Skip to content

Prophets, priests, and people all share in Judah’s sins.

BibleGateway: Jeremiah 5:14-31

ESV Text: Jeremiah 5:14-31


KJV Text:

The section starts at about 2:14 and ends at about 5:21

Right click here to save the file for off-line use.

14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. 18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. 19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

     20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: 22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? 23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. 24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

     25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. 26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. 28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?(KJV)


Hymn: TLH 415:
Lo, Many Shall Come

— Organ Audio

Right click here to save the file for off-line use.


1. Lo, many shall come from the East and the West 
And sit at the feast of salvation 
With Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the blest, 
Obeying the Lord’s invitation. 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus! 

2. But they who have always resisted His grace 
And on their own virtue depended 
Shall then be condemned and cast out from His face, 
Eternally lost and unfriended. 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus! 

3. Oh, may we all hear when our Shepherd doth call 
In accents persuasive and tender, 
That, while there is time, we make haste, one and all, 
And find Him, our mighty Defender! 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus! 

4. Oh, that we the throng of the ransomed may swell, 
To whom He hath granted remission! 
God graciously make us in heaven to dwell 
And save us from endless perdition. 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus! 

5. God grant that I may of His infinite love 
Remain in His merciful keeping 
And sit with the King at His table above 
When here in the grave I am sleeping. 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus! 

6. All trials are then like a dream that is past, 
Forgotten all trouble and sorrow; 
All questions and doubts have been answered at last; 
Then dawneth eternity’s morrow. 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus! 

7. The heavens shall ring with an anthem more grand 
Than ever on earth was recorded; 
The blest of the Lord shall receive at His hand 
The crown to the victors awarded. 
Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!