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“At that time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
Verse 1. Israel. The ten tribes returned as well as Juda, and so forth Calmet.—They were more ready to receive Christ than the other two tribes. Matthew 13. and so forth Worthington.
The LORD says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
Verse 2. Desert. From which the former inhabitants had been driven, (4 Kennicott. 17:6. 24. Calmet.) or, as those under Moses were favoured, ( Bible.) so shall the captives. Grot.—Septuagint “I found him warm,” (θερμον, means also a lupin, which has misled the old Latin interpreters. Saint Jerome) murdered “in the desert, with those slain by the sword. Go, and destroy not Israel.” Bible.
The LORD appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
Verse 3. Afar. He has seemed to despise me, (Saint Jerome) or he has spoken to my ancestors. Calmet.—Chal. He has “manifested himself long ago to our fathers. Prophet, tell them I have,” and so forth Psalms 35:11 and 108:11. Calmet.
I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.
Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.
Verse 5. Samaria. Its wine was famous. Judges 9:27. Jos. Bel. iii. 2.—Time, three years being elapsed. Leviticus 19:35. Calmet.—Prot. “plant, and shall eat (marg. profane) them as common things.” They shall not be too greedy, ( Bible.) but shall have leisure to enjoy the fruits of their labour. Calmet.
For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God.’”
Verse 6. Watchmen. Some were stationed on eminences to observe the first appearances of the moon, ( Calmet.) which was a sort of festival. Bible.
For the LORD says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’
Verse 7. Head. Rejoice over Babylon.—Save. Hebrew Hoshang, “I beg,” was usually added; and this acclamation is used by the Church.
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.
Verse 8. Together. All shall hasten, and there shall be no impediment. Isaiah 35:5.
They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
Verse 9. Shall, or “came” into captivity. Baruch 6:6. Psalms 125:6. Isaiah 66:20.—Way. They shall find every accommodation, and plenty of water. Isaiah 35:7 and 49:10.—Born. Chal. “beloved.” I will treat the ten tribes as well as Juda. Christ inebriates his disciples with his graces. Calmet.—Ephraim shall be treated with all the love and attention shewn to the first-born. Worthington.
“Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.
Verse 12. Sion. There shall be no farther schism or idolatry among them.—No more, if they prove faithful. This was not the case.
Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.
Verse 14. Fatness. Abundant crops secured them more plentiful tythes, as long as the people preserved their religion. Bible.—No nation had more priests, or better provided for. Calmet.
The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
Verse 15. High. Lit. “high places.” Hebrew Rama. Bible.—There was a city of this name near Bethlehem, where Rachel was buried. Benjamin was her son, and was conducted by this road to Babylon. Chal. Grot. Tirinus.—Ephraim and Manasses were also her grandchildren, and she may bewail their captivity by personification. S. Mat. (2:18) shews that this prediction was more fully accomplished when the innocents were slain. The same passage may allude to different events. Calmet.—All the people of God, both of the ten and of the two tribes, bewailed their captivity, and the mothers lamented for those slain near Bethlehem. Worthington.
The LORD says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” says the LORD. “They will come again from the land of the enemy.
Verse 16. Reward. A time fixed for thy tears being dried up. Isaiah 16:14 and 40:10.
There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own territory.
“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are the LORD my God.
Verse 18. I was. Chal. Theodoret, and Saint John Chrysostom have “not.” But chastisement produced a salutary effect upon the ten tribes. Osee 6:1 and 14:3.—Convert. Bring me back from captivity and from my evil ways. This must be attributed to grace. Calmet.—We cannot repent without it. Saint Jerome—Da quod jubes. Saint Augustine Conf. x. 19. and 31. and 37.—God’s grace is the principal cause of justification. Man’s co-operation is the secondary cause. Worthington.
Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
Verse 19. Thigh, through grief. Femur mœrenti plangere dextrâ. Metam. xi.—Cyrus struck his thigh, mounted his horse, and went to attend the funeral of Abradates. Xen. vii.—So did Achilles for Patroclus. Il. xvi.—Youth, being seduced by Jeroboam.
Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says the LORD.
Verse 20. I spoke. Hebrew “my word is in him,” and he is docile to my instructions.
“Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities.
Verse 21. Tower, to bewail thy past follies; or signals to know the way, or tombs for thy beloved.
