21 Give ear now to this, O foolish people without sense; who have eyes but see nothing, and ears without the power of hearing:
Go to this people and say, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you:
Son of man, you are living among an uncontrolled people, who have eyes to see but see not, and ears for hearing but they do not give ear; for they are an uncontrolled people.
And he said, Go, and say to this people, You will go on hearing, but learning nothing; you will go on seeing, but without getting wiser. Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well.
As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day.
He has made their eyes blind, and their hearts hard; for fear that they might see with their eyes and get knowledge with their hearts, and be changed, and I might make them well.
Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, have you no hearing? and have you no memory?
For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them. And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you: For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.
For my people are foolish, they have no knowledge of me; they are evil-minded children, without sense, all of them: they are wise in evil-doing, but have no knowledge of doing good.
They have no knowledge or wisdom; for he has put a veil over their eyes, so that they may not see; and on their hearts, so that they may not give attention.
Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place.
But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears.
But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood.
When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 5
Commentary on Jeremiah 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Reproof for sin and threatenings of judgment are intermixed in this chapter, and are set the one over against the other: judgments are threatened, that the reproofs of sin might be the more effectual to bring them to repentance; sin is discovered, that God might be justified in the judgments threatened.
This was the scope and purport of Jeremiah's preaching in the latter end of Josiah's reign and the beginning of Jehoiakim's; but the success of it did not answer expectation.
Jer 5:1-9
Here is,
Jer 5:10-19
We may observe in these verses, as before,
Jer 5:20-24
The prophet, having reproved them for sin and threatened the judgments of God against them, is here sent to them again upon another errand, which he must publish in Judah; the purport of it is to persuade them to fear God, which would be an effectual principle of their reformation, as the want of that fear had been at the bottom of their apostasy.
Jer 5:25-31
Here,