1 Et audivit Phassur filius Emmer, sacerdos, qui constitutus erat princeps in domo Domini, Jeremiam prophetantem sermones istos.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 …of the mind of the Scripture, which comes to be present to an eye that has room for the clarity of the sacred writings. These things I have said by way of preface, rousing and awakening both myself and my hearers to attend to what has been read, so that we may ask Jesus to come and to appear to us and to teach us now the things written here.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 20 — Verses 1, 2) And Phasur, the son of Emmer, a priest who was appointed as the chief in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words. And Phasur struck the prophet Jeremiah and sent him into the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord.
2 Et percussit Phassur Jeremiam prophetam, et misit eum in nervum quod erat in porta Benjamin superiori, in domo Domini.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 …The enchanters of the Egyptians also had rods, rods that wished to slander the rod of Moses and that of Aaron as though they were not from God. But those from God overturn those of the sophists and enchanters: "the rod of Aaron swallowed them up"; for this rod sufficed for this even without the rod of Moses.
3 Cumque illuxisset in crastinum, eduxit Phassur Jeremiam de nervo, et dixit ad eum Jeremias: Non Phassur vocavit Dominus nomen tuum, sed Pavorem undique.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "And it came to pass on the next day that Paschor brought Jeremiah out of the dungeon." O Lord Jesus, come again, make clear to me these things also, and to those who have come for the spiritual nourishment. How does he "on the next day" himself bring "Jeremiah out of the dungeon"?
Jerome · AD 420 (Ver. 3.) And when it dawned on the next day, Phasur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks and Jeremiah said to him: The Lord did not call your name Phasur, but fear from all sides. And here both the name of the high priest and the type of torture are interpreted in the same way as before.
4 Quia hæc dicit Dominus: Ecce ego dabo te in pavorem, te et omnes amicos tuos: et corruent gladio inimicorum suorum, et oculi tui videbunt: et omnem Judam dabo in manum regis Babylonis, et traducet eos in Babylonem, et percutiet eos gladio.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 4-6.) Because this is what the Lord says: Behold, I will make you a terror, along with all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. And I will give all of Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon, and strike them with the sword.
5 Et dabo universam substantiam civitatis hujus, et omnem laborem ejus, omneque pretium, et cunctos thesauros regum Juda dabo in manu inimicorum eorum: et diripient eos, et tollent, et ducent in Babylonem.
6 Tu autem, Phassur, et omnes habitatores domus tuæ, ibitis in captivitatem: et in Babylonem venies, et ibi morieris, ibique sepelieris tu, et omnes amici tui, quibus prophetasti mendacium.
7 Seduxisti me, Domine, et seductus sum: fortior me fuisti, et invaluisti: factus sum in derisum tota die; omnes subsannant me.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 All the things written about God, even if they seem inappropriate on their face, must be understood to be worthy of a good God. For who will not say that it is unfitting for such things to be referred to God — that He has anger, that He employs wrath, that He repents, and indeed even that He sleeps?
Jerome · AD 420 The prophet says that he was deceived by the Lord because, when he heard the Lord say in the beginning, "I gave you as a prophet to the nations," and, again, "Behold, I establish you today over nations and over kingdoms, that you may uproot and destroy and overthrow and dissolve and build and plant," he believed that none of this was spoken against the people of Judea, but only…
8 Quia jam olim loquor, vociferans iniquitatem, et vastitatem clamito: et factus est mihi sermo Domini in opprobrium, et in derisum tota die.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "Because with my bitter word I shall laugh." There is a certain laughter that is promise, of which promise the patriarch Isaac is the namesake; for he is interpreted "Laughter." And that laughter is promise is clear from the words "Blessed are those who weep now"; and the promise is "for they shall laugh." Just as it is a promise that "they shall be called sons of God," and "th…
John Chrysostom · AD 407 For not only did he bear those things nobly which happen to the body, the afflictions, and whatever he enumerated, but those also which touch the soul; for neither are these wont to disturb slightly.
Jerome · AD 420 Jeremiah says here, in effect: "As I am crying out and saying that the Babylonian army is coming and that the sword of the enemy will plunder us all, the word of the Lord is turned against me as a derision and a reproach, since they believe that the tardiness of a prophecy's fulfillment is tantamount to a lie.
9 Et dixi: Non recordabor ejus, neque loquar ultra in nomine illius: et factus est in corde meo quasi ignis exæstuans, claususque in ossibus meis, et defeci, ferre non sustinens.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Then consider how the prophets are right-minded men, and do not hide their own sins as we also do, and speak not only concerning those then living, but concerning all the generations, if they have sinned. And I hesitate to confess my sins before these few here, since those who hear will be about to condemn me.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 I think, too, we cannot leave out of sight that fire when we read that the Lord Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as John said in his Gospel. Rightly was the sacrifice consumed, for it was for sin.
