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. “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.
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.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “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.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.
KJVKing James Version
7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
7 Wherefore should I pardon thee? The children have forsaken Me, and sworn by no-gods; and when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses.
8 They are become as well-fed horses, lusty stallions; every one neigheth after his neighbour's wife.
9 Shall I not punish for these things? saith the LORD; and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go ye up into her rows, and destroy, but make not a full end; take away her shoots; for they are not the LORD'S.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith the LORD.
Joshua 23:7(v7)that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by…
Galatians 4:8(v7)However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
Deuteronomy 32:21(v7)They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy…
Jeremiah 2:11(v7)Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.
Jeremiah 3:20(v11)“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh.
Show all 79 cross-references
Jeremiah 9:9(v9)Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?
Zephaniah 1:5(v7)those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,
1 Corinthians 8:4(v7)Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other…
Jeremiah 13:27(vv7–8)I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe…
Deuteronomy 32:15(v7)But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and…
Jeremiah 4:27(v10)For Yahweh says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
Jeremiah 5:29(v9)“Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah 23:10(v7)For the land is full of adulterers; for because of the curse the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course is…
James 4:4(v7)You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a…
Ezekiel 22:11(vv7–8)One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his…
2 Samuel 11:2-4(v8)At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was…
Psalms 78:61-62(v10)and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand. He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry…
Isaiah 1:24(v9)Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my…
Isaiah 48:8(v11)Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and…
Jeremiah 12:16(v7)It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As Yahweh lives;’ even as they taught my people…
Jeremiah 39:8(v10)The Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 12:16(v10)But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations…
Hosea 1:9(v10)He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
Hosea 4:2(v7)There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
Amos 9:8(v10)Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will…
Matthew 22:7(v10)When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Genesis 39:9(v8)No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do…
Exodus 20:17(v8)“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his…
Leviticus 20:10(v7)“ ‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the…
Leviticus 26:25(v9)I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will…
Numbers 25:1-3(v7)Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab; for they called the people to the…
Deuteronomy 5:21(v8)“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female…
Deuteronomy 32:35(v9)Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
Deuteronomy 32:43(v9)Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will…
2 Kings 24:2-4(v10)Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon,…
2 Chronicles 36:17(v10)Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had…
Job 31:9(v8)“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
Psalms 50:18(v7)When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.
Isaiah 10:5-7(v10)Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the…
Isaiah 13:1-5(v10)The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand,…
Jeremiah 2:31(v7)Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken…
Jeremiah 3:6-11(v11)Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every…
Jeremiah 3:19(v7)“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’…
Jeremiah 5:18(v10)“But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end of you.
Jeremiah 6:4-6(v10)“Prepare war against her! Arise! Let’s go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.…
Jeremiah 7:4-12(v10)Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’ For if you thoroughly amend your ways…
Jeremiah 9:2(v7)Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all…
Jeremiah 23:2(v9)Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and…
Jeremiah 25:9(v10)behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my…
Jeremiah 29:22-23(v7)A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab,…
Jeremiah 29:23(v8)because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name…
Jeremiah 30:11(v10)For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make…
Jeremiah 44:22(v9)Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed.…
Jeremiah 46:28(v10)Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh; “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven…
Jeremiah 51:20-23(v10)“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will…
Lamentations 4:22(v9)The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion. He will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your…
Ezekiel 5:13-15(v9)“ ‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I,…
Ezekiel 7:9(v9)My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will…
Ezekiel 9:5-7(v10)To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity. Kill utterly…
Ezekiel 14:17(v10)“Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal;’
Ezekiel 16:49-50(v7)“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She…
Hosea 2:13(v9)I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went…
Hosea 4:13-15(v7)They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is…
Hosea 5:7(v11)They are unfaithful to Yahweh; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
Hosea 6:7(v11)But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.
Hosea 7:4(v7)They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.
Hosea 8:13(v9)As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it; But Yahweh doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity,…
Hosea 11:8(v7)“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart…
Hosea 13:6(v7)According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.
Amos 8:14(v7)Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never…
Nahum 1:2(v9)Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath…
Malachi 3:5(v7)I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the…
Matthew 5:27-28(v8)“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has…
Matthew 23:37-38(v7)“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children…
1 Corinthians 6:9(v7)Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor…
James 5:1-5(v7)Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.…
Hebrews 13:4(v7)Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
79 distinct cross-references across this passage (81 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv7–11There is here what rhetoricians call a conference: for…
There is here what rhetoricians call a conference: for God seems here to seek the judgment of the adverse party, with whom he contends, on the cause between them, though it was sufficiently clear; and this is a proof of confidence. When advocates wish to shew that there is nothing doubtful or obscure, they thus deliberate with the opposite party, — “Why, I will propose the matter privately to yourself; have you anything to say? Even if you were at liberty to determine the question, would not reason compel you to pronounce such a judgment as this?” So now God shews that he was constrained, as it were, by necessity to inflict on the Jews a most severe punishment, and intimates that he was not, as it were, at liberty to do otherwise. “If I am, “he says, “the judge of the world, is it possible that they can escape unpunished, who thus openly provoke me? Should I not expose to ridicule my glory? and should I not also divest myself of my own power? I should cease to be what I am, and in a manner deny myself, were I not to punish a people so wicked and irreclaimable.” We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning.
Some consider ו, vau, to be understood, and take אי, ai, for אין, ain, and read thus, “I will not spare thee for this.” But as there is no reason to make any change, and many agree in the view that has been given, I prefer to follow what has been most commonly received. The meaning of אי, ai, in Hebrew is “where;” but it also means “how: “and here it is to be understood, not of place, but of manner, “How could I for this be propitious to you?”
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We see how God, as it were, deliberates with the opposite party, and even appeals to them for judgment, “Say now, were I to allow you so much liberty and power as to decide the question, could I, who am the judge of the world, spare you who are guilty of such vices?”
Thy sons have forsaken me This was the first sin: and when God complained that he was forsaken, he intimated that the people had willfully, and from deliberate wickedness, cast off the yoke; for the same thing could not have been said of heathens. It is indeed true, if we have regard to the beginning, that all may be charged with defection, for God had revealed himself to the sons of Adam and of Noah; and when they fell away into superstitions, they became apostates. But the defection of the Jewish people was much more recent, and less to be borne: nay, when they boasted that they were God’s people, who could have alleged the pretense of ignorance? We now then see what the Prophet means when he says, that God had been forsaken by the people.
He then adds, They have sworn by a no- god He means, by stating a part for the whole, that the worship of God was become corrupt and vitiated: for swearing, as it was stated yesterday, is a part of God’s worship. Whenever we swear by God’s name, we profess that we are under his power, and that we cannot escape if we swear falsely: we also ascribe to him his glory as the God of truth; and we further testify that nothing escapes him, or is hid from his view. Hence, by saying here that the Israelites swore by a no- god, he means that God was deprived of his own right. They were indeed guilty of other sins; but, as it has been stated, the Prophet includes under one kind all the superstitions which then prevailed among the people. It was then the same as though he had said, that they worshipped idols and gods, whom they had devised for themselves.
He adds a circumstance which enhanced their guilt, I have filled them, he says, and they have committed adultery There is here a striking alliteration, which must not be omitted, he had said, ישבען, ishbon, “they have sworn;” and now he says, אשבע, ashbo, “I have filled them.” The only difference is in a point; when placed on the left side of ש, shin, the word means to fill, and when on the right, to swear. The Prophet then says, that they had sworn to another God, and yet had been filled God shews here how base and disgraceful had been the ingratitude of the people; for they had been filled to the full with all blessings, and yet they did not acknowledge their own God, who had been to them a Father, so kind and bountiful: I have filled them, he says, and they have committed adultery
Now this passage teaches us, that they who go astray, when allured by God’s paternal kindness and bounty, are on that account the more unworthy of pardon. When men grow wanton against God, while he is kindly indulging them, they no doubt treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath, as Paul tells us in Romans 2:5. Let us then take heed, lest we indulge ourselves, while God is, as it were, indulging us; and lest prosperity should lead us to wantonness: but let us learn to submit ourselves willingly to him, even because he thus kindly and sweetly invites us to himself; and when he shews himself so loving, let us learn to love him.
