Jeremiah 5–6

^aRun ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and ^bseek in the broad places thereof, ^cif ye can find a man, ^dif there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; ^eand I will pardon it. ²And ^fthough they say, ^gThe Lord liveth; ^hsurely ⁱthey swear falsely. ³O Lord, are not ^kthine eyes upon the truth? thou hast ^lmstricken them, but they have not ^mgrieved; thou hast consumed them, but ⁿthey have refused to receive correction: ^othey have made their faces harder than a rock; ^oothey have refused to return. ⁴Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; ^pthey are foolish: for ^qthey know not the way of the Lord, nor ^qthe judgment of their God. ⁵I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for ^qthey have known the way of the Lord, and ^qthe judgment of their God: but ^rthese have altogether broken the yoke, and ^rrburst the bonds. ⁶Wherefore ^sa lion ^tout of the forest shall slay them, and ^ua wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, ^va leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their ^wbackslidings ^xare increased. ^7yHow shall I pardon thee for this? ^yythy children have forsaken me, and ^zsworn by ^athem that are no gods: ^bwhen I had fed them to the full, ^bbthey then committed adultery, and ^cassembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. ⁸They were as fed horses in the morning: every one ^dneighed ^eafter his neighbour’s wife. ^9fShall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

^10gGo ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but ^hmake not a full end: take away her ⁱbattlements; for they are not the Lord’s. ¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah ^khave dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. ^12lThey have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; ^mneither shall we see sword nor famine: ¹³and the prophets shall become ⁿwind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. ¹⁴Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, ^oI will make my words in thy mouth ^pfire, and this people ^pwood, and it shall devour them. ¹⁵Lo, I will bring ^qa nation upon you ^rfrom far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is ^sa mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, ^qa nation whose language thou knowest not, ^tneither understandest what they say. ^16uTheir quiver is as ^van open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. ¹⁷And ^wthey shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy ^xfenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. ¹⁸Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I ^hwill not make a full end with you.

¹⁹And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, ^yWherefore doth the Lord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ^zye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so ^ashall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. ²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, ²¹Hear now this, O ^bcfoolish people, and without ^dunderstanding; ^cwhich have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: ^22ddfear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the ^ebound of the sea by a perpetual ^eedecree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof ^ftoss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though ^ffthey roar, yet can they not pass over it? ²³But this people hath ^ga revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. ²⁴Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, ^ggthat giveth rain, both ^hthe former and ⁱthe latter, in his season: ^khe reserveth unto us ^lthe appointed weeks of the harvest. ²⁵Your iniquities have turned away ^mthese things, and your sins have withholden ^mgood things from you. ²⁶For among my people are found wicked men: ⁿthey lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. ²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. ^28oThey are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: ^pthey judge not the cause, the cause of ^pthe fatherless, ^qyet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. ^29rShall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰A wonderful and ^shorrible thing is committed in the land; ^31tthe prophets prophesy ^ufalsely, and the priests bear rule ^vby their means; and ^wmy people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

VI.^aO ye children of Benjamin, ^bgather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and ^cblow the trumpet in ^dTekoa, and set up ^ea sign of fire in ^fBeth-haccerem: for evil appeareth ^gout of the north, and great destruction. ²I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and ^hdelicate woman. ³ⁱThe shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; ^lthey shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his ^mplace. ⁴ⁿPrepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up ^oat noon. Woe unto us! for ^pthe day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. ⁵Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. ⁶For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, ^qHew ye down trees, and ^rcast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city ^sto be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. ^7tAs a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: ^uvviolence and ^vspoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. ⁸Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest ^wmy soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land ^xnot inhabited.

⁹Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ^yThey shall throughly glean ^zthe remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. ^10aTo whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, ^btheir ear is uncircumcised, and ^cthey cannot hearken: behold, ^dthe word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. ¹¹Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; ^eI am weary with holding in: I will pour it out ^fupon the children abroad, and upon ^gthe assembly of ^fhyoung men together: for even the husband with the wife ⁱshall be taken, ^hthe aged with him that is full of days. ¹²And ^kltheir houses shall be turned unto others, with their ^lfields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. ¹³For ^mfrom the least of them even unto the greatest of them ⁿevery one is given to covetousness; and ^ofrom the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. ¹⁴They have healed also the hurt ^pof the daughter of my people slightly, ^qsaying, Peace, peace; when ^rthere is no peace. ^15sWere they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, ^tthey were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: ^stherefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for ^uthe old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, ^vand ye shall find ^wrest for your souls. ^xBut they said, We will not walk therein. ¹⁷Also I set ^xxwatchmen over you, ^ysaying, Hearken to the sound of ^zthe trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. ¹⁸Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. ^19aHear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even ^bthe fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. ^20cTo what purpose cometh there to me ^dincense from ^eSheba, and ^fthe sweet cane from a far country? ^gyour burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. ²¹Therefore thus saith the Lord, ^ggBehold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. ²²Thus saith the Lord, ^hBehold, a people cometh from ⁱthe north country, and a great nation ^kshall be raised from the sides of the earth. ²³They shall lay hold on bow and ^lspear; they are ^mcruel, and ⁿhave no mercy; ^otheir voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. ²⁴We have heard the fame thereof: ^pour hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and ^qpain, as of a woman in travail. ²⁵Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and ^rfear is on every side. ²⁶O daughter of my people, ^sgird thee with sackcloth, and ^twallow thyself ^uin ashes: make thee ^vmourning, as for an only son, most ^wbitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. ²⁷I have set thee for ^xa tower and ^ya fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and ^ztry their way. ^28aThey are all grievous revolters, ^bwalking with slanders: they are ^cbrass and iron; they are all ^dcorrupters. ²⁹The bellows are burnt, ^cthe lead is consumed of the fire; ^ethe founder melteth in vain: for ^fthe wicked are not plucked away. ^30gReprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

VII.