Jeremiah 5
5
The Depravity of Jerusalem
1Roam#2Ch 16:9 through the streets of Jerusalem.
Investigate;#5:1 Lit See and know
search in her squares.
If you find one person,#Ps 14:1–3; Ezk 22:30; Rm 3:10
any who acts justly,
who pursues faithfulness,
then I will forgive her.#Gn 18:26–32
2When they say, “As the Lord lives,”#Jr 4:2
they are swearing falsely.#Lv 19:12; Is 48:1; Jr 7:9
3 Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?#2Ch 16:9; Ps 51:6
You have struck them, but they felt no pain.#Pr 23:35
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.#Pr 27:22
They made their faces harder than rock,#Ezk 3:7–9
and they refused to return.#Hs 11:5
4Then I thought:
They are just the poor;
they have been foolish.
For they don’t understand the way of the Lord,#Gn 18:19; 2Kg 17:26; 21:22; Ps 95:10; Jr 8:7; Hs 4:6
the justice of their God.#Mc 3:1
5I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.#Ps 103:7
However, these also had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.#Ps 2:3; Jr 2:20
6Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.#2Kg 17:26; Jr 4:7; 25:38
A wolf from arid plains will ravage them.
A leopard#Hs 13:7; Rv 13:2 stalks their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,#Is 59:12
their unfaithful deeds numerous.#Jr 3:6,8,11–12,22; 14:7; 30:15; Am 5:12
7Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned me
and sworn by those who are not gods.#Dt 32:21; Jos 23:7; Gl 4:8
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;#Hs 4:10
they gashed themselves#1Kg 18:24 at the#5:7 Or adultery and trooped to the, or adultery and lodged at the; Hb obscure prostitute’s house.
8They are well-fed,#5:8 Lit well-equipped; Hb obscure eager#5:8 Lit early-rising; Hb obscure stallions,#Ezk 23:20
each neighing#Jr 13:27 after someone else’s wife.#Ex 20:14; Ezk 22:11
9Should I not punish them for these things?#Jr 5:29; 8:10; 9:9
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself#Dt 32:35; Heb 10:30
on such a nation as this?
10Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,#2Kg 24:2
but do not finish them off.#Jr 4:27
Prune away her shoots,
for they do not belong to the Lord.#Hs 1:9
11They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
have dealt very treacherously with me.#Is 21:2; 24:16; 48:8; Hs 6:7
This is the Lord’s declaration.
12They have contradicted the Lord
and insisted, “It won’t happen.#5:12 Lit “He does not exist#Is 28:15; Jr 23:17
Harm won’t come to us;
we won’t see sword or famine.”
13The prophets become only wind,
for the Lord’s word is not in them.
This will in fact happen to them.
Coming Judgment
14Therefore, 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.#Hs 6:5; Rv 11:5
These people are the wood,
and the fire will consume them.#Zch 12:6
15I am about to bring a nation
from far away against you,#Is 10:3; 13:5; 30:27; Jr 4:16
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.#Dt 28:49; Is 28:11; 33:19; 1Co 14:21
16Their quiver is like an open grave;#Ps 5:9; Rm 3:13
they are all warriors.
17They will consume your harvest and your food.#Lv 26:16; Dt 28:31,33,51
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#Hs 8:14 in which you trust.
18“But even in those days” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “I will not finish you off.#2Ch 12:12; Jr 4:27; 5:10; 30:11; Ezk 11:13; 20:17; Rm 11:1–5 19When 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#Dt 28:20; 29:24–25; 31:16; Jdg 2:12; 1Sm 8:8; 1Kg 9:8–9; Is 1:4,28; Jr 1:16; 2:13,17,19; 16:11; 17:13 and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ #Dt 4:27–28; 28:47–48
20“Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21Hear this,
you foolish and senseless#5:21 Lit without heart people.#Dt 32:6
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
They have ears, but they don’t hear.#Ps 115:5–6; 135:16–17; Is 6:9; 42:20; Ezk 12:2; Mt 13:14; Mk 8:18
22Do you not fear me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Do you not tremble before me,
the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,
an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?#Jb 26:10; 38:10–11; Ps 104:9; Pr 8:29
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot pass over it.
23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.#Dt 21:18,20; Ps 78:8; Is 1:5; Heb 3:12
They have turned aside and have gone away.
24They have not said to themselves,
‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,#Pr 9:10; Hs 6:1
who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring,#Dt 11:14; Jl 2:23; Mt 5:45
who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’
25Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.
Your sins have withheld my bounty from you,#Is 59:2
26for wicked men live among my people.
They watch like hunters#5:26 Lit hunters of birds lying in wait.#5:26 Hb obscure#Pr 1:11
They set a trap;#Ps 10:9
they catch men.
27Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.#Ps 10:7; 50:19; Is 3:14; 5:18; 30:12; Jr 8:5; Zph 1:9; Ac 13:10; Rm 1:29
Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.
28They have become fat#Dt 32:15 and sleek.
They have also excelled in evil matters.
They have not taken up cases,
such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,
and they have not defended the rights of the needy.#Dt 24:14; Jb 29:16; 30:25; 31:19; Ps 82:3–4; 140:12; Pr 14:31; 31:9; Is 1:23; Zch 7:10; Ac 4:34
29Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself#Jr 5:9; 8:19; Heb 10:30
on such a nation as this?
30“An appalling, horrible thing
has taken place in the land.#Hs 6:10
31The prophets prophesy falsely,#Jr 6:13; 8:10; 14:14; 20:6; 23:14,25–26,32; 27:10,14–16; 28:15; 29:9,21,31; Lm 2:14; Zch 13:3
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it like this.
But what will you do at the end of it?#Dt 32:29; Is 10:3
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Jeremiah 5: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 5
5
Jeremiah 5
1¶ Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and find out and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that execute judgment, that seek the truth; and I will pardon the city.
2And if they should say, The Lord lives; surely they swear falsely.
3O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they did not feel it; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive chastisement; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they have become foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God.
5I will go unto the great men, and will speak unto 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.
6Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased.
7How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy sons have forsaken me and sworn by them that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8They were as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9Shall I not visit for these things? said the Lord; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10¶ Go ye up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end; take away her battlements for they are not the Lord’s.
11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have made a firm decision to rebel against me, saith the Lord.
12They have denied the Lord and said, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine;
13but the prophets shall become like wind, and there is no word in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14Therefore thus hath the Lord God of the hosts said: Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15Behold, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou dost not know, neither dost thou understand what they say.
16Their quiver is as an open sepulcher; they are all mighty men.
17And they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees; and thy fenced cities, in which thou dost trust, they shall bring to nothing with the sword.
18Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you.
19And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why does the Lord our God do all these things unto us? Then thou shalt answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20¶ Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying,
21Hear now this, O foolish people and without heart, who have eyes and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:
22Do ye not fear me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence, who placed the sand for the bound of the sea by an eternal order, which cannot be broken? Storms shall raise themselves up, yet they shall not prevail; their waves shall roar, yet they shall not pass over it.
23But this people have a false and rebellious heart; they turned and went.
24Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; he shall keep us with the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25¶ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26For among my people were found wicked men: they lay in wait as he that sets snares; they set a trap of perdition to catch men.
27As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; thus they became great and rich.
28They are become fat; they shine; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they did not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless; with all this they made themselves prosperous; and they did not judge the cause of the poor.
29Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30A horrible and ugly thing is committed in the land:
31The prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bore rule by their hands; and my people love to have it so. What will ye do in the end thereof?
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International