Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
XXV. Ver. 18. “Our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.”
XXVI. Chap. v, ver. 1. “Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.”
“Our inheritance is turned to aliens, our houses to strangers. We are become orphans without a father, our mothers are as widows: we have drunk our water for money: we were driven by the neck: we were wearied, no rest was given us: servants have ruled over us: the women in Sion have been humbled: the princes were hanged up by the hand: the children fell under the wood.”
XXVII. Ver. 16. “The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, because we have sinned. Why wilt thou forget us for ever? Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning.”
I. Chap. ii, ver. 6. “To the Lord our God justice, but to us and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day,” as it appears today.
II. Ver. 17. “Open thy eyes (O Lord), for the dead, etc. but the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of the evil, and goeth bowed down and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, give glory and justice to the Lord.”
III. Chap. iii, ver. 3. “Hear, O Lord, for thou sittest for ever, and we shall perish for ever.”
… as if to say: The threats of the Prophets are deferred; for once dead, we shall remain dead for ever, nor shall we return to the present life.
IV. Ver. 9. “Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear that thou mayest learn prudence. How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies’ land? thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell, thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom; for if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever. Learn where is prudence, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayest know also where is length of days and life, where …
V. Ver. 24. “O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!”
“It is great and hath no end, it is high and immense.”
VI. Chap. iv, ver. 4. “We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us.”
VII. Ver. 20. “I have put off the garment of peace, and have put on the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the Most High in my days.” They are the words of Jerusalem, a widow, who beseeches God for her son and citizens; hence she adds:
VIII. Ver. 23. “I sent you out (to Babylon) with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.”
IX. Ver. 28. “For as it was your mind to go astray from God: so when you return again you shall seek him ten times as much.”
X. Ver. 36. “Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God. For behold thy sons come whom thou sentest away scattered: they come gathered together from the east even to the west by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the honour of God.”
XI. Chap. v, ver. 4. “For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ever: The peace of justice, and honour of piety.” He speaks of Jerusalem, as I have said; but rises to the spiritual, namely to the Church, both militant and triumphant, to which this best befits.