Jeremiah 5:20-25
When people reject the God who sustains creation and provides their blessings, they forfeit the very benefits they once enjoyed.
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
22 Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’
23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
When people reject the God who sustains creation and provides their blessings, they forfeit the very benefits they once enjoyed.
To proclaim that Judah’s stubborn refusal to fear and obey the LORD—despite His sovereign control over creation and provision of seasonal blessings—has resulted in the removal of divine favor and the arrival of covenant consequences.
This passage continues the prophetic accusation in Jeremiah 5. After explaining the coming judgment and the reason for exile, Jeremiah now exposes the deeper spiritual blindness of the nation. The prophet appeals to creation itself as evidence of God's authority, emphasizing the irrational nature of Judah's rebellion.
Jeremiah addresses a society that has become spiritually insensitive despite witnessing God's provision and authority in both history and creation.
Search Jerusalem: No Truth, No Justice, and No Fear of the LORD
Jerusalem is guilty because truth, justice, fear of the LORD, faithful leadership, and care for the vulnerable have collapsed, so the LORD's judgment is deserved, though mercifully not a full end.