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.

“Travel the streets of Jerusalem; and gaze, and consider, and seek, in its wide streets. If you can find a man exercising judgment and seeking faith, then I will be forgiving to them.

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

For even though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in this, too, they swear falsely.”

3 O LORD, 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.

O Lord, your eyes look with favor upon faith. You have struck them, and they have not grieved. You have bruised them, and they have refused to accept discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, and they are not willing to return.

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

But I said: Perhaps these are the poor and the senseless, who are ignorant of the way of the Lord, of the judgment 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.

Therefore, I will go to great men, and I will speak with them. For they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. And behold, these ones have broken the yoke all the more; they have torn apart 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.

For this reason, a lion from the forest has struck them down, a wolf toward evening has laid waste to them, a leopard lies in wait over their cities. All who go out from there will be taken. For their transgressions have been multiplied; their rebellions have been 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.

“Over which things am I able to be merciful to you? Your sons have forsaken me, and they swear by those who are not gods. I gave them everything, and they committed adultery, and they indulged themselves in the house of the harlot.

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

They have become like wild horses in heat; each one was neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

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

Shall I not visit against these things, says the Lord? And shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation such as this?

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

Scale its walls and tear them down. But do not be willing to bring about its very end. Take away its plantings, for 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 Judah have greatly transgressed against me, says the Lord.

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

They have denied the Lord, and they have said, ‘It is not him,’ and, ‘Evil will not overwhelm us. We will not see famine and the sword.’

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

The prophets have spoken into the wind, and there was no answer with them. Therefore, these things will happen to them.”

14 Therefore the LORD, the God of Hosts 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 says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Since you have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth like fire and this people like wood, and it will 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 don’t know and don’t understand what they say.

Behold, O house of Israel, I will lead over you a far away nation, says the Lord, a robust nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you will not know, nor will you understand what they are saying.

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

Their quiver is like an open sepulcher. They are all strong.

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 will consume your grain fields and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vineyards and your figs. And with the sword, they will crush your fortified cities, in which you have placed your trust.

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

Yet truly, in those days, says the Lord, I will not bring the consummation over you.

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 they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You shall say to them: ‘Just as you have abandoned me and have served a strange god in your own land, so will you serve strangers in a land not your own.’

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

Announce this to the house of Jacob, and make it known in Judah, saying:

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

Listen, O foolish people who have no heart! You have eyes, but you do not see, and ears, but you do not hear.

22 Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘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.’

So then, will you not fear me, says the Lord. And will you not have sorrow before my face? I have placed the shore as a limit for the sea, as an everlasting precept that it will not transgress. And its waves will crash, but they will not prevail; and its waves will swell, but they will not go across.

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

But the heart of this people has become incredulous and provocative; they have turned away and departed.

24 They don’t 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 dread the Lord our God, who gives us the timely and the late rains, in their proper time, who guards the full measure of the yearly harvest for us.’

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 held back good things from you.

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

For the impious are found among my people; they lie in ambush like fowlers setting snares, for they set 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.

Just as a snare is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. As a result, they have become exalted and enriched.

28 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.

They have grown stout and fat. And they have transgressed my words most wickedly. They have not judged the case of the widow; they have not given guidance to the case of the orphan; and they have not judged a judgment for the poor.

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

Shall I not visit against these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?

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

Astonishing and wondrous things have been done upon the earth.

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 have prophesied lies, and the priests have applauded with their hands, and my people have loved these things. So then, what shall be done at the very end?”