18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you.
18 "Yet even in those days," declares the Lord, "I will not destroy you completely.
18 "But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.
18 "Even then, as bad as it will be" - God's Decree! - "it will not be the end of the world for you.
18 "Nevertheless in those days," says the Lord, "I will not make a complete end of you.
18 "Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely," says the Lord .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 5:18
Commentary on Jeremiah 5:10-18
(Read Jeremiah 5:10-18)
Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. He has mercy in store for his people, therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Let us not overlook the "nevertheless," Psalm 89:30-35.