Jeremiah 5
1 “Rush about through the streets of Jerusalem; search in her city squares, too. Then look and think about this: If you can find a man or anyone who is acting justly and trying to act faithfully, then I will forgive Jerusalem.
Go quickly through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and get knowledge, and make a search in her wide places if there is a man, if there is one in her who is upright, who keeps faith; and she will have my forgiveness.
2 Although they say, 'As Yahweh lives,' yet they are swearing falsely.”
And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false.
3 Yahweh, do your eyes not look for faithfulness? You struck the people, but they do not feel pain. You have completely defeated them, but they still refuse to receive discipline. They make their faces harder than rock, for they refuse to repent.
O Lord, do not your eyes see good faith? you have given them punishment, but they were not troubled; you have sent destruction on them, but they did not take your teaching to heart: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they would not come back.
4 So I said, “Surely these are only poor people. They are foolish, for they do not know Yahweh's ways, nor their God's decrees.
Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God.
5 I will go to the important people and declare God's messages to them, for they at least know Yahweh's ways, the decrees of their God.” But they all broke their yoke together; they all tore apart the chains that bound them to God.
I will go to the great men and have talk with them; for they have knowledge of the way of the Lord and of the behaviour desired by their God. But as for these, their one purpose is a broken yoke and burst bands.
6 So a lion from a thicket will attack them. A wolf from the Arabah will ruin them. A lurking panther will come against their cities. Anyone who goes outside his city will be torn apart. For their transgressions increase. Their acts of faithlessness are unlimited.
And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing.
7 Why should I pardon these people? Your sons have abandoned me and have made oaths by what are not gods. I fed them fully, but they committed adultery and walked in great numbers to the houses of prostitutes.
How is it possible for you to have my forgiveness for this? your children have given me up, taking their oaths by those who are no gods: when I had given them food in full measure, they were false to their wives, taking their pleasure in the houses of loose women.
8 They were horses in heat. They roamed about wanting to mate. Each man neighed to his neighbor's wife.
They were full of desire, like horses after a meal of grain: everyone went after his neighbour's wife.
9 So should I not punish them—this is Yahweh's declaration— and should I not avenge myself on a nation that is like this?
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
10 Go up onto her vineyards' terraces and destroy. But do not bring complete destruction to them. Trim their vines, since those vines do not come from Yahweh.
Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
11 For the houses of Israel and Judah have completely betrayed me—this is Yahweh's declaration.
For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely about Yahweh and they said, “He will do nothing; no harm will come upon us, and we will not see sword or famine.
They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food:
13 The prophets will become wind, the word is not in them, so let what they say be done to them.”
And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; so it will be done to them.
14 So Yahweh, the God of hosts says this, “Because you have said this, see, I am about to place my word in your mouth. It will be like a fire, and this people will be like wood! For it will consume them.
For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, has said: Because you have said this, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and they will be burned up by it.
15 Behold! I am about to bring a nation against you from far away, house of Israel—this is Yahweh's declaration— it is a lasting nation, an ancient nation! It is a nation whose language you do not know, nor will you understand what they say.
See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words.
16 Its quiver is like an open tomb. They are all soldiers.
Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war.
17 So your harvest will be consumed, your sons and daughters also, and your food. They will eat your flocks and cattle; they will eat the fruit from your vines and fig trees. They will beat down with a sword your fortified cities that you trusted in.
They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.
18 But even in those days—this is Yahweh's declaration—I do not intend to destroy you completely.
But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not let your destruction be complete.
19 When you, Israel and Judah, say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' then you, Jeremiah, will say to them, 'Just as you abandoned Yahweh and served foreign gods in your land, so you must also serve strangers in a land that is not your own.'
And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours.
20 Report this to the house of Jacob and let it be heard in Judah. Say,
Say this openly in Jacob and give it out in Judah, saying,
21 'Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding; who have eyes but you cannot see, and you have ears but you cannot hear.
Give ear now to this, O foolish people without sense; who have eyes but see nothing, and ears without the power of hearing:
22 Do you not fear me—this is Yahweh's declaration—or tremble before my face? I have placed a border of sand against the sea, an ongoing decree that it does not violate— even though the sea rises and falls, still it does not violate it. Even though its waves roar, they do not cross it.
Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it.
23 But this people has a stubborn heart. It turns away in rebellion and goes away.
But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone.
24 For they do not say in their hearts, “Let us fear Yahweh our God, the one who brings the rain —the early rain and the late rains—in their right time, keeping the fixed weeks of the harvest for us.”
And they do not say in their hearts, Now let us give worship to our God, who gives the rain, the winter and the spring rain, at the right time; who keeps for us the ordered weeks of the grain-cutting.
25 Your iniquities kept these things from happening. Your sins have stopped good from coming to you.
Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.
26 For wicked men are found with my people. They watch as someone crouches to capture birds; they set a trap and catch people.
For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it.
27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit. So they grow large and become rich.
As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth.
28 They have become fat; they shine with well-being. They crossed over all bounds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause of the people, or the cause of the orphan. They prosper even though they have not given justice to the needy.
They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.
29 Should I not punish them for these things—this is Yahweh's declaration— and will I not take vengeance for myself on a nation like this?
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
30 Atrocities and horrors have occurred in the land.
A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy with deceit, and the priests rule with their own power. My people love it this way, but what will happen in the end?'”
The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?
