Jeremiah 5
1 Go everywhere through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and pay attention! Search all through her city squares to see if you can find even just one person who does what's right, anyone who is faithful, and I'll forgive the city.
Run ye about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye can find [one], if there is any one that does judgment, and seeks faithfulness; and I will pardon them, saith the Lord.
2 They may make promises in my name, but they're not sincere.
The Lord lives, they say; do they not therefore swear falsely?
3 Lord, aren't you always looking for faithfulness? You beat them, but they didn't care. You just about destroyed them, but they refused to accept your discipline. They were stubborn, hard as rock, and they wouldn't repent.
O Lord, thine eyes are upon faithfulness: thou hast scourged them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them; but they would not receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; and they would not return.
4 Then I said to myself, “These people are only the poor—they're just fools who don't know any better. They certainly don't know what the Lord wants, God's right way of living.
Then I said, It may be they are poor; for they are weak, for they know not the way of the Lord, or the judgment of God.
5 Let me go to and talk to the ones in charge. They would surely know what the Lord wants, God's right way of living.” But they had all broken off the yoke as well, and ripped off the chains.
I will go to the rich men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of God: but, behold, with one consent they have broken the yoke, they have burst the bonds.
6 As a result a lion from the forest will attack them; a wolf from the desert will rip them apart. A leopard will lie in wait for them near their towns, ready to tear to pieces anyone who goes outside. For they keep on rebelling, and turn away from me so often.
Therefore has a lion out of the forest smitten them, and a wolf has destroyed them even to [their] houses, and a leopard has watched against their cities: all that go forth from them shall be hunted: for they have multiplied their ungodliness, they have strengthened themselves in their revoltings.
7 Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me and believe in gods that are not gods. I gave them everything they need, yet they went and committed adultery, gathering together at prostitutes' houses.
In what [way] shall I forgive thee for these things? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and lodged in harlots' houses.
8 They're like virile stallions wanting sex, each of them neighing with lust after his neighbor's wife.
They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after his neighbour's wife.
9 Shouldn't I punish them for all this? declares the Lord. Shouldn't I retaliate for what this nation has done?
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this.
10 Go through her vineyards and damage them, but don't destroy them completely. Rip off her branches, because they don't belong to the Lord.
Go up upon her battlements, and break [them] down; but make not a full end: leave her buttresses: for they are the Lord's.
11 The people of Israel and Judah have completely betrayed me, declares the Lord.
For the house of Israel have indeed dealt treacherously against me, saith the Lord: the house of Juda also
12 They have lied about the Lord, saying, “He won't do anything. Nothing bad will happen to us. We won't have war or famine.
have lied to their Lord, and they have said, These things are not so; no evils shall come upon us; and we shall not see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are just like the wind. The Lord doesn't speak through them. What they predict can happen to them!”
Our prophets became wind, and the word of the Lord was not in them.
14 So this is the reply from the Lord God Almighty: Because of what you've said, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth and you people like the wood it burns up.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I have made my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Look! I am bringing a nation from far away to attack you, people of Israel, declares the Lord. It's a powerful nation that has existed for a long time; it's a nation whose language you don't know, and when they speak you can't understand them.
Behold, I [will] bring upon you a nation from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; a nation the sound of whose language one shall not understand.
16 Their arrows bring death; they are all strong warriors.
[They are] all mighty men:
17 They will consume your harvest and your food; they will destroy your sons and your daughters; they will eat your flocks and your herds; they will feed on your vines and your fig trees. They will attack and will destroy the fortified towns that you have so much confidence in.
and they shall devour your harvest, and your bread; and shall devour your sons, and your daughters; and they shall devour your sheep, and your calves, and devour your vineyards, and your fig-plantations, and your olive yards: and they shall utterly destroy your strong cities, wherein ye trusted, with the sword.
18 But even at that time I won't completely destroy you, declares the Lord.
And it shall come to pass in those days, saith the Lord thy God, that I will not utterly destroy you.
19 When people ask you Jeremiah, “Why did the Lord our God do all these things to us?” you are to tell them, “In the same way you have abandoned me and served foreign gods here in your country, so you will serve foreigners in a country that isn't your own.”
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that thou shalt say to them, Because ye served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Announce this to the people of Jacob and Judah:
Proclaim these things to the house of Jacob, and let them be heard in the house of Juda.
21 Listen to this, you foolish, stupid people, who have eyes but don't see, who have ears but don't hear.
Hear ye now these things, O foolish and senseless people; who have eyes, and see not; and have ears, and hear not:
22 Aren't you afraid of what I can do? declares the Lord. Don't you think you should tremble in my presence? I am the one who set up the shore as the sea's boundary, an everlasting limit that it can't cross. The waves crash against it, but they can't defeat it. They roar, but they can't cross the barrier.
will ye not be afraid of me? saith the Lord; and will ye not fear before me, who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, [as] a perpetual ordinance, and it shall not pass it: yea, it shall rage, but not prevail; and its waves shall roar, but not pass over it.
23 But you people have a stubborn and rebellious attitude. You have left me and gone your own way.
But this people has a disobedient and rebellious heart; and they have turned aside and gone back:
24 You didn't think to say, “We should appreciate the Lord our God, who sends the autumn and spring rains at the right time, who makes sure we can have a harvest every year.”
and they have not said in their heart, Let us fear now the Lord our God, who gives us the early and latter rain, according to the season of the fulfillment of the ordinance of harvest, and has preserved [it] for us.
25 Your wrong actions have taken these benefits from you; your sins have deprived you of my blessings.
Your transgressions have turned away these things, and your sins have removed good things from you.
26 For there are wicked men among my people. They're like bird-trappers, secretly watching and waiting to catch people in their snare.
For among my people were found ungodly men; and they have set snares to destroy men, and have caught [them].
27 Their homes are full of their ill-gotten gains, like cages full of birds. That's why they've become powerful and rich.
As a snare which has been set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore have they grown great, and become rich:
28 They've grown fat and smooth, and have become experts in evil. They deny justice to orphans, and they don't defend the rights of those in need.
and they have transgressed [the rule of] judgment; they have not judged the cause of the orphan, nor have they judged the cause of the widow.
29 Shouldn't I punish them for all this? declares the Lord. Shouldn't I retaliate for what this nation has done?
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 Something horrible, something terrible has happened here in this country.
Shocking and horrible deeds have been done on the land;
31 The prophets give false prophecies; the priests rule as they please. My people love it like this, but what will you do when it all falls apart?
the prophets utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands: and my people has loved [to have it] thus: and what will ye do for the future.
