Jeremiah 5:5

5 I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the fetters.^[a]

Jeremiah 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:5

I will get me unto the great men, and speak unto them
The princes, nobles, and judges, the elders of the people, the scribes and doctors of the law: for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God;
it might be reasonably expected that they had, having had a good education, and being at leisure from worldly business to attend to the law, and the knowledge of it, and whatsoever God had revealed in his word, both in a way of doctrine and duty: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds;
the yoke of the law, and the bonds of his precepts, with which they were bound; these they broke off from them, and would not be obliged and restrained by them, but transgressed and rejected them.

Jeremiah 5:5 In-Context

3 Lord, don't Your eyes [look for] faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return.

4 Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have played the fool. For they don't understand the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.

5 I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the fetters.

6 Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down. A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them. A leopard keeps watch over their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many, their unfaithful deeds numerous.

7 Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned Me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute's house.

Footnotes

• [a]. Jr 2:20