Jeremiah 5:5-6

5:5 I will go to the leaders ¹ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ² 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ³ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ⁴ 

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. ⁵ 

For they have rebelled so much

and done so many unfaithful things. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 5:26-29

5:26 “Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people.

They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. ⁷ 

They set deadly traps ⁸  to catch people.

5:27 Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, ⁹ 

their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. ¹⁰ 

That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. ¹¹ 

5:28 That is how ¹²  they have grown fat and sleek. ¹³ 

There is no limit to the evil things they do. ¹⁴ 

They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it.

They do not defend the rights of the poor.

5:29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! ¹⁵ 

[5:5]  ¹ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

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

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

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

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

[5:26]  ⁷ tn The meaning of the last three words is uncertain. The pointing and meaning of the Hebrew word rendered “hiding in ambush” is debated. BDB relates the form (כְּשַׁךְ, kÿshakh) to a root שָׁכַךְ (shakhakh), which elsewhere means “decrease, abate” (cf. BDB 1013 s.v. שָׁכַךְ), and notes that this is usually understood as “like the crouching of fowlers,” but they say this meaning is dubious. HALOT 1345 s.v. I שׁוֹר questions the validity of the text and offers three proposals; the second appears to create the least textual modification, i.e., reading כְּשַׂךְ (kesakh, “as in the hiding place of (bird catchers)”; for the word שַׂךְ (sakh) see HALOT 1236 s.v. שׂךְ 4 and compare Lam 2:6 for usage. The versions do not help. The Greek does not translate the first two words of the line. The proposal given in HALOT is accepted with some hesitancy.

[5:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “a destroying thing.”

[5:27]  ⁹ tn The words, “that have been caught” are not in the text but are implicit in the comparison.

[5:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are filled with deceit.” The translation assumes a figure of speech of cause for effect (metonymy). Compare the same word in the same figure in Zeph 1:9.

[5:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “therefore they have gotten great and rich.”

[5:28]  ¹² tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show that this line is parallel with the preceding.

[5:28]  ¹³ tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. This verb occurs only here. The lexicons generally relate it to the word translated “plate” in Song 5:14 and understand it to mean “smooth, shiny” (so BDB 799 s.v. I עֶשֶׁת) or “fat” (so HALOT 850 s.v. II עֶשֶׁת). The word in Song 5:14 more likely means “smooth” than “plate” (so TEV). So “sleek” is most likely here.

[5:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they cross over/transgress with respect to matters of evil.”

[5:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Should I not punish…? Should I not bring retribution…?” The rhetorical questions function as emphatic declarations.