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Texts -- Jeremiah 5:1-18 (NET)

Context
Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment
5:1 The Lord said, “Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem . Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares . See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful . If you can, then I will not punish this city. 5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord . But the fact is , what they swear to is really a lie .” 5:3 Lord , I know you look for faithfulness . But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse . Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected . They have become as hardheaded as a rock . They refuse to change their ways . 5:4 I thought , “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands . They do not know what their God requires of them. 5:5 I will go to the leaders and speak with them. Surely they know what the Lord demands . Surely they know what their God requires of them.” Yet all of them , too , have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him . 5:6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out . For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things . 5:7 The Lord asked, “How can I leave you unpunished , Jerusalem ? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all . Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes . 5:8 They are like lusty , well-fed stallions . Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife . 5:9 I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord . “I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this !” 5:10 The Lord commanded the enemy, “March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely . Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord . 5:11 For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me,” says the Lord . 5:12 “These people have denied what the Lord says. They have said , ‘That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine . 5:13 The prophets will prove to be full of wind . The Lord has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.’” 5:14 Because of that , the Lord , the God who rules over all , said to me, “Because these people have spoken like this , I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire . And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up .” 5:15 The Lord says , “Listen , nation of Israel ! I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know . Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand . 5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty . Their arrows will send you to your grave . 5:17 They will eat up your crops and your food . They will kill off your sons and your daughters . They will eat up your sheep and your cattle . They will destroy your vines and your fig trees . Their weapons will batter down the fortified cities you trust in. 5:18 Yet even then I will not completely destroy destroy you ,” says the Lord .

Pericope

NET
  • Jer 5:1-31 -- Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment

Bible Dictionary

  • Sin

    [nave] SIN. Index of Sub-Topics Miscellany of Minor Sub-Topics; Unclassified Scriptures Relating to, Defining, and Illustrating; Confession of; Consequences of, Entailed Upon Children; Conviction of; Forgiveness of; Fruits of; Kn...

  • QUIVER

    [ebd] the sheath for arrows. The Hebrew word (aspah) thus commonly rendered is found in Job 39:23; Ps. 127:5; Isa. 22:6; 49:2; Jer. 5:16; Lam. 3:13. In Gen. 27:3 this word is the rendering of the Hebrew teli, which is supposed rat...
    [isbe] QUIVER - kwiv'-er (ashpah, teli; pharetra (Sirach 26:12)): A case or sheath for carrying arrows, a part of the ordinary equipment of the warrior, both foot-soldier and charioteer (Job 39:23; Isa 22:6), and also of the huntsm...

  • Lintel

    [ebd] (1.) Heb. mashkoph, a projecting cover (Ex. 12:22, 23; ver. 7, "upper door post," but R.V. "lintel"); the head-piece of a door, which the Israelites were commanded to mark with the blood of the paschal lamb. (2.) Heb. kaphta...

  • Forest

    [ebd] Heb. ya'ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance. Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Eccl. 2:6; Isa. 44:14; Jer. 5:6; Micah 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest of Ephraim (2 Sam. 18:6, 8; J...

  • FIRE

    [isbe] FIRE - fir ('esh; pur): These are the common words for fire, occurring very frequently. 'Ur, "light" (Isa 24:15 the King James Version; compare the Revised Version (British and American); 31:9, and see FIRES), nur (Aramaic) ...

  • FIG, FIG-TREE

    [isbe] FIG, FIG-TREE - fig'-tre (te'enah, plural te'enim, specially "figs"; paggim, "green figs" only in Song 2:13; suke, "fig-tree," sukon, "fig"): 1. Fig-Trees in the Old Testament: The earliest Old Testament reference to the fig...

  • FACE

    [isbe] FACE - fas: In Hebrew the translation of three expressions: (1) panim (2) `ayin, literally, "eye" and (3) 'aph, literally, "nose," "nostril," already noted under the word COUNTENANCE, which see. The first and second of these...

  • Evening

    [ebd] the period following sunset with which the Jewish day began (Gen. 1:5; Mark 13:35). The Hebrews reckoned two evenings of each day, as appears from Ex. 16:12: 30:8; 12:6 (marg.); Lev. 23:5 (marg. R.V., "between the two evenin...

  • EVEN; EVENING; EVENTIDE

    [isbe] EVEN; EVENING; EVENTIDE - e'-v'-n, ev'-ning, ev-'-n-tid' ("even," "evening," 'erebh; opsia, opse; see Thayer under the word): The words are used in slightly different meanings: (1) The time of sunset, the beginning of the He...

