neighbour or fellow-citizen.1 — 2 a<rro /A/xp&D, /mm a
feastf]) J^e £/ia£ is feeble among them shall be as David, Zech.
xii. 8.
12. "Or/, because) The forgiveness of sins, the root of all benefits and of all knowledge of the Lord. — raft d3/x/a/s aurwv, to their unrighteousnesses) The abstract for the concrete : sin is abolished ; sinners obtain grace or favour. — xa/ ruv avopiSiv avruv, and their iniquities) This is not found in the Hebrew nor in the LXX. ; but the apostle adds it for the sake of giving to the discourse greater weight ; ch. x. 17 : comp. ibid. ver. 8, 5. — ou /Ay {AvqffQu en, I will remember no more) Comp. x. 3.
13. 'Ei>) in. The time is hereby denoted, wherein the pro phecy was spoken by Jeremiah. — crecraXa/wxe, He hath made old) For place cannot be found at the same time for both. The em ployment of the preterite of the verb fi-ecraXa/wxs implies that it was become old at the time when He spoke by Jeremiah. The New covenant was only once promised in the Old Testament under this very appellation. And yet the apostle urges this appellation very much : of so great importance are the very words of the prophets. — TO TraXa/ou/Agvov, that which is made old or antiquated) by the declaration of GOD. So also in 2 Cor. iii. 14, Paul calls it the old testament. — *«/ yjjpatfxov, and that which be comes old) by the revolt of the people. naXa/oj and Kaivb$ are opposed : so also yz?w and vsoc ; thence 8iaGqx.ii vsa, ch. xii. 24 : for there is a new life, ch. x. 20 ; 2 Cor. v. 17, 15. — £770?, near) Jeremiah uttered these prophecies in the time of the Babylonish captivity, almost in the last age of the prophets, at a long interval [i.e. of 899 years. — V. g.] after the departure from Egypt, not very long [namely, about 627 years] before the coming of the Messiah, whose propinquity (nearness) was being proved by this very circumstance.
1 A citizen, he says : for the reading Tcfhirw is preferred to that of w'hviaiov on the margin of both Ed., and is translated in the Germ. Vers. by the word Mitbiirger.— E. B.
ABD(A), and almost all the oldest authorities, read Kohiryv. But Vulg. reads, as Rec. Text, TrAWo*. — ED.
2 E/c^oroiW pe, they shall know Me) from the utmost experience of My grace ; Jer. ix. 24.— V. g.
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