Jeremiah 5

1 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.

Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can fins a man that executeth judgement, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.

2 Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”

And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely.

3 O LORD, do not your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return.

4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the LORD’s way, nor the law of their God.

But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God.

5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

I will go therefore to the great men, and I will speak to them: for they known the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God: and behold these have together broken the yoke more, and have burst the bonds.

6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.

Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening, hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.

7 “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.

How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot’s house.

8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

They are become as amorous horses and stallions, every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

9 Should not I punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Should not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Shall I not visit for these things, sayeth the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?

10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy, but do not make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.

Scale down the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord’s.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says the LORD.

For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord.

12 They have denied the LORD, and said, “It is not he. Evil will not come on us. We will not see sword or famine.

They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.

13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”

The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them.

14 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.

Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them.

15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and do not understand what they say.

Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.

16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.

17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.

And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.

18 “But even in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.

Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.

19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

And if you shall say: why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.

20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying:

21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and do not see, who have ears, and do not hear:

Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not.

22 Do not you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Will not you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail. Though they roar, they still cannot pass over it.’

Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it.

23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.

But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away.

24 They do not say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’

And they have not said in their heart: let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fullness of the yearly harvest.

25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

26 For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.

27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.

As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched.

28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, they have not judged the judgement of the poor.

29 “Should not I punish for these things?” says the LORD. “Should not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?

30 “An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.

Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.

31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?