Jeremiah 5:12

12 The Lord's people have denied him and have said, "He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hwhyb wvxkw) "egaverunt Dominum", V. L. Pagninus; "abnegant", Piscator; "abnegarunt Jehovam", Cocceius, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 5:12 In-Context

10 I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards, but not to destroy them completely. I will tell them to strip away the branches, because those branches are not mine.

11 The people of Israel and Judah have betrayed me completely. I, the Lord, have spoken."

12 The Lord's people have denied him and have said, "He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine."

13 They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the Lord. The Lord God Almighty said to me, "Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up."

Footnotes

• [a]. He won't . . . anything; [or] We don't want anything to do with him.