He says, that they committed adultery This may be taken metaphorically: but as in the next verse he inveighs against their vagrant lusts and adulteries, this phrase may be taken in its literal sense. I yet think that adultery here is to be understood figuratively, as meaning that they had no spiritual chastity, inasmuch as they did not give God his own glory. He further says, And at the house of the harlot have they assembled together The word “house” may be taken in the nominative case, as the Jews might have been called the house of the harlot; as though the Prophet had said, that all Jerusalem and Judea were like brothels. But some consider ב, beth, to be understood, so that they assembled themselves, as it were, at the house of a harlot; and that he thus alludes to the temple. And it is a mark of great shamelessness, when many adulterers or wanton men assemble in one house; for most are ashamed of their adulteries, so that they endeavor to hide their baseness: but when they come together in troops, as though under an uplifted banner, it is a proof that there is no shame, but that they thus disregard all decency, like brute beasts. The most suitable meaning then is, that they are said to have assembled together in brothels, because they gloried in their own superstitions and sacrileges. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv7, 10He showeth that to swear by anything than by…
He showeth that to swear by anything than by God, is to forsake him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv7–11Jer 5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this?…
Jer 5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
Ver. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this?] How with the safety of mine honour and justice? Swearing then by creatures (us by our Lady, by St Anne, by this light, &c.), or by idols, (as by the mass, by the rood, &c.), or by qualities (as by faith, troth, &c.), is not so small a sin as many deem it, since God maketh here a great question how he can pardon it. For why? it is a forsaking of him, a giving away his honour to another, a disgrace done to a man’s self - since we always "swear by the greater," {Heb 6:16} and a means to procure his utter ruin, without God’s greater mercy. {Amo 6:14 Zep 1:3-5} Men sport themselves with oaths, as the Philistines did with Samson, which will at last pull the house about their ears. {Zec 5:4}
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When I fed them to the full, they then committed adultery.] Fulness in good men oft breeds forgetfulness, and in bad men, filthiness. Gula vestibulum luxuriae; gluttony is the gallery that incontinence walketh through. The Israelites ate and drank, and rose up to play - scil., with their Midianitish mistresses - to the provoking of God’s fierce wrath. Fulness of bread made way to Sodom’s sin. Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant. Ceres and Bacchus are great friends to Venus, &c. Watch therefore, and feed with fear.
And assembled themselves by troops.] Heb., They trooped themselves; such was their impudence.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv7–11How shall I pardon? how canst thou expect that…
How shall I pardon? how canst thou expect that I shall bear such affronts? I shall expose myself, and seem to lay aside my power; I shall be looked upon as one that either regard not such injuries, or cannot avenge them, as Jer 5:9.
Thy children; thy inhabitants, both in city and country.
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Sworn by them that are no gods, but by idols: swearing is here put, not for one part of worship, as sometimes it is, but for a religious worship and service of them, Jer 4:2.
When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery: here is noted the abuse of God’s bounty, or the natural effect of our unsanctified prosperity, Deu 32:15; Jer 2:7; Jude 4. That which in good men doth oft breed forgetfulness, in bad men generally breeds filthiness: rising up to play the wanton was the effect of Israel’s eating and drinking, Exo 32:6, and of Sodom’s sin, Eze 16:49. Adultery; either,
1. Metaphorically to be understood of their going a whoring after their idols; or,
2. Properly, for corporal uncleanness, they usually going both together, Num 25:1,2; Ho 4:12,14.
Assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses; it may be read in the nominative case, the house of the harlot assembled themselves: q.d. The whole house of Israel, Jerusalem and Judea, are but one stew. If it refers to their idolatry, then it alludes to their making the temple a common house of spiritual harlotry; but rather, as it refers to their corporal uncleanness, it seems to intimate that they did not act their adulteries clandestinely or by stealth, but laying aside all modesty, they went to harlots’ houses, like brute beasts, in company, as ashamed of nothing.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v10We may observe in these verses, as before,
We may observe in these verses, as before,
I. The sin of this people, upon which the commission signed against them is grounded. God disowns them and dooms them to destruction, Jer 5:10. But is there not a cause? Yes; for, 1. They have deserted the law of God (Jer 5:11): The house of Israel and the house of Judah, though at variance with one another, yet both agreed to deal very treacherously against God. They forsook the worship of him, and therein violated their covenants with him; they revolted from him, and played the hypocrite with him. 2. They have defied the judgments of God and given the lie to his threatenings in the mouth of his prophets, Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13. They were often told that evil would certainly come upon them; they must expect some desolating judgment, sword or famine; but they were secure and said, We shall have peace, though we go on. For, (1.) They did not fear what God is. They belied him, and confronted the dictates even of natural light concerning him; for they said, "It is not he, that is, he is not such a one as we have been made to believe he is; he does not see, or not regard, or will not require it; and therefore no evil shall come upon us." Multitudes are ruined by being made to believe that God will not be so strict with them as his word says he will; nay, by this artifice Satan undid us all: You shall not surely die. So here: Neither shall we see sword nor famine. Vain hopes of impunity are the deceitful support of all impiety. (2.) They did not fear what God said. The prophets gave them fair warning, but they turned it off with a jest: "They do but talk so, because it is their trade; they are words of course, and words are but wind. It is not the word of the Lord that is in them; it is only the language of their melancholy fancy or their ill-will to their country, because they are not preferred." Note, Impenitent sinners are not willing to own any thing to be the word of God that makes against them, that tends either to part them from, or disquiet them in, their sins. They threaten the prophets: "They shall become wind, shall pass away unregarded, and thus shall it be done unto them; what they threaten against us we will inflict upon them. Do they frighten us with famine? Let them be fed with the bread of affliction." So Micaiah was, Kg1 22:27. "Do they tell us of the sword? Let them perish by the sword," Jer 2:30. Thus their mocking and misusing God's messengers filled the measure of their iniquity.
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II. The punishment of this people for their sin. 1. The threatenings they laughed at shall be executed (Jer 5:14): Because you speak this word of contempt concerning the prophets, and the word in their mouths, therefore God will put honour upon them and their words, for not one iota or tittle of them shall fall to the ground, Sa1 3:19. Here God turns to the prophet Jeremiah, who had been thus bantered, and perhaps had been a little uneasy at it: Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire. God owns them for his words, though men denied them, and will as surely make them to take effect as the fire consumes combustible material that is in its way. The word shall be fire and the people wood. Sinners by sin make themselves fuel to that wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men in the scripture. The word of God will certainly be too hard for those that contend with it. Those shall break who will not bow before it. 2. The enemy they thought themselves in no danger of shall be brought upon them. God gives them their commission (Jer 5:10): "Go you up upon her walls, mount them, trample upon them, tread them down. Walls of stone, before the divine commission, shall be but mud walls. Having made yourselves masters of the walls, you may destroy at pleasure. You may take away her battlements, and leave the fenced fortified cities to lie open; for her battlements are not the Lord's he does not own them and therefore will not protect and fortify them." They were not erected in his fear, nor with a dependence upon him; the people have trusted to them more than to God, and therefore they are not his. When the city is filled with sin God will not patronise the fortifications of it, and then they are paper walls. What can defend us when he who is our defence, and the defender of all our defences, has departed from us? Num 14:9. What is not of God cannot stand, not stand long, nor stand us in any stead. What dreadful work these invaders should make is here described (Jer 5:15): Lo, I will bring a nation upon you, O house of Israel! Note, God has all nations at his command, does what he pleases with them and makes what use he pleases of them. And sometimes he is pleased to make the nations of the earth, the heathen nations, a scourge to the house of Israel, when that has become a hypocritical nation. This nation of the Chaldeans is here said to be a remote nation; it is brought upon them from afar, and therefore will make the greater spoil and the longer stay, that the soldiers may pay themselves well for so long a march. "It is a nation that thou hast had no commerce with, by reason of their distance, and therefore canst not expect to find favour with." God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. It is a mighty nation, that there is no making head against, an ancient nation, that value themselves upon their antiquity and will therefore be the more haughty and imperious. It is a nation whose language thou knowest not; they spoke the Syriac tongue, which the Jews at that time were not acquainted with, as appears, Kg2 18:26. The difference of language would make it the more difficult to treat with them of peace. Compare this with the threatening, Deu 28:49, which it seems to have a reference to, for the law and the prophets exactly agree. They are well armed: Their quiver is as an open sepulchre; their arrows shall fly so thick, hit so sure, and wound so deep, that they shall be reckoned to breathe nothing but death and slaughter: they are able-bodied, all effective, mighty men, Jer 5:16. And, when they have made themselves masters of the country, they shall devour all before them, and reckon all their own that they can lay their hands on, Jer 5:17. (1.) They shall strip the country, shall not only sustain, but surfeit, their soldiers with the rich products of this fruitful land. "They shall not store up (then it might possibly by retrieved), but eat up thy harvest in the field and thy bread in the house, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat." Note, What we have we have for our families, and it is a comfort to see our sons and daughters eating that which we have taken care and pains for. But it is a grievous vexation to see it devoured by strangers and enemies, to see their camps victualled with our stores, while those that are dear to us are perishing for want of it: this also is according to the curse of the law, Deu 28:33. "They shall eat up thy flocks and herds, out of which thou hast taken sacrifices for thy idols; they shall not leave thee the fruit of thy vines and fig-trees." (2.) They shall starve the towns: "They shall impoverish thy fenced cities" (and what fence is there against poverty, when it comes like an armed man?), "those cities wherein thou trustedst to be a protection to the country." Note, It is just with God to impoverish that which we make our confidence. They shall impoverish them with the sword, cutting off all provisions from coming to them and intercepting trade and commerce, which will impoverish even fenced cities.
