Jeremiah 5 30

Jeremiah 5:30 kjv

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

Jeremiah 5:30 nkjv

"An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land:

Jeremiah 5:30 niv

"A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:

Jeremiah 5:30 esv

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

Jeremiah 5:30 nlt

A horrible and shocking thing
has happened in this land ?

Jeremiah 5 verses

Jeremiah 5 30 Meaning

Jeremiah 5:30 declares a stark and severe reality unfolding in the land of Judah: "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land." This verse acts as an emphatic declaration by the prophet, summarizing the widespread and profound moral and spiritual corruption that pervades the nation. It highlights a state of affairs so grievous that it evokes not just concern, but deep shock, revulsion, and terror, indicating an extreme violation of divine order and the covenant relationship. This deep-seated decay signals an urgent need for repentance and foreshadows inevitable divine judgment.

Jeremiah 5 30 Context

Jeremiah 5:30 stands as a grave declaration amidst Jeremiah’s detailed indictment of Judah’s pervasive sin. In chapter 5, God commissions Jeremiah to search the streets of Jerusalem for a single person who acts justly and seeks truth, but no such person can be found, indicating the universal depravity. The chapter condemns various facets of society: the wealthy who thrive on injustice (vv. 26-29), the nation's refusal to return to God despite impending judgment, their idolatry (vv. 7-8), and a complete moral blindness (vv. 21-23). The verse immediately preceding Jeremiah 5:30 highlights their persistent evil, concluding with God's rhetorical question about His righteous judgment (v. 29). Thus, verse 30 serves as a summary, introducing the profound depths of corruption before specifying that the source of this "appalling and horrible thing" includes the religious leadership, as revealed in verse 31.

Historically, Jeremiah delivered this prophecy during a turbulent period in Judah, from the late 7th to early 6th century BCE, leading up to the Babylonian exile. Following King Josiah’s spiritual reforms, a brief return to covenant obedience was witnessed. However, after Josiah’s untimely death, Judah quickly reverted to widespread apostasy, idolatry, and social injustice, despite continuous warnings from prophets like Jeremiah. The spiritual landscape was dominated by outward religious observance that masked internal rebellion, leaving the nation morally vulnerable and under divine sentence.

Jeremiah 5 30 Word analysis

• An appalling (שַׁמָּה - shammāh):

  • Lexical meaning: "Appalling thing," "horror," "desolation," "a thing that makes one shudder." It derives from a root signifying ruin or desolation and the horror that accompanies it.
  • Significance: This is not just 'bad'; it’s something that induces terror, shock, and profound consternation. It speaks to a deep, fundamental violation of order that inherently carries the seeds of its own destruction or judgment. It points to a situation so disturbing that it fundamentally alters the landscape of peace and stability.

• and horrible (וְשַׁעֲרוּרִיָּה - vᵉshaʿărûriyyāh):

  • Lexical meaning: "Horrible thing," "disgusting," "something that makes the hair stand on end." From the root sha'ar, meaning "to cause to bristle," referring to hair standing up from terror or dread.
  • Significance: This intensifies "appalling," adding a visceral, physiological response of revulsion and disgust. It describes something not just frightening but utterly repulsive, grotesque, and profoundly offensive to the senses and moral compass. This doubling of strong adjectives ("appalling" and "horrible") serves as a powerful rhetorical device, common in Hebrew, to emphasize the extreme nature of the offense.

• thing has happened (נִהְיְתָה - nihyᵉṯāh):

  • Lexical meaning: "Has become," "has occurred," "has come to pass." The nif'al perfect tense of the verb hayah ("to be" or "to become").
  • Significance: The perfect tense indicates a completed action with lasting impact, emphasizing that this dreadful situation is not merely a threat or a potential outcome, but a present and fully actualized reality. It is a definite, undeniable fact that is already established and pervades the entire community, confirming the severity and pervasiveness of the corruption.

• in the land (בָּאָרֶץ - bāʾāretz):

  • Lexical meaning: "In the land." Refers specifically to the land of Judah/Israel, the territory divinely given as the inheritance of God’s covenant people.
  • Significance: The evil is not confined to private acts or isolated incidents, nor is it external. It has become deeply ingrained within the sacred land of the covenant people, contaminating the very space where God’s law was meant to thrive and where His presence dwelt. This pervasive corruption defiles the land itself (cf. Lev 18:25) and necessitates a purification that often involves divine judgment.

• Words-group analysis:

  • "An appalling and horrible thing": The Hebrew rhetorical pairing of these intense words amplifies the gravity of Judah's spiritual condition. It conveys an act so contrary to God's character and covenant that it causes profound terror, shock, and revulsion in anyone witnessing it from God's perspective. It transcends mere bad behavior to become an outrage against divine order, warranting extreme condemnation.
  • "has happened in the land": This phrase grounds the abstract horror in a concrete reality, confirming that this abomination is not hypothetical but a lived, present condition, fully manifest and active throughout the entire national sphere. The scope is not limited, but comprehensive, affecting the whole covenant community and its territory, signaling the nation's profound fall from grace.

Jeremiah 5 30 Bonus section

The use of shammāh and shaʿărûriyyāh together in Jeremiah 5:30 creates a sense of profound irony. The people of Judah were meant to be a light to the nations, embodying God's holiness and justice. Instead, their actions have become a "horror" and an "abomination," mirroring the very pagan practices they were warned against (e.g., the abominations of the nations in Deut 18:9). This implies that Judah's conduct has not only failed to reflect God's character but has sunk to a level of moral depravity that would be considered appalling even by general human standards, much less divine ones. It's a national scandal in the truest sense, eroding the foundations of their identity as God's chosen people.

Jeremiah 5 30 Commentary

Jeremiah 5:30 serves as a pivotal statement that encapsulates the tragic spiritual decay of Judah, setting the stage for more specific accusations to follow (e.g., the false prophets and corrupt priests in v. 31). The language chosen, particularly "appalling" (שַׁמָּה) and "horrible" (שַׁעֲרוּרִיָּה), indicates an abomination of the highest degree – something so offensive that it evokes visceral shock, dread, and disgust in God's eyes and to His prophet. This is not merely an inconvenience or a slight misstep, but a deep-seated, institutionalized corruption that perverts justice, morality, and true worship, fundamentally shattering the covenant relationship. It means the people, leaders, and religious figures of Judah have created an environment antithetical to God's holiness and justice, inviting inevitable divine intervention and judgment upon the land that has been defiled by their actions. The verse captures the prophet's, and more importantly, God's, profound disappointment and anger at the pervasive betrayal of their sacred calling.