Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am cut off.
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Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
The affliction into which people fall is now evaluated. First, the people's captivity itself is reckoned: I have been hunted like a bird." That is, as if by cunning enemies, operating with powers.
Then, enemies (the Chaldeans) are: "without cause". For, I (Jeremiah) could, in no manner, harm them, since they, in no way approach me. So, Isaiah 52:4 says: "and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing." Elsewhere, Jeremiah declares: "and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill". (Jer: 16:16).
Second, the imprisonment of the captives is ecplained: "They flung me alive into the pit". That is, my life into a prison of captivity. For, Psalm 88 (87):6 states: "Thou hast put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep."
Third, the very imprisonment of those imprisoned is exposed: "Water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost'". Namely, the waters of tribulations are multiplied. Again: "I said, 'I am lost'". That is, desperately and impatiently. As the prophet Jonas reports: "All thy waves and thy billows passed over me" (Jonas 2:3).
