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Jeremiah 14:4

4. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

4. Propter terram afflictam (contritam, vel, scissam; cum enim verbum hoc proprie significat conterere, non dubito, quin Propheta hic terram vel pulverulentam vel concisam signifcat,) quia non fuit pluvia in terra, confusi sunt agricolae (vel, pudefacti sunt, repetit illud verbum wsb) et cooperuerunt caput suum (etiam eandem dictionem repetit.)

 

The Prophet had said, that though the whole common people were sent to the waters, yet none would be found. He now adds the same firing respecting the husbandmen. Ashamed, he says, shall be the husbandmen, for the ground shall be turned into dust, and God will pound it small. When the heavens supply moisture, the earth retains thus its solid character; but in a great heat we see the earth dissolving into dust, as though it was pounded in a mortar.

So he says, On account of the chapt ground, because there is no rain, ashamed shall be the husbandmen, and they shall cover their heads; for sorrow shall not only seize on them, but also fin them with such shame as to make them to shun the light and the sight of men. These things were intended for the same purpose, even to make the Jews to know that they were not by chance deprived of water, but because God had cursed their land, so that it yielded them no water even for the common wants of nature. It follows --

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