EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Jeremiah 12:5
5‘Jeremiah, you are running a race against people, and you are already tired! So you will never be able to run a race against horses. You are walking in flat fields, and you still fall over! So it will be much worse when you try to run through the trees and bushes near the Jordan River.
Jeremiah 12:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
- New International Version (NIV)“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
- English Standard Version (ESV)"If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
Context of Jeremiah 12:5
3But you know everything about me, Lord. You watch me carefully to test me. You know what I am thinking. You should kill those wicked men, as they deserve! Take them away like sheep, to kill them when the time is right. 4Our land has been dry for a long time. The grass everywhere is dying. How long will this continue? The animals and the birds are dying. This has happened because the people who live in this land do wicked things. They like to boast, ‘God will not see what happens to us.’ ‘Jeremiah, you are running a race against people, and you are already tired! So you will never be able to run a race against horses. You are walking in flat fields, and you still fall over! So it will be much worse when you try to run through the trees and bushes near the Jordan River. 6Even your own brothers and family have turned against you. They join with other people to attack you. So do not trust them, even when they say kind words to you. 7I have decided to turn away from my nation. I will leave the people that I chose to belong to me. I will put the people that I love under the power of their enemies.
Read all of Jeremiah 12Jeremiah 12:5 word by word
כִּ֣י אֶת־רַגְלִ֥ים׀ רַ֙צְתָּה֙ וַיַּלְא֔וּךָ וְאֵ֥יךְ תְּתַֽחֲרֶ֖ה אֶת־הַסּוּסִ֑ים וּבְאֶ֤רֶץ שָׁלוֹם֙ אַתָּ֣ה בוֹטֵ֔חַ וְאֵ֥יךְ תַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה בִּגְא֥וֹן הַיַּרְדֵּֽן׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- If thou hast runרוּץrûts · to run: runH7323
- with the footmenרַגְלִיraglîy · on footH7273
- and they have weariedלָאָהlâ'âh · be wearyH3811
- thee, then how canst thou contendתַּחָרָהtachârâh · to contendH8474
- with horsesסוּסsûs sûs · horseH5483
- in the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- of peaceשָׁלוֹםshâlôm shâlôm · peace: well-beingH7965
- thou trustedstבָּטַחbâţach · to trustH982
- then how wilt thou doעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
- in the swellingגָּאוֹןgâ'ôn · prideH1347
- of Jordanיַרְדֵּןyardên · JordanH3383
Cross-references for Jeremiah 12:5
- Proverbs 3:11My child, if the Lord warns you that you have done something wrong, accept it. Do not be upset if he warns you.
- Proverbs 24:1024. If you stop trying in times of trouble, you are really very weak.
- Hebrews 12:3So think carefully about how Jesus lived on earth. Bad people did very bad things against him, but he continued to be strong. Think about him, and then you will not become weak as Christians. You will not stop trusting God.
- 1 Peter 4:12My friends, I know that people are causing you to have bad trouble. It is like a fire that is burning you. Do not be surprised about that. These things are happening to you, to show whether you really trust God. Do not think that something strange is happening to you.
- Jeremiah 26:8Jeremiah said everything that the Lord had commanded him to say to all the people. Just as he finished, some of the priests, the prophets, and the people took hold of him. They shouted, ‘You deserve to die!
- Jeremiah 36:26Instead, the king told Prince Jerahmeel to go and find the secretary Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. Jerahmeel went with Azriel's son Seraiah and Abdeel's son Shelemiah to take hold of them. But the Lord had hidden Baruch and Jeremiah.
- Jeremiah 38:4When the officers heard that, they said to the king, ‘You must punish this man with death. He is making our soldiers who remain in the city afraid. The things that he says are making all the people in the city very afraid. He does not want to help our people. He wants to destroy them.’
- Jeremiah 49:19‘I will attack the people of Edom and I will chase them out of their land. I will be like a lion that has been hiding in the forest. It attacks the sheep in the fields beside the Jordan River. Like that lion, I will suddenly chase Edom's people out of their country. Then I will choose a leader to rule that nation. There is nobody who is like me. Nobody can accuse me of anything. No ruler can stand against me.
- Jeremiah 50:44I will attack the people of Babylonia, and I will chase them out of their land. I will do that like a lion that has been hiding in the forest. It attacks the sheep in the fields beside the Jordan River. Like that lion, I will suddenly chase Babylonia's people out of their country. Then I will choose a leader to rule that nation. There is nobody who is like me. Nobody can accuse me of anything. No ruler can stand against me.
- Joshua 3:15It was the time of the harvest and there was a lot of water coming down the river. But when the priests reached the shore of the river with the Covenant Box and their feet touched the water,
- 1 Chronicles 12:15Those men went across to the west side of the Jordan River during the first month of the year. At that time the water in the river was very deep and wide. They chased away the people who lived in the valleys on both sides of the river.
- Psalms 42:7I hear your waterfalls make a noise like thunder. It seems like all that water is pouring over me and it knocks me down to the ground.
- Psalms 69:1Please rescue me, God, because the deep water has come up to my neck.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 12:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5If 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…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Yahweh 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5Jeremiah's conflict with his family and friends was like racing against men. This was nothing compared to racing against horses, which would happen when the foreign army arrived. The coming war would be as difficult as navigating the dense bushes near the Jordan River.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. Jehovah's reply to Jeremiah's complaint. horses--that is, horsemen: the argument a fortiori. A proverbial phrase. The injuries done thee by the men of Anathoth ("the footmen") are small compared with those which the men of Jerusalem ("the horsemen") are about to inflict on thee. If the former weary thee out, how wilt thou contend with the king, the court, and the priests at Jerusalem? wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee--English Version thus…Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 12:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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