Jeremiah 5

1 Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray you, and know, And seek in her broad places, if ye find a man, If there be one doing judgment, seeking stedfastness — Then am I propitious to her.

“Travel the streets of Jerusalem; and gaze, and consider, and seek, in its wide streets. If you can find a man exercising judgment and seeking faith, then I will be forgiving to them.

2 And if they say, 'Jehovah liveth,' Surely to a falsehood they swear.

For even though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in this, too, they swear falsely.”

3 Jehovah, Thine eyes, are they not on stedfastness? Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back.

O Lord, your eyes look with favor upon faith. You have struck them, and they have not grieved. You have bruised them, and they have refused to accept discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, and they are not willing to return.

4 And I — I said, 'Surely these [are] poor, They have been foolish, For they have not known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.

But I said: Perhaps these are the poor and the senseless, who are ignorant of the way of the Lord, of the judgment of their God.

5 I get me to the great, and I speak with them, For they have known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.' Surely they together have broken the yoke, They have drawn away the bands.

Therefore, I will go to great men, and I will speak with them. For they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. And behold, these ones have broken the yoke all the more; they have torn apart the bonds.

6 Therefore smitten them hath a lion out of the forest, A wolf of the deserts doth spoil them, A leopard is watching over their cities, Every one who is going out of them is torn, For many have been their transgressions, Mighty have been their backslidings.

For this reason, a lion from the forest has struck them down, a wolf toward evening has laid waste to them, a leopard lies in wait over their cities. All who go out from there will be taken. For their transgressions have been multiplied; their rebellions have been strengthened.

7 For this I am not propitious to thee, Thy sons have forsaken Me, And are satisfied by that which is not god, I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, And at the house of a harlot They gather themselves together.

“Over which things am I able to be merciful to you? Your sons have forsaken me, and they swear by those who are not gods. I gave them everything, and they committed adultery, and they indulged themselves in the house of the harlot.

8 Fed horses — they have been early risers, Each to the wife of his neighbour they neigh.

They have become like wild horses in heat; each one was neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

9 For these do I not lay a charge? An affirmation of Jehovah, And on a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

Shall I not visit against these things, says the Lord? And shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation such as this?

10 Go ye up on her walls, and destroy, And a completion make not, Turn aside her branches, for they [are] not Jehovah's,

Scale its walls and tear them down. But do not be willing to bring about its very end. Take away its plantings, for they are not the Lord’s.

11 For dealt treacherously against Me have the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have greatly transgressed against me, says the Lord.

12 They have lied against Jehovah, And they say, '[It is] not He, Nor come in against us doth evil, Yea, sword and famine we do not see.

They have denied the Lord, and they have said, ‘It is not him,’ and, ‘Evil will not overwhelm us. We will not see famine and the sword.’

13 And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them,' — thus it is done by them.

The prophets have spoken into the wind, and there was no answer with them. Therefore, these things will happen to them.”

14 Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, Because of your speaking this word, Lo, I am making My words in thy mouth become fire, And this people wood, and it hath devoured them.

Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Since you have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth like fire and this people like wood, and it will devour them.

15 Lo, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah, A nation — strong it [is], a nation — from of old it [is], A nation — thou knowest not its tongue, Nor understandest what it speaketh.

Behold, O house of Israel, I will lead over you a far away nation, says the Lord, a robust nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you will not know, nor will you understand what they are saying.

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

Their quiver is like an open sepulcher. They are all strong.

17 And it hath consumed thy harvest and thy bread, They consume thy sons, and thy daughters, It consumeth thy flock, and thy herd, It consumeth thy vine, and thy fig-tree, It maketh poor thy fenced cities, In which thou art trusting — by the sword.

And they will consume your grain fields and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vineyards and your figs. And with the sword, they will crush your fortified cities, in which you have placed your trust.

18 And even in those days, an affirmation of Jehovah, I do not make you a completion.

Yet truly, in those days, says the Lord, I will not bring the consummation over you.

19 And it hath come to pass, when ye say, 'For what hath Jehovah our God done to us all these?' That thou hast said unto them, 'As ye have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So do ye serve strangers in a land not yours.

And if they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You shall say to them: ‘Just as you have abandoned me and have served a strange god in your own land, so will you serve strangers in a land not your own.’

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

Announce this to the house of Jacob, and make it known in Judah, saying:

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

Listen, O foolish people who have no heart! You have eyes, but you do not see, and ears, but you do not hear.

22 Me do ye not fear, an affirmation of Jehovah? From My presence are ye not pained? Who hath made sand the border of the sea, A limit age-during, and it passeth not over it, They shake themselves, and they are not able, Yea, sounded have its billows, and they pass not over.

So then, will you not fear me, says the Lord. And will you not have sorrow before my face? I have placed the shore as a limit for the sea, as an everlasting precept that it will not transgress. And its waves will crash, but they will not prevail; and its waves will swell, but they will not go across.

23 And this people hath an apostate and rebellious heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.

But the heart of this people has become incredulous and provocative; they have turned away and departed.

24 And they have not said in their heart, 'Let us fear, we pray you, Jehovah our God, who is giving rain, The sprinkling and the gathered, in its season, The appointed weeks of harvest He keepeth for us.'

And they have not said in their heart: ‘Let us dread the Lord our God, who gives us the timely and the late rains, in their proper time, who guards the full measure of the yearly harvest for us.’

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

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back good things from you.

26 For the wicked have been found among My people. It looketh about the covering of snares, They have set up a trap — men they capture.

For the impious are found among my people; they lie in ambush like fowlers setting snares, for they set traps to catch men.

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

Just as a snare is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. As a result, they have become exalted and enriched.

28 They have been fat, they have shone, Yea, they have overpassed the acts of the evil, Judgment they have not judged, The judgment of the fatherless — and they prosper, And the judgment of the needy they have not judged.

They have grown stout and fat. And they have transgressed my words most wickedly. They have not judged the case of the widow; they have not given guidance to the case of the orphan; and they have not judged a judgment for the poor.

29 For these do not I inspect, an affirmation of Jehovah, On a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

Shall I not visit against these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?

30 An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land.

Astonishing and wondrous things have been done upon the earth.

31 The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved [it] so, And what do they at its latter end?

The prophets have prophesied lies, and the priests have applauded with their hands, and my people have loved these things. So then, what shall be done at the very end?”