Jeremiah 16

Elijah lived a virgin life; so also did Elisha and many of the sons of the prophets. To Jeremiah the command came: “You will not take a wife.” He had been sanctified in his mother’s womb, and now he was forbidden to take a wife because the captivity was near. The apostle gives the same counsel in different words: “I think, therefore, that this is good by reason of the present distress, namely, that it is good for a person to be as he is.” What is this distress that does away with the joys of wedlock? The apostle tells us, in a later verse: “The time is short. It remains that those who have wives be as though they had none.”

Letter 22.21

(Chapter XVI—Verse 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Do not take a wife, and there shall not be sons and daughters for you in this place. If, in the time of impending captivity, the prophet is forbidden to take a wife, so as not to have the affliction of the flesh; and if he is also tormented by the sorrow of his own wife and the miseries of his children, how much more does the Apostle command (I Cor. VII) that, because the time is shortened and the consummation is at hand, even those who have wives should be as if they had none! Hence the superfluous reproach of the new heretics (Jovinians), by which we have taught that bigamy and trigamy do not come from the law, but from indulgence. For it is one thing to do what is good in itself, another to concede something so as not to do worse. For he himself gives the reasons why he wants young widows to marry, saying: For some of them have already gone astray after Satan (I Tim. 5:15). At the same time, as a teacher of self-control and perpetual chastity, he praises three or four marriages, which I will not so much call marriages as comforts for the wretched and the last hope for shipwrecked souls. Unless perhaps he grants indulgence to his Amazons, that they may experience the wars of desire until decrepit old age.

Commentary on Jeremiah

3–4

(Verses 3-4) For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers, from whose lineage they were born in this land, they shall die by the deaths of sickness: they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. But why the Prophet is prevented from taking a wife is clear, because with the nearby siege, pestilence, sword, and famine, all perish, and such is the number of the dying that the duty of burial is surpassed, but the bodies lie like dung to be torn apart by birds and beasts. And it should be noted that to waste away with sickness and long infirmity is the wrath of God. Thus, Joram son of Josaphat is consumed by illness (2 Chronicles 21). And the Apostle teaches that those who violate holy things become sick, waste away, and die (I Cor. XI).

Commentary on Jeremiah

5–8

(Verse 5 onwards) For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of the feast, nor go to mourn, nor console them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, mercy and compassion. And the great and the small shall die in this land, they shall not be buried, nor mourned, nor shall they make a cut in themselves, nor shall there be baldness for them. And they shall not break bread among those who mourn, to console them regarding the dead, and they shall not give them the cup of consolation for their father and mother. And do not enter the house of the feast, so that you may sit with them and eat and drink. The Apostle commands that one should not even eat with those who turn away from God (I Cor. V). Furthermore, you should not even greet such people (II John X). And the Savior prohibits the Apostles from greeting anyone on the journey (Luke X). Therefore, Elisha forbids Gehazi from greeting someone while going to heal a boy (IV Kings IV). But it is customary for those in mourning to bear food and prepare a feast, which the Greeks call 'περίδειπνα' and are commonly known as 'parentalia' by us: because they are celebrated for the parents. Scripture also says elsewhere: 'Give wine to those who are in sorrow' (Prov. XXXI, 6); so that they may forget their sorrow. Therefore, the Prophet is commanded not to console anyone from the people, not to mix with the banquets of God's enemies, and not to celebrate the rites over the funerals of the deceased. For it is one thing to forget by the common law of nature, another thing to kill by the judgement of God. 'I have taken away my peace from that people,' he says, 'and they are unworthy of mercy. I will spare no age, but both the great and the small will perish equally, so that they will even lack a burial.' 'Neither shall they shave their heads,' he says, 'nor shall there be baldness (Al. They shall make no mourning) for them.' This was the custom among the Ancients, and it still persists among some of the Jews today, that they shave their arms and make themselves bald in mourning; and we also read that Job did this (Job. 1 and 22). And it is also said of the prophets, neither shall he break bread among them, nor enter in to mourn, nor give them the cup to drink, nor go into the house of feasting, nor mix with those who are prepared for the word of God. But if this is said of those who are mourning, what will be done with heretics, whose speech spreads like cancer, and who daily lay low in the Church the dead bodies of the deceived?

