Jerome
Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“(Verse 3) Lord, your eyes look upon faith: you struck them, and they did not hurt; you crushed them, and they refused to accept discipline. They hardened their faces like rock, and they refused to turn back. After the words of the Lord, in which he commanded, saying: Go around the streets of Jerusalem, etc., the Prophet speaks to the Lord: Lord, your eyes look upon faith, which in Hebrew is called Emuna: not the works of the Jews, in which they rejoiced according to the ceremonies of the Law; but the faith of the Christians, through which we have been saved by grace. In this chapter, we learn that punishments are inflicted in order to correct vices. Finally, it says, 'You have struck them, and they have not felt pain; you have crushed them, and they have refused to accept discipline.' Through all the torments and whips, Jerusalem is corrected, and yet they did not even have shame for their vices; but like a stone hardening their foreheads, they refused to be converted to better things.”