Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:1

(Chapter 10, Verse 1) Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the ways of the nations or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity. He specifically speaks against those who worship the celestial bodies and use the signs of the years, seasons, months, and days to determine the fate of humankind and to govern earthly matters based on celestial causes. And what he says: Laws, or legal regulations, of the people are empty, it shows that all human wisdom is futile, and has no usefulness in itself.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:3-5

(v. 3-5.) Because it was cut down from the forest, the work of a craftsman with an axe: decorated with silver and gold, fastened with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved (or moved). They are made in the likeness of a palm tree and do not speak: they are carried and brought, because they cannot walk. Therefore, do not fear them, because they cannot do evil, nor can they do good. Description of the idols that the nations worship. He said that he cut down the wood from the forest. Therefore, the material of idols is cheap and perishable: the work of a craftsman's hands. Since the craftsman is mortal, the things he makes are also mortal. He decorated it with silver and gold, to deceive the simple-minded with the splendor of both materials. This error has also passed to us, so that we consider wealth as a religion. He fastened it with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved or moved. The power of these idols, which cannot stand on their own, unless they are fastened together with keys and hammers! They are made to resemble a palm tree, adorned with the beauty of metals and the art of painting: but they do not possess utility, by which they provide any benefits to the craftsman. And they cannot speak. For they have no life within them. Of them it is written: They have mouths, but do not speak; they have ears, but do not hear. They will be carried away (Psalm 115:5-6). He is stronger who carries than those who are carried; indeed, in him there is meaning, in this there is form without meaning. Therefore, do not fear them, because they can neither do good nor evil. For, indeed, many of the gentile demons are accustomed to worship, so as not to harm, and to beseech others to bestow blessings: Whence also that saying of Virgil (Aeneid. I):

The dark winter sky, the white sheep with favorable west winds. Whatever we have said about idols, it can be referred to all teachings that are contrary to the truth. For they themselves promise great things and fashion an image of empty worship from their own hearts. They boast of great things and deceive the simple, as if they were dazzling with golden senses and eloquent words, they bind the eyes of the foolish and are exalted by their inventors, in whom there is no usefulness, and whose worship is specific to the nations and those who do not know God.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 10:6

Therefore we ought to believe that God is good, eternal, perfect, almighty and true, such as we find him in the Law and the Prophets and the rest of the Holy Scriptures, for otherwise there is no God. For he who is God must be good, seeing that fullness of goodness is of the nature of God. God, who made time, cannot be in time. Again, God cannot be imperfect, for a lesser being is plainly imperfect, seeing that it lacks somewhat whereby it could be made equal to a greater. This, then, is the teaching of our faith—that God is not evil, that with God nothing is impossible, that God does not exist in time, that God is beneath no being. If I am in error, let my adversaries prove it.

Source: Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.2.14

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 10:6

You may know both that the Father is eternal and that the Son is not different from him. The source of his generation is he who is, and he is begotten of the Eternal. He is God, coming forth from the Father. He is the Son. He is from God. He is the Word. He is the radiance of the Father’s glory, the expression of his substance, the counterpart of God, the image of his majesty. He is the bounty of him who is bountiful, the wisdom of him who is wise, the power of the mighty One, the truth of him who is true, the life of the living One. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 2.

