Jer 5
1
Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek
in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that does justly,
that seeks truth; and I will pardon her.
2
And though they say, As YHWH lives; surely they swear falsely.
3
O YHWH, do not your eyes look upon 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.
4
Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of
YHWH, nor the law of their God:
5
I will get me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of YHWH,
and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst
the bonds.
6
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy
them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goes out thence shall
be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings
are increased.
7
How can I pardon you? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no
gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves
in troops at the harlots` houses.
8
They were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor`s wife.
9
Shall I not visit for these things? says YHWH; and shall not my soul be avenged on
such a nation as this?
10
Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches;
for they are not YHWH`s.
11
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against
me, says YHWH.
12
They have denied YHWH, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither
shall we see sword nor famine:
13
and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be
done to them.
14
Wherefore thus says YHWH, the God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I
will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15
Behold, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says YHWH: it
is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not,
neither understand what they say.
16
Their quiver is an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men.
17
And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, [which] your sons and your daughters
should eat; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines
and your fig-trees; they shall beat down your fortified cities, wherein you trust,
with the sword.
18
But even in those days, says YHWH, I will not make a full end with you.
19
And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore has YHWH our God done all
these things to us? then shall you say to them, Like as you have forsaken me, and
served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not
yours.
20
Declare you this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes, and see
not; that have ears, and hear not:
22
Fear you not me? says YHWH: will you not tremble at my presence, who have placed the
sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? and
though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar,
yet can they not pass over it.
23
But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear YHWH our God, that gives rain, both
the former and the latter, in its season; that preserves to us the appointed weeks
of the harvest.
25
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good
from you.
26
For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they
set a trap, they catch men.
27
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are
become great, and waxed rich.
28
They are waxed fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead
not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of
the needy do they not judge.
29
Shall I not visit for these things? says YHWH; shall not my soul be avenged on such
a nation as this?
30
A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land:
31
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people
love to have it so: and what will you do in its end?