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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Jeremiah 5 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/jeremiah/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Jeremiah 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../jeremiah/4.htm" title="Jeremiah 4">◄</a> Jeremiah 5 <a href="../jeremiah/6.htm" title="Jeremiah 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-1.htm">Jeremiah 5:1</a></div><div class="verse">Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be <i>any</i> that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1-9.</span> - Gladly would Jehovah pardon, if his people showed but a gleam of sound morality. But they are all deaf to the warning voice - the Law of God is flagrantly violated. In particular the marriage tie, as well the typical one between man and woman as the anti-typical between the people and its God, is openly disregarded (comp. <a href="/hosea/4-1.htm">Hosea 4:1</a>; <a href="/micah/7-2.htm">Micah 7:2</a>; <a href="/isaiah/64-6.htm">Isaiah 64:6, 7</a>; <a href="/psalms/14-3.htm">Psalm 14:3</a>). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">If ye can find a man</span>. "A man" is explained by the following clauses. It is a man whose practice and whose aims are right, of whom Jeremiah, like Diogenes with his lantern, is in search. (It is evident that the prophet speaks rhetorically, for himself and his disciples, however few, were doubtless "men" in the prophetic sense of the word.) <span class="cmt_word">Judgment... the truth</span>; rather, <span class="accented">justice</span>... <span class="accented">good faith</span>, the primary virtues of civil society. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-2.htm">Jeremiah 5:2</a></div><div class="verse">And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And though they say, The Lord liveth</span>. Though they asseverate by the most solemn of all oaths (contrast <a href="/jeremiah/4-1.htm">Jeremiah 4:1, 2</a>). Surely. So the Syriac. This rendering, however, involves an emendation of one letter in the text. The ordinary reading is literally <span class="accented">therefore</span>, but may etymologically be taken to mean "for all this," "nevertheless." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-3.htm">Jeremiah 5:3</a></div><div class="verse">O LORD, <i>are</i> not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, <i>but</i> they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Are not thine eyes upon the truth</span>? rather, <span class="accented">surely thine eyes are upon</span> (equivalent to <span class="accented">thou lookest for and demandest</span>) <span class="accented">good faith</span>, alluding to ver. 1. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-4.htm">Jeremiah 5:4</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore I said, Surely these <i>are</i> poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, <i>nor</i> the judgment of their God.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Therefore I said</span>; rather, <span class="accented">and as for me</span>, <span class="accented">I said</span>. <span class="cmt_word">They are foolish</span>; rather, <span class="accented">they act foolishly</span> (<span class="accented">as</span> <a href="/numbers/12-11.htm">Numbers 12:11</a>). For; rather, <span class="accented">because</span>. Their want of religious instruction is the cause of their faulty conduct. In fact, it was only after the return from Babylon that any popular schools were founded in Judaea, and not till shortly before the destruction of the temple that the elementary instruction attained the regularity of a system (Edersheim, 'Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Time of Christ,' pp. 134, 135). <span class="cmt_word">The judgment of their God</span>. A similar phrase occurs in <a href="/jeremiah/8-7.htm">Jeremiah 8:7</a>. "Judgment (<span class="accented">mishpat</span>) here (as in some other passages) has acquired a technical sense. This may be illustrated by the corresponding word in Arabic (<span class="accented">din</span>), which means <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> obedience, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> a religion, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> a statute or ordinance, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(4)</span> a system of usages, rites, and ceremonies" (Lane's 'Lexicon,' <span class="accented">s</span>.<span class="accented">v</span>.). Judgment is, therefore, here equivalent to "religious law," and "law" is a preferable rendering. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-5.htm">Jeremiah 5:5</a></div><div class="verse">I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, <i>and</i> the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, <i>and</i> burst the bonds.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The bonds</span> are the thongs by which the yoke was secured to the neck (comp. <a href="/isaiah/58-6.htm">Isaiah 58:6</a>). In <a href="/jeremiah/2-20.htm">Jeremiah 2:20</a> the word is rendered "bands." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-6.htm">Jeremiah 5:6</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, <i>and</i> a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, <i>and</i> their backslidings are increased.