Jeremiah 20

(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. For Phasur, the Septuagint translated as Phascor, which means "blackness of the mouth," and for the stocks, which we have mentioned, the Septuagint and Theodotion translated as "cataract," Symmachus as "instrument of torture" or "torture device," both of which signify torment. But we have called it by the common name of a nerve, which we also read as a type of torture in the Acts of the Apostles, when the apostles Paul and Silas were placed in prison (Acts XVI). But this man was the high priest of the Temple, and he abused the dignity of the Priesthood for evil purposes, not to teach and correct with words, but to terrify with tortures (John XIX). Therefore, both the Savior and the apostle Paul were beaten by order of the high priest (Acts XVI). It is not surprising if today the servants of God are killed by Phaschor, or sent to prison and held in terrible custody. For this power is given by God, so that the faith of the Prophets may be shown. However, the one who kills is not greater, but the one who is slain is stronger. And the Prophet accepts the judgment of God patiently, without protesting the blows, but considering the one who commands. Emmer () sounds like the word from which darkness is often generated, not by the fault of the parent, but by the wickedness of the degenerating. However, the torment by which the Prophet is afflicted seems to be on the right side, which is interpreted as Benjamin; and in the lofty gate, which indicates not truth, but the unjust power of the pontiff.

…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.

"Jeremiah prophesied; and Paschor son of Emmer the priest heard the words of the prophecy." And although in all likelihood many, so far as the mere sequence of the prophecy goes, had heard Jeremiah, no other hearer is quickly recorded except Paschor. But the Scripture took care to say also whose son he was, that he was son of Emmer, and that he held the office of priest, and what rank he had among the people—that he had been appointed governor of the house of the Lord at the time when Jeremiah was prophesying these words. And it is recorded that, having heard the words of this prophecy, Paschor struck Jeremiah; and he was not content with having struck him, but he also cast him into a certain dungeon (katarraktēs). The Scripture took care to say also where this dungeon was—at the gate of Benjamin—and that the dungeon was in a place where there was an upper chamber, and an upper chamber of nothing else than of the house of the Lord. These things the Holy Spirit recorded to have come upon Jeremiah in connection with the prophecy, and to have come from Paschor. Then it says: on the next day Paschor brought Jeremiah out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah, having been brought out, said to Paschor that the Lord had not called your name this name, Paschor; another name has been laid upon you—as to Jacob Israel, as to Abram Abraham, as to Sarai Sarah, so upon you he has laid the name Exile (Metoikos). And for this reason he has called you Exile, since the Lord says: behold, I give you into exile with all—with whom? not with your wife and your sons and your daughters, but with your friends. And when you are given into exile, your friends shall fall by the sword. Then, as though there were a difference for those who fall by the sword—whether they fall by the sword of enemies or by the sword of others—he says that the friends of the one who cast Jeremiah into the dungeon shall fall by the sword of their enemies. And your eyes, he says, shall see these things that are prophesied. And I will give you and all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, after your friends have suffered these things, and they shall deport them to Babylon and cut them down; for the king of Judah and those of Judah they shall cut down with the sword, and no longer is "of their enemies" added, as in the case of the former, who are said to be friends of Paschor. Then it says: and I will give all the strength of this city and all the treasures of the king of Judah and all the labors of this city into the hands of their enemies, so that the enemies may plunder the treasures and take the aforesaid things and lead Judah and its king away to Babylon. But you, O Paschor, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies. It was necessary both to cut short the whole passage and to make it clear—not yet its deep meaning (if indeed we have room for it), but rather the wording and the plain sense itself, which even any ordinary person who attends carefully to the writings and not in a perfunctory way can, even so, understand. What then do these things intend? Here the struggle is to set forth the intention of these writings. And indeed I confess for my own part that I am unable to expound them, but that I need, as I said before, the appearing of the power of Jesus—inasmuch as he is Wisdom, inasmuch as he is Word, inasmuch as he is Truth—so that his appearing may make light upon the face of my soul.

…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. So Paschor "struck Jeremiah the prophet," and with emphasis: "and he struck Jeremiah the prophet." "The prophet" is added. Here, then, the one who struck struck Jeremiah the prophet. But it is recorded in the Acts that someone struck Paul, being ordered to do so by Ananias the high priest. Wherefore Paul said: "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall." And even now the Ebionites, ordered by a transgressing high priest of the word, strike the apostle of Jesus Christ with blasphemous words. And Paul says to such a high priest of the word: "God is going to strike you." And such a high priest is on the surface fair and a whitewashed wall, but "within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." But why do I speak concerning Paul and Jeremiah? My Lord Jesus Christ himself says: "I gave my back to scourges, and my cheeks to blows, and I did not turn my face away from the shame of spitting." The simple know these things as belonging only to that time then, when Pilate scourged him, when the Jews took counsel against him. But I see Jesus daily "giving his back to scourges." Enter into the synagogues of the Jews, and see Jesus scourged by them with the tongue of blasphemy. See those gathered from the nations, taking counsel against Christians—in what manner they seize Jesus—and he "gives his own back to scourges." Consider the Word of God insulted, spoken against, hated by the unbelievers. See that "he gave his cheeks to blows," and having taught that if anyone strike "you on the cheek, turn to him the other also," he himself does this. So many strike him and scourge him, and he is silent and does not speak. For it is recorded that he did not speak while being scourged. And "his face until now Jesus has not turned away from the shame of spitting." Which of those who make light of the teaching does not, as it were, spit even until now upon the Jesus who endures it?

It followed, after the prophet had been struck, to recount those who were struck—as, for instance, to speak of the apostle and if any other has been struck, and to set forth also the things concerning Jesus himself. So "Paschor struck Jeremiah the prophet, and cast him into the dungeon which was in the gate of Benjamin of the upper chamber." The dungeon of the upper chamber was Benjamin's. Jerusalem is the allotted inheritance of Benjamin, in which is the temple of God, as one able to hear the divine readings will find from the inheritance recorded in the book of Nun (Joshua). Since, then, the temple was in the inheritance of Benjamin, which is interpreted "Son of the right hand" (for there is nothing on the left concerning the temple of God), for this reason this man casts him "into the dungeon which was in the gate of Benjamin of the upper chamber of the house of the Lord." Though an "upper chamber in the house of the Lord" was present, "he cast" the prophet "into the dungeon." And let us too exhort, that having now taken Jeremiah we may bring him up to the upper chamber "in the house of the Lord." And I will show from the Scripture that the upper chamber is the lofty and exalted mind, when it bears witness to the saints that they received the prophets into the upper chambers. In the third book of Kingdoms there is recorded a widow who received Elijah the prophet in Sarepta of Sidonia, who lodged the prophet "in her upper chamber." And in the fourth book, the woman who received Elisha prepared for him a house in the upper chamber. But the sinner Ochozias fell from the upper chamber. And Jesus enjoins you also not to come down from the housetop. For "when," he says, such and such things happen, "then" "let him who is on the housetop not come down to take the things out of his house." He who flees in the persecutions is not told, "let him not go up onto the housetop," but, "let him not come down from the housetop to take the things out of his house." It is good, then, to be in upper chambers, good to be on housetops and to be somewhere up above. And the wondrous apostles too, as it is recorded of them in the Acts, when, being together in one place, they gave their leisure to the prayers and to the word of God, were in an upper chamber. And since they were in an upper chamber, they were not below. For this reason "there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire." But Peter too, when he sent up his prayer to God, "went up onto the housetop"; and if he had not gone up onto the housetop, he would not have seen "a vessel descending from heaven like a sheet let down from heaven by four corners." But she too who did the almsdeeds, "Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas," was not below, but "in the upper chamber," where Peter went up and raised her from the dead. But Jesus too, when he was about to celebrate this feast whose symbol we perform, the Passover, with his disciples, when they inquired of him, "Where do you wish that we should prepare for you the Passover?" said: "As you go, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. That man will show you a large upper room, furnished, swept, ready; there prepare the Passover." No one, then, who keeps the Passover as Jesus keeps Jesus' Passover, is above in a large upper room, in a swept upper room, in an upper room adorned and ready. And if you go up with him to celebrate the Passover, he gives you the cup of the new covenant, he gives you also the bread of blessing, he bestows his own body and his own blood. For this reason we exhort you: "Go up to the height, lift up your eyes to the height." And to me too, if I teach the divine word, the word says: "Go up onto a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, do not be afraid." These things are said because of Paschor, that though an "upper chamber in the house of the Lord at the gate of Benjamin" was at hand, he did not bring the prophet up into the upper chamber, but "cast him into the dungeon" below.

