Jeremiah 5:5

5 I will go to the great, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.

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 O LORD, do not thy eyes look for truth? Thou hast smitten them, but they felt no anguish; thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, "These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the law of their God.

5 I will go to the great, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities, every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.

7 "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots.