Jeremiah 5

1 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.

“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 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.

And if they say, YHWH lives, Surely they swear to a falsehood.”

3 O LORD, are not your eyes on the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

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 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment 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 get me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

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 Why a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

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 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.

“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 were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

Fed horses—they have been early risers, They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor.

9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged 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 you up on her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.

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 dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.

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

12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor 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 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them, Thus it is done to them.”

14 Why thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

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 See, I will bring a nation on you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say.

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 quiver is as an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men.

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

17 And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword.

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 Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

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

19 And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God all these things to us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

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 publish it in Judah, saying,

Declare this in the house of Jacob, And sound it in Judah, saying,

21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

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 Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over 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 this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

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

24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserves to us the appointed weeks of the 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 turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.

Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.

26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they 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 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

As a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.

28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yes, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

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 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged 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 wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

An astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land:

31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?

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?”