Jeremias 17
Jerome · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Jeremias 17:1
(Chapter 17, Verse 1) The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with an adamantium nail, upon the width (or height) of their hearts (or in the depth of their hearts), and upon the horns of their altars (or thrones). Concerning the nations that have turned to the Lord, it has been said: Behold, I will show them in turn, I will show them my hand and my power. Now, speaking of Israel who is rejected: The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with an adamantium nail, and so on. Why the Septuagint has been omitted, I do not know; unless perhaps they spared their own people: just as it is clear in Isaiah that they did so: Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for why should he be esteemed? (Isaiah 2:22); and many similar things, which if I wanted to arrange them all, it would not be a book, but books. Because his mercy is confirmed upon us, and the truth of the Lord remains forever (Psalm 116, 1, 2). And concerning those whom he said to Moses: Let me alone, that I may destroy this people, and make you into a great nation (Exodus 32, 10). But the sin of the Jews is indelible, and, so to speak, cannot be abolished by any means; it is written with an iron stylus on an adamant nail, which in Hebrew is called Samir (); not that there is any nail that is called Samir; but that the adamant stone (which has received this name because it is untamable and unbreakable) has such brilliance and lightness that it can be written on without any impediment with an iron stylus: so that the hard material of iron may write on the harder adamant tablet, and what is written may endure forever. For they themselves said: 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' (Matthew 27). Therefore, it has been written or engraved on the horns of their altars or shrines, so that sacrilegious works may be remembered forever. But if this is the case, where is that which an old woman madly fabricates, that a person can be without sin if they wish, and that God's commandments are easy? — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:2-3
(Verse 2, 3.) When their sons remember their altars, and the groves of trees and leafy branches on the high mountains, sacrificing in the field, I will give your strength and all your treasures to plunder. Your lofty places will be destroyed because of your sins in all your borders. And you will be left alone in the inheritance that I gave you, and I will make your enemies serve you in a land that you do not know, because you kindled the fire in my anger, and it will burn forever. And these are not found in the Septuagint, for the same reason (as I believe) that we have mentioned above, namely, lest the eternal sentence should remain against them. 'You shall be left,' He says, 'alone from your inheritance, which I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, either under the Babylonians or, as is more accurate, under the Romans. For they themselves have kindled the fire and provoked the most merciful Lord to anger, whose fire of fury will burn forever.' I am ashamed of our argument, which disputes the truth of the Hebrews. The Jews read against themselves, and the Church does not know what is in their favor. Thus, we, who are the sons of the Apostles, remember the injustices of the previous people and testify that they suffered justly. However, the high places, which are called Bamoth in Hebrew, can also be understood as a reference to the heretics who have exalted themselves, and their language has spread throughout the land. Those who have burst forth into such great madness, that they have remained alone without the grace of the Holy Spirit, and have lost the inheritance of the Lord, namely the prior truth of faith. Hence, eternal fire is prepared for them, and the servitude of demons, who are enemies and avengers. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:5-6
(Verses 5, 6.) Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts (or has hope) in man, and relies on flesh for his strength, and turns his heart away from the Lord. He will be like a shrub in the desert, and will not see when good comes; but he will live in dryness in the desert, in a land of salt and uninhabitable. If every man is cursed who trusts in man, then Paul of Samosata and Photinus, although they proclaim the Savior as holy and surpassing all virtues, still confess him as a man; therefore, they will be cursed for having hope in man. But if it is opposed to us, that we also believe in him who says: Now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard from God, Abraham did not do this: you do the works of your father. (John 8:40) We will respond with that of the Apostles: And if we have known Christ according to the flesh at some time, but now we no longer know him. Finally, the same Apostle writes in the beginning of his letter to the Galatians: Paul, an Apostle, not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and who are with me all the brethren. (Galatians 1:1-2). For if death was swallowed up in victory (Hosea 13), why did not the lowliness of the flesh, which was assumed for the salvation of mankind, pass into the majesty of divinity, so that it might make both one; and we do not worship the creature, but the Creator, who is blessed forever? Therefore, he is cursed, not only who has hope in man, but who puts his trust in the flesh, that is, his own strength, and whatever he accomplishes, considers it to be not of the mercy of the Lord, but of his own power. For whoever does this, departs from the heart of the Lord, asserting that he can do what he cannot. And he will be like myrtle, which in Hebrew is called Aroer, or as Symmachus interpreted, a fruitless tree in the desert. And he will not see the good things that the multitude of nations will see when they come, but he will dwell in dryness in the desert. This is said of the people of Judah who dwell in the desert, do not bear fruit, and live in a land of salt, which produces no fruit, and is uninhabitable, having no guest of God, nor the protection of angels, nor the grace of the Holy Spirit, nor the knowledge of teachers. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:6-7