(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. However, the name of the high priest is changed, so that it may show the punishment of the future from the name. You will by no means have a blackened face and the unjust rule of power; but you will be led captive to Babylon, for this signifies fear from all sides or all around: that trembling and uncertain of your own safety, you look around here and there, and shrink back at the adversaries coming against you. For fear, which is written in Hebrew as Magur ((Al. Magor)), LXX and Theodotio μέτοικον, that is, a migrant, Aquila's second edition as a foreigner, the first as a watcher, Symmachus as taken away or gathered together.

"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"? For as long as the present day stands (and today is all this present age), the sinner casts the prophet down into the dungeon; but if the present day cease and the morrow come, then, having repented, he brings him out of the dungeon. Then Jeremiah tells him what Paschor will suffer. What does he say to him? "The Lord did not call your name Paschor, but Exile. For thus says the Lord." This Paschor is going to be deported, according to the desert of his sins, to Babylon—not alone, but also with his friends. For he is handed over to Nabuchodonosor and departs into the Confusion (Sygchysis) and is punished for his sins, since "he cast the prophet into the dungeon." Who then are the friends of Paschor, whose name is that of Blackness (Melania) of the mouth? All those who have received his words, those who have been blackened together with his blackened mouth, those who have received doctrines of blackness. "And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies." Those set over the punishments—these are the ones who have the swords and make them fall; concerning whom the word prophesies and says: "and your eyes shall see." These things, he says, that are prophesied, "your eyes shall see."

"And I will give you and all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon." Whoever of Judah is caught being so much a sinner as to be worthy of the king of Babylon, of the Confusion, shall be handed over to him. And the king of Babylon takes those who sin. And the king of Babylon is, according to the history, Nabuchodonosor, but according to the anagogical sense, the evil one. And to him the sinner is handed over, since he is both things, both enemy and avenger. And that the sinner is handed over to him, let Paul teach you: in one place saying concerning Phygelus and Hermogenes, "whom I handed over to Satan, that they might be instructed not to blaspheme"; and in another place, concerning the man who had committed fornication: "when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, I have judged to hand over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ." Thus is this Paschor, the Blackness of the mouth, handed over into the hands of the king of Babylon, and they deport him to Babylon.

"And they shall cut them down with the sword. And I will give all the strength of this city." It is easy to say that these things are prophesied concerning Jerusalem; for all her strength and the things then brought upon her were handed over to the king of the Babylonians. It is easy to say that these things are prophesied concerning "this city," which in the times of the Savior was handed over to the enemies. And the sons of Jerusalem went off into captivity, and the city was razed. But if you examine the matters and look upon a city not as the stones but as the men, you will see that that Jerusalem too, the men, were handed over "into the hands of the king of Babylon" because of their impiety and sin against the Christ. And you too are now Jerusalem. If, then, the word now threatens Jerusalem, be afraid lest ever you too, if you sin, be a sinful Jerusalem and be handed over, so that you may no longer be Jerusalem but become Babylon and Confusion, Nabuchodonosor the king of the Babylonians having taken you. "And all the labors" of Jerusalem he hands over. How does he hand over "all the labors"? If, after contending and struggling, you fall away and sin, all your labors have come into the hands of Nabuchodonosor. How, all your labors? It will be said to you, if you fall after having toiled much on behalf of truth: "Did you suffer so many things in vain?" Especially those who are conscious of having drawn up many labors on behalf of virtue ought to be afraid, lest, having become Jerusalem, Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon take their labors, once some sin has occurred. And so that you may see more clearly how Nabuchodonosor takes the labors of Jerusalem when she has sinned, I will make use of what is written in Ezekiel in this way: "The righteous man, if he turn away from his righteous deeds and commit a transgression, I will by no means remember his righteous deeds which he did." Why? For Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, takes the righteous deeds done with labor and Nabuchodonosor makes them vanish.

"And all the honor" of Jerusalem he takes, when a man, having been in honor from God and "being in honor," "did not understand" and sinned. If, then, knowing that you are in honor and having been called to the honor, you again dishonor yourself through your sins, the Babylonian king takes the honor of Jerusalem. "And all the treasures of the king of Judah." Jerusalem is rich, but if she sins, the Babylonian takes her treasures. "And they shall plunder them and take them and bring them to Babylon. And you, Paschor, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried." He who is caught in the Confusion dies in Babylon; and he who is disposed contrary to being buried together with Christ, this man is buried in Babylon. For it is possible also to be buried well with Christ through baptism, according to the saying, "we were buried together with Christ, and rose together with him." As it is a mystery to be buried together with Christ, so it is a mystery, when one has come to be in lawlessness, being a sinner, to be buried in Babylon. "And all," it says, "your friends there shall depart, to whom you prophesied lies." He who expounds the oracles of God badly and casts the prophetic words into a dungeon—this man does prophesy, but he prophesies lies; for one who expounds the prophetic words, if he speaks truth, himself also prophesies, and prophesies truth, but if he lies, he is a false prophet, speaking falsely against the prophetic words.

(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. And I will give all the wealth (or strength) of this city, and all its labor, and all its precious things (or glory), and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, and take them away, and bring them to Babylon. But as for you, Phasur, and all the inhabitants of your house, you will go into captivity, and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsehood. According to the previous interpretation, in which Phasur (also known as Phaschor) had its name changed to Magur (or Magor), all similarly translated it to signify either terror, or sojourning, or removal and relocation, and congregation. And he is being pursued by his friends, about to be seized and handed over to the enemy's hands, and the whole Jewish population is to be occupied by the hands of the Babylonian king, some to be killed by the sword, and others to be led into captivity, and all the riches of both the city and the royal treasures are to be taken by the enemies. And Phasur himself and his entire family are to be led into captivity, and he is to die in Babylon, because he deceived his people with lies, promising not true and sad things, but prosperous things through deceit. At the same time, the patience and prudence of the Prophet are to be noted, as he remains silent when sent to prison, and through silence, he overcomes the injustice. However, he does not conceal what he knows will come to pass, so that at least in this way, the false prophet, the high priest, may cease to sin and implore the mercy of God.

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 against the various nations surrounding them, thus leading him to accept his prophetic mission willingly. To the contrary, however, as it turns out, he found himself preaching to a captive Jerusalem that suffered persecution and imprisonment. He also adds, "I have become an object of derision all the day; everyone mocks me," because they all judged him to be a liar and everything that he had prophesied to them to be a lie. For, as the prophet thought that the future that the Lord predicted was to be realized immediately, the people also expected nothing further to be coming that did not arrive at once. And he continues, in effect, "I announce destruction at the hands of Babylon and the iniquity of the army through which my people are to be oppressed." Yet, if we follow the Septuagint, which reads, "I will laugh with my bitter message, I will invoke falsehood and misery," this is the meaning: "I know that the present sorrow is to be exchanged for future joy, according to what is written, 'Blessed are those who weep now, for they will laugh.' " For this reason, I willingly endure misery and iniquity and affliction now, so that I can invoke and even desire them and the brevity of their injury in exchange for eternal happiness.

