Jeremiah 12:5

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ You will be in the right, O Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak my claims with you. Why does the way of the wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease. ² Not only do you plant them, they take root. They grow, but also they produce fruit. You are near in their mouths, but far from their inmost beings. ³ But you, O Yahweh, you know me, you see me, and you test that my heart is with you. Tear them apart like sheep for the slaughtering, and set them apart for the day of slaughter. ⁴ How long will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? The animals and the birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future." ⁵ "If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in a peaceful land, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? ⁶ For even your relatives, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they call loudly after you. You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou hast: Proverbs 3:11, Proverbs 24:10, Hebrews 12:3, Hebrews 12:4, 1 Peter 4:12

canst: Jeremiah 26:8, Jeremiah 36:26, Jeremiah 38:4-6

swelling: Jeremiah 49:19, Jeremiah 50:44, Joshua 3:15, 1 Chronicles 12:15, Psalms 42:7, Psalms 69:1, Psalms 69:2

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 23:3 - Behold Job 41:10 - who Jeremiah 11:21 - that seek Mark 14:37 - couldest 1 Corinthians 9:24 - run in 1 Corinthians 10:13 - hath

Cross-References

Genesis 10:19
And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

Genesis 11:31
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to Haran, and they settled there.

Genesis 12:5
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and all the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to the land of Canaan.

Genesis 12:8
And he moved on from there to the hill country, east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent at Bethel on the west, and at Ai on the east. And he built an altar there to Yahweh. And he called on the name of Yahweh.

Genesis 12:9
And Abram kept moving on, toward the Negev.

Genesis 14:14
When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he summoned his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and he went in pursuit up to Dan.

Genesis 14:21
And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, but the possessions take for yourself."

Acts 7:4
Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he caused him to move to this land in which you now live.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,.... The Targum introduces the words thus,

"this is the answer which was made to Jeremiah the prophet, concerning his question; a prophet thou art, like to a man that runs with footmen, and is weary.''

Then how canst thou contend with horses? or with men on horses: the sense is, either as Kimchi gives it, thou art among men like thyself, and thou art not able to find out their secrets and their designs against thee (see Jeremiah 11:18); how shouldest thou know my secrets in the government of the world, as to the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous? be silent, and do not trouble thyself about these things: or rather, as thou hast had a conflict with the men of Anathoth, and they have been too many for thee; they have grieved and distressed thee, and have made thee weary of my work and service; and thou hast been ready to give out, and declare that thou wilt be no longer concerned therein; what wilt thou do, when thou comest to be exercised with greater and sorer trials, and shalt have to do with the king of Judah and his court, with his princes and nobles, the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, and the priests and inhabitants thereof? The Targum interprets the footmen of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and of the good things done to him; and the horses of the righteous fathers of the Jews, who run like horses to do good works, and of the much greater good reserved for them; but very improperly: much better might it be applied, as it is by some, to the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, who gave the Jews much trouble; and therefore what would they do with the Chaldean army, consisting of a large cavalry, and which would come upon them like an impetuous stream, and overflow, as the swelling of Jordan, as follows?

and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee; if in his own native country, where he promised himself much peace, safety, and security, he met with that which ruffled and disturbed him:

then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? when it overflowed its bank, Joshua 3:15 and may denote the pride and haughtiness of the king and princes of Judea, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the difficulties that would attend the prophet's discharge of his duty among them; and the same thing is signified by this proverbial expression as the former.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yahweh rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, showing him by two proverbial sayings, that there were still greater trials of faith in store for him. Prosperous wickedness is after all a mere ordinary trial, a mere “running with the footmen;” he will have to exert far greater powers of endurance.

And if in the land ... - Rather, “and in a land of peace thou art secure; but how wilt thou do amid the pride of Jordan?” if thou canst feel safe only where things are tranquil, what wilt thou do in the hour of danger? The “pride of Jordan” is taken to, mean the luxuriant thickets along its banks, famous as the haunt of lions (compare Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; Zechariah 11:3). What will the prophet do when he has to tread the tangled maze of a jungle with the lions roaring round him?

Jeremiah 12:6

Called a multitude - Rather, “called aloud.” Compare Jeremiah 4:5. In all this Jeremiah was the type of Christ (compare Zechariah 13:6; Mark 3:21; John 7:5).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 12:5. If thou hast run with the footmen — If the smallest evils to which thou art exposed cause thee to make so many bitter complaints, how wilt thou feel when, in the course of thy prophetic ministry, thou shalt be exposed to much greater, from enemies much more powerful? Footmen may here be the symbol of common evil events; horsemen, of evils much more terrible. If thou have sunk under small difficulties, what wilt thou do when great ones come?

And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst — I believe the meaning is this, "If in a country now enjoying peace thou scarcely thinkest thyself in safety, what wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan? in the time when the enemy, like an overflowing torrent, shall deluge every part of the land?"

The overflowing of Jordan, which generally happened in harvest, drove the lions and other beasts of prey from their coverts among the bushes that lined its banks; who, spreading themselves through the country, made terrible havoc, slaying men, and carrying off the cattle.

Perhaps by footmen may be meant the Philistines, Edomites, c., whose armies were composed principally of infantry and by the horses, the Chaldeans, who had abundance of cavalry and chariots in their army. But still the words are proverbial, and the above is their meaning.