Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 5:25–end
Here, I. The prophet shows them what mischief their sins had done them: They have turned away these things (Jer 5:25), the former and the latter rain, which they used to have in due season (Jer 5:24), but which had of late been withheld (Jer 3:3), by reason of which the appointed weeks of harvest had sometimes disappointed them. "It is your sin that has withholden good from you, when God was ready to bestow it upon you." Note, It is sin that stops the current of God's favour to us, and deprives us of the blessings we used to receive. It is that which makes the heavens as brass and the earth as iron.
II. He shows them how great their sins were, how heinous and provoking. When they had forsake…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 5:28
shine--the effect of fatness on the skin (Deu 32:15). They live a life of self-indulgence.
overpass . . . the wicked--exceed even the Gentiles in wickedness (Jer 2:33; Eze 5:6-7).
judge not . . . fatherless-- (Isa 1:23).
yet . . . prosper-- (Jer 12:1).
John Gill on Jeremiah 5:28
They are waxen fat, they shine,.... Becoming rich they grew fat, and their faces shone through fatness; so oil, delicious food, and good living, as it fattens men, it makes their faces to shine; see Psalm 104:15,
yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked; though they pretended to religion, the fear and worship of God, yet they committed crimes more heinous than the most abandoned and profligate sinners: or, "they exceed the words of the wicked" (f); either they speak words more wicked than they; or do such actions as are not to be expressed by words, and which even a wicked man would hardly choose to name. The Targum is,
"they transgress the words of the law;''
and the Vulgate Latin vers…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Jeremiah 5:28
Jeremiah 5:28
28. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
28. Impinguati sunt (nam smnvdeducitur ab oleo, perfusi sunt pinguedine, si Latine et proprie reddere velimus,) postea nitent (vel, sunt candidi, alludit ad pingues et bene saginatos, quorum cutis est nitida;) etiam excedunt (vel, quamvis excesserint) verba impii (hoc est, scelera impiorum:) causam non judicant, causam pupilli, et prosperantur; et judicium pauperum non judicant.
Here the Prophet reproves those who were high in dignity, station, and wealth, and who wished at the s…