Commentary on Jeremiah

9–12

(Verse 9 onwards) For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will remove from this place in your sight and in your days the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?' You say to them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken me,' says the Lord, 'and have gone after foreign gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. But you have done worse than your fathers. When the Church sins, all joy and gladness are taken away from it, of which the Apostle says: Rejoice, again I say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4): The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, of which it is written: He who has the bride is the bridegroom (John 3:29).' But if, he says, the people question you, asking why these sufferings are allowed and seeking the reasons for their miseries, you shall reply to them: Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the Lord, who preside over you in the Churches, and have gone after foreign gods, whose god is their belly, and they serve them for the sake of greed and lust, and their glory is in their shame, and they have worshipped them. For whoever is overcome by someone, becomes their servant. And they worshipped them: For each one worships what they love. And they have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. It is the duty of the priests not only to teach, but also to follow the law: so that they may teach by example, not only by words, the people who are subject to them and the entrusted flock. And lest they should say that the judgment is unjust, it brings forward the saying: 'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge' (Jeremiah 31), and 'The teeth of the sons shall not be set on edge' (Ezekiel 18). But you have done worse than your fathers; so that just punishments should be inflicted on those who have sinned worse than their fathers.

Commentary on Jeremiah

(Verse 13) Behold, everyone walks according to the wickedness of their evil heart, so that they may not hear me. And I will cast you out of this land into a land that you and your fathers do not know, and there you will serve foreign gods day and night, who will not give you rest. Once abandoned by the Lord, they do things that are not fitting, so that they may pursue the desires of their evil heart, from which come wicked thoughts (Matthew 15), and therefore they are separated from the Church, to go into a distant land, which neither they nor their fathers knew before they sinned, to serve foreign gods, who are not gods, but are thought to be by those who worship them in error. But what he introduced: Day and night, he shows the continuous perseverance of sinners in wickedness, while they serve both in days of shame and in nights of lust. 'They will not give you rest,' he says. There is no doubt that he signifies false gods, of whom he said: 'And you will serve foreign gods there.' Therefore, whatever we sin, whatever we do day and night, and whatever evil works we commit, is the dominion of demons, who never give us rest, but always impel us to increase sins with sins, and to make a accumulation of sins.

Commentary on Jeremiah

14–15

(Vers. 14, 15.) Therefore, behold, days are coming," says the Lord, "and it will no longer be said, 'As the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel up from the land of Egypt,' but 'As the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel up from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their land that I gave to their ancestors. Clearly, the future restoration of the people of Israel is predicted, and after their captivity comes mercy; which, according to the literal sense, was partially fulfilled under Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua and Ezra; but according to the spiritual understanding, it is more truly and perfectly fulfilled in Christ. The time will come, he says, when it will no longer be said that the people were brought out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron, but that they were brought out of the land of the North, with Cyrus, the king of the Persians, releasing the captives. And concerning all lands, he says, this will not be fulfilled in the time of Cyrus, but at the very end, as the Apostle says: After the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel will be saved (Rom. XI, 25, 26). We can also say this about the persecutions that happen to our people, from the days of Nero, about whom the Apostle writes: And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion (I Tim. IV, 17), up until the times of Maximinus: how the Lord has had mercy on his people and brought them back to their land. Doubtless into the Church, which their fathers received, the Apostles and apostolic men.

Commentary on Jeremiah

He who was caught by the fishers of Jesus and who comes up from the sea, he also dies, but he dies to the world. He dies to sin, and after having died to the world and to sin, he is made to live by the Word of God and receives another life. If you could apprehend hypothetically when the soul of the fish changed, after coming out from the fishly body, it became something better than the fish.… Having come up from the sea, falling into the nets of the disciples of Jesus, after you come out, you change the soul. You are no longer a fish that struggles in the salty waves of the sea, but your soul immediately changes and transforms itself and becomes better and more godly than what it was formerly. But that it does transform itself and change, hear Paul, who says, “And we all with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of God, are being transformed to the same image from glory into glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” And this transformed fish that was caught by the fishers of Jesus, after it has abandoned the way of life in the sea, makes his way in the mountains so that he no longer needs the fishers who brought him.

Homilies on Jeremiah 16:1.2

In this great household of the church not only are there vessels of every kind—gold, silver, wooden and earthen—but also a great variety of pursuits. “The house of God, which is the church of the living God,” has hunters, travelers, architects, builders, farmers, shepherds, athletes, soldiers. To all of these this short admonition will be appropriate, for it will produce in each proficiency in action and energy of will. You are a hunter sent forth by the Lord, who says, “Behold, I send many hunters, and they shall hunt them on every mountain.” Take good care, therefore, that your prey does not elude you, so that, having captured them with the word of truth, you may bring back to the Savior those who have been made wild and savage by iniquity.

Homily on the Words “give Heed to Thyself.”

God made you a hunter, not a conqueror, who said: Behold, I send many hunters (Jer. XVI, 16): hunters not of sin, but of absolution; hunters not of blame certainly, but of grace. Christ is the fisherman, to whom it is said: Henceforth you shall be a life-giving man (Luke V, 10). So send forth your nets, so send forth your eyes, so send forth your words: that you may not oppress anyone, but may raise up the struggling.

