From: Jeremiah 20:7, 10-13
Jeremiah’s fifth “confession”
[10] For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my familiar friends,
watching for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived,
then we can overcome him,
and take our revenge on him.”
[11] But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
will never be forgotten.
[12] O Lord of hosts, who triest the righteous,
who seest the heart and the mind,
let me see thy vengeance upon them,
for to thee have I committed my cause.
[13] Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
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Commentary:
20:7-18. This last, very dramatic “confession” is one of the most impressive pas-
sages in prophetical literature. It (especially vv. 14-18) has features in common
with Job 3:1-10. It could have been uttered around 605-604 BC when Jeremiah
was being persecuted by King Jehoiakim. Despite all his efforts, Jeremiah feels
that he has failed; he believes in God — but could it be that he never received a
special call? It is a time of inner crisis for Jeremiah. He laments his vocation, for
it has led to his persecution (vv. 7-9); then he makes an act of trust in God de-
spite the harassment he is suffering (vv. 10-13); the passage ends with a series
of imprecations (vv. 14-18).
The prophet confides his feelings to God and complains about his calling (v. 7a).
It looks as if God has misled him (v. 7b): the prophet has made enemies on eve-
ry side. When he proclaims the word of God no one listens: reproach and deri-
sion are the only response he gets (v. 10). He would like to walk away. Yet he
cannot, for God is like a “burning fire” in his heart (v. 9). Despite all his difficul-
ties, his zeal for the Lord wins the day: it only goes to prove that those who have
experienced desire to make him known to others — to those who once knew him
and have forgotten him, and to those who have never heard of him. That is the
message that Theodoret of Cyrus takes from this passage, recalling the example
of St. Paul: “The same happened to St. Paul as he stood in silence in Athens.
His soul burned within him when he saw the terrible idolatry that was practiced
in that city (cf. Acts 17:16). The prophet had the same experience” (”Interpretatio
in Jeremiam”, 20, 9). And when Origen reads this passage and asks himself whe-
ther God could ever deceive someone, he explains: “We are little children, and
we must be treated as little children. God, therefore, entrances us in order to
form us, although we may not be aware of this captivation before the appropriate
time comes. God does not deal with us as people who have already left child-
hood, who can no longer be led by sweet words but only by deeds” (”Homiliae
in Jeremiam”, 19, 15).
In spite of everything, Jeremiah is sure that God will never forsake him (v. 11).
From what he says, we can see that there is an inner tension between his ex-
perience of all kinds of sufferings (vv. 14-18) and the conviction that God will ne-
ver leave him (vv. 12-13). What he says in v. 18 could suggest that he is utterly
depressed, but what he is doing is baring his soul to someone whom he loves
and trusts entirely, even in the midst of total darkness and a sense of powerless-
ness. Events will show this to be the case: Jeremiah did not give up his ministry
but persevered in it to the end of his life. He admits his limitations but he stays
true to God: this bears out what the Lord will tell St. Paul when he feels the situ-
ation is beyond him: “My power is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
Meditating on this “confession” of Jeremiah, St. John of the Cross concludes
that sometimes God’s purposes are impossible to understand: “It is very difficult
to attempt to understand fully the words and deeds of God, or even to decide
what they may be, without falling often into error or becoming very confused. The
prophets who were entrusted with the word of God knew this well; their task of
prophesying to the people was a daunting one, for the people could not always
see what was spoken coming to pass. Therefore, they mocked and laughed at
the prophets, as Jeremiah says: I have become a laughingstock all the day; eve-
ryone mocks me (20:7). Although the prophet speaks as though resigned to his
fate, in the voice of a weak man who is unable to bear any longer the vicissitudes
of God, he makes clear the difference between the prophecy and its fulfillment
and the common sense that the divine sayings contain, because he knows that
the prophets were often taken as mischief-makers” (”Ascent of Mount Carmel”,
2, 20, 6).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
| Mark | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| John10 |
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| 31. | The Jews then took up stones to stone him. | sustulerunt lapides Iudaei ut lapidarent eum | εβαστασαν ουν παλιν λιθους οι ιουδαιοι ινα λιθασωσιν αυτον |
| 32. | Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me? | respondit eis Iesus multa opera bona ostendi vobis ex Patre meo propter quod eorum opus me lapidatis | απεκριθη αυτοις ο ιησους πολλα καλα εργα εδειξα υμιν εκ του πατρος μου δια ποιον αυτων εργον λιθαζετε με |
| 33. | The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, maketh thyself God. | responderunt ei Iudaei de bono opere non lapidamus te sed de blasphemia et quia tu homo cum sis facis te ipsum Deum | απεκριθησαν αυτω οι ιουδαιοι λεγοντες περι καλου εργου ου λιθαζομεν σε αλλα περι βλασφημιας και οτι συ ανθρωπος ων ποιεις σεαυτον θεον |
| 34. | Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said you are gods? | respondit eis Iesus nonne scriptum est in lege vestra quia ego dixi dii estis | απεκριθη αυτοις ο ιησους ουκ εστιν γεγραμμενον εν τω νομω υμων εγω ειπα θεοι εστε |
| 35. | If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the scripture cannot be broken; | si illos dixit deos ad quos sermo Dei factus est et non potest solvi scriptura | ει εκεινους ειπεν θεους προς ους ο λογος του θεου εγενετο και ου δυναται λυθηναι η γραφη |
| 36. | Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? | quem Pater sanctificavit et misit in mundum vos dicitis quia blasphemas quia dixi Filius Dei sum | ον ο πατηρ ηγιασεν και απεστειλεν εις τον κοσμον υμεις λεγετε οτι βλασφημεις οτι ειπον υιος του θεου ειμι |
| 37. | If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. | si non facio opera Patris mei nolite credere mihi | ει ου ποιω τα εργα του πατρος μου μη πιστευετε μοι |
| 38. | But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. | si autem facio et si mihi non vultis credere operibus credite ut cognoscatis et credatis quia in me est Pater et ego in Patre | ει δε ποιω καν εμοι μη πιστευητε τοις εργοις πιστευσατε ινα γνωτε και πιστευσητε οτι εν εμοι ο πατηρ καγω εν αυτω |
| 39. | They sought therefore to take him; and he escaped out of their hands. | quaerebant ergo eum prendere et exivit de manibus eorum | εζητουν ουν παλιν αυτον πιασαι και εξηλθεν εκ της χειρος αυτων |
| 40. | And he went again beyond the Jordan, into that place where John was baptizing first; and there he abode. | et abiit iterum trans Iordanen in eum locum ubi erat Iohannes baptizans primum et mansit illic | και απηλθεν παλιν περαν του ιορδανου εις τον τοπον οπου ην ιωαννης το πρωτον βαπτιζων και εμεινεν εκει |
| 41. | And many resorted to him, and they said: John indeed did no sign. | et multi venerunt ad eum et dicebant quia Iohannes quidem signum fecit nullum | και πολλοι ηλθον προς αυτον και ελεγον οτι ιωαννης μεν σημειον εποιησεν ουδεν παντα δε οσα ειπεν ιωαννης περι τουτου αληθη ην |
| 42. | But all things whatsoever John said of this man, were true. And many believed in him. | omnia autem quaecumque dixit Iohannes de hoc vera erant et multi crediderunt in eum | και επιστευσαν πολλοι εκει εις αυτον |
(*) ουδεν παντα δε οσα ειπεν ιωαννης περι τουτου αληθη ην begins verse 42 in the translations.