Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,” says the LORD.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 44. Juda, and in. A farther description of these cities is given, situated about the capital, Hebron, Sephala, (the plain) near Gaza, ( Calmet.) and the Negeb or south country, ( Bible.) towards Arabia. Here the excellent commentary of S. Jerom ends, to our great loss. Calmet.—It was perhaps his last work, undertaken after the twelve minor and the other three great prophets. He never wrote on Baruch, on the epistle of Jeremias, the Greek parts of Daniel, and so forth as the Jews did not allow them to be canonical, and the point was not then decided. The Church styles S. Jerom “the greatest doctor in expounding the sacred Scriptures,” as he translated and illustrated the greatest part of them; ( Bible.) and indeed he seems to have been the best qualified for the undertaking, of all the fathers. Du Pin.—Hence we may lament the more that we have not all his works in their genuine purity and perfection, as even the latest editions are very faulty, and proceed upon a plan which the learned do not approve. See A. Butler, Kennicott, and so forth Bible.