Jeremiah 5
5
No One Is Right
1The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look around and think about these things.
Search the public squares of the city.
See if you can find one person who does honest things.
Find just one who searches for the truth.
If you can, I will forgive this city.
2The people say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’
But they don’t really mean it.”
3Lord, don’t you look for truth in people?
You hit the people of Judah.
But they didn’t feel any pain.
You crushed them,
but they refused to learn what is right.
They became more stubborn than a rock.
They refused to turn back to God.
4But I thought,
“These are only the poor, foolish people.
They have not learned the way of the Lord.
They do not know what their God wants them to do.
5So I will go to the leaders of Judah.
I will talk to them.
Surely they understand the way of the Lord.
They know what God wants them to do.”
But the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord.
They broke their ties with him.
6So a lion from the forest will attack them.
A wolf from the desert will kill them.
A leopard is hiding and waiting for them near their towns.
It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city.
This will happen because the people of Judah have sinned greatly.
They have wandered away from the Lord many times.
7The Lord said, “Tell me why I should forgive you.
Your children have left me.
They have made promises to idols that are not gods at all.
I gave your children everything they needed.
But they still were like an unfaithful wife to me.
They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.
8They are like well-fed, male horses filled with sexual desire.
Each one wants another man’s wife.
9Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“I should give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves.
10“Go along and cut down Judah’s vineyards.
But do not completely destroy them.
Cut off all her people as if they were branches.
Do it because they do not belong to the Lord.
11The families of Israel and Judah
have been completely unfaithful to me,” says the Lord!
12Those people have lied about the Lord.
They have said, “The Lord will not do anything to us!
Nothing bad will happen to us.
We will never see war or hunger.
13The prophets are like an empty wind.
The word of God is not in them.
Let these bad things they say happen to them.”
14So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“The people said I would not punish them.
So, Jeremiah, the words I give you will be like fire.
And these people will be like wood the fire burns up.
15Listen, family of Israel,” says the Lord.
“I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you.
It is an old nation that has lasted a long time.
The people there speak a language you do not know.
You cannot understand what they say.
16Their arrows bring death.
All their men are strong warriors.
17They will eat your crops and your food.
They will eat your sons and daughters.
They will eat your flocks and herds.
They will eat your grapes and figs.
They will destroy with their swords
the strong, walled cities you trust in!
18“Yet even then,” says the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19The people of Judah will ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done this terrible thing to us?’ Give them this answer: ‘You have left the Lord. You have served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you!’
20“Announce this message to the family of Jacob.
And tell it to the nation of Judah:
21Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense.
You have eyes, but you don’t really see.
You have ears, but you don’t really listen.
22Surely you are afraid of me,” says the Lord.
“You should shake with fear in my presence.
I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea.
They keep the water in its place forever.
The waves may pound the beach, but they can’t win over it.
The waves may roar,
but they cannot go beyond it.
23But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me.
They have turned aside and gone away from me.
24They do not say to themselves,
‘We should fear the Lord our God.
He gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons.
He makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.’
25But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest.
Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.
26There are wicked men among my people.
They are like men who make nets for catching birds.
But they set their traps to catch men instead of birds.
27Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of lies.
They have become rich and powerful.
28They have grown big and fat.
There is no end to the evil things they do.
They won’t plead the case of the orphan.
They won’t help the poor be judged fairly.
29Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“I should give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves.
30“A terrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land of Judah:
31The prophets tell lies.
The priests take power into their own hands.
And my people love it this way.
But what will you do when the end comes?
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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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