THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
JEREMIAH

Jeremiah 5

1The judgments of God upon the Jews for their universal depravity and incorrigibleness; 7for their adultery; 10their blasphemous impiety; 15their worship of strange gods; 20their injustice and oppression for want of fearing the true God; 30and their prevarication in religion.


1RUN 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 any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the 1truth; and I will pardon 2it.

1 Or, faithfulness, faith. The Lord wants to say, that all places were full of hypocrisy.

2 Or, be gracious, that is, I will spare the entire city of Jerusalem for the godly man’s sake. Compare Gen. 18:24, etc.

2And though they 3say, The LORD liveth; 4surely they swear falsely.

3 When they do sometimes swear by My Name for a cloak and covering of their idolatrous swearing, whereof verse 7.

4 Or, yet, so. Other, therefore, namely, because they seek not judgment nor faithfulness or truth.

3O LORD, 5are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast 6strickena them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction:b they have made their faces 7harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

5 That is, it is doubtless true that Thou regardest faith and truth, without which Thou hatest all outward shows as mere hypocrisy.

6 That is, Thou hast plagued them in several manners and at sundry times, consuming a great part of them, as follows, but they have not been mended by it, but have remained as obstinate and hardened as they were before.

a Isa. 1:5; 9:12; Jer. 2:30.

b Jer. 2:30.

7 So that they are exceeding impudent. Compare Jer. 3:3.

4Therefore I 8said, Surely these are 9poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

8 Namely, within myself, that is, I thought.

9 A company of poor, ignorant people.

510I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the 11yoke, and burst the bonds.

10 Hebr. I will go me, according to the Hebrew phrase.

11 Compare Psalm 2 on verse 3.

6Wherefore a lionc out of the forest 12shall slay them, and a wolf 13of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be 14torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

c Jer. 4:7.

12 Spoken prophetically of the future invasion of the Babylonians.

13 Or, of the deserts.

14 See of the Hebrew word Psalm 50 on verse 22.

7¶How shall I pardon 15thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

15 Jerusalem.

8They weredas fed horses in the morning: every one 16neighed after his neighbour's wife.

d Ezek. 22:11.

16 Or, hankered, snorted, through lustfulness, like wanton stallions. Compare Jer. 13:27.

9Shalle I not 17visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

e verse 29; Jer. 9:9.

17 By punishment. See Gen. 21 on verse 1.

1018Go ye up upon 19her walls, and destroy; but make notf a full 20end: take away her 21battlements; for 22they are not the LORD's.

18 It is spoken to the enemies.

19 Of Jerusalem.

f Jer. 4:27.

20 Compare Jer. 4 on verse 27.

21 Or, stickings out, pinnacles, tops. Other, plants, branches, foundations.

22 Namely, the people or the walls and battlements pertain not to the Lord, Who will now no more own Jerusalem with all her fair forts and strongholds for His own, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt 23very treacherouslyg against me, saith the LORD.

23 Hebr. dealing treacherously dealt treacherously.

g Jer. 3:20.

12They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not 24he; neither shallh evil come upon us; neither shall we 25see sword nor famine:

24 It is not the Lord, by Whose command the prophets do threaten us all manner of evil.

h Isa. 28:15.

25 That is, experience. See Job 7 on verse 7.

13And the 26prophets shall become 27wind, and the 28word is not in them: 29thus shall it be done unto them.

26 The true prophets. These are yet the words of the people.

27 Their prophesies shall not be accomplished, nothing will come of it, it is but wind. Compare Job 6 on verse 26; Micah 2:11.

28 They have not the word of the Lord; He does not speak such things by them. Compare 2 Chron. 36:16.

29 What they threaten us, shall light upon themselves.

14Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of 30hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will 31make myi words in 32thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

30 See 1 Kings 18 on verse 15.

31 Hebr. give. Compare Jer. 1:9, 10, where God also ascribes His own work to the prophet, because He wanted to confirm the word of His servant. See there on verse 10.

i Jer. 1:9.

32 Here God speaks to Jeremiah.

15Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from 33far,j O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a 34mighty nation, it is an 35ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither 36understandest what they say.

