Old Testament · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 5

No One Is Just

1Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her broad places, if you can find a man^a, if there is anyone doing judgment^b, seeking faithfulness; then I will pardon her.
2And though they say, As the LORD lives^c, surely they swear falsely.
3O LORD, are not your eyes upon faithfulness? You have struck them, but they were not pained; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction; they made their faces harder than a rock; they refused to return.
4And I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.
5I will get me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God. But these together had broken the yoke, and burst the bands.
6Therefore a lion out of the forest strikes them, a wolf of the deserts devastates them, a leopard watches over their cities; everyone who goes out of them is torn in pieces; for their transgressions are many, their backslidings are increased.
7For what shall I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are not gods; when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and trooped to the harlot's house.
8They were well-fed, roaming horses; every man neighed after his neighbor's wife^d.
9Shall I not punish for these things? declares the LORD; and shall not my soul^e be avenged on a nation such as this?
10Go up among her rows, and destroy, but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.
11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously with me, declares the LORD.

12They have denied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine.

13And the prophets shall become wind^f, and the word is not in them; thus shall it be done to them.

Judgment Proclaimed

14Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts^g: Because you speak this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

15Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD; it is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose tongue you do not know, neither do you understand what they speak.
16Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty men.
17And they shall devour your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat; they shall devour your flocks and your herds; they shall devour your vines and your fig trees; they shall beat down with the sword your fortified cities, in which you trust.

18But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. 19And it shall come to pass, when you say, For what has the LORD our God done all these things to us? then you shall say to them, As you have forsaken me, and served^h foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah, saying,

21Hear now this, O foolish people, who have no heart; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear.
22Do you not fear me? declares the LORD; will you not tremble before me, who placed the sand as a bound for the sea, an everlasting statuteⁱ, which it cannot pass; though its waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it?
23But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone.
24And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain, the early and the latter, in its season; the weeks of the statutes^j of the harvest he keeps for us.
25Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26For among my people are found wicked men; one watches, as fowlers crouch; they set a trap, they catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich.
28They have grown fat, they are sleek; yes, they overpass deeds of evil; they do not judge the cause^k, the cause of the orphan, that they might prosper; and the judgment of the needy they do not judge.
29Shall I not punish for these things? declares the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?
30An appalling and horrible thing has come to pass in the land:
31The prophets prophesy in falsehood, and the priests rule by their own hands; and my people love it so; but what will you do at the end of it?