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - This verse reminds us of a famous passage in the first canto of Dante's 'Commedia,' in which Dante the pilgrim is successively opposed by three wild beasts - a panther, a lion, and a she-wolf. That the poet had Jeremiah in his mind cannot be doubted. The deep knowledge of the Scriptures possessed by medieval theologians (and such was Dante) may put many Protestants to shame. Curiously enough, whereas the early commentators on Dante interpret these wild beasts of vices, the moderns find historical references to nations. On the other hand, while modern expositors explain Jeremiah's wild beasts as symbols of calamities, Rashi and St. Jerome understand them of the Chaldeans, Persians, and Greeks. <span class="cmt_word">A lion out of the forest.</span> The first of a series of figures for the cruel invaders of Judah (comp. <a href="/jeremiah/4-7.htm">Jeremiah 4:7</a>). The frequent references (see also <a href="/jeremiah/12-8.htm">Jeremiah 12:8</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/25-38.htm">Jeremiah 25:38</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/49-19.htm">Jeremiah 49:19</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/50-4.htm">Jeremiah 50:4</a>) show how common the lion was in the hills and valleys of the land of Israel. <span class="cmt_word">A wolf of the evenings</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. a wolf which goes out to seek for prey in the evening. So the Peshito, Targum, Vulgate (comp. "wolves of the evening," <a href="/habakkuk/1-8.htm">Habakkuk 1:8</a>; <a href="/zephaniah/3-3.htm">Zephaniah 3:3</a>). But there is no evidence that '<span class="accented">erebh</span>, evening, has for its plural '<span class="accented">arabhoth</span>, which is, in fact, the regular plural of <span class="accented">arabah</span>, <span class="accented">desert</span>. Render, therefore, <span class="accented">a wolf of the deserts</span>, <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. one which has its den in the deserts, and falls upon the cultivated parts when it is hungry. Luther, "the wolf out of the desert." A leopard; rather, <span class="accented">a panther</span>. The Chaldeans are compared to this animal, on account of its swiftness, in <a href="/habakkuk/1-8.htm">Habakkuk 1:8</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-7.htm">Jeremiah 5:7</a></div><div class="verse">How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by <i>them that are</i> no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">How... for this?</span> rather, Why <span class="accented">should I pardon thee? <span class="cmt_word"></span>Thy children</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. (since "the daughter of Zion" is equivalent to Zion regarded as an ideal entity) the members of the Jewish people (comp. <a href="/leviticus/19-18.htm">Leviticus 19:18</a>, "the children of thy people"). <span class="cmt_word">When I had fed them to the full.</span> So Ewald, following the versions and many manuscripts (there is no marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible). This gives a good sense, and may be supported by ver. 28; <a href="/deuteronomy/32-15.htm">Deuteronomy 32:15</a>; <a href="/hosea/13-6.htm">Hosea 13:6</a>. But the reading of the received Hebrew text, though somewhat more difficult, is yet perfectly capable of explanation; and, slight as the difference is in the reading adopted by Ewald (it involves a mere shade of pronunciation), it is not to be preferred to the received reading. Read, therefore, <span class="accented">though -r made them to swear</span> (<span class="accented">allegiance</span>),<span class="accented">!let they committed adultery</span>. The oath may be that of Sinai (<a href="/exodus/24.htm">Exodus 24</a>.), or such au oath as had been recently taken by Josiah and the people (1 Kings 23:3; <a href="/2_chronicles/34-31.htm">2 Chronicles 34:31, 32</a>). The "adultery" may be taken both in a literal and in a figurative sense, and so also the "harlots' houses" in the next clause. It is also well worthy of consideration whether the prophet may not be referring to certain matrimonial customs handed down from remote antiquity and arising from the ancient system of kinship through women (comp. <a href="/ezekiel/22-11.htm">Ezekiel 22:11</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-8.htm">Jeremiah 5:8</a></div><div class="verse">They were <i>as</i> fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">As fed horses in the morning</span>. The rendering fed horses has considerable authority. "Lustful horses" is also possible; this represents the reading of the Hebrew margin. The following word in the Hebrew is extremely difficult. "In the morning" cannot be right, as it is against grammar; but it is not easy to furnish a substitute. Most moderns render "roving about;" Furst prefers "stallions." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-9.htm">Jeremiah 5:9</a></div><div class="verse">Shall I not visit for these <i>things</i>? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-10.htm">Jeremiah 5:10</a></div><div class="verse">Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they <i>are</i> not the LORD'S.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 10-18.</span> - Provoked by the open unbelief of the men of Judah, Jehovah repeats his warning of a sore judgment. