19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
He is saying, We and our ancestors have also neglected the precepts of God by the same insanity. The measure of our ancestors, therefore, is filled up in us, in such a way that whatever was coming due to them would be added to our measure. This is why it was said, concerning Judah: “May the Lord remember his fathers and may the sin of his mother not be forgotten! May they always be opposed to the Lord, and may their memory be eradicated from the earth!”
And blessed Daniel the prophet, the divine Ezekiel (who was both prophet and priest) and many other priests in addition to them shared in these misfortunes. For God provided for those profane exiles and sent along also prophets that could be pedagogues and teachers so that the exiles might not incline entirely to godlessness.
(Verse 19) Have you rejected Judah completely? Has your soul despised Zion? Why have you struck us, so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there is no good; for a time of healing, but behold, terror! The prophet is amazed that the Lord has suddenly cast away Judah and Jerusalem, the kingdom of the two tribes where the religion of God and the ceremonies of the Temple were. And He has struck them with such a great plague that no remedy can be applied. We have waited, he said, for peace and a time of healing, and there is no good; but instead, there is turmoil: so that where there was once worship of God and tranquility, there, now everything is filled with seditions and hostile uproar. So if ever our Zion, our Judah is rejected and the soul of God abhors it, let us not be surprised, but rather let us say what follows:
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:17-20