Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
Jeremiah 32
CHAPTER 32
Jeremiah 32:1-3
1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuehadrezzar.
1. Sermo qui datus fait Jeremiae a Jehova anno decimo Zedechiae regis Jehudah; hic annus est decimus octavus Nabuchadnezer:
2. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.
2. Et tunc exercitus regis Babylonii obsidebat Jerosolymam, et Jeremias propheta erat indusus in atrio custodiae qum est in palatio regis Jehudah;
3. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
3. Quia incluserat ipsum Zedechias rex Jehudab, dicendo, Quare tu prophetizas dicendo, sic dicit Jehova, Ecce ego trado urbem hanc in manum regis Babylonii, et capiet eam.
The Prophet here declares, that though he was shut up in prison, the Word of God was not bound, and that he himself was not less loose and free in his confinement than if he rambled through the whole city and visited all the lanes and the streets. He then did not desist from his office as a Prophet, though he was cast into prison. And thus we see that the course of heavenly truth cannot be impeded, how much soever the world may rage against all its ministers, and bind them in order to make them mute: and then also we see here that the constancy of the Prophet was invincible, because he was not cast down with fear, though he was a captive and not beyond the reach of danger; for we find that even then he proceeded in the discharge of his office.