Jeremiah 5:1-19

Roam  through the streets of Jerusalem. Investigate;  search in her squares. If you find one person,  any who acts justly, who pursues faithfulness, then I will forgive her.  When they say, “As the  Lord  lives,”  they are swearing falsely.  Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?  You have struck them, but they felt no pain.  You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline.  They made their faces harder than rock,  and they refused to return.  Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have been foolish. For they don’t understand the way of the  Lord,  the justice of their God.  I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the  Lord, the justice of their God.  However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.  Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.  A wolf from arid plains will ravage them. A leopard  stalks their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many,  their unfaithful deeds numerous.  Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me and sworn by those who are not gods.  I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;  they gashed themselves  at the   prostitute’s house. They are well-fed,  eager   stallions,  each neighing  after someone else’s wife.  Should I not punish them for these things?  This is the  Lord’s declaration. Should I not avenge myself  on such a nation as this? Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,  but do not finish them off.  Prune away her shoots, for they do not belong to the  Lord.  They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have dealt very treacherously with me.  This is the  Lord’s declaration. They have contradicted the  Lord and insisted, “It won’t happen.  , Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.” The prophets become only wind, for the Lord’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them. Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Armies says: Because you have spoken this word, I am going to make my words become fire in your mouth.  These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them.  I am about to bring a nation from far away against you,  house of Israel. This is the  Lord’s declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.  Their quiver is like an open grave;  they are all warriors. They will consume your harvest and your food.  They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. With the sword they will destroy your fortified cities  in which you trust. “But even in those days” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “I will not finish you off.  When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us? ’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me  and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’