III. An intimation of the tender compassion God has yet for them. The enemy is commissioned to destroy and lay waste, but must not make a full end, Jer 5:10. Though they make a great slaughter, yet some must be left to live; though they make a great spoil, yet something must be left to live upon, for God has said it (Jer 5:18) with a non obstante - a nevertheless to the present desolation: "Even in those days, dismal as they are, I will not make a full end with you;" and, if God will not, the enemy shall not. God has mercy in store for his people, and therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Hitherto it shall come, and no further.
IV. The justification of God in these proceedings against them. As he will appear to be gracious in not making a full end with them, so he will appear to be righteous in coming so near it, and will have it acknowledged that he has done them no wrong, Jer 5:19. Observe, 1. A reason demanded, insolently demanded, by the people for these judgments. They will say "Wherefore doth the Lord our God do all this unto us? What provocation have we given him, or what quarrel has he with us?" As if against such a sinful nation there did not appear cause enough of action. Note, Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with injustice in their afflictions, and pretend they have to seek for the cause of them when it is written in the forehead of them. But, 2. Here is a reason immediately assigned. The prophet is instructed what answer to give them; for God will be justified when he speaks, though he speaks with ever so much terror. He must tell them that God does this against them for what they have done against him, and that they may, if they please, read their sin in their punishment. Do not they know very well that they have forsaken God, and therefore can they think it strange if he has forsaken them? Have they forgotten how often they served gods in their own land, that good land, in the abundance of the fruits of which they ought to have served God with gladness of heart? and therefore is it not just with God to make them serve strangers in a strange land, where they can call nothing their own, as he has threatened to do? Deu 28:47, Deu 28:48. Those that are fond of strangers, to strangers let them go.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv7–11How shall I pardon thee for this?.... Because of…
How shall I pardon thee for this?.... Because of their manifold transgressions, and multiplied backslidings; or "wherefore, or for what, shall I pardon thee?" (r) as the Targum; can any reason be given why I should? what goodness is there in thee, or done by thee, that I should do this unto thee? The particle according to Kimchi, is a word of exclamation; and, according to Jarchi, of admiration; and may be rendered, "oh! for this shall I pardon?" how can it be? R. Menachem; in Jarchi, takes it to be the same with "not"; and to be rendered, not for this will I pardon; and so is an affirmation, and fixed resolution not to pardon, and that for the following reasons:
thy children have forsaken me; my worship, as the Targum interprets it; that is, the children of Jerusalem, the inhabitants of it, the common people, as distinguished from their fathers, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers; see Mat 23:37, though not to the exclusion of them; for they were guilty of the same sin in forsaking the word, worship, and ordinances of God:
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and sworn by them that are no gods; by the name of idols, as the Targum; or, "by those things which are not god", as Noldius (s) renders the words; who rightly observes, that there were other things besides idols that they swore by, as the heaven and earth, temple, altar, &c. with which the Arabic version agrees; when an oath ought only to be taken in the name of the living God; or, "swore without God"; without making mention of the name of the true God:
when I had fed them to the full; with the good things of life; gave them all things richly to enjoy; the best provisions, and fulness of them; so that they had all that heart could wish for. There is in the Hebrew text a beautiful play on words (t), between the word used for swearing in the former clause, and this for feeding here:
they then committed adultery; either idolatry, which is spiritual adultery; or adultery literally taken; as it seems from the following verse. This is the consequence of their being fullly fed; and that is an aggravation of this their sin against God and their neighbour; see Deu 32:13,
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses; either in the temples of idols, or in the stews or brothel houses, where harlots prostituted themselves; their going thither in troops, or in great numbers, shows both how universal and how public this sin was, and how impudent and barefaced they were in the commission of it.
(r) "ad quid, vel ob quid, vel quare parcam tibi?" De Dieu. (s) Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 199. No. 911. (t) "et juraverunt", "cum saturarem".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv7, 10They then - Such is the natural effect of…
They then - Such is the natural effect of unsanctified prosperity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 10Verse 7. In the harlots' houses.] In places consecrated…
Verse 7. In the harlots' houses.] In places consecrated to idolatry. In the language of the prophets, adultery generally signifies idolatry. This we have often seen.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv7, 10Jer 5:7-9. How shall I pardon thee for this?…
Jer 5:7-9. How shall I pardon thee for this? — How canst thou expect that the holy God, the righteous Governor and Judge of the world, should connive at, or bear with, such iniquitous conduct in his intelligent and accountable creatures. He appeals to themselves, whether they can think it consistent with his justice to let such enormous offences as he mentions go unpunished. Thy children — Thy people, both in city and country; have forsaken me — Have apostatized from my worship and service; and have sworn by them that are no gods — Have made their appeals to them, as if they were omniscient and their proper judges. This is here put for all acts of religious worship which are due to God only, but with which they honoured their idols, thereby robbing God of his essential attributes, and ascribing them to creatures of their own fancy. When I fed them to the full — Gave them temporal blessings in abundance; then they committed adultery — Such is the natural effect of unsanctified prosperity. Shall I not visit for these things? — Do not such crimes as these call for some remarkable judgments as their chastisement? Can you yourselves suppose that Jehovah, whose name is Holy and Jealous, will let them go unpunished? Shall not my soul be avenged? &c. — God’s anger and vengeance signify, in Scripture, the execution of his justice, the effects of which are as terrible against obstinate sinners as if they proceeded from the highest resentment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 10Rather, Why, “for what reason” should “I pardon thee?”
Rather, Why, “for what reason” should “I pardon thee?”
When ... - Or, “though I bound them to me by oath, yet they committed adultery.”
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The harlots’ houses - The harlot’s house, i. e., the temple of an idol; the prophet had also in view (see Jer 5:8) the unchastity which accompanied most forms of nature-worship.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 10How can. I have only the character of judge…
How can. I have only the character of judge left. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv7–11It would not be consistent with God's holiness to…
It would not be consistent with God's holiness to let such wickedness pass unpunished.
sworn by-- (Jer 5:2; Jer 4:2); that is, worshipped.
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no gods-- (Deu 32:21).
fed . . . to the full--so the Keri (Hebrew Margin) reads, God's bountifulness is contrasted with their apostasy (Deu 32:15). Prosperity, the gift of God, designed to lead men to Him, often produces the opposite effect. The Hebrew Chetib (text), reads: "I bound them (to Me) by oath," namely, in the marriage covenant, sealed at Sinai between God and Israel; in contrast to which stands their "adultery"; the antithesis favors this.
adultery . . . harlots' houses--spiritually: idolatry in temples of idols; but literal prostitution is also included, being frequently part of idol-worship: for example, in the worship of the Babylonian Mylitta.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 107. How — Rather, why.
7. How — Rather, why.
Shall I pardon thee — The form of the word translated “pardon” is difficult to account for. The Masoretes evidently considered it a future, and so have given as a Keri the usual form for the Kal future of the lamedh guttural. The form in the text may be a future after the type of the perfect verb, of which there are also other instances among the lamedh guttural verbs; or it may be, as suggested by Furst, Keil, and others, that aleph in the text has become substituted for lamedh, the two being very much alike in the MSS. If this is so, the verb is an infinitive, and the meaning given above is more clearly brought out, How could one pardon thee?
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Thy children have… sworn — There is doubt and disagreement as to the original text in this place. Most of the Versions and about forty MSS., together with the Keri, give the reading, I had sworn them; that is, had bound them by an oath to fidelity. But the reading which is the basis of the Authorized Version is easier, and agrees in sentiment with many other passages. The rule, however, is, in disputed readings, that the more difficult is likely to be genuine, as its substitution for an easier one cannot readily be accounted for, while the reverse process is the natural one. Besides, the thought in the reading “I have sworn them,” is even more perfectly suited to the remainder of the verse. The sense, then, is, I bound them by the marriage covenant, but they committed adultery.
Harlots’ houses — Literally, house of the harlot; an expression doubtless intended to cover both carnal uncleanness and spiritual adultery.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 107. If the MT. be right, the transition to…
7. If the MT. be right, the transition to Jehovah’s words is an abrupt one. Du., however, considers that an abbreviation of the common formula “Thus saith Jehovah” was misunderstood and so brought about a corruption of the text. He would accordingly restore thus: How can I pardon them, saith the Lord; they have, etc.
I had fed them to the full] not as mg. made them swear, meaning, had bound them to me by oath. They had made use of their prosperity only as facilitating and inciting to sin. Cp. Deu_32:15.
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The last part of the verse may be understood to include the sense of faithlessness to their Divine Spouse, but Jer_5:8 seems clearly to indicate a reference to the impure rites which accompanied idolatry.
assembled themselves in troops] The verb in MT. suggests bands of marauders (cp. e.g. 2Ki_5:2). As this is an unsuitable sense here, it is better (with LXX) to read by a slight alteration in the Hebrew (where d and r are very similar letters), made themselves sojourners (yithgorâru for yithgodâdu).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 10(7) When I had fed them to the full.—The…
(7) When I had fed them to the full.—The reading of the Hebrew text gives, though I had bound them by oath, sc., by the covenant, as of marriage; and this, as heightening the enormity of the sin that follows, gives a better sense than the English version, which follows the marginal reading of the Hebrew. The latter finds its parallel in Deu_32:15; Hos_13:6. There is probably an implied reference to the covenant to which the people had sworn in the time of Josiah.