Isaac of Nineveh · AD 700 For they do not make their journey upon the royal highway as other men, but these giants select for themselves short-cuts, whereby gloriously they journey swiftly to the Heavenly mansions. For this hope so inflames them, as with fire, that they cannot rest from their incessant and headlong course on account of their joy.
10 Audivi enim contumelias multorum, et terrorem in circuitu: Persequimini, et persequamur eum, ab omnibus viris qui erant pacifici mei, et custodientes latus meum: si quomodo decipiatur, et prævaleamus adversus eum, et consequamur ultionem ex eo.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "And it became in my heart as a burning fire, blazing in my bones, and I am utterly enfeebled and cannot bear it, because I heard the blame of many gathered round about." The blameless, the blessed Jeremiah (I speak with exception of this small sin and if he committed any other slight thing) was blamed by many. But the blame from the many was for him a commendation with God.
11 Dominus autem mecum est, quasi bellator fortis: idcirco qui persequuntur me cadent, et infirmi erunt: confundentur vehementer, quia non intellexerunt opprobrium sempiternum, quod numquam delebitur.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 But Jeremiah says concerning these who conspire, "And the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior." If we become such as we ought to be, and receive that fire coming upon us for our sins, as upon Jeremiah and those like him, the Lord thereafter becomes with us "as a mighty warrior." And "therefore they persecuted and could not understand" [the Jews who persecuted him: "they were gr…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11.) All the men, who were peaceful towards me, and guarding my side: if we are deceived in any way, let us prevail against him, and achieve vengeance from him. But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "They shall be greatly confounded, because they have not understood everlasting reproach." The second error concerns fatal necessity, as regarding the constellations: if a man is born under such a constellation, he will necessarily be a thief, or evil, or good.
12 Et tu, Domine exercituum, probator justi, qui vides renes et cor, videam, quæso, ultionem tuam ex eis: tibi enim revelavi causam meam.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 For God does not hold out against his children when they beg his pity. And for you he will pray purely, held in high honor as an angel of God, and grieved not by you but for you. This is sincere repentance. "God is not mocked," nor does he give heed to vain words.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "The Lord," then, "of hosts" is with us, "who tests just things, understanding reins and hearts." The Lord tests just things and rejects unjust things, and he is, so to name it, a moneychanger of just and unjust things; and this Lord is also "one who understands reins and hearts." I inquire how "to understand reins and hearts" differs, and "to examine hearts and reins" is anoth…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 12.) And you, Lord, the tester of the righteous (or the one who tests the righteous), who sees the reins and the heart, may I please see your vengeance from them, for I have revealed my cause to you (Luke 6). The Lord alone is the one who knows how to test righteousness, just as he alone is the one who can see the inner thoughts of the heart.
13 Cantate Domino, laudate Dominum, quia liberavit animam pauperis de manu malorum.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 13) Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of the wicked. The one who is poor in spirit and does not have riches, which have received their consolation in this world, about which Paul also speaks: Only that we should be mindful of the poor (I Cor.
14 Maledicta dies in qua natus sum! dies in qua peperit me mater mea non sit benedicta!
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 For neither would so great and such a prophet — I mean Jeremiah, who was "sanctified in the womb" of his mother and "consecrated a prophet unto the nations" — have set down anything emptily in books that were to remain forever, unless it contained something secret and full of vast mysteries, when he says: "Cursed be the day in which I was born, and the night in which they said:…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 14 and following) Cursed be the day in which I was born, the day in which my mother bore me, let it not be blessed. Cursed be the man (or person) who brought the news to my father, saying, 'A male child is born to you,' and made him rejoice as if with joy.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The apostle says, "God commends his charity toward us, because when as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us. Much more now that we are justified in his blood shall we be saved through him from the wrath." Of this wrath he says, "We were by nature children of wrath even as the rest." Of this wrath Jeremiah says, "Cursed be the day when I was born." Of this wrath holy Job says…
15 Maledictus vir qui annuntiavit patri meo, dicens: Natus est tibi puer masculus, et quasi gaudio lætificavit eum!
16 Sit homo ille ut sunt civitates quæ subvertit Dominus, et non pœnituit eum: audiat clamorem mane, et ululatum in tempore meridiano,
17 qui non me interfecit a vulva, ut fieret mihi mater mea sepulchrum, et vulva ejus conceptus æternus!
18 Quare de vulva egressus sum, ut viderem laborem et dolorem, et consumerentur in confusione dies mei?