Jeremia 5:7

7 Hoe zou Ik over zulks u vergeven? Uw kinderen verlaten Mij, en zweren bij hen, die geen God zijn; als Ik hen verzadigd heb, zo bedrijven zij overspel, en verzamelen bij hopen in het hoerenhuis.

Jeremia 5:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:7

How shall I pardon thee for this?
&c.] Because of their manifold transgressions, and multiplied backslidings; or "wherefore, or for what, shall I pardon thee?" ^F18 as the Targum; can any reason be given why I should? what goodness is there in thee, or done by thee, that I should do this unto thee? The particle (ya) , according to Kimchi, is a word of exclamation; and, according to Jarchi, of admiration; and may be rendered, "oh! for this shall I pardon?" how can it be? R. Menachem; in Jarchi, takes it to be the same with (Nya) , "not"; and to be rendered, not for this will I pardon; and so is an affirmation, and fixed resolution not to pardon, and that for the following reasons: thy children have forsaken me;
my worship, as the Targum interprets it; that is, the children of Jerusalem, the inhabitants of it, the common people, as distinguished from their fathers, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers; see ( Matthew 23:37 ) , though not to the exclusion of them; for they were guilty of the same sin in forsaking the word, worship, and ordinances of God: and sworn by them that are no gods;
by the name of idols, as the Targum; or, "by those things which are not god", as Noldius ^F19 renders the words; who rightly observes, that there were other things besides idols that they swore by, as the heaven and earth, temple, altar with which the Arabic version agrees; when an oath ought only to be taken in the name of the living God; or, "swore without God"; without making mention of the name of the true God: when I had fed them to the full;
with the good things of life; gave them all things richly to enjoy; the best provisions, and fulness of them; so that they had all that heart could wish for. There is in the Hebrew text a beautiful play on words ^F20, between the word used for swearing in the former clause, and this for feeding here: they then committed adultery;
either idolatry, which is spiritual adultery; or adultery literally taken; as it seems from the following verse. This is the consequence of their being fullly fed; and that is an aggravation of this their sin against God and their neighbour; see ( Deuteronomy 32:13-16 ) : and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses;
either in the temples of idols, or in the stews or brothel houses, where harlots prostituted themselves; their going thither in troops, or in great numbers, shows both how universal and how public this sin was, and how impudent and barefaced they were in the commission of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Kl xloa tazl ya) "ad quid, [vel] ob quid, [vel] quare parcam tibi?" De Dieu.
F19 Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 199. No. 911.
F20 (webvyw) "et juraverunt", (ebvaw) "cum saturarem".

Jeremia 5:7 In-Context

5 Ik zal gaan tot de groten, en met hen spreken, want die weten den weg des HEEREN, het recht huns Gods; maar zij hadden te zamen het juk verbroken, en de banden verscheurd.

6 Daarom heeft hen een leeuw uit het woud verslagen, een wolf der wildernissen zal hen verwoesten; een luipaard waakt tegen hun steden; al wie uit dezelve uitgaat, zal verscheurd worden; want hun overtredingen zijn vermenigvuldigd, hun afkeringen zijn machtig veel geworden.

7 Hoe zou Ik over zulks u vergeven? Uw kinderen verlaten Mij, en zweren bij hen, die geen God zijn; als Ik hen verzadigd heb, zo bedrijven zij overspel, en verzamelen bij hopen in het hoerenhuis.

8 Als welgevoederde hengsten zijn zij vroeg op; zij hunkeren een iegelijk naar zijns naasten huisvrouw.

9 Zou Ik over die dingen geen bezoeking doen? spreekt de HEERE. Of zou Mijn ziel zich niet wreken aan zulk een volk, als dit is?