Jeremiah 32

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah; that is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Then the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah, king of Judah, had shut him up, saying: Why do you prophesy, saying: Thus says the Lord? Not only the words but also the deeds of the prophets are an example to us for virtue. Jeremiah could have announced prosperity and enjoyed the friendship of King Zedekiah, but he preferred to obey God rather than men, and him who can kill both soul and body in Gehenna rather than him who could have power only over the body. And this must be considered: it was the tenth year of Zedekiah's reign, Jerusalem was already besieged and consumed by sword, famine and pestilence, captivity was near, and yet Zedekiah persists in his opinion; and something of his clemency is shown in that he ordered him to be shut up not in the prison but in the vestibule of the prison, in free custody, that is, so that he could not escape, as though all Jerusalem, enclosed by its fortifications, were not a common prison for its inhabitants. That is the eighteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who began to rule in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim. And the whole cause of the king's anger is this: that he speaks in the name of the Lord the things that had been commanded him.

Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. And Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with his mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes. And he shall lead Zedekiah into Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him, says the Lord. But if you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall have nothing prosperous. This was the cause of the king's anger: that he preferred truth to a lie, and said that both the city of Jerusalem and King Zedekiah were to be taken; and, what is more grievous, that he would see the face of the Babylonian king and, humbled and captive, would speak with the madness of a most violent king. For it is a heavier terror to see the one you fear, and to undergo the rebuke of words before the torment of punishments.

And into Babylon, he says, he shall lead Zedekiah, and there he shall be, for which the Seventy translated: and he shall enter Babylon; of which the one signifies being dragged unwilling, the other going of one's own will. And there, he says, he shall be: he puts an ambiguous word, so as not to seem to prophesy tortures and miseries. And what follows: until I visit him, says the Lord. And if you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall have nothing prosperous, is not in the Seventy. And he prudently tempered the sentence, which can be referred to a good and to a bad sense; for 'visitation', as I have often said, signifies both 'consolation' and 'punishment'.

And Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum — or Salom —, your cousin — which in Hebrew is called 'dodach' —, is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field, which is in Anathoth; for the purchase belongs to you by kinship. That the word of God had come secretly to Jeremiah no one could know unless he himself, to whom it had come, disclosed it. And it is foretold to him that Hanamel, his cousin, will come to him and offer him the possession of the field that had been his; and that the place itself is in Anathoth, among the suburban lands which were given by the law to the priests throughout the several tribes and cities; nor was it lawful for a possession to pass from tribe to tribe, nor from one family to another family — whence also the daughters of Zelophehad receive their lot among their brothers — and especially the suburban lands of the priests could be sold to no one else until the year of release, except to him whom nearness of blood required. So his cousin comes to him and offers the purchase, which is owed to him by kinship. Hilkiah and Shallum were full brothers; Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, Hanamel the son of Shallum. 'Chelchias' means 'portion of the Lord', 'Hieremias' 'loftiness of the Lord'; and rightly the 'height of the Lord' is born of the 'portion of the Lord'. 'Sellum', again, is rendered into our language as 'peace' or 'peaceable', 'Anamehel' as 'gift' or 'grace of God'; nor shall we wonder that 'peace' and 'grace' are joined to each other, since this is also the opening of the apostolic letters: grace to you and peace. First, then, we merit the peace of God, and after peace grace is born for us, which lies not in the choice of the one who possesses, but of the one who gives. And 'the grace of God' offers the purchase to him who is set in 'lofty places', so that, although he seems exalted, he nevertheless needs the grace of God. That which is often sung by the bride in the Song: my cousin, that is ho adelphidos mou, is called 'dodi' in the Hebrew; therefore he should be called not 'fratruelis' [cousin through a brother] but 'patradelfus', that is 'patruelis'. That Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, the opening of this book also testifies.

And Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me according to the word of the Lord, to the vestibule — or court — of the prison, and said to me: Possess — or buy — my field, which is in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, because the inheritance belongs to you and you are the kinsman, so that you may possess or buy. What the word of the Lord had announced to the prophet as future was at once fulfilled in deed. 'There came', he says, 'to me Hanamel' — 'the grace of God' —, 'the son of my uncle' — that is, 'the son of peace' —; 'and he came into the vestibule of the prison and said to me the things which the Lord had foretold would be said by him'. And this priestly field, whose purchase and possession was being offered to Jeremiah, is in 'Anathoth', in the land of 'Beniamin', of which the first means 'obedience', the second 'son of the right hand'; and consequently he seeks the purchase of that place in which the 'obedience' and the 'power' of the Lord dwelt. For 'kinsman' the Seventy translated presbyteron, that is 'elder', which does not suit this passage.

And I understood that it was the word of the Lord, and I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, which is in Anathoth, and I weighed out the silver to him, seven and ten silver staters. And I wrote it in a book and sealed it and called witnesses and weighed the silver in the balance. And I took the book of possession, sealed, the stipulations and the ratifications and the seals on the outside. It was indeed hard, almost inconsistent and worthy of laughter, that he who was prophesying that Jerusalem was on the very point of being taken and that all were to be led captive or to perish by sword, famine and pestilence, should buy a field in Anathoth which he was not going to possess. 'But I understood', he says, 'that it was the word of the Lord, and that my purchase was to be fitted to the argument and prophecy of the Lord; and therefore I acquiesced in his command to buy, knowing that the word of God had not come to me in vain about a matter of this kind, and I weighed out ten and seven shekels of silver', which we have rendered as 'staters'. Now a shekel has twenty obols, as is written at the end of the book of Ezekiel. And the prophet bought it for 'ten and seven' shekels, the number in which the servant of the Lord, David, sang on the day on which the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, and he said: I will love you, O Lord, my strength! The Lord is my firmament and my refuge and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and I will hope in him; my protector and the horn of my salvation. That 'ten' is a mystic number is shown by the decalogue, which was written on tablets of stone by the finger of God, and by the day of fasting and propitiation in the seventh month; that 'seven' too, in which the true sabbath-keeping and rest are found, is holy we prove by many testimonies of the Scriptures, of which I would have set down at least a few, were it not idle to teach what is known.

This is Jeremiah the tenth in order, who was also privileged to prophesy concerning the mystery respecting Christ, saying thus: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was priced, whom certain of the sons of Israel did price, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord appointed me. The evangelist Matthew mentions this passage as having been fulfilled at the time of the passion.

In this number, then, the possession is bought by the prophet and priest, and it is written in a book and sealed, and witnesses are called and the silver is carefully weighed, so that all the rights of sale and purchase may be preserved and the possession may be certain, strengthened by stipulations and responses. Let them at least hear this who try to claim for themselves, by calling witnesses, wills that are false and sometimes not even wills at all!

And I gave the book of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the eyes of Hanamel, my cousin, and in the eyes of the witnesses who were written in the book of purchase, in the eyes of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the prison. Although the possession was at once to be abandoned — nay rather, it was being bought for posterity, and bought by one who had no sons, for he had not taken a wife —, yet, obedient to the command of the Lord, he performs everything duly and gives the sealed book of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah. 'Baruch' in our language is called 'blessed'; he was the son of 'Neri', which means 'my lamp', as the prophet says: your word is a lamp to my feet and a burning light to my paths; and Neriah, Baruch's father, was in turn the son of 'Maasiae', that is, of 'making' and of 'the work of the Lord'. Let us notice, then, with what great privileges of virtue the disciple Baruch ministered to Jeremiah, as David says: he who walked in the undefiled way, he ministered to me. Hence also Elisha, the minister of Elijah, so pleased God that after the translation of his master he merited to receive even a double spirit. I say this for the admonition of those who use the ministry of wicked men and do not dare to cast off those whom they know to be bound to them by the glue of a bad conscience. And the book is handed to Baruch, a man so great and of such quality, in the sight of Hanamel, who had sold, and of the witnesses, who had signed and whose names were contained in the volume of the purchase, and in the presence, he says, of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the prison, who, that is, had either come to console the prophet or, out of zeal for the fear of God, desired to hear the words of the Lord.