Source: INTRO.3

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:6-10

(Verse 6 and following) There is none like you, O Lord: you are great, and your name is great in power. Who will not fear you, O king of the nations? Yours is the glory among all the wise of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. Both fools and wise men will be proved, their teaching is empty as a wooden idol. Silver brought from Tarshish is plated (or brought) and gold from Ophaz, the work of an artist and the hand of a craftsman. Hyacinthus and their purple garment: the work of craftsmen (or wise men) all these things. But the Lord God is true: this God is living and everlasting king. The earth will be moved from his indignation, and the nations will not be able to withstand his threat. These are not found in the Septuagint, but were added in many places from Theodotion's Edition, and although they seem clear according to the letter, they present a great difficulty according to allegory. For there is no one like the true God, of those gods who are fabricated by heretical art. All will fear him, for he is the king of the nations. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov. IX, 10): and from it we advance to true charity. 'The glory is yours,' he says. In truth, there is beauty; in falsehood, there is ugliness: although heretics, according to the wisdom of the world, which is destroyed, may seem wise to themselves; nevertheless, in all the kingdoms which they tear the Church in, none are like you, as the divine word says: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the prudence of the prudent' (I Cor. I, 19). Both the wise and the foolish exist together. Their education, depending on the quality of their intelligence, is either cheap and compared to wood, or similar to silver because of the elegance of their speech. It is brought from Tharsis. Tharsis is either a region of India, as Josephus says, or certainly the entire sea is called Tharsis, and it has a resemblance to the sky; and yet it is wrapped in the artifice of words, or extended. If it wants to deceive, it will not be able to. And gold from Ophaz. Gold is called by seven names among the Hebrews, one of which is called Ophaz, which we can call obryzum, so that it shines on the surface of idols, which internally is wood and of cheap material. They are covered with hyacinth and purple, so that they deceive the eyes with their surface, while promising to themselves the color of the heavens and the kingdoms of the sky; and yet all these things are the work of the wise, who are considered wise in this world; but before God they are foolish. But our Lord God, the true God, is. Therefore, all those things are lies. And He is the living God: therefore, those things that are feigned are dead. And He is the eternal king. The shadows of heretics prevail for a time, but are corrupted over a long time. The earth will be moved from His indignation: those who engage in earthly works and fashion worldly idols. And the nations will not endure, nor the people of the Lord, but the multitude of nations who are unable to bear the threat of God.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Jeremiah 10:11-14

Jeremiah the prophet, gifted with consummate wisdom, or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, exhibits God. “Am I a God at hand,” he says, “and not a God afar off? Can a person hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” … For “the Lord who created the earth by his power,” as Jeremiah says, “has raised up the world by his wisdom.” For wisdom, which is his word, raises us up to the truth. It raises us who have fallen prostrate before idols. And this raising through the word is itself the first resurrection from our fall.

Source: EXHORTATION TO THE GREEKS 8

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Jeremiah 10:11-14

If “everyone has become foolish from knowledge,” and Paul is a man, Paul has become foolish from knowledge because he knows in part, prophesies in part, has become foolish from knowledge because he sees through a mirror, sees dimly, sees and comprehends matters in small part and—if one can say—an infinitely tiny part. And seen from the opposite, you will understand that everyone has become foolish from knowledge. There are sins of Jerusalem, sins also of Sodom, but in comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness. For Sodom, he said, was justified due to you. Thus, as the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, and as there arises righteousness when compared with a greater injustice, so this is understood as knowledge seen from the opposite. The knowledge that is in Paul, with respect to that knowledge that is in the heavens, is as foolishness compared with the mature knowledge. Hence, everyone was made foolish by knowledge. In considering I think something such as this, the Preacher said, I have said, “I will become wise.” And it was made far from me, beyond what was, and deep, so deep; who will discover it?

Source: HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 8:7

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 10:11-14

But if heretics deny that either the heavens or the earth were made by you, O Lord, let them take heed of the abyss into which they are hurling themselves by their own madness. The prophet writes, “Perish the gods that have not made heaven and earth.” Shall he then perish, O Arian, who had found and saved that which had perished?

Source: Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.4.48

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 10:11-14

“Who has understood the sense of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor or has taught him?” Of him we also read elsewhere: “For he holds the circuit of the earth and made the earth as nothing.” And Jeremiah says, “The gods that have not made heaven and earth will perish from the earth and from among those places that are under heaven. He that made the earth by his power and prepared the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens at his knowledge and a multitude of waters in the heaven.” And he adds, “Humankind is become a fool for knowledge.” How can one who pursues the corruptible things of the world and thinks that from these things he can comprehend the truth of divine nature not become a fool as he makes use of the artifices of sophistry?

Source: SIX DAYS OF CREATION 1:3.9

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 10:11-14

Next, he adduces what indeed is the greatest token of divinity, “of whom are all things.” For this implies also that those others are not gods. For it is said, “Let the gods who made not the heaven and the earth perish.” Then he adds at the end nothing less than this, “and we to him.” For when he says, “of whom are all things,” he means the creation and the bringing of things out of nothing into existence.

Source: HOMILIES ON 1 CORINTHIANS 20:5

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:11-14

The psalmist writes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain unto it.” In another: “When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end.” And later in the same psalm, “I was as a beast before you; nevertheless I am continually with you.” And Jeremiah says, “Every person is become brutish and without knowledge.”