(Verse 7, 8.) You have deceived me, Lord, and I have been deceived (or you have beguiled me, Lord, and I have been beguiled). You were stronger than me and prevailed (or you obtained and were able to). I have become a mockery all day long, everyone mocks me; because now I speak, crying out injustice and devastation (or because with bitter words I will laugh at transgression and call upon misery). The Prophet says he was deceived by the Lord, because from the beginning hearing: I have appointed you as a Prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). And again: Behold, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build up, and to plant (Jeremiah, 1:10), thinking that he would say nothing against the people of Judah, but rather against the various nations around. Therefore, he gladly accepted the prophecy; and it happened contrary, that while predicting the captivity of Jerusalem, he endured persecutions and hardships. And he accomplished it. I have become a laughingstock all day long, everyone mocks me, because they think that he has been lying about everything and that all the things he predicted would happen were lies. And the Prophet immediately thought that what the Lord had threatened would come true, and the people thought that it would not come any more because it had not come immediately. And I cry out about the destruction of Babylon and the wickedness of the enemies through which my people will be oppressed. But if we follow the Seventy in what they said, that with bitter words I will laugh at their prevarication and call upon their misery, this is the meaning: I know that present sorrow will be exchanged for future joy, according to what is written: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:5); and therefore I willingly endure misery, wickedness, and affliction, so that I may desire and invoke them, and compensate for the brevity of the injustice with the eternity of happiness.

And indeed the one passage has been completed; but now let us begin the second also; for it too has matters, right from its first phrase, that are not trivial. And attending to the phrasing, let us again ask Jesus to come, and let us exhort him to come more manifestly and more brightly, so that coming he may teach us all whether the prophet spoke truthfully—as is fitting to think concerning a prophet—the things that follow, or falsely, which it is not lawful to say concerning a holy prophet. He says to God: "You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived; you prevailed and were mighty; I became a laughingstock, all the day long I continued being mocked; because with a bitter word of mine I will laugh, I will call upon faithlessness and misery; because the word of the Lord became to me a reproach and a derision all the day. And I said: I will not name the name of the Lord, and I will no longer speak upon his name. And it became in my heart as a burning fire blazing in my bones, and I am utterly loosened on every side and I am unable to bear it, because I heard the reviling of many gathering round about," and evidently "saying": "Conspire, and let us conspire against him, we his friends; watch his intention, whether he will be deceived, and we shall prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him." But while they say these things, the prophet says: "And the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior; therefore they persecuted and could not understand; they were exceedingly ashamed, because they did not perceive their dishonor, which through the age shall not be forgotten." This is the second passage of the reading.

How then does the prophet say: "You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived"? Does God deceive? How I am to dispose of the saying, I am at a loss. For if, on account of God and his word, I look at all into it, what is to be said requires a noble disposition. Having ceased from being deceived, the prophet says: "You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived"—as though his elementary instruction and introduction had come to him in deception, since he could not be given his elements and be introduced into the fear of God unless he were first deceived, so that he might come afterward to a joint perception of the deception. But it suffices only to give one example useful for the things before us. We speak to little children in guiding the children, and we do not speak to them as to the perfect, but as to little children needing instruction we speak to them, and we deceive the children by frightening them, so that they may cease from the lack of instruction that is in children; and we frighten the children, speaking words of deception because of what underlies their infancy, so that through the deception we may make them afraid and resort to teachers and report and do the things that pertain to the progress of children. We are all little children to God and we need the guidance of children. For this reason God, sparing us, deceives us (even if we do not perceive the deception beforehand), so that we may not, as having passed beyond infancy, be instructed any longer through deception, but through the realities. In one way the little child is led to fear, in another way the one who has advanced in age and passed through the childish age. For if I am able, guiding it through deception, so that the God who deceives may say: "I will instruct them in the hearing of their affliction."

I will set before you histories, how God deceives for the sake of salvation and says certain things, so that the sinner may cease from doing what he would have done had he not heard these certain words. He who says, "Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown"—was he speaking truthfully, or not truthfully and deceiving with a deception that turns one back? Which turning back, if it had not occurred, the thing said would no longer be a deception but already truth, and the overthrow would have followed for Nineveh. It lay with the hearers either, having been deceived and having believed the things said as true, to be benefited and not overthrown; or, the thing said not becoming true and they not being deceived but grasping that the things said would not be, to despise the things said as a deception and to suffer not "Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," but—I dare even to say—things far more grievous than "Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." For, by the hypothesis, the Ninevites having sinned, if they had not repented, perhaps indeed "Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown" would have come to pass; but grant that this did not come to pass—something worse than this would have come to pass: they would have been handed over to eternal fire.

For this reason another punishment is spoken of according to the Law for those who are guided as children; but for those "to whom the fullness of the time came," other punishments are recorded. Compare the punishments of sinners according to the Law with the punishments of sinners according to the Gospel, and you will see that those men, as infants, heard punishments fitting for those infants, but we, as perfect in age, hear more grievous punishments. If an adulterer or an adulteress came to be then, the threat is not gehenna, not eternal fire, but: he shall be stoned with stones; "let all the congregation stone him." He who is found in these things, the adulterer, the adulteress found in these things, will say as she departs: would that concerning me too the word would say, the people cast me with stones and I was not kept for the eternal fire. For "liable to the gehenna of fire" is not only the adulterer, but also he who says to his brother "You fool." And if he who says to his brother "You fool" "shall be liable to the gehenna of fire," to what shall the adulterer be liable? I seek some greater place of punishment than the gehenna of fire. And perhaps I would say that the gehenna is for the involuntary sins, for those able to be cleansed. And just as concerning the good things, the things of the righteous, "it has not come up upon the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him," so the things which he has prepared for sinners, for fornicating, for committing adultery, "have not come up upon the heart of man." For if there had come up upon the heart that to which he becomes liable who says to his brother "You fool," it is clear that greater than what comes up upon the heart is the thing prepared for those who have sinned the worse things. But I am unable to conceive of anything greater than gehenna; I only believe that there is something greater than gehenna, the thing prepared for those who commit adultery. Thus I come also to the rest of the punishments according to the Law, and I take an apostolic phrase in accord with these things, one that has silenced my punishment if I sin, since I do not wish, having received "You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived," to be deceived well. And what does the apostle say? "One who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercies on two or three witnesses; of how much worse punishment do you think he shall be deemed worthy who has trampled upon the Son of God?" Name the punishment, O Paul; tell it. But I do not tell it, he says; greater than what can be said is the punishment of those who sin under the Gospel, greater than what is heard, greater than what is thought. For this reason the prophet was introduced as a child, having heard and been afraid and been instructed and after this been perfected, saying: "You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." And you too, as long as you are a child, be afraid of the threats, so that you may not suffer the things beyond the threats, the eternal punishments, the unquenchable fire, or perhaps something greater than this, the thing laid up for those who have lived contrary to right reason for a longer time. Of all which may we by no means make trial, but, being perfected in Christ Jesus, may we be justified worthily of the heavenly feasts and of the Passover that is there, unto the anagogical ascent in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

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? Yet each of these, in the judgment of one who knows how to "hear dark sayings," will be found worthy of God. For His anger is not fruitless, but as His word instructs, so also His anger instructs; for those who are not instructed by the word He instructs by anger. And it is necessary for God to make use of what is called anger, just as He makes use of what is named "word"; for neither is His word such as is the word of all others. For no one's word is a "living being," no one's word is "God," no one's word "was in the beginning" with Him with whom the Word was, even if He alone † be from some beginning. So too the anger of God is called anger, but not as is the anger of just anyone. And just as the Word of God has something foreign to it beyond every word of anyone whatsoever, and has, foreign to it, the being God, and the being a living being while being Word, the subsisting according to itself, the ministering to the Father — so, since the so-called anger of God has once been named, it too has something foreign and alien to all the anger of the one who is circumscribed. So also His wrath has something proper to it; for it is the wrath of the purpose that reproves, wishing to turn the one reproved through the reproof. The word also reproves, as the word instructs; but the word does not reprove in the way that wrath reproves. For those who are not benefited by the reproof that comes from the word will need the reproof that comes from wrath.

We were saying that there is also a certain repentance of God that on its face seems inappropriate, since it is written: "I have repented that I anointed Saul to be king." And you will inquire worthily also into the repentance, and do not suppose that His repentance has any kinship with the repentance of those who repent. For as His word had something exceptional, His anger something, His wrath something surpassing, and none of these had any kinship with the things of the same name, in the same manner also His repentance is homonymous with our repentance; and things are homonymous of which the name alone is common, but the account of the essence corresponding to the name is different. Only the name, therefore, is common to the wrath of God and the wrath of anyone whatsoever, and only the name is common to the anger of anyone whatsoever and the anger of God. So too it must be understood in the case of repentance. And whoever is able will inquire what the repentance of God accomplishes, what it accomplished. It cast down Saul, who was reigning lawlessly, and raised up as king for the people the man after God's own heart; for He said, on account of that good repentance: "I have found a man after my own heart, David the son of Jesse." But all these are for me a preamble, because the beginning of the reading from Jeremiah runs thus: "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived."

