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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 89

"But do not make a complete end."

Text: Jeremiah 5:10

PUNISHMENT AND DESTRUCTION

God’s punishment involved destruction. However, this destruction would not be a full and complete one. This was truly an expression of God’s great mercy.

“Go up on her walls and destroy,
But do not make a complete end.
Take away her branches,
For they are not the LORD’s.”
Jeremiah 5:10

1. “Go up on her walls and destroy”

a) The powerful invaders would come.
b) They would breach all the walls of the cities of Judah.
c) The whole nation would suffer much destruction.

2. “But do not make a complete end”

a) This would be God’s grace and mercy shown.
b) This was a word that was given earlier (Jeremiah 4:27).
c) This was now repeated.
i) It would bring a measure of assurance.
ii) There would be hope for the future.
iii) There would be a small group of people preserved.
iv) This would be “the remnant”.

3. “Take away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.”

a) There were “branches” that emerge.
b) These were undertakings Judah engaged in:
i) Alliances with foreign nations.
ii) These were treaties that were not sanctioned by the Lord.
c) These may have appeared to be “natural branches” of Judah.
d) But they were not the LORD’s.
i) Through unwise and unholy alliances, Judah yielded to idolatry.
ii) The nation became corrupted morally too.
e) These alliances would also be destroyed with Judah.