Source: Against the Pelagians 1.15

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:11

(Verse 11) So you shall say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from those things that are under the heavens. These things must be said about false gods and those that are artificially composed. For they neither made the heavens nor the earth. Those who are co-workers of Christ are called gods: and by the teaching of the Church, they assist greatly in building the house.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 10:11-14

In reading what is said in this psalm of Christ and of the church, one would find that what is there foretold is fulfilled in the present state of the world. He would see the idols of the nations perishing from off the earth, and he would find that this is predicted by the prophets, as in Jeremiah: “Then shall you say to them, ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under heaven,’ ” and again, “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth and shall say, ‘Surely our ancestors have inherited lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit. Shall a person make gods for himself, and they are not gods?’ Therefore, behold, I will at that time cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might, and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Hearing these prophecies and seeing their fulfillment, I need not say that he would be affected. We know from experience how the hearts of believers are confirmed by seeing ancient predictions now being fulfilled.

Source: REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICHAEAN 13:7

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:12-16

(Verse 12 and following) The one who made the earth in his strength, who established the world in his wisdom, and who stretched out the heavens in his understanding. By his voice, he gives a multitude of waters in the sky, and he lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He made lightning for rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Every man has become foolish because of his knowledge; every artisan is put to shame by his idols. For what he has made is false and there is no spirit in them. They are worthless and fit only for ridicule. They will perish at the time of their visitation. It is not like these, the portion of Jacob. For He who formed all things, He is, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name. He who makes the earth by His power, He is God the Father. But He also makes by His power the Lord the Savior. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). He Himself is both wisdom and the one by whom the heavens are stretched out. For He Himself spoke and they were made; He Himself commanded and they were created (Psalm 33:9); speaking to the Son: Let us make man in our image, and according to our likeness (Genesis 1:26). He gives a multitude of waters in the heavens at his voice. For all the doctrine of the Lord flows from the heavens, as David says: You will separate God a voluntary rain for your inheritance, and it was weakened, but you have perfected it. And he raises or brings forth the clouds from the ends of the earth (Psal. 67:10). The clouds, or the clouds by which God commanded that they should not rain a shower upon Israel (Isa. 5), are brought forth from the ends of the earth, of which one cloud spoke: For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as men appointed to death, because we are made a spectacle to this world, and to angels, and to men (1 Cor. 4:9). He made lightning into rain. For when the rain of doctrine comes down from heaven and nourishes the parched hearts of men, then you will find flashes and bright flashes of wisdom. And he brings forth winds from his treasuries; in them are all the treasures of hidden wisdom and knowledge. All men have become fools because of knowledge. Though that Paul, though Peter, though Moses, and Abraham may be wise, in comparison to God, all their wisdom will be considered as nothing: hence, even the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Every artist who sculpted images without a heart is confused and what he created is false. But if every person is ignorant of knowledge, everything false that he made is foolish. And there is no spirit in them. It should be noted that in this chapter, wind and spirit are called by one name among the Hebrews, Rûaḥ (); but he calls it the Spirit of sanctification, which cannot be found in the minds of heretics. They are vain and worthy of laughter. For who would not laugh when they see the images of heretics? Either they are rustic and wooden, or they are composed in beautiful language and contain silver, or they are admittedly simulated with their own sense and falsely promise the image of gold. In the time of their visitation, they will perish. Heresy is valuable for a time, so that the chosen ones may be made manifest and proven. But when the visitation of God comes and His foolish eye sees everything, all things fall silent (I Cor. XI). There is no one like these people of Jacob: those who have supplanted the Jews and destroy heretics every day. But the part of God is the Saints: of whom the prophet says: My part, O Lord. For he who formed all things, he is (Psalm 72:26): who made and fashioned all things, both in spirit and in body. And Israel is the rod of his inheritance. Whoever is upright in God or perceives God with understanding, is the scepter of his inheritance. Whose name is the Lord Almighty, or of Hosts, for this means the Lord of Hosts, which is written in Hebrew as the Lord Sabaoth.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 10:14

Because they can be called gods, though they cannot be so, for a time they are even called so. What does the prophet say, or what warning does he give them? The prophet is told to say this to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from those that are under the heavens.” He is not such a god, for our God is above all gods. Above all what gods? “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” - "Expositions of the Psalms 48.14"

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 10:14

He said, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from under the heaven.” He did not say, “The gods that have not made the heaven and from the earth,” because they never were in heaven. What did he say? He said, “Let them perish from the earth and from under the heaven,” as if, while the word earth was repeated, “heaven” did not need to be (because they never were in heaven). He repeats “earth” twice, since it is under heaven. “Let them perish from the earth and from under the heaven,” from their temples. Consider whether this is not now taking place, whether in a great measure it has not already happened. For what, or how much, has remained? The idols remained rather in the hearts of the pagans than in the niches of the temples. - "Expositions of the Psalms 99.2"