For we inquire whether perhaps, as the wrath of all others is evil but that of God is reproving, and the anger of all others is grievous but that called God's is instructive, and the repentance of all of us accuses the weakness of the reasoning that preceded the repentance, whereas in the case of God His repentance does not accuse God, but the external circumstances in view of which the repentance is taken up — so too must one understand that the deception of God is also of a different kind from our deception, by which we deceive. What then is the deception on God's part, which the prophet, having understood it — when he ceased being deceived, having come to know the benefit that comes from having been deceived — utters, "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived"?

And first I will make use of a Hebrew tradition, which has come to us through a certain man who fled on account of faith in Christ and because he had ascended above the Law, and who came to where we dwell. Now he used to relate something — whether an apparent fable or an account able to draw its hearers to the words "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." He used to say something of this sort: God does not act as a tyrant, but reigns as king, and reigning He does not use force, but persuades, and He wishes those under Him to offer themselves willingly to His governance, so that the good of anyone may not be by necessity, but according to his own free choice. Which Paul too, understanding, said in the Epistle to Philemon, to Philemon concerning Onesimus: "that your good may not be by necessity but by free choice." The God of the universe was therefore able to make what is reckoned good in us, so that we might of necessity give alms and of necessity be temperate, but He has not willed it. Therefore He does not command us out of grief or of necessity to do the things we do, so that what is done may be voluntary. He seeks, so to speak, a way by which someone might do willingly the things God wills. Now the tradition told me also something of this kind: He wished to send Jeremiah to prophesy to all the nations and, before all the nations, to the people. But since the prophecies had something rather gloomy in them — for they announced punishments, with which each would be punished according to his desert — and since He knew the disposition of the prophet, who did not wish to prophesy the worse things to the people of Israel, on this account He arranged to say: "Take this cup, and you shall give to drink to all the nations to whom I send you." God therefore commanded Jeremiah to take a cup, and urging him on to take the cup of the unmixed wine, He says: "and I will send you to all the nations, holding this cup of the unmixed wine." But Jeremiah, having heard that he was being sent to all the nations, that he was to minister to them a cup of anger, a cup of punishments, not suspecting that Israel too was about to drink from the cup of punishment, was deceived and took the cup to give drink to all the nations; and having taken the cup, he heard: "and you shall give to drink first the ..." Since, then, he expected one thing, but another met him, on this account he says: "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived."

Similar to this account he rendered also in the case of Isaiah; for that one too, not knowing what he was about to be commanded to say to the people, hears God saying, according to what is written: "Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?" And he, it says, answered: "Behold, here am I; send me." He hears: "Go and say to this people, 'By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown fat,'" and what follows. Since, then, not knowing what he was about to prophesy and that he was about to threaten the people, he said such things as "Behold, here am I; send me," on this account, it says, in what follows, "A voice of one saying, 'Cry out,'" he did not answer as ready to do what was commanded, but said, "What shall I cry?" For he was wary lest again he should hear, as in the case of the former prophecy, "Go and say to this people, 'By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand.'" "What," then, "shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass," and what follows. In these things he heard nothing against Israel. These things that man told us, handing down the words "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived."

But I pray that the things I receive from those who give may not merely be kept, nor that I may "bury in the earth the talent" of those who speak to me, nor "tie up in a napkin the mina" of those who teach something useful, but that I may make an increase of the lessons which I receive from the one who hands down and is able to hand down useful things. I pray to make the mina — whether of gospel or of apostle or of prophet or of law — manifold. Having heard these things, then, I was considering with myself concerning the words "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." And considering, I pray to find something true bearing on the passage. Perhaps, then, just as a father wishes to deceive a son who is still an infant, for his benefit, since he cannot be helped otherwise unless the child is deceived; as a physician contrives to deceive the sick man, who cannot be healed unless he accepts words of deception — so also the God of the universe, since He has set before Him to benefit the human race. Let the physician say to the sick man: You must be cut, you must be cauterized, you must suffer other, more grievous things — that man would not offer himself. But sometimes he says something else, and he has hidden beneath the sponge that cutting, dividing iron, and again he hides, so to name it, beneath the honey the nature of the bitter and the unpleasant drug, wishing not to harm but to heal the one being treated. With such drugs the whole of divine Scripture is filled. And some things are wholesome that are hidden, and some things are bitter that are hidden. If you see a father threatening as though he hated his son and saying fearful things to the son and not displaying his affection, but hiding his love toward the son, you will see that he wishes to deceive the infant; for it is not expedient for the son to be aware of the father's love, of the friendly disposition; for he would be enfeebled and not instructed. On this account he hides the sweetness of his affection, but shows the bitterness of the threat.

Something of this kind God does, by analogy with a father and a physician. There are certain bitter things, which heal even the most righteous and the wisest ... For everyone who has sinned must be punished for his sins. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." "Whether fornicator or adulterer or effeminate or abuser of himself with mankind or thief or drunkard or reviler or robber, they shall not inherit the kingdom of God." If this is understood and pressed precisely by those who are unable to see the physician's iron beneath the sponge, by those who are unable to perceive the bitter drug beneath the honey, someone will lose heart. For which of us is not conscious to himself of having drunk without deliberation and become drunk? Which of us is pure from theft and from not having procured the necessities of life as he ought? But observe what the word says: "Be not deceived, for these shall not inherit the kingdom of God." The mystery pertaining to this passage must be kept hidden, so that the multitude may not lose heart, so that one may not, having learned the facts, await his departure not as rest but as punishment. Or who will be found a Paul, able to say, "For it is far better to depart and be with Christ"? My own wood must be burned in me. For I know that, if I go out, my own wood must be burned in me. And I have as wood my revilings, I have as wood my drunkennesses, as wood my thefts, and countless other pieces of wood I have built onto my building. Do you see that all these things escape the notice of the many of those who have believed, and rightly escape notice? And each of us supposes, since he has not committed idolatry, since he has not committed fornication (would that we might be pure even in such things), that upon being released from life he will be saved. Do we not see that "we must all be presented before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may receive the things done through the body according to what he did, whether good or evil"? Do we not see Him who said, "But you have I known out of all the tribes of the earth; on this account I will take vengeance upon you for all your practices" — not some but not others?

Since, therefore, the physician sometimes conceals the physician's iron beneath the soft and tender sponge, and the father too conceals his affection through the appearance of the threat, and of deceptions some remove the fatty tumors and the varicose veins and whatever else harms the constitution of the body, while this one strips away lack of instruction and slackness — such a thing the prophet has understood God to do, mystically, and, seeing the things in which he had been deceived by God for a good end, he says: "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." He led him to so great a grace, to praying and saying to God: Deceive me, if this is expedient. For one is the deception that comes from God, another the deception that comes from the serpent. Observe what the woman says to God: "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." And the deception that came from the serpent took Adam and his wife out of the paradise of God; but the deception that came upon the prophet who said, "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived," led him to so great a grace of prophecy, to the increasing in him of the power, to his being perfected and being able to minister, without fearing man, to the will of the word of God. Understanding these things, then, let us also, both for the present and for the future, pray to be deceived by God. Only let not the serpent deceive us. And elsewhere something akin to this is written, since it is said in Isaiah: "For the Lord mingled for them a spirit of error." There too you will attend to what the spirit of error does when it is mingled by God. And it is well that God has not given the spirit of error unmixed, but, as the prophet named it, mingled it.

