Jeremiah 5 is a sharp chapter about a people who look religious while living far from God. The prophet is sent through Jerusalem to search for a single person who acts justly and seeks truth, and the Lord describes a nation that has grown rich on deceit while the poor and the fatherless go unheard. These questions are written for small groups, Sunday classes and personal study, with leader notes so the discussion can move without a separate commentary.
Jeremiah 5 at a Glance
The chapter opens with a challenge to search Jerusalem for one honest person, then moves to the Lord’s grief over a people who refuse correction. Jeremiah first assumes the poor are simply ignorant, then turns to the leaders and finds the same rebellion there. The Lord announces judgment through a distant invading nation, but he also says he will not make a full end of his people.
The second half widens the lens to creation and to the economy of the nation. The Lord points to the sea and the seasonal rains as evidence of his faithful order, then exposes wealth built on trickery. The chapter closes with prophets and priests who rule by their own authority while the people love it that way, and a final question that presses the reader to respond.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before any discussion of meaning. Ask the group to answer from the text itself, pointing to words and phrases, and resist explaining yet. Short answers keep the room moving and prepare everyone for the deeper questions below.
Jeremiah 5:1
“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.
(WEB)
This verse sets the tone for the whole chapter by showing the Lord’s desire to find even one person who acts justly and seeks truth. Reading it aloud early helps the group see that God’s mercy is tied to a search for faithful people. Pause after it and ask what the search reveals about the Lord’s heart.
Jeremiah 5:3
O the LORD, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
(WEB)
Reading this verse aloud slowly makes the hardness of the people’s hearts vivid and sets up the group’s own self-examination. The repeated pattern of striking, consuming and refusing correction is easy to hear in the room. Give a moment of quiet afterward so people can reflect honestly.
Jeremiah 5:22-24
22 Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’ 23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
(WEB)
This passage holds the Lord’s appeal to creation and his challenge to fear him, which gives the group a concrete picture of divine faithfulness. Reading it together helps people connect God’s steady order with the call to trust and reverence. It also prepares the discussion of the rebellious heart.
Jeremiah 5:28-29
28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t judge the right of the needy. 29 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
(WEB)
These verses name the specific neglect of the fatherless and the needy, which makes the chapter’s concern for justice concrete. Reading them aloud helps the group see that the Lord takes seriously how people treat the vulnerable. It leads naturally into the application questions about money and influence.
Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
(WEB)
The closing verse of the chapter asks a pointed question and exposes the comfort the people take in false messages. Reading it last gives the group a moment to sit with the final question. Let the words stand and invite each person to say what response they will make.
Memory Verse for Jeremiah 5
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you as people who have often said your name while our hearts were far from you. Search us, as you searched Jerusalem, and show us where we have refused correction or ignored the needs of the fatherless and the poor. Give us honest speech, tender hearts and a deep reverence for your faithful order in the world you made. Where we have grown comfortable with voices that please us, turn us back toward your truth. Keep us from hardness and steady us in trust. Amen.
