JEREMIAH 5 [†]  y Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,

look and take note!

Search her squares to see

 z if you can find a man,

one who does justice

and seeks truth,

 a that I may pardon her.

2[†]  b Though they say, “As the LORD lives,”

 c yet they swear falsely.

3[†] O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?

 d You have struck them down,

but they felt no anguish;

you have consumed them,

but they refused to take correction.

 e They have made their faces harder than rock;

they have refused to repent.

4[†] Then I said, “These are only the poor;

they have no sense;

 f for they do not know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.

5 I will go to the great

and will speak to them,

for they know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.”

 g But they all alike had broken the yoke;

they had burst the bonds.

6[†] Therefore  h a lion from the forest shall strike them down;

a  i wolf from the desert shall devastate them.

 j A leopard is watching their cities;

everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,

because their transgressions are many,

their  k apostasies are great.

7[†]  l “How can I pardon you?

Your children have forsaken me

 m and have sworn by those who are no gods.

 n When I fed them to the full,

 o they committed adultery

 p and trooped to the houses of whores.

8[†] They were well-fed, lusty stallions,

 q each neighing  r for his neighbor’s wife.

9[^][†]  s Shall I not punish them for these things?

declares the LORD;

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

10[†]  t “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,

 u but make not a full end;

strip away her branches,

for they are not the LORD’s.

11  v For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been utterly treacherous to me,

declares the LORD.

12[†] They have spoken falsely of the LORD

and have said, ‘He will do nothing;

 w no disaster will come upon us,

 x nor shall we see sword or famine.

13 The prophets will become wind;

the word is not in them.

Thus shall it be done to them!’”

14[^][†] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts:

“Because you have spoken this word,

behold,  y I am making my words in your mouth  z a fire,

and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.

15[†]  a Behold, I am bringing against 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 language you do not know,

 b nor can you understand what they say.

16[†]  c Their quiver is like  d an open tomb;

they are all mighty warriors.

17  e They shall eat up your harvest and your food;

they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;

they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;

they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;

your  f fortified cities in which you trust

they shall beat down with the sword.”

18[†]“But even in those days, declares the LORD,  u I will not make a full end of you. 19And when your people say,  g ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land,  h so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

20[†] Declare this in the house of Jacob;

proclaim it in Judah:

21[†] “Hear this,  i O foolish and senseless people,

 j who have eyes, but see not,

who have ears, but hear not.

22[†]  k Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.

Do you not tremble before me?

I placed the sand  l as the boundary for the sea,

a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;

though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;

though  m they roar, they cannot pass over it.

23[†]  n But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;

they have turned aside and gone away.

24[†] They do not say in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the LORD our God,

 o who gives the rain in its season,

the autumn rain and the spring rain,

and keeps for us

 p the weeks appointed for the harvest.’

25[†]  q Your iniquities have turned these away,

and your sins have kept good from you.

26[†] For wicked men are found among my people;

 r they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. [1]

 s They set a trap;

they catch men.

27 Like a cage full of birds,

their houses are full of deceit;

therefore they have become great and rich;

28  t they have grown fat and sleek.

They know no bounds in deeds of evil;

 u they judge not with justice

the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,

and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

29  v Shall I not punish them for these things?

declares the LORD,

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?”

30[†] An appalling and  w horrible thing

has happened in the land:

31  x the prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule at their direction;

 y my people love to have it so,

but what will you do when the end comes?