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Her walls</span>. There is a doubt about "walls," which should, as some think, rather be <span class="accented">vine-rows</span> (a change of points is involved; also of shin into sin - the slightest of all changes), or shoots, or branches (comparing the Syriac). The figure would thus gain somewhat in symmetry. However, all the ancient interpreters (whose authority, overrated by some, still counts for something) explain the word as in the Authorized Version, and, as Graf remarks, in order to destroy the vines, it' would be necessary to climb up upon the walls of the vineyard. (For the figure of the vine or the vineyard, scrap, on Jeremiah 2:21.) <span class="cmt_word">Take away... not the Lord's</span>. The Septuagint and Peshito read differently, translating "leave her foundations, for they are the <span class="accented">Lord's"</span> (supposing the figure be taken from a building). As the text stands, it is better to change <span class="cmt_word">battlements</span> into <span class="accented">tendrils</span>. Judah's degenerate members are to be removed, but the vine-stock, <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>., the behooving kernel of the nation, is to be left. It is the key-note of the "remnant" which Jeremiah again strikes (see <a href="/jeremiah/4-27.htm">Jeremiah 4:27</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-11.htm">Jeremiah 5:11</a></div><div class="verse">For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-12.htm">Jeremiah 5:12</a></div><div class="verse">They have belied the LORD, and said, <i>It is</i> not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">It is not he.</span> Understand "who speaks by the prophets" (Payne Smith). It is hardly conceivable that any of the Jews absolutely denied the existence of Jehovah. They were practical, not speculative unbelievers, like men of the world in general. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-13.htm">Jeremiah 5:13</a></div><div class="verse">And the prophets shall become wind, and the word <i>is</i> not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And the prophets</span>, etc. A continuation of the speech of the unbelieving Jews. <span class="cmt_word">The word is not in them</span>. The Authorized Version gives a good meaning, but it involves an interference with the points. The pointed text must be rendered, <span class="accented">he who speaketh</span> (<span class="accented">through the prophets</span>, viz. Jehovah) <span class="accented">is not in them</span>. Thus the Jews hurl against prophets like Jeremiah the very charge which Jeremiah himself brings against the "false prophets" in <a href="/jeremiah/23-25.htm">Jeremiah 23:25-32</a>. <span class="cmt_word">Thus shall it be done</span>; rather, so <span class="accented">be it done</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. may the sword and famine, with which they threaten us, fall upon them. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-14.htm">Jeremiah 5:14</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">My words in thy mouth fire</span>. (See on Jeremiah 1:9, 10.) </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-15.htm">Jeremiah 5:15</a></div><div class="verse">Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it <i>is</i> a mighty nation, it <i>is</i> an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">O house of Israel.</span> After the captivity of the ten tribes, Judah became the sole representative of the people of Israel (scrap. <a href="/jeremiah/2-26.htm">Jeremiah 2:26</a>). <span class="cmt_word">A mighty nation</span>. The Authorized Version certainly gives apart of the meaning. The Hebrew word rendered "mighty" ('<span class="accented">ethan</span>), rather, "perennial," is the epithet of rocks and mountains (<a href="/numbers/24-21.htm">Numbers 24:21</a>; <a href="/micah/6-2.htm">Micah 6:2</a>); of a pasture (<a href="/jeremiah/49-19.htm">Jeremiah 49:19</a>); of rivers (<a href="/deuteronomy/21-4.htm">Deuteronomy 21:4</a>; <a href="/psalms/74-15.htm">Psalm 74:15</a>). As applied in the present instance, it seems to describe the inexhaustible resources of a young nation. Render here, <span class="accented">ever replenished</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. ever drawing anew from its central fountain of strength. Does not this aptly convey the impression which a long-civilized nation (and the Jews, who have been called "rude," were only so by comparison with the Egyptians and Assyrians) must derive from the tumultuous incursions of nomad hosts? The description-will therefore fit the Scythians; but it is not inappropriate to the Chaldeans, if we take into account the composite nature of their armies. <span class="cmt_word">An ancient nation</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. <span class="accented">one</span> which still occupies its primeval seat in the north (<a href="/jeremiah/6-22.htm">Jeremiah 6:22</a>), undisturbed by invaders. <span class="cmt_word">Whose language thou knowest not.</span> So Isaiah of the Assyrians, "(a people) of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand." The Jews were no philologists, and were as unlikely to notice the fundamental affinity of Hebrew and Assyrian as an ancient Greek to observe the connection between his own language and the Persian. When the combatants were to each other <span class="greek">βάρβαροι</span>, mercy could hardly be expected. The sequence of vers. 49 and 50 in <a href="/deuteronomy/28.htm">Deuteronomy 28</a>. speaks volumes. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-16.htm">Jeremiah 5:16</a></div><div class="verse">Their quiver <i>is</i> as an open sepulchre, they <i>are</i> all mighty men.