How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”
Verse 22. Daughter. Bury thy dead, and delay thy return no longer. The Israelites did not soon make use of the leave granted by Cyrus. Calmet.—Man. Hebrew “a hero.” Tirinus.—The fathers generally explain this of the incarnation. Calmet.—Christ had the perfect use of reason in the virgin’s womb. Bible.—He was the brightness of his Father’s glory. Hebrews 1:3. Even some ancient Jews apply this to the Messias. Galatin. 6:14. But the moderns understand that women would offer themselves in marriage; the times would be so happy. This was not so unusual in countries where polygamy prevailed. Ruth 3:9. Isaiah 4:1. Song of Songs 8:1. Calmet.—Hence this is hardly the meaning; for God promises something new. Bible.—“The Lord hat created a new thing in a woman.” Aquila.—Symmachus agrees nearly with the Septuagint “because the Lord has created thee by salvation a new plantation. Men shall go about in thy salvation.” This “might be explained, if it were not sacrilegious to argue respecting God’s word by human sense,” says S. Jerom; though this censure of “the Vulgate” (Sept.) seems rather harsh. He complains here of his copy. Theodoret explains it of the apostles going through the world to spread the gospel. Bible.—Behold whence thy happiness must come, ( Menochius.) O thou who hast so long proved faithless, going astray after many lovers. Bible.—Christ, in his mother’s womb, was in stature small, but a perfect man ( Worthington.) in the use of reason, and so forth Bible.
The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’
Verse 23. Bless thee. Thus the captives speak in rapture at their return.
Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.
Verse 24. Together. Jerusalem shall be large enough to contain all, at the great festivals.
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
Verse 26. To me. Thus Jeremias concludes his prediction with joy. Calmet.
“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.
Verse 27. Men. They shall increase exceedingly by my blessing. Bible.—Beasts were the source of their riches. Hence pecunia is derived from pecus. Worthington.
It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says the LORD.
“In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
Verse 29. Edge. Such observations had been too often made. Ezekiel 18:12. Bible.—Henceforward you shall not suffer for the faults of Achab, Manasses, and so forth Each one shall bear his own burden. The captivity has been like a deluge, cleaning all away. Calmet.
But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.
“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,
Verse 31. Covenant. That made with the captives was not such. Their covenant is grown old, and at an end, as Saint Paul shews. Hebrews 8:8. They were not indeed divided, as they had been. Ezekiel 37:16.
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD.
Verse 32. Dominion. As a husband, (Hebrew Calmet.) or “Lord.” Bible.—“I despised them.” Septuagint Hebrews 8.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Verse 33. Heart. They were more docile after their return: yet still their service was very imperfect and forced. How many false traditions were received, at the coming of Christ! This of course, regards his disciples.
They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Verse 34. Lord. Christ himself came to instruct mankind. The true God was better known than ever, even by the illiterate. Yet God requires us to have recourse to men, in order to know his truths, as Saint Paul was sent to Hananias, and the eunuch to Philip. Bible.—The apostles were enlightened by the Holy Ghost, (John 6:45. Saint Augustine de Spir. Calmet.) who still guides the flock by his pastors. The private spirit is too fanatical and delusive. Bible.—The most ignorant shall easily become acquainted with the truths of salvation. External preaching is requisite, though of little use unless grace touch the mind and the heart. Tirinus.—All will hear successively, ( Bible.) or embrace the gospel at the same time, for several years before the last day. Houbig. pref. in Prop. 356. Isaiah 11:9 and 45:23. Zephaniah 3:9. and so forth Bible.
The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— the LORD of Armies is his name, says:
“If these ordinances depart from before me,” says the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
Verse 36. Ever. Like the Chanaanites and Ephraim during the captivity. Isaiah 7:8. God restored the latter. Yet they are again dispersed from above 17 centuries, so that this perpetuity, which shall equal the world’s duration, belongs to the Church. Calmet.—Israel remains, not in the incredulous Jews, but in those who with the apostles embraced and propagated the faith of Christ. Saint Jerome Worthington.
The LORD says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD.
Verse 37. Out, experimentally, and not by philosophical hypotheses, which were little known in the days of Jeremias. Calmet.—Septuagint “if it be made lower.” Bible.—This is impossible; so it is that I should abandon Israel. Theodor.—All was not faithless. Calmet.—The Israel of God embraced the gospel. Bible.
“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.
Verse 38. Come, is only in the margin of the Hebrew, but is found properly in some MSS. Kennicott.—Corner. On the south, opposite to the former. 2 Ezra 3:1.
The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn toward Goah.
The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”
Verse 40. Valley of Hinnom, or Topheth, (Calmet. 7:32 and 19:6) where Cedron flowed. Zechariah 14:4. Calmet.—The city was much enlarged on this side, under the Machabees. Jos. Bel. vi. 6.—Ever. Yet the temple was utterly destroyed by the Romans, so that we must explain this of the Catholic Church, founded on a rock, and proof against the gates of hell, and all the malice of heretics and persecutors. Matthew 16:18. Calmet.