Commentaire sur Jérémie 4:34

If you return, O Israel with this repentance, to Me, you will return to your original glory and greatness.

and if you remove your detestable things from My Presence Then you shall not wander to go out in exile.

And you will swear, “As the Lord lives,” in truth When you swear by My name, you will swear in truth, not as now, that it is written concerning you, “And if they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely” (5:2).

nations will bless themselves with him If you do so, then nations will bless themselves with Israel. Every non-Jew will say to his son, “You shall be like So-and-so the Jew.”

boast Heb. יתהללו, they will recite your praise. Another explanation of is יתהללו: Whoever is able to cleave to Israel will boast about the matter (porvanter in French).

For so said the Lord, etc. Plow for yourself a furrow Learn from the tillers of the soil, who plow it in the summer to kill the roots of the grasses, that it should not grow thorns at the time of sowing in the winter. You, too, improve your deeds before the evil befalls you, so that your prayer should not be rejected when you cry out.

and do not sow upon thorns And let not your cry before Me be from amidst wickedness, but from amidst repentance, that you shall not resemble one sowing without plowing, and that turns into thorns (kardons in O.F., chardons in modern French).

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord Before My anger comes forth like fire. This is like plowing before the sowing.

and say, “Sound a shophar...” Warn the inhabitants of the land that they sound the shophar to flee.

assemble Heb. מלאו. An expression of gathering, and there are many in the Scriptures: (Isaiah 31: 4) “Although a band of (מְלֹא) shepherds gather against him,” Also (infra 12:6) “They called after you a band (מָלֵא).” Also (Job 16:10) “Together they gather (יתמלאוּן) against me.”

Raise a standard to flee to Zion.

assemble Heb. העיזו. Comp. “Send, gather (העז)” (Exodus 9:19).

A lion has come up That is Nebuchadnezzar.

from his thicket It is customary for a lion to lie in wait in the thickets of the forest (espaises in O.F.).

will be desolate Heb. תצינה, an expression of desolation.

Because of this What is “this?” “For the fierce anger etc.” Although he spoke above concerning Nebuchadnezzar in regards to the destruction, here he returns to speak of the death of Josiah.

for the fierce anger of the Lord etc. Although Josiah repented wholeheartedly, it is stated concerning him. (II Kings 23:26)... “the Lord did not turn back from his great wrath...because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him.”

And it shall be on that day On the day of Josiah they will wonder why so much befell him, for they do not know that his generation did not repent properly. When he came to abolish idolatry, what did the scorners of the generation do? They would engrave an image of a pagan deity on their doors, half of it on this door and half of it on this door. When he would open it, it was not discernible, and when he went away from there, he would close it, and it would join together.

Surely You have misled Heb. השא השאת (fa)tenter in O.F.), tempting, an expression like (Gen. 3: 13) “The serpent misled me (השיאני),” for the false prophets prophesy for them, You will have peace.

of this people Concerning this people when they are all exiled.

has swept the rivulets It sweeps even the fields with rivulets of water to make them into a desert. Another explanation: צח is an expression of thirst, which is translated צחותא.

[on] the way of the daughter of My people That wind will come, and also, not to winnow the chaff from the threshing floor ([a]vanner in O.F.). Comp. (infra 15:7) “And I winnowed them with a sieve (ואזרם במזרה).”

and not to cleanse And not to cleanse grain does it come. That is to say, not for good but for evil, to exile men [women], and children, and livestock.

A full spirit of these retributions shall come to me. A full spirit A full spirit, that I will not retract and not repent. spirit (talant in O.F.)

debate Heb. משפטים, an expression of debating.

and like the whirlwind (comme tourbillon in O.F.)

your iniquitous thoughts Your injustice.

For a voice proclaims from Dan Jonathan paraphrases: “Behold the voice of the prophets prophesy about them that they will be exiled because they worshipped the calf that was in Dan, and people bringing bad tidings will come upon them because they subordinated themselves to the image that Micah erected on the mountain of the house of Ephraim.” Although the calves had already been exiled since the days of Sennacherib, their iniquity was still existing. Sin is harsh, for it destroys [lit. breaks] before it and after it; before it, since the days of Abraham, as it is stated (Gen. 14:14): “And he pursued until Dan.” As soon as he reached Dan, he grew faint [lit. his strength was weakened], for his children would, in the future, worship idols there, and after it, in the destruction of the Temple, as it is stated: “A voice proclaims from Dan.”

and announces calamity Heb. און, a breach.

besiegers Heb. נצרים. Those who will make a siege upon them.

a field like שדה, a field.

for she has rebelled against me She has provoked Me. Comp. (Deut. 9: 24) “You have been rebellious (ממרים),” provoking.

have done these to you To do these to you.

I writhe in pain Heb. אוחילה. An expression of writhing in pain (חיל) and shuddering.

the walls of my heart! (ettancon in O.F.), blocking wall, perhaps from late Latin, intimus, innermost.

you, my soul, have heard From behind the curtain of heaven the ridings of the sound of the alarm of war reached me.

Destruction upon destruction The destruction of Jerusalem upon the exile of Jeconiah.

in a moment my curtains In a moment my curtains were plundered.

How long will I see these groups carrying the standard to come to wage war.

moved to and fro Heb. התקלקלו, they were uprooted and cast out of their place. Menahem associates it with: “He shakes the arrows to and fro (קלקל)” (Ezek. 21:26).

and behold, the fruitful field The land, planted with all good like a forest, has become like a desert. The Midrash Aggadah states: “I saw the mountains”These are the Patriarchs. “And all the hills”These are the Matriarchs. That is to say that their merit was depleted. “There were no people”This refers to Moses, about whom it is said: “humbler than all the people” (Num. 12:3). “And behold the Karmel”This is Elijah.

but I will not make an end of its inhabitants, for I will leave over refugees who will go into exile.

shall mourn Shall be destroyed.

I planned Heb. זמתי, an expression of thought.

for that which I spoke i.e., this retribution, and I will fulfill it.

and I will not turn back And I will not repent to think good thoughts about them.

archers Heb. רמה קשת, lit. bow shooters. Comp. “Cast (רמה) into the sea” (Exodus 15:1).

they came into the thickets Into the thick forests, a place intertwined with thorns, to hide.

and they ascended among the boulders Heb. ובכפים. סלע, a rock, is translated into Aramaic as בכפיא.

that you wear crimson to beautify yourself and to gain clemency before the plunderer.

that you enlarge...with paint Heb. תקרעי. An expression of tearing, for the paint appears as widening the opening of the eye. So have I heard, and Menahem did not differentiate in the group of קרע.

paint Heb. בפוך, an expression of a blue paint.

lovers Heb. עגבים, those who jest with the women with various types of adultery. Comp. (Ezekiel 23:20) “She lusted (ותעגבה) for concubinage with them.”

they seek your life They seek to kill you.

like a woman bearing her first child Heb. כמבכירה, like a woman bearing her first child, the beginning of her birth.

who will wail Heb. תתיפח, she will wail and cry out with sighs (konpljjnt in O. F:). Comp. “who speak (ויפח) violence” (Psalms 27:12), an expression of speech.

“Woe is to me...” This is what she says.