Yeremia 5:2-3

5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. ¹ 

But the fact is, ²  what they swear to is really a lie.” ³ 

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ⁴ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ⁵ 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ⁶ 

They refuse to change their ways. ⁷ 

[5:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.” The idea of “swear on oath” comes from the second line.

[5:2]  ² tc The translation follows many Hebrew mss and the Syriac version in reading “surely” (אָכֵן, ’akhen) instead of “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) in the MT.

[5:2]  tn Heb “Surely.”

[5:2]  ³ tn Heb “they swear falsely.”

[5:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[5:3]  ⁵ tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

[5:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”