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Their quiver</span>. (See on Jeremiah 4:29.) As an open sepulcher; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. furnished with deadly arrows, "fiery darts." So the psalmist, of the "throat" of deceitful persecutors (<a href="/psalms/5-9.htm">Psalm 5:9</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-17.htm">Jeremiah 5:17</a></div><div class="verse">And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, <i>which</i> thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Which thy sons and thy daughters</span>, etc.; rather, <span class="accented">they shall eat that sons and thy daughters</span>. In the other clauses of the verse the verb is in the singular, the subject being the hostile nation. <span class="cmt_word">They shall impoverish</span>, etc.; rather, <span class="accented">it shall batter</span>... <span class="accented">with weapons of war</span> (so rightly Payne <span class="accented">Smith</span>); <span class="accented">kherebh</span>, commonly rendered "sword." is applied to any cutting instrument, such as a razor (<a href="/ezekiel/5-1.htm">Ezekiel 5:1</a>), a mason's tool (<a href="/exodus/20-25.htm">Exodus 20:25</a>), and, as here and <a href="/ezekiel/26-9.htm">Ezekiel 26:9</a>, weapons of war in general. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-18.htm">Jeremiah 5:18</a></div><div class="verse">Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-19.htm">Jeremiah 5:19</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these <i>things</i> unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land <i>that is</i> not yours.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 19-29.</span> - Judah's own obstinacy and flagrant disobedience are the causes of this sore judgment. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Like as ye have forsaken me</span>, etc. The law of correspondence between sin and punishment pervades Old Testament prophecy (comp. <a href="/isaiah/5.htm">Isaiah 5</a>.). As the Jews served foreign gods in Jehovah's land, they shall become the slaves of foreigners in a land which is not theirs. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-20.htm">Jeremiah 5:20</a></div><div class="verse">Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-21.htm">Jeremiah 5:21</a></div><div class="verse">Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Without understanding</span>; literally, <span class="accented">without</span> <span class="accented">heart</span>. This seems at first sight inconsistent with ver. 23, where the people is described as having indeed a "heart," but one hostile to Jehovah. The explanation is that a course of deliberate sin perverts a man's moral perceptions. The prophet first of all states the result, and then the cause. So in <a href="/ezekiel/12-2.htm">Ezekiel 12:2</a>, "Which have eyes and see not," etc.; "for they are a rebellions house." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-22.htm">Jeremiah 5:22</a></div><div class="verse">Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand <i>for</i> the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Fear ye not me</span>? The Hebrew places "me" emphatically at the beginning of the sentence. <span class="cmt_word">By a perpetual decree</span>. This is one of the evidences, few but sufficient, of the recognition of natural laws by the Biblical writers; of laws, however, which are but the description of the Divine mode of working, "covenants" (<a href="/jeremiah/33-20.htm">Jeremiah 33:20</a>; comp. <a href="/genesis/9-18.htm">Genesis 9:18</a>) made for man's good, but capable of being annulled (<a href="/isaiah/54-10.htm">Isaiah 54:10</a>). Comp. <a href="/proverbs/8-29.htm">Proverbs 8:29</a>; <a href="/job/38-8.htm">Job 38:8-12</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-23.htm">Jeremiah 5:23</a></div><div class="verse">But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">A revolting and a rebellious heart</span>. The heart is the center of the moral life virtually equivalent to "the will;" it. is "revolting" when it "turns <span class="accented">back"</span> (so literally here) from God's Law and service, and "rebellious" when it actively defies and opposes him. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-24.htm">Jeremiah 5:24</a></div><div class="verse">Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">That giveth rain,</span> etc. The second appeal is to the regularity of the rains. Dr. Robinson remarks that there are not at the present day in Palestine "any particular periods of rain, or succession of showers, which might be regarded as distinct rainy seasons," and that...unless there has been some change m the climate of Palestine, the former and the latter rains seem to correspond to "the first showers of autumn, which revived the parched and thirsty earth and prepared it for the seed, and the later showers of spring, which continued to refresh and forward both the ripening crops and the vernal products of the fields" ('Biblical Researches,' 3:98). <span class="cmt_word">He reserveth unto us</span>, etc.; literally, he <span class="accented">keepeth for us the weeks - the statutes of harvest</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. the weeks which are the appointed conditions of harvest. The prophet means the seven weeks which elapsed from the second day of the Passover to the "Feast of Harvest," or "Feast of Weeks" (Pentecost) (<a href="/exodus/23-16.htm">Exodus 23:16</a>; <a href="/exodus/34-22.htm">Exodus 34:22</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/16-9.htm">Deuteronomy 16:9, 10</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-25.htm">Jeremiah 5:25</a></div><div class="verse">Your iniquities have turned away these <i>things</i>, and your sins have withholden good <i>things</i> from you.