Jeremiah 5
1 Run to and from by the streetes of Ierusalem, and beholde nowe, and knowe, and inquire in the open places thereof, if ye can finde a man, or if there be any that executeth iudgement, and seeketh the trueth, and I will spare it.
[Yahweh said to the people of Jerusalem], “Go up and down every street. Search in the marketplaces to find people who do what is fair/right, who try to be faithful to me. [If you find even one person like that], I will forgive [the people of Jerusalem and not destroy] their city.
2 For though they say, The Lord liueth, yet doe they sweare falsely.
But when people there say, ‘I solemnly declare that as surely as Yahweh lives, [I will do what he says],’ they are lying.”
3 O Lord, are not thine eyes vpon the trueth? thou hast striken them, but they haue not sorowed: thou hast consumed them, but they haue refused to receiue correction: they haue made their faces harder then a stone, and haue refused to returne.
Yahweh, you are certainly [RHQ] searching for [people who tell the] truth. You struck/punished your people, but they did not pay any attention. You crushed them, but they ignored what you were telling them to do. They were extremely stubborn [IDM] and refused to return to you.
4 Therefore I saide, Surely they are poore, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the iudgement of their God.
I thought, “[We cannot expect] these [people to act righteously, because they] are poor; they do not have any sense. They do not know the way Yahweh wants them to conduct their lives; they do not know what God requires them to do.
5 I will get me vnto the great men, and will speake vnto them: for they haue knowen the way of the Lord, and the iudgement of their God: but these haue altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bondes.
So, I will go and talk to their leaders, because they [surely] know how God wants them to conduct their lives.” But they also have stopped obeying Yahweh [MET], and they will not allow him to lead them.
6 Wherefore a lyon out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolfe of the wildernesse shall destroy them: a leopard shall watch ouer their cities: euery one that goeth out thence, shall be torne in pieces, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased.
Because of that, lions will come out of the forests and kill them; wolves from the desert will attack them; leopards that lurk/wait outside their cities will maul anyone who walks outside the cities. [Those things will happen] because the people have sinned very much against God and have turned away from him very frequently.
7 Howe should I spare thee for this? thy children haue forsaken me, and sworne by them that are no gods: though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adulterie, and assembled them selues by companies in the harlots houses.
Yahweh says, “I cannot [RHQ] forgive these people; [even] their children have abandoned me. When they solemnly declare something, they ask their gods [to show that what they say is true]. I gave my people everything that they needed, but they often went to [the shrines of their idols] and committed adultery there.
8 They rose vp in the morning like fed horses: for euery man neyed after his neighbours wife.
[Just like] [MET] well-fed male horses neigh, wanting sex with female horses, each of the men desires to have sex with his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visite for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this?
(Should I not punish them for this [RHQ]?/I will certainly get revenge on this nation for this!) I will certainly get revenge [RHQ] on this nation whose people behave like that!
10 Clime vp vpon their walles, and destroy them, but make not a full ende: take away their batilments, for they are not the Lords.
[I will say to your enemies], ‘The people [of Judah and Israel are like a vineyard]. Go along the rows in their vineyards and get rid of [most of] the people, but do not kill all of them. These people do not belong to me, [so get rid of them], [like a gardener] [MET] lops/cuts off branches from a vine.
11 For the house of Israel, and the house of Iudah haue grieuously trespassed against me, saith the Lord.
The people of Israel and Judah have turned away from me completely.’
12 They haue denied the Lord, and saide, It is not he, neither shall the plague come vpon vs, neither shall we see sworde nor famine.
They have lied about me and said, ‘He will not punish us! He will not cause us to experience disasters! We will not experience wars or famines!
13 And the Prophetes shall be as winde, and the worde is not in them: thus shall it come vnto them.
What [God’s] prophets say is nothing but hot air! They do not have messages [from God]! We would like [the disasters that they predict] to happen to them!’”
14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hostes, Because ye speake such wordes, beholde, I will put my wordes into thy mouth, like a fire, and this people shall be as wood, and it shall deuoure them.
So, this is what Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels in heaven, has said to me: “Because my people are saying those things, I will give you a message to tell them [MTY] that will be [like] [MET] a fire, and [these people will be like] [MET] wood that the fire will burn up.
15 Loe, I will bring a nation vpon you from farre, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, which is a mightie nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither vnderstandest what they say.
