“Ever. True wisdom may be found in the law. It constitutes the happiness of Israel, Deuteronomy iv. 7. Christ perfected and fulfilled it, Matthew v. 7. — Life. Moses promised temporal blessings; (chap. iii. 14., and Deuteronomy xxx. 15.) yet the faithful would be rewarded eternally. (Calmet) — Wisdom is the law of God, chap. iii. 12. (Worthington)”

“He clearly calls us to goodness by Solomon when he says, "Blessed is the one who has found wisdom and the mortal who has found understanding." "For goodness is found by him who seeks it and is likely to be seen by him who has found it." By Jeremiah, too, he sets forth prudence when he says, "Blessed are we, Israel; for what is pleasing to God is known by us"—and it is known by the Word, by whom we are blessed and wise. For wisdom and knowledge are mentioned by the same prophet when he says, "Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life, and listen to know understanding."”

“He urges the Israelites to be the first to take hold of grace. In fact, "it was necessary that the Word of God first be announced to them." The spiritual Israel speaks in this way, to whom the Savior addresses himself, saying, "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear."”

“"And my people has not understood me." They have not understood me, he says, that I am more brilliant than the sun. "Woe to a sinful people." This also is typical of the prophets, to grieve over one who is sick with an incurable illness. Jeremiah does this in many places, and Christ as well, saying, "Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida," because this also is a form of instruction. In fact, one who has not been brought back by reasoning can often be corrected by someone's grief. "People full of sins." Another accusation: all are so, and gravely. "Perverse race." He does not accuse their birth but indicates that their wickedness began from the earliest age. Just as John, when he said, "serpents, children of vipers," did not depreciate their nature (otherwise he would not have said, "Produce fruit, then, worthy of repentance," if they had been such by nature and by birth), so also here, in saying "Perverse race," the prophet does not accuse their birth. "Lawless children." He did not say, "outside of the law," but "without law," with a disposition in no way better than those who had received no law at all, thus showing that the difference is in their previous choice. "You have abandoned the Lord, angering him." He said this expressively: the name of God would have been enough to establish the accusation. It is what Jeremiah reproves, saying, "Since they have departed from him and are drawn near to demons." "The Holy One of Israel." This is the culmination of the accusation, by the fact that though he was the common Lord of all, it was to them that he had made himself known.”

“He calls her a widow because she was without the divine care, alone and desolate—clearly she who is now alone. Or, furthermore, the only one to have had the divine temple. Or the only one to have been encircled by the Assyrians but not conquered, because in fact "the Lord tried me harshly but did not give me over to death." But above all it is the synagogue that deserves the name widow, which, having acted arrogantly toward Christ her spouse, has been abandoned.”

“God "removed our sins from us," but we are attracted to them, and for them we are punished. It says that he sends, because nothing happens without God's consent. The "perverse nation" was first the Babylonians, then the Romans. This can also be understood as those who teach false knowledge, resorting to the deceptions of the sophists.”

“I remain alone because of God's absence. This could have been said by the saints, who made the condition of sinners their own; or by the synagogue of the Jews, when because of its arrogance toward Christ it was said to it, "See, your house will be left desolate"; or by the city, because of the desolation of the inhabitants.”

“Paul reasonably has said, "his eternal power and godhead," thereby signifying the Son. He said this while accusing the Greeks of contemplating the harmony and order of the creation without reflecting on the framing Word within it (for the creatures witness to their own Framer) so as through the creation to apprehend the true God and abandon their worship of it. And where the sacred writers say, "who exists before the ages," and, "by whom he made the ages," they thereby as clearly preach the eternal and everlasting being of the Son, even while they are designating God. Thus, if Isaiah says, "The everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth," and Susanna said, "O everlasting God," and Baruch wrote, "I will cry unto the Everlasting in my days," and shortly after, "My hope is in the Everlasting, that he will save you, and joy is come to me from the Holy One," yet as the apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says, "who being the radiance of his glory and the expression of his person," and David too in the psalm, "And the brightness of the Lord be on us," and, "In your light shall we see light," who has so little sense as to doubt of the eternity of the Son?”

