The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Jeremiah 05
1 “Runback and forth through the streets
of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and
seek in its wide places, if you can find a
man, if there is anyone who does justly,
who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.
2 Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’
surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on
truth? You have stricken them, but they
were 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
return.
4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor.
They are foolish; for they don’t know
Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God.
5 I will go to the great men and will speak
to them, for they know the way of Yahweh,
and the law of their God.” But these
with one accord have broken the yoke, and
burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will
kill them. A wolf of the evenings will
destroy them. A leopard will watch against
their cities. Everyone who goes out there
will be torn in pieces, because their
transgressions are many and their
backsliding has increased.
7 “How can I pardon you? Your children
have forsaken me, and sworn by what are
no gods. When I had fed them to the full,
they committed adultery, and assembled
themselves in troops at the prostitutes’
houses.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at
large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these
things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul
be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy, but
don’t make a full end. Take away her
branches, for they are not Yahweh’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house
of Judah have dealt very treacherously
against me,” says Yahweh.
12 They have denied Yahweh, and said,
“It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We
won’t see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind, and
the word is not in them. Thus it will be
done to them.”
14 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies
says, “Because you speak this word,
behold, I will make my words in your mouth
fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.
15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you
from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh.
“It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient
nation, a nation whose language you don’t
know and don’t understand what they say.
16 The irquiver is anopentomb. They are
all mighty men.
17 They will eat up your harvest and your
bread, which your sons and your daughters
should eat. They will eat up your
flocks and your herds. They will eat up
your vines and your fig trees. They will
beat down your fortified cities in which
you trust with the sword.
18 “But even in those days,” says Yahweh,
“I will not make a full end of you.
19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has
Yahweh our God done all these things to
us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you
have forsaken me and served foreign gods
in your land, so you will serve strangers in
a land that is not yours.
20 “Declare this inthe house ofJacob, and
publish it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without
understanding, who have eyes, and don’t
see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
22 Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh;
‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who
have placed the sand for the bound of the
sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass
it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet
they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they
still can’t pass over it.’
23 “But this people has a revolting and a
rebellious heart. They have revolted and
gone.
24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s
now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain,
both the former and the latter, in its
season, who preserves to us the appointed
weeks of the harvest.
25 “Your iniquities have turned away
these things, and your sins have withheld
good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my
people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait.
They set a trap. They catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their
houses full of deceit. Therefore they have
become great, and grew rich.
28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes,
they excel in deeds of wickedness. They
don’t plead the cause, the cause of the
fatherless,thattheymay prosper; and they
don’t defend the rights of the needy.
29 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?”
says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?
30 “Anastonishing andhorrible thinghas
happened in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and
thepriests ruleby their ownauthority; and
my people love to have it so. What will you
do in the end of it?