I wish to venture and to give an example of those who have been benefited by being deceived. There are some who practice chastity and purity for this reason, and others who practice single marriage for this reason, since they have expected that the one who has had marital intercourse perishes, that the one who has married twice perishes. Let us compare with ourselves what profits the woman of single marriage: to have been deceived and to suppose that the twice-married woman is punished and delivered to eternal punishment, so that she may remain of single marriage and pure; or to know the truth and marry twice? I think that, in the judgment of anyone whatsoever who sees the consequence, one can say that it was indeed more blessed to be pure and not to marry twice, without being deceived, and to see that the twice-married woman too shares in a certain salvation, though not in so great a blessedness as she would have who, though free to marry twice, kept herself pure; but if she cannot do this, it is better to have been deceived, as though the twice-married perish, and through the deception to keep herself pure, than to have known the truth and to have come to be in the lesser rank of the twice-married. Something of this kind you will find also in the case of certain who practice chastity and complete purity. And many other things too might be found that are done by us by way of deception and that benefit us. And how many who are reckoned wise, having found the truth about punishment and having gone through, as it were, the things of the deception, have come to be in a worse manner of life? It profited them to think, as they thought before, concerning "their worm shall not die" and that "their fire shall not be quenched" and that "they shall be a spectacle to all flesh" and that "the chaff shall be burned up with unquenchable fire"; but if, imagining something else contrary to their first conception, they should "come to despise the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and long-suffering," observe whether it is not truly on this account — since they did not think themselves deceived — that they "have stored up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath and revelation and righteous judgment of God," which they would not have stored up had they been deceived. These things are on account of the deception from God, since the prophet said: "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived."

But let us pass on separately also to the words "I was deceived." Why did he not say only "You have deceived me, Lord," but added also "and I was deceived"? It is possible sometimes to conceive of someone working the deception, but of another who guards against being deceived and is not deceived. But when the one works the deceiving, and the other does not guard against being deceived but falls into the deception, he might say: "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." And I, coming to this passage, would say some such things as these: whatever the serpent may say to me, even if he speaks true things to me, even if he wishes to deceive me, I regard his words with suspicion, being persuaded that, whether he deceives me or speaks truly, he harms me. For even his truth harms; nothing beneficial comes from the serpent, since "an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruits." But whatever God may say to me, and I am persuaded that it is God who speaks, I am ready to offer myself. He speaks truly — I accept it; He wishes to deceive me — willingly I am deceived, let God alone deceive me. And since I offer myself, being persuaded that it is God who speaks, both to be deceived, and I do not meddle, wishing, if deceived, to be deceived not by another but by God — on this account I say that not only did You work the deceiving, but that I too have undergone being deceived by You, and in accordance with this I say, "You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." And what follows upon God's being the one who deceives and man's being the one deceived? "You prevailed and were able." Then He prevails over me, if Christ, having deceived me at the beginning while I am still an infant, is also able to prevail. But if He does not prevail, then I have need of toils. "You prevailed and were able."

Next to these he says: "I became a laughingstock, all the day I continued being mocked." And upon this passage I used to hear these things: that Jeremiah came to be in the times of the most sinful men (for under him at any rate the captivity took place). And they were so sinful as to mock and laugh and scoff, whenever the prophet spoke the prophetic preamble, the "Thus says the Lord." Those who heard laughed and mocked at what was said. The one who had been deceived and benefited from being deceived guarded himself against saying "Thus says the Lord." Therefore he too, wishing to deceive with a view to being benefited from the deceiving, used to say: I speak to you my own words, since you do not hear the words of the Lord. Then those men lent their ears as to the words of Jeremiah, and heard words of God. These things the one who handed down the passage to me told me, examining the preambles and the beginnings of the prophecies. Now the beginning of the prophecy of Jeremiah is, among us, as the Seventy have handed it down — I do not know with what in view — "The word of God which came upon Jeremiah the son of Chelkias, of the priests," but in the Hebrew and the remaining editions it is "The words of Jeremiah son of Chelkias," and all agreed in saying "The words of Jeremiah son of Chelkias." Why, then, "The words of Jeremiah"? Because his preamble, in speaking to those who were unwilling to hear, was: Hear my words.

And we too sometimes do such things, whenever it appears profitable to us. Sometimes we bring forward arguments to those from among the nations, wishing to bring them to the faith, and if we see that they are prejudiced against Christianity and abominate the name and hate to hear that this word is of Christians, we do not pretend to speak a beneficial word of Christians. But when that word has been constructed by us according to our ability, and we seem to win over the hearer, who has not casually heard what was said, then we confess that this praiseworthy word was a word of Christians. And we do something similar to the one who said no longer "Thus says the Lord" but: Hear the words of me, Jeremiah. These things on account of "I became a laughingstock."

And do we too grow indignant, if ever we are laughed at while speaking, where Jeremiah, being such a man, says, "I became a laughingstock, all the day I continued being mocked"? Why do I say Jeremiah? Even my own Jesus was mocked; for "the Pharisees," it says, "being covetous, heard all these things, and mocked Him." But "the Lord mocks" all those who mock the words of God. "I became a laughingstock." Observe what sort of lives the prophets lived, at one point being laughed at, at another endangered and cast down and stoned by the people, being killed, hated, driven out; and they suffered and endured all things, that, according to the will of God, "seeking the glory that is from the Only One," preaching the word, they might attain the end that is from God. "All the day I continued being mocked." This is an accusation against those of that generation, that not even for a few days did the prophet cease being mocked, but "all the day he continued being mocked."

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. For this reason, I've decided within myself that I will no longer speak the word of God to the people of God, nor will I name his name. I am overcome with shame and embarrassment, however, at making this foolish resolution, as what feels like a burning fire is ablaze in my heart and enclosed in my bones, and I am altogether undone and therefore unable to bear it." For a divine word conceived in the soul, which is not then uttered through the mouth, burns in the chest. This is why Paul said, "If I evangelize, no glory redounds to me, for the need to preach the gospel is incumbent on me. Indeed, woe to me if I fail to preach! If I do so willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, an office is entrusted to me." Moreover, seeing in Athens a city devoted to idolatry, Paul was incited by the Spirit and became impassioned with his whole mind. Hence, later in the same book we read, "When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was devoting himself to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah." But a great many teachers in the church even today sustain against themselves similar invective from a number of congregations, hearing their audience say, "Oppose them! Let us oppose them!"

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. Jeremiah at least having borne many temptations, gave in upon these, and when he was reproached, said, "I will not prophesy, neither will I name the Name of the Lord." And David too many places complains of reproach. Isaiah also, after many things, exhorteth concerning this, saying, "Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye overcome by their reviling." And again, Christ also to His disciples; "When they shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely, rejoice and be exceeding glad," He saith, "for great is your reward in heaven."

"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 "they shall see God," and "they shall inherit the earth," and "theirs is the kingdom of heaven," so laughter is a promise; to which promise the contrary is the weeping that is called blessed. And you will inquire whether, with this good laughter, according to one and another conception, the weeping that is called blessed sings in harmony, while there is opposed to it another weeping, laid up, over which those bewailed with the contrary woes lament. For "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep"; for one is the weeping that is called blessed, another the weeping laid up for those who have lived badly. But whether that one too has some beneficial end, I do not know. What do I say? Hear Paul. When he taught, he set himself to grieve his hearers by his speaking. And he confesses that he was then most of all gladdened, when someone was grieved by him; for he says: "And who is it that gladdens me, if not the one grieved by me?" And if anyone is competent to move the soul of a hearer, especially of one who has sinned, he prays to speak such words as, being announced from power and array and divinity and holy conceptions, will shake the soul of the hearer and move it to mourning and to weeping and to tears, so that the speaker rejoices, † when he sees the audience delighted and full because of what is said. For where he leads to promises, as "through the narrow and afflicted way of being grieved unto life," also through weeping he leads to the laughter that is called blessed. But when he does not accomplish this, I fear lest he should say such things as: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep."