Houses.—Literally, house. The singular is, perhaps, used because the prophet thinks primarily of the idol’s temple as the scene of the adulteress’s guilt, which here, as elsewhere, is the symbol of national apostasy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv7, 8, 10How... for this? rather, Why should I pardon thee?…
How... for this? rather, Why should I pardon thee? Thy children; i.e. (since "the daughter of Zion" is equivalent to Zion regarded as an ideal entity) the members of the Jewish people. (comp. Lev_19:18, "the children of thy people When I had fed them to the full. So Ewald, following the versions and many manuscripts (there is no marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible). This gives a good sense, and may be supported by ver. 28; Deu_32:15 Hos_13:6. But the reading of the received Hebrew text, though somewhat more difficult, is yet perfectly capable of explanation; and, slight as the difference is in the reading adopted by Ewald (it involves a mere shade of pronunciation), it is not to be preferred to the received reading. Read, therefore, though I made them to swear (allegiance), let they committed adultery. The oath may be that of Sinai, (Ex 24) or such au oath as had been recently taken by Josiah and the people. (1Ki 23:3 2Ch_34:31, 2Ch_34:32) The "adultery" may be taken both in a literal and in a figurative sense, and so also the "harlots" houses" in the next clause. It is also well worthy of consideration whether the prophet may not be referring to certain matrimonial customs handed down from remote antiquity and arising from the ancient system of kinship through women. (comp. Eze_22:11)
How men curse their blessings, "When I had fed them to the full," etc.
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I GOD DOES THIS AT TIMES. Cf. Gen_3:17, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake," etc.; Hag_1:11, etc. And whenever he makes our good and pleasant things the means of our punishment. Hezekiah"s riches and prosperity were the lure which drew upon him the oppressing Assyrians. And so the body which, when possessed of all its faculties and in health, ministers so much good to man, God, in judgment upon the man"s sin, may for the sake of the sinful soul cause that disease, pain, impotence, may curse it. And the mind also that may become a den of malignant, impure, profane thoughts.
II BUT MEN DO THIS FAR MORE FREQUENTLY. The noblest physical gifts may be shattered, wrecked, by sins against the body. The mind capable of such high service and a channel of such vast blessing men may, do, pollute, corrupt, and pervert and so curse their blessings. The moral nature this a great gift of God, the power to judge, choose, resolve; but see how soon man cursed that and turned his blessing into a curse. The gifts of providence are also abused in the same way (cf. text). The home. Oh, what joy comes to men through the blessings that were designed to be forever associated with that word! But how often men, by self-indulgence, neglect, evil example, utter failure in parental duty, turn the blessing of home into a curse! And even the gospel of Christ itself God"s unspeakable gift-men may make the knowledge of it to be "a savor of death unto death" for themselves. "This Child is set for the fall of many in Israel," said Simeon of our Lord.
III BUT IT IS A CRIME WHICH GOD CANNOT AWAY WITH. "How shall I pardon thee for this?" etc. "Shall I not visit," etc.? (ver. 9). Cf. parable of fruitless fig tree" Cut it down," etc.; the talents from him the talent," etc. And the human conscience everywhere assents to this judgment of God. We judge in like manner ourselves. We feel that such are without excuse. Let us, then, consider our blessings, and ask ourselves, "What are we doing with them? how are we using them?" Let it be our daily prayer and endeavor that we fall not into this great sin.
IV GOD"S WAY IS TO TURN OUR CURSES INTO BLESSINGS, (Cf. Neh_13:2)
1. He has done so even with sin. What curse could be greater? Yet, by the redemption there is in Christ, even that is so made subject that now We may rise on stepping-stones Of our dead selves to higher things.
2. And he has done so with sorrow. Grief had been for ages going about the world, a sad-robed, somber, and ever-tearful guest in whatever house she took up her temporary abode: and there was no house she did not visit. But since the Lord Jesus became the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," she, in virtue of that acquaintance, has changed her very nature, and the curse is turned into a blessing. She ministers help to the soul, in releasing it from the bonds of this evil world and in uplifting it towards its true Father and home in heaven.
3. And so with death. Its sting-is taken away. To them who are in Christ he is rather a friend than a foe, for he it is who opens the door of our prison-house and lets the soul go free and rise to that place Where loyal hearts and true Stand ever in the light, All rapture through and through, In God"s most holy sight. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv9–10Shall I not visit for these things?
Jer_5:9
Shall I not visit for these things?
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Unsanctified affliction followed by heavier judgments
The physician, when he findeth that the potion which he hath given his patient will not work, he seconds it with one more violent; but if he perceive the disease to be settled, then he puts him into a course of physic, so that he shall have at present but small comfort of his life. And thus doth the surgeon, too: if a gentle plaister will not serve, then he applies that which is more corroding; and to prevent a gangrene, he makes use of his cauterising knife, and takes off the joint or member that is so ill-affected. Even so God, when men profit not by such crosses as He hath formerly exercised them with, when they are not bettered by lighter afflictions, then He sends heavier, and proceeds from milder to sharper crosses. If the dross of their sins will not come off, He will throw them into the melting pot again and again, crush them harder in the press, and lay on such irons as shall enter more deep into their souls. If He strikes and they grieve not, if they be so foolish that they will not know the judgment of their God, He will bring seven times more plagues upon them, cross upon cross, loss upon loss, trouble upon trouble, one sorrow on the neck of another, till they are in a manner wasted and consumed. (J. Spencer.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v7Faithlessness and Treachery
Faithlessness and Treachery
v. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? It would obviously be inconsistent with God’s holiness to overlook the transgressions of Israel, to let their wickedness go unpunished. Thy children have forsaken Me and sworn by them that are no gods, or, more emphatic, "by that which is no god," worshiping a creature of their own imagination. When I had fed them to the full, in distributing the blessings of His bounty, or, "I bound them by the oath of allegiance and loyalty," but they then committed adultery, transgressing the Sixth Commandment in the most flagrant manner, probably in connection with the idolatrous customs which they accepted, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses, rushing forward in companies in their eagerness to commit this beastly sin.
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v. 8. They were as fed horses in the morning, fat and dissolute stallions; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife, inflamed with sinful lust.
v. 9. Shall I not visit for these things, punishing the guilty ones to the limit, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? How could His anger be withheld under such circumstances? The Lord therefore turns to the Chaldeans, calling upon them to carry out His punishment upon Israel.
v. 10. Go ye up upon her walls and destroy, scaling them in a successful attack upon them; but make not a full end, so that Judah’s existence would forever be at an end; take away her battlements, or, "hew off her branches," remove her tendrils, namely, the chief men of the nation, for they are not the Lord’s, and therefore are altogether unprofitable.
v. 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah, the entire nation of God’s chosen people, have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith the Lord, their faithlessness being the Lord’s chief reason for complaint.
v. 12. They have belied the Lord, denying Jehovah, the God of the covenant, and said, It is not He, insisting that He was not the true and only God, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine, thus both denying and challenging the threat of the Lord regarding the punishment which He had threatened for apostasy of every kind;
v. 13. and the prophets shall become wind, their warnings, in the estimation of the scoffers, being nothing but idle threats, and the Word is not in them, the unbelieving rebels declaring that God did not speak through those prophets who rebuked their wickedness; thus shall it be done unto them, that is, their evil predictions would be fulfilled in no one but themselves. This attitude called for a most emphatic declaration on the part of Jehovah.
v. 14. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the mighty Captain of the heavenly armies, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire, Jeremiah being given a sharp and scathing message to the rebellious people whom the Lord here puts far from Him, and this people wood, fuel which is easily kindled, and it shall devour them, they would be consumed as a consequence of the denunciation which Jeremiah would make by God’s command.
v. 15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, this being the specific manner in which His punishment of destruction would be carried out. It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, one of great antiquity in history, a nation whose language thou knowest not, a factor which made the enemies all the more formidable, neither understandest what they say. The language spoken by the Chaldeans at that time was totally unlike that derived from any Semitic stem, but very much like ancient Persic.
v. 16. Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, on account of the death-dealing arrows which it contained, they are all mighty men, distinguished for their strength and bravery.
v. 17. And they shall eat up thine harvest, the standing grain, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat, which was intended for their food; they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees, everything that in any manner yielded food; they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, destroying all of Israel’s proud fortresses, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
v. 18. Nevertheless, in those days, when this severe punishment strikes the nation, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you, He would not yet bring total annihilation upon them. Thus the Lord is gracious and merciful and long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, ever more ready to show kindness than to bring His punishment upon the guilty. It is a most powerful appeal to all men to heed the voice of His admonitions.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv7, 10Why should I pardon these people?
