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 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.
2 And if they say, YHWH lives, Surely they swear to a falsehood.”
They may make promises in my name, but they're not sincere.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
8 Fed horses—they have been early risers, They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor.
They're like virile stallions wanting sex, each of them neighing with lust after his neighbor'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?
Shouldn't I punish them for all this? declares the Lord. Shouldn't I retaliate for what this nation has done?
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 through her vineyards and damage them, but don't destroy them completely. Rip off her branches, because they don't belong to the Lord.
11 For the house of Israel has dealt treacherously against Me, And the house of Judah,” A declaration of YHWH.
The people of Israel and Judah have completely betrayed me, declares 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 have lied about the Lord, saying, “He won't do anything. Nothing bad will happen to us. We won't have war or famine.
13 And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them, Thus it is done to them.”
The prophets are just like the wind. The Lord doesn't speak through them. What they predict can happen 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.
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.
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.
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.
16 Its quiver [is] as an open tomb, All of them—mighty ones.
Their arrows bring death; they are all strong warriors.
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 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.
18 And even in those days,” A declaration of YHWH, “I do not make you a completion.
But even at that time I won't completely destroy you, declares the Lord.
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.
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.”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, And sound it in Judah, saying,
Announce this to the people of Jacob and Judah:
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.
Listen to this, you foolish, stupid people, who have eyes but don't see, who have ears but don't hear.
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.
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.
23 And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.
But you people have a stubborn and rebellious attitude. You have left me and gone your own way.
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.
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.”
25 Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.
Your wrong actions have taken these benefits from you; your sins have deprived you of my blessings.
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 wicked men among my people. They're like bird-trappers, secretly watching and waiting to catch people in their snare.
27 As a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.
Their homes are full of their ill-gotten gains, like cages full of birds. That's why they've become powerful and rich.
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'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.
29 Do I not inspect for these,” A declaration of YHWH, “On a nation such as this, Does My soul not avenge itself?
Shouldn't I punish them for all this? declares the Lord. Shouldn't I retaliate for what this nation has done?
30 An astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land:
Something horrible, something terrible has happened here in this country.
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 prophecies; the priests rule as they please. My people love it like this, but what will you do when it all falls apart?