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Have turned away these things</span>. "These things" are the benefits mentioned in the preceding verse (comp. <a href="/jeremiah/3-3.htm">Jeremiah 3:3</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/12-4.htm">Jeremiah 12:4</a>). Thus the judgment is not entirely future; a foretaste of it has already been given (comp. <a href="/1_kings/17.htm">1 Kings 17</a>; <a href="/amos/4.htm">Amos 4</a>.). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-26.htm">Jeremiah 5:26</a></div><div class="verse">For among my people are found wicked <i>men</i>: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 26.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">They lay wait,</span> etc.; rather, <span class="accented">they spy</span> (literally, one <span class="accented">spieth</span>), as <span class="accented">fowlers lie in wait</span>. A trap; literally, <span class="accented">a destroyer</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. an instrument of destruction (comp. <a href="/isaiah/54-16.htm">Isaiah 54:16</a>, where" the waster" (or destroyer) probably means the weapon referred to previously). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-27.htm">Jeremiah 5:27</a></div><div class="verse">As a cage is full of birds, so <i>are</i> their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 27.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">A cage</span>. The Hebrew word <span class="accented">klub</span> is used in <a href="/amos/8-1.htm">Amos 8:1</a> for a basket such as was used for fruit; it seems to be the parent of the Greek word <span class="greek">κλωβός</span>, used in the 'Anthology' for a bird-cage. The root means to plait or braid; hence some sort of basket-work seems to be meant. Connecting this with the preceding verse, Hitzig seems right in inferring that the "cage" was at the same time a trap (comp. Ecclus. 11:30, "Like as a partridge taken <span class="accented">in a cage</span> <span class="greek">ἐν καρτάλλῳ</span>, a peculiar kind of basket], so is the heart of the proud"). Canon Tristram suggests that there is an allusion to decoy-birds, which are still much employed in Syria, and are carefully trained for their office ('Natural History of the Bible,' p. 163), But this seems to go beyond the text. <span class="cmt_word">Deceit</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. the goods obtained by deceit. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-28.htm">Jeremiah 5:28</a></div><div class="verse">They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 28.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">They overpass the deeds of the wicked</span>; rather, <span class="accented">they overpass the common measure of wickedness</span> (literally, the cases of <span class="accented">wickedness</span>); or, as others, <span class="accented">they exceed in deeds of wickedness</span>. <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Yet they prosper</span>; rather, so <span class="accented">that they</span> (<span class="accented">the fatherless</span>) <span class="accented">might</span> prosper; or, that they (<span class="accented">the rich</span>) might make <span class="accented">it to prosper</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-29.htm">Jeremiah 5:29</a></div><div class="verse">Shall I not visit for these <i>things</i>? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 29.</span> - A repetition of ver. 9 in the manner of a refrain. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-30.htm">Jeremiah 5:30</a></div><div class="verse">A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 30, 31.</span> - The result of the prophet's examination of the moral condition of the people. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 30.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">A wonderful and horrible thing</span>, etc.; rather, <span class="accented">an appalling and horrible thins hath happened in the land</span>. The word rendered "appalling" (or stupefying) has a peculiar force, it only occurs again in <a href="/jeremiah/23-14.htm">Jeremiah 23:14</a>, though a cognate adjective is found in <a href="/jeremiah/18-13.htm">Jeremiah 18:13</a> (comp. on Jeremiah 2:11). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/jeremiah/5-31.htm">Jeremiah 5:31</a></div><div class="verse">The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love <i>to have it</i> so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 31.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The prophets... the priests</span>. (See on Jeremiah 2:26.) <span class="cmt_word">Bear rule by their means</span>; rather, <span class="accented">rule at their beck</span>. (literally, <span class="accented">at their hands</span>, comp. <a href="/jeremiah/33-13.htm">Jeremiah 33:13</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/25-2.htm">1 Chronicles 25:2, 3</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/23-18.htm">2 Chronicles 23:18</a>). An example of this interference of the false prophets with the priestly office is given by Jeremiah himself. (<a href="/jeremiah/29-24.htm">Jeremiah 29:24-26</a>). <span class="cmt_word">My people love to have it so.</span> Sometimes the prophets speak as if the governing classes alone were responsible for the sins and consequent calamities of their country. But Jeremiah here expressly declares that the governed were as much to blame as their governors. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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