Jeremiah 5:12

12 They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.

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 up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,” declares the LORD.

12 They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.

13 The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them. ”

14 Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.