  • CRIME; CRIMES

    [isbe] CRIME; CRIMES - krim, krimz: This. term is used in English as the equivalent of the Hebrew mishpaT, "judgment," "verdict" (Ezek 7:23); zimmah, "a heinous crime" (Job 31:11); 'asham = "a fault," "sin" (Gen 26:10, English Vers...

  • CITY

    [isbe] CITY - sit'-i (`ir, qiryah; polis): I. THE CANAANITE CITY 1. Origin 2. Extent 3. Villages 4. Sites 5. External Appearance 6. General II. THE CITY OF THE JEWISH OCCUPATION 1. Tower or Stronghold 2. High Place 3. Broad Place 4...

  • Backsliders

    [nave] BACKSLIDERS. Lev. 26:14-42; Deut. 4:9; Deut. 8:11-14; Deut. 28:58, 59, 63 vs. 15-68;; 1 Kin. 9:6-9; Deut. 29:18 vs. 18-28.; Deut. 32:15-30; Josh. 24:27 vs. 20-27.; 2 Chr. 15:2-4; Ezra 8:22; Job 34:26, 27; Psa. 44:20, 21; Ps...

  • BROAD

    [isbe] BROAD - brod (rochabh, "width"; rechobh, "a broadway," "street," "court"; eurchoros, "spacious"): Occurs frequently as a term of dimension (Ex 27:1; 1 Ki 6:6; Ezek 40:6,43 the Revised Version (British and American), "handbre...

  • BELIE

    [isbe] BELIE - be-li': Is the translation of kachash, "to be untrue" (Jer 5:12), "They have belied the Lord" (the American Standard Revised Version "denied Yahweh"), here used as synonym of "give the lie to." In The Wisdom of Solom...

  • BATTLEMENT

    [ebd] a parapet wall or balustrade surrounding the flat roofs of the houses, required to be built by a special law (Deut. 22:8). In Jer. 5:10, it denotes the parapet of a city wall.
    [smith] Among the Jews a battlement was required by law to be built upon every house. It consisted of a low wall built around the roofs of the houses to prevent persons from falling off, and sometimes serving as a partition from anot...

  • BAND

    [isbe] BAND - The English word has two generic meanings, each shading off into several specific meanings: (1) that which holds together, binds or encircles: a bond; (2) a company of men. The second sense may philologically and logi...

  • AVENGE; AVENGER

    [isbe] AVENGE; AVENGER - a-venj' a-venj'-er: Avenge.--The general idea connected with this word is that of inflicting punishment upon the wrongdoer. Since emphasis may be placed upon the deed itself, the wrongdoer, or the injured p...

  • ANTHROPOLOGY

    [isbe] ANTHROPOLOGY - an-thro-pol'-o-ji: I. TERMS EMPLOYED II. NATURE OF MAN BIBLICAL CONCEPTION III. ORIGIN OF MAN FROM SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT: NARRATIVES OF CREATION IV. UNITY OF THE RACE: VARIOUS THEORIES V. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AS TO...

  • ANCIENT

    [isbe] ANCIENT - an'-shent: This word renders several Hebrew words: (1) qedhem, which denotes "beforetime," "yore"; generally the remote past (compare Dt 33:15, "ancient mountains"; Jdg 5:21, Kishon, the "ancient river"; Isa 19:11 ...

  • ALTOGETHER

    [isbe] ALTOGETHER - ol-too-geth'-er: Representing five Hebrew and three Greek originals, which variously signify (1) "together"; i.e. all, e.g. `all men, high and low, weighed together in God's balance are lighter than vanity' (Ps ...

Arts

Questions

  • The following material from The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia should be helpful here: III. Significant numbers Numbers are also used with a symbolical or theological significance. One is used to convey th...