Why should I pardon these people?
Yahweh uses this question to emphasize that he has no reason to pardon these people. AT: "Because of the things that they do, I cannot pardon these people." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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these people
the people of Jerusalem
Your sons
Yahweh is speaking to Jerusalem as though she were a woman who had children. Jerusalem's "sons" represent the people of Jerusalem. AT: "The people of Jerusalem" (See: Personification)
I fed them fully
Providing all they needed is spoken of as feeding them. AT: "I gave them everything they needed" (See: Metaphor)
they committed adultery and walked in great numbers to the houses of prostitutes
This may be a metaphor for being unfaithful to God and worshiping idols, but idol worship also included prostitution. AT: "they were unfaithful to me and went in large numbers to the houses of prostitutes" (See: Metaphor)
walked in great numbers to the houses of prostitutes
"went in large groups to the houses of prostitutes" or "large groups of them went to the houses of prostitutes"
They were horses in heat ... neighed to his neighbor's wife
Because the God speaks of them as if they were horses that wanted to mate with other horses. AT: "They were like horses in heat ... neighed to his neighbor's wife" (See: Metaphor)
in heat
ready to mate
mate
when animals breed to reproduce
Each man neighed to his neighbor's wife
Male horses neigh loudly to female horses when they want to mate with them. AT: "Like horses who mate with more than one horse, these men wanted to sleep with other men's wives" (See: Metaphor)
So should I not punish them ... and should I not avenge myself on a nation that is like this?
Yahweh uses this question to emphasize that the things that they are doing are so bad that he will no have mercy but will punish them. AT: "Because they do these things, I will punish them ... I will certainly get revenge for myself against them." (See: Rhetorical Question)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv7, 9, 105:7-8 These verses list the evidence of sins the…
5:7-8 These verses list the evidence of sins the people had committed, including rejection of the Lord, submission to pagan deities, and sexual misconduct (7:9; 12:16; Num 25:1-3; Deut 32:21; Josh 23:7; Zeph 1:5; Gal 4:8). Idolatry and adultery were closely connected in Israel because both represented the breach of an exclusive covenant.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv7–11 There is here what rhetoricians call a conference: for…
There is here what rhetoricians call a conference: for God seems here to seek the judgment of the adverse party, with whom he contends, on the cause between them, though it was sufficiently clear; and this is a proof of confidence. When advocates wish to shew that there is nothing doubtful or obscure, they thus deliberate with the opposite party, — “Why, I will propose the matter privately to yourself; have you anything to say? Even if you were at liberty to determine the question, would not reason compel you to pronounce such a judgment as this?” So now God shews that he was constrained, as it were, by necessity to inflict on the Jews a most severe punishment, and intimates that he was not, as it were, at liberty to do otherwise. “If I am, “he says, “the judge of the world, is it possible that they can escape unpunished, who thus openly provoke me? Should I not expose to ridicule my glory? and should I not also divest myself of my own power? I should cease to be what I am, and in a manner deny myself, were I not to punish a people so wicked and irreclaimable.” We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning.
Some consider ו, vau, to be understood, and take אי, ai, for אין, ain, and read thus, “I will not spare thee for this.” But as there is no reason to make any change, and many agree in the view that has been given, I prefer to follow what has been most commonly received. The meaning of אי, ai, in Hebrew is “where;” but it also means “how: “and here it is to be understood, not of place, but of manner, “How could I for this be propitious to you?”
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We see how God, as it were, deliberates with the opposite party, and even appeals to them for judgment, “Say now, were I to allow you so much liberty and power as to decide the question, could I, who am the judge of the world, spare you who are guilty of such vices?”
Thy sons have forsaken me This was the first sin: and when God complained that he was forsaken, he intimated that the people had willfully, and from deliberate wickedness, cast off the yoke; for the same thing could not have been said of heathens. It is indeed true, if we have regard to the beginning, that all may be charged with defection, for God had revealed himself to the sons of Adam and of Noah; and when they fell away into superstitions, they became apostates. But the defection of the Jewish people was much more recent, and less to be borne: nay, when they boasted that they were God’s people, who could have alleged the pretense of ignorance? We now then see what the Prophet means when he says, that God had been forsaken by the people.
He then adds, They have sworn by a no- god He means, by stating a part for the whole, that the worship of God was become corrupt and vitiated: for swearing, as it was stated yesterday, is a part of God’s worship. Whenever we swear by God’s name, we profess that we are under his power, and that we cannot escape if we swear falsely: we also ascribe to him his glory as the God of truth; and we further testify that nothing escapes him, or is hid from his view. Hence, by saying here that the Israelites swore by a no- god, he means that God was deprived of his own right. They were indeed guilty of other sins; but, as it has been stated, the Prophet includes under one kind all the superstitions which then prevailed among the people. It was then the same as though he had said, that they worshipped idols and gods, whom they had devised for themselves.
He adds a circumstance which enhanced their guilt, I have filled them, he says, and they have committed adultery There is here a striking alliteration, which must not be omitted, he had said, ישבען, ishbon, “they have sworn;” and now he says, אשבע, ashbo, “I have filled them.” The only difference is in a point; when placed on the left side of ש, shin, the word means to fill, and when on the right, to swear. The Prophet then says, that they had sworn to another God, and yet had been filled God shews here how base and disgraceful had been the ingratitude of the people; for they had been filled to the full with all blessings, and yet they did not acknowledge their own God, who had been to them a Father, so kind and bountiful: I have filled them, he says, and they have committed adultery
Now this passage teaches us, that they who go astray, when allured by God’s paternal kindness and bounty, are on that account the more unworthy of pardon. When men grow wanton against God, while he is kindly indulging them, they no doubt treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath, as Paul tells us in Romans 2:5. Let us then take heed, lest we indulge ourselves, while God is, as it were, indulging us; and lest prosperity should lead us to wantonness: but let us learn to submit ourselves willingly to him, even because he thus kindly and sweetly invites us to himself; and when he shews himself so loving, let us learn to love him.
He says, that they committed adultery This may be taken metaphorically: but as in the next verse he inveighs against their vagrant lusts and adulteries, this phrase may be taken in its literal sense. I yet think that adultery here is to be understood figuratively, as meaning that they had no spiritual chastity, inasmuch as they did not give God his own glory. He further says, And at the house of the harlot have they assembled together The word “house” may be taken in the nominative case, as the Jews might have been called the house of the harlot; as though the Prophet had said, that all Jerusalem and Judea were like brothels. But some consider ב, beth, to be understood, so that they assembled themselves, as it were, at the house of a harlot; and that he thus alludes to the temple. And it is a mark of great shamelessness, when many adulterers or wanton men assemble in one house; for most are ashamed of their adulteries, so that they endeavor to hide their baseness: but when they come together in troops, as though under an uplifted banner, it is a proof that there is no shame, but that they thus disregard all decency, like brute beasts. The most suitable meaning then is, that they are said to have assembled together in brothels, because they gloried in their own superstitions and sacrileges. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 10 He showeth that to swear by anything than by…
He showeth that to swear by anything than by God, is to forsake him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–11 Jer 5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this?…
Jer 5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
Ver. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this?] How with the safety of mine honour and justice? Swearing then by creatures (us by our Lady, by St Anne, by this light, &c.), or by idols, (as by the mass, by the rood, &c.), or by qualities (as by faith, troth, &c.), is not so small a sin as many deem it, since God maketh here a great question how he can pardon it. For why? it is a forsaking of him, a giving away his honour to another, a disgrace done to a man’s self - since we always "swear by the greater," {Heb 6:16} and a means to procure his utter ruin, without God’s greater mercy. {Amo 6:14 Zep 1:3-5} Men sport themselves with oaths, as the Philistines did with Samson, which will at last pull the house about their ears. {Zec 5:4}
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When I fed them to the full, they then committed adultery.] Fulness in good men oft breeds forgetfulness, and in bad men, filthiness. Gula vestibulum luxuriae; gluttony is the gallery that incontinence walketh through. The Israelites ate and drank, and rose up to play - scil., with their Midianitish mistresses - to the provoking of God’s fierce wrath. Fulness of bread made way to Sodom’s sin. Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant. Ceres and Bacchus are great friends to Venus, &c. Watch therefore, and feed with fear.
And assembled themselves by troops.] Heb., They trooped themselves; such was their impudence.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–11 How shall I pardon? how canst thou expect that…
How shall I pardon? how canst thou expect that I shall bear such affronts? I shall expose myself, and seem to lay aside my power; I shall be looked upon as one that either regard not such injuries, or cannot avenge them, as Jer 5:9.
Thy children; thy inhabitants, both in city and country.
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Sworn by them that are no gods, but by idols: swearing is here put, not for one part of worship, as sometimes it is, but for a religious worship and service of them, Jer 4:2.