It is not only the one who puts his hope in humankind that is accursed, but also the one who uses the flesh of his arm, that is, his strength and all that he does, not for the Lord of mercy but so that power will be thought to have come from him. For whoever does this withdraws his heart from the Lord by claiming himself to be capable when he is not capable. He will also be like the tamarisk in the desert, which, in Hebrew, is called an aroher, or, as translated by Symmacus, a fruitless plant, nor will he see goodness when it arrives and is seen by the multitude of nations, but he will live in a wasteland. All this is said about the Jewish people, who live in a desert and do not bear fruit and are located in an uninhabited salt land that produces no fruit and is a host neither to God, nor to the army of angels, nor to the grace of the Holy Spirit nor to the knowledge of teachers. — SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3:72.4-5
Jeremias 17:7-8
(Vers. 7, 8.) Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will be his hope (or confidence): and he will be like a tree, which is transplanted (or fruitful) over the waters, which sends its roots to the moisture, and will not fear when heat comes: and its leaves will be green (or its branches flourishing), and in the time of drought it will not be anxious (or will not fear) nor will it ever cease to bear fruit. Let this be said about the Jews and heretics, who have hope in man, namely in their Christ, whom they think to be not the Son of God, but a pure man who is to come. On the other hand, the man of the Church, who has confidence in the Lord, hears this: 'And know that the Lord himself is God' (Psalm 99:3). He has confidence in the Lord, and he will be compared to that tree, about which it is also sung in the first psalm: 'And he will be like a tree, planted near the streams of water, which will bear its fruit in due season, and its leaves will not wither.' But over the waters, the grace of the Holy Spirit, various gifts. He sends his roots to the moisture: so that he may receive abundance from the Lord. But we can also say in another way, that we have been translated from Jewish dryness into the eternal grace of baptism. And he will not fear, he says, when the heat comes, or the time of persecution, or the day of judgment: And its leaf will be green, or there will be leafy branches in it: so that he may never fear dryness, but may bring forth the grace of all virtues. And when the time, or year, of dryness comes, it will not be afraid, when the Lord, angry, commands the clouds not to rain upon Israel (Isaiah 5). And what follows: it will not cease to bear fruit, that place which is written in Mark, when the Lord comes to the fig tree, and does not find fruit in it, because it was not yet the time, and curses it, so that it does not bear fruit forever, can explain (Mark 11). For whoever trusts in the Lord, the Lord is his confidence, even in times of drought he will not fear; but he will always bring forth fruit, believing in him who once died for us and will never die again (Romans VI), and he says: I am the life (John XIV, 6). — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:7-8
It may be said both of the Jews and of the heretics that they put their hope in humankind, for the messiah whom they believe to be coming is clearly not the Son of God but a mere man. The person of the church, in contrast, who puts faith in the Lord, hears this: "Know that the Lord himself is God." Because he trusts in the Lord, he will be compared with a tree and will be the one of whom the first psalm sings: "He is like a tree that is planted by flowing waters, bearing its fruit in season; and its leaf does not wither." Being transplanted on (or by) the waters refers to the various graces of the Holy Spirit. And sending its roots into the water (or by the stream) means that one receives abundance from the Lord. But we can also say that it may be us who were transplanted from the aridity of Judea into the eternal grace of baptism. It goes on to say that he will not fear when the heat comes, meaning either a time of persecution or the day of judgment, and that his leaf will remain green (or that his branches will remain leafy), such that he should never fear aridity, for the grace of all the virtues will germinate. Thus, when a dry spell arrives, when the Lord of wrath commands the clouds not to send any rain on Israel, this person will not fear. And the following line, "nor will he cease to bear fruit," can help explain the passage in the Gospel of Mark where the Lord comes to a fig tree and finds no fruit on it, since it was not yet the season, and then curses it that it would never bear fruit again. For anyone "who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord" will have no fear in a time of Judaic aridity, but he will always bear fruit who believes in him who died for us and will die no more, in him who said "I am the life." — SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3:73.2-5
Jeremias 17:9
Symmacus translates this passage thus: "The heart of everyone is inscrutable. Yet, who is the man who can find it?" It is customary by our own good wish, therefore, but not according to objective knowledge, to use this passage to argue against the Jews that the man in question is the Lord and Savior, according to the dispensation of the assumed flesh, and that no one shall be able to know the mystery of his nativity, according to what is written: "Who will explain his generation?" except God alone, who probes the secrets and returns to each one according to his works. But it is better that we simply accept that no one knows the secrets of another's thoughts except God alone, for it says above, "Accursed is the person who trusts in humankind" and, "Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord." Hence, lest we think ourselves to be sure of human judgment, the psalmist implies that almost every heart is perverse, saying, "Cleanse me from hidden thoughts, O Lord, and spare your servant from foreigners," without doubt meaning foreign thoughts. Also in Genesis, it is written, "God saw how great human malice was on the earth and that every thought of the human heart was intent on evil continuously";8 and again, "The senses and the thoughts of a person's heart are prone to evil from his adolescence." Through these texts, we learn that God alone knows a person's thoughts. Yet, if it is said of the Savior that "Jesus saw what they were thinking," and if no one is able to see one's thoughts except God alone, then Christ is God, "who examines hearts and probes the mind and gives to each one according to his works." — SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3:74.2-5