33 From Babylon. See Deut. 28:49; Isa. 5:26.

j Deut. 28:49; Jer. 1:15; 6:22.

34 Or, rough, hard.

35 Hebr. a nation of antiquity, eternity, or age, that is, a mighty nation of old, ever from Nimrod’s time. See Gen. 10:8, etc.; Jer. 2 on verse 20.

36 Or, hear. That is, understand. See Gen. 11 on verse 7.

1637Their quiver is as an 38open sepulchre, 39they are all mighty men.

37 Of this nation, of which in the previous verse.

38 That is, they shall kill and bring to the grave multitudes of you with their arrows.

39 The Babylonians.

17And 40they shall eat up thine harvest,k and thy bread, which 41thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy 42flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up 43thy vines and thy fig trees: 44they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.

40 That strange people.

k Lev. 26:16; Deut. 28:31, 33.

41 Other, they shall eat up thy sons and thy daughters, that is, consume them. Compare Jer. 8:16.

42 Thy small and great cattle.

43 That is, the fruit of thy vines and fig trees.

44 The Babylonian soldiers.

18Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will notl make a full 45end with you.

l Jer. 4:27.

45 See Jer. 4 on verse 27.

19¶And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Whereforem doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou 46answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

m Jer. 16:10.

46 In My Name, with My words, as appears from what follows.

20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

21Hearn now this, O 47foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

n Isa. 6:9.

47 That is, who have no understanding; no eyes or ears of the soul to consider and obey the Word of God. Compare Jer. 6:10.

22Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the boundo 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?

o Job 38:10, 11; Psalm 33:7; 104:9.

23But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

24Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, bothp the 48former and the latter, 49in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed 50weeks of the harvest.

p Deut. 11:14.

48 See Deut. 11 on verse 14.

49 See Psalm 1 on verse 3.

50 Some understand hereby every seventh year, in which they were to let the land rest, and to remain untilled, in which years God had promised them a singular blessing. See Lev. 25:4, etc., verse 20, etc. Other, the set or appointed weeks of the harvest. See Lev. 26:5, 10. Other, the oaths of the appointed times.

25¶Your iniquities have turned away 51these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

51 The blessing, mentioned in the previous verse.

26For among my people are found wicked men: 52they lay wait, as he that 53setteth snares; they set a 54trap, they catch men.

52 Hebr. he layeth wait, that is, every one of them.

53 Who lie down, bow, bend and frame themselves to catch birds with all the craft. Other, as the fowlers do set snares.

54 Hebr. destruction, or, something that destroyeth, that is, that destroys men.

27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen 55rich.

55 That is, full of wealth, which they have obtained by deceit.

28Theyq are waxen 56fat, they shine: yea, 57they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause,r the cause of the fatherless, yet they 58prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

q Deut. 32:15.

56 Compare Deut. 32:15.

57 That is, they are worse in their practices than the most wicked of all are wont to be. Compare Jer. 2:33. Other, they transgress by wicked deeds. Hebr. they surpass or exceed the words, things, matters or dealings of the one or, of a wicked one. Or thus: they go through, through wicked devices, that is, commit all manner of wickedness boldly.

r Isa. 1:23; Zech. 7:10.

58 Or, they are prosperous, that is, grow rich, fat and smooth, as was said previously.

29Shalls I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

s verse 9; Jer. 9:9.

30¶A wonderful and 59horrible thing is committed in the land;

59 Compare Jer. 18:13; 23:14; Hosea 6:10.

31The 60prophets prophesy 61falsely,t and the priests bear rule by 62their means; and my people 63love to have it so: and what will ye do in the 64end thereof?

60 Namely, the false prophets.

61 Hebr. in or with falsehood or lies.

t Jer. 14:18; 23:25, 26; Ezek. 13:6.

62 That is, by the help and service of the false prophets; the one helps and strengthens the other; or, they bear rule on their sides. Other, take in their hands, namely, gifts.

63 Hebr. love it so.

64 Hebr. in the hindmost, last or uttermost of it, or, of her, namely, of Jerusalem, or, of the land, that is, how will ye fare with it at last, when I shall visit it, namely, either Jerusalem or the land? Compare Deut. 32:20. Other, what would ye do at last? What gross abominations would ye not commit at last?