Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859 edition.

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JEREMIAS - Chapter 33

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Jeremias xxxiii.

Notes & Commentary:

Ver. 1. Time. Soon after the former. (Calmet) --- He was comforted in prison by two visions, shewing that the Church should not perish for the sins of many. (Worthington)

Ver. 2. Thus. Hebrew uses the feminine for the neuter. Septuagint, "forming the earth," &c.

Ver. 3. Cry. The prophetic spirit was sometimes granted to earnest prayer, Daniel ix. 2., and x. 3.

Ver. 4. To. "Concerning the houses....and the sword of them," who would not obey God, thus bringing on their own destruction.

Ver. 6. Their. The houses, wounds, or breaches. (Hebrew and Septuagint) (Calmet) --- Peace. That is, the peace and welfare which they pray for. (Challoner) --- I will teach them how to pray for a durable peace.

Ver. 8. Iniquity, by means of the captivity, which shall be a sort of baptism, chap. xxxi. 29. (Calmet)

Ver. 9. And it. Jerusalem, as figure of the Church. (Menochius) --- Fear, worship, and desist from persecuting God in his saints, (Haydock) whom he so highly favours.

Ver. 11. Vows. Promised victims of thanksgiving. (Calmet) --- First, when they were settled in it under Josue. (Haydock)

Ver. 13. Mountains. Chap. xxxii. 44. --- Numbereth them, they come into the fold. (Calmet) --- Chaldean, "my people shall be instructed, and formed by the hand of the Messias." Grabe supplies what follows to the end of the chapter. (Haydock)

Ver. 15. Bud, or orient, Christ, (Calmet) of whom Zorobabel was a figure. (Theodoret) All cannot be verified of the latter, ver. 16. (Calmet) --- The Jews themselves explain this of the Messias. (Calov.) --- It evidently refer to him, as he was born of David, whose posterity should continue till Christ, the founder of an eternal kingdom. (Worthington)

Ver. 16. Him. (Septuagint, Chaldean, &c.) The Hebrew has "her" Jerusalem, or the Church, which receives all its beauty from Christ. (Calmet) --- See chap. xxiii. 5., where all read him. (Haydock)

Ver. 17. David. This was verified in Christ, who is of the house of David; and whose kingdom in his Church shall have no end. (Challoner) --- The tribe of Juda continued most eminent till his coming. But there was no king till Hyrcan, and he was of another tribe. The priests governed after Nehemias, till Herod was appointed by the Romans. This must therefore be explained of Christ's eternal kingdom, Genesis xlix. (Calmet)

Ver. 18. Priests. This promise relates to the Christian priesthood; which shall also continue for ever: the functions of which (more especially the great sacrifice of the altar) are here expressed, by the name of holocausts, and other offerings of the law, which were so many figures of the Christian sacrifice. (Challoner) --- The Levitical sacrifices have ceased for 17 centuries. But Christ will officiate by his ministers till the end of time. (Calmet) --- St. Hypolitus and all the fathers agree that the blessed Eucharist is the complement of all the ancient sacrifices. (Worthington)

Ver. 21. Ministers. The promise in not conditional, but as unchangeable as the course of the seasons. (Calmet)

Ver. 24. Families of kings and priests, (Challoner) or the two kingdoms of Israel and Juda. The people complained that God had broken his word, (Calmet) so heretics assert that he has abandoned his Church for above 800 years. Providence watched in a particular manner over the families of Aaron and David, which enjoyed peculiar privileges, (Haydock) or blessings. (Worthington)


Bible Text & Cross-references:

God promises reduction from captivity, and other blessings: especially the coming of Christ, whose reign in his Church shall be glorious and perpetual.

1 And *the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying:

2 Thus saith the Lord, who will do, and will form it, and prepare it, the Lord is his name.

3 Cry to me, and I will hear thee: and I will shew thee great things, and sure things, which thou knowest not.

4 For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, to the houses of this city, and to the houses of the king of Juda, which are destroyed, and to the bulwarks, and to the sword,

5 Of them that come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of the men whom I have slain in my wrath, and in my indignation, hiding my face from this city because of all their wickedness.

6 Behold I will close their wounds and give them health, and I will cure them: and I will reveal to them the prayer of peace and truth.

7 And I will bring back the captivity of Juda, and the captivity of Jerusalem: and I will build them as from the beginning.

8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me: and I will forgive all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and despised me.

9 And it shall be to me a name, and a joy, and a praise, and a gladness before all the nations of the earth, that shall hear of all the good things which I will do to them: and they shall fear and be troubled for all the good things, and for all the peace that I will make for them.

10 Thus saith the Lord: There shall be heard again in this place, (which you say is desolate, because there is neither man nor beast: in the cities of Juda, and without Jerusalem, which are desolate without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast)

11 The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say: Give ye glory to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring their vows into the house of the Lord: for I will bring back the captivity of the land as at the first, saith the Lord.

12 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall be again in this place, that is desolate without man, and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, an habitation of shepherds, causing their flocks to lie down.

13 And in the cities on the mountains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are towards the south: and in the land of Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda shall the flocks pass again under the hand of him that numbereth them, saith the Lord.

14 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform the good word that I have spoken to the house of Israel, and to the house of Juda.

15 In those days, and at that time, I will make the bud of justice to spring forth unto David, and he shall do judgment and justice in the earth.

16 In those days shall Juda be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell securely: and this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our just one.

17 For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.

18 Neither shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man before my face, to offer holocausts, and to burn sacrifice, and to kill victims continually.

19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

20 Thus saith the Lord: If my covenant with the day can be made void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and night in their season:

21 My covenant also with David, my servant, may be made void, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites and priests, my ministers.

22 As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea be measured: so will I multiply the seed of David, my servant, and the Levites, my ministers.

23 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

24 Hast thou not seen what this people hath spoken, saying: The two families which the Lord had chosen, are cast off: and they have despised my people, so that it is no more a nation before them?

25 Thus saith the Lord: If I have not set my covenant between day and night, and laws to heaven and earth:

26 Surely I will also cast off the seed of Jacob, and of David, my servant, so as not to take any of his seed to be rulers of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will bring back their captivity, and will have mercy on them.

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1: Year of the World 3414, Year before Christ 590.