πυνθανομένων δὲ, φησὶν, ἐκείνων, καὶ λεγόντων· ∆ιὰ ποίαν αἰτίαν τούτοις περιπεπτώκαμεν τοῖς κακοῖς; καὶ τῆς πατρῴας αὐ τοὺς ἀνάμνησον ἀσεβείας, καὶ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν τολ μώμενα δίδαξον, καὶ ὅτι χαλεπώτερα τῶν πατέρων ἐξήμαρτον, οὐ κατὰ τὸν ἐμὸν πολιτευόμενοι νόμον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς οἰκείοις ἑπόμενοι λογισμοῖς. Οὗ δὴ χάριν· 81.601 ιγʹ. Ἀποῤῥίψω ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ταύτης εἰς γῆν, ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειτε ὑμεῖς, καὶ οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ δουλεύσετε ἐκεῖ θεοῖς ἑτέροις ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς, οἳ οὐ δώσουσιν ὑμῖν ἔλεος. Ἐπειδὴ τοὺς οὐκ ὄντας φιλεῖτε θεοὺς, τῆς πατρῴας ὑμᾶς ἐκβαλῶ γῆς, καὶ παραδώσω τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἵνα σὺν ἐκείνοις τῇ πλάνῃ δουλεύητε. Ὑπισχνεῖται μέντοι καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον· καὶ λέγει, ὡς κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν οὐκέτι τὰς προτέρας εὐεργεσίας