And I commanded Baruch before them, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these books, this sealed book of purchase and this book which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet be possessed in this land. With all those whom the preceding discourse has named present and looking on, Baruch, the minister and disciple, is commanded — not by the words of his teacher, but by the order of God who commands — to take the books, one sealed, the other open — a custom of purchases still kept to this day, so that what the seals hold shut up within, the open volume displays to those who wish to read it —, both of them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days. Firm, therefore, and to endure long afterwards was the possession that was guarded with such great care, lest the books of the purchase, if placed outside, should lie open to plunder, or, if buried in the ground, should be dissolved by the moisture of the earth.

And all this is done so that those who saw it might understand that Jerusalem would again be inhabited and the fields possessed; and although they ought to have understood this by themselves without Jeremiah's word, yet they are admonished by the words of the Lord, and it is said to them: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: houses and fields and vineyards shall yet be possessed in this land. This is what Jeremiah had said a little before: I understood that it was the word of the Lord; and for that reason he bought a field which he was not going to possess.

And I prayed to the Lord, after I had delivered the book of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah, saying: Alas, alas, alas, Lord God — or you who are, Lord God —, behold, you made heaven and earth in your great strength and in your arm outstretched — or lofty —; not difficult for you — or impossible — shall be any word — or according to the Seventy nothing is hidden with you —, you who show mercy to thousands and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, most mighty, great, powerful — which in Hebrew is called 'gibbor' —, the Lord of hosts — or of powers — is your name! Great in counsel and incomprehensible in thought, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam — or of men —, to render to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his devices. After the purchase of the field had been duly performed, and after the sentence of the Lord in which he promised that houses, fields and vineyards would be possessed thereafter, the prophet prays to the Lord and expresses the grief of his heart with groans, saying: alas, alas, alas, Lord God, for which the Seventy translated ho ōn, that is, you who are, Lord God, according to what is said to Moses: go, say to the people of Israel: He who is has sent me; not that others do not exist, but it is one thing to subsist by the gift of the Creator, another by the eternity of one's nature. He praises God and from the creatures proclaims the Creator; and first he extols with his voice his power and mercy and righteousness toward the whole race of men, then he passes to Israel and describes in solemn speech how much he had bestowed on it. And after such great benefits he says that they, unmindful of his good gifts, provoked his clemency to bitterness, so that the city is besieged and, before the enemy's irruption into it takes place, has been consumed by sword and famine and pestilence. All this he set forth beforehand in order to bring in, as a consequence, that which seemed to be said in reproach of the divine sentence: and you say to me, Lord God: Buy the field for silver and call witnesses, when the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans? This, for the present, is what the whole perikopē [passage] of this place contains; now let us return to the particulars. You made heaven and earth in your great strength. And John says of the Son: all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made; for this is the 'strength' of the Lord, as the Apostle confirms: 'Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God'. And in your outstretched arm or lofty, both of which are the mark of one who strikes; and this is the 'arm' of which Isaiah also speaks: and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? No word shall be difficult for you — for the things that are impossible with men are possible with God — or, for whom nothing is hidden, according to the word of the psalmist, who says: for darkness shall not be dark to you, and the night shall be lit up as the day.

You who show mercy to thousands and repay the iniquity of the fathers in the bosom of their sons after them. Great is the clemency of the Creator, to extend his mercy to a thousand generations and to show righteousness at once in the next generation, which itself, however, is mixed with mercy; for he does not punish the offender at once, but waits for repentance, so that, if the children have imitated the vices of their parents, the long-deferred punishment is repaid. Most mighty, great, powerful, the Lord of hosts — or of powers — is your name! These names indicate the power of the Creator; but properly the name of God is 'Father', which is revealed in the Gospel through the Lord, who says: Father, I have manifested your name to men.

