Jeremiah 5

1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And see I pray you and know and seek out in the broad places thereof, Whether ye can find, a man, Whether there is one Doing justice Demanding fidelity, —That I may pardon her.

2 Even though they say By the life of Yahweh, Yet in fact falsely, do they swear.

3 O Yahweh! thine own eyes, are they not directed to fidelity? Thou hast smitten them Yet have they not grieved, Thou hast consumed them—They have refused to receive correction, —They have made their faces bolder than a cliff, They have refused to return.

4 And, I, said, —Only, poor people, are they, —They act foolishly, For they know not the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God!

5 I will betake me unto the great men, and will speak, with them! For, they, know the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God! Yea but, they, with one accord have broken the yoke, torn off the bands.

6 For this cause, hath the lion out of the forest smitten them, The wolf of the waste plains, preyeth upon them, The leopard, is keeping watch over their cities, Every one that goeth out from thence, is torn in pieces, —For they have multiplied their transgressions, Numerous are their apostasies.

7 How, for this, can I pardon thee? Thine own sons, have forsaken me, And have sworn by No-gods, —When I had fed them to the full, Then committed they adultery, And the house of the unchaste woman, they used to throng:

8 Lusty, well-fed horses, had they become, Every man unto his neighbour’s wife, would neigh!

9 For these things, shall I not punish? Demandeth Yahweh: Yea on a nation such as this, must not my soul avenge herself?

10 Scale ye her walls and destroy, But a full end, do not make, —Remove her tendrils, For not to Yahweh, do, they, belong!

11 For very treacherously, have the house of Israel and the house of Judah dealt with me, Declareth Yahweh.

12 They have acted deceptively against Yahweh, And have said, Not He! Neither shall there come upon us, calamity, Nor sword nor famine, shall we see;

13 But the prophets, shall prove to be wind, And there is no one speaking in them, —Thus, shall it be done to themselves!

14 Therefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, Because ye have spoken this word, —Behold me! making my words in thy mouth to be fire, And, this people, —wood, So shall it devour them.

15 Behold me! bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh, —A nation invincible, it is, A nation from age-past times, hath it been, A nation whose tongue thou shalt not know, Neither shalt thou understand what it speaketh:

16 Its quiver, is like an open sepulchre, —They all, are heroes:

17 Then shall it eat thy harvest and thy bread which thy sons and thy daughters should eat, —It shall eat thy flock and thy herd, It shall eat thy vine and thy fig-tree, —It shall destroy thy defenced cities wherein thou, art trusting, with the sword.

18 Yet, even in those days, Declareth Yahweh, Will I not make of you, a full end.

19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, For what cause hath Yahweh our God done to us all these things? Then shalt thou say unto them, —As ye forsook me, and served the gods of the foreigner in your own land, So, shall ye serve aliens in a land not your own.

20 Tell ye this, throughout the house of Jacob, —And let it be heard throughout Judah saying:

21 Hear this, I pray you ye people—foolish and without heart, —Eyes, have they, and see not, Ears, have they, and hear not!

22 Even for me, will ye have no reverence? Enquireth Yahweh, And because of me, will ye not be pained? In that though I placed the sand as a bound to the sea, A decree age-abiding, and it should not pass beyond it, —When they would toss themselves Then should they not prevail, When the waves thereof would roar Then should they not pass beyond it,

23 Yet, this people hath an obstinate and rebellious heart, —They have turned aside, and gone their way;

24 Neither have they said in their heart, —Let us we pray you, revere Yahweh our God, Who giveth rain, even the early and the latter, in its season, —The appointed weeks of harvest, he reserveth for us.

25 Your iniquities, have thrust away these things, Yea, your sins, have withholden that which is good from you.

26 For there have been found among my people lawless men, —One lieth in wait, as with the stooping of fowlers, They have set a trap, they capture men:

27 As, a cage, is full of birds, So, are, their houses, full of unrighteous gain, —For this cause, have they become great and waxen rich:

28 They have waxed fat, they shine Yea they have overpassed the records of wickedness. The right, have they not determined, the right of the fatherless that they might prosper, —Yea justice to the helpless, have they not decreed.

29 Upon these things, shall I not bring punishment? Demandeth Yahweh. Or, on a nation such as this, shall not my soul avenge herself?

30 An astounding and horrible thing, hath been brought to pass in the land:

31 The prophets, have prophesied, falsely, And the priests tread down by their means, And, my people, love it, so, —What then can ye do as to her latter end?