Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land.
He afterwards adds, Thus shalt thou say to him, etc. Here the Prophet shews that he was not roused against Baruch through any private displeasure, but that he had only conveyed to him God’s message. Behold, what I have built I pull down, and what I have planted I root up.
How Baruch was employed in writing Jeremiah's prophecies, and reading them, we had an account ch. 36, and how he was threatened for it by the king, warrants being out for him and he forced to abscond, and how narrowly he escaped under a divine protection, to which story this chapter should have been subjoined, but that, having reference to a private person, it is...
Commenting on Jeremiah 45:1-5
Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not,.... Riches and wealth honour and esteem, peace and prosperity; these were not to be sought after and expected, when the whole nation would be involved in such a general calamity. Baruch perhaps expected that his reading the roll to princes would have been a means of preferring him at court, of advancing him to some post...