Jeremiah 5:5 is the prophet’s own reasoning after he assumed the common people were simply ignorant of God. He had thought the poor were foolish and did not know the LORD’s way, so he decided to go to the leaders, the great men, expecting them to understand. Jeremiah is speaking in the voice of a man who first gave the ordinary folk the benefit of the doubt, then discovered that the powerful were no better, and in some ways worse.
I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Jeremiah 5:5 (WEB)
What Jeremiah 5:5 Means
The verse opens with Jeremiah’s resolve: “I will go to the great men, and will speak to them.” He is planning a more respectable audience, believing that people with education, position, and access to Scripture would surely respond to a rebuke. The phrase “for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God” is the reason he gives. These leaders were expected to be the teachers of Israel, so their knowledge of God’s ways made their conduct harder to excuse.
The second half of the verse turns the expectation upside down. “But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds” tells us that the great men had united in rejecting God’s rule, shaking off the discipline of the covenant the way an animal shakes off a harness. The verse does not promise that a sincere appeal to the powerful will automatically succeed. It shows that knowledge of God, without a heart that submits to him, can coexist with a deliberate refusal to live under his authority.
The Context of Jeremiah 5:5
The book of Jeremiah was written against the backdrop of Judah’s final decades before the Babylonian exile, and the prophet is traditionally identified as its author. His audience was the people of Jerusalem and Judah, from the common person to the king’s court. Jeremiah was called to warn a nation that had grown comfortable with religious ritual while abandoning its covenant obligations to justice, honesty, and faithfulness.
Just before verse 5, the prophet describes people who swear by the LORD yet speak falsely and refuse correction, and in verse 4 he concludes that the poor are foolish because they do not know God’s way. Verse 5 is the turning point: when the common people fail to show understanding, Jeremiah looks upward, and finds the rulers in rebellion too. Verses 6 through 8 then describe the judgment that follows and the adultery that marks their society. Read in this setting, verse 5 is not a compliment to the leaders but a sad discovery that knowledge had not produced obedience.
Key Phrases in Jeremiah 5:5
Romans 2:17-24
17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God, 18 and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. 21 You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? 22 You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
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Paul’s warning to those who boast in the law while failing to keep it echoes Jeremiah’s dismay at leaders who knew God’s ways and still rebelled. Reading the two passages together shows that the problem of privileged knowledge without obedience is a recurring theme in Scripture.
Matthew 23:2-3
2 Saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat. 3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.
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Jesus speaks of teachers who sit in Moses’ seat yet fail to practice what they teach. The parallel with Jeremiah 5:5 is clear: those entrusted with knowing the law carry a heavier responsibility to live it out before others.
A Short Prayer From Jeremiah 5:5
Lord, you have given us your word and shown us the path you desire us to walk. Forgive us for the times we have known what is right and chosen our own way instead. Search our hearts, especially where knowledge has made us proud or comfortable, and bring our will into line with yours. Give us the humility to receive correction, and the courage to live under your rule rather than shaking off its bonds. Keep us faithful in every place of influence and in every ordinary day. Amen.
