Глава 5

1–9. The prophet's complaint about the corruption of the Jewish people. 10–19. God's verdict. 20–31. A new, stronger complaint from the prophet. Jeremiah 5:1–9. The punishment that was announced to Judah and Jerusalem in the previous chapter is well deserved. In Jerusalem, the capital of Judea, corruption of morals reigns. There were no more honest people for whose sake the Lord could have mercy on the city. Jer.5:1. Walk through the streets of Jerusalem, and look, and scout, and search in its squares, will you find a man who keeps the truth, who seeks the truth? I would spare Jerusalem. God offers to find at least one just and honest person in Jerusalem - He would forgive the city even in this case (cf. Gen. 18.23–32). "Seeker of Truth". Truth (emunah) - as a human property, combines loyalty to God, honesty in relation to people and truth in relation to oneself. Jer.5:2. Although they say, “As the Lord lives,” they swear falsely. Jer.5:3. Oh my God! Are not Your eyes turned to the truth? You hit them and they feel no pain; You destroy them, but they do not want to accept admonition; They have made their faces stronger than stone, they do not want to turn. “They swear falsely,” that is, they themselves do not attach any significance to their oath in the name of Jehovah. - “Aren’t Your eyes towards the truth”?, i.e. And You, Lord, value only one truth! Jer.5:4. And I said to myself: these may be poor people; they are foolish because they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God; Jer.5:5. I will go to the nobles and speak with them, for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. But they all broke the yoke and broke the bonds. The prophet expresses his personal impressions, which he gained from observing the life of the capital city. It turns out that even noble people look at the law of Jehovah as a heavy yoke from which they must certainly free themselves. Ordinary people may not know this law at all. Jer.5:6. Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them, a desert wolf will devastate them, a leopard will lie in wait near their cities: whoever comes out of them will be torn to pieces; for their crimes have multiplied, their apostasies have increased. The enemies of Judea are depicted as wild beasts. Jer.5:7. How can I forgive you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me and swear by those who are not gods. I fed them, but they committed adultery and went in droves to the houses of harlots. Jer.5:8. These are fattened horses: each of them neighs at the other’s wife. An oath not by the gods testified to the renunciation of the true God. "I fed them". Moses also predicted that the Jews, having had their fill of all the products of Palestine, would leave God, their benefactor (Deut. 32.13–15). Jeremiah also means by adultery, which the Jews allow themselves to commit, their falling away from Jehovah and serving idols, which, however, in fact, was usually combined with debauchery. – “The House of Harlots” is a pagan sanctuary. Jer.5:9. Am I not going to punish you for this? says the Lord; and shall not My soul take vengeance on such a people as this? “My Soul” I - Revenge, when applied to God, means His all-righteous judgment over people. Jeremiah 5:10–19. The Jewish people must undoubtedly bear punishment for their sins. He does not allow the thought of this, he laughs at the prophets who foretell God’s judgment to him, and for this he will be subdued by the powerful northern people. Jer.5:10. Climb its walls and destroy it, but not completely; destroy their teeth, because they are not the Lord’s; Jer.5:11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt me very treacherously, says the Lord: The Prophet, on behalf of Jehovah, addresses the enemies of Judea with an invitation to climb the walls of Jerusalem and destroy them, destroy their proudly towering battlements. However, the prophet notes, this destruction will not put an end to the existence of the people (but not completely). Some interpreters (Comill) here mean walls as the walls of a vineyard, and battlements mean shoots of the vine. According to this interpretation, the prophet is speaking here about the Jewish people, who were also depicted by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 5.2) under the guise of a walled vineyard. Jer.5:12. They lied against the Lord and said: “He is not, and trouble will not come to us, and we will not see either sword or famine. The Jews do not completely deny the existence of God. They do not believe only in what He tells them through His prophets and that punishment and reward come from Him (cf. Zeph 1.12). Jer.5:13. And the prophets will become wind, and the word [of the Lord] is not in them; let it be over themselves.” Jeremiah probably means, besides himself, other true prophets who predicted the destruction of Jerusalem (cf. Jeremiah 26.20 et seq.). Since these predictions had not yet been fulfilled, the Jews ridiculed them. Jer.5:14. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Because ye speak such words, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and this fire shall devour them. Through Jeremiah, whom the Jews mocked most of all, the Lord will soon bring His judgment on Jerusalem. According to the word of the prophet, as if by the action of fire, all sinners in Jerusalem will be destroyed - of course, by the Babylonians who will come to Jerusalem. Jer.5:15. Behold, I will bring against you, O house of Israel, a people from afar, says the Lord, a mighty people, an ancient people, a people whose language you do not know, and you will not understand what they say. Jer.5:16. His quiver is like an open coffin; they are all brave people. The Babylonians are depicted here with approximately the same features as those of Moses (Deut. 28.49–52). “An ancient people” - existing from the earliest times - “His quiver is like an open coffin” - perhaps the prophet wants to say with this about the disgusting and terrible impression that a huge bag with deadly arrows makes on the back of a Babylonian warrior. Jer.5:17. And they will eat up your harvest and your bread, they will eat up your sons and your daughters, they will eat up your sheep and your oxen, they will eat up your grapes and your figs; They will destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust. “They will eat their sons” - of course, in a figurative sense: they will destroy, exterminate. Jer.5:18. But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not completely destroy you. Jer.5:19. And if you say: “Why is the Lord our God doing all this to us?”, then answer: since you forsook Me and served foreign gods in your own land, you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours. The Lord will not completely destroy the sinful people of the Jews. If He sends disasters upon them, then these disasters are well-deserved punishments. Jer.5:20–31. Explaining why Jehovah is angry with the Jews, the prophet points to their reluctance to see the greatness of Divine omnipotence and love. They do not fear God and offend people - this is the reason for their misfortunes. Jer.5:20. Proclaim this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah, saying: “House of Jacob” is the same as Judah. Jer.5:21. Listen to this, you stupid and foolish people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: Jer.5:22. Do you not fear Me, says the Lord, do you not tremble before Me? I have set the sand as the border of the sea, an eternal limit that cannot be crossed; and although its waves rush, they cannot overcome it; although they rage, they cannot cross it. As a miracle of the wisdom and omnipotence of Jehovah, the prophet points out that the sea does not flood its shores beyond the limit set for the tide, despite the fact that it would be easy for it to roll its waves along the sand. Jer.5:23. But this people has a violent and rebellious heart; they retreated and walked; Jer.5:24. and they did not say in their hearts: “Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives us the early and late rain in its season, who keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.” The Jews are extremely stubborn and do not want to turn to Jehovah - “He preserves the weeks for us” - that is, he protects the days of harvest from rain, namely the weeks between Easter and Pentecost, during which the harvest usually took place in Palestine. Jer.5:25. Your iniquities have turned this away, and your sins have removed this good thing from you. Jer.5:26. For the wicked are among My people: they keep watch like bird-catchers, they crouch to the ground, they set traps and ensnare people. Jer.5:27. Like a cage filled with birds, their houses are full of deceit; through this they became exalted and became rich, Jer.5:28. they have become fat, fat, they have even gone beyond all limits in evil, they do not deal with court cases, the cases of orphans; they prosper, and the just cause of the poor is not given justice. Recently, - this is the thought of the prophet - the Jews, through their sins, have achieved that the above order in natural phenomena began to change. During the harvest of fruits, it often rained, damaging the harvest... Jer.5:29. Am I not going to punish you for this? says the Lord; and shall not My soul take vengeance on such a people as this? Repetition of the thought contained in v. 9. Jer.5:30. Amazing and terrible things are happening in this land: Jer.5:31. prophets prophesy lies, and priests rule by them, and my people love it. What will you do after all this? In addition to what was said about the crimes of the people of Israel, the prophet points to the close alliance that the priests entered into with the false prophets (cf. Jer 29.24–26). What especially saddens Jeremiah is the fact that the people willingly listen to the false assurances of the priests and prophets, who convinced them that everything was going well in their state. The people stood on the wrong path and did not show the slightest desire to turn away from it - that’s what crushed Jeremiah! You might be interested in: