Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.
Ver. 15. Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah.] Upon the captain's false suggestion, which they should better have sifted into first before they had believed it; for pellucet mendacium, nec per omnia quadrat, a lie is oft so thin, that it may be seen through and soon found out.
And smote him.] Perhaps with their own hands, as bloody Bonner buffeted some of the martyrs, pulling off part of their beards.
And put him in prison.] Causa nondum cognita; before they had heard his defenee. These princes were worse than Jehoiakim's, Jer 36:19 or, if they were the same men, they were now grown worse; and here was, as Bernard a hath it, sedes prima, et vita ima; ingens authoritas, et nutans stabilitas.
In the house of Jonathan the scribe.] As bad as Lollard's tower to our martyrs, or the Bishop of London's coal house, which Mr Philpot thought to be the worst prison about London. b
a De Consider., lib. ii.
b Acts and Mon.