Глава 5

1–10. The prayer of the prophet Jeremiah, in which he first depicts the distress of Zion, 19-22. and then asks God for mercy on the long-suffering Jewish people. ( Prom. 5:1–18 .) The situation of Judah is extremely sad. Foreigners took possession of the land of Judea and the Jewish people became like orphans. He has to turn to either the Egyptians or the Assyrians for a piece of bread. For the sins of their fathers, the Jews must endure all kinds of torment and humiliation, and there are no longer any signs of life in Zion. Proverbs 5:4. We drink our water for silver, we get our firewood for money. We must pay for our own water, from rivers and reservoirs that belong to us, with a certain fee paid to the treasury of our winners. In the same way, we don’t dare chop wood without paying a certain fee. Proverbs 5:6. We stretch out our hand to the Egyptians, to the Assyrians, to be filled with bread. We can only escape from starvation either from the Egyptians, who were not averse to sheltering the Jews, or go into captivity to Assur, that is, to Babylon, even if our victors left us in Palestine. Here in our country we are facing starvation. Proverbs 5:8. Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to deliver them from their hand. “Slaves”, that is, Chaldeans who should serve us like slaves (cf. Ps 71:11). Proverbs 5:9. With the danger of our lives from the sword, we get bread for ourselves in the desert. It would be more correct to translate: “at the danger of our lives we get our bread, full of horror before the sword and before the plague.” Proverbs 5:13. The young men are taken to the millstones, and the youths fall under the loads of wood. The millstones were heavy stones, which were very difficult for the young men to handle. (Pl.5:19–22.) The prophet is perplexed that the Lord has abandoned His people, and prays to God to turn the hearts of the Jews to Himself again. Proverbs 5:19. You, Lord, remain forever; Your throne is for generations and generations. Pointing to the immutability of Jehovah, the prophet obviously wants to say that the mercy of the Lord towards Israel must also be immutable. Proverbs 5:21. Turn us to You, Lord, and we will turn; renew our days as of old. A person only turns to God with all his heart when God calls him to this. Wed. Jer. 30:21. You might be interested in: