quavit finis noster, impleti sunt dies nostri, certe venit finis noster
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as we are beset on every side with so many allurements, and as Satan ceases not to draw us here and there by vain flatteries, --- O grant that we may recumb on thee alone, even on thy power, and, in short, on thy word, nor doubt but thou wilt be our deliverer, whatever may happen, and that we may always so seek thee in our straits, and so acquiesce in the faithfulness of thy promises, that we may calmly sustain all the assaults of afflictions, until thou at length gatherest us into that blessed rest which is prepared for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. ---
Amen.
Lecture Sixteenth
Lamentations 4:18
18. They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
18. Venati sunt gressus nostros ne ambularemus in compitis nostris; appropinquavit finis noster, impleti sunt dies nostri, certe venit finis noster
Many apply this verse to the Egyptians, that they insidiously enticed the Jews to flee to them in their difficulties. It is indeed, true, that the Jews had been deceived by their false promises; and, as a harlot draws to herself young men by wicked arts, so also the Jews had been captivated by the enticements of the Egyptians. But the meaning of the Prophet seems to be different, even this, --- that the Chaldeans followed the Jews as hunters, so that they observed their footsteps; and I connect together the two verses, for it immediately follows, ---
Lamentations 4:19
19. Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
19. Velociores fucrunt persequutores nostri aquilis coelorum; super montes insequuti sunt nos, in deserto insidiati sunt nobis
Here, then, the Prophet means, that the Jews were so straitened, that there was no escape for them, because their steps were observed by their enemies, and also because the Chaldeans had recourse to the greatest celerity, that they might take them.
He then, says, first, that their enemies were like hunters, for the Jews could not go even through the streets of their own city. We know that they were reduced to the greatest straits; but how hard the siege was is better expressed by this similitude, even that they dared not walk through the city; for there is an implied comparison, as though he had said, ``We had no liberty in the very city, much less were we allowed to go out and ramble through the open fields.'' he, in the second place, adds what corresponds with the first clause, Approach did our end, fulfilled were our days; surely come did our end 578 He concludes, that no hope remained since their enemies were thus oppressing them. He, then, infers that the end was at hand, by which he means final ruin or destruction; and he adds, that the days were fulfilled, where, he seems
578He describes throughout what had taken place. Our version is not right in giving the verbs in the present tense. "For" is better than "surely" before "come." They hunted our footsteps, That we could not walk in our streets: Near was our end; fulfilled were our days, For come had our end. Then he describes what happened when the city was taken. — Ed.