It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
All Commentaries on Jeremiah 26:3 Go To Jeremiah 26
Jerome
AD 420
Jeremiah is also instructed to speak to all the cities of Judah, although the Septuagint does not translate the word cities, lest it seem indecorous to speak to cities from the court of the house of the Lord, to which they are not present. Yet, when he addresses the people and the citizens, he speaks to the cities themselves. And he stands beautifully in the court and the vestibule of the temple of the Lord, that the people may be brought together to hear the words of the prophet through the occasion of praying to the Lord and adoring him. “Do not remove a word,” he is told, even though it may be sorrowful, even though your audience may be incited to rage against you, nevertheless speak what you have been commanded to say, not yielding to the fear that they will persecute you but only to the rule of the Lord! “Perhaps,” he thinks, “they will listen and be converted.” However, an ambiguous word like “perhaps” cannot be reconciled with the majesty of the Lord but speaks instead of our desire that human free will be served and that it not be compelled from the Lord’s foreknowledge, as though of necessity, either to act or to refrain from acting. For it is not because God knows the future that the future comes about, but it is because of what will happen that God knows it before it occurs. Nevertheless, Jeremiah knew that if the Lord warned of bad consequences and the people did penance, they would be repenting for the sake of what the Lord threatened to do to them. Likewise, if the Lord had promised prosperity and the people then acted with negligence, God would exchange the favorable outcome for a bad one. Such is what is also found in the Gospel: “I will send my son; perhaps they will respect him,” spoken indeed from the person of the omnipotent God. Furthermore, in the present passage, he says, “If, perhaps, they listen and are converted each one from his wicked way, then after they repent, I will change my punishment and not do to them what I had planned to do because of their evil, but only if they change first.” We should also read the story of Jonah and Nineveh.
