Yeremia 5:5

5:5 I will go to the leaders ¹ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ² 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ³ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ⁴ 

Yeremia 5:31

5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.

The priests exercise power by their own authority. ⁵ 

And my people love to have it this way.

But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! ⁶ 

[5:5]  ¹ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

[5:5]  ² tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

[5:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”

[5:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”