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.

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

And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will 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, 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, “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.

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 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 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 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.

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 “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.

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

They are become as amorous horses and stallions, every one neighed after his neighbor’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, sayeth the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?

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.

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 been utterly unfaithful to Me,”

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

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.

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

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

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

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 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 “Yet even in those days,” declares 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 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 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 proclaim it in Judah:

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

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

Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and 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 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 these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.

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

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

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden 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 are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.

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

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 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? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?

30 A horrible and shocking 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. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

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?