Jeremiah 5

1 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.

“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.

2 Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”

And if they say, YHWH lives, Surely they swear to a falsehood.”

3 O LORD, don’t your eyes 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.

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.

4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the LORD’s way, nor the law of their God.

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.

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.

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.

6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.

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.

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.

“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.

8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

Fed horses—they have been early risers, They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor.

9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

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?

10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy, but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.

Go up on her walls, and destroy, And I do not make a completion, Turn her branches aside, For they [are] not YHWH’s,

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says the LORD.

For the house of Israel has dealt treacherously against Me, And the house of Judah,” A declaration of YHWH.

12 They have denied the LORD, and said, “It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.

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.

13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”

And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them, Thus it is done to them.”

14 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.

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.

15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t understand what they say.

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.

16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.

Its quiver [is] as an open tomb, All of them—mighty ones.

17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.

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.

18 “But even in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.

And even in those days,” A declaration of YHWH, “I do not make you a completion.

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, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

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.

20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

Declare this in the house of Jacob, And sound it in Judah, saying,

21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:

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.

22 Don’t you 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? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’

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.

23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.

And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.

24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s 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.’

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.

25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.

Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.

26 For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

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.

27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.

As a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.

28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

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.

29 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Do I not inspect for these,” A declaration of YHWH, “On a nation such as this, Does My soul not avenge itself?

30 “An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.

An astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land:

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?

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?”