Jeremiah 21

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying: Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is fighting against us; if perhaps the Lord will do for us according to all his wonders, and he will withdraw from us. Above, the high priest Phassur or Phaschor, who struck Jeremiah, had Immer as his father, but this Phassur is the son of Malchiah; this is said so that no one may think him the same man. Now King Zedekiah sends to the prophet without wishing either the people or the princes to know, so that by a secret message through envoys he may learn what sentence the Lord holds concerning the city of Jerusalem and the people of the Jews. And what he adds: for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is fighting against us, shows that Zedekiah asks this of the prophet when Jerusalem was already besieged. And it must be noted that in the prophets, and above all in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, the order of kings and of times is by no means kept, but, in reverse order, what according to the history happened later is related first, and what was done first is related later; for it is one thing to write history, another to write prophecy. Thus in the present place Zedekiah, who was captured with the city of Jerusalem, is written of as sending to Jeremiah, and that at the time when Jerusalem was being besieged; and afterward is narrated the history of Jehoiakim his brother, who was king before him, and of Jehoiachin, that is, Jeconiah, who was the son of Jehoiakim, concerning whom we shall speak in what follows.

And Jeremiah said to them: Thus shall you say to Zedekiah: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the vessels of war — or the weapons of war —, which are in your hands and with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, who besiege you round about the walls, and I will gather those things — or those men — into the midst of this city, and I will vanquish you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm — or a lofty one — and in fury and in indignation and in great wrath, and I will strike the inhabitants of this city; men and beasts shall die of a great pestilence. 'In vain', he says, 'do you wish to resist the besieging Chaldeans and prepare weapons of war, of which you will have the use only in the midst of the city, so that you may seem to be armed. For the rest, while they besiege you, I will vanquish you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm and will strike you with my fury and indignation, so that both you and everything that breathes may die of famine and pestilence in the midst of the city.' And this indeed we read was done; for without any ring of assault or din of combatants the city was taken by siege alone, so that they had none to conquer, but only those to capture; better off, he says, were those wounded by the sword than those slain by famine.

And after this, says the Lord, I will give Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants and his people, and those who have been left in this city from the plague and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved, nor spare, nor have mercy. This, which we translated: into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, is not found in the Seventy; and for what we said: he shall not be moved, nor spare, nor have mercy, the Seventy translated: I will not spare, nor have mercy. And it is better according to the Hebrew, so that the cruel and inflexible sentence may seem to belong to the Babylonian king rather than to the Lord. First, then, prophecy was made concerning the whole city; now it is foretold particularly to Zedekiah and to his people, those who would be left after the plague, the sword and the famine, that he is to be captured by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, and to be slain with his friends by the sword, and that he should hope for no mercy from him whose covenant and bond he had abandoned by perjury.

Through your works you have revealed the everlasting structure of the world. You, Lord, created the earth. You are faithful throughout all generations, righteous in your judgments, marvelous in strength and majesty, wise in creating and prudent in establishing what exists. You are good in all that is observed and faithful to those who trust in you. You are merciful and compassionate. You forgive us our sins and our injustices, our transgressions and our shortcomings. Do not take into account every sin of your servants and slave girls, but cleanse us with the cleansing of your truth and "direct our steps to walk in holiness and righteousness and purity of heart," and "to do what is good and pleasing in your sight" and in the sight of our rulers. Yes, Lord, "let your face shine on us" in peace "for our good," that we may be sheltered "by your mighty hand" and delivered from every sin "by your uplifted arm"; deliver us as well from those who hate us unjustly. Give harmony and peace to us and to all who dwell on the earth, just as you did to our ancestors when they reverently "called on you in faith and truth," that we may be saved, while we render obedience to your almighty and most excellent name, and to our rulers and governors on earth.