And to what purpose has this been said by me, save that, wishing to hint that he says, "with my bitter word I shall laugh," I might also set forth a laughter of weeping, and that weeping which those who laugh here shall weep — God perhaps contriving to engender weeping in them? For "there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." And this God contrives, seeing that the one who weeps over his own sins, the one who laments over his own transgressions, has already come to a perception of his own evils. Would that each of us, at each sin, said: "I will wash my bed every night, with my tears I will drench my couch." Would that each of us said, weeping over his own sins: "My tears became bread to me by day and by night." If my word here is rather bitter — and bitter because I am afflicted on account of it — the hearers are displeased. Those who are reproved, when they are burdened at the speaker, I know that upon my bitter word the end is to laugh, and to laugh the laughter of those who are called blessed. And knowing this perhaps the prophet said: "Because with my bitter word I shall laugh"; already "a bitter word," but I do not laugh already, but "with my bitter word I shall laugh."

"Faithlessness and misery I will call upon." The righteous man calls upon God, and the unrighteous man too calls upon wisdom; for it says, "It shall be, when you call upon me, but I will not hearken to you." There it is the unrighteous; but the righteous too clearly at times call upon wisdom: "and everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." But here the prophet says, "Faithlessness and misery I will call upon," calling upon faithlessness as one calls upon God, calling upon misery as one calls upon the Lord. Is it then a good thing that you call upon, Jeremiah, when you proclaim and say, "Faithlessness and misery I will call upon"? But we must consider the compacts that we make and the breaking of them (their "faithlessnesses"), that it is possible sometimes to make compacts wrongly; and after making compacts wrongly, would that we might call upon faithlessness. And so likewise, if I consider "the broad and spacious way that leads to destruction," and that in journeying along it I am not miserable, I move away "from the broad and spacious way" and come "to the narrow and afflicted one," and being miserable I say, "Misery I will call upon." I am about to break the compacts with the world and with worldly affairs, so that I may take up heavenly compacts. "Faithlessness I will call upon." And so, having left the way of "the broad and spacious road" and coming "to the narrow and afflicted one," so that I may become miserable like Paul, I say, "Misery I will call upon." For not every man will say, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?", but he who has understood the body of death, he who wishes to be delivered from the body of this death, will say, "Wretched man that I am." But he who loves the body, the many, he who disbelieves in the age to come, does not say, "Wretched man that I am," but counts himself blessed that he is a man, and blessed at being in the body of death. If then I am able, having understood how Paul said, "Wretched man that I am," not yet having called upon misery, I will call upon it by breaking the compacts made with wickedness, and I say like Jeremiah, "Faithlessness and misery I will call upon." For he did not say, "Faithlessness toward God I will call upon."

I wish to give an example from Scripture of a righteous person who breaks compacts, in order to show how that one in deed called upon faithlessness. Judith made compacts with Holofernes, that going out for a certain number of days she would pray to God, and after so many days she would offer herself to the bed of Holofernes. These compacts Holofernes accepted. He released Judith to her prayers outside the camp. What ought Judith to have done? To keep the compacts or to break them? It is agreed that she should break them; for to break those made with Holofernes was blessed in the sight of God. Judith was about to break the compacts made with Holofernes; she was about to say, "Faithlessness I will call upon"; and indeed she did call upon faithlessness. Would that I too might become such a one, so as to say, "Faithlessness I will call upon," and I will call upon faithlessness toward the serpent, faithlessness toward the devil. The serpent once made compacts with Eve, and she was a friend to him and the serpent to the woman. But God, being good, contrived that these compacts should be dissolved and this evil friendship scattered, and as a good God he says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed." Let us then hear with a right mind how God makes enmity toward the one, in order to make friendship toward Christ; for it is impossible to be at once a friend of opposites. And just as "no one can serve two masters," so no one can be at once a friend both "of God and of mammon," a friend both of Christ and of the serpent. But it is necessary that friendship toward Christ also make enmity toward the serpent, and that friendship toward the serpent beget enmity toward Christ.

"Faithlessness and misery I will call upon." But that you may understand still better the phrase "Misery I will call upon," let me describe something that happens among the ascetics. For often, when it is open to a man to marry and to have no difficulty, when the flesh rises up against the spirit, someone chooses not to use the liberty of marrying, but to be miserable and to labor, "to buffet the body with fastings and to bring it into bondage" "by abstinence from certain foods," and in every way "to put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit." Does not such a one, then, call upon misery, when it is possible for him to give himself over to luxury and pleasure and not to call upon misery? If then anyone is able to imitate the prophet, let him also call upon faithlessness, as we have explained, and let him call upon misery in his ascetic disciplines. And it happens that the account concerning Jeremiah is also true, that he lived in chastity; for the Lord said to him, "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you beget children." And he lived in chastity; for he called upon faithlessness and misery.

"For the word of the Lord became to me a reproach." Blessed Jeremiah, having no other reproach than the word of the Lord. But we wretches have reproaches not on account of the word of the Lord, but on account of our own sins, and we are reproached for the things in which we stumble and have stumbled, and we are reviled for our vices. But the Savior does not wish us to be reproached with such reproaches, saying, "Blessed are you when they reproach you and persecute you and say every evil word against you for my sake." "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy." "The word," then, he says, "of the Lord became to me a reproach and a mockery all the day."

And so far as the literal truth is concerned, it is useful to recount what things Jeremiah suffered among the people, with respect to which he said, "And I said, I will not speak, nor will I call on the name of the Lord." And again, elsewhere, "I was continually being mocked." And how great sufferings he endured from the then king of Israel are written in his prophecy. And it is also written that some of the people often came to stone Moses to death. His homeland was not the stones of any place but was instead the people who followed him, among whom also he was dishonored.

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. But that fire was a type of the Holy Spirit Who was to come down after the Lord's ascension, and forgive the sins of all, and Who like fire inflames the mind and faithful heart. Wherefore Jeremiah, after receiving the Spirit, says: "It became in my heart as a burning fire flaming in my bones, and I am vile and cannot bear it." In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and those others who were waiting for the Promise of the Father, we read that tongues as of fire were distributed among them. The soul of each one was so uplifted by His influence that they were supposed to be full of new wine, who instead had received the gift of a diversity of tongues.

Indeed, Christ, loving Moses, appeared to him in fire. And Jeremiah, having in himself the gift of divine love, said: "And there was a fire inflaming in my bones: and I was dissolved on every side, and I cannot bear it." Therefore, good charity having the wings of a burning fire, which flies through the chests and hearts of the saints, and consumes whatever is material and earthly: it tests whatever is sincere, and improves whatever it touches with its fire. This fire the Lord Jesus sent upon the earth, and faith shone forth, devotion was kindled, charity was illuminated, justice shone brightly. With this fire, he inflamed the hearts of his apostles, as Cleophas testifies, saying: Was not our heart burning within us, while he opened the Scriptures? Therefore, the flames of the Scriptures are divine. Indeed, the Scriptures were opening up, and the fire was coming forth, and it was penetrating the hearts of the listeners.

And thus with greater ardour she raises herself to the very bosom of the Father, wherein is the Only-Begotten Son of God Who declares the secrets of God, which in the time to come are to be revealed face to face. But even now He discloses them partly and in a figure to those whom He deems worthy, and at the same time sheds forth from the Spirit and from His own countenance floods of resplendent light, so that he who is illuminated thereby may say, "But it was as a fire blazing in my bones and I am melted on all sides, and cannot stay." And David says, "Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence!"

For so shall we remain partakers of Christ if we hold fast to the end the Spirit given at the beginning. For he said, "do not quench," not because the Spirit is placed in the power of people and is able to suffer anything from them, but because bad and unthankful people manifestly wish to quench it, since they, like the impure, persecute the Spirit with unholy deeds.… Now they, being without understanding, and deceitful and lovers of sin, walk still as in darkness, not having that "light that lights every one who comes in the world." Now a fire such as this laid hold of Jeremiah the prophet, when the word was in him as a fire and he said, "I leave every place and am not able to endure it." And our Lord Jesus Christ, being good and a lover of humankind, came that he might cast this on earth, and he said, "And would that it were already kindled!"

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. There comes to pass in them what was spoken by the blessed [Jeremiah], "I said, 'I shall not remember Him nor speak His name.' And there was in my heart as it were a flaming fire and it entered into my bones." Such is the recollection of God in the hearts of people who are drunk with hope on his promises.

