Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
of gladness, 419 the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride Here by stating a part for the whole, he intimates that they would become like the dead rather than the living; for the continuance of the human race is preserved by marriage, as in the offspring mankind are as it were born again, who would otherwise perish daily. Since then there was no more time left for marriages, it was a token of final destruction.
This is what the Prophet intimates, when he says, that God would cause the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride to cease, so that there would be no more any congratulations. It follows, ---
Jeremiah 16:10-13
10. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
10. Et erit quum annuntiaveris populo huic omnia verba haec, tunc dicent (vel, si diceret) tibi, Cur loquutus est Jehova super nos omne malum hoe magnum? et quae iniquitas nostra? et quod scelus nostrum, quo scelerate egimus adversus Jehovam
Deum nostrum?
11. Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
11. Tunc dices illis, Quia dereliquerunt me patres vestri, dicit Jehova, et profecti sunt post deos alienos, et servierunt illis, et adoraverunt illos (vel, sese inflexerunt coram illis,) et me reliquerunt et legem meam non servarunt;
12. And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
12. Et vos deteriores fuistis (deterius egistis) ad faciendum, (vel, perpetrandum) quam patres vestri, et ecce vos profecti estis quisque post pravitatem cordis sui mall, et absque audire me (hoe est, ita ut non audieritis me:)
13. Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
13. Et expellam vos e terra hae ad terram quam non novistis vos et patres vestri, et servietis inie diis alienis die ae nocte; quia non dabo vobis gratiam.
He shews here what we have seen elsewhere, --- that the people flattered themselves in their vices, so that they could not be turned by any admonitions, nor be led by any means to repentance. It was a great blindness, nay, even madness, not to examine themselves, when they were smitten by the hand of God; for conscience ought to have been to them like a thousand witnesses, immediately condemning them; but hardly any one was found who examined his own life; and then, though
God proved them guilty, hardly one in a hundred winingly and humbly submitted to his judgment; but the greater part murmured and made a clamor, whenever they felt the scourges of God. This evil, as Jeremiah shews, prevailed among the people; 419Rather, "The voice of exultation and the voice of joy;" the most manifest display first — exultation; and then the most hidden feeling — joy. — Ed.