Jeremiah 5:12

12 Those people have lied about the Lord and said, "He will not do anything to us! Nothing bad will happen to us! We will never see war or hunger!

Jeremiah 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:12

They have belied the Lord, and said, it is not he
Or, "denied the Lord" ^F24, as some render the words, saying that there was no God; which, though they might not deliver in express words, yet inasmuch as they denied his providence, and disbelieved his word by his prophets, it was tacitly denying that there was a God, or that the Lord was God. The meaning of the phrase "not he" may be, he takes no notice of what is done by us; he does not concern himself with our affairs; nor has he given any such orders to our enemies, as above; nor said these things by the prophets which are pretended: neither shall evil come upon us;
they speak of: neither shall we see sword nor famine;
war and sieges, and famine, the consequence of them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hwhyb wvxkw) "egaverunt Dominum", V. L. Pagninus; "abnegant", Piscator; "abnegarunt Jehovam", Cocceius, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 5:12 In-Context

10 "Go along and cut down Judah's vineyards, but do not completely destroy them. Cut off all her people as if they were branches, because they do not belong to the Lord.

11 The families of Israel and Judah have been completely unfaithful to me," says the Lord.

12 Those people have lied about the Lord and said, "He will not do anything to us! Nothing bad will happen to us! We will never see war or hunger!

13 The prophets are like an empty wind; the word of God is not in them. Let the bad things they say happen to them."

14 So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful says: "The people said I would not punish them. So, the words I give you will be like fire, and these people will be like wood that it burns up.