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 to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, And see now and know, And seek in her broad places, If you find a man, If there is one doing judgment, Seeking steadfastness—Then I am propitious to her.

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

And if they say, YHWH lives, Surely they 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.

YHWH, Your eyes, are they not on steadfastness? You have struck them, and they have not grieved, You have consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back.

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.

And I said, “Surely these [are] poor, They have been foolish, For they have not known the way of YHWH, The judgment 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 go to the great, and I speak with them, For they have known the way of YHWH, The judgment of their God.” Surely they have broken the yoke together, They have drawn away 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 a lion out of the forest has struck them, A wolf of the deserts spoils them, A leopard is watching over their cities, Everyone who is going out of them is torn, For their transgressions have been many, Their backslidings have been mighty.

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.

“I am not propitious to you for this, Your sons have forsaken Me, And are satisfied by [those who are] not gods, I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, And at the house of a harlot They gather themselves together.

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

Fed horses—they have been early risers, They each neigh to 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?

Do I not lay a charge for these?” A declaration of YHWH, “And on a nation such as this, Does My soul not avenge itself?

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.

Go up on her walls, and destroy, And I do not make a completion, Turn her branches aside, For they [are] not YHWH’s,

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”

For the house of Israel has dealt treacherously against Me, And the house of Judah,” A declaration of YHWH.

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 lied against YHWH, And they say, “[It is] not He, Nor does evil come in against us, Indeed, we do not see sword and famine.

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

And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them, Thus it is done to 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 said YHWH, God of Hosts: “Because of your speaking this word, Behold, I am making My words become fire in your mouth, And this people wood, And it has devoured 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 am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel,” A declaration of YHWH, “It [is] a strong nation, It [is] an ancient nation, A nation whose tongue you do not know, Nor understand what it speaks.

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

Its quiver [is] as an open tomb, All of them—mighty ones.

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 it has consumed your harvest and your bread, They consume your sons, and your daughters, It consumes your flock, and your herd, It consumes your vine and your fig tree, It makes your fortified cities poor, In which you are trusting—by the sword.

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

And even in those days,” A declaration of YHWH, “I do not make you a completion.

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 has come to pass, when you say, Why has our God YHWH done all these [things] to us? That you have said to them, As you have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So you serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

Declare this in the house of Jacob, And sound 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.

Now hear this, O people, foolish and without heart, They have eyes, and they do not see, They have ears, and they do not hear.

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.

Do you not fear Me?” A declaration of YHWH; “Are you not pained from My presence? Who has made sand the border of the sea, A perpetual limit, and it does not pass over it, They shake themselves, and they are not able, Indeed, its billows have sounded, and they do not pass over.

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

And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.

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, Now let us fear our God YHWH, who is giving rain, The autumn rain and the spring rain, in its season, He keeps the appointed weeks of harvest for us.

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

Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the 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 the wicked have been found among My people. He watches like one who sets snares, They have set up a trap—they capture men.

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

As a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are 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 have been fat, they have shone, Indeed, they have surpassed the acts of the evil, They have not judged judgment, The judgment of the fatherless—and they prosper, And they have not judged the judgment of the needy.

29 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

Do I not inspect for these,” A declaration of YHWH, “On a nation such as this, Does My soul not avenge itself?

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

An astonishing and horrible thing has been 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 have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved [it] so, And what do they do at its latter end?”