10 Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's. 11 For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord. 12 They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food: 13 And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; so it will be done to them. 14 For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, has said: Because you have said this, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and they will be burned up by it. 15 See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words. 16 Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war. 17 They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith. 18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not let your destruction be complete.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 5:10-18
Commentary on Jeremiah 5:10-18
(Read Jeremiah 5:10-18)
Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. He has mercy in store for his people, therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Let us not overlook the "nevertheless," Psalm 89:30-35.