Jeremiah 5:23
in Jeremiah 5But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
KJV
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
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This verse in Jeremiah 5
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThey are not so obedient as the sea and its waves; nor so firm and stable as the sand that is set for the bound of it. This is a reproof and an aggravation of the revoltings and rebellions of this people: they are revolted and gone; they had departed from the ways of the Lord, and were gone back from his worship, as the Targum; and were gone into evil ways, and to a false worship; they not only had revolted, but they went on, they continued therein, and went further and further, off from God and his worship.
This site's exposition
Declare this in the house of Jacob
on Jeremiah 5:20-25
A people “who have eyes but do not see” stands before the LORD who “set the sand as the boundary for the sea”. The sea keeps its bound while the people have “turned aside and gone away”. Rain and harvest are lost: “Your iniquities have diverted these from you”.
This site's exposition
stubborn and rebellious hearts
Gill sets the people beside the sea of the verse before: the waves keep their bound, and Judah turns aside and goes away. The Targum reads gone away as departing from the worship of the LORD. The sea obeys and the people wander.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 22 onward) So you will not fear, says the Lord, and you will not be in pain before me? (or will you fear?) I have set the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree that will not pass. And the waves of the sea will be disturbed, and they will not be able to pass through it.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Nay, it is the corrupt bias of the will that bribes and besots the understanding: none so blind as those that will not see. The character of this people is the true character of all people by nature, till the grace of God has wrought a change. We are foolish, slow of understanding, and apt to mistake and forget; yet that is not the worst.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like months since I went up to the house of the Lord. My heart and my flesh are crying out for the assembly of the saints. Oh how I long to hear once more the solemn shout of the festal throng who with the voice of joy and praise keep holy day! I am slowly rallying. My great struggle now is with weakness. I feel as if my frail bark had weathered a heavy storm which has made every timber creak.
The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like months since I went up to the house of the Lord. My heart and my flesh are crying out for the assembly of the saints. Oh how I long to hear once more the solemn shout of the festal throng who with the voice of joy and praise keep holy day! I am slowly rallying. My great struggle now is with weakness. I feel as if my frail bark had weathered a heavy storm which has made every timber creak. Do not attribute this illness to my having laboured too hard for my Master. For his dear sake, I would that I may yet be able to labour more. Such toils as might be hardly noticed in the ramp for the service of one’s country, would excite astonishment in the church for the service of our God. And now, I entreat you for love’s sake to continue in prayer for me. When ye find access to God, remember me. Mind it is not by the words of your mouth, nor yet by the cravings of your heart, but it is by the precious blood of Christ ye must draw nigh to God. And when ye find his sweet presence and are bedewed with his holy anointing, then pour out your souls before him, and make mention of me in your supplications. Yours to love and serve in the Gospel, C. H. SPURGEON. Clapham, Tuesday Evening, 26th October, 1858. “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? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.”—Jeremiah 5:22-23. THE MAJESTY OF God, as displayed in creation and providence, ought to stir up our hearts in adoring wonder and melt them down in willing obedience to his commands.
They are revolted and gone - They have abandoned me, and are gone farther and farther into transgression. They are gone entirely away from truth and righteousness.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלָעָ֤ם | velaam | and to the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַזֶּה֙ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| הָיָ֔ה | hayah | it belongs | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לֵ֖ב | lev | a heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
| סוֹרֵ֣ר | sorer | stubborn | H5637 → | |
| וּמוֹרֶ֑ה | umoreh | and rebellious | H4784 → | |
| סָ֖רוּ | saru | they have turned aside | H5493 → | 299 times |
| וַיֵּלֵֽכוּ׃ | vaiyelekhu | and they have gone away | H1980 → | 1546 times |
וְלָעָ֤םand to the people
velaamH5971 →1873 times
הַזֶּה֙<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
הָיָ֔הit belongs
hayahH1961 →3559 times
לֵ֖בa heart
levH3820 →595 times
סוֹרֵ֣רstubborn
sorerH5637 →
וּמוֹרֶ֑הand rebellious
umorehH4784 →
סָ֖רוּthey have turned aside
saruH5493 →299 times
וַיֵּלֵֽכוּ׃and they have gone away
vaiyelekhuH1980 →1546 times
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
Hebrews 3:12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Jeremiah 7:24
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Jeremiah 18:12
But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
- 1 Corinthians 10:12
So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall.
- Jeremiah 17:5
Through
Psalms 95:10For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”
it leads to
- Hebrews 3:17
And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
- Hebrews 3:9–10
where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
- Hebrews 3:17
Through
Jeremiah 6:28All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:4
“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
- Jeremiah 9:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 220: “God's Barriers Against Man's Sin” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.