When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery: here is noted the abuse of God’s bounty, or the natural effect of our unsanctified prosperity, Deu 32:15; Jer 2:7; Jude 4. That which in good men doth oft breed forgetfulness, in bad men generally breeds filthiness: rising up to play the wanton was the effect of Israel’s eating and drinking, Exo 32:6, and of Sodom’s sin, Eze 16:49. Adultery; either,
1. Metaphorically to be understood of their going a whoring after their idols; or,
2. Properly, for corporal uncleanness, they usually going both together, Num 25:1,2; Ho 4:12,14.
Assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses; it may be read in the nominative case, the house of the harlot assembled themselves: q.d. The whole house of Israel, Jerusalem and Judea, are but one stew. If it refers to their idolatry, then it alludes to their making the temple a common house of spiritual harlotry; but rather, as it refers to their corporal uncleanness, it seems to intimate that they did not act their adulteries clandestinely or by stealth, but laying aside all modesty, they went to harlots’ houses, like brute beasts, in company, as ashamed of nothing.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v10 We may observe in these verses, as before,
We may observe in these verses, as before,
I. The sin of this people, upon which the commission signed against them is grounded. God disowns them and dooms them to destruction, Jer 5:10. But is there not a cause? Yes; for, 1. They have deserted the law of God (Jer 5:11): The house of Israel and the house of Judah, though at variance with one another, yet both agreed to deal very treacherously against God. They forsook the worship of him, and therein violated their covenants with him; they revolted from him, and played the hypocrite with him. 2. They have defied the judgments of God and given the lie to his threatenings in the mouth of his prophets, Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13. They were often told that evil would certainly come upon them; they must expect some desolating judgment, sword or famine; but they were secure and said, We shall have peace, though we go on. For, (1.) They did not fear what God is. They belied him, and confronted the dictates even of natural light concerning him; for they said, "It is not he, that is, he is not such a one as we have been made to believe he is; he does not see, or not regard, or will not require it; and therefore no evil shall come upon us." Multitudes are ruined by being made to believe that God will not be so strict with them as his word says he will; nay, by this artifice Satan undid us all: You shall not surely die. So here: Neither shall we see sword nor famine. Vain hopes of impunity are the deceitful support of all impiety. (2.) They did not fear what God said. The prophets gave them fair warning, but they turned it off with a jest: "They do but talk so, because it is their trade; they are words of course, and words are but wind. It is not the word of the Lord that is in them; it is only the language of their melancholy fancy or their ill-will to their country, because they are not preferred." Note, Impenitent sinners are not willing to own any thing to be the word of God that makes against them, that tends either to part them from, or disquiet them in, their sins. They threaten the prophets: "They shall become wind, shall pass away unregarded, and thus shall it be done unto them; what they threaten against us we will inflict upon them. Do they frighten us with famine? Let them be fed with the bread of affliction." So Micaiah was, Kg1 22:27. "Do they tell us of the sword? Let them perish by the sword," Jer 2:30. Thus their mocking and misusing God's messengers filled the measure of their iniquity.
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II. The punishment of this people for their sin. 1. The threatenings they laughed at shall be executed (Jer 5:14): Because you speak this word of contempt concerning the prophets, and the word in their mouths, therefore God will put honour upon them and their words, for not one iota or tittle of them shall fall to the ground, Sa1 3:19. Here God turns to the prophet Jeremiah, who had been thus bantered, and perhaps had been a little uneasy at it: Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire. God owns them for his words, though men denied them, and will as surely make them to take effect as the fire consumes combustible material that is in its way. The word shall be fire and the people wood. Sinners by sin make themselves fuel to that wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men in the scripture. The word of God will certainly be too hard for those that contend with it. Those shall break who will not bow before it. 2. The enemy they thought themselves in no danger of shall be brought upon them. God gives them their commission (Jer 5:10): "Go you up upon her walls, mount them, trample upon them, tread them down. Walls of stone, before the divine commission, shall be but mud walls. Having made yourselves masters of the walls, you may destroy at pleasure. You may take away her battlements, and leave the fenced fortified cities to lie open; for her battlements are not the Lord's he does not own them and therefore will not protect and fortify them." They were not erected in his fear, nor with a dependence upon him; the people have trusted to them more than to God, and therefore they are not his. When the city is filled with sin God will not patronise the fortifications of it, and then they are paper walls. What can defend us when he who is our defence, and the defender of all our defences, has departed from us? Num 14:9. What is not of God cannot stand, not stand long, nor stand us in any stead. What dreadful work these invaders should make is here described (Jer 5:15): Lo, I will bring a nation upon you, O house of Israel! Note, God has all nations at his command, does what he pleases with them and makes what use he pleases of them. And sometimes he is pleased to make the nations of the earth, the heathen nations, a scourge to the house of Israel, when that has become a hypocritical nation. This nation of the Chaldeans is here said to be a remote nation; it is brought upon them from afar, and therefore will make the greater spoil and the longer stay, that the soldiers may pay themselves well for so long a march. "It is a nation that thou hast had no commerce with, by reason of their distance, and therefore canst not expect to find favour with." God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. It is a mighty nation, that there is no making head against, an ancient nation, that value themselves upon their antiquity and will therefore be the more haughty and imperious. It is a nation whose language thou knowest not; they spoke the Syriac tongue, which the Jews at that time were not acquainted with, as appears, Kg2 18:26. The difference of language would make it the more difficult to treat with them of peace. Compare this with the threatening, Deu 28:49, which it seems to have a reference to, for the law and the prophets exactly agree. They are well armed: Their quiver is as an open sepulchre; their arrows shall fly so thick, hit so sure, and wound so deep, that they shall be reckoned to breathe nothing but death and slaughter: they are able-bodied, all effective, mighty men, Jer 5:16. And, when they have made themselves masters of the country, they shall devour all before them, and reckon all their own that they can lay their hands on, Jer 5:17. (1.) They shall strip the country, shall not only sustain, but surfeit, their soldiers with the rich products of this fruitful land. "They shall not store up (then it might possibly by retrieved), but eat up thy harvest in the field and thy bread in the house, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat." Note, What we have we have for our families, and it is a comfort to see our sons and daughters eating that which we have taken care and pains for. But it is a grievous vexation to see it devoured by strangers and enemies, to see their camps victualled with our stores, while those that are dear to us are perishing for want of it: this also is according to the curse of the law, Deu 28:33. "They shall eat up thy flocks and herds, out of which thou hast taken sacrifices for thy idols; they shall not leave thee the fruit of thy vines and fig-trees." (2.) They shall starve the towns: "They shall impoverish thy fenced cities" (and what fence is there against poverty, when it comes like an armed man?), "those cities wherein thou trustedst to be a protection to the country." Note, It is just with God to impoverish that which we make our confidence. They shall impoverish them with the sword, cutting off all provisions from coming to them and intercepting trade and commerce, which will impoverish even fenced cities.
III. An intimation of the tender compassion God has yet for them. The enemy is commissioned to destroy and lay waste, but must not make a full end, Jer 5:10. Though they make a great slaughter, yet some must be left to live; though they make a great spoil, yet something must be left to live upon, for God has said it (Jer 5:18) with a non obstante - a nevertheless to the present desolation: "Even in those days, dismal as they are, I will not make a full end with you;" and, if God will not, the enemy shall not. God has mercy in store for his people, and therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Hitherto it shall come, and no further.
IV. The justification of God in these proceedings against them. As he will appear to be gracious in not making a full end with them, so he will appear to be righteous in coming so near it, and will have it acknowledged that he has done them no wrong, Jer 5:19. Observe, 1. A reason demanded, insolently demanded, by the people for these judgments. They will say "Wherefore doth the Lord our God do all this unto us? What provocation have we given him, or what quarrel has he with us?" As if against such a sinful nation there did not appear cause enough of action. Note, Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with injustice in their afflictions, and pretend they have to seek for the cause of them when it is written in the forehead of them. But, 2. Here is a reason immediately assigned. The prophet is instructed what answer to give them; for God will be justified when he speaks, though he speaks with ever so much terror. He must tell them that God does this against them for what they have done against him, and that they may, if they please, read their sin in their punishment. Do not they know very well that they have forsaken God, and therefore can they think it strange if he has forsaken them? Have they forgotten how often they served gods in their own land, that good land, in the abundance of the fruits of which they ought to have served God with gladness of heart? and therefore is it not just with God to make them serve strangers in a strange land, where they can call nothing their own, as he has threatened to do? Deu 28:47, Deu 28:48. Those that are fond of strangers, to strangers let them go.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–11 How shall I pardon thee for this?.... Because of…
How shall I pardon thee for this?.... Because of their manifold transgressions, and multiplied backslidings; or "wherefore, or for what, shall I pardon thee?" (r) as the Targum; can any reason be given why I should? what goodness is there in thee, or done by thee, that I should do this unto thee? The particle according to Kimchi, is a word of exclamation; and, according to Jarchi, of admiration; and may be rendered, "oh! for this shall I pardon?" how can it be? R. Menachem; in Jarchi, takes it to be the same with "not"; and to be rendered, not for this will I pardon; and so is an affirmation, and fixed resolution not to pardon, and that for the following reasons:
thy children have forsaken me; my worship, as the Targum interprets it; that is, the children of Jerusalem, the inhabitants of it, the common people, as distinguished from their fathers, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers; see Mat 23:37, though not to the exclusion of them; for they were guilty of the same sin in forsaking the word, worship, and ordinances of God:
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and sworn by them that are no gods; by the name of idols, as the Targum; or, "by those things which are not god", as Noldius (s) renders the words; who rightly observes, that there were other things besides idols that they swore by, as the heaven and earth, temple, altar, &c. with which the Arabic version agrees; when an oath ought only to be taken in the name of the living God; or, "swore without God"; without making mention of the name of the true God:
when I had fed them to the full; with the good things of life; gave them all things richly to enjoy; the best provisions, and fulness of them; so that they had all that heart could wish for. There is in the Hebrew text a beautiful play on words (t), between the word used for swearing in the former clause, and this for feeding here:
they then committed adultery; either idolatry, which is spiritual adultery; or adultery literally taken; as it seems from the following verse. This is the consequence of their being fullly fed; and that is an aggravation of this their sin against God and their neighbour; see Deu 32:13,
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses; either in the temples of idols, or in the stews or brothel houses, where harlots prostituted themselves; their going thither in troops, or in great numbers, shows both how universal and how public this sin was, and how impudent and barefaced they were in the commission of it.
