Jeremias 17:6
For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Erit enim quasi myricæ in deserto, et non videbit cum venerit bonum : sed habitabit in siccitate in deserto, in terra salsuginis et inhabitabili.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἔσται ὡς ἡ ἀγριομυρίκη ἡ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὐκ ὄψεται ὅταν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀγαθά, καὶ κατασκηνώσει ἐν ἁλίμοις καὶ ἐν ἐρήμῳ, ἐν γῇ ἁλμυρᾷ ἥτις οὐ κατοικεῖται.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְהָיָה֙ כְּעַרְעָ֣ר בָּֽעֲרָבָ֔ה וְלֹ֥א יִרְאֶ֖ה כִּי יָב֣וֹא ט֑וֹב וְשָׁכַ֤ן חֲרֵרִים֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר אֶ֥רֶץ מְלֵחָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א תֵשֵֽׁב
Haydock's commentary
Tamaric. A barren shrub, that grows in the driest parts of the wilderness. (Challoner)
Harhar denotes some sort (Haydock) of "useless wood." (Symmachus) See chap. xlviii. 6., and Isaias xvii. 2.
Salt, like the environs of Sodom, the fruits of which were bad.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Minucius Felix The Octavius of Minucius Felix, Chapter XXIX
“These, and such as these infamous things, we are not at liberty even to hear; it is even disgraceful with any more words to defend ourselves from such charges. For you pretend that those things are done by chaste and modest persons, which we should not believe to be done at all, unless you proved that they were true concerning yourselves. For in that you attribute to our religion the worship of a criminal and his cross, you wander far from the neighbourhood of the truth, in thinking either that a criminal deserved, or that an earthly being was able, to be believed God. Miserable indeed is that man whose whole hope is dependent on mortal man, for all his help is put an end to with the extinction of the man. …
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Testimony X
In Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the strong man glory in his strength, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows that I am the Lord, who do mercy, and judgment, and righteousness upon the earth, because in them is my pleasure, saith the Lord.” Of the same thing in the fifty-fourth Psalm: “In the Lord have I hoped; I will not fear what man can do unto me.” Also in the same place: “To none but God alone is my soul subjected.” Also in the cxviith Psalm: “I will not fear what man can do unto me; the Lord is my helper.” Also in the same place: “It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man; it is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in princes.” Of this same thing in Daniel: “But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, there …
St Augustine Reply to Faustus the Manichæan, Faustus asserts that even if the Old Testament could be shown to contain predictions, it would be of interest only to the Jews, pagan literature subserving the same purpose for Gentiles. Augustin shows the value of prophesy for Gentiles and Jews alike
8. In the same prophet the inquirer would find clear proof that Christ is not merely one of the great men that have appeared in the world. For Jeremiah goes on to say: "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord: for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: for he shall be as a tree beside the water, that spreadeth out its roots by the river: he shall not fear when heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green; he shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." On hearing this curse pronounced in the figurative language of prophecy on him that trusts in man, and the blessing in similar style on him …
St Augustine Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist, Chapter 3
4. But how, again, shall they have any certainty about the good who are to give them faith, if what we look to is the conscience of the giver, which is unseen by the eyes of the proposed recipient? Therefore, according to their judgment, the salvation of the spirit is made uncertain, so long as in opposition to the holy Scriptures, which say, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man," and, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man," they remove the hope of those who are to be baptized from the Lord their God, and persuade them that it should be placed in man; the practical result of which is, that their salvation becomes not merely uncertain, but actually null and void. For "salvation belongeth unto the Lord," and "vain is the help of man." Therefore, whosoever places his trust in man, even in one whom he knows to be just and innocent, is accursed. …