Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.
הַקְשִׁ֥יבָה יְהוָ֖ה אֵלָ֑י וּשְׁמַ֖ע לְק֥וֹל יְרִיבָֽי׃
2 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Call out to me, O Lord, and listen to the sound of my vindication. Is it just that goodness is met with evil? They repay with death the one who interceded for the liberation of the Jews from their persecutors, who sought Your blessings, and urged them to turn back to You in repentance.
Hear me, O Lord, and listen to the words of my enemies. Is it just for good to be met with evil? They have dug a pit for my soul. Remember, I have come before You to intercede on their behalf and to avert Your wrath from them. Therefore, let their sons suffer hunger and let them fall by the sword. Let the wives be bereft of children and become widows; let their husbands be struck down by death, and let their young men be fallen in battle, with cries echoing from their homes. Though Jeremiah endures these trials, mirroring the Saviour amidst the Jews, who later faced the devastation brought by the Babylonians, this was ultimately fulfilled in Christ.
After the city's ruin, they faced destruction by the Romans—not for idolatry, which was absent at that time, but for the murder of the Son of God, when the crowd shouted: Crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar (John 19:15), their blasphemy ringing true with His blood being upon us and our children (Matt. 27:25), leading to their eternal damnation. They set a trap for Christ, declaring, 'Let us eliminate Him from the land of the living' (Isa. 58:8); yet He extended mercy to them, standing before the Father to plead for them, saying, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do' (Luke 23:34). We often overlook what is evident to focus on obscurer matters, and instead of delving into the misguided interpretations regarding the captivity of the heavenly Jerusalem, we should base our understanding on the clear narratives and the most apparent prophecies.
Passages read together with this verse.
THEOSIS