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by heart, and binding up their fractures. *He has gathered out your substance. That is, he has made you carry away the wealth of others; for he despoiled the Egyptians. Dwelling among the chosen. That is, he has also made you to dwell in the fairest land. Behold, I trip up, so that your wound may be found. For since they did not regard them as men, nor did they think these good things were from God; but they said: In our strength we have horns; and the Lord will neither do good, nor will he do evil; for this reason he says, That your wound may be found. *Behold, I will harden the inhabitants of the land. That is, I will make them weak. Woe for your shattering .... Painful is your wound. Justly, when it is from wickedness, when from God, when according to wrath, when according to the plotting of men. He makes his speeches as from the city. And I said, thus this is a wound. For the other wounds were not bearable, but terrible. *And I said, Thus is my wound. The prophet says, lamenting for the evils of the Jews. Your tent has suffered; it is destroyed, and all my skins. *That is, it has fallen; and he speaks concerning Jerusalem. That is, The walls were not strong enough to surround me. That is, they have sealed perhaps they have rushed in. great are the terrible things. For they did not expect the things of the assault in this way. I know, Lord, that a man's way is not his own. He speaks concerning the Babylonian.

CHAPTER 11.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Hear the words of this covenant. Having shown the word of those who say to be vain, that God will not punish 64.865 them even when they sin, taking care for the 64.865 temple; and that they will have no benefit from circumcision when sinning against God. For this reason he threatens them, that you will suffer the ultimate punishment for not hearing the prophet's exhortation. *Cursed is the man who will not hear the word of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers, on the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace. The Hebrew says, from the furnace of iron. That he might say, that your fathers fell into such various evils, as iron being softened and beaten in a furnace. *How did he hear the Egyptians, perhaps? How, being both afflicted and slain by the Egyptians, did they hear? to show that it is possible to hear, when they wish. There was clay and brickmaking, and no one spoke against it; rest and manna, and they murmured. But it seemed to be nothing great to the more dull-witted. So that I may establish my oath, which I swore to your fathers to give. Thus also in the New he does, he rescued us from harsh slavery, and from unbearable and terrible tyranny, nor did he give a law to those who called him, nor to those who asked him. And again he promises to give the kingdom of heaven. Read these words, etc. and they did not do them. See human sympathy, wishing only that they be pitied, not considering what is just, but what is kindred. A father spares in one way, a stranger in another. A father often punishes, and is not swayed; but the stranger, seeing, is swayed. Is this one then more affectionate than we are? I pass over all those things from now on; let their ancestral evils be the greatest example to them. A conspiracy was found among the men of Judah. He speaks of the entanglement of evils because of sins. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers. What excuse? What is difficult? What is hard? it is hard to sin. They did not see the example of their ancestors. And do not you pray for this people. Because I will not listen. Have you seen the decision? and

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καρδίᾳ, καὶ δεσμεύων τὰ συντρίμματα αὐτῶν. *Συνήγαγεν ἔξω τὴν ὑπόστασίν σου. Τουτέστι τὸν ἀλλότριον σε πλοῦτον ἐπικομίσασθαι πεποίηκεν· ἐσκύλευσε γὰρ Αἰγυπτίους. Κατοικοῦσα ἐν ἐκλεκτοῖς. Τουτέστι, καὶ ἐν τῇ καλλίστῃ γῇ κατοικίσαι πεποίηκε. Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ σκελίζω, ὅπως εὑρεθῇ ἡ πληγή σου. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐχ ὡς ἀνθρώποις προσεῖχον αὐτοῖς, οὐδὲ παρὰ Θεοῦ οὗτοι ἐνόμιζον εἶναι τὰ ἀγαθά· ἀλλ' ἔλεγον· Ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ ἡμῶν ἔχομεν κέρατα· ὁ δὲ Κύριος οὐ μὴ ἀγαθοποιήσῃ, οὐδ' οὐ μὴ κακοποιήσῃ· διὰ τοῦτό φησιν, Ὅπως εὑρεθῇ ἡ πληγή σου. *Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ σκληρυνῶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν. Τουτέστιν ἀσθενεῖς ἐργάσομαι. Οὐαὶ ἐπὶ συντρίμματί σου .... Ἀλγηρὰ ἡ πληγή σου. ∆ικαίως ὅταν ἀπὸ κακίας ᾖ, ὅταν παρὰ Θεοῦ, ὅταν κατὰ ὀργὴν, ὅταν κατὰ ἐπιβουλὴν ἀνθρώπων. Ὡς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ποιεῖται τοὺς λόγους. Κἀγὼ εἶπα, οὕτως τοῦτο τραῦμά ἐστι. Τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα οὐκ ἦν τραύματα φορητὰ, ἀλλὰ δεινά. *Καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπον, Οὕτως τὸ τραῦμά μοί ἐστιν. Ὁ προφήτης λέγει, ὀδυρόμενος διὰ τὰ κακὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Ἡ σκηνή σου ἐταλαιπώρησεν· ὤλετο, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ δέῤῥεις μου. *Τουτέστιν, ἔπεσε· λέγει δὲ περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ. Τουτέστι, Τὰ τείχη οὐκ ἴσχυσάν με περιβαλεῖν. Τουτέστι, κατεσφράγισαν ἴσ. κατεισέφρησαν. μεγάλα τὰ δεινά. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτως προσεδόκησαν τὰ τῆς ἐφόδου. Οἶδα, Κύριε, ὅτι οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ. Περὶ τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου λέγει.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΑʹ.

Ὁ λόγος ὁ γενόμενος πρὸς τὸν Ἱερεμίαν παρὰ Κυρίου λέγων· Ἀκούσατε τοὺς λόγους τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης. ∆είξας μάταιον τὸν λόγον τῶν λεγόντων, ὡς οὐδὲ 64.865 ἁμαρτάνοντας αὐτοὺς κολάσει Θεὸς, προνοῶν τοῦ 64.865 ναοῦ· καὶ ὡς οὐδὲ ἐκ τῆς περιτομῆς ὄφελός τι ἕξουσιν ἁμαρτάνοντες εἰς Θεόν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀπειλεῖ αὐτοῖς, ὡς Τὴν ἐσχάτην ὑφέξεσθε τιμωρίαν μὴ ἀκούσαντες τῆς τοῦ προφήτου παραινέσεως. *Ἐπικατάρατος ἄνθρωπος, ὃς οὐκ ἀκούσει τὸν λόγον τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης, ἧς ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ᾗ ἀνήγαγον αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς. Ὁ Ἑβραῖος, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου σιδήρου, λέγει. Ἵνα εἴπῃ, ὅτι Οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν οὕτως κακοῖς διαφόροις ἐνέπεσον, ὡς ὁ σίδηρος ἐν καμίνῳ μαλαττόμενος καὶ τυπτόμενος. *Πῶς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἤκουσεν ἴσ. Πῶς ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενοι καὶ ἀναιρούμενοι ἤκουον; ἵνα δείξῃ ὅτι δυνατὸν ἀκούειν, ὅταν θέλωσι. Πηλὸς ἦν καὶ πλινθία, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀντέλεγεν· ἄνεσις καὶ μάννα, καὶ ἐγόγγυζον. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν μέγα ἐδόκει εἶναι τοῖς παχυτέροις. Ὅπως στήσω τὸν ὅρκον μου, ὃν ὤμοσα τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν τοῦ δοῦναι. Οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ Καινῇ ποιεῖ, ἐξείλετο ἡμᾶς δουλείας χαλεπῆς, καὶ τυραννίδος ἀφορήτου καὶ δεινῆς, οὐδὲ καλέσασιν αὐτὸν, οὐδὲ δεηθεῖσιν αὐτοῦ ἔδωκε νόμον. Καὶ πάλιν ὑπισχνεῖται δώσειν βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν. Ἀνάγνωθι τοὺς λόγους τούτους, κ. τ. λ. καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησαν. Ὅρα ἀνθρωπίνην συμπάθειαν, ἐλεηθῆναι μόνον βουλομένου αὐτοὺς, οὐχὶ τὸ δίκαιον σκοποῦντος, ἀλλὰ τὸ συγγενές. Ἑτέρως φείδεται πατὴρ, ἑτέρως ξένος. Πατὴρ πολλάκις κολάζει, καὶ οὐ κάμπτεται· ὁ δὲ ἀλλότριος ὁρῶν κάμπτεται. Ἆρα φιλοστοργότερος οὗτος παρ' ἡμῖν; Παρίημι πάντα ἐκεῖνα ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν· ἔστω παράδειγμα μέγιστον αὐτοῖς τὰ πάτρια κακά. Εὑρέθη σύνδεσμος ἐν ἀνδράσιν Ἰούδα. Τὴν πλοκὴν τῶν κακῶν τὴν διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα λέγει. Ἐπεστράφησαν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν τῶν προτέρων. Ποία συγγνώμη; Τί δύσκολον; Τί χαλεπόν; χαλεπὸν τὸ ἁμαρτεῖν. Οὐχ ἑώρων παράδειγμα τοὺς προγόνους. Καὶ σὺ μὴ προσεύχου περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου. Ὅτι οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι. Εἶδες ἀπόφασιν; καὶ