Jeremiah 5:19
in Jeremiah 5And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Jeremiah 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The reason why God so chastises His people. As they in a land especially consecrated to Yahweh had served “strange” (i. e., foreign gods, so shall they in a land belonging to others be the slaves of strangers.
This site's exposition
I will not make a full end of you
on Jeremiah 5:18-19
The limit named twice in the book returns a third time, “I will not make a full end of you”, before the exile is explained. The people will ask why the LORD has done all these things.
This site's exposition
served foreign gods in your land
The people's question assumes innocence. Barnes stresses the setting: the gods were served in a land consecrated to the LORD, and those who served them would be slaves of foreigners.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 19) But if you shall say: why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? You shall say to them: Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods (or foreign deities) in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours. It is a great folly not to know why they have suffered, since they have sinned so greatly.
"And it shall be, when you say, 'For what reason has the Lord our God done to us all these evils?' — and you shall say to them, 'Because you forsook me and served other gods in your land, so shall you serve in a land not your own.'" Let the letter be understood, and it suffices for the present to set forth the reminder from the letter for those able to hear. So then, the sons of Israel had the holy land, the temple, the house of prayer. They ought to have served God. But transgressing the divine commandments, they both practiced idolatry and took up the idols of Damascus, as it is written in the books of Kingdoms, and they took up other idols of the nations into the holy land. Through the idols of the nations which they took up, they made themselves worthy to be cast down into the land of the idols, to end up there where they worshiped the idols. So the word says to them according to the letter: "Because you forsook me and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve foreign gods in a land not your own." Everyone who deifies anything serves foreign gods. Do you make a god of foods and drinks? Your god is "the belly." Do you honor silver as a great good, and the wealth here below? Your god and lord is mammon. For Jesus called it lord of the lovers of money, saying: "You cannot serve God and mammon; no one can serve two lords." Therefore the one who honors silver and admires wealth and considers it to be a good, and welcomes the rich as gods, while despising the poor as not having their God — this one deifies silver. If anyone, being in the land of God, the Church, worships foreign gods, deifying the things not worthy to be deified, he will be cast out into a foreign land, and let him worship the gods whom he worshiped within. Let the lover of money be outside, cast out from the Church; let the glutton be outside, having been put out of the Church. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
What provocation have we given him, or what quarrel has he with us?" As if against such a sinful nation there did not appear cause enough of action. Note, Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with injustice in their afflictions, and pretend they have to seek for the cause of them when it is written in the forehead of them. Here is a reason immediately assigned.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,....
The words behind it
27 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיָה֙ | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹאמְר֔וּ | tomeru | you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| תַּ֣חַת | tachat | for | H8478 → | 505 times |
| מֶ֗ה | meh | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| עָשָׂ֨ה | ʾasah | did he do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| יְהֹוָ֧ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֛ינוּ | ʾeloheinu | God our | H430 → | 2601 times |
| לָ֖נוּ | lanu | to <the> us | ||
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֵ֑לֶּה | ʾeleh | these [things] | H428 → | 746 times |
| וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ | veamarta | and you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם | ʾaleihem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עֲזַבְתֶּ֤ם | ʾazavtem | you forsook | H5800 → | 215 times |
| אוֹתִי֙ | ʾoti | <obj.> me | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וַתַּעַבְד֞וּ | vataavdu | and you served | H5647 → | 288 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֤י | ʾelohei | gods of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| נֵכָר֙ | nekhar | foreignness | H5236 → | |
| בְּאַרְצְכֶ֔ם | beartzekhem | in own land your | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כֵּ֚ן | ken | so | H3651 → | 771 times |
| תַּעַבְד֣וּ | taavdu | you will serve | H5647 → | 288 times |
| זָרִ֔ים | zarim | strangers | H2114 → | 77 times |
| בְּאֶ֖רֶץ | beeretz | in a land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | [which] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| לָכֶֽם׃ ס | lakhem | [belongs] to <the> you |
וְהָיָה֙and it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
תֹאמְר֔וּyou will say
tomeruH559 →5305 times
תַּ֣חַתfor
tachatH8478 →505 times
מֶ֗הwhat?
mehH4100 →752 times
עָשָׂ֨הdid he do
ʾasahH6213 →2628 times
יְהֹוָ֧הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֛ינוּGod our
ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times
לָ֖נוּto <the> us
lanu
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֵ֑לֶּהthese [things]
ʾelehH428 →746 times
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣and you will say
veamartaH559 →5305 times
אֲלֵיהֶ֗םto them
ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֨רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
עֲזַבְתֶּ֤םyou forsook
ʾazavtemH5800 →215 times
אוֹתִי֙<obj.> me
ʾotiH853 →10935 times
וַתַּעַבְד֞וּand you served
vataavduH5647 →288 times
אֱלֹהֵ֤יgods of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
נֵכָר֙foreignness
nekharH5236 →
בְּאַרְצְכֶ֔םin own land your
beartzekhemH776 →2504 times
כֵּ֚ןso
kenH3651 →771 times
תַּעַבְד֣וּyou will serve
taavduH5647 →288 times
זָרִ֔יםstrangers
zarimH2114 →77 times
בְּאֶ֖רֶץin a land
beeretzH776 →2504 times
לֹ֥א[which] not
lo'H3808 →5168 times
לָכֶֽם׃ ס[belongs] to <the> you
lakhem
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 16:13So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:36
The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.
- Deuteronomy 4:26–28
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it,…
- Jeremiah 15:14
Then I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for My anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.”
- Jeremiah 17:4
And you yourself will relinquish the inheritance that I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land that you do not know, for you have kindled My anger; it will…
- 2 Chronicles 7:20
then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of…
- Deuteronomy 28:36
Through
Jeremiah 13:22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
it leads to
- Nahum 3:5
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
- Jeremiah 16:10–11
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have…
- Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
- Nahum 3:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 7.