1 "Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her. 2 Though they say, 'As Yahweh lives;' surely they swear falsely." 3 O Yahweh, don't your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. 4 Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God. 5 I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, (and) their backsliding is increased. 7 "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses. 8 They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. 9 Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says Yahweh; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10 "Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh's. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me," says Yahweh. 12 They have denied Yahweh, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine. 13 The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them." 14 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says Yahweh. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know, neither understand what they say. 16 Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men. 17 They shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, (which) your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword. 18 "But even in those days," says Yahweh, "I will not make a full end with you. 19 It will happen, when you say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.' 20 "Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 'Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don't see; who have ears, and don't hear: 22 Don't you fear me?' says Yahweh 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.' 23 "But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. 24 Neither do they say in their heart, 'Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.' 25 "Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 26 For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excell in deeds of wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy. 29 "Shall I not punish for these things?" says Yahweh. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 "An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land. 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
The capture and the destruction of Jerusalem was owing to its utter immorality. Josiah's reforms were frustrated by the immorality prevalent among all classes. The prophet sees evil triumphing, but we must not take his words so literally as to conclude that there were no good men then in Jerusalem (compare Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 24:5).
The prophet, having described the judgments impending over his countrymen, enlarges on the corruptions which prevailed among them. Their profession of religion was all false and hypocritical, Jeremiah 5:1, Jeremiah 5:2. Though corrected, they were not amended, but persisted in their guilt, Jeremiah 5:3. This was not the case with the low and ignorant only, Jeremiah 5:4; but more egregiously so with those of the higher order, from whose knowledge and opportunities better things might have been expected, Jeremiah 5:5. God therefore threatens them with the most cruel enemies, Jeremiah 5:6; and appeals to themselves if they should be permitted to practice such sins unpunished, Jeremiah 5:7-9. He then commands their enemies to raze the walls of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 5:10; that devoted city whose inhabitants added to all their other sins the highest contempt of God's word and prophets, Jeremiah 5:11-13. Wherefore his word, in the mouth of his prophet, shall be as fire to consume them, Jeremiah 5:14; the Chaldean forces shall cruelly addict them, Jeremiah 5:15-17; and farther judgments await then as the consequence of their apostasy and idolatry, Jeremiah 5:18, Jeremiah 5:19. The chapter closes with a most melancholy picture of the moral condition of the Jewish people at that period which immediately preceded the Babylonish captivity, Jeremiah 5:20-31.
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, Jeremiah 5:1, their swearing falsely by the name of the Lord, Jeremiah 5:2, their incorrigibleness by chastisements, which was the case not only of the lower, but higher rank of people, Jeremiah 5:3, 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, Jeremiah 5:6, then other sins are mentioned as the cause of it, as idolatry and adultery, Jeremiah 5:7 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, Jeremiah 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, Jeremiah 5:11, 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, Jeremiah 5:14, and in just retaliation should they serve strangers in a foreign country, who had served strange gods in their own, Jeremiah 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, Jeremiah 5:20, 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, Jeremiah 5:26.
(Jeremiah 5:1-9) The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical.
(Jeremiah 5:10-18) The cruel proceedings of their enemies.
(Jeremiah 5:19-31) Their apostacy and idolatry.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.