Dawn in an empty stepped lane of Jerusalem: flat-roofed stone houses close on both sides, shutters closed, one small clay lamp still burning in a window niche.

Return to Me

Jeremiah 5

Would anyone notice if you were the one honest person on your street?

31 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the northChapter 5
7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letter
30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

No One Is Just

God

“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.

Look now and take note; search her squares.

If you can find a single person,

anyone who acts justly,

anyone who seeks the truth,

then I will forgive the city.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

they are swearing falsely.”

Jeremiah

O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?

You struck them, but they felt no pain.

You finished them off,

but they refused to accept discipline.

They have made their faces harder than stone

and refused to repent.

Jeremiah

Then I said, “They are only the poor;

they have played the fool,

for they do not know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.

I will go to the powerful

and speak to them.

Surely they know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.”

Jeremiah

At dusk a leopard lies flat on a rock ledge above the road outside a walled hill town, watching, its tail hanging; the town gate and one lit window small below.

But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke

and torn off the chains.

Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,

a wolf from the desert will ravage them.

A leopard will lie in wait near their cities,

and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.

For their rebellious acts are many,

and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

God

“Why should I forgive you?

Your children have forsaken Me

and sworn by gods that are not gods.

I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery

and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

They are well-fed, lusty stallions,

each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

Should I not punish them for these things?”

declares the LORD.

“Should I not avenge Myself

on such a nation as this?

God

A terraced vineyard stripped bare: branches cut and lying on the ground, leaves wilting, but the old gnarled vine stocks still rooted in their rows.

Go up through her vineyards and ravage them,

but do not finish them off.

Strip off her branches,

for they do not belong to the LORD.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”

declares the LORD.

Jeremiah

They have lied about the LORD and said:

“He will not do anything; harm will not come to us;

we will not see sword or famine.

The prophets are but wind,

for the word is not in them.

So let their own predictions befall them.”

Question

Quick question

Abraham once bargained with the LORD over Sodom. Read 5:1 again before you answer.

What was to be searched for in Jerusalem’s streets (5:1)?

Judgment Proclaimed

God

Far off along a road between ripe grain fields, vineyards and fig trees, a column of foreign archers marches with full quivers, dust rising behind them.

Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you,

O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

“It is an established nation,

an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know

and whose speech you do not understand.

Their quivers are like open graves;

they are all mighty men.

They will devour your harvest and food;

they will consume your sons and daughters;

they will eat up your flocks and herds;

they will feed on your vines and fig trees.

With the sword they will destroy

the fortified cities in which you trust.”

God

“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

God

Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

“Hear this,

O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes but do not see,

who have ears but do not hear.

God

A stormy shore: great gray waves surge up a wide sand beach and stop at the same line of wet sand, spray blowing, dark clouds over the sea.

Do you not fear Me?”

declares the LORD.

“Do you not tremble before Me,

the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea,

an enduring barrier it cannot cross?

The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.

They roar but cannot cross it.

God

God

But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They have turned aside and gone away.

They have not said in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the LORD our God,

who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season,

who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

Your iniquities have diverted these from you;

your sins have deprived you of My bounty.

God

A rich man's courtyard of fine dressed stone: a wicker cage packed with small wild birds hangs from a beam, a fowler's net and pegs dropped beside a carved bench.

For among My people are wicked men;

they watch like fowlers lying in wait;

they set a trap to catch men.

Like cages full of birds,

so their houses are full of deceit.

Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

God

They have grown fat and sleek,

and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked.

They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless,

that they might prosper;

nor have they defended

the rights of the needy.

Should I not punish them for these things?”

declares the LORD.

“Should I not avenge Myself

on such a nation as this?

God

The temple's outer court on a feast day: a well-dressed prophet in a fine fringed robe speaks with an easy smile to a pleased, nodding crowd, a priest in white linen at ease beside him.

A horrible and shocking thing

has happened in the land.

The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it so,

but what will you do in the end?

0:13

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

LORD, Your eyes look for truth. Make me one who acts justly and seeks the truth. Give me a heart that fears You, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Jeremiah 5

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A verse to carry with you

Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.

Jeremiah 5:22

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