(r) "ad quid, vel ob quid, vel quare parcam tibi?" De Dieu. (s) Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 199. No. 911. (t) "et juraverunt", "cum saturarem".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 10 They then - Such is the natural effect of…
They then - Such is the natural effect of unsanctified prosperity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 Verse 7. In the harlots' houses.] In places consecrated…
Verse 7. In the harlots' houses.] In places consecrated to idolatry. In the language of the prophets, adultery generally signifies idolatry. This we have often seen.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv7, 10 Jer 5:7-9. How shall I pardon thee for this?…
Jer 5:7-9. How shall I pardon thee for this? — How canst thou expect that the holy God, the righteous Governor and Judge of the world, should connive at, or bear with, such iniquitous conduct in his intelligent and accountable creatures. He appeals to themselves, whether they can think it consistent with his justice to let such enormous offences as he mentions go unpunished. Thy children — Thy people, both in city and country; have forsaken me — Have apostatized from my worship and service; and have sworn by them that are no gods — Have made their appeals to them, as if they were omniscient and their proper judges. This is here put for all acts of religious worship which are due to God only, but with which they honoured their idols, thereby robbing God of his essential attributes, and ascribing them to creatures of their own fancy. When I fed them to the full — Gave them temporal blessings in abundance; then they committed adultery — Such is the natural effect of unsanctified prosperity. Shall I not visit for these things? — Do not such crimes as these call for some remarkable judgments as their chastisement? Can you yourselves suppose that Jehovah, whose name is Holy and Jealous, will let them go unpunished? Shall not my soul be avenged? &c. — God’s anger and vengeance signify, in Scripture, the execution of his justice, the effects of which are as terrible against obstinate sinners as if they proceeded from the highest resentment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 Rather, Why, “for what reason” should “I pardon thee?”
Rather, Why, “for what reason” should “I pardon thee?”
When ... - Or, “though I bound them to me by oath, yet they committed adultery.”
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The harlots’ houses - The harlot’s house, i. e., the temple of an idol; the prophet had also in view (see Jer 5:8) the unchastity which accompanied most forms of nature-worship.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 How can. I have only the character of judge…
How can. I have only the character of judge left. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7–11 It would not be consistent with God's holiness to…
It would not be consistent with God's holiness to let such wickedness pass unpunished.
sworn by-- (Jer 5:2; Jer 4:2); that is, worshipped.
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no gods-- (Deu 32:21).
fed . . . to the full--so the Keri (Hebrew Margin) reads, God's bountifulness is contrasted with their apostasy (Deu 32:15). Prosperity, the gift of God, designed to lead men to Him, often produces the opposite effect. The Hebrew Chetib (text), reads: "I bound them (to Me) by oath," namely, in the marriage covenant, sealed at Sinai between God and Israel; in contrast to which stands their "adultery"; the antithesis favors this.
adultery . . . harlots' houses--spiritually: idolatry in temples of idols; but literal prostitution is also included, being frequently part of idol-worship: for example, in the worship of the Babylonian Mylitta.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 7. How — Rather, why.
7. How — Rather, why.
Shall I pardon thee — The form of the word translated “pardon” is difficult to account for. The Masoretes evidently considered it a future, and so have given as a Keri the usual form for the Kal future of the lamedh guttural. The form in the text may be a future after the type of the perfect verb, of which there are also other instances among the lamedh guttural verbs; or it may be, as suggested by Furst, Keil, and others, that aleph in the text has become substituted for lamedh, the two being very much alike in the MSS. If this is so, the verb is an infinitive, and the meaning given above is more clearly brought out, How could one pardon thee?
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Thy children have… sworn — There is doubt and disagreement as to the original text in this place. Most of the Versions and about forty MSS., together with the Keri, give the reading, I had sworn them; that is, had bound them by an oath to fidelity. But the reading which is the basis of the Authorized Version is easier, and agrees in sentiment with many other passages. The rule, however, is, in disputed readings, that the more difficult is likely to be genuine, as its substitution for an easier one cannot readily be accounted for, while the reverse process is the natural one. Besides, the thought in the reading “I have sworn them,” is even more perfectly suited to the remainder of the verse. The sense, then, is, I bound them by the marriage covenant, but they committed adultery.
Harlots’ houses — Literally, house of the harlot; an expression doubtless intended to cover both carnal uncleanness and spiritual adultery.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 7. If the MT. be right, the transition to…
7. If the MT. be right, the transition to Jehovah’s words is an abrupt one. Du., however, considers that an abbreviation of the common formula “Thus saith Jehovah” was misunderstood and so brought about a corruption of the text. He would accordingly restore thus: How can I pardon them, saith the Lord; they have, etc.
I had fed them to the full] not as mg. made them swear, meaning, had bound them to me by oath. They had made use of their prosperity only as facilitating and inciting to sin. Cp. Deu_32:15.
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The last part of the verse may be understood to include the sense of faithlessness to their Divine Spouse, but Jer_5:8 seems clearly to indicate a reference to the impure rites which accompanied idolatry.
assembled themselves in troops] The verb in MT. suggests bands of marauders (cp. e.g. 2Ki_5:2). As this is an unsuitable sense here, it is better (with LXX) to read by a slight alteration in the Hebrew (where d and r are very similar letters), made themselves sojourners (yithgorâru for yithgodâdu).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 (7) When I had fed them to the full.—The…
(7) When I had fed them to the full.—The reading of the Hebrew text gives, though I had bound them by oath, sc., by the covenant, as of marriage; and this, as heightening the enormity of the sin that follows, gives a better sense than the English version, which follows the marginal reading of the Hebrew. The latter finds its parallel in Deu_32:15; Hos_13:6. There is probably an implied reference to the covenant to which the people had sworn in the time of Josiah.
Houses.—Literally, house. The singular is, perhaps, used because the prophet thinks primarily of the idol’s temple as the scene of the adulteress’s guilt, which here, as elsewhere, is the symbol of national apostasy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10 How... for this? rather, Why should I pardon thee?…
How... for this? rather, Why should I pardon thee? Thy children; i.e. (since "the daughter of Zion" is equivalent to Zion regarded as an ideal entity) the members of the Jewish people. (comp. Lev_19:18, "the children of thy people When I had fed them to the full. So Ewald, following the versions and many manuscripts (there is no marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible). This gives a good sense, and may be supported by ver. 28; Deu_32:15 Hos_13:6. But the reading of the received Hebrew text, though somewhat more difficult, is yet perfectly capable of explanation; and, slight as the difference is in the reading adopted by Ewald (it involves a mere shade of pronunciation), it is not to be preferred to the received reading. Read, therefore, though I made them to swear (allegiance), let they committed adultery. The oath may be that of Sinai, (Ex 24) or such au oath as had been recently taken by Josiah and the people. (1Ki 23:3 2Ch_34:31, 2Ch_34:32) The "adultery" may be taken both in a literal and in a figurative sense, and so also the "harlots" houses" in the next clause. It is also well worthy of consideration whether the prophet may not be referring to certain matrimonial customs handed down from remote antiquity and arising from the ancient system of kinship through women. (comp. Eze_22:11)
How men curse their blessings, "When I had fed them to the full," etc.
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I GOD DOES THIS AT TIMES. Cf. Gen_3:17, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake," etc.; Hag_1:11, etc. And whenever he makes our good and pleasant things the means of our punishment. Hezekiah"s riches and prosperity were the lure which drew upon him the oppressing Assyrians. And so the body which, when possessed of all its faculties and in health, ministers so much good to man, God, in judgment upon the man"s sin, may for the sake of the sinful soul cause that disease, pain, impotence, may curse it. And the mind also that may become a den of malignant, impure, profane thoughts.
