And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord said to me: Behold I have given my words in thy mouth:

“The Scripture narrative goes on to explain in a popular manner that "they did not understand that he spoke to them about the Father," although they ought certainly to have known that the Father's words were uttered in the Son because they read in Jeremiah, "And the Lord said to me, 'Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.' "”

“Here begins the treatise of the book itself, and first the office of prophesying is enjoined upon Jeremiah; second, the prophecy of the prophet now established is set forth, at the words, and it came to pass, chapter 2. The first is divided into two. In the first he enjoins the office; in the second he shows the manner of its execution, at the words, thou therefore gird up. The first is divided into two. In the first he is established in the prophetic office; in the second the matter of his prophecy is designated to him, at the words, and the word of the Lord came to me. The first is divided into two. In the first the preparation of the prophet is narrated; in the second, the bestowal of the prophetic gift, at the words, and the Lord put forth his hand. The first is divided into three. In the first the preparation on the part of the Lord is set forth; in the second the contradiction of the prophet is set forth, at the words, and I said, Ah, ah, ah; in the third, the repelling of the contradiction, at the words, and the Lord said. Concerning the first, three things. First the preparation of the prophet is set forth: the word came, either outwardly through a subject creature, or inwardly through inspiration. Ps. 84: I will hear what the Lord God shall speak in me. I should form thee: for in nature itself forming, God works the form, namely as a first cause in a second. Job 10: thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh. I knew, with a knowledge of approval. Isa. 49: the Lord hath called me from the womb, from the belly of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. Second, the privileged sanctification is set forth, and before. Eccl. 49: they treated him ill, who from his mother's womb was consecrated a prophet, et cetera. Third, the preordination of the office is set forth. And a prophet I gave, namely, in my own ordaining. Isa. 44: I have given thee for a light to the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation even to the end of the earth. Concerning the sanctification in the womb let us consider four things. First, the time. And it seems that such sanctification can exist before the infusion of the soul, on account of that which the Gloss of Ambrose says on Luke 1: the spirit of life was not yet present, and already the spirit of grace was present. Moreover, it is said here: before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee: and this is understood of a spiritual knowledge, which is one of approval: therefore before formation he had grace. On the contrary it seems that not, before he is born from the womb, because Augustine says: he cannot be reborn unless already born: but no one has grace unless reborn, since it is through grace that one becomes a son of God: therefore neither the grace of sanctification. To this it must be said that the sanctification of which we speak comes about through grace, whose subject is the soul; and therefore it cannot exist before the infusion of the soul; but after the infusion, before birth from the womb, it comes about by a special privilege. To the first it must be said that the spirit of life is there said to be the outward air, freely breathed. Or the spirit of life is said to be present, if it be taken of the soul, when it becomes known. To the other it must be said that it is understood of a knowledge of approval, which is according to predestination to grace, and is not said according to present justice. To the other it must be said that no one can be reborn by the common law, by the regeneration which is through the sacraments, before he is born, because he cannot yet be subject to the operations of the ministers of the Church, through whom this kind of grace is dispensed. But God has not bound his power to the sacraments; and therefore he himself can, by a special privilege, sanctify someone in the womb. Second, it is asked to whom this sanctification belongs. And it seems that it belongs to Christ, of whom it is said in the Gloss, that before he came forth from the womb, he was sanctified in the womb. But on the contrary: to be sanctified is to become holy from not-holy; but he was never not holy: therefore, et cetera. Likewise it seems that it belongs to inanimate things, on account of what is said in Ps. 45: the Most High hath sanctified his tabernacle. On the contrary is that such things are not receptive of grace. And it must be said, to the first, that not-holy is said in two ways. Either privatively, and then the existence of the subject is required; and thus it does not belong to Christ: or negatively; and thus it belongs to Christ to become holy from not-holy, because before he was man, he was not holy with a created holiness. To the other it must be said that holy is said in one way as dedicated to divine worship; and thus animate and inanimate things can be sanctified; but sometimes holy is said of what is firm, or clean either from sin, or from carnal act; and such sanctification is through grace, and possible only in men. But since every sanctification is ordered to that most holy conception of the Son of God, fittingly the mother, in whose womb that conception was accomplished, was sanctified, and John the Baptist, who while still enclosed in the womb, showed the one enclosed in the womb, and Jeremiah, who among others expressly discoursed on the manner of that most holy conception. Below, 21: the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall compass a man. Third, it is asked concerning the effect of sanctification. And it must be known that sanctification is ordered against the uncleanness of original sin, in which one must consider the guilt of the lack of the divine vision arising from the lack of due justice; and this it wholly removed, so far as pertains to the impediment of the person, although the price by which the impediment of nature would be removed was not yet paid. One must also consider the tinder of sin, which is a proneness to every evil; and this indeed remains, like a habit impeded, not inclining to that to which it is ordered: but in others it inclined to venial sin, though not to mortal; but in the Blessed Virgin, to neither of these. Fourth, it is asked concerning the comparison of the grace of sanctification to sacramental grace. And it must be said that, absolutely speaking, the grace of sanctification prevails, because after sacramental grace an inclination to mortal sin remains. But in a certain respect sacramental grace prevails, namely as regards the imprinting of the character and such things. And I said. Here the contradiction of the prophet is set forth: and first he sets forth his own dismay — ah, on account of a defect of life; ah, on account of a defect of knowledge; ah, on account of a defect of eloquence. Ezech. 4: and I said, Ah, ah, ah. Second, he sets forth the reason for his dismay: and he alleges a defect of eloquence: behold, I know not how to speak. Exodus 4: I am not eloquent from yesterday and the day before. And the age of boyhood: because I am a boy, wherefore my age does not befit the office of preaching. Job 32: I hoped that greater age would speak, and a multitude of years would teach wisdom. Eccl. 32: speak, thou elder, for it teaches thee. But why this one refused the office of preaching, to which Isaiah offered himself, Isa. 6, Gregory shows in that Gloss: the office (he says) of preaching some laudably seek, to which others are laudably compelled, et cetera. Because this one, out of the love by which he was borne toward God, feared the loss of contemplation, while that one, through love of neighbor, desired the salvation of his neighbors. Yet neither did that one offer himself before his purgation, nor did this one refuse out of obstinacy. And the Lord said. He repels this contradiction. And because he alleged his boyhood, he promises three things against three defects of boys. For boys are inconstant; and against this he promises constancy: say not, in excusing thyself, as to all things that are to be carried out. Below, 10: the way of man is not his own, neither is it for man to walk and direct his own steps. Prov. 3: in all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps. Likewise he promises eloquence against this, that boys are tongueless, and all things. Wis. 10: wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of infants eloquent. He promises boldness against the timidity of boys: fear not, for I am with thee, to deliver thee — not that thou shalt be free from anguish, but that thou shalt bear all things patiently. Ps. 12: I will not fear evils, for thou art with me. And the Lord put forth. Here he bestows the gift of prophecy after the manner of a sacrament. Whence first the action is set forth: the Lord put forth, by an imaginary vision, so that the boy, seeing human limbs, might not be terrified: by which is signified the liberality of the divine goodness. Ps. 103: when thou openest thy hand, all things shall be filled with goodness. But he is not purged beforehand by a fiery coal, as Isaiah was: because, on account of his boyhood and the grace of his sanctification, he had no sins. Second, the words are set forth: and he said to me: which contain three things. First he expresses the gift: behold, I have given. Ps. 67: the Lord shall give the word to them that preach the gospel, with great power. Second, he shows the degree: behold, I have set thee over the nations — diverse ones, to whom he preached, as a mediator between them and God. Exod. 7: behold, I have made thee the god of Pharaoh. Ps. 17: thou wilt make me the head of the nations. Third, he sets forth the office: that thou mayest root out — evils, as to their root; destroy — as to the contrivance of evil ordering; pull down — the joining together of evils; throw down — the defense of evil; build — goods, as to their order; plant — as to their root. For they do not need an outward fortification, as it were a hedge. Eccl. 49: he was consecrated a prophet, to overthrow, to root out and to destroy, and again to build and to renew.”

