Jeremías 5:6-16

6 Entonces ahora un león de la selva los atacará;
un lobo del desierto se les echará encima.
Un leopardo acechará cerca de sus ciudades,
y hará trizas a quien se atreva a salir.
Pues grande es la rebelión de ellos
y muchos son sus pecados.

7 «¿Cómo puedo perdonarte?
Pues aun tus hijos se han alejado de mí.
¡Ellos juraron por dioses que no son dioses en absoluto!
Alimenté a mi pueblo hasta que estuvo satisfecho;
pero su manera de darme las gracias fue cometer adulterio
y hacer fila en los prostíbulos.

8 Son vigorosos sementales, bien alimentados,
cada uno relinchando por la mujer de su prójimo.

9 ¿No habría de castigarlos por esto? —dice el Señor
—.
¿No habría de vengarme contra semejante nación?

10 »Vayan por las hileras de los viñedos y destruyan las vides
pero dejen algunas con vida.
Arranquen los sarmientos de las vides,
porque esta gente no pertenece al Señor
.

11 Los pueblos de Israel y Judá
están llenos de traición contra mí
—dice el Señor
—.

12 Mintieron acerca del Señor
y dijeron:
“¡Él no nos molestará!
Ningún desastre vendrá sobre nosotros;
no habrá guerra ni hambre.

13 Todos los profetas de Dios son pura palabrería;
en realidad no hablan de parte de él.
¡Que caigan sobre ellos mismos sus predicciones de desastre!”».

14 Por lo tanto, esto dice el Señor
Dios de los Ejércitos Celestiales:
«Debido a que mi pueblo habla de esta manera,
mis mensajes saldrán de tu boca como llamas de fuego
y quemarán al pueblo como si fuera leña.

15 Oh Israel, traeré una nación lejana contra ti,
—dice el Señor
—.
Es una nación poderosa,
una nación antigua,
un pueblo cuyo idioma desconoces,
cuya forma de hablar no entiendes.

16 Sus armas son mortíferas;
sus guerreros, poderosos.

Jeremías 5:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 5

This chapter contains a further account of the destruction of the Jews by the Chaldeans, and the causes of it, the sins of the people, as want of justice and truth; being so corrupt, that a just and faithful man was not to be found among them; could there, the city would have been pardoned for his sake, Jer 5:1, their swearing falsely by the name of the Lord, Jer 5:2, their incorrigibleness by chastisements, which was the case not only of the lower, but higher rank of people, Jer 5:3-5, wherefore the enemy, who for his cruelty is compared to a lion, a wolf, and a leopard, is threatened to be let in among them, Jer 5:6, then other sins are mentioned as the cause of it, as idolatry and adultery, Jer 5:7-9 hence the enemy has a commission to scale their walls, take away their battlements, though not to make a full end, the Lord disowning them for his, Jer 5:10, because of their perfidy against him, their belying of him, contradicting what he had said, and despising the word sent by his prophets, Jer 5:11-13, wherefore it is threatened, that his word like fire should devour them; and that a distant, mighty, and ancient nation, of a foreign speech, should invade them; who, like an open sepulchre, would devour them, and eat up the increase of their fields, vineyards, flocks, and herds, and impoverish their cities, yet not make a full end of them, Jer 5:14-18, and in just retaliation should they serve strangers in a foreign country, who had served strange gods in their own, Jer 5:19 then a declaration is published, and an expostulation is made with them, who are represented as foolish, ignorant, and blind, that they would fear the Lord; which is pressed by arguments taken from the power of God, in restraining the sea, which had no effect upon them; and from the goodness of God, in giving the former and latter rain, and the appointed weeks of the harvest, which their sins turned away and withheld from them, Jer 5:20-25, and then other sins are mentioned as the cause of God's visiting them in a way of vengeance, as the defrauding of men in trade, and the oppression of the fatherless and the poor in judgment; and false prophesying, to the advantage of the priests, and the king of the people, Jer 5:26-31.