Jeremiah 5:10
in Jeremiah 5Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Jehovah’s.
KJV
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord’s.
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This verse in Jeremiah 5
Commentary
10 notes on this verseGo ye up upon her walls - This is the permission and authority given to the Chaldeans to pillage Jerusalem. Take away her battlements - Some translate נטישות netishoth, branches; others, vines. Destroy the branches, cut down the stem; but do not damage the root. Leave so many of the people that the state may be regenerated. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, read, “Leave her foundations, for they are the Lord’s;” and this agrees with “Destroy, but make not a full end.”
This site's exposition
but do not finish them off
on Jeremiah 5:10-13
The command to destroy carries its own limit, “but do not finish them off”, the restraint 4:27 already named. The house of Israel and the house of Judah are named together as utterly unfaithful. Their false confidence speaks at verse 12, “He will not do anything”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 10, 11.) Ascendite muros ejus (sive propugnacula) et dissipate: consummationem autem nolite facere. Auferte propagines ejus (sive sustentacula) quia non sunt Domini. Praevaricatione enim praevaricata est in me domus Israel, et domus Juda, dicit Dominus. Imperat gentibus, de quibus supra dixerat: Percussit eos leo de silva, lupus vastavit eos, et pardus in civitatibus eorum, ut ascendant muros Jerusalem, sive propugnacula, et dissipent eam: consummationem autem non faciant, ut salventur reliquiae, et sit qui annuntiet in gentibus gloriam Dei, severitatique miscetclementiam.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the L ORD , nor the judgment of their God. 5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the L ORD , and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:94%@v4-5
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy,....
When the city is filled with sin God will not patronise the fortifications of it, and then they are paper walls. What can defend us when he who is our defence, and the defender of all our defences, has departed from us?
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Abrupt apostrophe to the Babylonians, to take Jerusalem, but not to destroy the nation utterly (see on Jer 4:27). battlements--rather, tendrils [MAURER]: the state being compared to a vine (Jer 12:10), the stem of which was to be spared, while the tendrils (the chief men) were to be removed.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
WE HAVE BEEN talking very freely during this last week of “glorious victories,” of “brilliant successes,” of “sieges,” and of “stormings.” We little know what the dread reality is of which we boast.
WE HAVE BEEN talking very freely during this last week of “glorious victories,” of “brilliant successes,” of “sieges,” and of “stormings.” We little know what the dread reality is of which we boast. Could our eyes once behold the storming of a city, the sacking of a town, the pillage of the soldiery, the barbarous deeds of fury, when the blood is up and long delay has maddened their souls; could we see the fields saturated with blood, and soaked with gore; could we spend one hour amongst the corpses and the dying; or if we could only let the din of battle, and the noise of the guns reach our ears, we should not so much rejoice, if we had anything of fellow feeling for others as well as for ourselves. The death of an enemy is to me a cause of regret as well as the death of a friend. Are not all my brethren? and doth not Jesus tell me so? Are we not all made of one flesh? and hath not God “made of one blood all nations that dwell upon the face of the earth?” Let us, then, when we hear of slaughtered enemies, and of thousands that have fallen, cease to rejoice in their death. It would betray a spirit utterly inconsistent with the Christian religion, more akin to Mohamedanism, or to the fierce doctrines of Budha, but not in the least to be brought into compatibility with the truths of the gospel of the glorious God. And yet with all that, far be it from me to check any gladness which this nation may experience, now that it hopes that the incubus of war may at last be removed. Clap your hands, O Britons! Rejoice, ye sons of Albion! there is hope that your swords may yet be sheathed, that your men shall not be mown down as grass before the scythe; that the desolation of your hearths shall now be staid; that the tyrant shall be humbled; and that peace shall be restored.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Her walls - It is Possible that not the city walls, but those of a vineyard are meant. Judaea is God’s vineyard Isa 5:1-7, and God permits the enemy to enter the vineyard to destroy her. Battlements - tendrils. The tendrils and branches of Judah’s vine are given up to ruin, but not the stock. See Isa 6:13 note.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Ascend upon its rows Heb. בשרותיה, an expression of a plain. Menahem (p.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֲל֤וּ | ʾalu | go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| בְשָׁרוֹתֶ֙יהָ֙ | vesharoteiha | among vine rows its | H8284 → | |
| וְשַׁחֵ֔תוּ | veshachetu | and destroy [them] | H7843 → | 146 times |
| וְכָלָ֖ה | vekhalah | and complete destruction | H3617 → | 21 times |
| אַֽל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תַּעֲשׂ֑וּ | taasu | you make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| הָסִ֙ירוּ֙ | hasiru | remove | H5493 → | 299 times |
| נְטִ֣ישׁוֹתֶ֔יהָ | netishoteiha | vine tendrils its | H5189 → | |
| כִּ֛י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ל֥וֹא | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| לַיהוָ֖ה | layahweh | [belong] to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| הֵֽמָּה׃ | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
עֲל֤וּgo up
ʾaluH5927 →890 times
בְשָׁרוֹתֶ֙יהָ֙among vine rows its
vesharoteihaH8284 →
וְשַׁחֵ֔תוּand destroy [them]
veshachetuH7843 →146 times
וְכָלָ֖הand complete destruction
vekhalahH3617 →21 times
אַֽל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תַּעֲשׂ֑וּyou make
taasuH6213 →2628 times
הָסִ֙ירוּ֙remove
hasiruH5493 →299 times
נְטִ֣ישׁוֹתֶ֔יהָvine tendrils its
netishoteihaH5189 →
כִּ֛יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
ל֥וֹאnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
לַיהוָ֖ה[belong] to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
הֵֽמָּה׃they
hemahH1992 →553 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
Amos 9:8Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 30:11
For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Amos 9:4
Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”
- Jeremiah 30:11
Through
Hosea 1:9And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 15:1
Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.
- Jeremiah 15:1
Through
Matthew 22:7The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
it leads to
- Luke 19:27
And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”
- Luke 19:27
Through
Jeremiah 39:8The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
it leads to
- Nehemiah 1:3
And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
- Jeremiah 38:18
But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself…
- Nehemiah 1:3
Through
Jeremiah 4:27For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:28
And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not…
- Jeremiah 5:18
“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.
- Jeremiah 46:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 38: “Storming the Battlements” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.