1 I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath. | |
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light. | |
3 Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day. | |
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones. | |
5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. | |
6 In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead. | |
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy. | |
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer. | |
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked. | |
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places. | |
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate. | |
12 He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow. | |
13 He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts. | |
14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day. | |
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood. | |
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust. | |
17 My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness. | |
18 So I say, "My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the LORD." | |
19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. | |
20 Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me. | |
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope. | |
22 The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail. | |
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. | |
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I have hope in Him." | |
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him. | |
26 It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the LORD. | |
27 It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth. | |
28 Let him sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him. | |
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust,
Perhaps there is hope. | |
30 Let him give his cheek to the smiter,
Let him be filled with reproach. | |
31 For the Lord will not reject forever, | |
32 For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness. | |
33 For He does not afflict willingly
Or grieve the sons of men. | |
34 To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the land, | |
35 To deprive a man of justice
In the presence of the Most High, | |
36 To defraud a man in his lawsuit--
Of these things the Lord does not approve. | |
37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it? | |
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That both good and ill go forth? | |
39 Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Offer complaint in view of his sins? | |
40 Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the LORD. | |
41 We lift up our heart and hands
Toward God in heaven; | |
42 We have transgressed and rebelled,
You have not pardoned. | |
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and have not spared. | |
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud
So that no prayer can pass through. | |
45 You have made us mere offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples. | |
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. | |
47 Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction; | |
48 My eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. | |
49 My eyes pour down unceasingly,
Without stopping, | |
50 Until the LORD looks down
And sees from heaven. | |
51 My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city. | |
52 My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird; | |
53 They have silenced me in the pit
And have placed a stone on me. | |
54 Waters flowed over my head;
I said, "I am cut off!" | |
55 I called on Your name, O LORD,
Out of the lowest pit. | |
56 You have heard my voice,
" Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help." | |
57 You drew near when I called on You;
You said, " Do not fear!" | |
58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause;
You have redeemed my life. | |
59 O LORD, You have seen my oppression;
Judge my case. | |
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me. | |
61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD,
All their schemes against me. | |
62 The lips of my assailants and their whispering
Are against me all day long. | |
63 Look on their sitting and their rising;
I am their mocking song. | |
64 You will recompense them, O LORD,
According to the work of their hands. | |
65 You will give them hardness of heart,
Your curse will be on them. | |
66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the heavens of the LORD! | |
1. Неподлинность послания. Послание Иеремии, написанное на греческом языке, на самом деле не принадлежит великому иудейскому пророку. Это доказывается, во-первых, тем, что его совсем нет в еврейской Библии, в сирийском переводе Пешито и даже в некоторых списках LXX-ти; во-вторых, самое содержание послания не имеет почти ничего общего с содержанием книги пророка Иеремии, и в-третьих, наконец, язык послания далеко не похож на блестящий язык книги пророка Иеремии. Кроме того, в послании своем Иеремия не мог употребить таких неточных выражений как семь родов вместо семидесяти лет (для обозначения периода вавилонского плена) и т. п.
Неизвестный автор послания, по-видимому, иудей-еллинист — составил его и назвал Иеремииным, вероятно, чтобы придать ему больше значения в глазах читателей. Вероятнее всего, что послание написано во Фригии — в нем находятся довольно ясные следы знакомства автора с фригиийским языческим культом.
2. Содержание послания. Автор послания хочет предостеречь своих единоплеменников, иудеев, от увлечения идолослужением. Для этого он изображает идолов как простых бесчувственных истуканов, которые ничего не видят и не слышат и с которыми можно сделать что угодно. Неправильно потому называются они богами: их даже сами халдеи не чтут как следует. Они не в состоянии даже спасти от опасности себя самих, и даже дикие звери лучше их, потому что у них есть инстинкт самосохранения.
Все послание состоит из 72-х стихов и может быть разделено на 4 части: 1) надписание (1 ст.); 2) вступление (2-6 ст.); 3) главная часть послания — рассуждение о ничтожестве идолов и суетности идолослужения (7-71) и 4) заключение (72-й ст.).
3. Достоинство послания. У наших православных богословов иногда высказывается мысль, что послание Иеремии — каноническое (митр. Макарий — во «Введении в прав. Богословие», Смарагдов, Афанасьев). Это, несомненно, отражение католического воззрения, по которому это послание действительно является произведением Иеремии. Но большинство толкователей наших совершенно справедливо считают это послание неканоническим (митр. Филарет моск., митр. Арсений киев. и др).
4. Источники и пособия. Кроме указанных в предисловии к книге Иеремии общих трудов о пророке Иеремии, здесь можно указать на пробную лекцию проф. Жданова «О послании Иеремии» (Прибавл. к Твор. Св. Отцов. 1888, IV, 441-466).