Jeremiah 5:1–19
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.’