Jeremiah 5
1 [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.
Run all of you back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if all of you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.
2 But when people there say, ‘I solemnly declare that as surely as Yahweh lives, [I will do what he says],’ they are lying.”
And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
3 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.
O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have 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.
4 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.
Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5 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.
I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 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.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 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.
How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
8 [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.
They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.
9 (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!
Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 [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.
Go all of you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's.
11 The people of Israel and Judah have turned away from me completely.’
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.
12 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!
They have lied concerning the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 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!’”
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14 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.
Wherefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because all of you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 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.
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say.
16 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).
Their quiver is as an open tomb, they are all mighty men.
17 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.
And 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 impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword.
18 But even when those things happen, I will not get rid of all of you.
Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 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.’”
And it shall come to pass, when all of you shall say, Wherefore does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like all of you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall all of you serve strangers in a land that is not your's.
20 [Yahweh said to me], “Proclaim this to the people of Israel and Judah:
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 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.
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 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.
Fear all of you not me? says the LORD: will all of you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 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.
But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24 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.’
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 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.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 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.
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 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.
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and becoming rich.
28 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.
They are becoming fat, they shine: yea, they pass over the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 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).
Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 Very appalling/horrible and terrible [DOU] things are happening in this country:
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 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]?”
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will all of you do in the end thereof?
