Jeremiah Chapter 5
1 "Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.
2 Though they say, 'As the LORD lives,' surely they swear falsely."
3 O LORD, don't your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
4 Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don't know the the LORD's way, nor the law of their God.
5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.
7 "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbour's wife.
9 Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "Shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 "Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me," says the LORD.
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, "It is not he. Evil will won't come on us. We won't see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them."
14 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies says, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.
15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know and don't understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.
18 "But even in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a full end of you.
19 It will happen when you say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'
20 "Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 'Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don't see, who have ears, and don't hear:
22 Don't you fear me?' says the LORD 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail. Though they roar, they still can't pass over it.'
23 "But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
24 They don't say in their heart, 'Let's now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'
25 "Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26 For wicked men are found amongst my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.
28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't defend the rights of the needy.
29 "Shouldn't I punish for these things?" says the LORD. "Shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 "An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
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Jeremiah Chapter 5 Guide
Having thus declared that judgment was determined on, the prophet now carefully declared the reason for it. This was, first, the utter corruption of conduct. Among the people not a man was to lie found who was truthful and just. Disappointed in his search, he turned to the great men and the rulers, and they also had "broken the yoke and burst the bands." Therefore judgment was indeed inevitable, and pardon impossible.
The second reason was that they did not believe the message. They had declared that punishment would not fall on them. The declaration of judgment is then repeated, and the terror of it is described. When it falls, if they inquire why Jehovah has thus visited them, the reply would be because they had forsaken Him.
Finally, the reason for final judgment is the revolting and rebellious heart of the people. They were not ignorant, but obstinate. They had eyes, but saw not, and ears, but heard not. They had flung off the fear of God deliberately. Greed had been their curse, and had expressed itself in this persistent rebellion. The whole reason is graphically summarized as "a wonderful and horrible thing." Prophets, priests, and people were united in their sin, and there was no alternative other than that of judgment.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Jeremiah Chapter 5 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. -- (1-9)
- The cruel proceedings of their enemies. -- (10-18)
- Their apostacy and idolatry. -- (19-31)
Verses 1-9
None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expected but works of darkness, from people that know nothing of God and religion? There are God's poor, who, notwithstanding poverty, know the way of the Lord, walk in it, and do their duty; but these were willingly ignorant, and their ignorance would not be their excuse. The rich were insolent and haughty, and the abuse of God's favours made their sin worse.
Verses 10-18
Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. He has mercy in store for his people, therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Let us not overlook the "nevertheless," Jer. 5:18. This is the Lord's covenant with Israel. He thereby proclaims his holiness, and his utter displeasure against sin while sparing the sinner, Ps. 89:30-35.
Verses 19-31
Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst all restraints of God's law, and were wholly gone into wickedness. Neither did they consider their interest. While the Lord, year after year, reserves to us the appointed weeks of harvest, men live on his bounty; yet they transgress against him. Sin deprives us of God's blessings; it makes the heaven as brass, and the earth as iron. Certainly the things of this world are not the best things; and we are not to think, that, because evil men prosper, God allows their practices. Though sentence against evil works is not executed speedily, it will be executed. Shall I not visit for these things? This speaks the certainty and the necessity of God's judgments. Let those who walk in bad ways consider that an end will come, and there will be bitterness in the latter end.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.