John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 5:26

"For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men." — Jeremiah 5:26 (ASV)

What the previous verse contains is confirmed here: that the Jews, through their own fault, had deprived themselves of God’s favor. This was necessary, because otherwise they would have had some answer to give, since hypocrites, being so perverse, do not easily yield. Therefore, the Prophet confirms what he had said: that there were wicked men among God’s people.

But this should not be confined to only some among them, as is done by interpreters, who seem not to explain quite correctly what the Prophet meant. For he does not reprove or condemn only some; instead, he says that the people whom God had chosen were wicked. It is, therefore, a general condemnation of the whole people when he says that found wicked men were among God’s people, as if he had said, “The wicked are not to be sought among heathens, but iniquity so reigns among the elect people that there is nothing sound or pure in them.”

When he says found, I understand his meaning to be found guilty or convicted. He means that their sins were not secret, so they could not escape by evasions; rather, he says they were found (as thieves are, according to a common saying) in the very act of stealing. The Prophet, therefore, implies that there was no need for a long dispute, as if the Jews could find some excuse, because they were clearly guilty.

But it was much more disgraceful that they were found wicked than that the blind and unbelieving were found so, because God had adopted them as His people on this condition: that holiness and purity of life should prevail among them. Therefore, since they were not only sinners but רשעים, reshoim, wholly impious and wicked, it was, as I have said, a far more atrocious thing. And in this way, he takes away from them every pretense for evasion.

He afterwards urges his charge still further, saying that every one looked, or espied, for this is the meaning of the verb שור, shur. He indeed changes the number, but the sense is not made more obscure by this; and to look, here, means to lie in wait. So, every one looked, or lay in wait, as if they were laying snares as fowlers do. He then says that they were furnished with snares, by which they dragged men into destruction after catching them.

What is particular is mentioned here for what is general, for the Prophet meant to show that there was then no faithfulness or integrity among the people, because everyone oppressed the simple by frauds and wicked crafts. Therefore, since they were so treacherous toward one another, he aptly compares them to fowlers who entrap simple birds with their snares; but he explains this more clearly in what follows next.