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:17-18

(Vers. 17, 18.) Gather from the land your confusion, you who dwell in siege; for thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast far away the inhabitants of the earth this time, and I will afflict them that they may be found. LXX: It has gathered from outside its substance, which dwells in the fortified place. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will overthrow the inhabitants of this land, and I will afflict them, that they may be found. Jerusalem is commanded to gather whatever substance it has outside into the heavily fortified city, and to prepare provisions for a long siege. For never in the past has it been threatened about the future and long time, but now about the imminent captivity, which is soon to come. Gather, he says, both from outside and from the land, that is, from your fields, your possessions or confusion. For whatever you have, it is worthy of confusion: which, although you may prepare these things, learn the words of the Lord about them. Behold, in this case, at this time, I will cast, or rather throw far away the inhabitants of this land like a sling: for which the Seventy translated 'I will supplant' and 'I will make them fall.' For the Hebrew word Colea (), Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it as σφενδονήσω. And the meaning is: I will cast like a sling with all my might, and thus I will besiege them: and I will distress and constrain them, so that all may be found in the city, and they may not be able to escape the disaster.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:19

(Verse 19.) Woe is me for my brokenness, my grievous wound. LXX: Woe is you for your brokenness, your grievous wound. According to the Hebrew text, Jerusalem itself speaks, expressing that it has been heavily afflicted and endures an incurable wound. However, according to the LXX, it is the Prophet who speaks to Jerusalem and laments over its brokenness and its wound.

But I say, truly this is my weakness (or my wound), and I will bear it (or it seizes me). Jerusalem itself speaks: whatever I suffer, I suffer by my own fault: I understand my wound which seizes me, or I will endure the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:20

(Verse 20.) My tent has been devastated, all my ropes have been torn (or all my skins have been ripped), my sons have left me (or my sheep), and there is no one left ((Alternatively: remaining)): there is no one to extend my tent any further (or there is no place beyond my tent) and to set up my skins. Jerusalem laments the ease with which its city is overthrown, not by walls and fortifications completely destroyed, but by the removal of tents and tabernacles. The tabernacle, he says, that is, my dwelling, was suddenly taken away. All my cords were broken. He preserves the metaphor of the tabernacle, that is, all my coverings were torn. My sons have left me, that is, my livestock, which is added by the Septuagint, does not fit the story. For in a long siege, how could sheep and livestock be taken away from Jerusalem, which even if they had been there, would have been consumed by famine? And they do not remain, that is, they are not. For they have not been translated into Chaldean, but a great part of them has been completely destroyed and wiped out. There is no one to extend my tent anymore: there is no one to restore me and lay the foundations of my walls, which have been laid down to the ground.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:21

(Verse 21.) Because the shepherds acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord: therefore, they did not understand, and the whole flock was scattered. Through the fault and dispersal of the shepherds and sheep, the culpability and scattering of the people is described. For the princes acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, whom they should have sought with their whole heart: therefore, they did not see the coming evils, or did not understand the Lord, and the whole multitude of Jerusalem was scattered here and there.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Jeremiah 10:21

The Lord protested against their wickedness through the voice of the prophet, saying, “Alas for the shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my inheritance,” and again, “The shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore did none of the flock understand and were scattered.” Such, then, was their state. But we are under the rule of the chief Shepherd of all, even Christ, by whom and with whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

Source: COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 126

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 10:21

He refers to the kings and priests as [stupid] shepherds because they were the guardians of this wandering people.

Source: On JEREMIAH 3:10

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:22

(Verse 22) A voice of the cry, behold it comes, and a great commotion from the land of the North: to make the cities of Judah desolate, a habitation of dragons (or a den of ostriches). And as Symmachus has interpreted, of sirens: for which in Hebrew, Thannim () is put. The words of the prophet: Behold, he says, the noise and the tumult of the Babylonian coming is heard, and great commotion, or earthquake, from the land of the North: to reduce all the cities of Judah, with the inhabitants being killed, into desolation, and to make dragons dwell instead of men, and all venomous creatures, or ostriches, which animal itself is familiar with desolation and is born and nurtured in the wilderness. Certainly, we can understand certain sirens, monsters, and phantoms of demons. All of these things that both past and present speech have described, let us refer them to times of persecution of the Church, when the tabernacles of the Lord are overthrown, and all the dwelling of the Church is reduced to solitude. And in order for all these things to happen, it is the fault of the shepherds, who acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, nor understand Him, and therefore the whole flock is scattered.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:23

