Jeremiah 5:19

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) When ye shall say.—The implied promise in Jeremiah 5:18 is explained. Then there shall come the backward glance at the past, which brings with it questionings and repentance.

Strange gods.—Stronger than the “other gods” of Jeremiah 1:16, “gods of an alien race.” The threats that they should “serve strangers” in a “land” that was not theirs points to the Chaldæan rather than to the Scythian invasion. With this ends the section which began in Jeremiah 5:14.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 5:19. And when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things? — Those that fall under the severity of God’s judgments are apt to think so favourably of themselves, as to wonder why they should be singled out for examples of the divine vengeance, and of terror to others. And particularly the Jews were very apt to think themselves innocent, however guilty they were, and to contend they did not deserve the punishments inflicted on them; and that this severe proceeding was not consistent with those many gracious promises which God had made to their nation. Then shalt thou answer them, &c. — God doth not execute these judgments upon you without cause. All his promises were made to you, to be fulfilled upon condition of your obedience, which, when you withheld, you had reason to expect that his threatenings, instead of his promises, as he had repeatedly warned you, would take effect. Like as ye have forsaken me — I only retaliate upon you your own conduct: you have forsaken me, therefore I forsake you. You, in that good land which I gave you, have served strange gods, to whom you owed nothing; as being, indeed, the work of your own hands, of mere imaginary beings that had no existence; so will I make you to serve strange masters and lords in a land that is not yours — And where you shall not be able to call any thing your own. You have loved strangers, and to strangers you shall go. Or, as some paraphrase the words, “As you have refused to have me for your God, your Master, and your King, you shall have other kings and masters in a strange land, and shall experience the difference between my dominion and that of these severe and tyrannical masters.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The reason why God so chastises His people. As they in a land especially consecrated to Yahweh had served "strange" (i. e., foreign gods, so shall they in a land belonging to others be the slaves of strangers.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. Retribution in kind. As ye have forsaken Me (Jer 2:13), so shall ye be forsaken by Me. As ye have served strange (foreign) gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers (foreigners) in a land not yours. Compare the similar retribution in De 28:47, 48.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? this speaks either their unparalleled insolency, in a manner challenging God, as if they had not deserved such dealing at his hands, they might have expected better usage from him; the Jews were good at these kinds of challenging of God, Isaiah 58:3. Or gross stupidity, as being such sots as not to be sensible of what they had done to provoke him; like to that Jeremiah 16:10.

Served strange gods, Heb. gods of the stranger; he doth not say strange gods, but gods of the stranger, which aggravated their crime, that while they lived in their own land, and the true God among them, they would precariously go fetch in gods from the heathens.

Serve strangers in a land that is not yours: here the prophet,

1. Opposeth strange lords to rule over them to those strange gods that they had served, which God calls a forsaking of him.

2. He opposes a land not theirs to their own land; so that by this the prophet shows what resentments God had of their sin; for it implies that their sin was much greater, that they served strange gods in their own land, than if they had done it in another, under the tyrannical imposition of a stranger; and therefore he would accordingly suit their punishment, that they should serve in a strange land, which should be worse than to be servants in their own. This is a dreadful but a just retaliation.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,.... That is, the people of the Jews, to whom the prophet belonged, after they had been spoiled by the enemy, and carried captive:

wherefore doth the Lord our God all these things unto us? as if they were innocent and guiltless, and had done nothing to provoke the Lord to anger; and it may be observed, that they professed to know the Lord in words, and call him their God, though in works they had denied him; and they own the hand of the Lord in all those evils that would now be come upon them; though before they had said they were not spoken by the Lord, nor would they befall them, Jeremiah 5:12,

thou shalt then answer them; that is, the Prophet Jeremiah, in the name of the Lord:

like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land; when they were in their own land they forsook the worship and ordinances of God, and served the idols of the Gentiles, as the Targum rightly explains it:

so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours: which some understand of strange gods; but rather it designs strange lords, as the Chaldeans in the land of Babylon, a land not theirs; and so it is measure for measure, a just retaliation in righteous judgment upon them.

Geneva Study Bible

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these things to us? then shalt {r} thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

(r) Meaning, the prophet Jeremiah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. The punishment was to be severe, because the wickedness which had called it forth was gross.

in a land that is not yours] Referring to the approach of exile, and therefore belonging to the time of the Roll (b.c. 604). Cp. Jeremiah 16:10-13, Jeremiah 22:8 f.; Deuteronomy 29:24 ff.; 1 Kings 9:8 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 19-29. - Judah's own obstinacy and flagrant disobedience are the causes of this sore judgment. Verse 19. - Like as ye have forsaken me, etc. The law of correspondence between sin and punishment pervades Old Testament prophecy (comp. Isaiah 5.). As the Jews served foreign gods in Jehovah's land, they shall become the slaves of foreigners in a land which is not theirs. Jeremiah 5:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This calamity Judah is preparing for itself by its obduracy and excess of wickedness. - Jeremiah 5:19. "And if ye then shall say, Wherefore hath Jahveh our God done all this unto us? then say to them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Jeremiah 5:20. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Jeremiah 5:21. Hear now this, foolish people without understanding, that have eyes and see not, have ears and hear not. Jeremiah 5:22. Me will ye not fear, saith Jahve, nor tremble before me? who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, an everlasting boundary that it passes not, and its waves toss themselves and cannot, and roar and pass not over. Jeremiah 5:23. But this people hath a stubborn and rebellious heart; they turned away and went. Jeremiah 5:24. And said not in their heart: Let us now fear Jahveh our God, who giveth rain, the early rain and the late rain, in its season; who keepeth for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Jeremiah 5:25. Your iniquities have turned away these, and your sins have withholden the good from you. Jeremiah 5:26. For among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as fowlers stoop; they set a trap, they catch men. Jeremiah 5:27. As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore are they become great and rich. Jeremiah 5:28. They are grown fat and sleek, they go beyond bound in wickedness; the cause they try not, the cause of the orphans, that they might have prosperity; and the right of the needy they judge not. Jeremiah 5:29. Shall I not punish this? saith Jahveh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this? Jeremiah 5:30. The appalling and horrible is done in the land. Jeremiah 5:31. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule under their lead, and my people loves it so. But what will ye do in the end thereof."

The thought of Jeremiah 5:19, that the people, by its apostasy, draws down this judgment on itself, forms the transition from the threat of punishment to the reproof of sins. The penalty corresponds to the sin. Because Judah in its own land serves the gods of foreigners, so it must serve strangers in a foreign land.