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Jeremiah's purpose was to call his hearers to repentance in view of God's judgment on Judah, which would come soon from an army from the north (chs. 2-45). Judgment was coming because God's people had forsaken Yahweh and had ...
  • I. Introduction ch. 1A. The introduction of Jeremiah 1:1-3B. The call of Jeremiah 1:4-191. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-102. Two confirming visions 1:11-19II. Prophecies about Judah chs. 2-45A. Warnings of judgment on...
  • 1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
  • Chapters 2-25 contain warnings and appeals to the Judahites in view of their sins and the consequences of those sins.
  • Most of the material in this section is prophetic oracles that are poetic in form. There are three messages, the first indicting Judah for her evil (ch. 2), the second pleading for repentance (3:1-4:4), and the third declarin...
  • 3:11 Yahweh instructed His prophet that though both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms had committed spiritual harlotry, Judah's sin was worse than Israel's. Here the Lord personified Judah as "Treachery"as he again personifi...
  • Now God gave His people reasons for the coming judgment. He stressed social and personal sins particularly."Jeremiah now appreciates the moral necessity for God's judgment of His people, as he sees clearly with his own eyes t...
  • 5:10 Speaking to the invading soldiers that He would use to judge Judah, the Lord instructed them to prune His vine (cf. Isa. 5:1-7). However, they were to leave a remnant (cf. v. 18). They were to take many branches away bec...
  • There were three aspects to Judah's failure: the people's perversity (vv. 20-25), their injustice (vv. 26-29), and their leaders (vv. 30-31).143"Jeremiah rebukes the Judeans as a whole for their utter stupidity and lack of mo...
  • 6:9 The sovereign Lord promised that the coming enemy would remove the people of Judah from their land as a grape harvester removed the grapes from his vines (cf. 5:10; Isa. 5:1-6). The harvest would be so thorough that even ...
  • 6:27 Yahweh informed Jeremiah that He had given the prophet a roll in Judah that was similar to that of an assayer of metals. He would be able and be responsible to test the "mettle"of the Lord's people (cf. 5:1).6:28 The Jud...
  • All the messages in this section deal with departure from the Lord in religious practices, either in pagan rites or in the perversion of the proper worship of Yahweh that the Mosaic Law specified. All the material in this sec...
  • This seems to be a new message from the Lord. It is a good example of prophetic indictments of Israel's sacrificial institutions (cf. 6:20; 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16-17; Isa. 1:4-15; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:6-8).7:21 Yah...
  • 8:4 The Lord commanded Jeremiah to ask the people if it was not normal for people to repent after sinning. After all, when someone falls down, the natural thing to do is to get up. When he gets lost, he tries to get back on t...
  • 8:13 The Lord also declared that He would snatch the Judahites from their land. He had gone forth among His people to gather a harvest of righteousness, but all He found on His vines and fig trees was withered leaves, no grap...
  • 9:10 The Lord took up a lamentation on behalf of the land that suffered because of His people's sin. The coming invasion would leave the land deserted even by beasts and birds. The rest of this message indicates that the inva...
  • 13:20 The Lord called Jerusalem to look north and she would see people coming.238The city was about to lose the flock of special people over whom the Lord had made her responsible, namely, His people of Judah.13:21 What would...
  • 14:1 A message came to Jeremiah from Yahweh concerning some droughts (Heb. plural) that overtook Judah.241Droughts were a punishment for covenant violation in Israel (cf. Lev. 26:18-19; Deut. 28:23-24).14:2 Judah was in mourn...
  • This section of the book contains some of Jeremiah's messages concerning Judah's kings (21:1-23:8) and false prophets (23:9-40) that he delivered closer to the time of Jerusalem's invasion than the previous chapters.300Beginn...
  • 25:30 Jeremiah was also to announce that God would prepare to judge all the inhabitants of the earth (v. 29). As a lion announces its intent to attack with a roar, so Yahweh would one day announce His attack on earth dwellers...
  • These chapters contrast the true prophet of Yahweh with the false prophets. Distinguishing between them was difficult for Jeremiah's contemporaries, but their essential difference is clear. The true prophets proclaimed the Lo...
  • The Book of Consolation contained messages of future hope for Judah (chs. 30-33). Now Jeremiah returned to document her present judgment. Chapters 34-45 continue the theme of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem from chapters 2-29...
  • This chapter belongs after chapter 36 chronologically, either after 36:8 or 36:32. It serves as an appendix to the historical incidents recorded there. Perhaps the writer or final editor placed it here to show that Yahweh exe...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...
  • 23:11-13 Oholibah observed her sister's behavior and fate, but she did not learn from them. As many historians have observed, the one thing we learn from history is that most people do not learn from history. Oholibah became ...
  • 7:1 We have already read of two dreams that Nebuchadnezzar had (2:1; 4:5). Now God gave one to Daniel. It too was a vision from God that came to Daniel as he slept."In referring to the experience as a dream' (sing.) Daniel wa...
  • Though God had not responded to the prophet's questions previously, He did eventually, and Habakkuk recorded His answer. The form of this revelation is an oracle.1:5 The Lord told Habakkuk and his people (plural "you"in Hebre...
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