Yirmeyahu (Jer) 5
5
1“Roam the streets of Yerushalayim
look around, observe and ask in its open spaces:
if you can find anyone (if there is anyone!)
who acts with justice and seeks the truth,
I will pardon her.
2And though they say, ‘As Adonai lives,’
the fact is that they are swearing falsely.”
3Adonai, your eyes look for truth.
You struck them, but they weren’t affected;
you [nearly] destroyed them,
but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than rock,
refusing to repent.
4My reaction was, “These must be the poor,
the foolish, not knowing the way of Adonai
or the rulings of their God.
5I will go to the prominent men,
and I will speak to them;
for they know the way of Adonai
and the rulings of their God.”
But these had completely broken the yoke
and torn the harness off.
6This is why a forest lion kills them,
why a desert wolf can plunder them,
why a leopard guards their cities —
all who leave are torn to pieces —
because their crimes are many,
their backslidings keep increasing.
7“Why should I forgive you?
Your people have abandoned me
and sworn by non-gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery,
thronging to the brothels.
8They have become like well-fed horses,
lusty stallions, each one neighing
after his neighbor’s wife.
9Should I not punish for this?” asks Adonai.
“Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?”
10Go through her rows [of vines], and destroy them
(but don’t destroy them completely):
strip away her branches,
they do not belong to Adonai.
11“For the house of Isra’el
and the house of Y’hudah
have thoroughly betrayed me,” says Adonai.
12They have denied Adonai,
they have said, “He won’t do anything,
calamity will not strike us,
we will see neither sword nor famine.
13The prophets are merely wind,
they do not have the word;
the things that they are predicting
will happen only to them.”
14Therefore Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot says:
“Because you people speak this way,
I will make my words fire in your mouth, [Yirmeyahu,]
and this people wood;
so that it will devour them.
15I will bring on you, house of Isra’el,
a distant nation,” says Adonai,
“an enduring nation, an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know —
you will not understand what they are saying.
16Their quiver is like an open grave,
they are all mighty warriors.
17They will eat up your harvest and your bread,
they will eat up your sons and your daughters,
they will eat up your flocks and your herds,
they will eat up your vines and your fig trees;
with the sword they will beat down
your fortified cities, in which you trust.
18But even in those days,” says Adonai,
“I will not completely destroy you.
19And when your people ask, ‘Why has Adonai
our God done all these things to us?’
you are to give them this answer:
‘Just as you abandoned me
and served strange gods in your own land,
so likewise you will serve strangers
in a land that is not your own.’
20Announce this in the house of Ya‘akov,
proclaim it in Y’hudah; say:
21‘Hear this, stupid, brainless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
22Don’t you fear me? — says Adonai.
Won’t you tremble at my presence?
I made the shore the limit for the sea;
by eternal decree it cannot pass.
Its waves may toss, but to no avail;
although they roar, they cannot cross it.
23But this people has a rebellious, defiant heart;
they have rebelled and gone!
24They don’t say to themselves,
“Let’s fear Adonai our God,
who gives the fall and spring rains in season,
who reserves us the weeks assigned for harvest.”
25Your crimes have overturned nature’s rules,
your sins have kept back good from you.’
26“For among my people there are wicked men,
who, like fowlers, lie in wait and set traps
to catch their fellow human beings.
27Their houses are as full of fraud
as a cage full of birds.
They grow rich and great, 28sleek and bloated;
they excel in acts of wickedness
but do not plead on behalf of the orphan,
thus enabling his cause to succeed;
nor do they judge in favor of the poor.
29“Should I not punish for this?” asks Adonai.
“Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?
30A shocking and horrifying thing
has happened in the land:
31The prophets prophesy lies,
the cohanim obey the prophets,
and my people love it that way.
But what will you do at the end of it all?
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleYirmeyah 5
5
1Run ye to and fro through the chutzot Yerushalayim (streets of Jerusalem), and see now, and know, and seek in the rechovot thereof, if ye can find an ish, if there be any that dispenseth mishpat (justice), that seeketh the emunah (faith); and I will forgive her.#5:1 Jerusalem
2And though they say, Chai Hashem; surely they swear lasheker (falsely).