“Then the Lord put forth his hand,.... Who, according to Kimchi, was the Angel that appeared to the prophet, and spoke in the name of the Lord to him, and is called by his name; but rather it was the Son of God, the true Jehovah, who appeared in a human form he assumed for the present, and put forth his hand: and touched my mouth; just as one of the seraphim touched the mouth and lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a live coal from the altar, Isa 6:6, by this symbol the prophet was inducted into his office; and it was suggested to him that his mouth was now sanctified to the Lord's use and service; and that what he should speak should not be his own words, but the words of the Lord; and so the Targum paraphrases it, "and the Lord sent the words of his prophecy, and ordered them in my mouth;'' to which agrees what follows: and the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth; which was signified by the preceding symbol; wherefore he might with great freedom and boldness deliver them out to others.”

“The Consecration. - Jer 1:9. "And Jahveh stretched forth His hand, and touched my mouth, and Jahveh said to me, Behold, I put my words into thy mouth. Jer 1:10. Behold, I set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root up and to ruin, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant." In order to assure him by overt act of His support, the Lord gives him a palpable pledge. He stretches out His hand and causes it to touch his mouth (cf. Isa 6:7); while, as explanation of this symbolical act, He adds: I have put my words in thy mouth. The hand is the instrument of making and doing; the touching of Jeremiah's mouth by the hand of God is consequently an emblematical token that God frames in his mouth what he is to speak. It is a tangible pledge of ἔμπνευσις, inspiratio, embodiment of that influence exercised on the human spirit, by means of which the holy men of God speak, being moved by the Holy Ghost, Pe2 1:21 (Nδgelsb.). The act is a real occurrence, taking place not indeed in the earthly, corporeal sphere, but experienced in spirit, and of the nature of ecstasy. By means of it God has consecrated him to be His prophet, and endowed him for the discharge of his duties; He may now entrust him with His commission to the peoples and kingdoms, and set him over them as His prophet who proclaims to them His word. The contents of this proclaiming are indicated in the following infinitive clauses. With the words of the Lord he is to destroy and to build up peoples and kingdoms. The word of God is a power that carries out His will, and accomplishes that whereto He sends it, Isa 55:10. Against this power nothing earthly can stand; it is a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces, Jer 23:29. What is here said of the word of Jahveh to be preached by Jeremiah is said of Jahveh Himself in Jer 31:28. Its power is to show itself in two ways, in destroying and in building up. The destroying is not set down as a mere preliminary, but is expressed by means of four different words, whereas the building is given only in two words, and these standing after the four; in order, doubtless, to indicate that the labours of Jeremiah should consist, in the first place and for the most part, in proclaiming judgment upon the nations. The assonant verbs נתשׁ and נתץ are joined to heighten the sense; for the same reason להרוס is added to להאביד, and in the antithesis לנטוע is joined with לבנות. (Note: The lxx have omitted להרוסa, and hence Hitz. infers the spuriousness of this word. But in the parallel passage, Jer 31:28, the lxx have rendered all the four words by the one καθαιρεῖν; and Hitz. does not then pronounce the other three spurious.)”