Jeremiah Chapter 5 verse 4 Holy Bible
Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God:
read chapter 5 in ASV
Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God.
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And I said, Surely these are the wretched ones, they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, the judgment of their God.
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Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
read chapter 5 in KJV
read chapter 5 in WBT
Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God:
read chapter 5 in WEB
And I -- I said, `Surely these `are' poor, They have been foolish, For they have not known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - Therefore I said; rather, and as for me, I said. They are foolish; rather, they act foolishly (as Numbers 12:11). For; rather, because. Their want of religious instruction is the cause of their faulty conduct. In fact, it was only after the return from Babylon that any popular schools were founded in Judaea, and not till shortly before the destruction of the temple that the elementary instruction attained the regularity of a system (Edersheim, 'Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Time of Christ,' pp. 134, 135). The judgment of their God. A similar phrase occurs in Jeremiah 8:7. "Judgment (mishpat) here (as in some other passages) has acquired a technical sense. This may be illustrated by the corresponding word in Arabic (din), which means (1) obedience, (2) a religion, (3) a statute or ordinance, . . .
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Therefore.--Literally, And. The prophet makes for the poor the half-pitying plea of ignorance. Looking upon the masses that toil for bread, those whom the Scribes afterwards called the "people of earth," it was not strange that they who had been left untaught should have learnt so little. The thought finds a parallel in our Lord's compassion for the multitude who were as "sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36), for the servant who "knew not his Lord's will" (Luke 12:48).The way of the Lord.--That which He approves, that which leads to Him, as in Genesis 18:19; Deuteronomy 31:29.
