King James Version
Jeremiah 5
31 verses with commentary
Not One Is Upright
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:1 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
V.
(1) **Run ye to and fro.**—The dark shades of the picture seem at first hardly to belong to the reign of Josiah, which is brought before us in 2 Kings 22, 23; 2 Chronicles 34, 35, as one of thorough reformation. It is, of course, possible that parts of the picture may have been worked up when the prophecies were rewritten under Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:32); but, on the other hand, it is equally p...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:2 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **The Lord liveth.**—The words imply that a distinction between the binding powers of different formulæ of adjuration, like that of the later scribes (Matthew 23:16), was already in some degree prevalent. The guilt of the men of Jerusalem was that they took the most solemn formula of all, “Jehovah liveth,” and yet were guilty of perjury. In Jeremiah 5:7 we find traces of the practice of sweari...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 35 Is 35:1-10. Continuation of the Prophecy in the Thirty-fourth Chapter.
See on Is 34:1, introduction there.
**1. solitary place--**literally, "a dry place," without springs of water. A moral wilderness is meant.
**for them--**namely, on account of the punishment inflicted according to the preceding prophecy on the enemy; probably the blessings set forth in this chapter are included...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:3 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Upon the truth.**—The Hebrew word, which has no article, implies truth in the inward parts, *faithfulness, *as well as truth in words. The “eyes” of God looked for this, and He found the temper that hardens itself against discipline, and refuses to repent.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. glory of Lebanon--**its ornament, namely, its cedars (Is 10:34).
**excellency of Carmel--**namely, its beauty.
**Sharon--**famed for its fertility.
**see ... glory of the Lord ... excellency--**(Is 40:5, 9). While the wilderness which had neither "glory" nor "excellency" shall have both "given to it," the Lord shall have all the "glory" and "excellency" ascribed to Him, not to the trans...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:4 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Therefore.**—Literally, *And. *The prophet makes for the poor the half-pitying plea of ignorance. Looking upon the masses that toil for bread, those whom the Scribes afterwards called the “people of earth,” it was not strange that they who had been left untaught should have learnt so little. The thought finds a parallel in our Lord’s compassion for the multitude who were as “sheep having no ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. Strengthen ... hands ... confirm ... knees--**The Hebrew for "strengthen" refers to the strength residing in the hand for grasping and holding a thing manfully; "confirm," to the firmness with which one keeps his ground, so as not to be dislodged by any other [Maurer]. Encourage the Jews, now desponding, by the assurance of the blessings promised.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:5 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **I will get me.**—The prophet turns from the masses to the few, from the poor to the great, repeating, as with a grave, indignant irony, the words that describe the true wisdom which he has not found in the former, but hopes to find in the latter.
**But these.**—Better, as less ambiguous, *Surely they too. *The clause begins with the same word as that in Jeremiah 5:4. What is meant is that th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. fearful--**"hasty," Margin; that is, with a heart fluttered with agitation.
**with--**the Hebrew is more forcible than the English Version: "God will come, vengeance! even God, a recompense!" The sense is the same.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. evenings: or, deserts are increased: Heb. are strong
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:6 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **A lion out of the forest.**—The imagery is vivid in itself. The three forms of animal ferocity, lion, wolf, leopard—representing, perhaps, the three phases of simple fierceness, ravenousness, and cunning; possibly even three oppressors in whom those attributes were to be impersonated—are brought together to embody the cruelty of the invader. The three animals were all common in Palestine, bu...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-6. Language figuratively, descriptive of the joy felt at the deliverance from Assyria and Babylon; literally, true of the antitypical times of Messiah and His miracles (see Margin references, Mt 11:5; Lu 7:2; 2Jo 5, 8; Ac 3:2).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:7 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **When I had fed them to the full.**—The reading of the Hebrew text gives, *though I had bound them by oath, sc., *by the covenant, as of marriage; and this, as heightening the enormity of the sin that follows, gives a better sense than the English version, which follows the marginal reading of the Hebrew. The latter finds its parallel in Deuteronomy 32:15; Hosea 13:6. There is probably an imp...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-6. Language figuratively, descriptive of the joy felt at the deliverance from Assyria and Babylon; literally, true of the antitypical times of Messiah and His miracles (see Margin references, Mt 11:5; Lu 7:2; 2Jo 5, 8; Ac 3:2).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:8 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **They were as fed horses in the morning.**—Better, *As fed stallion horses they rove about. *The animal passion is taken, as in Ezekiel 23:20, (1) as answering to the same passion in man; (2) as symbolical of the lust for idolatrous ritual. (Comp. Jeremiah 2:24.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. parched ground--**rather, "the mirage (Hebrew, Sharab, 'the sun's heat') shall become a (real) lake." The sun's rays refracted on the glowing sands at midday give the appearance of a lake of water and often deceive the thirsty traveller (compare Jr 2:13; Is 41:18).
