1 | Run ye
to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in
the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth
judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. |
2 | And though they say, The LORD liveth;
surely they swear falsely. |
3 |
O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but
they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to
receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have
refused to return. |
4 |
Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not
the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. |
5 | I will get me unto the great men, and will speak
unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their
God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. |
6 | Wherefore a lion out of the
forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard
shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in
pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are
increased. |
7 | How shall I
pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are
no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and
assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. |
8 | They were as fed horses in the morning:
every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. |
9 | Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and
shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? |
10 | Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy;
but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the
LORD's. |
11 | For the house
of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,
saith the LORD. |
12 | They
have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us;
neither shall we see sword nor famine: |
13 | And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not
in them: thus shall it be done unto them. |
14 | Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye
speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this
people wood, and it shall devour them. |
15 | Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of
Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a
nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they
say. |
16 | Their quiver is
as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. |
17 | And they 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 fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. |
18 | Nevertheless in those days,
saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. |
19 | And it shall come to pass, when ye
shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then
shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in
your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not your's. |
20 | Declare this in the house of
Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, |
21 | Hear now this, O foolish people, and without
understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Jer 5:21
|
22 | Fear ye not me? saith the
LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the
bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the
waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet
can they not pass over it? |
23
| But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are
revolted and gone. |
24 |
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth
rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the
appointed weeks of the harvest. |
25 | Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins
have withholden good things from you. |
26 | For among my people are found wicked men: they lay
wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. |
27 | As a cage is full of birds, so are
their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen
rich. |
28 | They are waxen
fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the
cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the
needy do they not judge. |
29 |
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this? |
30 | A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; |
31 | The prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have
it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? |