Jeremiah 5:1-13·~1 min

No One Is Just

Jerusalem is searched in hopes that one person seeking truth and justice might still be found, but even oaths in the LORD's name prove false. The people remain unresponsive under God's blows, hardening their faces instead of returning.

“¹Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. ²Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ ³O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?

Jeremiah first blames the poor for ignorance, then turns to the great expecting better, only to find that they too have broken the yoke together. Because rebellion is shared across the city, lion, wolf, and leopard become fitting images for the judgment about to strike.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor; ⁵I will go to the powerful ⁶Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,

The LORD asks why He should forgive a people who have abandoned Him, filled themselves, and then crowded into adulterous houses. Their strength has become lust and excess, so punishment is named as the just answer to such shameless conduct.

⁷“Why should I forgive you? ⁸They are well-fed, lusty stallions, ⁹Should I not punish them for these things?”

Judgment is authorized against the vineyards of the land, though not as a full end, because both Israel and Judah have dealt treacherously with the LORD. They deny that disaster will come at all, dismiss prophetic speech as wind, and speak as though neither sword nor famine can touch them.

¹⁰Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, ¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah ¹²They have lied about the LORD and said: ¹³The prophets are but wind,

Section summaryThe chapter begins with a startling challenge to search Jerusalem for one person who truly seeks justice and truth, but none can be found. From careless poor to defiant great, the city proves uniformly hardened, so forgiveness gives way to the language of predatory judgment against a people swollen with appetite, false oaths, and lies about the LORD.

Role in the chapterThis opening section establishes the depth and breadth of Jerusalem's corruption. It shows that the coming judgment is not triggered by a narrow failure but by a citywide collapse of truth, covenant loyalty, and teachability.