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 

Jeremiah 6:11

6:11 I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ⁷ 

I am tired of trying to hold it in.”

The Lord answered, ⁸ 

“Vent it, then, ⁹  on the children who play in the street

and on the young men who are gathered together.

Husbands and wives are to be included, ¹⁰ 

as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

Jeremiah 11:6

11:6 The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ¹¹  and carry them out!

Jeremiah 14:16

14:16 The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ¹²  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ¹³  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 33:10

33:10 “I, the Lord, say: ¹⁵  ‘You and your people are saying ¹⁶  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ¹⁷  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.

Jeremiah 37:21

37:21 Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread ¹⁸  be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept ¹⁹  in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

Jeremiah 44:9

44:9 Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their ²⁰  wives, by you and your wives?

Jeremiah 44:21

44:21 “The Lord did indeed remember and call to mind what you did! He remembered the sacrifices you and your ancestors, your kings, your leaders, and all the rest of the people of the land offered to other gods ²¹  in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. ²² 

[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.”

[6:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “I am full of the wrath of the Lord.”

[6:11]  ⁸ tn These words are not in the text but are implicit from the words that follow. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “Pour it out.”

[6:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are to be captured.”

[11:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “the terms of this covenant.” However, this was a separate message and the ambiguity of “this” could still cause some confusion.

[14:16]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem and there will not be anyone to bury them, they, their wives, and their sons and their daughters.” This sentence has been restructured to break up a long Hebrew sentence and to avoid some awkwardness due to differences in the ancient Hebrew and contemporary English styles.

[14:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “their evil.” Hebrew words often include within them a polarity of cause and effect. Thus the word for “evil” includes both the concept of wickedness and the punishment for it. Other words that function this way are “iniquity” = “guilt [of iniquity]” = “punishment [for iniquity].” Context determines which nuance is proper.

[33:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” For the first person rendering see the translator’s note at the end of v. 2.

[33:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “You.” However, the pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43. See the translator’s note on 32:36.

[33:10]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[37:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “And/Then King Zedekiah ordered and they committed Jeremiah to [or deposited…in] the courtyard of the guardhouse and they gave to him a loaf of bread.” The translation has been structured the way it has to avoid the ambiguous “they” which is the impersonal subject which is sometimes rendered passive in English (cf. GKC 460 §144.d). This text also has another example of the vav (ו) + infinitive absolute continuing a finite verbal form (וְנָתֹן [vÿnaton] = “and they gave”; cf. GKC 345 §113.y and see Jer 32:44; 36:23).

[37:21]  ³² tn Heb “Stayed/Remained/ Lived.”

[44:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “his.” This should not be viewed as a textual error but as a distributive singular use of the suffix, i.e., the wives of each of the kings of Judah (cf. GKC 464 §145.l and compare the usage in Isa 2:8; Hos 4:8).

[44:21]  ⁴³ tn The words “to other gods” are not in the text but are implicit from the context (cf. v. 17). They are supplied in the translation for clarity. It was not the act of sacrifice that was wrong but the recipient.

[44:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “The sacrifices which you sacrificed in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them and [did they not] come into his mind?” The question is again rhetorical and expects a positive answer. So it is rendered here as an affirmative statement for the sake of clarity and simplicity. An attempt has been made to shorten the long Hebrew sentence to better conform with contemporary English style.