1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Jeremiah 18:1 The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

Jeremiah 18:2 Arise, and go down into the potter's house, and there thou shalt hear my words.

Potter's. Thus God would shew his dominion over all, Romans 9:21.
Jeremiah 18:3 And I went down into the potter's house, and behold he was doing a work on the wheel.

Wheel. Hebrew, "stones." Septuagint, "seats;" or "wheel." (Chaldean) (Exodus 1:16.) See Ecclesiasticus 38:32. (Calmet)
Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel was broken which he was making of clay with his hands: and turning, he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes to make it.

Broken. So Providence ordered it. (St. Jerome) --- How should this idea humble man! (Calmet) --- A potter may mould afresh the clay as long as it is soft, but God can change the hardest heart. (Worthington)
Jeremiah 18:5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Jeremiah 18:6 *Cannot I do with you, as this potter, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Isaias 45:9.; Romans 9:20.
Jeremiah 18:7 I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, *to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.

Jeremias 1:10.
Jeremiah 18:8 If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.

Shall repent, having free-will, though prevented by grace. (St. Jerome)
Jeremiah 18:9 And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it.

Jeremiah 18:10 If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it.

Jeremiah 18:11 Now, therefore, tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: *let every man of you return from his evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good.

4 Kings 17:13.; Jeremias 25:5.; Jeremias 35:15.; Jonas 3:9.
Jeremiah 18:12 And they said: We have no hopes: for we will go after our own thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his evil heart.

Hopes. Jeremias 2:25. Septuagint, "we are valiant men." (Haydock)
Jeremiah 18:13 Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?

Virgin. The disorders of Israel are thus enhanced. (Calmet)
Jeremiah 18:14 Shall now the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?

Snow. It continues on Libanus seven or eight months, (La Roque quoted. Univ. Hist. 2:p. 363) or all the year; (Tacitus, Hist. 5:6.) and hence the mountain is justly denominated "white," as the Alps and Albion are from albon. (Bochart; Parkhurst, p. 155.) (Haydock) --- Away. Yet my people abandon me, to serve idols! Hebrew may have many other senses to the same purpose. Septuagint, "Shall the mountain springs fail, or snow from Libanus? Shall a stream forcibly driven by the wind, turn aside?" (Haydock) --- The laws of nature are observed by inanimate things, and shall my people be so foolish as to follow mere vanity.
Jeremiah 18:15 Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not trodden:

Ancient; followed by the patriarchs, Jeremias 6:16.
Jeremiah 18:16 *That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and wag his head.

Jeremias 19:8.; Jeremias 49:3.; Jeremias 50:13.
Head, through contempt (Calmet) and pity, Lamentations 2:15.
Jeremiah 18:17 As a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.

Burning. Hebrew kadim, "eastern," (Haydock) coming from Desert Arabia, Exodus 10:13. (Calmet) --- Back. Thus the Lord now treats the synagogue. (St. Jerome)
Jeremiah 18:18 And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias: for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.

Prophet. Jeremias will not cease to upbraid us with our transgressions; or we have guides as good as him, and we shall not be left destitute, as he would intimate. --- Tongue, detraction; or make him suffer for what he says. In all the transactions of this prophet, Christ was foreshewn; (Calmet) and here, particularly, the Jews demand the crucifixion. (St. Jerome) (Worthington)
Jeremiah 18:19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.

Jeremiah 18:20 Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, to speak good for them, and to turn away thy indignation from them.

Remember, etc. This is spoken in the person of Christ, persecuted by the Jews, and prophetically denouncing the evils that should fall upon them in punishment of their crimes. (Challoner) --- Jeremias had prayed earnestly for the people, Jeremias 14:17. (Haydock)
Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore, deliver up their children to famine, and bring them into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children, and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be stabbed with the sword in battle.

Therefore. He foretells of the event, and approves of the chastisement of the impenitent, (Calmet) whose "impurity might be a bad precedent for others.["] (St. Jerome) See Jeremias 17:18.
Jeremiah 18:22 Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me, and have hid snares for my feet.

For. Protestants, "when." (Haydock) --- Robber. So Nabuchodonosor and all professional conquerors are styled. (Calmet)
Jeremiah 18:23 But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto death: forgive not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath do thou destroy them.

Destroy. Hebrew, "with them." Use them as vessels of ignominy: abutere. (Haydock)