Jeremiah 5:13

13 The prophets spake against the wind, and none answer was in them; therefore these things shall come to them. (The prophets spoke nothing but wind, and there was no word of God in them; and so these things shall come to them.)

Jeremiah 5:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 5:13

And the prophets shall become wind
Their prophecies shall vanish into air; they shall become of no effect; they shall never be accomplished: and the word is not in them;
not the word of the Lord; he never spoke by them; they speak of themselves; they never were inspired or commissioned by him to say what they do: thus shall it be done unto them; the same evils they say shall befall us shall come upon them; they shall perish by the sword or famine; we have reason to believe that our predictions are as good as theirs, and will be fulfilled: or, "thus let it be done to them" ^F25; as they have prophesied shall be done to us; and so are an imprecation. The Targum interprets the whole of the false prophets, as if they were the words of the Lord concerning them, which is,

``but the false prophets shall be for nothing, and their false prophecy shall not be confirmed; this revenge shall be taken of them;''

and so Kimchi interprets it of the prophets that prophesied peace to them, and said that the above mentioned should not come upon them; and Jarchi takes the last clause to be the words of the prophet to them that say the above words; namely, that thus it shall be done to them, what the Lord has said.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (Mhl hvey hk) "sic fiat illis"; so some in Vatablus; "sic eveniat ipsis", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 5:13 In-Context

11 For why the house of Israel and the house of Judah hath trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord; (Because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord;)

12 they denied the Lord, and said, He is not, neither evil shall come [up]on us; we shall not see sword and hunger (we shall not see the sword and hunger).

13 The prophets spake against the wind, and none answer was in them; therefore these things shall come to them. (The prophets spoke nothing but wind, and there was no word of God in them; and so these things shall come to them.)

14 The Lord God of hosts saith these things, For ye spake this word, lo! I give my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into trees, and it shall devour them. (The Lord God of hosts saith these things, Because ye spoke these words, lo! I shall make my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into wood, and it shall devour them.)

15 Lo! thou house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring on you a folk from [a]far; a strong folk, an old folk, a folk whose language thou shalt not know, neither shalt understand what it speaketh. (Lo! O house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring upon you a nation from far away; a strong nation, an old nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor shalt thou understand what they say.)