Jeremiah 5:4-6

5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹ 

They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ² 

They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

5:5 I will go to the leaders ⁴ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ⁵ 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ⁶ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ⁷ 

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. ⁸ 

For they have rebelled so much

and done so many unfaithful things. ⁹ 

[5:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

[5:4]  ² tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:4]  ³ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

[5:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “So a lion from the thicket will kill them. A wolf from the desert will destroy them. A leopard will watch outside their cities. Anyone who goes out from them will be torn in pieces.” However, it is unlikely that, in the context of judgment that Jeremiah has previously been describing, literal lions are meant. The animals are metaphorical for their enemies. Compare Jer 4:7.

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “their rebellions are so many and their unfaithful acts so numerous.”