1 Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray you, and know, And seek in her broad places, if ye find a man, If there be one doing judgment, seeking stedfastness -- Then am I propitious to her.
And I seek of them a man making a fence, And standing in the breach before Me, In behalf of the land -- not to destroy it, And I have not found.
for Jehovah -- His eyes go to and fro in all the earth, to show Himself strong `for' a people whose heart `is' perfect towards Him; thou hast been foolish concerning this, because -- henceforth there are with thee wars.'
And Abraham draweth nigh and saith, `Dost Thou also consume righteous with wicked? peradventure there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city; dost Thou also consume, and not bear with the place for the sake of the fifty -- the righteous who `are' in its midst? Far be it from Thee to do according to this thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked; that it hath been -- as the righteous so the wicked -- far be it from Thee; doth the Judge of all the earth not do justice?' And Jehovah saith, `If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city, then have I borne with all the place for their sake.' And Abraham answereth and saith, `Lo, I pray thee, I have willed to speak unto the Lord, and I -- dust and ashes; peradventure there are lacking five of the fifty righteous -- dost Thou destroy for five the whole of the city?' and He saith, `I destroy `it' not, if I find there forty and five.' And he addeth again to speak unto Him and saith, `Peradventure there are found there forty?' and He saith, `I do `it' not, because of the forty.' And he saith, `Let it not be, I Pray thee, displeasing to the Lord, and I speak: peradventure there are found there thirty?' and He saith, `I do `it' not, if I find there thirty.' And he saith, `Lo, I pray thee, I have willed to speak unto the Lord: peradventure there are found there twenty?' and He saith, `I do not destroy `it', because of the twenty.' And he saith, `Let it not be, I pray Thee, displeasing to the Lord, and I speak only this time: peradventure there are found there ten?' and He saith, `I do not destroy `it', because of the ten.'
My wo `is' to me, for I have been As gatherings of summer-fruit, As gleanings of harvest, There is no cluster to eat, The first-ripe fruit desired hath my soul. Perished hath the kind out of the land, And upright among men -- there are none, All of them for blood lie in wait, Each his brother they hunt `with' a net.
And thou, O Daniel, hide the things, and seal the book till the time of the end, many do go to and fro, and knowledge is multiplied.'
And removed backward is judgment, And righteousness afar off standeth, For truth hath been feeble in the street, And straightforwardness is not able to enter, And the truth is lacking, And whoso is turning aside from evil, Is making himself a spoil. And Jehovah seeth, and it is evil in His eyes, That there is no judgment.
There is none calling in righteousness, And there is none pleading in faithfulness, Trusting on emptiness, and speaking falsehood, Conceiving perverseness, and bearing iniquity.
God from the heavens looked on the sons of men, To see if there be an understanding one, `One' seeking God. Every one went back, together they became filthy, There is none doing good -- not even one. Have not workers of iniquity known, Those eating my people have eaten bread, God they have not called.
To the Overseer, on the octave. -- A Psalm of David. Save, Jehovah, for the saintly hath failed, For the stedfast have ceased From the sons of men:
and in all deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because the love of the truth they did not receive for their being saved,
And he saith, `I have been very zealous for Jehovah, God of Hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant -- Thine altars they have thrown down, and Thy prophets they have slain by the sword, and I am left, I, by myself, and they seek my life -- to take it.'
`And that servant having come, told to his lord these things, then the master of the house, having been angry, said to his servant, Go forth quickly to the broad places and lanes of the city, and the poor, and maimed, and lame, and blind, bring in hither.
and he saith unto him, `Run, speak unto this young man, saying: Unwalled villages inhabit doth Jerusalem, From the abundance of man and beast in her midst.
In the city they run to and fro, On the wall they run, Into houses they go up by the windows, They go in as a thief.
-- Pray, let me rise, and go round the city, In the streets and in the broad places, I seek him whom my soul hath loved! -- I sought him, and I found him not.
A multitude of men proclaim each his kindness, And a man of stedfastness who doth find?
At the side of the gates, at the mouth of the city, The entrance of the openings, she crieth aloud,
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,