Jeremias 17:9-10
(Verse 9, 10.) The heart of all is perverse and inscrutable, who can understand it? I am the Lord, searching the heart and testing the kidneys, who gives to each according to their ways and according to the fruit of their inventions. LXX: The heart is deep above all, and man is, who can know him? and so on. The Hebrew word Enos is written with four letters, Aleph and Nun and Vau and Sin. Therefore, if Enos is read, it means 'man', but if Anus, it is inscrutable or desperate, because no human heart can find it. But Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: Inscrutable is the heart of all: but who is the man that can find it? Some of ours, indeed, with good intentions, but not according to knowledge, use this passage against the Jews, because He is called Lord and Savior, according to the dispensation of the assumed flesh, and no one can know the mystery of His birth, according to what is written: Who shall declare His generation? (Isaiah 53:8) Unless God alone who searches the depths and renders to each according to his works. However, it is better that we simply accept that no one knows the secrets of our thoughts except God alone. For as it was said above: Cursed is the man who has hope in man. And conversely: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Hence, in order for us not to think that the judgment of men is certain, it was introduced that the hearts of almost all are perverse, as the Psalmist says: Cleanse me from my hidden faults, and spare your servant from the faults of others (Psal. 19:13): undoubtedly referring to thoughts. And in Genesis: But God, seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that every thought and intent of the heart was inclined towards evil at all times (Gen. 6:5). And again: For the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from their youth (Gen. 8:21). From this we learn that only God knows our thoughts. But if it is said of the Savior: But Jesus, seeing their thoughts (Luke 9:17); and no one can see their thoughts except God alone; therefore Christ is God, who searches the hearts, and tests the kidneys; and rewards each one according to their works (Ps. 7). — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:11
(Verse 11.) The partridge hatches (or gathers) what it did not lay. (And as the Septuagint translated: The partridge cried out, it gathered what it did not lay.) It acquired its riches not with justice. In the middle of its days, it will leave them (or in the middle of its days, they will leave it) and in its last days, it will be foolish. Writers of natural history, both of animals and birds, as well as of trees and plants (of whom the Greek leaders are, Aristotle and Theophrastus, and among us, Pliny the Second), say that this is the nature of the partridge, to steal the eggs of another partridge, that is, to steal from another, and to incubate and care for them: and when the offspring grow up, to fly away from them, and leave behind their adoptive parent. Such are the wealthy who plunder others, and without the consideration of God's judgment, amass riches without judgment, which they leave behind in the midst of time, taken away by sudden death, when it is said to them: Fool, this night they will demand your soul from you, what you have prepared, whose will it be? And nothing is more foolish than not to foresee the last things, and to consider the fleeting as eternal. Others, however, interpret the partridge to be the most aggressive and unclean bird both because of the earlier historical account and because of another reason they state, in that it contaminates the defeated, and they interpret the devil under its name, because it has gathered riches for itself, saying to the Lord: All these things I will give to You, if You fall down and worship me (Matthew 4:9). Those riches that were gathered poorly by him will be abandoned, and they will be converted (or rather, restored) to the Lord through the Apostles; and the one who seemed to be the most prudent to himself will be considered foolish by the judgment of all. And what is said by the LXX: The partridge cried out, is to be referred to the person of the heretics, that this partridge, the devil, cried out through the leaders of the heretics, and gathered what it did not bear, and gathered a multitude of those it deceived, which it will later dismiss; and it will be proven most foolish by the judgment of all. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:12-13
(Verse 12, 13.) The throne of glory on high from the beginning, the place of our sanctification. The expectation of Israel, O Lord, all those who forsake you shall be put to shame, those who turn away shall be written (or described) on the earth; for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain (or source) of living waters. Declare them because of their foolishness, the expectation of Israel, that is, the people of God and believers in the Lord, He is the one who made all things; whose throne is glorious and exalted from the beginning, and the place of sanctification for all believers, so that the Lord is not in a place, but that wherever He is, that place may be sanctified. On the other hand, those who forsake the Lord will be confounded with everlasting confusion, and those who depart from Him or turn away from Him will be written on the ground, deleted from the book of the living. Just as it is written of those who dwell in heaven that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3), so those who forsake the Lord or turn away from Him will be written on the earth with those who have earthly desires. And the reason is clear why they are written on the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of life, or the Lord, the fountain of living waters, as spoken in the Gospel: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink; whoever believes in me, as Scripture says, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But He said this about the Spirit, whom believers in Him were going to receive (John 7:37, 38). — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:13
