Jeremiah 5:20-21 | |
20. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, | 20. Nuntiate hoc in domo Jacob, et promulgate (ad verbum, audire facite) in Jehudah, dicendo, |
21. Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: | 21. Audite agedum hoc, popule stulte et absque corde; oculi illis, et non vident; aures illis, et non audiunt (et non audient, ad verbum.) |
The Prophet confirms what he had said, lest the Jews should think that they were only terrified by words, and not dread the consequences. Hence he says,
He no doubt alludes to the idols to which they had become devoted: for it is said in Psalm 115:8, that those who made idols were like them, as well as those who trusted in them; for it had been previously said, that idols had ears but heard not, and eyes but saw not. Jeremiah then indirectly condemns the Jews here for having become so stupid in their superstitions as to be like dead idols: for there is in an idol some likeness to man; it has various members but no understanding. So also he says, the Jews had eyes and ears and the external form of men; but they were at the same time no less stupid than if they were stones or blocks of wood. Now follows the proclamation --
1 It is better to retain the future tense, as their obstinacy is thereby more fully expressed; the whole verse may be thus literally rendered,-
Hear, I pray, this, Ye perverse people and without understanding,- Eyes they have, but they will not see, Ears they have, but they will not hear.
The "this" which they were to hear is contained in the next verse. The two last lines are only explanatory of the preceding. They were "without understanding, "for they would not see, though they had eyes; and they were "perverse, "or perversely foolish, for they would not hear, though they had ears. When two things are mentioned and afterwards referred to, the prophets usually explain the last, and then the first, as the case is here. The two last lines may be included in a parenthesis.-Ed.