Jeremiah 5 · WEB
Not One Righteous Person in Jerusalem
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"Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.
2Though they say, 'As Yahweh lives,' surely they swear falsely."
3O Yahweh, don't your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
4Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don't know Yahweh's way, nor the law of their God.
5I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.
7"How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.
8They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.
9Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says Yahweh; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10"Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh's.
11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me," says Yahweh.
12They have denied Yahweh, and said, "It is not he; neither will evil come on us. We won't see sword or famine.
13The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them."
14Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, says, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.
15Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel," says Yahweh. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know and whose speech you don't understand.
16Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
17They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust, with the sword.
18"But even in those days," says Yahweh, "I will not make a full end with you.
19It will happen when you say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'
20"Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21'Hear now this, foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes, and don't see, who have ears, and don't hear:
22Don't you fear me?' says Yahweh. 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail. Though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.'
23"But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
24They don't say in their heart, 'Let's now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'
25"Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.
28They have grown fat. They shine. Yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy.
29"Shouldn't I punish for these things?" says Yahweh. "Shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30"An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?"
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Summary
Jeremiah 5 records God's challenge to find even one just and truthful person in Jerusalem, echoing Abraham's plea for Sodom. Both the poor and the great have broken God's covenant, and the people have denied Yahweh, dismissed the prophets, and pursued immorality. God announces that a distant, powerful nation will come to devour the land as judgment, while the chapter closes with a devastating indictment: the prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own power, and the people love it that way.
Themes
- Universal corruption across all social classes
- False prophets and corrupt religious leadership
- Coming judgment through a foreign nation
- The people's willful spiritual blindness
- God's sovereignty over nature contrasted with human rebellion
Key verses
- Jer 5:1 — “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.”
- Jer 5:14 — “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.”
- Jer 5:21-22 — “'Hear now this, foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes, and don't see, who have ears, and don't hear: Don't you fear me?' says Yahweh.”
- Jer 5:31 — “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?”
Context & background
Jeremiah prophesied in the final decades of the kingdom of Judah (modern southern Israel/Palestine), roughly 627-586 BC. The "nation from far away" (verse 15) refers to Babylon (modern central Iraq), whose language and culture were foreign to the Hebrew-speaking people of Judah. God's challenge to find one righteous person in Jerusalem (verse 1) deliberately echoes Abraham's negotiation with God over Sodom in Genesis 18, but here the situation is even more dire — God asks for just one, not ten. The reference to prophets who prophesy falsely and priests who rule by their own authority (verse 31) reflects the deeply corrupt religious establishment that gave the people false assurance of safety while ignoring genuine covenant obligations.
Cross-references
- 2 Tim 4:3-4 — Paul warns of a time when people will heap up teachers to tell them what they want to hear, echoing Jer 5:31
- Gen 18:22-32 — Abraham bargains with God over Sodom; Jeremiah 5:1 echoes this search for righteous people
- Isa 6:9-10 — Isaiah's commission includes the theme of people who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear, echoed in Jer 5:21
- Jer 23:9-14 — Jeremiah returns to the theme of false prophets who lead the people astray
- Matt 13:13-15 — Jesus quotes the "eyes that don't see, ears that don't hear" tradition when explaining why he teaches in parables