Jeremiah 5:23 describes a people whose hearts have become stubborn and rebellious, so that they have turned away from God and gone their own way. The prophet Jeremiah speaks these words on behalf of the LORD, directing them to the nation of Judah in the years before Jerusalem fell to Babylon. The verse is an indictment, not a comfort, and it names the root problem behind the disobedience Jeremiah saw everywhere around him.
“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
Jeremiah 5:23 (WEB)
What Jeremiah 5:23 Means
The verse begins with “this people,” a phrase that refers to the nation of Judah as a whole rather than to one individual. The word translated “revolting” carries the idea of something stubborn and defiant, a heart that refuses to yield. Jeremiah pairs it with “rebellious,” which describes an active turning against authority. Together they paint a picture of a people whose inner life has hardened against God.
The final line, “They have revolted and gone,” moves from attitude to action. The people did not simply feel resentment; they walked away. The verb suggests a deliberate departure, the kind a person makes when they decide to go somewhere they were told not to go. Jeremiah is describing a settled choice, not a passing mood.
It is worth being clear about what this verse does not say. It does not promise that Judah could never return, and it does not describe God abandoning His people for good. It is a diagnosis of the present condition, and the chapters that follow show God continuing to call them back. The verse names the problem so that the people might see it clearly.
The Context of Jeremiah 5:23
The book of Jeremiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet himself, who ministered in Jerusalem from roughly the late seventh century BC into the early sixth century. His audience was the southern kingdom of Judah, a people who still had the temple, the king, and the outward forms of religion, yet who had largely abandoned the covenant relationship with the LORD. Chapter 5 is a sharp rebuke of that gap between appearance and reality.
The surrounding verses sharpen the meaning. Just before verse 23, God asks the people why they do not tremble before Him, pointing to the sea held back by a boundary He set in place. Just after, the prophet observes that the people do not even think to fear the LORD who gives rain and the harvest, and that their sins have cut them off from good things. Read in that setting, the revolting heart in verse 23 is the reason the people have lost their sense of reverence and gratitude.
Key Phrases in Jeremiah 5:23
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
(WEB)
David asks God to create a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within him. Where Jeremiah diagnoses a revolting heart, this psalm shows the remedy that only God can provide, a heart made new from within.
Ezekiel 36:26
I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
(WEB)
Ezekiel records God’s promise to give His people a new heart and a new spirit, removing the stony heart. It answers the problem Jeremiah names by pointing to God’s own work of changing what human effort cannot.
A Short Prayer From Jeremiah 5:23
Lord, You see the places in my heart that have grown stubborn and far from You. I confess that I have sometimes turned away quietly, keeping the outward habits while my inner life drifted. Search me and show me where I have become resistant to Your ways. Soften what has hardened, and draw me back into the trust and fear of You that is good for me. Let my heart return to You in honesty and gratitude, today and every day. Amen.
