What is the meaning of Jeremiah 5:17? They will devour your harvest and food - The Lord warns that invading armies (historically Babylon, cf. 2 Kings 25:1–10) will seize Judah’s grain and provisions. - This fulfills the covenant curse of Deuteronomy 28:33: “A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and all your labor.” - The loss is total—no seed for next season, no bread for today. It pictures divine judgment that strikes the everyday necessities of life (see Joel 1:10–12). They will consume your sons and daughters - Beyond crops, the calamity reaches the family. Deportation, slavery, and battlefield deaths will “consume” the next generation (Jeremiah 6:11, 2 Chronicles 36:17). - Compare Lamentations 1:5: “Her children have gone away, captive before the enemy.” - God’s justice touches what parents hold dearest, echoing Deuteronomy 28:41. They will eat up your flocks and herds - Livestock symbolize economic stability (Job 1:3). Enemy forces will seize or slaughter them, as foretold in Jeremiah 4:13, 7:20. - Micah 6:13–15 shows the same pattern: sowing but not reaping, treading olives but not using the oil. - Nothing remains untouched; judgment is comprehensive. They will feed on your vines and fig trees - Vines and figs picture peace and prosperity (1 Kings 4:25). Their destruction means the end of leisurely abundance. - Amos 4:9 and Joel 1:7 record similar ravaging of vineyards and fig orchards when God’s patience ends. - Even long-term investments—plants that take years to mature—are wiped out, underscoring that sin’s cost is generational. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust - Judah relied on walls and alliances rather than on the Lord (Jeremiah 2:36–37, Isaiah 22:8–11). - The “sword” is a recurring emblem of divine judgment (Jeremiah 14:12). No fortress can stand when God orders its fall—see the fate of Lachish in 2 Kings 19:8. - Psalm 33:16 reminds, “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; no warrior is delivered by great strength.” summary Jeremiah 5:17 paints a layered portrait of judgment: first the harvest, then the household, livelihood, leisure, and finally the very walls of security. Every sphere the people trusted—fields, family, flocks, fruit, fortifications—crumbles when they spurn the Lord. The passage fulfills covenant warnings, demonstrating God’s unwavering faithfulness to His Word: blessings for obedience, curses for rebellion. Yet embedded in the severity is a call to turn back before loss becomes irrevocable, for the One who judges is also eager to restore (Jeremiah 3:22). |
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