**dragons--**rather, "jackals."
**each--**namely, jackal.
**grass--**rather, "a dwelling or receptacle (answering to the pr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:9 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. highway--**such a causeway (raised way, from a Hebrew root, "to cast up") as was used for the march of armies; valleys being filled up, hills and other obstructions removed (Is 62:10; compare Is 40:3, 4).
**way of holiness--**Hebraism for "the holy way." Horsley translates, "the way of the Holy One;" but the words that follow, and Is 35:10, show it is the way leading the redeemed back to Je...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
The Jews' profession of religion was hypocritical. (Jr 5:1-9) The cruel proceedings of their enemies. (Jr 5:10-18) Their apostacy and idolatry. (Jr 5:19-31)
**Verses 1-9** None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expecte...
Read full commentary →Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:10 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Walls.**—Better, *her palm-trees. *The Hebrew word is found in Ezekiel 27:25, though not in the English Version, in the sense of “mast,” and here, apparently, means the tall, stately trunk of the palmtree. So, for “battlements” it is better to read *branches *(as in Isaiah 18:5), as carrying on the same imagery, and indicating the limits of the destruction, that is not to make a “full end.”...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. No lion--**such as might be feared on the way through the wilderness which abounded in wild beasts, back to Judea. Every danger shall be warded off the returning people (Is 11:6-9; Eze 34:25; Ho 2:18). Compare spiritually, Pr 3:17.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:11 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
10. Language: literally, applying to the return from Babylon; figuratively and more fully to the completed redemption of both literal and spiritual Israel.
**joy upon ... heads--**(Psa 126:2). Joy manifested in their countenances. Some fancy an allusion to the custom of pouring oil "upon the head," or wearing chaplets in times of public festivity (Ec 9:8).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:12 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **It is not he.**—*i.e.*, It is not Jehovah who speaks. They listened to the prophet’s warnings as if they came from himself only, and brought with them no certainty of the “sword” or “famine” which they foretold. Perhaps, however, the words refer also to the denial that Jehovah was working in the sufferings that fell upon the people, or even to a more entire denial, like that of the fool in ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:13 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **The word.**—Literally, *He who speaketh, i.e., *Jehovah, as the speaker.
**Thus shall it be done unto them.**—Better, as a wish, *may it so happen to them; *may the evils the prophets foretell fall on their own heads. The speech comes from the lips of the unbelieving mockers.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 36 Is 36:1-22. Sennacherib's Invasion; Blasphemous Solicitations; Hezekiah Is Told of Them.
**This and the thirty-seventh through thirty-ninth chapters form the historical appendix closing the first division of Isaiah's prophecies, and were added to make the parts of these referring to Assyria more intelligible. So Jr 52:1-34; compare 2Ki 25:1-30. The section occurs almost word for word (...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:14 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **The Lord God of hosts.**—The solemn name (*Jehovah Elohim Zebaoth*) used for the second time in Jeremiah’s teaching (Jeremiah 2:19). The message is partly to the people—“Because *ye *speak this word,” partly to the prophet who was sent to bear his witness against them—“I will make my words in *thy *mouth.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. Rab-shakeh--**In 2Ki 18:17, Tartan and Rab-saris are joined with him. Rab-shakeh was probably the chief leader; Rab is a title of authority, "chief-cup-bearer."
