◄ Jeremiah 5:9 ►
Should I not punish them for these things?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
Study Bible
Should I not punish them for these things?
The phrase begins with a rhetorical question posed by God, emphasizing His justice and righteousness. The Hebrew root for "punish" is "פָּקַד" (paqad), which can mean to attend to, visit, or reckon. In the context of divine justice, it implies a necessary response to the people's sins. Historically, Israel had repeatedly turned away from God, engaging in idolatry and injustice. This phrase underscores the inevitability of divine retribution when a covenant people persist in disobedience. It serves as a reminder of God's holiness and the moral order He upholds.

declares the LORD
This phrase asserts the authority and certainty of the message. The Hebrew term for "declares" is "נְאֻם" (ne'um), often used in prophetic literature to introduce a divine oracle. It signifies that the words are not merely Jeremiah's but are spoken by Yahweh Himself. The use of "LORD" (YHWH) highlights the covenantal relationship between God and Israel, reminding the audience of His eternal and unchanging nature. This declaration is a solemn pronouncement that carries the weight of divine authority.

Should I not avenge Myself
Here, "avenge" comes from the Hebrew root "נָקַם" (naqam), which means to take vengeance or to vindicate. This reflects God's role as the ultimate judge who must uphold justice. The phrase suggests that the nation's sins are not only against others but are offenses against God Himself. In a historical context, Israel's actions had violated the covenant, and God's response is portrayed as a necessary act to restore divine honor and justice. This serves as a sobering reminder of the seriousness of sin and the need for repentance.

on such a nation as this?
The phrase "such a nation" refers specifically to Israel, God's chosen people, who were expected to live according to His laws and reflect His character. The Hebrew word for "nation" is "גּוֹי" (goy), which can refer to a people or a collective group. In this context, it underscores the collective responsibility of the nation for its moral and spiritual failures. Historically, Israel's identity was tied to its covenant with God, and their failure to uphold this covenant warranted divine intervention. This phrase challenges the reader to consider the corporate nature of sin and the impact of national disobedience on God's relationship with His people.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, called by God to deliver messages of warning and hope to the people of Judah.

2. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who is just and righteous, and who holds His people accountable for their actions.

3. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which had fallen into idolatry and injustice, prompting God's warnings through Jeremiah.

4. The Nation
Refers to the people of Judah, who were guilty of turning away from God and engaging in sinful practices.

5. Divine Judgment
The event or process by which God enacts justice upon a nation or people for their disobedience and sin.
Teaching Points
God's Righteous Judgment
God is just and righteous, and His judgments are always fair. He cannot overlook sin, and His justice demands accountability.

The Consequences of Sin
Sin has consequences, both individually and collectively. The nation of Judah faced God's judgment because of their persistent disobedience.

Call to Repentance
God's warnings are an invitation to repentance. He desires that His people turn from their sinful ways and return to Him.

The Role of a Prophet
Prophets like Jeremiah are called to speak truth, even when it is unpopular. They serve as God's mouthpiece to call His people back to righteousness.

Trust in God's Timing
Believers are encouraged to trust in God's timing for justice. While we may not see immediate consequences, God will act according to His perfect plan.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's justice in Jeremiah 5:9 help us trust Him more in our daily lives?

2. In what ways can we see the consequences of sin in our own communities, and how can we respond as believers?

3. How does the call to repentance in Jeremiah's time apply to us today, both individually and as a church?

4. What can we learn from Jeremiah's role as a prophet about speaking truth in our own contexts?

5. How can we balance the desire for justice with the call to leave vengeance to God, as seen in Romans 12:19?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 32:35
This verse speaks of God's vengeance and justice, emphasizing that retribution belongs to Him.

Isaiah 1:4
Highlights the sinful nature of the nation, similar to the condition of Judah in Jeremiah's time.

Romans 12:19
Paul echoes the theme of divine vengeance, urging believers to leave room for God's wrath.

Ezekiel 18:30
Calls for repentance, showing God's desire for His people to turn from their wicked ways.

