Jeremiah 5

1 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem (Yerushalayim), and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you 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, ‘יהוה liveth;’ surely they swear falsely.”

3 O יהוה, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to turn back.

4 Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of יהוה, nor the judgment of their God (Elohim).

5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of יהוה, and the judgment of their God (Elohim).” 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 you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are not God (Elohim); 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 יהוה. “And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end; take away her battlements, for they are not יהוה’s.

11 For the house of Yisrael and the house of Judah (Yehudah) have dealt very treacherously against Me,” saith יהוה.

12 They have belied יהוה, 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 יהוה God of hosts (YHWH Elohei Tsevaot): “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your 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 Yisrael,” saith יהוה. “It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you 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 your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trustedst, with the sword.

18 “Nevertheless in those days,” saith יהוה, “I will not make a full end with you.

19 And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, ‘Wherefore doeth יהוה our God (Elohim) all these things unto us?’ Then shalt you answer them, ‘Like as you have forsaken Me, and served foreign gods (elohim) in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob (Yaaqov), and proclaim it in Judah (Yehudah), saying,

21 ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not:

22 Fear you not Me?’ saith יהוה. “Will you not tremble at My presence, who 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 יהוה our God (Elohim), 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 יהוה. ‘Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?’

30 An appalling and horrible thing is committed in the land:

31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests (kohanim) bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so; and what will you do in the end thereof?