**Lachish--**a frontier town southwest of Jerusalem, in Judah; represented as a great fortified city in a hilly and fruitful country in the Koyunjik bas-reliefs, now in the British Museum; also, its name is found on a slab over a fi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:15 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **O house of Israel.**—Apparently, as there is no contrast with Judah, in its wider sense, as including the whole body of the twelve tribes.
**A mighty nation.**—The strict force of the adjective is that of “lasting, enduring,” as of mountains (Micah 6:2) and rivers (Amos 5:24; Psalm 74:15).
**Whose language thou knowest not.**—To the Jew, as to the Greek, the thought of being subject to a pe...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. Eliakim--**successor to Shebna, who had been "over the household," that is, chief minister of the king; in Is 22:15-20, this was foretold.
**scribe--**secretary, recorder--literally, "one who reminds"; a remembrancer to keep the king informed on important facts, and to act as historiographer. In 2Ki 18:18, the additional fact is given that the Assyrian envoys "called to the king," in conseq...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:16 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **An open sepulchre.**—Every arrow in the quivers of the Chaldæan bowmen was to be as a messenger of death, a blast or pestilence from the grave.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. great king--**the usual title of the Persian and Assyrian kings, as they had many subordinate princes or kings under them over provinces (Is 10:8).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:17 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Which thy sons and thy daughters should eat.**—There is no relative pronoun in the Hebrew, and the clause stands parallel with the others, *they shall eat *(*i.e., *destroy) *thy sons and thy daughters, *and is so translated in all the older versions. In the other clauses the verb is in the singular, “*it *(*i.e., *the invading army) shall eat.”
**Impoverish.**—Better, *break down, *or *sha...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. counsel--**Egypt was famed for its wisdom.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:18 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **I will not make a full end.**—As before, in Jeremiah 4:27, and in this chapter, Jeremiah 5:10, what seems the extremest sentence is tempered by the assurance that it is not absolutely final. It is intended to be reformatory, and not merely penal.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. It was a similar alliance with So (that is, Sabacho, or else Sevechus), the Ethiopian king of Egypt, which provoked the Assyrian to invade and destroy Israel, the northern kingdom, under Hoshea.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18** Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and ...
Read full commentary →And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:19 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **When ye shall say.**—The implied promise in Jeremiah 5:18 is explained. Then there shall come the backward glance at the past, which brings with it questionings and repentance.
**Strange gods.**—Stronger than the “*other *gods” of Jeremiah 1:16, “gods of an alien race.” The threats that they should “serve strangers” in a “land” that was not theirs points to the Chaldæan rather than to the S...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. The Assyrian mistakes Hezekiah's religious reforms whereby he took away the high places (2Ki 18:4) as directed against Jehovah. Some of the high places may have been dedicated to Jehovah, but worshipped under the form of an image in violation of the second commandment: the "brazen serpent," also (broken in pieces by Hezekiah, and called Nehushtan, "a piece of brass," because it was worshipped b...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:20 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Declare**—**publish.**—The words indicate, as in Jeremiah 4:5; Jeremiah 4:16, the beginning of a fresh section of the prophecy, though no definitely new topic is introduced. The command is given by Jehovah, not to the prophet only, but to his disciples.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. give pledges--**a taunting challenge. Only give the guarantee that you can supply as many as two thousand riders, and I will give thee two thousand horses. But seeing that you have not even this small number (see on Is 2:7), how can you stand against the hosts of Assyrian cavalry? The Jews tried to supply their weakness in this "arm" from Egypt (Is 31:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: understanding: Heb. heart
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:21 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Which have eyes, and see not.**—An almost verbal reproduction from Isaiah 6:10.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. captain--**a governor under a satrap; even he commands more horsemen than this.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:22 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Which have placed the sand . . .**—The greatness of Jehovah is shown by the majesty of His work in nature. As in Job 38:8-11, so, probably, here also there is something of the wonder of one to whom, as dwelling in an inland village, the billows breaking on the shore was an unfamiliar sight. Here was the token that even the forces which seem wildest and least restrained are subject to an ove...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
10. A boastful inference from the past successes of Assyria, designed to influence the Jews to surrender; their own principles bound them to yield to Jehovah's will. He may have heard from partisans in Judah what Isaiah had foretold (Is 10:5, 6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:23 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **But this people . . .**—The contrast seems to lie in the fact that the elements are subject to God’s will, but that man’s rebellious will, with its fatal gift of freedom, has the power to resist it. The two adjectives “revolting” and “rebellious” (the negative and positive aspects of apostasy) are joined together, as in Deuteronomy 21:18; Deuteronomy 21:20.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. Syrian--**rather, "Aramean": the language spoken north and east of Palestine, and understood by the Assyrians as belonging to the same family of languages as their own: nearly akin to Hebrew also, though not intelligible to the multitude (compare 2Ki 5:5-7). "Aram" means a "high land," and includes parts of Assyria as well as Syria.
