Jer 5:1-5 | NETfull | STEP | The Lord said, “Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city.

Jeremiah 5:1-5

1 The Lord said, ^{▼▼ These words are not in the text, but since the words at the end are obviously those of the Lord, they are supplied in the translation here to mark the shift in speaker from 4:29–31 where Jeremiah is the obvious speaker.}

“Go up and down ^{▼▼ It is not clear who is being addressed here. The verbs are plural so they are not addressed to Jeremiah per se. Since the passage is talking about the people of Jerusalem, it is unlikely they are addressed here except perhaps rhetorically. Some have suggested that the heavenly court is being addressed here as in Job 1:6–8; 2:1–3. It is clear from Jer 23:18, 22; Amos 3:7 that the prophets had access to this heavenly counsel through visions (cf. 1 Kgs 22:19–23), so Jeremiah could have been privy to this speech through that means. Though these are the most likely addressee, it is too presumptuous to supply such an explicit addressee without clearer indication in the text. The translation will just have to run the risk of the probable erroneous assumption by most English readers that the addressee is Jeremiah.} through the streets of Jerusalem. ^{▼▼ For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; Journey of Paul map 1-F4; Journey of Paul map 2-F4; Journey of Paul map 3-F4; Journey of Paul map 4-F4.}
Look around and see for yourselves.
Search through its public squares.
See if any of you can find a single person
who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. ^{▼▼ Heb “who does justice and seeks faithfulness.”}
If you can, ^{▼▼ Heb “squares. If you can find…if there is one person…then I will…”} then I will not punish this city. ^{▼▼ Heb “forgive [or pardon] it.”}
2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. ^{▼▼ Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.” The idea of “swear on oath” comes from the second line.}
But the fact is, ^{▼▼ The translation follows many Hebrew mss and the Syriac version in reading “surely” (אָכֵן, ’akhen) instead of “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) in the MT.} ^{▼▼ Heb “Surely.”} what they swear to is really a lie.” ^{▼▼ Heb “they swear falsely.”}
3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ^{▼▼ Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.}
But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ^{▼▼ Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.}
Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.
They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ^{▼▼ Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”}
They refuse to change their ways. ^{▼▼ Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”}
4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ^{▼▼ Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.}
They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ^{▼▼ Heb “the way of the Lord.”}
They do not know what their God requires of them. ^{▼▼ Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”}
5 I will go to the leaders ^{▼▼ Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”}
and speak with them.
Surely they know what the Lord demands. ^{▼▼ Heb “the way of the Lord.”}
Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ^{▼▼ Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”}
Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority
and refuse to submit to him. ^{▼▼ Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.}