Jeremiah 5

16. open sepulchre--(Compare Psalms 5:9 ). Their quiver is all-devouring, as the grave opened to receive the dead: as many as are the arrows, so many are the deaths.

17. ( Leviticus 26:16 ).

18. Not even in those days of judgments, will God utterly exterminate His people.
I will not make a full end with you--( Jeremiah 5:10 , Jeremiah 4:27 ).

19. Retribution in kind. As ye have forsaken Me ( Jeremiah 2:13 ), so shall ye be forsaken by Me. As ye have served strange (foreign) gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers (foreigners) in a land not yours. Compare the similar retribution in Deuteronomy 28:47 Deuteronomy 28:48 .

21. eyes . . . ears, and--Translate, "and yet" (compare Deuteronomy 29:4 , Isaiah 6:9 ). Having powers of perception, they did not use them: still they were responsible for the exercise of them.

22. sand--Though made up of particles easily shifting about, I render it sufficient to curb the violence of the sea. Such is your monstrous perversity, that the raging, senseless sea sooner obeys Me, than ye do who profess to be intelligent [CALVIN], ( Job 26:10 , Job 38:10 Job 38:11 , Proverbs 8:29 , Revelation 15:4 ).

23. ( Jeremiah 6:28 ).

24. rain . . . former . . . latter--The "former" falls from the middle of October to the beginning of December. The "latter," or spring rain in Palestine, falls before harvest in March and April, and is essential for ripening the crops ( Deuteronomy 11:14 , Joel 2:23 ).
weeks of . . . harvest--the seven weeks between passover and pentecost, beginning on the sixteenth of Nisan ( Deuteronomy 16:9 ). By God's special providence no rain fell in Palestine during the harvest weeks, so that harvest work went on without interruption (see Genesis 8:22 ).

25. National guilt had caused the suspension of these national mercies mentioned in Jeremiah 5:24 (compare Jeremiah 3:3 ).

26. ( Proverbs 1:11 Proverbs 1:17 Proverbs 1:18 , Habakkuk 1:15 ).
as he that setteth snares--rather, "as fowlers crouch" [MAURER].
trap--literally, "destruction": the instrument of destruction.
catch men--not as Peter, to save ( Luke 5:10 ), but to destroy men.

27. full of deceit--full of treasures got by deceit.
rich--( Psalms 73:12 Psalms 73:18-20 ).

28. shine--the effect of fatness on the skin ( Deuteronomy 32:15 ). They live a life of self-indulgence.
overpass . . . the wicked--exceed even the Gentiles in wickedness ( Jeremiah 2:33 , Ezekiel 5:6 Ezekiel 5:7 ).
judge not . . . fatherless--( Isaiah 1:23 ).
yet . . . prosper--( Jeremiah 12:1 ).

29. ( Jeremiah 5:9 , Malachi 3:5 ).

30. ( Jeremiah 23:14 , Hosea 6:10 ).

31. bear rule by their means--literally, "according to their hands," that is, under their guidance ( 1 Chronicles 25:3 ). As a sample of the priests lending themselves to the deceits of the false prophets, to gain influence over the people, see Jeremiah 29:24-32 .
love to have it so--( Micah 2:11 ).
end thereof--the fatal issue of this sinful course when divine judgments shall come.