**Jews' language--**The men of Judah since the disruption...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
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KJV Study Commentary
Detailed theological analysis of Jeremiah 5:24 with Hebrew word studies, doctrinal significance, and connections to broader biblical themes. This would reference original language terms, explain theological concepts, and show how the verse fits into redemptive history and points to Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **The Lord our God, that giveth rain . . .**—In the climate of Palestine, as it is now, there are not two distinct rainy seasons. The whole period from October to March has that character. The “early” rains are those that come in autumn, the latter those which close the season in spring. The former argument in what we may call the prophet’s natural theology had been drawn from the presence of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. Is it to thy master and thee that I am sent? Nay, it is to the men on the wall, to let them know (so far am I from wishing them not to hear, as you would wish), that unless they surrender, they shall be reduced to the direst extremities of famine in the siege (2Ch 32:11, explains the word here), namely, to eat their own excrements: or, connecting, "that they may eat," &c., with "sit upon t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse delivers God's verdict on why covenant blessings have been withheld: 'Your iniquities have turned away these things' (ʿăwōnôṯêḵem hiṭṭû-ʾēlleh, עֲוֹנוֹתֵיכֶם הִטּוּ־אֵלֶּה). The verb nāṭâ (turned away, diverted) indicates that sin actively prevents divine blessing. 'And your sins have withholden good things from you' uses mānaʿ (withheld, kept back)—God's good gifts are available but bl...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **These things.**—i.e., the rain and the harvest which, from the prophet’s point of view, had been withheld in consequence of the sins of the people.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. Rab-shakeh speaks louder and plainer than ever to the men on the wall.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. they lay: or, they pry as fowlers lie in wait
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KJV Study Commentary
God exposes social injustice: 'For among my people are found wicked men' (kî-nimṣĕʾû ḇĕʿammî rĕšāʿîm, כִּי־נִמְצְאוּ בְעַמִּי רְשָׁעִים). The term 'my people' intensifies the tragedy—those called to be holy harbor wickedness. The metaphor 'they lay wait, as he that setteth snares' compares evildoers to hunters trapping prey: 'they set a trap, they catch men' (yāṣîḇû mašḥîṯ ʾănāšîm yilkōḏû). This v...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **They lay wait.**—Literally, *he lieth in wait *(used of the leopard in Hosea 13:7), *as in the crouching down of fowlers: they have set the snare. *The indefinite singular in the first clause brings before us the picture of isolated guilt, the plural that of confederate evil.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. cage: or, coop
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KJV Study Commentary
The exploitation intensifies: 'As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit' (kĕḵeluḇ mālēʾ ʿôp̄ kēn bāttêhem mĕlēʾîm mirmâ, כִּכְלוּב מָלֵא עוֹף כֵּן בָּתֵּיהֶם מְלֵאִים מִרְמָה). The simile compares wealthy homes to bird cages crammed with trapped fowl—their prosperity derives from 'deceit' (mirmâ), meaning fraud, treachery, betrayal of trust. 'Therefore they are become great, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **A cage.**—The large wicker basket (Amos 8:1-2) in which the fowler kept the birds he had caught, or, possibly, used for decoy-birds.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15. The foes of God's people cannot succeed against them, unless they can shake their trust in Him (compare Is 36:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
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KJV Study Commentary
The indictment continues: 'They are waxen fat, they shine' (šāmĕnû ʿāšĕṯû, שָׁמְנוּ עָשְׁתוּ)—physical prosperity from exploitation. 'Yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked' (gam-ʿāḇĕrû diḇrê-rāʿ, גַּם־עָבְרוּ דִבְרֵי־רָע) means they surpass even pagans in evil. The specific charge: 'they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **They overpass the deeds of the wicked.—**Better (the English being ambiguous), *they exceed in deeds *(literally, *words *or *things*)* of wickedness. *The prophet dwells not only on the prosperity of the wicked, but on their callous indifference to the well-being of the poor.
