Jeremiah
Chapter 5
1 Go through Jerusalem’s streets, look carefully, and search in its open spaces to see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth; if so, I will forgive the city.
2 Even though they say, “God is alive”, they are truly lying when they swear.
3 God, don’t you look for honesty? You punished them, but they didn’t care; you destroyed them, but they wouldn’t learn. Their faces are tougher than stone; they wouldn’t come back to you.
4 So I thought, these people are poor and unwise because they don’t know the way of God or understand His decisions.
5 I will go to the leaders and talk to them; for they know God’s path and the rulings of their God: but these people have completely broken off the yoke and torn apart the ties.
6 So a lion from the woods will kill them, a wolf at night will destroy them, and a leopard will guard their cities. Anyone who leaves will be attacked because they have many sins and keep turning away from God.
7 How can I forgive you for this? Your children left me and made promises to false gods. I gave them plenty to eat, but then they cheated on me and gathered at prostitutes’ houses.
8 They were like well-fed horses in the morning: each one desired his neighbor’s wife.
9 Will I not punish for these things? says God: and will not I take revenge on a nation like this?
10 Climb up her walls and tear them down, but don’t completely destroy everything; remove her defenses, for they don’t belong to God.
11 The people of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me, says God.
12 They have lied about God, and said, He is not the one; we won’t face disaster; we won’t see war or hunger.
13 The prophets will turn into wind, and they do not have the word: this is how they will be treated.
14 So God says, because you say this, look, I will turn my words in your mouth into fire, and these people into wood, and the fire will burn them up.
15 Look, I will send a nation against you from far away, O people of Israel, says God: a powerful and old nation, a nation whose language you do not know or understand what they say.
16 Their bag of arrows is like an open grave; they are all strong warriors.
17 They will eat your crops and your bread that your sons and daughters should eat. They will consume your flocks and herds. They will destroy your vineyards and fig trees. They will ruin your protected cities, where you felt safe, with the sword.
18 But in those days, says God, I will not completely destroy you.
19 When you ask, “Why does God do all this to us?” you will say, “Just as you left me to worship other gods in your own land, you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.”
20 Tell this to the people of Jacob, and announce it in Judah:
21 Listen to this, you foolish people without understanding; you have eyes but do not see, you have ears but do not hear.
22 Are you not afraid of me? says God. Won’t you shake in fear before me, who has set the sand as the sea’s limit by a forever command, so it can’t go past it? Even if its waves crash around, they still can’t win; even if they roar, they cannot cross it.
23 These people have a disobedient and rebellious heart; they have turned away and left.
24 They don’t think, “Let’s respect God, who sends rain in the right seasons and sets the harvest times for us.”
25 Your wrongdoings have pushed away these blessings, and your sins have kept good things from you.
26 Among my people there are bad people: they hide and wait like someone setting traps; they set a trap and catch others.
27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of lies; so they have become powerful and very rich.
28 They have grown fat and sleek; indeed, they have gone beyond the evil deeds: they do not defend the rights of orphans, and yet they succeed; they also do not uphold the cause of the poor.
29 Will I not punish them for these acts? says God. Won’t I take revenge on a nation like this with my very being?
30 A shocking and terrible thing has happened in the land;
31 The prophets tell lies, and the priests lead with their help; and my people like it that way: but what will you do when it all ends?