And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
JEREMIAH 5:19KJVWhat does Jeremiah 5:19 mean?
Jeremiah 5:19 explains that when the people of Judah ask why God is allowing disaster to happen to them, they will be told it is because they abandoned God and served foreign gods in their own land, so now they will have to serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to them. The verse connects their worship of other gods to the consequence of being taken into exile.
In this verse, God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah during a time when they are facing judgment for their unfaithfulness. The people’s question, “Why is the LORD our God doing all this to us?” is answered directly: their own actions—forsaking God and worshiping other gods—have led to their coming exile and servitude in a foreign country. The verse sets up a clear cause-and-effect relationship between their choices and the consequences they will experience.
The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 5:19
- “LORD” (יְהוָה, YHWH): This is the personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible, emphasizing that it is Israel’s own covenant God who is acting, not a distant or unknown deity.
- “forsaken” (עָזַב, ‘azav): This word means to abandon or leave behind. It highlights the seriousness of the people’s break from their relationship with God.
- “served” (עָבַד, ‘avad): This verb means to work for or worship. The same word is used both for serving God and for serving foreign gods or foreigners, underlining the reversal in their situation.
- “strange” (נָכְרִי, nokhri): This word means foreign or alien. It stresses that the gods they served were not their own, just as the people they will serve in exile are not their own people.
Why Jeremiah 5:19 matters
- Jeremiah 5:19 clarifies that the exile is not random or unfair, but a direct result of the people’s own choices to abandon God and seek after other gods.
- The verse emphasizes personal responsibility and the idea that actions have consequences, which is a major theme throughout Jeremiah’s prophecies.
- By using the same words for “serving” both gods and foreigners, the verse draws a strong parallel between spiritual unfaithfulness and its real-world outcome: loss of freedom and homeland.