Bible Strands
Jeremiah 5:9
Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks in Jeremiah 5:9 immediately after the prophet catalogs Israel's idolatrous lust in verse 8, positioning this declaration as a judicial response to national corruption. The prophet delivers this rhetorical question to the covenant community during a period of sustained moral and spiritual violation.
The words — The Hebrew verb אֶפְקֹד ('efkod) literally means "I will visit" or "I will punish," appearing alongside בְּג֣וֹי (be-goy, "on a nation") to frame the action as targeted judicial visitation. These terms establish the coming retribution as a deliberate, measured response rather than arbitrary wrath.
The thread — This exact phrasing recurs in Jeremiah 9:9 and Jeremiah 5:29, while Isaiah 1:24 echoes the same judicial motif of the Lord avenging Himself against a faithless people. The repetition reinforces a consistent prophetic pattern of divine accountability across the texts.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant violation triggers inevitable judicial consequences rather than divine indifference. It requires the reader to confront the reality that sustained national corruption invites purposeful, unignorable retribution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 9:9 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
- Jeremiah 5:29 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
- Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.
- Leviticus 26:25 And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
- Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.
- Jeremiah 23:2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 44:22 So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
- Lamentations 4:22 O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.
- Ezekiel 5:13 And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD, in My zeal have spoken.