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.
2 Though
they say, ‘As the
LORD lives,’
surely they swear
falsely.”
3 O
LORD, 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.
4 Then
I said, “Surely
these are poor.
They are foolish;
for they don’t
know the LORD’s
way, nor the
law of their
God.
5 I
will go to
the great men
and will speak
to them, for
they know the
way of the
LORD, and the
law of their
God.” But these
with one accord
have broken the
yoke, and burst
the bonds.
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.
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.
8 They were
as fed
horses roaming at large. Everyone
neighed after his
neighbor’s wife.
9 Shouldn’t I
punish them for
these things?”
says the LORD.
“Shouldn’t my soul
be avenged on
such a nation
as this?
10 “Go
up on her
walls, and destroy,
but don’t make a
full end. Take
away her branches,
for they are
not the LORD’s.
11 For
the house of
Israel and the
house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously
against me,” says
the LORD.
12 They
have denied the
LORD, and said, “It
is not he.
Evil won’t come on
us. We won’t see
sword or famine.
13 The
prophets will
become wind, and
the word is
not in them.
Thus it will
be done to
them.”
14 Therefore
the LORD, 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.
15 Behold,
I will bring
a nation on
you from far
away, house of
Israel,” says the
LORD. “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.
16 Their quiver
is an open
tomb. They are
all mighty 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.
18 “But
even in those
days,” says the
LORD, “I will
not make a
full end of
you.
19 It
will happen when
you say, ‘Why has
the LORD 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.’
20 “Declare
this in the
house of Jacob,
and publish it
in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Hear
this now, foolish
people without
understanding, who
have eyes,
and don’t see, who
have ears, and don’t
hear:
22 Don’t you
fear me?’ says
the LORD; ‘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.’
23 “But
this people has
a revolting and
a rebellious heart.
They have revolted
and gone.
24 They don’t
say in their heart,
‘Let’s now fear
the LORD our
God, who gives
rain, both the
former and the
latter, in its
season, who
preserves to us
the appointed
weeks of the
harvest.’
25 “Your
iniquities have
turned away these
things, and your
sins have withheld
good from you.
26 For
wicked men are
found among my
people. 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 have become
great, and grew
rich.
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.
29 “Shouldn’t
I punish for
these things?”
says the LORD.
“Shouldn’t my soul
be avenged on
such a nation
as this?
30 “An
astonishing and horrible
thing has happened
in the land.
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?