Jeremiah 5
1 "Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon 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 Though they say, 'As the LORD lives;' surely they swear 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, do your eyes not look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were 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.
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 Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD, nor the law 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 go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
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 shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is 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 "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' 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 were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's 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 Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says the LORD; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged 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 "Go up on her walls, and destroy; but do not make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not the LORD'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 and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me," says the LORD.
The people of Israel and Judah have turned away from me completely.’
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword 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 The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be 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 says the LORD, the God of hosts, "Because you speak this word, look, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour 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 Look, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand 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 Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.
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 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 beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with 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 "But even in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a full end with you.
But even when those things happen, I will not get rid of all of you.
19 It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall 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 publish it in Judah, saying,
[Yahweh said to me], “Proclaim this to the people of Israel and Judah:
21 'Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and 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?' says the LORD 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? And though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over 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 has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted 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 Neither do they say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'
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 away these things, and your sins have withheld 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 among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They 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 birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew 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 grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they do not judge the right 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 "Shall I not punish for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall not my soul be avenged 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 astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
Very appalling/horrible and terrible [DOU] things are happening in this country:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
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]?”