(Verse 23) I know, Lord, that it is not in man to direct his own steps: nor is it in man, to walk and guide his own footsteps. Let the new preachers be ashamed, who say that each one is ruled by his own will, when even the Prophet says: It is not in man to direct his own steps (Psalm 36:23). And let David sing in his lyric song: The steps of man are directed by the Lord, and his way he greatly desires. Whether this is referring to what we suffer from the Babylonians, it is not due to their strength, but to our own merit and your indignation.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:23-25

“All are governed by their own free choice.” What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many, but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? How do you explain the proverb that “A person’s goings are ordered by the Lord?” Or “A person’s way is not in himself”? Or “No one can receive anything, unless it be given him from above”? And elsewhere, “What do you have that you did not receive?”

Source: Against the Pelagians 1.27

[AD 435] John Cassian on Jeremiah 10:23-25

The saints have never claimed that their own efforts would have enabled them to find their way along the road they were traveling to perfect virtue. Rather, they sought it from the Lord, praying, “Direct me in your truth” and “direct the road I take in your sight.” And someone else asserts that he grasped this not only through faith but also through direct experience of how things are: “I learned, Lord, that a person is no master of the road he takes, nor is it in man’s power as he goes his way to control his steps.” The Lord had this to say to Israel: “I will lead him on, like a greening fir tree, and the fruit you bear comes from me.”

Source: CONFERENCE 1:3.13

[AD 455] Prosper of Aquitaine on Jeremiah 10:23-25

Unless God works in us, we cannot be partakers of any virtue. For indeed, without this Good, nothing is good. Without this Light, nothing is bright. Without this Wisdom, nothing is wise. Without this Justice, nothing is right. For the Lord says through the mouth of Isaiah, “I am, I am the Lord, and there is no one besides me who saves,” and through Jeremiah, “I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not in him. Neither is it in a person to direct his way.”

Source: THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1:8

[AD 455] Prosper of Aquitaine on Jeremiah 10:23-25

Jeremiah, explaining that humankind receives wisdom from God, states, “I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not his. Neither is it of a person … to direct his way.” Again the Lord proclaims through the same prophet that God effects the conversion of a heart to him and says, “I will bring them again into this land. And I will build them up again and not pull them down. And I will plant them and pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people and I will be their God, because they shall return to me with whole heart.”

Source: THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1:24

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 10:23-25

It is clear, therefore, from what was said at first and what was added, that the verse “I know, Lord, that the people’s way is not their own,” neither subjects our free will to nature’s enslavement nor submits our affairs to an ordained necessity. Instead, it expressly teaches us that the Lord God keeps his hand on the tiller of the universe and wisely directs it. He provides blessings but also corrects with justice whenever he perceives that despite his extended long-suffering we persist in evildoing.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 3:10.23-25

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 10:23-25

The inspired author knows the usefulness of discipline and understands that the Lord is exercising loving-kindness in applying it to human beings. This is the reason he asks to have a share in it. God exercises goodness in applying correction, and correction produces knowledge. Likewise the prophet Jeremiah begs, “Correct us, O Lord, but in just measure, not in anger, lest you make us few.” Thus, a sick person who longs for health goes in search of a cure through cutting by steel and burning.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 119:34

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 10:24-25

(Verse 24, 25.) Rebuke me, O Lord, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your indignation on the nations that do not know you, and on the provinces (or generations) that have not invoked your name, for they have devoured Jacob and consumed his dwelling place, and they have scattered (or reduced to desolation) his glory (or pasture). We also read this passage in the psalm: O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your wrath (Psalm 6:1; 38:1). And the meaning is this: We indeed deserve all that we endure, and we deserve much greater things than what we suffer. Nevertheless, I beseech you, that you may correct me as a father, not as an adversary: that you may correct me as a son, and not punish me as an enemy (Hebrews 12); for you discipline every son whom you receive, and you correct Jerusalem through every pain and scourge. However, the enemies who do not know you, and the provinces or regions who have not invoked your name, should not feel your judgment, but rather your displeasure (Psalm 88). For you have handed us over to be corrected. But they have made their yoke heavier: they have not spared the elderly, and they have afflicted the little ones: they have eaten us up and completely devoured us, and they have reduced Jerusalem to such desolation that they have plundered both public and private buildings and killed your people.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah