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a thought, that the law does not depart from a priest, nor counsel from a wise man, nor a word from a prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and we will not listen to all his words. What he says is this: They said, he says, among themselves, that it is not possible for a prophet's word to fail, just as a priest's oracle does not; for by law he means the word spoken through the ephod. Therefore, he says, so that he may not stand for our reproof, and reprove our transgressions, and speak of calamities, let us plot against him and destroy him. But the phrase, "Let us strike him with the tongue," means, let us find a sin in him, either against God or against the king, so that we may thus plausibly cast our vote against him. See how they believed what was said. O the folly! Will not He who gave such power to the prophet, who was also a priest, much more spare him? You cut down the physician, the teacher, the guide; you extinguish the light, so that you may not see how he reproaches? And we will hear the words from his mouth. This is what he says: Let us cut off his voice, and let us tear out his tongue; let us stop the reproof, let us silence the accuser. For what does Jeremiah cry with his tongue? Is it not the deeds that you do not wish to hear? Cease from doing such things, for which the prophet accuses you, but now they do these things; just as if someone who is sick would not be angry with himself, that he has a fever due to indolence, but would persecute and turn away from those who reprove him and say how the evil might be stopped. If evil is repaid for good. Great is the wickedness, and exceeding the brutality, and the ultimate limit of evil. For if we are commanded not to repay 64.924 evil for evil, but also good for evil. If he who has suffered no good is unjust in doing wrong, where will he be ranked who is such after a kindness? The wickedness of these men, he says, has no nature; their evil deeds surpass all reason. Because they spoke words against my soul, and hid their punishment for me. That is, having hidden the punishment, they approached as friends. But some said that they cast a woman upon him; but this is stale; for the prophet would not have been silent about it. Remember, Lord. And yet what greater kindness could there be than this, that God, having been made an enemy, was willing to reconcile them? But they were not willing. For this reason, give their sons. Then he prays some harsh curses against them; for such men should have been done away with, though he was often plotted against he did not desist, and nothing more was gained. Let the women become. He prays for the complete destruction of some, so that by persisting they may not harm the rest; and he asks that a cry be made, so that the calamity may be manifest.

CHAPTER 19. *

Then the Lord said to me: Go, and get a potter's earthen flask. That is, a pitcher. And you shall go out to the burial place of the sons of their dead, which is at the entrance of the gate of Charsid. By the burial place of the dead he means the place where the Assyrian was destroyed, and many of the Jews were slain by the Chaldean. Therefore, to remind them of the place, and of the former kindness, and of God's turning away after these things, he commanded him to say on that spot what the prophet was about to say. He rightly sends him to the place of their sins, where they burned incense, he says, to Baal, and burned their sons with fire. *And the kings of Judah have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and they built the high places for Baal. By high places, according to the custom of the divine Scripture, he means the altars. And Baal here is the idol itself. *To burn their sons in the fire, as whole burnt offerings to Baal. Another kind of impiety

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λογισμὸν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπολείπεται νόμος ἀπὸ ἱερέως, καὶ βουλὴ ἀπὸ συνετοῦ, καὶ λόγος ἀπὸ προφήτου. ∆εῦτε, καὶ πατάξωμεν αὐτὸν ἐν γλώσσῃ, καὶ οὐκ ἀκουσόμεθα πάντας τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ. Ὃ λέγει τοῦτό ἐστιν· Εἶπον, φησὶ, παρ' ἑαυτοῖς, ὅτι Οὐκ ἐνδέχεται προφήτου λόγον διαμαρτεῖν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἱερέως χρησμόν· νόμον γὰρ λέγει τὸν διὰ τοῦ ἐφοὺδ λόγον λεγόμενον· ἵνα τοίνυν, φησὶ, μὴ εἰς ἔλεγχον ἡμῶν καθιστάμενος ἐλέγχῃ τὰς παρανομίας, καὶ λέγῃ τὰς συμφορὰς, σκευωρησάμενοι αὐτὸν ἀνέλωμεν. Τὸ δὲ, Πατάξωμεν αὐτὸν ἐν γλώσσῃ, τουτέστιν, εὕρωμεν αὐτῷ ἁμαρτίαν, ἢ εἰς Θεὸν, ἢ εἰς βασιλέα, ἵνα οὕτως εὐπροσώπως τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐνέγκωμεν ψῆφον. Ὅρα, πῶς ἐπίστευον τοῖς λεγομένοις. Ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας! Ὁ τοσαύτην δοὺς ἰσχὺν τῷ προφήτῃ, καὶ ἱερεῖ ὄντι, οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον αὐτοῦ φείσεται; συγκόπτεις τὸν ἰατρὸν, τὸν διδάσκαλον, τὸν ὁδηγόν· σβεννύεις τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ βλέπῃς, πῶς λοιδορεῖ; Καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα τῶν λόγων ἐκ στόματος αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτό φησιν· Ἐκκόψωμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν φωνὴν, καὶ ἐξέλωμεν τὴν γλῶτταν· τὸν ἔλεγχον στήσωμεν, παύσωμεν τὸν κατήγορον. Τί γὰρ Ἱερεμίας γλώσσῃ βοᾷ; Οὐχὶ τὰ πράγματα βούλεσθε μὴ ἀκούειν; Παύσασθε τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιοῦντες, ἐφ' οἷς ὑμῶν κατηγορεῖ ὁ προφήτης, νῦν δὲ ταῦτα ποιοῦσιν· ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις κάμνων πρὸς ἑαυτὸν μὲν μὴ ὀργίζοιτο, ὅτι πυρέττοι διὰ ῥᾳθυμίας, τοὺς δὲ ἐλέγχοντας καὶ λέγοντας, ὅπως στήσεται τὸ κακὸν, διώκοι καὶ ἀποστρέφοιτο. Εἰ ἀνταποδίδοται ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν κακά. Πολλὴ ἡ κακία, καὶ ἡ θηριωδία ὑπερβάλλουσα, καὶ ἔσχατος πονηρίας ὅρος. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ ἀνταποδι 64.924 δόναι κακὰ ἀντὶ κακῶν προστετάγμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγαθὰ ἀντὶ κακῶν. Εἰ ὁ μηδὲν παθὼν ἀγαθὸν, ἀδικῶν ἄδικος· ὁ μετ' εὐεργεσίας τοιοῦτος ὢν, ποῦ τετάξεται; Οὐκ ἔχει φύσιν ἡ κακία, φησὶν, ἡ τούτων, πάντα λόγον ὑπερβαίνει τὰ τῆς πονηρίας αὐτῶν. Ὅτι συνελάλησαν ῥήματα κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς μου, καὶ τὴν κόλασιν αὐτῶν ἔκρυψάν μοι. Τουτέστι, τὴν τιμωρίαν ἀποκρυψάμενοι ὡς φίλοι προσῄεσαν. Τινὲς δὲ ἔφασαν, ὡς γυναῖκα αὐτῷ ἐπέῤῥιψαν· ἕωλον δέ· οὐ γὰρ ἂν αὐτὸ ἐσιώπησεν ὁ προφήτης. Μνήσθητι, Κύριε. Καίτοι ταύτης μεῖζον τί γένοιτ' ἂν τῆς εὐεργεσίας, ἢ τὸν Θεὸν ἐκπεπολεμωμένον ἐθελῆσαι καταλλάξαι αὐτούς; ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠθέλησαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν. Εἶτα κατεύχεται αὐτῶν ἀράς τινας χαλεπάς· τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους κἂν ἀναιρεθῆναι ἐχρῆν, πολλάκις ἐπιβουλευθεὶς οὐκ ἀπέστη, καὶ οὐδὲν πλέον ἐγένετο. Γενέσθωσαν αἱ γυναῖκες. Παντελῆ ἀναίρεσιν ἐνίων κατεύχεται, ἵνα μὴ ἐπιμένοντες, τοὺς λοιποὺς βλάπτωσι· καὶ κραυγὴν ἀξιοῖ γενέσθαι, ὥστε διάδηλον εἶναι τὴν συμφοράν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΘʹ. *

Τότε εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· Βάδισαι, καὶ κτῆσαι βίκον ὀστράκινον πεπλασμένον. Τουτέστι ξέστην. Καὶ ἐξελεύσῃ εἰς τὸ πολυάνδριον υἱῶν τῶν τεθνηκότων αὐτῶν, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῶν θυρῶν τῆς πύλης τῆς Χαρσίδις. Πολυάνδριον τεθνηκότων λέγει τὸν τόπον ἔνθα ὁ Ἀσσύριος ἀνῃρέθη, καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὑπὸ τοῦ Χαλδαίου πολλοὶ διεφθάρησαν. Ὡς οὖν τόπου ὑπομνῆσαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ τῆς προτέρας εὐεργεσίας, καὶ τῆς μετὰ ταῦτα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποστροφῆς, ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου προσέταξεν εἰπεῖν, ἅπερ ἔμελλε λέγειν ὁ προφήτης. Καλῶς αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν τόπον παραπέμπει τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἔνθα ἐθυμίων, φησὶ, τῷ Βάαλ, καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν κατέκαιον πυρί. *Καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς Ἰούδα ἔπλησαν τὸν τόπον τοῦτον αἱμάτων ἀθώων, καὶ ᾠκοδόμησαν τὰ ὑψηλὰ τῷ Βάαλ. Ὑψηλὰ, κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες τῆς θείας Γραφῆς, τοὺς βωμοὺς λέγει. Βάαλ δὲ νῦν τὸ εἴδωλον αὐτό. *Τοῦ κατακαίειν τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν ἐν πυρὶ, ὁλοκαυτώματα τῷ Βάαλ. Ἕτερον εἶδος ἀσεβείας