There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this: First, thou shalt love God who made thee; second, thy neighbour as thyself; and all things whatsoever thou wouldst should not occur to thee, thou also to another do not do. And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for them that persecute you. For what thank is there, if ye love them that love you? Do not also the Gentiles do the same? But do ye love them that hate you; and ye shall not have an enemy. Abstain thou from fleshly and worldly lusts. If one give thee a blow upon thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; and thou shalt be perfect. If one impress thee for one mile, go with him two. If one take away thy cloak, give him also thy coat. If one take from thee thine own, ask it not back for indeed thou art not able. Give to every one that asketh thee, and ask it not back; for the Father willeth that to all should be given of our own blessings (free gifts). Happy is he that giveth according to the commandment; for he is guiltless. Woe to him that receiveth; for if one having need receiveth, he is guiltless; but he that receiveth not having need, shall pay the penalty, why he received and for what, and, coming into straits (confinement), he shall be examined concerning the things which he hath done, and he shall not escape thence until he pay back the last farthing. But also now concerning this, it hath been said, Let thine alms sweat in thy hands, until thou know to whom thou shouldst give.

And the way of death is this: First of all it is evil and full of curse: murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magic arts, witchcrafts, rapines, false witnessings, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, haughtiness, depravity, self-will, greediness, filthy talking, jealousy, over-confidence, loftiness, boastfulness; persecutors of the good, hating truth, loving a lie, not knowing a reward for righteousness, not cleaving to good nor to righteous judgment, watching not for that which is good, but for that which is evil; from whom meekness and endurance are far, loving vanities, pursuing requital, not pitying a poor man, not labouring for the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, destroyers of the handiwork of God, turning away from him that is in want afflicting him that is distressed, advocates of the rich, lawless judges of the poor, utter sinners. Be delivered, children, from all these.

See that no one cause thee to err from this way of the Teaching, since apart from God it teacheth thee. For if thou art able to bear all the yoke of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou art not able, what thou art able that do. And concerning food, bear what thou art able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly on thy guard; for it is the service of dead gods.

And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who dwells in this city shall die by the sword and by famine and by plague; but he who goes out and deserts to the Chaldeans, who besiege you, shall live, and his soul shall be to him as a spoil; for I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord; into the hand of the king of Babylon it shall be given, and he shall burn it with fire. To those who had been sent by the king and had come to beseech the prophet to inquire of the Lord for them, he had given the answer above, and what they should report to King Zedekiah; now he urges them to answer the people, and gives counsel that they desert to the Chaldeans against the royal will; and no one is unaware that this was dangerous for the prophet. Hence he even calls down death upon himself and says: cursed be the day on which I was born, and: why did I come forth from the womb, to see labor and sorrow?; not that it is a light thing to counsel those not yet captured to hand themselves over to captivity of their own accord — as if men about to suffer shipwreck were ordered, before the shipwreck and the breaking up of the ship, to seize oars and planks and commit themselves to the waves — but that it is more tolerable to live as captives in whatever way than to be consumed by the sword, famine and plague. There are those who expound this passage according to tropology thus: that it is better to give oneself to secular studies, and above all to philosophy, than to remain in that church in which there is a famine of the word of God and the whole people dies by the sword of the heretics, by the dearth of doctrine and by the heretical plague.

It was not God's law that became the cause of my being brought into subjection to corruption, but the devil, that he might be made manifest. He wrought evil through that which is good. The inventor of evil became and was proved to be the greatest of all sinners. "For we know that the law is spiritual." So the law cannot injure anyone in any way. Spiritual things are far removed from irrational lust and sin. "But I am carnal, sold under sin." This means, "I am carnal and placed between good and evil as a voluntary agent, so that I have it in my power to choose what I wish." For "behold, I set before you life and death." This means, "Death would result from disobedience of the spiritual law, that is, of the commandment, and from obedience to the carnal law, that is, the counsel of the serpent." By such a choice I am sold to the devil, fallen under sin. Hence evil, as though besieging me, clings to me and dwells in me. Justice gives me up to be sold to the evil one, as a result of having violated the law.