The Six Days of Creation 6.8.50

16–18

(Verse 16 onwards) Behold, I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will catch them. And after this, I will send them many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks, for my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from my sight, and their iniquity was not hidden from my eyes. And I will first repay double their iniquities and sins, for they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. There are different interpretations of this chapter. For the Jews, it is believed to refer to the Chaldeans, who are described under the name of fishermen, and later to the Romans, who are compared to hunters, and who hunted down the unfortunate people in the mountains, hills, and caves of the rocks. But the Lord says that He Himself has done this because He has looked upon their ways and has returned upon them the iniquities with which they have polluted the land by worshipping idols and defiling His inheritance with abominations. But our Prophet thinks more rightly and better that these things are prophesied about the future. For as he had said before: I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their fathers, now he shows how they are to be brought back, that first he should send Apostles, to whom the Savior said: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). And afterwards hunters, whom we can understand as either ecclesiastical men or Angels, who, when the time of completion comes, will hunt down all the holy ones from the mountains of lofty doctrines, and from the hills of good works, and from the caves of rocks, to the Apostles and apostolic men. For not only did Christ give the name Rock to Peter the Apostle (I Cor. X, Matt. XVI). In the senses of which, resting rightly, they are said to be transferred from rock. And it shows either the Apostles or those who came after them, having sins, and receiving their double injustices. For the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, will be beaten with many blows (Luke XII). And it should be known that in Hebrew it is placed first, and in the Septuagint edition it was omitted. But when he says, 'I will first repay them double for their iniquities and their sins,' he indicates that after they have received evil, they will also receive good. However, those who will be transferred later have defiled the land of the Lord with the corpses of their idols and with their abominations they have filled his inheritance, so that the whole world may be subject to God, and may be preserved not by their own merit, but by his mercy. This we have inserted from the Hebrew: 'They are not hidden from my face,' which is not found in the Septuagint.

Commentary on Jeremiah

“He rains on the wicked snares.” Without any doubt, it is the Lord who contrives snares for sinners, in order to entrap those who abuse their freedom and to compel them to tread the right path under his bridle, thereby making it possible for them to advance through him who says, “I am the way.” Wherefore, in Jeremiah, the Lord sends fishers and hunters to spread nets for the lost fish tossed about in whirlpools and to hunt down and save the beasts that wander through mountains and hills. This and the following verses do not promise punishment to sinners, as many believe, but rather give them promise of healing.

Homilies on the Psalms 60 (ps 10)

The apostles were fishermen, and the Lord said to them, “I will make you fishers of people.” Moreover, it is said by the prophet that God intended to send fishers at first, and afterwards hunters. At first, he did send fishers, and now, afterwards, he is sending hunters. Why fishers? Why hunters? Because, from the abyss and from the depth of the sea of idolatrous superstition, the believers fished with the nets of faith. But why have the hunters been sent? Because those people were wandering through the mountains and the hills, that is, through the pride of humankind, through the worldly obstacles. One mountain was Donatus, another Arius, a third was Plotinus and the last was Novatus. Through such mountains they were straying, and their wanderings called for hunters. Therefore, the duties of fishers and of hunters have been assigned, lest, by chance, they should say to us, “Why did the apostles force no one, urge no one?” Because one who is a fisher throws nets, calling out in this fashion: “Let it not go in that direction. Let it not go in this direction. Head it off there, strike it, terrify it. Do not let it get out, do not let it escape.” But our net is our life. Let love alone be preserved. Do not worry about how annoying you may be to him, but about how dear he is to you. What kind of devotion is it if you spare him and he perishes?

The Usefulness of Fasting 9

(Verse 19) Lord, you are my strength and my refuge in the day of trouble (or evil). All human strength, without the power of God, which is Christ, is considered weak and worthless. Therefore, we must turn to the Lord and say: Lord, you have become our refuge, from generation to generation (Psalm 89:1). And in another place: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1). But this tribulation, or evil, is to be understood, of which the Apostle says: That he might deliver us from this present wicked world: And, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Gal. 1:4).

Commentary on Jeremiah

“As in the provocation, and in the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers proved Me.” Let such be no more your fathers: imitate them not. They were your fathers, but if ye do not imitate them, they shall not be your fathers: yet as ye were born of them, they were your fathers. And if the heathen who came from the ends of the earth, in the words of Jeremias, “The Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our forefathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit:” if the heathen forsook their idols, to come to the God of Israel; ought Israel whom their own God led from Egypt through the Red Sea, wherein He overwhelmed their pursuing foes; whom He led out into the wilderness, fed with manna, never took His rod from correcting them, never deprived them of the blessings of His mercy; ought they to desert their own God, when the heathen have come unto Him?