Micah 6:8
Provides a contrast by outlining what God requires of His people: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.
Sermons
Unsanctified Affliction Followed by Heavier JudgmentsJ. Spencer.Jeremiah 5:9
A Hero is a Real ManGreat ThoughtsJeremiah 5:1-9
A ManJ. R. Mitford Mitchell, D. D.Jeremiah 5:1-9
A ManJ. S. Drummond.Jeremiah 5:1-9
A Man; Or, the Divine Ideal UnrealisedHomilistJeremiah 5:1-9
Godly Men the Preservative of SocietyJames Hamilton, D. D.Jeremiah 5:1-9
Make Yourself a ManJeremiah 5:1-9
ManlinessH. F. Henderson, M. A.Jeremiah 5:1-9
Right Kind of MenG. Brooks.Jeremiah 5:1-9
The Courage of the True ProphetDean Farrar.Jeremiah 5:1-9
The Sinfulness of JerusalemW. Reading, M. A.Jeremiah 5:1-9
The Value of One True Man to the StateJ. S. Drummond.Jeremiah 5:1-9
True ManhoodH. Allon, D. D.Jeremiah 5:1-9
Wanted -- a ManM. C. Peters.Jeremiah 5:1-9
People
Jacob, Jeremiah
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Affirmation, Avenge, Avenged, Charge, Declares, Itself, Lay, Myself, Nation, Payment, Punish, Punishment, Says, Soul, Visit
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 5:7-9

     5493   retribution

Jeremiah 5:9-12

     8710   atheism

Library
A Question for the Beginning
'What will ye do in the end?'--JER. v. 31. I find that I preached to the young from this text just thirty years since--nearly a generation ago. How few of my then congregation are here to-night! how changed they and I are! and how much nearer the close we have drifted! How many of the young men and women of that evening have gone to meet the end, and how many of them have wrecked their lives because they would not face and answer this question! Ah, dear young friends, if I could bring some of the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Storming the Battlements
Jerusalem had sinned against God; she had rebelled against the most High, had set up for herself false gods, and bowed before them; and when God threatened her with chastisement, she built around herself strong battlements and bastions. She said "I am safe and secure. What though Jehovah hath gone away, I will trust in the gods of nations. Though the Temple is cast down, yet we will rely upon these bulwarks and strong fortifications that we have erected." "Ah!" says God, "Jerusalem, I will punish …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

God's Barriers against Man's Sin
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 …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Tithing
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10). Down deep in the heart of every Christian there is undoubtedly the conviction that he ought to tithe. There is an uneasy feeling that this is a duty which has been neglected, or, if you prefer it, a privilege that has not been …
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Purpose in the Coming of Jesus.
God Spelling Himself out in Jesus: change in the original language--bother in spelling Jesus out--sticklers for the old forms--Jesus' new spelling of old words. Jesus is God following us up: God heart-broken--man's native air--bad choice affected man's will--the wrong lane--God following us up. The Early Eden Picture, Genesis 1:26-31. 2:7-25: unfallen man--like God--the breath of God in man--a spirit, infinite, eternal--love--holy--wise--sovereign over creation, Psalm 8:5-8--in his own will--summary--God's …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Purposes of God.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What I understand by the purposes of God. Purposes, in this discussion, I shall use as synonymous with design, intention. The purposes of God must be ultimate and proximate. That is, God has and must have an ultimate end. He must purpose to accomplish something by his works and providence, which he regards as a good in itself, or as valuable to himself, and to being in general. This I call his ultimate end. That God has such an end or purpose, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

"And Hereby we do Know that we Know Him, if we Keep his Commandments. "
1 John ii. 3.--"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." This age pretends to much knowledge beyond former ages, knowledge, I say, not only in other natural arts and sciences, but especially in religion. Whether there be any great advancement in other knowledge, and improvement of that which was, to a further extent and clearness, I cannot judge, but I believe there is not much of it in this nation, nor do we so much pretend to it. But, we talk of the enlargements of …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
THE FALL OF NINEVEH AND THE RISE OF THE CHALDAEAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES--THE XXVIth EGYPTIAN DYNASTY: CYAXARES, ALYATTES, AND NEBUCHADREZZAR. The legendary history of the kings of Media and the first contact of the Medes with the Assyrians: the alleged Iranian migrations of the Avesta--Media-proper, its fauna and flora; Phraortes and the beginning of the Median empire--Persia proper and the Persians; conquest of Persia by the Medes--The last monuments of Assur-bani-pal: the library of Kouyunjik--Phraortes …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

"If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. "
Rom. viii. 9.--"If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. It was the wonder of one of the wisest of men, and indeed, considering his infinite highness above the height of heavens, his immense and incomprehensible greatness, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and then the baseness, emptiness, and worthlessness of man, it may be a wonder to the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Of the Nature of Regeneration, and Particularly of the Change it Produces in Men's Apprehensions.
2 COR. v. 17. 2 COR. v. 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. THE knowledge of our true state in religion, is at once a matter of so great importance, and so great difficulty that, in order to obtain it, it is necessary we should have line upon line and precept upon precept. The plain discourse, which you before heard, was intended to lead you into it; and I question not but I then said enough to convince many, that they were …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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