THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
There was a flow. Their concern was not directed toward virtuous matters; they exerted effort, yet not toward what is righteous.
Jeremiah 23:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers
Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
כִּ֤י מְנָֽאֲפִים֙ מָלְאָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ כִּֽי־מִפְּנֵ֤י אָלָה֙ אָבְלָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ יָבְשׁ֖וּ נְא֣וֹת מִדְבָּ֑ר וַתְּהִ֤י מְרֽוּצָתָם֙ רָעָ֔ה וּגְבוּרָתָ֖ם לֹא־כֵֽן׃
The Church Fathers on this verse
2 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Jerome of Stridon
The Hebrew translation, which states that the land is filled with unfaithful individuals, is absent in the Septuagint, where instead of a curse, the term Oath is used. This substitution offers an explanation that the lack of fruitful outcomes can be attributed to acts of infidelity and curses, or more accurately, to the breaking of oaths. What you comprehend in a literal context regarding the land of the Jews should be understood in relation to the assembly of believers; for due to unfaithfulness, deceit, and wrongdoing, there is a deficiency of God's virtues and gifts within the church.
Cross references
Passages read together with this verse.
- Hos 4:2Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.
- Hos 4:3Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.
- Ps 107 (106):34
- Jer 9:10For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts they are gone away and departed.
- Jer 5:7How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot's house.
- Jer 5:8They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.
- Jer 9:2Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors.
- Mal 3:5And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.