How this verse is understood depends on who the speaker is taken to be. If it is the voice of Jeremiah, commenting on the attitude of the people towards the Lord described in Jeremiah 5:12, then he is speaking of the false prophets who have brought this message of complacency to the people (see Jeremiah 14:13–15). There is a play on words because the Hebrew word for both wind
and spirit
is ruah. So, Jeremiah is saying that the words of these false prophets will become wind
(ruah) because they are not speaking the Lord’s words (because, by implication, they do not have the Lord’s Spirit (ruah).1 In fact, says Jeremiah, the judgment that these false prophets deny must fall on them: Thus shall it be done to them!
If, however, this is a continuation of Jeremiah 5:12 then these are still the words of the people who are saying of the Lord’s true prophets that their words are like wind. The implication being that the Lord’s prophets do not speak the Lord’s words (ruah) because they do not have the Lord’s Spirit. In their treacherous self-confidence, the people dismiss the Lord’s word of judgment spoken by his prophets such as Jeremiah. They even go so far as to say that the prophet’s message of judgment must fall on the prophets themselves.2
Both readings of the verse mentioned above fit the context. Both bring the reader to the same conclusion; the people have defiantly rejected the Lord’s message of judgment, either by listening to false prophets or by rejecting true prophets. Perhaps the slightly more natural reading is to read Jeremiah 5:13 as a continuation of the people’s words as they speak falsely
of the Lord (Jeremiah 5:12). This also fits better with what follows in Jeremiah 5:14.
12 Ils renient l'Eternel, ils disent: Il n'existe pas! Et le malheur ne viendra pas sur nous, Nous ne verrons ni l'épée ni la famine.