Jeremiah 5
No One Is Just
1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look now and take note; search her squares.
If you can find a single person,
anyone who acts justly,
anyone who seeks the truth,
then I will forgive the city.
1“Roam about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and take note! And seek in her open squares to see if you can find a man, if there be any doing justice and seeking the truth, and I will grant forgiveness to her.
3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain.
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.
They have made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.
3O YHWH, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have struck them, and they have not grieved; You have finished them off; they have refused to receive discipline. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to turn back.
5I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.”
But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.
5I shall go Myself to the great ones, and will speak to them, for they have known the way of YHWH, the justice of their God.” But they have broken the yoke as one; they have drawn away the bonds.
6Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them.
A leopard will lie in wait near their cities,
and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.
For their rebellious acts are many,
and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.
6Therefore a lion will strike them down from the forest, a wolf of the desert plains will ravage them; a leopard is keeping watch over their cities—therefore all going out from them will be torn apart, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are numerous!
7“Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery
and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.
7“How can I grant forgiveness to you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me and have sworn by those not gods. And I satisfied them, and they committed adultery, and in the houses of a harlot they gather themselves together.
Judgment Proclaimed
14Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
I will make My words a fire in your mouth
and this people the wood it consumes.
14Therefore, thus says YHWH God of Hosts: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words into a fire in your mouth, and this people the wood, and it shall devour them!
15Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you,
O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
“It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know
and whose speech you do not understand.
15Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel,” a declaration of YHWH. “It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose tongue you do not know, and you do not understand what they say.
17They will devour your harvest and food;
they will consume your sons and daughters;
they will eat up your flocks and herds;
they will feed on your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust.”
17And it will consume your harvest and your bread; they will consume your sons and daughters, it will consume your flock and your herd, it will consume your vine and your fig tree; it will beat down with the sword your fortified cities, which you are trusting in them.”
19And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”
19And it will come to pass when you say, ‘For what has YHWH our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them: ‘As you have forsaken Me and have served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land not unto you.’”
22Do you not fear Me?”
declares the LORD.
“Do you not tremble before Me,
the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea,
an enduring barrier it cannot cross?
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot cross it.
22Do you not fear Me?” A declaration of YHWH. “Or will you not tremble before My face? For I have placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a decree forever that it should not cross over it; and they may shake about, and they cannot prevail, and though its waves roar, yet they shall not pass over it.
24They have not said in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season,
who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
24and they do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear YHWH our God, the One giving rain, the spring rain, and the autumn rain in its season, and the weeks appointed for the harvest He keeps for us.
28They have grown fat and sleek,
and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked.
They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless,
that they might prosper;
nor have they defended
the rights of the needy.
28they have grown fat; they are sleek. Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not judge justly the cause of the fatherless, and they prosper, and the justice of the needy ones they have not vindicated.