< 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.
“Rush about through the streets of Jerusalem; search in her city squares, too. Then look and think about this: If you can find a man or anyone who is acting justly and trying to act faithfully, then I will forgive Jerusalem.
2 And if they say, 'Jehovah liveth,' Surely to a falsehood they swear.
Although they say, 'As Yahweh lives,' yet they are swearing 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.
Yahweh, do your eyes not look for faithfulness? You struck the people, but they do not feel pain. You have completely defeated them, but they still refuse to receive discipline. They make their faces harder than rock, for they refuse to repent.
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.
So I said, “Surely these are only poor people. They are foolish, for they do not know Yahweh's ways, nor their God's decrees.
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.
I will go to the important people and declare God's messages to them, for they at least know Yahweh's ways, the decrees of their God.” But they all broke their yoke together; they all tore apart the chains that bound them to God.
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.
So a lion from a thicket will attack them. A wolf from the Arabah will ruin them. A lurking panther will come against their cities. Anyone who goes outside his city will be torn apart. For their transgressions increase. Their acts of faithlessness are unlimited.
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.
Why should I pardon these people? Your sons have abandoned me and have made oaths by what are not gods. I fed them fully, but they committed adultery and walked in great numbers to the houses of prostitutes.
8 Fed horses — they have been early risers, Each to the wife of his neighbour they neigh.
They were horses in heat. They roamed about wanting to mate. Each man neighed to 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?
So should I not punish them—this is Yahweh's declaration— and should I not avenge myself on a nation that is like 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,
Go up onto her vineyards' terraces and destroy. But do not bring complete destruction to them. Trim their vines, since those vines do not come from Yahweh.
11 For dealt treacherously against Me have the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah.
For the houses of Israel and Judah have completely betrayed me—this is Yahweh's declaration.
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 spoken falsely about Yahweh and they said, “He will do nothing; no harm will come upon us, and we will not see sword or famine.
13 And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them,' — thus it is done by them.
The prophets will become wind, the word is not in them, so let what they say be done 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.
So Yahweh, the God of hosts says this, “Because you have said this, see, I am about to place my word in your mouth. It will be like a fire, and this people will be like wood! For it will consume 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! I am about to bring a nation against you from far away, house of Israel—this is Yahweh's declaration— it is a lasting nation, an ancient nation! It is a nation whose language you do not know, nor will you understand what they say.
16 Its quiver [is] as an open sepulchre, All of them — mighty ones.
Its quiver is like an open tomb. They are all soldiers.
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.
So your harvest will be consumed, your sons and daughters also, and your food. They will eat your flocks and cattle; they will eat the fruit from your vines and fig trees. They will beat down with a sword your fortified cities that you trusted in.
18 And even in those days, an affirmation of Jehovah, I do not make you a completion.
But even in those days—this is Yahweh's declaration—I do not intend to destroy you completely.
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.
When you, Israel and Judah, say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' then you, Jeremiah, will say to them, 'Just as you abandoned Yahweh and served foreign gods in your land, so you must also serve strangers in a land that is not your own.'
20 Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, And sound ye it in Judah, saying,
Report this to the house of Jacob and let it be heard in Judah. Say,
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.
'Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding; who have eyes but you cannot see, and you have ears but you cannot 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.
Do you not fear me—this is Yahweh's declaration—or tremble before my face? I have placed a border of sand against the sea, an ongoing decree that it does not violate— even though the sea rises and falls, still it does not violate it. Even though its waves roar, they do not cross it.
23 And this people hath an apostate and rebellious heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.
But this people has a stubborn heart. It turns away in rebellion and goes away.
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.'
For they do not say in their hearts, “Let us fear Yahweh our God, the one who brings the rain —the early rain and the late rains—in their right time, keeping the fixed weeks of the harvest for us.”
25 Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.
Your iniquities kept these things from happening. Your sins have stopped good from coming to 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 wicked men are found with my people. They watch as someone crouches to capture birds; they set a trap and catch people.
27 As a cage full of fowls, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.
Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit. So they grow large and become rich.
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 become fat; they shine with well-being. They crossed over all bounds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause of the people, or the cause of the orphan. They prosper even though they have not given justice to the needy.
29 For these do not I inspect, an affirmation of Jehovah, On a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?
Should I not punish them for these things—this is Yahweh's declaration— and will I not take vengeance for myself on a nation like this?
30 An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land.
Atrocities and horrors have occurred in the land.
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 prophesy with deceit, and the priests rule with their own power. My people love it this way, but what will happen in the end?'”

< Jeremiah 5 >