Jeremiah 5:19

19 And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

Jeremiah 5:19 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:19

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say
That is, the people of the Jews, to whom the prophet belonged, after they had been spoiled by the enemy, and carried captive: wherefore doth the Lord our God all these things unto us?
as if they were innocent and guiltless, and had done nothing to provoke the Lord to anger; and it may be observed, that they professed to know the Lord in words, and call him their God, though in works they had denied him; and they own the hand of the Lord in all those evils that would now be come upon them; though before they had said they were not spoken by the Lord, nor would they befall them, ( Jeremiah 5:12 ) : thou shalt then answer them;
that is, the Prophet Jeremiah, in the name of the Lord: like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land;
when they were in their own land they forsook the worship and ordinances of God, and served the idols of the Gentiles, as the Targum rightly explains it: so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours:
which some understand of strange gods; but rather it designs strange lords, as the Chaldeans in the land of Babylon, a land not theirs; and so it is measure for measure, a just retaliation in righteous judgment upon them.

Jeremiah 5:19 In-Context

17 They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.”

18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.

19 And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.