Jer 5
1
Run you about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in her broad
places, if you can find one, if there is any one that does judgement, and seeks faithfulness;
and I will pardon them, says the Lord.
2
The Lord lives, they say; do they not therefore swear falsely?
3
O Lord, your eyes are upon faithfulness: you have scourged them, but they have not
grieved; you have consumed them; but they would not receive correction: they have
made their faces harder than a rock; and they would not return.
4
Then I said, It may be they are poor; for they are weak, for they know not the way
of the Lord, or the judgement of God.
5
I will go to the rich men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of
the Lord, and the judgement of God: but, behold, with one consent they have broken
the yoke, they have burst the bonds.
6
Therefore has a lion out of the forest smitten them, and a wolf has destroyed them
See Heb. even to their houses, and a leopard has watched against their cities: all that go
forth from them shall be hunted: for they have multiplied their ungodliness, they
have strengthened themselves in their revoltings.
7
In what way shall I forgive you for these things? Your sons have forsaken me, and
sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery,
and lodged in harlots’ houses.
8
They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after his neighbour’s wife.
9
Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged
on such a nation as this.
10
Go up upon her battlements, and break them down; but make not a full end: leave her
buttresses: for they are the Lord’s.
11
For the house of Israel have indeed dealt treacherously against me, says the Lord:
the house of Juda also
12
have lied to their Lord, and they have said, These things are not so; no evils shall
come upon us; and we shall not see sword or famine.
13
Our prophets became wind, and the word of the Lord was not in them.
14
Therefore thus says the Lord Almighty, Because you have spoken this word, behold,
I have made my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour
them.
15
Behold, I will bring upon you a nation from far, O house of Israel, says the Lord;
a nation the sound of whose language one shall not understand.
16
They are all mighty men:
17
and they shall devour you harvest, and your bread; and shall devour your sons, and
your daughters; and they shall devour your sheep, and your calves, and devour your
vineyards, and your fig-plantations, and your olive yards: and they shall Gr. thresh as corn utterly destroy your strong cities,
wherein you trusted, with the sword.
18
And it shall come to pass in those days, says the Lord your God, that I will not utterly
destroy you.
19
And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore has the Lord our God done
all these things to us? that you shall say to them, Because you served strange gods
in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20
Proclaim these things to the house of Jacob, and let them be heard in the house of
Juda.
21
Hear you now these things, O foolish and senseless people; who have eyes, and see
not; and have ears, and hear not:
22
will you not be afraid of me? says the Lord; and will you not fear before me, who
have set the sand for a bound to the sea, as a perpetual ordinance, and it shall not
pass it: yea, it shall Gr. be troubled rage, but not prevail; and its waves shall roar, but not pass over it.
23
But this people has a disobedient and rebellious heart; and they have turned aside
and gone back:
24
and they have not said in their heart, Let us fear now the Lord our God, who gives
us the early and latter rain, according to the season of the fulfillment of the ordinance
of harvest, and has preserved it for us.
25
Your transgressions have turned away these things, and your sins have removed good
things from you.
26
For among my people were found ungodly men; and they have set snares to destroy men,
and have caught them.
27
As a snare which has been set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit:
therefore have they grown great, and become rich:
28
and they have transgressed the rule of judgement; they have not judged the cause of
the orphan, nor have they judged the cause of the widow.
29
Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
30
Shocking and horrible deeds have been done on the land;
31
the prophets utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands:
and my people has loved to have it thus: and what will you do for the future.