(Verse 9, 10.) Because the word of the Lord has become a reproach to me, and a mockery all day long. And I said: I will not mention him (or I will not call the Lord by name), nor speak any more in his name. But there was as it were a burning fire in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I was weary (or dissolved) in enduring it, and could not bear it. For I heard the reproach of many, and terror on every side (or as they gathered together everywhere), persecute him, and we will persecute him. As I was proclaiming and saying that the Babylonian army was already coming and that all would be plundered by the hostile sword, the word of the Lord came to me as a reproach and mockery, as they considered the delay of the prophecy to be a lie. Therefore, I made up my mind not to speak any longer to the people of God with words, nor to mention His name. But when I was overcome with shame, though timidly and foolishly, it became like a burning fire in my heart, shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it any longer. For the divine word conceived in the mind, not spoken by the mouth, burns in the heart. Therefore, Paul also says: If I preach the Gospel, there is no glory for me. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, a stewardship is entrusted to me. And when he was in Athens and saw the city given to idolatry, he was stirred up in his spirit and greatly distressed. And shortly after in the same volume we read: 'And when Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.' (Acts 18). But even today, many of the Doctors in the Church endure similar things, hearing the condemnation of many that are gathered together against them, saying: 'Persecute them, and let us pursue them.'

That people, then, was sick; manifold diseases were in the people that had been called the people of God. God sent them physicians, the prophets. One of the physicians was Jeremiah too; he reproved the sinners, wishing to turn back those who were doing evil. But they, when they ought to have listened to what was said, accused the prophet, and accused him before judges who were much like themselves. And the prophet was always in lawsuits at the hands of those who, so far as his prophecy was concerned, were being healed, but who, because of their own disobedience, were not being healed. Concerning these things he says at one point: "And I said, I will not speak, nor will I name the name of the Lord. And it became like a burning fire, blazing in my bones, and I am unstrung on every side and cannot bear it." And at another point he says, seeing himself always brought to trial, reviled, accused, borne false witness against: "Woe is me, mother, as what have you borne me?" He said "a man" not judging but "being judged," and not passing judgment but "being disputed against by all the earth." And since the sick did not listen to him when he counseled them well and after the manner of a physician, he says, "I did not profit." And since, when he was lending the spiritual silver pieces, those to whom he spoke were unwilling to listen, that they might be profited by what they heard, he says, "Neither did anyone owe me, nor did I owe."

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. But Jeremiah, having suffered something sinful, was not ashamed, but recorded his own sin; for it was a sin, what was brought in with the words, "And I said: I will not name the name of the Lord, and I will no longer speak in his name." You were taught "to do all things in the name of the Lord," to act in the name of God; and yet you say, "May I not name the name of the Lord"? But what sort of name are you about to name? "The name of other gods you shall not call to remembrance in your hearts," and you say, "I will not name the name of the Lord, and I will no longer speak in his name"? He speaks then having suffered something human, which we too are often in danger of having suffered. And especially if anyone is conscious that, on account of teaching and the word, he once was miserable and suffered and was hated, he often says: I withdraw; what have I to do with troubles? If from this I am even involved in troubles—from teaching, from putting forth the word—why do I not rather withdraw to the desert and to quiet? Something of this sort the prophet also suffered, saying, "And I said: I will not name the name of the Lord, and I will no longer speak in his name."

But herein the Lord is good, who prevents such sins in men of such stature. He did not permit the prophet to speak truly in saying what lies before us, but in this too he made Jeremiah call upon faithlessness and break what had been said. For he said, "I will not name [any longer in his name] the name of the Lord, and I will no longer speak in his name." But he says, "It became in my heart as a burning fire, blazing in my bones, and I am utterly enfeebled and cannot bear it." The word of the Lord became a fire burning his heart. "And it became in my heart as a blazing fire, burning in my bones." He cast off the sin which he had committed in saying, "I will not name the name of the Lord, and I will no longer speak in his name," and Jeremiah cast off the sin at the very moment of speaking. Would that I too, at the very moment of sinning and speaking a sinful word, might perceive that "a fire has come to be in my heart, burning and blazing, so that I cannot bear it."

The word is about to venture something, but I do not know whether it is expedient for such an audience and such a one: it has said that there is a kind of fire, a fire not perceptible to the senses, that chastises the one chastised with pain to the point of his not bearing it. For he said, "It became in my heart as a blazing fire" and "burning" not in my heart only but also "in my bones, and I am utterly enfeebled and cannot bear it." I fear lest such be what is laid up for us, becoming a fire, as it came to be in the heart of Jeremiah. But we have not suffered it. If we had suffered this, and the two fires were set before us—this fire and the outer fire which we see upon those burned by the rulers of the nations—we would choose that fire rather than this. For that fire burns the surface, but this burns the heart, and beginning from the heart it penetrates to all the bones, and penetrating to the bones it comes upon the whole of the one being burned, and it comes in such a way that the one being burned cannot bear it. Who, upon this fire, can say, "and I cannot bear it"? I know that even robbers have been able to endure this fire, the pain from this fire. Another is the pain from the fire which Jeremiah described, saying, "And it became in my heart as a burning fire, blazing in my bones, and I am utterly enfeebled and cannot bear it." That fire the Savior kindles, who said, "I came to cast fire upon the earth." And since the Savior kindles that fire, therefore for those who are beginning to hear him he begins from the fire and first casts fire upon their heart; which Simon and Cleopas confess, saying concerning his words, "Was not our heart burning within us on the way, as he opened to us the Scriptures?" Here the heart is burned with fire, both Simon's and Cleopas's. Hear them saying, "Was not our heart burning?"

Who is now worthy to receive that fire in the heart, so that he may not receive it there? I wish to describe who it is that has this fire in the heart. Describe for me two who have committed the same kind of sin, the foul and unclean fornication, and of these two who have fornicated, the one not grieving nor pained nor stung, but suffering what is said in Proverbs concerning the harlot woman, "who, whenever she has acted, washes herself and says she has done nothing amiss." But look for me at the other, who after the fall cannot contain himself, but is chastised in his conscience, tormented in his heart, unable to eat and drink, fasting not by decision but by the anguish of repentance. Describe for me such a one "the whole day going about downcast and worn down, roaring from the groaning of his heart, seeing his sin before him" continually, convicting him in his presence. And behold such a one chastised not for one day nor for one night, but for a long time. Which of the two do you prefer? Which do you say has hopes with God? Is it that one who fornicated and was not concerned, but "grew callous, having given himself over to licentiousness," or this one who after the single sin mourns and laments? This one is † of hopes. The more he is burned by the fire of grief, so much the more is he pitied, and there is for him a sufficient time of chastisement, as much as the time of chastisement given to that one who fornicated and grieved. And since there is for this one a profitable time of chastisement here, therefore he contrived to chastise the one who has fornicated, and when he had chastised him with grief and saw the grief was sufficient, he says, "Lest such a one be swallowed up with too much grief, confirm your love toward him." Let each of us examine his own conscience, and let him see what he has sinned; for he must be chastised. Let him pray to God that this fire that was in Jeremiah may come upon him, and then the one that came upon Simon and Cleopas, so that he may not be reserved for the other fire; for if he has not received the fire here but has both sinned and been unconcerned, he will be reserved for that fire.

"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. For those who blamed him said, "Conspire, and let us all conspire against him, all the men his friends; watch his design, and he will be deceived." They wished to deceive him with another deception, a destructive one, opposite to the deception concerning which he said, "You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived." And these who conspire against him say, "And we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our vengeance upon him." Those convicted for their own sins think they have been wronged, and therefore, supposing they have been wronged, they say, "We shall take our vengeance upon him." Something of this sort those also did who sawed Isaiah asunder; for as though wronged (since the prophecies turned them about and chastised them, convicted them, rebuked them) they sawed him and condemned upon him a sentence of death.

"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. This empties free will and merit and reward of meaning: for if a man does of necessity what he does, what is the value of freedom of will? What will he merit? It also follows that God would be the origin of all evils. It is true that some disposition is left by the stars; but nevertheless God alone rules over the rational soul. Those who err thus shall have everlasting reproach.

