Jeremiah 5
1 “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.
Go quickly through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and get knowledge, and make a search in her wide places if there is a man, if there is one in her who is upright, who keeps faith; and she will have my forgiveness.
2 And if they say, YHWH lives, Surely they swear to a falsehood.”
And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false.
3 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.
O Lord, do not your eyes see good faith? you have given them punishment, but they were not troubled; you have sent destruction on them, but they did not take your teaching to heart: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they would not come back.
4 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.
Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God.
5 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.
I will go to the great men and have talk with them; for they have knowledge of the way of the Lord and of the behaviour desired by their God. But as for these, their one purpose is a broken yoke and burst bands.
6 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.
And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing.
7 “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.
How is it possible for you to have my forgiveness for this? your children have given me up, taking their oaths by those who are no gods: when I had given them food in full measure, they were false to their wives, taking their pleasure in the houses of loose women.
8 Fed horses—they have been early risers, They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor.
They were full of desire, like horses after a meal of grain: everyone went after his neighbour's wife.
9 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?
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
10 Go up on her walls, and destroy, And I do not make a completion, Turn her branches aside, For they [are] not YHWH’s,
Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
11 For the house of Israel has dealt treacherously against Me, And the house of Judah,” A declaration of YHWH.
For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord.
12 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.
They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food:
13 And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them, Thus it is done to them.”
And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; so it will be done to them.
14 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.
For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, has said: Because you have said this, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and they will be burned up by it.
15 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.
See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words.
16 Its quiver [is] as an open tomb, All of them—mighty ones.
Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war.
17 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.
They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.
18 And even in those days,” A declaration of YHWH, “I do not make you a completion.
But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not let your destruction be complete.
19 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.
And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, And sound it in Judah, saying,
Say this openly in Jacob and give it out in Judah, saying,
21 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.
Give ear now to this, O foolish people without sense; who have eyes but see nothing, and ears without the power of hearing:
22 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.
Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it.
23 And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.
But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone.
24 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.
And they do not say in their hearts, Now let us give worship to our God, who gives the rain, the winter and the spring rain, at the right time; who keeps for us the ordered weeks of the grain-cutting.
25 Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.
Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.
26 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.
For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it.
27 As a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.
As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth.
28 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.
They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.
29 Do I not inspect for these,” A declaration of YHWH, “On a nation such as this, Does My soul not avenge itself?
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
30 An astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land:
A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land;
31 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?”
The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?
