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.
Cumpasse ye the weies of Jerusalem, and loke, and biholde ye, and seke ye in the stretis therof, whether ye fynden a man doynge doom, and sekynge feith; and Y schal be merciful to hem.
2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are swearing falsely.”
That if also thei seien, The Lord lyueth, yhe, thei schulen swere this falsli.
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.
Lord, thin iyen biholden feith; thou hast smyte hem, and thei maden not sorewe; thou hast al tobroke hem, and thei forsoken to take chastisyng; thei maden her faces hardere than a stoon, and nolden turne ayen.
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.
Forsothe Y seide, In hap thei ben pore men, and foolis, that knowen not the weie of the Lord, and the doom of her 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.
Therfor Y schal go to the principal men, and Y schal speke to hem; for thei knewen the weie of the Lord, and the doom of her God. And lo! thei han more broke togidere the yok, and han broke boondis.
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.
Therfor a lioun of the wode smoot hem; a wolf at euentid wastide hem, a parde wakynge on the citees of hem. Ech man that goith out of hem, schal be takun; for the trespassyngis of hem ben multiplied, the turnyngis awei of hem ben coumfortid.
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.
On what thing mai Y be merciful to thee? Thi sones han forsake me, and sweren bi hem that ben not goddis. Y fillide hem, and thei diden auowtrie, and in the hous of an hoore thei diden letcherie.
8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
Thei ben maad horsis, and stalouns, louyeris to wymmen; ech man neiyede to the wijf of his neiybore.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
Whether Y schal not visite on these thingis, seith the Lord, and schal not my soule take veniaunce in siche a folk?
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.
Stye ye on the wallis therof, and distrie ye; but nyle ye make an endyng. Do ye awei the siouns therof, for thei ben not seruauntis of the Lord.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”
For whi the hous of Israel and the hous of Juda hath trespassid bi trespassyng ayens me, seith 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.
thei denyeden the Lord, and seiden, He is not, nether yuel schal come on vs; we schulen not se swerd and hungur.
13 The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”
The profetis spaken ayens the wynd, and noon answer was in hem; therfor these thingis schulen come to hem.
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.
The Lord God of oostis seith these thingis, For ye spaken this word, lo! Y yyue my wordis in thi mouth in to fier, and this puple in to trees, and it schal deuoure hem.
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! thou hous of Israel, seith the Lord, Y schal brynge on you a folk fro fer; a strong folk, an eeld folk, `a folk whos langage thou schalt not knowe, nether schalt vndurstonde what it spekith.
16 Their quivers are like open graves; they are all mighty men.
The arowe caas therof is as an opyn sepulcre; alle ben stronge 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 it schal ete thi cornes, and it schal deuoure thi breed, thi sones and thi douytris; it schal ete thi flok, and thi droues, it schal ete also thi vyner, and thi fige tre; and it schal al to-breke thi stronge citees bi swerd, in whiche thou hast trist.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.
Netheles in tho daies, seith the Lord, Y schal not make you in to endyng.
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.’”
That if ye seien, Whi hath oure Lord God do alle these thingis to vs? thou schalt seie to hem, As ye forsoken me, and serueden an alien god in youre lond, so ye schulen serue alien goddis in a lond not youre.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
Telle ye this to the hous of Jacob, and make ye herd in Juda, and seie ye,
21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
Here, thou fonned puple, that hast noon herte; whiche han iyen, and seen not, and eeris, and heren 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.
Therfor schulen not ye drede me, seith the Lord, and schulen not ye make sorewe for my face? Whiche haue set grauel a terme, ether ende, to the see, an euerlastynge comaundement, whiche it schal not passe; and the wawis therof schulen be mouyd, and schulen not haue power; and schulen wexe greet, and schulen not passe it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.
Forsothe an herte vnbileueful and terrynge to wraththe is maad to this puple; thei departiden,
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 yeden awei, and thei seiden not in her herte, Drede we oure Lord God, that yiueth to vs reyn tymeful, and lateful in his tyme; that kepith to vs the plente of heruest of the yeer.
25 Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty.
Youre wickidnessis diden awei these thingis, and youre synnes forbediden good fro you.
26 For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
For ther ben foundun in my puple wickid men, settynge tresoun, as fouleres settynge snaris and trappis, to take men.
27 Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.
As a net, ether a trap, ful of briddis, so the housis of hem ben ful of gile. Therfor thei ben magnefied,
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.
and maad riche, maad fat with ynne, and maad fat with outforth, and thei passiden worst my wordis; thei demyden not a cause of a widewe, thei dressiden not the cause of a fadirles child, and thei demyden not the doom of pore men.
29 Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
Whether Y schal not visite on these thingis, seith the Lord, ether schal not my soule take veniaunce on sich a folk?
30 A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.
Wondur and merueilouse thingis ben maad in the lond;
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?
profetis profesieden leesyng, and prestis ioieden with her hondis, and my puple louyde siche thingis. What therfor schal be don in the laste thing therof?