And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the Lord, house of David! Thus says the Lord: Judge judgment in the morning, and rescue the one oppressed by violence from the hand of the one falsely accusing, lest perhaps my indignation go forth — or so that my indignation may not go forth — like fire, and be kindled, and there be none to quench it; and what follows: because of the wickedness of your pursuits, is not found in the Seventy. Because he had said above: and to this people you shall say: thus says the Lord, he now accordingly adds: and to the house of the king of Judah, so that there is understood: 'you shall say: thus says the Lord'; for by apo koinou [in common, i.e. shared by both clauses] both what precedes and what follows are joined, so that the sense is: 'and to this people you shall say: thus says the Lord, and to the house of the king of Judah you shall say: thus says the Lord'.

Properly, however, the word is addressed to the royal house, chiefly on account of whose guilt the city is besieged, so that it may amend its error by repentance and obtain the mercy of the Lord. 'Judge', he says, 'judgment in the morning' — not in the darkness of iniquity, but in the light of righteousness — 'and rescue the one oppressed by violence from the hand of the false accuser, so that you do not respect persons in judgment, but, when the rich oppress the poor, the command of God may prevail more with you than the power of the persecutor! And if', he says, 'you do this, the fire of my fury will by no means be kindled among you, nor will it find material to consume.' And in this place an incredible mercy of God is shown: those of whom he had said above: for I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good; into the hand of the king of Babylon it shall be handed over, and fire shall burn it, he now, while the Lord's sentence is already bearing down upon them, calls to salvation; not that he does not know that the city of Jerusalem is to be captured, but so that free will may be preserved for man, and they may be seen to perish not through ignorance of the future but by their own will; just as the Savior too knew that the people would deny him and that he was to be crucified, inasmuch as he had often foretold this to the apostles, and nevertheless he admonished them, wishing to correct them toward repentance, so that whatever they afterward suffered befell them by their own fault, not by the harshness of the one who threatened.

Behold, I am against you, inhabitant of the solid and level valley, says the Lord, you who say: Who shall strike — or terrify — us, and who shall enter our houses? And I will visit upon you; and what follows: according to the fruit of your pursuits, says the Lord, is not found in the Seventy. And I will kindle, he says, a fire in its forest, and it shall devour everything round about it. For 'inhabitant of the solid and level valley' the Seventy translated: behold, I am against you who dwell in the level valley of Sor, for which Symmachus translated 'rock', Theodotion 'besieged', Aquila's first edition 'solid', the second 'Tyre'; for 'Sor' or 'Sur' in the Hebrew language means 'Tyre' and 'flint' and 'narrowed'. Now he speaks against Jerusalem, which was walled in by siege; or which, in the likeness of Tyre, is so surrounded by the Babylonian army, as by a great sea, that it cannot escape; or else which, like the hardest rock, thinks itself impregnable and strong because of the solidity and size of its walls, and says: 'who will be able to terrify us and who shall enter our houses?', whereas God, on the contrary, says: 'I will visit you; you will not be able to escape my eye. And I will visit you unto destruction and render to you the fruit of your wickedness, and I will kindle a fire in your forest: not the Babylonian, as you think, not the king of the Chaldeans, but my wrath will accomplish all these things.' And he calls Jerusalem and all the region around it a 'forest', because, having no fruit-bearing trees of good works, it has been made ready for burning. And fittingly he calls the 'valley' 'level', because it lies open to the enemies, and not a 'lofty mountain', which can be climbed only with difficulty; in accordance with which it is also said in Isaiah: the vision of the valley of Zion. Whatever is prophesied concerning the royal house and the mother city, let us refer to the ecclesiastical order and to the princes of the churches, those only, that is, who have given themselves over to pride and riches and wantonness. Nor will it be delivered from destruction at once simply because it is the royal house; just as among those who were of the stock of David very few were found who pleased the Lord, such as David himself, Hezekiah and Josiah, and a great part of the princes and of the royal stock provoked the wrath of the Lord against the whole people.