Jeremiah 5

1 The Lord says, "Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and discover these things. Search the public squares of the city. If you can find one person who does honest things, who searches for the truth, I will forgive this city.

2 Although the people say, 'As surely as the Lord lives!' they don't really mean it."

3 Lord, don't you look for truth in people? You struck the people of Judah, but they didn't feel any pain. You crushed them, but they refused to learn what is right. They became more stubborn than a rock; they refused to turn back to God.

4 But I thought, "These are only the poor, foolish people. and what their God wants them to do.

5 So I will go to the leaders of Judah and talk to them. and know what God wants them to do." But even the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord; they had broken their ties with him.

6 So a lion from the forest will attack them. A wolf from the desert will kill them. A leopard is waiting for them near their towns. It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city, because the people of Judah have sinned greatly. many times.

7 The Lord said, "Tell me why I should forgive you. Your children have left me and have made promises to idols that are not gods at all. I gave your children everything they needed, but they still were like an unfaithful wife to me. They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.

8 They are like well-fed horses filled with sexual desire; each one wants another man's wife.

9 Shouldn't I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?" says the Lord. "Shouldn't I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

10 "Go along and cut down Judah's vineyards, but do not completely destroy them. Cut off all her people as if they were branches, because they do not belong to the Lord.

11 The families of Israel and Judah have been completely unfaithful to me," says the Lord.

12 Those people have lied about the Lord and said, "He will not do anything to us! Nothing bad will happen to us! We will never see war or hunger!

13 The prophets are like an empty wind; the word of God is not in them. Let the bad things they say happen to them."

14 So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful says: "The people said I would not punish them. So, the words I give you will be like fire, and these people will be like wood that it burns up.

15 Listen, family of Israel," says the Lord, "I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you. It is an old nation that has lasted a long time. The people there speak a language you do not know; you cannot understand what they say.

16 Their arrows bring death. All their people are strong warriors.

17 They will eat your crops and your food. They will eat your sons and daughters. They will eat your flocks and herds. They will eat your grapes and figs. They will destroy with their swords the strong, walled cities you trust.

18 "Yet even then," says the Lord, "I will not destroy you completely.

19 When the people of Judah ask, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these terrible things to us?' then give them this answer: 'You have left the Lord and served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.'

20 "Announce this message to the family of Jacob, and tell it to the nation of Judah:

21 Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense. They have eyes, but they don't really see. They have ears, but they don't really listen.

22 Surely you are afraid of me," says the Lord. "You should shake with fear in my presence. I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea, a border the water can never go past. The waves may pound the beach, but they can't win over it. They may roar, but they cannot go beyond it.

23 But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me. They have turned aside and gone away from me.

24 They do not say to themselves, 'We should fear the Lord our God, who gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons, who makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.'

25 But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest. Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.

26 There are wicked men among my people. Like those who make nets for catching birds, they set their traps to catch people.

27 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of lies. They have become rich and powerful.

28 They have grown big and fat. There is no end to the evil things they do. They won't plead the case of the orphan or help the poor be judged fairly.

29 Shouldn't I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?" says the Lord. "Shouldn't I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

30 "A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land of Judah:

31 The prophets speak lies, and the priests take power into their own hands, and my people love it this way. But what will you do when the end comes?

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Jeremiah 5 Commentary

Chapter 5

The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (19-31)

Verses 1-9 None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expected but works of darkness, from people that know nothing of God and religion? There are God's poor, who, notwithstanding poverty, know the way of the Lord, walk in it, and do their duty; but these were willingly ignorant, and their ignorance would not be their excuse. The rich were insolent and haughty, and the abuse of God's favours made their sin worse.

Verses 10-18 Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. He has mercy in store for his people, therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Let us not overlook the "nevertheless," ver. ( 18 ) . This is the Lord's covenant with Israel. He thereby proclaims his holiness, and his utter displeasure against sin while sparing the sinner, ( Psalms 89:30-35 ) .

Verses 19-31 Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst all restraints of God's law, and were wholly gone into wickedness. Neither did they consider their interest. While the Lord, year after year, reserves to us the appointed weeks of harvest, men live on his bounty; yet they transgress against him. Sin deprives us of God's blessings; it makes the heaven as brass, and the earth as iron. Certainly the things of this world are not the best things; and we are not to think, that, because evil men prosper, God allows their practices. Though sentence against evil works is not executed speedily, it will be executed. Shall I not visit for these things? This speaks the certainty and the necessity of God's judgments. Let those who walk in bad ways consider that an end will come, and there will be bitterness in the latter end.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Chapter Summary

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.