Jeremiah 5

1 [Yahweh said to the people of Jerusalem], “Go up and down every street. Search in the marketplaces to find people who do what is fair/right, who try to be faithful to me. [If you find even one person like that], I will forgive [the people of Jerusalem and not destroy] their city.

“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.

2 But when people there say, ‘I solemnly declare that as surely as Yahweh lives, [I will do what he says],’ they are lying.”

Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”

3 Yahweh, you are certainly [RHQ] searching for [people who tell the] truth. You struck/punished your people, but they did not pay any attention. You crushed them, but they ignored what you were telling them to do. They were extremely stubborn [IDM] and refused to return to you.

O Yahweh, don’t 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.

4 I thought, “[We cannot expect] these [people to act righteously, because they] are poor; they do not have any sense. They do not know the way Yahweh wants them to conduct their lives; they do not know what God requires them to do.

Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God.

5 So, I will go and talk to their leaders, because they [surely] know how God wants them to conduct their lives.” But they also have stopped obeying Yahweh [MET], and they will not allow him to lead them.

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

6 Because of that, lions will come out of the forests and kill them; wolves from the desert will attack them; leopards that lurk/wait outside their cities will maul anyone who walks outside the cities. [Those things will happen] because the people have sinned very much against God and have turned away from him very frequently.

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.

7 Yahweh says, “I cannot [RHQ] forgive these people; [even] their children have abandoned me. When they solemnly declare something, they ask their gods [to show that what they say is true]. I gave my people everything that they needed, but they often went to [the shrines of their idols] and committed adultery there.

“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.

8 [Just like] [MET] well-fed male horses neigh, wanting sex with female horses, each of the men desires to have sex with his neighbor’s wife.

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

9 (Should I not punish them for this [RHQ]?/I will certainly get revenge on this nation for this!) I will certainly get revenge [RHQ] on this nation whose people behave like that!

Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 [I will say to your enemies], ‘The people [of Judah and Israel are like a vineyard]. Go along the rows in their vineyards and get rid of [most of] the people, but do not kill all of them. These people do not belong to me, [so get rid of them], [like a gardener] [MET] lops/cuts off branches from a vine.

“Go up on her walls, and destroy, but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s.

11 The people of Israel and Judah have turned away from me completely.’

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

12 They have lied about me and said, ‘He will not punish us! He will not cause us to experience disasters! We will not experience wars or famines!

They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.

13 What [God’s] prophets say is nothing but hot air! They do not have messages [from God]! We would like [the disasters that they predict] to happen to them!’”

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

14 So, this is what Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels in heaven, has said to me: “Because my people are saying those things, I will give you a message to tell them [MTY] that will be [like] [MET] a fire, and [these people will be like] [MET] wood that the fire will burn up.

Therefore Yahweh, 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.

15 Listen to this, you people of Israel: I will bring [the army of] a distant nation to attack you. It is a very powerful nation that has existed for a long time. They speak a language that you do not know and which you will not be able to understand.

Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t understand what they say.

16 Their soldiers are all very strong, and the arrows from their quivers [MET] will (send many Israeli men to their graves/cause many Israeli people to die).

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

17 They will eat the food that you have harvested from your fields, and eat your bread. They will kill your sons and daughters, and they will kill your flocks [of sheep] and herds [of cattle]. They will eat your grapes and your figs. They will [also] destroy your cities that have high walls around them and kill the people with their swords.

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.

18 But even when those things happen, I will not get rid of all of you.

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

19 And when the survivors ask, ‘Why is Yahweh our God doing this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘You rejected him and worshiped foreign gods in your [own] land, so [now] you will become slaves of foreigners in a land that is not your land.’”

It will happen when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh 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.’

20 [Yahweh said to me], “Proclaim this to the people of Israel and Judah:

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

21 Listen to this, you people who are foolish and who do not have any sense: You have eyes, but [it is as though] you cannot see; you have ears, but [it is as though] you cannot hear.

‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:

22 Why do you not revere me [RHQ]? You should [RHQ] tremble when you are in my presence! I, Yahweh, am the one who put a barrier along the shores so that the waters of the ocean cannot cross it [and flood the land]. The waves roll and roar, but they cannot go past that barrier.

Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’

23 But you people [are not like the waves that obey me]. You people are very stubborn and rebellious. You have constantly turned away from me.

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

24 You do not say to yourselves, ‘We should revere Yahweh our God, the one who sends us rain at the times when we need it, the one who causes the grain to become ripe at the harvest season.’

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

25 It is because of the wrong things that you have done, that those good things have not happened; it is because of the sins that you have committed that you have been prevented from receiving those blessings.

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

26 Among my people are wicked people who hide along the roads to ambush/attack people like [SIM] men who hunt birds (put out nets/set traps) to catch them.

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

27 Like [a hunter has] a cage full of birds [that he has captured], their homes are full of things that they have gotten by deceiving others. So now they are [very] rich and powerful.

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

28 They are big and fat, and there is no limit to the evil things that they have done. They do not try to defend orphans in the courtrooms, and they do not help poor people to get what they have a right to receive.

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

29 So I will certainly [RHQ] punish them for doing those things. I will certainly [RHQ] (get revenge on their nation/do to their nation what they deserve).

“Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

30 Very appalling/horrible and terrible [DOU] things are happening in this country:

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

31 Prophets speak [only] lies and priests rule by their own authority, and you people like that! But when you [start to] experience disasters, what will you do [RHQ]?”

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?