Jeremiah 5

The prophet, having described the judgments impending over his countrymen, enlarges on the corruptions which prevailed among them. Their profession of religion was all false and hypocritical, Jeremiah 5:1 , Jeremiah 5:2 . Though corrected, they were not amended, but persisted in their guilt, Jeremiah 5:3 . This was not the case with the low and ignorant only, Jeremiah 5:4 ; but more egregiously so with those of the higher order, from whose knowledge and opportunities better things might have been expected, Jeremiah 5:5 . God therefore threatens them with the most cruel enemies, Jeremiah 5:6 ; and appeals to themselves if they should be permitted to practice such sins unpunished, Jeremiah 5:7-9 . He then commands their enemies to raze the walls of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 5:10 ; that devoted city whose inhabitants added to all their other sins the highest contempt of God's word and prophets, Jeremiah 5:11-13 . Wherefore his word, in the mouth of his prophet, shall be as fire to consume them, Jeremiah 5:14 ; the Chaldean forces shall cruelly addict them, Jeremiah 5:15-17 ; and farther judgments await then as the consequence of their apostasy and idolatry, Jeremiah 5:18 , Jeremiah 5:19 . The chapter closes with a most melancholy picture of the moral condition of the Jewish people at that period which immediately preceded the Babylonish captivity, Jeremiah 5:20-31 .