Jeremiah 5
5
The Justice of God’s Judgment
1#2Ch 16:9; Eze 22:30 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
see now and know;
seek in the open places
if you can find a man,
if there is any who executes justice, who seeks the truth,
that I may pardon her.
2#Titus 1:16; Isa 48:1 Though they say, “The Lord lives,”
surely they swear falsely.
3#Jer 2:30; 2Ch 16:9 O Lord, 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 return.
4#Jer 8:7; Isa 27:11 Therefore I said, “Surely these are the poor.
They are foolish;
for they know not the way of the Lord
or the judgment of their God.
5#Jer 2:20 I will go to the great men
and will speak to them,
for they have known the way of the Lord
and the judgment of their God.”
But these have altogether broken the yoke
and burst the bonds.
6#Jer 4:7; Hab 1:8 Therefore a lion out of the forest will slay them,
and a wolf from the deserts will destroy them;
a leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many
and their backslidings have increased.
7#Dt 32:21; Jos 23:7 How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
then they committed adultery
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8#Jer 13:27; Eze 22:11 They were as fed horses in the morning;
everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9#Jer 9:9; 5:29 Shall I not punish for these things? says the Lord,
and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10#Jer 4:27; 39:8 Go up upon her walls and destroy,
but make not a full end.
Take away her battlements.
For they are not the Lord’s.
11#Jer 3:20 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously againstMe,
says the Lord.
12#2Ch 36:16; Jer 43:2–3 They have lied about the Lord,
and said, “Not He.
Neither shall evil come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.”
13#Jer 14:15; Job 8:2 And the prophets shall become wind,
and the word is not in them.
Thus it shall be done to them!
14#Jer 1:9; 23:29Therefore thus says the Lord God of Hosts:
Because you speak this word,
indeed I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15#Dt 28:49; Isa 5:26 Truly, I will bring a nation upon you from far,
O house of Israel, says the Lord.
It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor do you understand what they say.
16#Ps 5:9; Isa 5:28 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher,
they all are mighty men.
17#Lev 26:16; Dt 28:33 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 impoverish your fenced cities,
in which you trusted, with the sword.
18#Jer 4:27; 5:10Nevertheless in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. 19#1Ki 9:8–9; Jer 13:22It shall come to pass when they say, “Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?” then you shall answer them, “As you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”
20Declare this in the house of Jacob
and publish it in Judah, saying:
21#Isa 6:9–10; Eze 12:2 Hear this now, O foolish people and without understanding,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.
22#Ps 119:120; Dt 28:58 Do you not fear Me? says the Lord.
Will you not tremble at My presence?
For I have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea
by a perpetual decree so that it cannot pass over it.
And though the waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail;
though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23#Jer 6:28 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart;
they have revolted and gone aside.
24#Ge 8:22; Ps 147:8 They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
25#Jer 3:3 Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26#Pr 1:11; Jer 18:22 For among My people are found wicked men.
They lie in wait, as he who sets snares;
they set a trap, they catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28#Dt 32:15; Isa 1:23 They are fat, they are sleek.
Indeed, they excel in deeds of wickedness.
They do not judge the cause of the fatherless,
so that they may prosper;
and the right of the needy they do not defend.
29#Jer 5:9; Mal 3:5 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord.
Shall not My soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
30#Jer 23:14; Hos 6:10 An appalling and horrible thing
has been committed in the land.
31#Eze 13:6; Mic 2:11 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority;
and My people love to have it so.
Yet what will you do in the end?
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Jeremiah 5: MEV
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Military Bible Association
Jeremiah 5
5
The Sin of Jerusalem
1People of Jerusalem, run through your streets!
Look around! See for yourselves!
Search the market places!
Can you find one person
who does what is right
and tries to be faithful to God?
If you can, the LORD will forgive Jerusalem.
2Even though you claim to worship the LORD,
you do not mean what you say.
3Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness.
He struck you, but you paid no attention;
he crushed you, but you refused to learn.
You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.
4Then I thought, “These are only the poor and ignorant.
They behave foolishly;
they don't know what their God requires,
what the LORD wants them to do.
5I will go to the people in power,
and talk with them.
Surely they know what their God requires,
what the LORD wants them to do.”
But all of them have rejected the LORD's authority
and refuse to obey him.
6That is why lions from the forest will kill them;
wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces,
and leopards will prowl through their towns.
If those people go out, they will be torn apart
because their sins are numerous
and time after time they have turned from God.
7The LORD asked, “Why should I forgive the sins of my people?
They have abandoned me
and have worshipped gods that are not real.
I fed my people until they were full,
but they committed adultery
and spent their time with prostitutes.
8They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire,
each lusting for his neighbour's wife.
9Shouldn't I punish them for these things
and take revenge on a nation such as this?
10I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards,
but not to destroy them completely.
I will tell them to strip away the branches,
because those branches are not mine.
11The people of Israel and Judah
have betrayed me completely.
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
The LORD Rejects Israel
12The LORD's people have denied him and have said, “He won't really do anything.#5.12 He won't… anything; or We don't want anything to do with him. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine.” 13-14They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the LORD. The LORD God Almighty said to me, “Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up.”
15People of Israel, the LORD is bringing a nation from afar to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. 16Their bowmen are mighty soldiers who kill without mercy. 17They will devour your crops and your food; they will kill your sons and your daughters. They will slaughter your flocks and your herds and destroy your vines and fig trees. The fortified cities in which you trust will be destroyed by their army.
18The LORD says, “Yet even in those days I will not completely destroy my people. 19When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs.”
God Warns his People
20The LORD says, “Tell the descendants of Jacob, tell the people of Judah: 21#Is 6.9–10; Ezek 12.2; Mk 8.18Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear. 22#Job 38.8–11I am the LORD; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through. 23But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me. 24You never thought to honour me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year. 25Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.
26“Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who spread nets to catch birds,#5.26 Probable text they… birds; Hebrew unclear. but they have set their traps to catch people. 27Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich, 28why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.
29“But I, the LORD, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation. 30A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?”
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.