Jeremiah 5

^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.