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.
Cumpasse ye the weies of Jerusalem, and loke, and biholde ye, and seke ye in the stretis therof, whether ye fynden a man doynge doom, and sekynge feith; and Y schal be merciful to hem.
2 Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
That if also thei seien, The Lord lyueth, yhe, thei schulen swere this falsli.
3 O Yahweh, 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.
Lord, thin iyen biholden feith; thou hast smyte hem, and thei maden not sorewe; thou hast al tobroke hem, and thei forsoken to take chastisyng; thei maden her faces hardere than a stoon, and nolden turne ayen.
4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God.
Forsothe Y seide, In hap thei ben pore men, and foolis, that knowen not the weie of the Lord, and the doom of her God.
5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Therfor Y schal go to the principal men, and Y schal speke to hem; for thei knewen the weie of the Lord, and the doom of her God. And lo! thei han more broke togidere the yok, and han broke boondis.
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.
Therfor a lioun of the wode smoot hem; a wolf at euentid wastide hem, a parde wakynge on the citees of hem. Ech man that goith out of hem, schal be takun; for the trespassyngis of hem ben multiplied, the turnyngis awei of hem ben coumfortid.
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.
On what thing mai Y be merciful to thee? Thi sones han forsake me, and sweren bi hem that ben not goddis. Y fillide hem, and thei diden auowtrie, and in the hous of an hoore thei diden letcherie.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
Thei ben maad horsis, and stalouns, louyeris to wymmen; ech man neiyede to the wijf of his neiybore.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Whether Y schal not visite on these thingis, seith the Lord, and schal not my soule take veniaunce in siche a folk?
10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy, but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s.
Stye ye on the wallis therof, and distrie ye; but nyle ye make an endyng. Do ye awei the siouns therof, for thei ben not seruauntis of the Lord.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.
For whi the hous of Israel and the hous of Juda hath trespassid bi trespassyng ayens me, seith the Lord;
12 They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.
thei denyeden the Lord, and seiden, He is not, nether yuel schal come on vs; we schulen not se swerd and hungur.
13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”
The profetis spaken ayens the wynd, and noon answer was in hem; therfor these thingis schulen come to hem.
14 Therefore Yahweh, 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.
The Lord God of oostis seith these thingis, For ye spaken this word, lo! Y yyue my wordis in thi mouth in to fier, and this puple in to trees, and it schal deuoure hem.
15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “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.
Lo! thou hous of Israel, seith the Lord, Y schal brynge on you a folk fro fer; a strong folk, an eeld folk, `a folk whos langage thou schalt not knowe, nether schalt vndurstonde what it spekith.
16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
The arowe caas therof is as an opyn sepulcre; alle ben stronge men.
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 schal ete thi cornes, and it schal deuoure thi breed, thi sones and thi douytris; it schal ete thi flok, and thi droues, it schal ete also thi vyner, and thi fige tre; and it schal al to-breke thi stronge citees bi swerd, in whiche thou hast trist.
18 “But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end of you.
Netheles in tho daies, seith the Lord, Y schal not make you in to endyng.
19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh 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.’
That if ye seien, Whi hath oure Lord God do alle these thingis to vs? thou schalt seie to hem, As ye forsoken me, and serueden an alien god in youre lond, so ye schulen serue alien goddis in a lond not youre.
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
Telle ye this to the hous of Jacob, and make ye herd in Juda, and seie ye,
21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
Here, thou fonned puple, that hast noon herte; whiche han iyen, and seen not, and eeris, and heren not.
22 Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh; ‘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.’
Therfor schulen not ye drede me, seith the Lord, and schulen not ye make sorewe for my face? Whiche haue set grauel a terme, ether ende, to the see, an euerlastynge comaundement, whiche it schal not passe; and the wawis therof schulen be mouyd, and schulen not haue power; and schulen wexe greet, and schulen not passe it.
23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
Forsothe an herte vnbileueful and terrynge to wraththe is maad to this puple; thei departiden,
24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear Yahweh 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 yeden awei, and thei seiden not in her herte, Drede we oure Lord God, that yiueth to vs reyn tymeful, and lateful in his tyme; that kepith to vs the plente of heruest of the yeer.
25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
Youre wickidnessis diden awei these thingis, and youre synnes forbediden good fro 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 ther ben foundun in my puple wickid men, settynge tresoun, as fouleres settynge snaris and trappis, to take 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 net, ether a trap, ful of briddis, so the housis of hem ben ful of gile. Therfor thei ben magnefied,
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.
and maad riche, maad fat with ynne, and maad fat with outforth, and thei passiden worst my wordis; thei demyden not a cause of a widewe, thei dressiden not the cause of a fadirles child, and thei demyden not the doom of pore men.
29 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Whether Y schal not visite on these thingis, seith the Lord, ether schal not my soule take veniaunce on sich a folk?
30 “An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
Wondur and merueilouse thingis ben maad in the lond;
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?
profetis profesieden leesyng, and prestis ioieden with her hondis, and my puple louyde siche thingis. What therfor schal be don in the laste thing therof?