“How great is the providence of the Lord! Where there is a fruit of a softer quality, the thickness of the leaves offers a more protective covering for its defense, as we see in the example of the fig tree. Therefore the more delicate creatures must be protected from the other sturdier ones, as the same Lord teaches by the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, "Like these good figs, thus I will regard the deported ones of Judah that I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good and will fix my eyes on them for their good." In fact, when they were exposed to offenses he encircled them, so to speak, with a more protective covering of his mercy so that those tender fruits would not perish prematurely. Moreover, he later on also says about them, "The creatures of my possession have walked rough ways," and he says more to them further on, "Be brave, my children, and cry to the Lord." This is the sole inviolable protection, the impregnable defense against all the storms and the injuries. Where there are delicate fruits, the protection and the defense of the leaves is thicker; on the contrary, where there are more resistant fruits, there the leaves are more delicate, as in the case of the apple.”

“Jeremiah the prophet has pointed out, that as many believers as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left upon earth, should both be under the rule of the saints to minister to this Jerusalem, and that [His] kingdom shall be in it, saying, "Look around Jerusalem towards the east, and behold the joy which comes to thee from God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall come whom thou hast sent forth: they shall come in a band from the east even unto the west, by the word of that Holy One, rejoicing in that splendour which is from thy God. O Jerusalem, put off thy robe of mourning and of affliction, and put on that beauty of eternal splendour from thy God. Gird thyself with the double garment of that righteousness proceeding from thy God; place the mitre of eternal glory upon thine head. For God will show thy glory to the whole earth under heaven. For thy name shall for ever be called by God Himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him that worships God. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east, and behold thy sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God. For the footmen have gone forth from thee, while they were drawn away by the enemy. God shall bring them in to thee, being borne with glory as the throne of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be brought low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be filled, so that the surface of the earth be rendered smooth, that Israel, the glory of God, may walk in safety. The woods, too, shall make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel itself by the command of God. For God shall go before with joy in the light of His splendour, with the pity and righteousness which proceeds from Him." Now all these things being such as they are, cannot be understood in reference to super-celestial matters; "for God," it is said, "will show to the whole earth that is under heaven thy glory." But in the times of the kingdom, the earth has been called again by Christ [to its pristine condition], and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern of the Jerusalem above, of which the prophet Isaiah says, "Behold, I have depicted thy walls upon my hands, and thou art always in my sight," And the apostle, too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner, "But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."...John, the Lord's disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above shall [then] descend, as a bride adorned for her husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with men. Of this Jerusalem the former one is an image-that Jerusalem of the former earth in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation.”

“East and west. From Babylon and from the islands, Isaias xi. 11., and Zacharias viii. 7. Bible Text & Cross-references: The prophet exhorts to the keeping of the law of wisdom: and encourages the people to be patient, and to hope for their deliverance. 1 This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, that is for ever: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have forsaken it, to death. 2 Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof. 3 Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation. 4 We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us. 5 Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel: 6 You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked God to wrath, you are delivered to your adversaries. 7 For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to God. 8 For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you. 9 For she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, and she said: Give ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for God hath brought upon me great mourning: 10 For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them. 11 For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning. 12 Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken of many for the sins of my children, because they departed from the law of God. 13 And they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of God’s commandments, neither have they entered by the paths of his truth and justice. 14 Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them. 15 For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked nation, and of a strange tongue: 16 Who have neither reverenced the ancient, nor pitied children, and have carried away the beloved of the widow, and have left me all alone without children. 17 But as for me, what help can I give you? 18 But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you out of the hands of your enemies. 19 Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone. 20 I have put off the robe of peace, and have put upon me the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the most High in my days. 21 Be of good comfort, my children, cry to the Lord, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the princes, your enemies. 22 For my hope is in the Eternal, that he will save you: and joy is come upon me from the holy One, because of the mercy which shall come to you from our everlasting Saviour. 23 For I sent you forth with mourning, and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever. 24 For as the neighbours of Sion have now seen your captivity from God, so shall they also shortly see your salvation from God, which shall come upon you with great honour, and everlasting glory. 25 My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you: for thy enemy hath persecuted thee, but thou shalt quickly see his destruction: and thou shalt get up upon his neck. 26 My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away as a flock made a prey by the enemies. 27 Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by him that hath led you away. 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. 29 For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation. 30 Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee. 31 The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished. 32 The cities which thy children have served, shall be punished: and she that received thy sons. 33 For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation. 34 And the joy of her multitude shall be cut off, and her gladness shall be turned to mourning. 35 For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal, long to endure, and she shall be inhabited by devils for a great time. 36 *Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God. 37 For behold thy children come, whom thou sentest away scattered, they come gathered together from the east even to the west, at the word of the holy One, rejoicing for the honour of God.”