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.
Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can fins a man that executeth judgement, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.
2 They may make promises in my name, but they're not sincere.
And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will 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, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to 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.
But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgement of their 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 therefore to the great men, and I will speak to them: for they known the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God: and behold these have together broken the yoke more, and 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.
Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening, hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.
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.
How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot’s house.
8 They're like virile stallions wanting sex, each of them neighing with lust after his neighbor's wife.
They are become as amorous horses and stallions, every one neighed after his neighbor’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, sayeth the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
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.
Scale down the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord’s.
11 The people of Israel and Judah have completely betrayed me, declares the Lord.
For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
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.
They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.
13 The prophets are just like the wind. The Lord doesn't speak through them. What they predict can happen to them!”
The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall 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.
Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as 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 afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.
16 Their arrows bring death; they are all strong warriors.
Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.
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 eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.
18 But even at that time I won't completely destroy you, declares the Lord.
Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.
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 if you shall say: why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.
20 Announce this to the people of Jacob and Judah:
Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying:
21 Listen to this, you foolish, stupid people, who have eyes but don't see, who have ears but don't hear.
Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and 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 not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it.
23 But you people have a stubborn and rebellious attitude. You have left me and gone your own way.
But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away.
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 the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fullness of the yearly harvest.
25 Your wrong actions have taken these benefits from you; your sins have deprived you of my blessings.
Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden 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 are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.
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 net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched.
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.
They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, they have not judged the judgement of the poor.
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? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
30 Something horrible, something terrible has happened here in this country.
Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in 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 prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?
