Jeremiah pursues the same subject, even that the Jews, after having undergone
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
He adds expectation, which Jerome has rendered ``patience,'' but in a very forced manner. There is, indeed, no doubt but that by this second word the Prophet more fully and clearly expressed what he meant by the first word, {,}אחריתachrit, even the end that was wished or desired, I will then give you the end, even that ye may enjoy the promises, as ye wish and expect, and ought to hope for, since God has made them. 215 Here I will make an end.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou hast been pleased kindly to shew to us thy paternal love, and givest us daily a testimony of it in thy Gospel, --- O grant, that we may not go astray, following our vagrant and erring thoughts, but acquiesce in thy simple truth; and though we must be exercised in this world by many conflicts, as our life is to be as it were a continual warfare, may we yet never doubt but that there is prepared for us a sure rest in heaven through Christ our Lord. --- Amen.
Lecture One Hundred and Eleventh
Jeremiah 29:12
12. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
12. Et invocabitis me et ibitis; et orabitis me, et exaudiam vos.
Jeremiah pursues the same subject, even that the Jews, after having undergone the punishment allotted to them by God, would at length return to their own country and find God merciful, and hence learn that their chastisement in exile would prove useful to them. He had indeed in the last verse explained this with sufficient clearness, but he now expresses the manner; and that would be by calling on God. he uses two words, Ye shall call on me, he says, and pray. The verb put between these two {,}הלכתםelcatem, is regarded almost by all as referring to a right course of life, as though the Prophet had said, that those who before wandered after their own lusts would now walk in the way of God, that is, in his Law; but this seems to me to be too forced an explanation. I doubt not then, but that the Prophet here indirectly reproves the indifference of the people in not immediately acknowledging that they were chastised by God's hand, that they ought in due time to repent. To go then or to walk is the same thing, in my judgment, as though he had said, ``After having suffered the exile, not of one year, but of seventy years, ye shall then begin to be wise.''
It was not only sloth but stupidity, that they were not subdued by God's scourges so as to call on him; but as they were of a disposition so rude and refractory the Prophet here briefly reminds them that many years had been necessary to subdue them, as twenty or thirty years were not sufficient. We now then understand the design of the word {,}הלקelek, to walk. 216 The meaning then is, that after having
215These two words are omitted in the Sept.; "the end and patience," is the Vulg.; "the end and hope," the Targ.; "the hope," only, the Syr. It is better to retain the words apart than to unite them, as many have done: "the end" was that of their troubles and exile, and "the expectation" was that of a return to their own country, — two things completely distinct though cotemporaneous: "To give you the end (of your exile) and the expectation (of a return,)" that is, the fulfillment of it. It is a metonymy, expectation is put for its object, or the thing expected. — Ed.
216The two first verbs are wanting in the Sept. and the Targ., and the second in the Syr. The Vulg. is according to our version, which is literally the Hebrew: and there are no various