Jeremiah 5
1 “Roam about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and take note! And seek in her open squares [to see] if you⁺ can find a man, if there be any doing justice [and] seeking the truth, and I will grant forgiveness to her.
2 And if they say ‘As YHWH’ lives,’ surely they swear to a falsehood.”
3 O YHWH, [are] not Your eyes on the truth? You have struck them, and they have not grieved; You have finished them off; they have refused to receive discipline. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to turn back.
4 And I said, “Surely these [are] poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of YHWH, the justice of their God.
5 I shall go Myself to the great ones, and will speak to them, for they have known the way of YHWH, the justice of their God.” But they have broken the yoke as one; they have drawn away the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion will strike them down from the forest, a wolf of the desert plains will ravage them; a leopard is keeping watch over their cities—therefore all going out from them will be torn apart, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are numerous!
7 “How can I grant forgiveness to you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me and have sworn by those not gods. And I satisfied them, and they committed adultery, and [in] the houses of a harlot they gather themselves together.
8 They were well-fed lusting horses—each man neighing after the wife of his neighbor.
9 Should I not punish over these [things],” a declaration of YHWH, “And shall not My soul avenge itself on such a nation as this?
10 Go up among her vine-rows, and ravage them! You shall not make a full end. And take away her branches, for they [are] not of YHWH.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous with Me,” a declaration of YHWH.
12 They have lied about YHWH and said, “[It is] not He! And neither will evil come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine.
13 And the prophets will become as wind; and for the word is not in them; thus shall it be done to them.
14 Therefore, thus says YHWH God of Hosts: “Because you⁺ speak this word, behold, I will make My words into a fire in your mouth, and this people the wood, and it shall devour them!
15 Behold, I am bringing against you⁺ a nation from afar, O house of Israel,” a declaration of YHWH. “It [is] an enduring nation, it [is] an ancient nation, a nation [whose] tongue you do not know, and you do not understand what they say.
16 Its quiver is kept open like a grave, all of them [are] mighty [men].
17 And it will consume your harvest and your bread; they will consume your sons and daughters, it will consume your flock and your herd, it will consume your vine and your fig tree; it will beat down with the sword your fortified cities, which you are trusting in them.”
18 “And even, in those days,” a declaration of YHWH, “I will not make of you⁺ a complete [end].
19 And it will come to pass when you⁺ say, ‘For what has YHWH our God done all these [things] to us?’ Then you shall say to them: ‘As you⁺ have forsaken Me and have served foreign gods in your⁺ land, so you⁺ shall serve strangers in a land not unto you⁺.’”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; unto them [are] eyes, and they do not see, unto them [are] ears, and they do not hear.
22 Do you not fear Me?” A declaration of YHWH. “Or will you⁺ not tremble before My face? For I have placed the sand [as] the boundary of the sea, a decree forever that it should not cross over it; and they may shake about, and they cannot prevail, and though its waves roar, yet they shall not pass over it.
23 And for this people there is a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away,
24 and they do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear YHWH our God, the One giving rain, the spring rain, and the autumn rain in its season, [and] the weeks appointed for the harvest He keeps for us.
25 Your⁺ iniquities have stretched away these [things], and your⁺ sins have withheld the good from you⁺.
26 For wicked ones are found among My people; they keep watch like crouching fowlers; they set a trap; they capture men.
27 Like a cage full of birds, so their houses [are] full of deceit; upon thus they have become great and grown rich,
28 they have grown fat; they are sleek. Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not judge justly the cause of the fatherless, and they prosper, and the justice of the needy ones they have not vindicated.
29 Shall I not punish for these [things]?” A declaration of YHWH, “Should not My soul avenge itself against a nation such as this?
30 An appalling and horrible [thing] has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy with deception, and the priests rule by their own hands; and My people love it so, and what will you⁺ do in the end?