Jeremiah 5:1–6:30
1 “aRoam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look now and take note.
And seek in her open squares,
If you can bfind a man,
cIf there is one who does justice, who seeks 1truth,
Then I will pardon her.
2 “And aalthough they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Lord, do not aYour eyes look for 1truth?
You have bsmitten them,
But they did not 2weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they crefused to take correction.
They have dmade their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ado not know the way of the Lord
Or the ordinance of their God.
And will speak to them,
For athey know the way of the Lord
And the ordinance of their God.”
But they too, with one accord, have bbroken the yoke
And burst the bonds.
6 Therefore aa lion from the forest will slay them,
A bwolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A cleopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their dtransgressions are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.
Your sons have forsaken Me
And asworn by those who are bnot gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ccommitted adultery
And trooped to the harlot’s house.
8 “They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing after his aneighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not punish 1these people,” declares the Lord,
“And on a nation such as this
aShall I not avenge Myself?
10 “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
11 “For the ahouse of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
12 They have alied about the Lord
Misfortune will cnot come on us,
And we dwill not see sword or famine.
13 “The aprophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
Thus it will be done to them!”
14 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts,
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am amaking My words in your mouth fire
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
15 “Behold, I am abringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose blanguage you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16 “Their aquiver is like an bopen grave,
All of them are mighty men.
17 “They will adevour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your bvines and your fig trees;
They will demolish with the sword your cfortified cities in which you trust.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make you a complete destruction.
19 “It shall come about awhen 1they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will bserve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Now hear this, O foolish and 1senseless people,
Who have aeyes but do not see;
Who have ears but do not hear.
22 ‘Do you not afear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have bplaced the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.
23 ‘But this people has a astubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed.
24 ‘They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
Who agives rain in its season,
Both bthe autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The cappointed weeks of the harvest.”
25 ‘Your ainiquities have turned these away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.
26 ‘For wicked men are found among My people,
They awatch like fowlers 1lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch men.
27 ‘Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of adeceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28 ‘They are afat, they are sleek,
They also 1excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the 2borphan, that they may prosper;
And they do not 3defend the rights of the poor.
29 ‘aShall I not punish 1these people?’ declares the Lord,
‘On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?’
30 “An appalling and ahorrible thing
Has happened in the land:
31 The aprophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule 1on their own authority;
And My people blove it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?
Destruction of Jerusalem Impending
1 “Flee for safety, O sons of aBenjamin,
From the midst of Jerusalem!
Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa
And raise a signal over 1bBeth-haccerem;
For evil looks down from the cnorth,
And a great destruction.
2 “The comely and adainty one, bthe daughter of Zion, I will cut off.
3 “aShepherds and their flocks will come to her,
They will bpitch their tents 1around her,
They will pasture each in his 2place.
Arise, and let us 2attack at bnoon.
Woe to us, for the day declines,
For the shadows of the evening lengthen!
5 “Arise, and let us 1attack by night
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts,
“aCut down her trees
And cast up a bsiege against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
In whose midst there is only coppression.
7 “aAs a well 1keeps its waters fresh,
So she 1keeps fresh her wickedness.
bViolence and destruction are heard in her;
cSickness and wounds are ever before Me.
8 “aBe warned, O Jerusalem,
Or 1bI shall be alienated from you,
And make you a desolation,
A land not inhabited.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“They will athoroughly glean as the vine the bremnant of Israel;
Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer
Over the branches.”
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning
That they may hear?
Behold, their aears are 1closed
And they cannot listen.
Behold, bthe word of the Lord has become a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.
11 But I am afull of the wrath of the Lord;
I am bweary with holding it in.
“cPour it out on the children in the street
And on the 1gathering of young men together;
For both husband and wife shall be taken,
The aged 2and the very old.
12 “Their ahouses shall be turned over to others,
Their fields and their wives together;
For I will bstretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.
13 “For afrom the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is bgreedy for gain,
And from the prophet even to the priest
Everyone 1deals falsely.
14 “They have ahealed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
15 “Were they aashamed because of the abomination they have done?
They were not even ashamed at all;
They did not even know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the aancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And byou will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 “And I set awatchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 “Therefore hear, O nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 “aHear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,
Because they have not listened to My words,
And as for My law, they have crejected it also.
20 “aFor what purpose does bfrankincense come to Me from Sheba
And the 1csweet cane from a distant land?
dYour burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”
21 Therefore, thus says the Lord,
“Behold, aI am 1laying stumbling blocks before this people.
And they will stumble against them,
bFathers and sons together;
Neighbor and 2friend will perish.”
22 Thus says the Lord,
“Behold, aa people is coming from the north land,
And a great nation will be aroused from the bremote parts of the earth.
23 “They seize abow and spear;
They are bcruel and have no mercy;
Their voice croars like the sea,
And they ride on horses,
Arrayed as a man for the battle
Against you, O daughter of Zion!”
24 We have aheard the report of it;
Our hands are limp.
bAnguish has seized us,
Pain as of a woman in childbirth.
25 aDo not go out into the field
And bdo not walk on the road,
For the enemy has a sword,
cTerror is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, aput on sackcloth
And broll in ashes;
A lamentation most bitter.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come upon us.
27 “I have amade you an assayer and a tester among My people,
That you may know and assay their way.”
28 All of them are stubbornly rebellious,
aGoing about as a talebearer.
They are bbronze and iron;
They, all of them, are corrupt.
The lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain the refining goes on,
But the awicked are not 1separated.
30 aThey call them rejected silver,
Because the bLord has rejected them.