Great in counsel: and does anyone dare to thrust himself into the secret of the Lord and to pass judgment on his judgments! And incomprehensible in thought: him whom thought does not comprehend, how can speech comprehend? Whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam: in vain, then, does man think he can hide from the knowledge of God. And what he adds: to render to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his devices, indicates this, that at times, because of his exceeding wisdom, his judgments seem unjust; a passage which the Apostle explains more fully to the Romans: do you not know that the goodness of God exhorts you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The later, therefore, the punishment of sinners, the more righteous it is, after the likeness of Pharaoh, who, warned by ten plagues, not punished, and persisting in his hardness, was at last overwhelmed by the waves of the Red Sea.

You, as a person, know any other person from the way he appears outside. You think the way you see. And you see as far only as your eyes do. But the Scripture says, "The eyes of the Lord are lofty," "People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart," "The Lord sees and knows his own," and "the plant that my heavenly Father has not planted, he roots up," and "the first shall," as he shows, "be last," and he carries "his fan in his hand to purge his threshing floor." Let the chaff of a fickle faith fly off as much as it will at every blast of temptation; all the purer will be that heap of corn that shall be laid up in the garner of the Lord.

You who set signs and portents in the land of Egypt even to this day, and in Israel and among men — or the earthborn — and made for yourself a name as this day. And you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with portents and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers that you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and possessed it; and they did not obey your voice and did not walk in your law. All that you commanded them to do they did not do; and all these evils befell them. From the general he passes to the particular and runs through in brief speech what he had bestowed specially on Israel. You who set, he says, signs and portents in the land of Egypt, by which Egypt was afflicted, even to this day, and in Israel and among men or the earthborn. This which is said, 'even to this day', must be joined to what follows, so that we read: 'both in Israel and among all mortals your signs are accomplished daily'; or otherwise: 'you performed signs and portents not only in Egypt, but even to this day the same strength of your mercy has saved your people, and you succor the whole human race with the power of the Creator'. And this is to be noted, that he separates 'Israel' from 'men' and 'the earthborn', according to that saying: Israel is my firstborn son. And made for yourself a name as this day: 'your praises', he says, 'are celebrated in the speech of the whole world.'

And you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt: he rightly said 'your people'; for at the time when it was brought out, it was serving the commands of the Lord. 'And you brought them out with signs and portents, by which Egypt was struck, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror', when the Red Sea gave a way to the people of Israel as they crossed and overwhelmed the army of Egypt.

And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers that you would give them, namely, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. So they received the land of promise not by their own merit but by the virtues of their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey; for they could not yet take solid food, but were nourished with the honey and milk of infancy, or at any rate with honey and milk, the fruitfulness and abundance of all things.

And they entered and possessed it. And at once there was nothing between possession and disobedience; for plenty begets security, security negligence, negligence contempt. And they did not obey, he says, your voice, and did not walk in your law. In vain, then, did they promise in the wilderness, saying: all that the Lord commands we will do; for the reward lies not in the pledge but in the deed; so as to beat back the impudence of those who think that a man can fulfill all that he has promised he will do. All that you commanded them to do they did not do; and certainly they had promised that they would do it. And all these evils befell them; 'evils' to those who suffered them, but 'goods' according to the sentence of the Lord, which renders to each according to his ways.

Behold, siegeworks have been built against the city, that it may be taken, and the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it, before the face of the sword and of famine and of pestilence; and whatever you have spoken has come to pass, as you yourself see; and you say to me, Lord God: Buy the field for silver and call witnesses, when the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans? It was the tenth year of King Zedekiah; for so it is written: the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah; then the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison. And rightly it is now said: 'behold, siegeworks have been built against the city, that it may be taken, and the city has been delivered into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they have no one to conquer, only people to capture; for they have already been consumed by sword, famine and pestilence, and whatever you said we see fulfilled; how then do you say to me, Lord: buy the field for silver and call witnesses, when the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans?' Therefore he does not reproach but asks, and wishes to learn not so much for himself as for the others who were sitting in the court of the prison and perhaps were silently reproaching him, how the same prophet, whom they believed to announce the truth, both says that the city is to be taken and buys a field as though he were going to possess it.