Jeremiah 5

¹ "Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
if you can find one person
who acts justly and seeks truth—
then I will pardon her.

² Though they say, "As the LORD lives,"
they surely swear falsely."

³ LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.

⁴ I thought, "These are only the poor;
they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the requirements of their God.

⁵ So I will go to the leaders
and speak to them,
for surely they know the way of the LORD,
the requirements of their God."
But with one accord they too had broken the yoke
and torn off the bonds.

⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them;
a wolf from the desert will ravage them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns
to tear to pieces anyone who ventures out,
for their rebellions are many
and their acts of unfaithfulness are numerous.

⁷ "Why should I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.

⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

⁹ Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?"

¹⁰ "Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not destroy them completely.
Strip away her branches,
for they do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to me,"
declares the LORD.

¹² They have lied about the LORD;
they said, "He will do nothing!
No harm will come to us;
we will never see sword or famine.

¹³ The prophets are nothing but wind;
the word is not in them.
So let what they say be done to them."

¹⁴ Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says:
"Because you have spoken this word,
I am making my words in your mouth a fire
and this people the wood it consumes."

¹⁵ "I am bringing a distant nation against you, Israel,"
declares the LORD.
"It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
whose speech you cannot understand.

¹⁶ Their quiver is like an open grave;
all of them are mighty warriors.

¹⁷ They will devour your harvest and food;
they will devour your sons and daughters.
They will devour your flocks and herds;
they will devour your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust."

¹⁸ "Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not make a complete end of you.

¹⁹ And when your people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.'"

²⁰ "Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:

²¹ Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:

²² Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD.
"Should you not tremble in my presence?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
a permanent limit it cannot cross.
Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot cross it.

²³ But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴ They do not say in their hearts,
'Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
who secures for us the appointed weeks of harvest.'

²⁵ Your wrongdoings have turned these away;
your sins have deprived you of good.

²⁶ "For among my people are found the wicked;
they lie in wait like fowlers crouching down.
They set traps; they catch people.

²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and rich.

²⁸ They have grown fat and sleek.
They have also surpassed the deeds of the wicked;
they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it,
and they do not defend the rights of the poor.

²⁹ Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?"

³⁰ "A horrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land:

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?"