Jeremiah 5

1 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

Run ye about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye can find [one], if there is any one that does judgment, and seeks faithfulness; and I will pardon them, saith the Lord.

2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are swearing falsely.”

The Lord lives, they say; do they not therefore swear falsely?

3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

O Lord, thine eyes are upon faithfulness: thou hast scourged them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them; but they would not receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; and they would not return.

4 Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

Then I said, It may be they are poor; for they are weak, for they know not the way of the Lord, or the judgment of God.

5 I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

I will go to the rich men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of God: but, behold, with one consent they have broken the yoke, they have burst the bonds.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

Therefore has a lion out of the forest smitten them, and a wolf has destroyed them even to [their] houses, and a leopard has watched against their cities: all that go forth from them shall be hunted: for they have multiplied their ungodliness, they have strengthened themselves in their revoltings.

7 “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

In what [way] shall I forgive thee for these things? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and lodged in harlots' houses.

8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after his neighbour's wife.

9 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this.

10 Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.

Go up upon her battlements, and break [them] down; but make not a full end: leave her buttresses: for they are the Lord's.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”

For the house of Israel have indeed dealt treacherously against me, saith the Lord: the house of Juda also

12 They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.

have lied to their Lord, and they have said, These things are not so; no evils shall come upon us; and we shall not see sword or famine.

13 The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”

Our prophets became wind, and the word of the Lord was not in them.

14 Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.

Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I have made my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

15 Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

Behold, I [will] bring upon you a nation from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; a nation the sound of whose language one shall not understand.

16 Their quivers are like open graves; they are all mighty men.

[They are] all mighty men:

17 They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.”

and they shall devour your harvest, and your bread; and shall devour your sons, and your daughters; and they shall devour your sheep, and your calves, and devour your vineyards, and your fig-plantations, and your olive yards: and they shall utterly destroy your strong cities, wherein ye trusted, with the sword.

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

And it shall come to pass in those days, saith the Lord thy God, that I will not utterly destroy you.

19 And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that thou shalt say to them, Because ye served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

Proclaim these things to the house of Jacob, and let them be heard in the house of Juda.

21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

Hear ye now these things, O foolish and senseless people; who have eyes, and see not; and have ears, and hear not:

22 Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.

will ye not be afraid of me? saith the Lord; and will ye not fear before me, who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, [as] a perpetual ordinance, and it shall not pass it: yea, it shall rage, but not prevail; and its waves shall roar, but not pass over it.

23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.

But this people has a disobedient and rebellious heart; and they have turned aside and gone back:

24 They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

and they have not said in their heart, Let us fear now the Lord our God, who gives us the early and latter rain, according to the season of the fulfillment of the ordinance of harvest, and has preserved [it] for us.

25 Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty.

Your transgressions have turned away these things, and your sins have removed good things from you.

26 For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.

For among my people were found ungodly men; and they have set snares to destroy men, and have caught [them].

27 Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

As a snare which has been set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore have they grown great, and become rich:

28 They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

and they have transgressed [the rule of] judgment; they have not judged the cause of the orphan, nor have they judged the cause of the widow.

29 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

30 A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.

Shocking and horrible deeds have been done on the land;

31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

the prophets utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands: and my people has loved [to have it] thus: and what will ye do for the future.