II BUT MEN DO THIS FAR MORE FREQUENTLY. The noblest physical gifts may be shattered, wrecked, by sins against the body. The mind capable of such high service and a channel of such vast blessing men may, do, pollute, corrupt, and pervert and so curse their blessings. The moral nature this a great gift of God, the power to judge, choose, resolve; but see how soon man cursed that and turned his blessing into a curse. The gifts of providence are also abused in the same way (cf. text). The home. Oh, what joy comes to men through the blessings that were designed to be forever associated with that word! But how often men, by self-indulgence, neglect, evil example, utter failure in parental duty, turn the blessing of home into a curse! And even the gospel of Christ itself God"s unspeakable gift-men may make the knowledge of it to be "a savor of death unto death" for themselves. "This Child is set for the fall of many in Israel," said Simeon of our Lord.
III BUT IT IS A CRIME WHICH GOD CANNOT AWAY WITH. "How shall I pardon thee for this?" etc. "Shall I not visit," etc.? (ver. 9). Cf. parable of fruitless fig tree" Cut it down," etc.; the talents from him the talent," etc. And the human conscience everywhere assents to this judgment of God. We judge in like manner ourselves. We feel that such are without excuse. Let us, then, consider our blessings, and ask ourselves, "What are we doing with them? how are we using them?" Let it be our daily prayer and endeavor that we fall not into this great sin.
IV GOD"S WAY IS TO TURN OUR CURSES INTO BLESSINGS, (Cf. Neh_13:2)
1. He has done so even with sin. What curse could be greater? Yet, by the redemption there is in Christ, even that is so made subject that now We may rise on stepping-stones Of our dead selves to higher things.
2. And he has done so with sorrow. Grief had been for ages going about the world, a sad-robed, somber, and ever-tearful guest in whatever house she took up her temporary abode: and there was no house she did not visit. But since the Lord Jesus became the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," she, in virtue of that acquaintance, has changed her very nature, and the curse is turned into a blessing. She ministers help to the soul, in releasing it from the bonds of this evil world and in uplifting it towards its true Father and home in heaven.
3. And so with death. Its sting-is taken away. To them who are in Christ he is rather a friend than a foe, for he it is who opens the door of our prison-house and lets the soul go free and rise to that place Where loyal hearts and true Stand ever in the light, All rapture through and through, In God"s most holy sight. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Shall I not visit for these things?
Jer_5:9
Shall I not visit for these things?
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Unsanctified affliction followed by heavier judgments
The physician, when he findeth that the potion which he hath given his patient will not work, he seconds it with one more violent; but if he perceive the disease to be settled, then he puts him into a course of physic, so that he shall have at present but small comfort of his life. And thus doth the surgeon, too: if a gentle plaister will not serve, then he applies that which is more corroding; and to prevent a gangrene, he makes use of his cauterising knife, and takes off the joint or member that is so ill-affected. Even so God, when men profit not by such crosses as He hath formerly exercised them with, when they are not bettered by lighter afflictions, then He sends heavier, and proceeds from milder to sharper crosses. If the dross of their sins will not come off, He will throw them into the melting pot again and again, crush them harder in the press, and lay on such irons as shall enter more deep into their souls. If He strikes and they grieve not, if they be so foolish that they will not know the judgment of their God, He will bring seven times more plagues upon them, cross upon cross, loss upon loss, trouble upon trouble, one sorrow on the neck of another, till they are in a manner wasted and consumed. (J. Spencer.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v7 Faithlessness and Treachery
Faithlessness and Treachery
v. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? It would obviously be inconsistent with God’s holiness to overlook the transgressions of Israel, to let their wickedness go unpunished. Thy children have forsaken Me and sworn by them that are no gods, or, more emphatic, "by that which is no god," worshiping a creature of their own imagination. When I had fed them to the full, in distributing the blessings of His bounty, or, "I bound them by the oath of allegiance and loyalty," but they then committed adultery, transgressing the Sixth Commandment in the most flagrant manner, probably in connection with the idolatrous customs which they accepted, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses, rushing forward in companies in their eagerness to commit this beastly sin.
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v. 8. They were as fed horses in the morning, fat and dissolute stallions; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife, inflamed with sinful lust.
v. 9. Shall I not visit for these things, punishing the guilty ones to the limit, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? How could His anger be withheld under such circumstances? The Lord therefore turns to the Chaldeans, calling upon them to carry out His punishment upon Israel.
v. 10. Go ye up upon her walls and destroy, scaling them in a successful attack upon them; but make not a full end, so that Judah’s existence would forever be at an end; take away her battlements, or, "hew off her branches," remove her tendrils, namely, the chief men of the nation, for they are not the Lord’s, and therefore are altogether unprofitable.
v. 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah, the entire nation of God’s chosen people, have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith the Lord, their faithlessness being the Lord’s chief reason for complaint.
v. 12. They have belied the Lord, denying Jehovah, the God of the covenant, and said, It is not He, insisting that He was not the true and only God, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine, thus both denying and challenging the threat of the Lord regarding the punishment which He had threatened for apostasy of every kind;
v. 13. and the prophets shall become wind, their warnings, in the estimation of the scoffers, being nothing but idle threats, and the Word is not in them, the unbelieving rebels declaring that God did not speak through those prophets who rebuked their wickedness; thus shall it be done unto them, that is, their evil predictions would be fulfilled in no one but themselves. This attitude called for a most emphatic declaration on the part of Jehovah.
v. 14. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the mighty Captain of the heavenly armies, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire, Jeremiah being given a sharp and scathing message to the rebellious people whom the Lord here puts far from Him, and this people wood, fuel which is easily kindled, and it shall devour them, they would be consumed as a consequence of the denunciation which Jeremiah would make by God’s command.
v. 15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, this being the specific manner in which His punishment of destruction would be carried out. It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, one of great antiquity in history, a nation whose language thou knowest not, a factor which made the enemies all the more formidable, neither understandest what they say. The language spoken by the Chaldeans at that time was totally unlike that derived from any Semitic stem, but very much like ancient Persic.
v. 16. Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, on account of the death-dealing arrows which it contained, they are all mighty men, distinguished for their strength and bravery.
v. 17. And they shall eat up thine harvest, the standing grain, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat, which was intended for their food; they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees, everything that in any manner yielded food; they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, destroying all of Israel’s proud fortresses, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
v. 18. Nevertheless, in those days, when this severe punishment strikes the nation, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you, He would not yet bring total annihilation upon them. Thus the Lord is gracious and merciful and long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, ever more ready to show kindness than to bring His punishment upon the guilty. It is a most powerful appeal to all men to heed the voice of His admonitions.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 10 Why should I pardon these people?
Why should I pardon these people?
Yahweh uses this question to emphasize that he has no reason to pardon these people. AT: "Because of the things that they do, I cannot pardon these people." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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these people
the people of Jerusalem
Your sons
Yahweh is speaking to Jerusalem as though she were a woman who had children. Jerusalem's "sons" represent the people of Jerusalem. AT: "The people of Jerusalem" (See: Personification)
I fed them fully
Providing all they needed is spoken of as feeding them. AT: "I gave them everything they needed" (See: Metaphor)
they committed adultery and walked in great numbers to the houses of prostitutes
This may be a metaphor for being unfaithful to God and worshiping idols, but idol worship also included prostitution. AT: "they were unfaithful to me and went in large numbers to the houses of prostitutes" (See: Metaphor)
walked in great numbers to the houses of prostitutes
"went in large groups to the houses of prostitutes" or "large groups of them went to the houses of prostitutes"
They were horses in heat ... neighed to his neighbor's wife
Because the God speaks of them as if they were horses that wanted to mate with other horses. AT: "They were like horses in heat ... neighed to his neighbor's wife" (See: Metaphor)
in heat
ready to mate
mate
when animals breed to reproduce
Each man neighed to his neighbor's wife
Male horses neigh loudly to female horses when they want to mate with them. AT: "Like horses who mate with more than one horse, these men wanted to sleep with other men's wives" (See: Metaphor)
So should I not punish them ... and should I not avenge myself on a nation that is like this?
Yahweh uses this question to emphasize that the things that they are doing are so bad that he will no have mercy but will punish them. AT: "Because they do these things, I will punish them ... I will certainly get revenge for myself against them." (See: Rhetorical Question)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
forgive
oath
false god
adultery
prostitute
horse
neighbor
punish
declare
avenge
nation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9, 10 5:7-8 These verses list the evidence of sins the…
5:7-8 These verses list the evidence of sins the people had committed, including rejection of the Lord, submission to pagan deities, and sexual misconduct (7:9; 12:16; Num 25:1-3; Deut 32:21; Josh 23:7; Zeph 1:5; Gal 4:8). Idolatry and adultery were closely connected in Israel because both represented the breach of an exclusive covenant.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.