that dwellest in a
siege.

10:18. For thus saith he Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the
inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that
they may be found.

10:19. Woe is me for my destruction, my wound is very grievous. But I
said: Truly this is my own evil, and I will bear it.

10:20. My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my children
are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth
my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

10:21. Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the
Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is
scattered.

10:22. Behold the sound of a noise cometh, a great commotion out of the
land of the north: to make the cities of Juda a desert, and a dwelling
for dragons.

10:23. I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it
in a man to walk, and to direct his steps.

The way of a man is not his... The meaning is, that notwithstanding
man's free will, yet he can do no good without God's help, nor evil
without his permission. So that, in the present case, all the evils
which Nabuchodonosor was about to bring upon Jerusalem, could not have
come but by the will of God.

10:24. Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgment: and not in thy fury,
lest thou bring me to nothing.

10:25. Pour out thy indignation upon the nations that have not known
thee, and upon the provinces that have not called upon thy name: because
they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have
destroyed his glory.

Jeremias Chapter 11

The prophet proclaims the covenant of God: and denounces evils to the
obstinate transgressors of it. The conspiracy of the Jews against him, a
figure of their conspiracy against Christ.

11:1. The word that came from the Lord to Jeremias, saying:

11:2. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Juda,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

11:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel:
Cursed is the man that shall not hearken to the words of this covenant,

11:4. Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out
of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying: Hear ye my voice,
and do all things that I command you: and you shall be my people, and I
will be your God:

11:5. That I may accomplish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to
give them a land flowing with milk and honey,