[Daniel 7:10] "There were millions ministering unto Him, and a billion stood by His side." This was not intended to be a specific number for the servants of God, but only indicates a multitude too great for human computation. These are the thousands and tens of thousands of which we read in the Psalms: "The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice. The Lord is among them" (Psalm 68:17). And in another place: "He who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire" (Psalm 104:4). Now the duty of angels is twofold: the duty of one group is to bestow rewards upon just men; the duty of the other is to have charge over individual calamities. "...The court was in session, and the books were opened." The consciences of men, and the deeds of individuals which partake of either character, whether good or bad, are disclosed to all. One of the books is the good book of which we often read, namely the book of the living. The other is the evil book which is held in the hand of the accuser, who is the fiend and avenger of whom we read in Revelation: "The accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10). This is the earthly book of which the prophet says: "Let them be written on earth" (Jeremiah 17:13). — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER SEVEN
Jeremias 17:14
(Verse 14) Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise. In the Gospel (Matthew 9), many physicians had cured the woman with the issue of blood, who had lost all her substance on them, yet she could not be healed by anyone except by Him who is the true physician, and whose healing is in His wings. Therefore, even now, the Prophet, having suffered reproaches from the people and being constantly surrounded by snares, desires to be healed and saved by Him whose true praise and true medicine He is. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:14
He says to him who alone is the true physician, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. You are my praise and my hope." — Against the Pelagians 2.27
Jeremias 17:15
(Verse 15) Look, they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come. Those who do not believe in the future, speak to the Prophet: Where is the word of the Lord? Let us come: considering the dissimulation of judgment, thinking of delay. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:16
(Verse 16) But I am not troubled, following you as a shepherd (or not laboring, following you), and I have not desired the day of man: you know. What has come out of my lips has been right in your sight (or before your face). But to those, he says, speaking these things, I am not troubled, nor have I labored following you as a shepherd, either entering your footsteps. Nor was I satisfied with this end, but I did not desire the day of man, either a longer life, or the prosperous things of this age. And he calls himself a witness, whom he also calls a judge: You know. He continues: What has come forth from my lips, was right in your sight; that he has never lied, and never spoke against the will of the Lord. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:16
Let us give thanks to God, and let us ask him in his good will to be our shield and crown, that we may never depart from him and that we may follow him and declare with Jeremiah, "I was not weary of following you." To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. — HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 2 (PS 5)
Jeremias 17:17
(Verse 17) Do not be a source of fear to me, you are my hope in the day of affliction (or do not become a stranger to me, sparing me on the worst day). Be not to me, he says, a source of fear, my hope in the day of affliction. Which is clear according to the Hebrew. But according to what the Seventy translated, saying: Do not become a stranger to me, sparing me in the day of evil, the meaning is: Do not spare me in the present age, which is evil; but repay me according to my sins, so that I may have eternal rest. For I know it is written: Whom the Lord loves, he chastises; and he scourges every son whom he receives (Hebrews XII, 6). But this day is evil, either the entire age, or the day of judgment, for those who suffer because of their sins. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:18
(Verse 18.) Let those who pursue me be put to shame, while I am not put to shame. Let them fear, while I do not fear. Bring upon them the day of affliction, and crush them with double contrition. The Prophet curses against them, who reproach him with the word of the Lord, and say: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come, that those who pursue him may be put to shame and may be ashamed and may return to salvation, so that they may fear the liars and not the one who predicts the truth. And when the day of vengeance comes, it will crush them with a twofold affliction, hunger and sword. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:19-20