Expositions of the Psalms 95.11

So the shepherds came from nearby to see, and the Magi came from far away to worship. This is the humility for which the wild olive deserved to be grafted into the olive tree and against nature to produce olives, because it deserved to change nature through grace. They come, you see, from the uttermost bounds of the earth, saying, according to Jeremiah, “Truly our fathers worshipped lies.” And they come, not just from one part of the world, but as the gospel according to Luke says, from East and West, from North and South, to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Sermon 203:3

Further, Jeremiah says of Christ, “Behold the days come, says the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch. A king shall reign and shall be wise. He shall execute justice and judgment in the earth. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently. This is the name that they shall call him: The Lord our just one.” On the calling of the Gentiles that he foresaw and we today see as realized, the prophet had this to say: “O Lord, my might and my strength, and my refuge in the day of tribulation; to you the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and shall say, ‘Surely our ancestors have possessed lies, a vanity that has not profited them.’ ”

City of God 18.33

Having been brought near, they make Christ their glorying. For again, God the Father has said of them, “And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in his name shall they glory, says the Lord.” This also the blessed psalmist teaches, speaking as it were to Christ the Savior of all and saying, “Lord, they shall walk in the light of your countenance, and in your name shall they exult all the day, and in your righteousness shall they be exalted. For you are the glorying of their strength.” We shall find also the prophet Jeremiah calling out to God, “Lord, my strength and my help, and my refuge in the day of my evils, to You shall the heathen come from the ends of the earth, and say, ‘Our fathers took for themselves false idols, in which there is no help.’ ”

Commentary on Luke, Homily 4

For I am very much God’s debtor, who gave me such great grace that many people were reborn in God through me and afterwards confirmed, and that clerics were ordained for them everywhere, for a people just coming to the faith, whom the Lord took from the utmost parts of the earth, as he once had promised through His prophets: “To you the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and shall say, ‘How false are the idols that our ancestors got for themselves, and there is no profit in them.’ ” And again: “I have set you as a light among the Gentiles, that you may be for salvation unto the utmost part of the earth.”

Confession 38

“If a person will make gods for himself.” Not only do people make gods for themselves from statues, but you will also find people making gods for themselves from their imaginations. Such people can imagine another god and creator of the world other than the divine plan of the world recorded by the Spirit, other than the true world. These all have made gods for themselves, and they have worshiped the works of the hands. So, too, I believe is the case either among the Greeks, who generate opinions, so to speak, of this philosophy or that, or among the heretics, the first who generate opinions. These have made idols for themselves and figments of the soul, and by turning to them they worship the works of their hands, since they accept as truth their own fabrications.

Homilies on Jeremiah 16:9.1

(Verse 20) To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: Truly, our fathers have possessed a lie, vanity that has not profited them. Septuagint: To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and say: How have our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them? After Israel was expelled and carried away by fishermen and hunters, a multitude of nations is subsequently called to faith and confesses that their fathers were involved in prior error. But those who say, 'How did our fathers possess false idols, in which there is no utility?' confess that the things they pass by are true, and supported by every defense.

Does a man make gods for himself when they are not gods themselves? And this is what the nations, who came to the Savior from the ends of the earth, speak, or rather are called, as they expose both their own ignorance and that of their ancestors, because they thought that gods were made by man, when it is actually men who make gods.

Commentary on Jeremiah

Hermes Trismegistus lamented these vain, deceptive, pernicious, sacrilegious things because he foresaw that the time was coming when they would be abolished. He was as impudent in his grief as imprudent in his prophecy, since the Holy Spirit had made no revelation to him as to the holy prophets who exultantly proclaimed their inspired visions: “Shall a person make gods to himself, and they are not gods?” And again: “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more.” It is relevant to recall that holy Isaiah uttered a particular prophecy concerning Egypt: “And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof” and the rest.

City of God 8.23

Although Hermes calls these idols gods, he nevertheless admits that they were made by people whose example we should not follow, and thus, willy-nilly, he proves that these idols should not be worshiped by people who are unlike the people who made them, that is, by wise, believing and religious people. Moreover, he implies that the fabricators brought on themselves the guilt of reckoning as gods things that are not gods. Very true is that prophecy: “Shall a person make gods to himself, and they are not gods?” This, then, is what Hermes means by fabricated gods. Such gods, made and adored by such people, are but evil spirits imprisoned by magic in idols and bound there by the chains of their own passions.

City of God 8.24

(Verse 21.) Therefore behold, I will show them in turn this: I will show them my hand and my power, and they will know that my name is the Lord. The hand of God by which he has accomplished all things, and the power, of which the Apostle said: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), is revealed to the Gentiles, through the completion of the Son's passion. And beautifully he said: I will show them in turn this: but I will show them openly, and not as before, in shadow and in image, and in the prophecy of future things, so that after they have known, they may know my name, and hear from the Son: Father, I have manifested your name to men (John 17).

Commentary on Jeremiah