Jeremiah 5:23 kjv
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Jeremiah 5:23 nkjv
But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed.
Jeremiah 5:23 niv
But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
Jeremiah 5:23 esv
But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
Jeremiah 5:23 nlt
But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.
They have turned away and abandoned me.
Jeremiah 5 23 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah 2:12 | Skies astonished; heavens shuddered. | God’s judgment for forsaking Him |
| Psalm 14:1 | The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." | Denial of God’s existence |
| Isaiah 1:2-3 | Sons I reared, but they rebelled against Me. | Israel's persistent rebellion |
| Jeremiah 3:6 | Looked back at that faithless wife, Israel. | Idolatry and unfaithfulness |
| Jeremiah 8:5 | Why then this people has fallen away... | Perpetual backsliding |
| Jeremiah 9:3 | Their tongues are like an arrow; they speak lies. | Deception and dishonesty |
| Jeremiah 17:1 | Judah's sin written with a pen of iron. | Ingrained sin |
| Ezekiel 22:26 | They have despised My holy things. | Profaning sacred things |
| Malachi 1:6 | A son honors his father... but you despise My name. | Disrespect for God’s name |
| John 15:24 | ...hated Me without reason. | Rejection of Christ |
| Romans 1:28 | God gave them over to a depraved mind. | Willful ignorance |
| 2 Timothy 4:3 | ...will not endure sound doctrine. | Turning away from truth |
| Titus 1:16 | Profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. | Hypocrisy and denial by works |
| 1 Peter 2:9 | ...called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. | Contrast with current spiritual state |
| Jeremiah 5:3 | You struck Me, but they felt no remorse. | Stubborn resistance |
| Jeremiah 5:4 | Perhaps I can deal with the poor; they are foolish. | Arrogance and lack of understanding |
| Jeremiah 5:5 | For these men are formidable. | False confidence in human power |
| Jeremiah 5:7 | When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery. | Unfaithfulness after provision |
| Jeremiah 5:12 | They denied the LORD. | Explicit rejection of God |
| Jeremiah 5:20 | Forgive this debt for their sake! | Plead for injustice |
| Jeremiah 5:21 | Hear now this, O foolish and senseless people! | Lack of spiritual discernment |
| Jeremiah 5:22 | Should you not fear Me... ? | Disregard for God’s sovereignty |
Jeremiah 5 verses
Jeremiah 5 23 Meaning
Jeremiah 5:23 states that the people of Judah have rebellious hearts, turning away from God and refusing to acknowledge Him. They have strayed from His ways, acting as if He does not exist.
Jeremiah 5 23 Context
This verse is part of Jeremiah's scathing indictment of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, shortly before the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah is delivering a prophecy that condemns their deep-seated sin and foretells God's imminent judgment. The people of Judah, despite having experienced God's deliverance and provision, have turned away from Him, embracing idolatry, social injustice, and rebellion. They act as if God is absent, indifferent to their actions, or powerless to intervene. This verse emphasizes the spiritual blindness and hardened hearts of the people who, by their choices and behavior, deny God's sovereignty and presence in their lives.
Jeremiah 5 23 Word Analysis
- "And ye have not": This signifies a lack of engagement or active opposition to God's commands and existence. It implies a conscious choice to disregard.
- "said in your heart": This points to an internal, deeply held belief or lack thereof, rather than an outward declaration. It is a matter of the inner disposition.
- "The LORD": This refers to the covenant name of God (YHWH), emphasizing His personal relationship with Israel and His faithfulness.
- "we will fear the LORD our God": This is the negated statement of what they should have said. Fear here implies reverence, awe, and obedience due to God's character and power.
- "that giveth rain, both the latter and the former": This highlights God's provision for their agricultural society. The "former rain" (early rain) prepared the ground for sowing, and the "latter rain" (spring rain) ripened the grain. Both were essential for survival and prosperity.
- "in his season": This underscores God's sovereign control over the natural order and His faithful, punctual provision.
- "we may see the fist and terror of the heavens": This is interpreted in a few ways. Some scholars suggest it refers to a recurring, cyclical terror from the heavens, possibly related to astrological beliefs or perceived celestial signs that they dismissed. Others see it as an allusion to the devastating effects of God's judgment that they should fear, implying a perverted perception of what the heavens were meant to represent (God's glory and order, not objects of superstitious dread or simply physical phenomena devoid of divine power).
Word-Group Analysis
- "rebellious heart": This phrase encapsulates their core problem – not just outward actions but an internal defiance and an unwillingness to submit to God. It signifies a corrupted inner self.
- "fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain...": This links proper reverence for God directly to acknowledging His role as sustainer and provider. It shows that their neglect of fearing God meant they also neglected acknowledging His life-giving actions.
- "we may see the fist and terror of the heavens": This phrase signifies a broken relationship with the created order, viewing it through a lens of superstitious fear or causal naturalism, rather than seeing the hand of God, their provider and judge. It highlights their lack of proper spiritual perception.
Jeremiah 5 23 Bonus Section
The "fist and terror of the heavens" can also be interpreted as a critique of Babylonian or Canaanite astrological practices prevalent at the time, where people looked to the stars and celestial phenomena for divination and fear, attributing power to them apart from the Creator. Jeremiah highlights that true fear is directed towards the Creator of the heavens, not the created heavens themselves, nor the "terror" they might appear to invoke when misread. Their failure was a failure of spiritual discernment, mistaking secondary causes for the primary cause, and therefore not rightly fearing or reverencing the LORD their God who ordained the natural order.
Jeremiah 5 23 Commentary
Jeremiah 5:23 paints a stark picture of spiritual apathy and rebellion. The people of Judah, despite the evidence of God's continued provision through the rains—vital for their agrarian economy—choose not to internalize this truth. They don't pause to consider God's role as their sustainer, the very essence of "fearing the LORD" in a practical sense. This refusal to acknowledge God's sovereignty in the natural order is born from a "rebellious heart." They have adopted a worldview that either ignores God or fears natural phenomena in a superstitious way ("fist and terror of the heavens"), failing to recognize that the natural world operates under His authority. This denial of God, both in their hearts and in their practical understanding of His role, leads to their impending judgment. Their actions and internal thoughts betray a fundamental disbelief in God’s active involvement and authority.