Jeremiah 5:1

Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment

5:1 The Lord said, ¹ 

“Go up and down ²  through the streets of Jerusalem. ³ 

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. ⁴ 

If you can, ⁵  then I will not punish this city. ⁶ 

Isaiah 59:16

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ⁷ 

he is shocked ⁸  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ⁹ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ¹⁰ 

Ezekiel 22:30

22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ¹¹ 

Micah 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ¹²  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ¹³ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ¹⁴ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ¹⁵ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn These words are not in the text, but since the words at the end are obviously those of the Lord, they are supplied in the translation here to mark the shift in speaker from 4:29-31 where Jeremiah is the obvious speaker.

[5:1]  ² tn It is not clear who is being addressed here. The verbs are plural so they are not addressed to Jeremiah per se. Since the passage is talking about the people of Jerusalem, it is unlikely they are addressed here except perhaps rhetorically. Some have suggested that the heavenly court is being addressed here as in Job 1:6-8; 2:1-3. It is clear from Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7 that the prophets had access to this heavenly counsel through visions (cf. 1 Kgs 22:19-23), so Jeremiah could have been privy to this speech through that means. Though these are the most likely addressee, it is too presumptuous to supply such an explicit addressee without clearer indication in the text. The translation will just have to run the risk of the probable erroneous assumption by most English readers that the addressee is Jeremiah.

[5:1]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”

[5:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”

[5:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”

[59:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ⁸ tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”

[22:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I did not find.”

[7:2]  ¹² tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ¹⁵ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.