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.

Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and notice, and search in its broad places, if ye can find one man, if there be one that executeth justice, that searcheth for truth: and I will pardon it.

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

And though they say, “As the Lord liveth!” surely they only swear to a falsehood.

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, are not thy eyes [directed] to the truth? thou didst strike them, but they felt it not; thou didst make an end of them, [yet] they refused to accept correction: they made their faces harder than a rock, they 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.

Yet I myself thought, Oh these are but poor; they are foolish; for they knew not the way of the Lord, the ordinance 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 had better go unto the great men, and let me speak with them; for these surely know the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their God; but these altogether have broken the yoke, burst the bands.

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 slayeth them the lion out of the forest, the wolf of the deserts wasteth them, the leopard lieth in wait against their cities: every one that cometh out thence shall be torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, very numerous are their backslidings.

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 shall I for this pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by those that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's house.

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

As robust horses they rose by times in the morning: every one neighed after the wife of his neighbor.

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

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 ye her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: remove her young shoots; for 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 Judah have dealt very treacherously 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, “He existeth not; nor will evil come over us; and the sword and famine shall we not see.

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

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them:” thus shall it be done unto 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 hath said the Lord the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth to be a 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.

Lo, I will bring over you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is a most ancient nation, a nation whose language thou wilt not know, and thou wilt not understand what they speak.

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

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre: 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 consume thy harvest, and thy bread; they shall consume thy sons and thy daughters; they shall consume thy flocks and thy herds; they shall consume thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall depopulate thy fortified cities, those wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.

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

Nevertheless even in those days, saith the Lord, will I not make a full end of 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 will say, For what reason hath the Lord our God done all these things unto us? that thou shalt say unto them, In the same manner as ye have forsaken me, and 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:

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

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

Do now hear this, O sottish people, who have no heart; who have eyes, and see not; who 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 fear me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand as a bound for the sea by an everlasting law, which it can never pass over? and though the waves thereof be upheaved, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.

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

But this people hath a stubborn and a rebellious heart: they have departed [from the right] and have gone their way.

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 now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, the early and the latter rain, in its season: the appointed weeks of the harvest doth he ever preserve for us.

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

Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden what is good 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 there are found among my people wicked men: they lie in wait, as he that layeth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

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

As a coop is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore are they become great, and grown 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.

They are grown fat, they are stout; yea, they surpass even the deeds of the wicked: they pronounce no [just] sentence, the sentence of the fatherless, that they might prosper; and the cause of the needy do they not judge.

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 for these things inflict punishment? saith the Lord: or shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged?

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

An astonishing and horrible thing is committed 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 prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so; but what will ye do in the end thereof?