(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. When the adversaries rise up, and former friends and peaceful men turn to war, and they want to set traps for us, let us not be greatly concerned; but let us desire to say this which the Prophet speaks: But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior.

Therefore those who persecute me will fall and be weak (or because they have persecuted me and could not understand). Let them be greatly ashamed because they did not understand the everlasting disgrace, which will never be destroyed. Because they have persecuted, they could not understand the prophetic word, and intense confusion followed their ignorance, and they did not understand the everlasting disgrace, which will possess them and will not be erased by any forgetfulness. So let them say what they want, those once peaceful men who guarded my side and desired to deceive, as long as a just man and teacher of the Church after such persecution may obtain such vengeance and rewards.

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 greatly ashamed and did not perceive their disgrace," being for so long a time disgraced they do not confess their own sins], because the Lord was with the persecuted one, and the persecuted one cannot come under their power. May it not then be, since many things of Jeremiah are referred to the Savior, that this too can be such? For "Conspire, and let us conspire against him" is said also concerning the Savior. And "the Lord" was with him "as a mighty warrior; therefore they persecuted and could not understand," the Jews who persecuted him; "they were greatly ashamed and did not perceive their disgrace," being for so long a time disgraced they do not confess their own sins, "which through the age shall not be forgotten," but they suppose that in this age their iniquities shall be forgotten. But we see that through the age their iniquities shall not be forgotten, and seeing this we remember the saying, "Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, how much more" the unnatural ones "will he not spare?"

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. For he alone searches the innermost recesses of the heart, and hears those that are in the fire, and listens to those who supplicate in the whale's belly and is near to all who believe, and far from the ungodly if they do not repent.

The Lord alone is able to certify justice, in the same way that he alone sees the interior of a person's heart. Hence, Jesus knows the thoughts of people not as an acquired skill, as some allege, but because he is God by nature. Such is what the psalmist sings: "No living creature will be justified in your presence." If none of those living in virtue are justified, how much more true will this be of those who are dead from sin! Even though the just person knows himself to have God as a defender, the impatience of human fragility desires to see right now what it knows to be coming. Jeremiah also entrusted his cause to God, to the one who said elsewhere, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord." But the conscience is happy whose cause is entrusted to the Lord, as the apostle said: "Anything that is visible is light."

Those who are poor in spirit and who have no riches to give them consolation in this world, concerning whom Paul said, "only let us be mindful of the poor," worshiped the Lord in spirit and gave thanks for being delivered from the hand of the wicked when they obtained vengeance from the Lord. Yet, none of this is due to our merit but to the grace of him who liberated the poor, of him who possesses none of the riches of corrupting pride but has the humility of the poor who are free.

(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. Thus, Jesus, knowing the thoughts of men, is not from advancement, as some may think, but by nature is God. Something similar is also expressed in the Psalms: No one living shall be justified in your sight (Psalm 143:2). If one who lives by virtues will not be justified, how much more so one who is dead because of sins? And even though he knows he has God as his advocate, still in the impatience of human frailty, he desires to see what he knows will come in the future, even now. And he to whom he revealed his cause, who says in another place: Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord (Deut. 32:35). But happy is the conscience for whom the cause is revealed to the Lord (Heb. 10:30), as the Apostle says: Everything that is revealed is light (Eph. 5:13).

"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 another thing. He does not examine the hearts and reins of all, but of those who have sinned; for I attend to the meaning of "examine," which is used in this life concerning those who are tortured. In the courts some examine, others are examined, and there are those also in the heaviest pains. But the Lord alone has a new manner of examinations, for he is one who examines hearts, and to the Lord alone belongs the examining of hearts and reins. Robbers here are examined in their sides at the command of a ruler, but there it is not by command of God, but by the Lord himself that one is examined as to reins and hearts—unless indeed I here say that the one commanded is the Son, and the one commanding is the Father, and that the Word is the one who examines hearts and reins. And of all tortures, I think, of all pains, heavier are those from the Word, when it examines both hearts and reins. Therefore let us do all things, so that we may not be handed over to that examination. Than which examination I think those handed over to those called in the Gospel the tormentors suffer less; for they are handed over to many, perhaps to more tormentors at the beginning, not yet becoming worthy to be handed over to the one Word that examines hearts and reins. That rich man was not yet worthy to be handed over to the one who examines hearts and reins; therefore he was tormented by more. But later, whether that one too suffers this or not, let him who is able examine. Nevertheless, what awaits us are tormentors and one who examines the hearts and reins for our sins; from which sins, if we are not more quickly delivered, in these we shall be. Therefore, having risen up, let us ask for the help that comes from God, that we may be blessed in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory unto the ages. Amen.

(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. 13), when he has obtained vengeance from the Lord, praises the Lord in spirit, and boasts of being delivered from the hand of the wicked. However, all this happens not by our merit, but by the grace of Him who freed the poor, and it does not have the riches of the falling pride, but the humility of the freed poor.

How much dissatisfaction do we see that even the brief stages of our lives bring on us! The boy longs to be a young man. The young man counts the years when he will be older. The mature man, ungrateful for the blessing of being in the prime of life, eagerly desires the honor associated with old age. Thus, to all there comes naturally a desire for change, simply because we become dissatisfied with what we are now. Therefore, even the very things that we have wished for become wearisome to us on their enjoyment, and what we have desired to obtain we reject on its attainment. Consequently, holy people have not without reason lamented their prolonged sojourning here: David lamented it, Jeremiah lamented it, Elijah lamented it. If we can believe wise people, even those in whom the divine Spirit spoke were hastening to better things.

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, "Let the day perish wherein I was born." Of this wrath the same Job says again, "Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries."

(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. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without regret; let him hear the cry in the morning and the wailing at noonday, because he did not kill me from the womb to be my mother's grave, and her womb forever pregnant. Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, and that my days should be consumed in confusion? Those who consider that the souls were in heavenly things, and were precipitated from a better to a worse state, make use of this and similar testimonies, which indeed imply that it is better to dwell in heavenly things than in earthly things and to assume a body of humility: certain new things, or rather old, seeking arguments for their heresy. But we, on the other hand, reading that of the blessed Job: Cursed be the day wherein I was born; and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived (Job 3:3). And cursed is the man who announced to my father, saying, a boy is born to you, we fit this testimony, namely that it is better not to exist than to live in torments, according to what is written: Death is rest for a man, to whom God has closed his way (Sirach. XXII, 11). And again: Why is light given to the miserable, and life to those who are bitter of soul (Job. III, 20)? And in the Gospel we read a simple statement: It would have been better for him if he had not been born (Matthew XXVI, 24): not that there is anyone who has not been born; but that it is better not to exist than to be in a bad state. For it is one thing to not exist at all, another to exist but suffer without any respite, just as we prefer a peaceful death to a miserable life. Hence Amos refers to it as a day of darkness, a day of affliction (Amos, V). And Jacob, because he had lived in labor and distress, calls the days of his life few and evil (Gen. XLVII). And the Apostle Paul says: Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from the present evil world (Gal. I, 4). And again: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephes. V, 16). The Hebrews calculate the fifth month, when Jerusalem was captured and the Temple was destroyed, as the birth of Jeremiah, with certain and extraordinary arguments. But if they can prove this, I do not know how they can interpret the testimony of Job, unless perhaps they consider that day as a certain prefiguration and prophecy of the future destruction of the Temple. And I think that the similarity of the destroyed cities to Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned, and every time is in mourning, so that there is a cry and a wailing in the morning and at midday. But what he brings forward: 'Whoever does not kill me in the womb, they think signifies God.' So that, he says, there would be eternal conception for me, which are all said hyperbolically. Finally, he explains the reasons why he prefers death to life, and indeed that not existing at all is better than existing badly, adding: 'Why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and that my days should be consumed in confusion?'

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: Behold a male. Cursed be he that told my father, saying: A male is born to thee. Let that man be glad like the cities which the Lord overthrew in fury, and repented not." Does it seem to you that the prophet could have imprecated things so grave and so burdensome, unless he knew there was something in that bodily nativity which both seemed worthy of curses of this kind, and on account of which the lawgiver would arraign so many uncleannesses, upon which he would consequently impose fitting purifications?