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.
[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 And if they say, YHWH lives, Surely they swear to a falsehood.”
But when people there say, ‘I solemnly declare that as surely as Yahweh lives, [I will do what he says],’ they are lying.”
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 “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.
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 Fed horses—they have been early risers, They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor.
[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 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?
(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 Go up on her walls, and destroy, And I do not make a completion, Turn her branches aside, For they [are] not YHWH’s,
[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 has dealt treacherously against Me, And the house of Judah,” A declaration of YHWH.
The people of Israel and Judah have turned away from me completely.’
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 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 prophets become wind, And the word is not in them, Thus it is done to 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 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 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 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.
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 Its quiver [is] as an open tomb, All of them—mighty ones.
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 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 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 And even in those days,” A declaration of YHWH, “I do not make you a completion.
But even when those things happen, I will not get rid of all of you.
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 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 Jacob, And sound it in Judah, saying,
[Yahweh said to me], “Proclaim this to the people of Israel 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 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 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.
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 And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.
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 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 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 Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good 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 the wicked have been found among My people. He watches like one who sets snares, They have set up a trap—they capture 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 full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.
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 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 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 Do I not inspect for these,” A declaration of YHWH, “On a nation such as this, Does My soul not avenge itself?
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 astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land:
Very appalling/horrible and terrible [DOU] things are happening 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?”
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]?”
