Jeremiah 5


Jeremiah 5 is the fifth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 2 to 6 contain the earliest preaching of Jeremiah on the apostasy of Israel. This chapter is sub-titled "The Justice of God’s Judgment" in the New King James Version.

Text

The original text of this chapter, as with the rest of the Book of Jeremiah, was written in Hebrew language. Since the division of the Bible into chapters and verses in the late medieval period, this chapter is divided into 31 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus. Among the Chester Beatty Papyri are the fragments of Jeremiah, dated from the late second century or early third century AD, containing Jeremiah 4:30–5:1; 5:9–13; 5:13–14; 5:23–24.

Parashot

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Jeremiah 5 is a part of the Third prophecy in the section of Prophecies of Destruction . : open parashah; : closed parashah.

Structure

A. W. Streane in the Cambridge [Bible for Schools and Colleges] organises this chapter as follows:
  • Jeremiah 5:1-9: Even one righteous man would procure forgiveness. But moral obliquity and obstinacy in sin are universal among the enlightened no less than the ignorant. Retribution cannot but be the result.
  • Jeremiah 5:10-19: The people have refused to credit the forecasts of the true prophets. Therefore, shall city and country alike be laid waste by a mighty nation of unknown tongue. Israel has chosen to serve foreign gods at home. Now she shall be compelled to serve foreign masters in exile.
  • Jeremiah 5:20-29: They fear not Jehovah, who is absolute in His control of nature's forces, whether beneficent or destructive. By craft, like that of the fowler, who fills his cage with trapped birds, rich men lay up wealth at the expense of the needy and the orphan. Divine vengeance must ensue.
  • Jeremiah 5:30-31: Prophets teach falsely, and support priestly rule. The people welcome this state of things. What shall the end be?

Verse 1

"Run to and fro" is fitting for Jeremiah as a youth but other translations do not maintain this emphasis: “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem. The Greek philosopher Diogenes similarly is said to have strolled about the city of Athens in full daylight with a lantern, "looking for an honest man".

Verse 2

The reading is "... therefore they swear falsely" in the Masoretic Text and the Lexham English Bible.

Verse 31

A rhetorical question; alternatively, "But when the end comes, what will you do?"., eis ta meta tauta, literally "in the after these things".
The prophet Isaiah also asks his hearers:

Jewish

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Christian

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