23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
23 But this people - what a people! Uncontrollable, untameable runaways.
23 But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed.
23 But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me.
16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
16 The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?
16 Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
16 Israel is stubborn as a mule. How can God lead him like a lamb to open pasture?
16 "For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage Like a lamb in open country.
16 Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture?
(Read Hosea 4:12-19)
The people consulted images, and not the Divine word. This would lead to disorder and sin. Thus men prepare scourges for themselves, and vice is spread through a people. Let not Judah come near the idolatrous worship of Israel. For Israel was devoted to idols, and must now be let alone. When sinners cast off the easy yoke of Christ, they go on in sin till the Lord saith, Let them alone. Then they receive no more warnings, feel no more convictions: Satan takes full possession of them, and they ripen for destruction. It is a sad and sore judgment for any man to be let alone in sin. Those who are not disturbed in their sin, will be destroyed for their sin. May we be kept from this awful state; for the wrath of God, like a strong tempest, will soon hurry impenitent sinners into ruin.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 5:23
Commentary on Jeremiah 5:19-31
(Read Jeremiah 5:19-31)
Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst all restraints of God's law, and were wholly gone into wickedness. Neither did they consider their interest. While the Lord, year after year, reserves to us the appointed weeks of harvest, men live on his bounty; yet they transgress against him. Sin deprives us of God's blessings; it makes the heaven as brass, and the earth as iron. Certainly the things of this world are not the best things; and we are not to think, that, because evil men prosper, God allows their practices. Though sentence against evil works is not executed speedily, it will be executed. Shall I not visit for these things? This speaks the certainty and the necessity of God's judgments. Let those who walk in bad ways consider that an end will come, and there will be bitterness in the latter end.