Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Parallel Translations
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Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
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Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
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Shall I not punish for these things? saith the LORD; and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 5:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 9:9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?
- Jeremiah 5:29 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
- Isaiah 1:24 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 enemies.
- Leviticus 26:25 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 send the pestilence among you. You will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
- Deuteronomy 32:35 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 Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
- Jeremiah 23:2 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 44:22 Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.
- Lamentations 4:22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion. He will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.
- Ezekiel 5:13-15 “ ‘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, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them. “ ‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by. So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, Yahweh, have spoken it—
- Ezekiel 7:9 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 know that I, Yahweh, strike.
- Hosea 2:13 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 after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh.
- Hosea 8:13 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, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.
- Nahum 1:2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain God again holds, as it were, a conference with…
God again holds, as it were, a conference with them, and for this purpose, — that he might check all their complaints and close their mouths, lest they should object and say, that they were too severely treated. That this objection then might be removed, God repeats that he could not pardon such atrocious sins. And this principle is adopted, that it was impossible not to punish such wicked men who would not repent. For since God is the Judge of the world, he can no more surrender his judgment than his essence. As, then, the majesty of God and his office of a Judge are inseparably connected, the Prophet concludes, that what the Jews thought was impossible, that is, that they could escape unpunished, and yet continue to provoke God, as it were, by open war, with their dreadful sins: Should I not then visit for this, saith Jehovah?
Here is introduced the name of Jehovah. An earthly judge may pardon the ungodly and the worst of men; but this cannot be done by God; for whenever God pardons, he leads sinners to repentance: so that he never suffers sins to be unpunished. For he who repents becomes his own judge, and thus anticipates God’s judgment. Where then there is true conversion, God shews no indulgence to sins. But when persistency in sins is such, that they who are warned despise all instruction, it is impossible that God should forgive; as in that case he would renounce his own glory, which can never be. Should I not then visit for this, saith Jehovah?
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And on such a nation as this should not vengeance my soul take? God speaks here after the manner of men, for he seeks no vengeance; and when he speaks of his soul, even this is not strictly suitable to him; but there is here nothing obscure; for what is meant is, that he is at enmity with wickedness, as it is said in Psalm 5:5, that he cannot bear iniquity. Since it is so, it follows that he must either be thrust from his celestial throne, or punishment must be inflicted on the wicked, who remain perverse and set no end nor bounds to their sins. Whenever then delusion creeps over us and Satan seeks by his allurements to lead us to forget God’s judgment, let this come to our minds — that God would not be God, except he were to punish sins. It is then necessary that he should punish sins or be displeased with us: but, as it has been said, he cannot be inconsistent with himself or dissimilar in his nature, since no change can take place in him. Either then his hand is stretched out to punish our sins, or his judgment must be anticipated by us. And how can this be done? By learning to bring sentence against ourselves, by becoming displeased with our sins.
When therefore our conversion will be of this kind, then God will be merciful to us; and thus he will not pardon our sins, as though he approved of them, or as though he did not exercise his office as a judge. But as I have said, what is here taught is rightly addressed to those who are either refractory, or whom Satan renders so stupid and forgetful, that they call not themselves to an account; in short, what is here said will render the ungodly, who go on in their perverseness, inexcusable, or it will awake those who are healable, that they may judge themselves, and not wait until God stretches forth his hand to execute extreme punishment.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 5:9 Shall I not visit for these [things]?…
Jer 5:9 Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Ver. 9. Shall I not visit for these things?] i.e., Shall I not take cognizance of them, and punish them surely and severely?
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 Visit, i.e. punish, Psa 89:32. Should I connive at…
Visit, i.e. punish, Psa 89:32. Should I connive at such things, the wicked would say, I did not see them, or take notice of them, Psa 50:21, much to the same purpose with Jer 5:7, beginning; and punishment may be termed visiting, as implying the equity of God’s procedures, that he first sees and considers the case, before he inflicts punishment; as in the case of Sodom, Gen 18:21; spoke after the manner of man.
My soul, for I; it speaks the greatness of God’s displeasure, Shall not my very soul be in this work of vengeance? Psa 11:5.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Shall I not visit for these things? saith the…
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord,.... For such adulteries and lasciviousness, and that in a way of punishment. The Targum adds,
"to bring evil upon them;''
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the evil of punishment for the evil of sin:
and shall not my soul be avenged upon such a nation as this? which cannot delight in sin, but hates it; and therefore must punish for it; vindictive and punitive justice is essential to God; as sin is contrary to his nature, it is agreeable to it to punish for it; he cannot but do it; and he does avenge all sin, either on the sinner himself, or on his surety.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Jer 5:29; Jer 9:9; Jer 44:22).
(Jer 5:29; Jer 9:9; Jer 44:22).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain 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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:9 The Lord regarded the people’s sins as worthy…
5:9 The Lord regarded the people’s sins as worthy of punishment (9:9; 13:27; 29:23; Ezek 22:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.