Jeremiah 5 J Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; and look, and inquire, and search in her broad ways. If you can find; if there be a man, who executeth judgment and seeketh truth, I will be merciful to them saith the Lord.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ [J] Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; and look, and inquire, and search in her broad ways. If you can find; if there be a man, who executeth judgment and seeketh truth, I will be merciful to them saith the Lord. ² They say, "As the Lord liveth." Do they not on this very account swear to falsehoods? ³ [p] Lord, thine eyes look for faithfulness. Thou hast chastised them: but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them and they would not receive instruction. They have made their faces harder than a rock and refused to return. ⁴ Then I said, perhaps they are poor, therefore they could not. Because they have not known the way of the Lord and the judgment of God, ⁵ I will go to the nobles and speak to them. [J] Because these knew the way of the Lord and the judgment of God, and lo! with one consent, have broken the yoke and burst the bands; ⁶ therefore a lion from the forest hath smitten them and a wolf hath destroyed them even in their houses, and a leopard hath lain in wait against their cities. Let all who go out from them be hunted down. Because they have multiplied their iniquities; have strengthened themselves in their apostacies; ⁷ for which of these can I be merciful to thee? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by things which are no Gods. When I fed them plentifully, they committed adultery, and revelled in the houses of harlots. ⁸ They became furious wanton steeds; they neighed every one for his neigh hour's wife. ⁹ Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and on such a nation as this shall not my soul be avenged? ¹⁰ Go up against her battlements and demolish them: but you must not make a complete destruction; leave her buttresses, for they are the Lord's. ¹¹ Because the house of Israel have broken faith with me, saith the Lord, and the house of Juda have given the lie to their Lord and said, ¹² "These things are not so. Evils will not come upon us; we shall see neither sword nor famine. ¹³ Our prophets are but wind and the word of the Lord was not in them." ¹⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, because you have spoken this word; behold I have made these words of mine for thy mouth, a fire; and this people fuel; and it shall devour them. ¹⁵ Behold I am about to bring against you, house of Israel, saith the Lord, a nation from afar; a nation the sound of whose tongue thou wilt not understand. ¹⁶ They are all mighty men; ¹⁷ and they shall devour your harvest and your bread; and they shall devour your sons and your daughters; and they shall devour your flocks and your herds; and they shall devour your vineyards and fig trees and olive orchards, and smite with the sword your fortified cities, in which you trusted. ¹⁸ But it shall come to pass in those days, saith the Lord thy God; That I will not make an entire end of you. ¹⁹ Now when you say, "Why hath the Lord our God done all this to us?" then thou shalt say to them, Because you served strange Gods in your land, therefore you shall serve strange Gods in a land which is not yours. ²⁰ Proclaim these things to the house of Jacob and let them be published to the house of Juda. ²¹ [p] Hear these things I beseech you, O foolish and stupid people! [J] They have eyes, but they do not see; ears they have, but they do not hear. ²² Will you not fear me, saith the Lord, nor be struck with awe at the presence of me who have by an everlasting decree, made sand a boundary to the ocean, so that it shall not pass it. Though it be tossed with a tempest, it shall not prevail; though the waves thereof roar, they shall not overpass it. ²³ But this people have a revolting and disobedient heart. They have turned aside and are gone: ²⁴ and did not say in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the former and the latter rain, according to the time of completing the appointed harvest. [p] Though they have reserved these for us, ²⁵ your iniquities have turned them out of their course: and your sins have removed good things from you. ²⁶ [J] Since there have been found among my people wicked men, who have set snares to destroy men and have caught them. ²⁷ As a trap which hath been set is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit, therefore they became great and rich ²⁸ and overleaped judgment; they did not administer justice to the orphan, nor decide righteously the cause of the widow; ²⁹ shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and on such a nation as this shall not my soul be avenged? ³⁰ Astonishing and horrible things have been done in this ³¹ land. The prophets prophesy falsehoods, and the priests clapped with their hands, and my people loved to have it so. Now what will you do in regard to the consequences?