**Yet they prosper.**—Better, *so that they *(the fatherless) *may prosper. *They do not judge with a view to that ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. agreement ... by ... present--**rather, "make peace with me"; literally, "blessing" so called from the mutual congratulations attending the ratification of peace. So Chaldee. Or else, "Do homage to me" [Horsley].
**come out--**surrender to me; then you may remain in quiet possession of your lands till my return from Egypt, when I will lead you away to a land fruitful as your own. Rab-shake...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
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KJV Study Commentary
God poses a rhetorical question demanding response: 'Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' (haʿal-ʾēlleh lōʾ-ʾep̄qōḏ nĕʾum-YHWH ʾim-bĕḡôy ʾăšer-kāzeh lōʾ ṯiṯnaqqēm nap̄šî). The verb pāqaḏ (visit) means divine intervention in judgment. The phrase 'shall not my soul be avenged' (lōʾ ṯiṯnaqqēm nap̄šî) uses nāqam (avenge, take venge...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; A wonderful: or, Astonishment and filthiness
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse introduces a shocking revelation: 'A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land' (šammâ wĕšaʿărûrâ nihyĕṯâ ḇāʾāreṣ, שַׁמָּה וְשַׁעֲרוּרָה נִהְיְתָה בָאָרֶץ). The words šammâ (astonishing, appalling) and šaʿărûrâ (horrible, shocking) express moral outrage. The specific charge follows in verse 31: false prophets prophesy lies, priests rule by their means, and the people love it...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **Wonderful.**—Better, *terrible.*
**Is committed.**—Better, *has come to pass.*
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
Read full commentary →The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? bear: or, take into their hands
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse specifies the corruption: 'The prophets prophesy falsely' (hannĕḇîʾîm nibbĕʾû ḇaššāqer, הַנְּבִאִים נִבְּאוּ בַשָּׁקֶר)—claiming divine authority for human messages. 'And the priests bear rule by their means' (wĕhakkōhănîm yirdû ʿal-yĕḏêhem) indicates priests exercise authority through false prophets rather than God's word. 'And my people love to have it so' (wĕʿammî ʾāhĕḇû kēn) reveals...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **Prophesy falsely.**—Literally, *with a lie, *so in Jeremiah 20:6; Jeremiah 29:9.
**Bear rule by their means.**—Better, *move at their hands, i.e., *according to their direction (as in 1Chronicles 25:2; 2Chronicles 23:18. The Vulg. and LXX. translate *The priests applauded with their hands. *So taken, the words of Jeremiah make the priests follow the prophets, not the prophets the instrument...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. Hamath ... Arphad--**(See on Is 10:9).
**Sepharvaim--**literally, "the two scribes"; now Sipphara, on the east of Euphrates, above Babylon. It was a just retribution (Pr 1:31; Jr 2:19). Israel worshipped the gods of Sepharvaim, and so colonists of Sepharvaim were planted in the land of Israel (thenceforth called Samaria) by the Assyrian conqueror (2Ki 17:24; compare 2Ki 18:34).
**Samaria...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-31** Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst ...
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