Jeremias 5:20-30

20 Anunciai isto na casa de Jacó, e proclamai-o em Judá, dizendo:

21 Ouvi agora isto, ó povo insensato e sem entendimento, que tendes olhos e não vedes, que tendes ouvidos e não ouvis:

22 Não me temeis a mim? diz o Senhor; não tremeis diante de mim, que pus a areia por limite ao mar, por ordenança eterna, que ele não pode passar? Ainda que se levantem as suas ondas, não podem prevalecer; ainda que bramem, não a podem traspassar.

23 Mas este povo é de coração obstinado e rebelde; rebelaram-se e foram-se.

24 E não dizem no seu coração: Temamos agora ao Senhor nosso Deus, que dá chuva, tanto a temporã como a tardia, a seu tempo, e nos conserva as semanas determinadas da sega.

25 As vossas iniqüidades desviaram estas coisas, e os vossos pecados apartaram de vos o bem.

26 Porque ímpios se acham entre o meu povo; andam espiando, como espreitam os passarinheiros. Armam laços, apanham os homens.

27 Qual gaiola cheia de pássaros, assim as suas casas estão cheias de dolo; por isso se engrandeceram, e enriqueceram.

28 Engordaram-se, estão nédios; também excedem o limite da maldade; não julgam com justiça a causa dos órfãos, para que prospere, nem defendem o direito dos necessitados.

29 Acaso não hei de trazer o castigo por causa destas coisas? diz o senhor; ou não hei de vingar-me de uma nação como esta?

30 Coisa espantosa e horrenda tem-se feito na terra:

Jeremias 5:20-30 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.