(Verse 19, 20.) This is what the Lord says to me: Go and stand at the gate (or gates) of the people's children: through which the kings of Judah enter and exit, in all the gates of Jerusalem. And you shall say to them; Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter through these gates. Because, he says, they despise hearing your words, and they do not come to you to seek the wisdom of God, you go to the most famous place, either the gate of the temple or the gate of the city, through which the kings and the entire crowd enter and exit, so that they may be compelled by necessity to hear, and you shall proclaim the word of the Lord continuously, whether convenient or inconvenient (1 Timothy 4): and no excuse shall remain among them, that they did not do it because they did not hear. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 17:20-27
(Verse 20 and following) Thus says the Lord: Guard your souls, and do not carry burdens on the Sabbath day, or bring them through the gates of Jerusalem. And do not cast burdens out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and you shall not do any work, and sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear, and they stiffened their necks (and what is not found in Hebrew, against their fathers), so that they would not listen to me, and would not receive discipline. And it will be, says the Lord, if you listen to me, that you shall not carry burdens through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and if you sanctify the Sabbath day and do not do any work on it, then the kings and princes occupying the throne of David shall enter through the gates of this city. They shall arrive in chariots and on horses, along with their princes, the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the surrounding of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bearing burnt offerings and sacrifices (or incense) and grain offerings (or manna) and frankincense, and they shall bring an offering (or praise) into the house of the Lord. But if you will not listen to me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. I decided to disregard the commandment of the Sabbath restored through Jeremiah in vain, so that we may understand all at the same time. He who does not carry the burdens of sins on the day of rest and Sabbath guards his soul: nor does he bring them through the gates of Jerusalem, which virtues we should receive. And do not, he says, cast off burdens from your houses. For they are not to be carried, but to be completely cast away. And do not do any work, either servile or that which is written: 'Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,' but God will destroy both this and that (I Cor. VI, 13); but that work must be done, of which the Savior speaks; 'Work for the work that does not perish' (John VI, 27). Sanctify, he says, the Sabbath day, so that we may spend all the time of our life in sanctification, just as our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. And when God commanded these things, they did not incline their ear, certainly not their mind, nor their flesh; but they hardened their neck, rejecting the yoke of the Law, and having a likeness to untamed animals by metaphor. Let us see what is the reward of those who do not bear the burdens of the Sabbath day and sanctify it. Kings will enter through the gates of this city, whose heart is in the hand of God, and who reign over their bodies (Prov. 21); and princes sitting on the throne of David, in order to imitate the example of Christ, and those who ride in chariots and on horses, of whom it is written: The chariots of God are ten thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place (Psalm 68:17). And elsewhere: Your horses are a salvation (Habakkuk 3:8). Every man who confesses God and dwells in Jerusalem, of which it is said: His place is in Salem (or Jerusalem), that is, in peace, and his dwelling is in Zion (Psalm 75:2), and the Church of God will dwell there forever. They will come from the cities of Judah and from around Jerusalem, of which we have already spoken, and from the land of Benjamin, who is the son of strength and the right hand, and from the plains, which in Hebrew is called Sephela, and it signifies a plain understanding of history, and from the mountains, namely the lofty doctrines, and from the South, of which it is written: God will come from the South (Habbakuk 3:3). Where there is heat and full light, and where all cold is expelled: Carrying, he says, holocausts, consecrating themselves to God, and a victim, or incense, so that they may say: 'A sacrifice of a broken spirit, O Lord' (Psalm 50:19). And, we are a sweet odor of Christ in every place (1 Corinthians 2:15). And elsewhere: 'Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight' (Psalm 140:2). And the sacrifice, for which the 70 translators themselves put down the Hebrew word Manaa, which, by a most wicked custom, indeed the negligence of the scribes, is read as manna in our language. And thus, concerning which it is written: 'Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba?' (Jeremiah 6:20) And they bring an offering, which in Hebrew is called Thoda, and can be translated into a thanksgiving. And which praise the Septuagint translated. Into the house of David, no doubt into the Church. These are the rewards of those who sanctify the Sabbath and are not burdened with any weight. But if, he says, you do not listen to my commandments, and do what I have not commanded to be done: I will kindle a fire in its gates, that is, in Jerusalem, about which it is said: 'All of them, like a baker's oven, their hearts' (Hosea 7:4): who devour houses or streets of Jerusalem, which the LXX translated as alleys, Aquila and Symmachus as turrets, and are called Armanoth in Hebrew. And this fire will never be extinguished, as the Apostle says: Each one's work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work (1 Cor. 3:13). And again: If anyone's work is burned up, they will suffer loss but yet will be saved - even though only as one escaping through the flames (ibid., 15). But if our Judaizing opponents reject this figurative interpretation, they will either be compelled to be Jews and observe the Sabbath and circumcise foreskins, or certainly censure the Savior who commanded the paralyzed man on the Sabbath to take up his bed, as the Evangelist says: Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5:18). — Commentary on Jeremiah