Yirmeyah 5:5

5 I will get me unto the Gedolim, and will speak unto them; for they have known the Derech Hashem, and the Mishpat Eloheihem; but these have altogether broken off the ol (yoke), and burst the bonds.

Yirmeyah 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:5

I will get me unto the great men, and speak unto them
The princes, nobles, and judges, the elders of the people, the scribes and doctors of the law: for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God;
it might be reasonably expected that they had, having had a good education, and being at leisure from worldly business to attend to the law, and the knowledge of it, and whatsoever God had revealed in his word, both in a way of doctrine and duty: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds;
the yoke of the law, and the bonds of his precepts, with which they were bound; these they broke off from them, and would not be obliged and restrained by them, but transgressed and rejected them.

Yirmeyah 5:5 In-Context

3 Hashem, are not Thine eyes upon emunah? Thou hast struck them, but they felt no anguish; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to accept musar [cf Isa 53:5]; they have made their faces harder than stone; they have refused to make teshuvah.

4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the Derech Hashem, nor the Mishpat Eloheihem.

5 I will get me unto the Gedolim, and will speak unto them; for they have known the Derech Hashem, and the Mishpat Eloheihem; but these have altogether broken off the ol (yoke), and burst the bonds.

6 Therefore an aryeh (lion) out of the forest shall slay them, and a ze’ev (wolf) of the deserts shall destroy them, a namer (leopard) shall prowl near their towns; every one that ventureth out from there shall be torn to pieces; because their peysha’im (rebellions) are many, and their meshuvot (backslidings) are increased.

7 How shall I forgive thee for this? Thy banim have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no elohim; when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and trooped to the bais zonah.