God sent the prophet before the captivity, and even in it
God condemned Jerusalem for her sins, and they had been judged to be left to captivity. Even so the God who loves mankind, when the time had come, sends this prophet also, starting two reigns before the captivity, so that those who were willing, taking it in, might repent through the prophetic words. He sent a prophet to prophesy under the second king after the first, and under the third, up to the very times of the captivity.
For the long-suffering God was giving a delay even, so to speak, one day before the captivity, urging those who heard to repent, so that the grim things of the captivity might cease. That is why it is written that Jeremiah prophesied 'until the captivity of Jerusalem, until the fifth month.' He had begun, and he was still prophesying, as if to say: you have become captives; even so, repent. If you repent, the captivity will not go on, but the mercy of God will stand over you.
So we have something useful from the record that gives the times of the prophecy: that God, according to his own love of mankind, urges those who hear not to suffer the things of the captivity. It is like this with us too. If we sin, we also are about to become captives. For 'to hand such a one over to Satan' differs in nothing from handing those from Jerusalem over to Nebuchadnezzar. As they were handed over to him because of sins, so we are handed over to Satan because of sins — Satan who is a Nebuchadnezzar. And 'those I handed over to Satan, that they may be taught not to blaspheme,' the apostle says of other sinners.
Greek
κατεδίκασεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς, καὶ ἦσαν κριθέντες εἰς Αχμαλωσίαν ἐγκαταλειφθῆναι. ὅμως ὁ φιλάνθρωπος θεὸς ἐνεστηκότος τοῦ καιροῦ πέμπει καὶ τοῦτον τὸν προφήτην ἀνωτέρω τρίτης βασιλείας τῆς ἐπὶ τῆς αἐχμαλωσίας, ἵν᾿ οἱ βουλόμενοι κατανοήσαντες μετανοήσωοι διὰ τοὺς προφητικοὺς λόrους. ἐζαπέσταλκε προφήτην προφητεύειν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ δευτέρου μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον βασιλέα καὶ έπὶ τοῦ τρίτου μέχρι τῶν χρόνων αὐτῆς τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας.
ἐδίδου γὰρ ἀνοχὴν ὁ μακρόθυμος θεὸς καὶ πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας, ὡς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, προτρέπων μετανοεῖν τοὺς ἀκούοντας, ἵνα παύσηται τὰ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας σκυθρωπά· ὅθεν γέγραπται ὅτι «ἕως τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας Ἱερουσαλὴμ προεφήτευοεν Ἱερεμίας ἕως τοῦ πέμπτου μηνός<. ἤρξατο ἡ καὶ ἔτι προεφήτευεν οἱονεὶ λέγων· αἰχμάλωτοι γεγόνατε, κἂν οὕτω μετανοήσατε· μετανοησáντων γὰρ ὑμῶν οὐ προκόφει τὰ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπισταθήσεται ὑμῖν. ἔχομεν οὖν χρήσιμον ἀπὸ τῆς ἀναγραφῆς ἐχούσης τοὺς χρόνους τῆς προφη- τείας, ὅτι προτρέπει κατὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἀκούοντας μὴ παθεῖν τὰ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. Τοιαῦτα καὶ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐστιν.
ἐὰν ἁμαρτάνωμεν, αἰχμάλωτοι καὶ ἡμεῖς μέλλομεν γίνεσθαι. τὸ γὰρ «παραδοῦναι τὸν τοιοῦτον τῷ σατανᾷ« οὐδὲν διαφέρει τοῦ παραόοῦναι τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ· ὡς γάρ ἐκείνῳ παρεδίδοντο διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας, οὕτω τῷ σατανᾷ παραδιδόμεθα διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὅντι Ναβουχοδονόσορ. καὶ «οὓς παρέόωκα τῷ σατανᾷ, ἵνα παιδευθῶσι μὴ βλασφημεῖν‘ φησὶ περὶ ἄλλων ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ ἀπόστολος.