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
Jeremias (Jeremiah) 5
5
1Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that executeth judgement and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.
2And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely.
3O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than the rock and they have refused to return.
4But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God.
5I will go therefore to the great men and I will speak to them: for they known the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God. And, behold, these have together broken the yoke more and have burst the bonds.
6Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.
7How can I be merciful to thee? Thy children have forsaken me and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery and rioted in the harlot's house.
8They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.
9Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? And shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
10Scale down the walls thereof and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord's.
11For the house of Israel and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
12They have denied the Lord and said: It is not he and the evil shall not come upon us. We shall not see the sword and famine.
13The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them.
14Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth as fire and this people as wood; and it shall devour them.
15Behold, I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.
16Their quiver is as an open sepulchre: they are all valiant.
17And they shall eat up thy corn and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.
18Nevertheless, in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.
19And if you shall say: Why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? Thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.
20Declare ye this to the house of Jacob and publish it in Juda, saying:
21Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not.
22Will not you then fear me? saith the Lord. And will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance which it shall not pass over. And the waves thereof shall toss themselves and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it.
23But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking: they are revolted and gone away.
24And they have not said in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fullness of the yearly harvest.
25Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
26For among my people are found wicked men that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.
27As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched.
28They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, they have not judged the judgement of the poor.
29Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
30Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.
31The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things. What then shall be done in the end thereof?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.