3 Hashem, are not Thine eyes upon emunah? Thou hast struck them, but they felt no anguish; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to accept musar;#5:3 cf Isa 53:5 they have made their faces harder than stone; they have refused to make teshuvah.
4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the Derech Hashem, nor the Mishpat Eloheihem.
5I will get me unto the Gedolim, and will speak unto them; for they have known the Derech Hashem, and the Mishpat Eloheihem; but these have altogether broken off the ol (yoke), and burst the bonds.
6Therefore an aryeh (lion) out of the forest shall slay them, and a ze'ev (wolf) of the deserts shall destroy them, a namer (leopard) shall prowl near their towns; every one that ventureth out from there shall be torn to pieces; because their peysha'im (rebellions) are many, and their meshuvot (backslidings) are increased.
7How shall I forgive thee for this? Thy banim have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no elohim; when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and trooped to the bais zonah.
8They were like well-fed, lusty susim: every one neighed after the isha of his neighbor.
9Shall I not visit [to punish] for these things? saith Hashem; and shall not My Nefesh be avenged on such a Goy as this?
10Go ye up through her rows of vines, and cut down; but make not a full end; take away her branches; for they are not Hashemʼs.
11For Bais Yisroel and Bais Yehudah have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith Hashem.
12They have spoken lies about Hashem, and said, Lo hu (not He); neither shall ra'ah come upon us; neither shall we see cherev nor ra'av (famine);
13And the nevi'im shall become ruach, and the Devar is not in them; thus shall it be done unto them.
14Therefore thus saith Hashem Elohei Tzva'os, Because ye speak this devar, hinei, I will make My Devarim in thy mouth an eish, and HaAm HaZeh etzim (wood), and it shall consume them.
15Hineni, I will bring a Goy (Nation) upon you from afar, O Bais Yisroel, saith Hashem; it is a powerful nation, a goy me'olam (an ancient nation), a nation whose leshon thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16Their quiver is as an open kever (grave), they are all gibborim.
17And they shall devour thine katzir (harvest), and thy lechem, which thy banim and thy banot should eat; they shall devour thy tzon and thine bakar; they shall eat up thy gefen and thy te'enah (fig tree); they shall impoverish thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the cherev.
18Nevertheless in those days, saith Hashem, I will not make a full end with you.
19And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth Hashem Eloheinu all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, As ye have forsaken Me, and served elohei nechar (foreign g-ds, strange g-ds) in your land, so shall ye serve zarim in an eretz not your own.
20Declare this in Bais Ya'akov, and publish it in Yehudah, saying,
21Hear now this, O Am Sakhal (foolish people) without understanding; which have eynayim (eyes), and see not; which have oznayim (ears), and hear not;
22Fear ye not Me? saith Hashem; will ye not tremble at My Presence, Who hath placed the chol (sand) as the boundary of the yam by a chok olam, that it cannot transgress; and though the waves thereof toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23But HaAm Hazeh hath a lev sorer (stubborn heart) and moreh (rebellious); they have revolted and departed.
24Neither say they in their lev, Let us now fear Hashem Eloheinu, that giveth geshem, both the yoreh (former rain, autumn rain) and the malkosh (latter rain, spring rain) in season; He secureth unto us shavu'ot chukkot katzir (the appointed weeks of the harvest).
25Your avonot (iniquities) have turned away these things, and your chatta'ot (sins) have deprived hatov from you.
26For among Ami are found resha'im; they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a mashkhit (trap), they catch anashim.
27As a cage is full of oph, so are their batim (houses) full of mirmah; therefore they are become powerful and oshir (rich, wealthy).
28They have grown fat and sleek; yea, their wicked deeds are without limit; the cause of the yatom they do not plead, yet they prosper; and the mishpat evyonim (right of the poor people) they do not defend.
29Shall I not visit [to punish] for these things? saith Hashem; shall not My nefesh be avenged on such a Goy (Nation) as this?
30An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in HaAretz;
31The nevi'im prophesy falsely, and the kohanim rule at their direction; and My people love to have it this way; but what will ye do in the end?
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