Jeremiah 5:2-12

2 "And ¹although they say, 'As the LORD lives,' Surely they swear falsely."

3 O LORD, do not ²Your eyes look for truth? You have ³smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they ⁴refused to take correction. They have ⁵made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, "They are only the poor, They are foolish; For they ⁶do not know the way of the LORD Or the ordinance of their God.

5 "I will go to the great And will speak to them, For ⁷they know the way of the LORD And the ordinance of their God." But they too, with one accord, have ⁸broken the yoke And burst the bonds.

6 Therefore * ⁹a lion from the forest will slay them, A ¹⁰wolf of the deserts will destroy them, A ¹¹leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, Because their ¹²transgressions are many, Their apostasies are numerous.

7 "Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me And ¹³sworn by those who are ¹⁴not gods. When I had fed them to the full, They ¹⁵committed adultery And trooped to the harlot's house.

8 "They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his ¹⁶neighbor's wife.

9 "Shall I not punish these people," declares the LORD, "And on a nation such as this ¹⁷Shall I not avenge Myself?

10 "Go up through her vine rows and destroy, But do not execute a complete destruction; Strip away her branches, For they are not the LORD'S.

11 "For the ¹⁸house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me," declares the LORD.

12 They have ¹⁹lied about the LORD And said, "²⁰Not He; Misfortune will ²¹not come on us, And we ²²will not see sword or famine.

Jeremiah 5:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 5

This chapter contains a further account of the destruction of the Jews by the Chaldeans, and the causes of it, the sins of the people, as want of justice and truth; being so corrupt, that a just and faithful man was not to be found among them; could there, the city would have been pardoned for his sake, Jer 5:1, their swearing falsely by the name of the Lord, Jer 5:2, their incorrigibleness by chastisements, which was the case not only of the lower, but higher rank of people, Jer 5:3-5, wherefore the enemy, who for his cruelty is compared to a lion, a wolf, and a leopard, is threatened to be let in among them, Jer 5:6, then other sins are mentioned as the cause of it, as idolatry and adultery, Jer 5:7-9 hence the enemy has a commission to scale their walls, take away their battlements, though not to make a full end, the Lord disowning them for his, Jer 5:10, because of their perfidy against him, their belying of him, contradicting what he had said, and despising the word sent by his prophets, Jer 5:11-13, wherefore it is threatened, that his word like fire should devour them; and that a distant, mighty, and ancient nation, of a foreign speech, should invade them; who, like an open sepulchre, would devour them, and eat up the increase of their fields, vineyards, flocks, and herds, and impoverish their cities, yet not make a full end of them, Jer 5:14-18, and in just retaliation should they serve strangers in a foreign country, who had served strange gods in their own, Jer 5:19 then a declaration is published, and an expostulation is made with them, who are represented as foolish, ignorant, and blind, that they would fear the Lord; which is pressed by arguments taken from the power of God, in restraining the sea, which had no effect upon them; and from the goodness of God, in giving the former and latter rain, and the appointed weeks of the harvest, which their sins turned away and withheld from them, Jer 5:20-25, and then other sins are mentioned as the cause of God's visiting them in a way of vengeance, as the defrauding of men in trade, and the oppression of the fatherless and the poor in judgment; and false prophesying, to the advantage of the priests, and the king of the people, Jer 5:26-31.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 48:1; Titus 1:16
• 2. 2 Chronicles 16:9
• 3. Isaiah 1:5; Isaiah 9:13; Jeremiah 2:30
• 4. Jeremiah 7:28; Jeremiah 8:5; Zephaniah 3:2
• 5. Jeremiah 7:26; Jeremiah 19:15; Ezekiel 3:8
• 6. Isaiah 27:11; Jeremiah 8:7; Hosea 4:6
• 7. Micah 3:1
• 8. Exodus 32:25; Psalms 2:3; Jeremiah 2:20
• 9. Jeremiah 4:7
• 10. Ezekiel 22:27; Habakkuk 1:8; Zephaniah 3:3
• 11. Hosea 13:7
• 12. Jeremiah 30:14, 15
• 13. Joshua 23:7; Jeremiah 12:16; Zephaniah 1:5
• 14. Deuteronomy 32:21; Jeremiah 2:11; Galatians 4:8
• 15. Jeremiah 7:9
• 16. Jeremiah 13:27; Jeremiah 29:23; Ezekiel 22:11
• 17. Jeremiah 9:9
• 18. Jer 3:6, 7, 20
• 19. 2 Chronicles 36:16
• 20. Proverbs 30:9; Jeremiah 14:22; Jeremiah 43:1-4
• 21. Jeremiah 23:17
• 22. Jeremiah 14:13

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "faithfulness"
• [b] Or "become sick"
• [c] Or "for these things"
• [d] Lit "He is not"