Listen to this, you people of Israel: I will bring [the army of] a distant nation to attack you. It is a very powerful nation that has existed for a long time. They speak a language that you do not know and which you will not be able to understand.
16 Whose quiuer is as an open sepulchre: they are all very strong.
Their soldiers are all very strong, and the arrows from their quivers [MET] will (send many Israeli men to their graves/cause many Israeli people to die).
17 And they shall eate thine haruest and thy bread: they shall deuoure thy sonnes and thy daughters: they shall eate vp thy sheepe and thy bullocks: they shall eate thy vines and thy figge trees: they shall destroy with the sworde thy fenced cities, wherein thou didest trust.
They will eat the food that you have harvested from your fields, and eat your bread. They will kill your sons and daughters, and they will kill your flocks [of sheep] and herds [of cattle]. They will eat your grapes and your figs. They will [also] destroy your cities that have high walls around them and kill the people with their swords.
18 Neuerthelesse at those dayes, sayth the Lord, I will not make a full ende of you.
But even when those things happen, I will not get rid of all of you.
19 And when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God doe these things vnto vs? then shalt thou answere them, Like as ye haue forsaken me and serued strange gods in your land, so shall ye serue strangers in a land that is not yours.
And when the survivors ask, ‘Why is Yahweh our God doing this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘You rejected him and worshiped foreign gods in your [own] land, so [now] you will become slaves of foreigners in a land that is not your land.’”
20 Declare this in the house of Iaakob, and publish it in Iudah, saying,
[Yahweh said to me], “Proclaim this to the people of Israel and Judah:
21 Heare nowe this, O foolish people, and without vnderstanding, which haue eyes and see not, which haue eares and heare not.
Listen to this, you people who are foolish and who do not have any sense: You have eyes, but [it is as though] you cannot see; you have ears, but [it is as though] you cannot hear.
22 Feare ye not me, saith the Lord? or will ye not be afraide at my presence, which haue placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it, and though the waues thereof rage, yet can they not preuaile, though they roare, yet can they not passe ouer it?
Why do you not revere me [RHQ]? You should [RHQ] tremble when you are in my presence! I, Yahweh, am the one who put a barrier along the shores so that the waters of the ocean cannot cross it [and flood the land]. The waves roll and roar, but they cannot go past that barrier.
23 But this people hath an vnfaithfull and rebellious heart: they are departed and gone.
But you people [are not like the waves that obey me]. You people are very stubborn and rebellious. You have constantly turned away from me.
24 For they say not in their heart, Let vs nowe feare the Lord our God, that giueth raine both early and late in due season: hee reserueth vnto vs the appointed weekes of the haruest.
You do not say to yourselves, ‘We should revere Yahweh our God, the one who sends us rain at the times when we need it, the one who causes the grain to become ripe at the harvest season.’
25 Yet your iniquities haue turned away these things, and your sinnes haue hindred good things from you.
It is because of the wrong things that you have done, that those good things have not happened; it is because of the sins that you have committed that you have been prevented from receiving those blessings.
26 For among my people are founde wicked persons, that lay waite as hee that setteth snares: they haue made a pit, to catch men.
Among my people are wicked people who hide along the roads to ambush/attack people like [SIM] men who hunt birds (put out nets/set traps) to catch them.
27 As a cage is full of birdes, so are their houses full of deceite: thereby they are become great and waxen riche.
Like [a hunter has] a cage full of birds [that he has captured], their homes are full of things that they have gotten by deceiving others. So now they are [very] rich and powerful.
28 They are waxen fat and shining: they doe ouerpasse the deedes of the wicked: they execute no iudgement, no not the iudgement of the fatherlesse: yet they prosper, though they execute no iudgement for the poore.
They are big and fat, and there is no limit to the evil things that they have done. They do not try to defend orphans in the courtrooms, and they do not help poor people to get what they have a right to receive.
29 Shall I not visite for these things, sayth the Lord? or shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this?
So I will certainly [RHQ] punish them for doing those things. I will certainly [RHQ] (get revenge on their nation/do to their nation what they deserve).
30 An horrible and filthie thing is committed in the land.
Very appalling/horrible and terrible [DOU] things are happening in this country:
31 The Prophets prophesie lies, and ye Priests receiue giftes in their handes, and my people delite therein. What will ye then doe in the ende thereof?
Prophets speak [only] lies and priests rule by their own authority, and you people like that! But when you [start to] experience disasters, what will you do [RHQ]?”
