Jeremiah 5
5
Is anyone honest and faithful?
The LORD said to me:
1“Search Jerusalem
for honest people
who try to be faithful.
If you can find even one,
I'll forgive the whole city.
2Everyone breaks promises
made in my name.”
3I answered, “I know
that you look for truth.
You punished your people
for their lies,
but in spite of the pain,
they became more stubborn
and refused to turn back
to you.”
4Then I thought to myself,
“These common people
act like fools,
and they have never learnt
what the LORD their God
demands of them.
5I'll go and talk to the leaders.
They know what God demands.”
But even they had decided
not to obey the LORD.
6The people have rebelled
and rejected the LORD
too many times.
So enemies will attack
like lions from the forest
or wolves from the desert.
Those enemies will watch
the towns of Judah,
and like leopards
they will tear to pieces
whoever goes outside.
Enemies will punish Judah
The LORD said:
7People of Judah,
how can I forgive you?
I gave you everything,
but you abandoned me
and worshipped idols.
You men go to prostitutes
and are unfaithful
to your wives.
8You are no better than animals,
and you always want sex
with someone else's wife.
9Why shouldn't I punish
the people of Judah?
10I will tell their enemies,
“Go through my vineyard.
Don't destroy the vines,
but cut off the branches,
because they are the people
who don't belong to me.”
11In every way, Judah and Israel
have been unfaithful to me.
12-13Their prophets lie and say,
“The LORD won't punish us.
We will have peace
and plenty of food.”
They tell these lies in my name,
so now they will be killed in war
or starve to death.
14I am the LORD God All-Powerful.
Jeremiah, I will tell you
exactly what to say.
Your words will be a fire;
Israel and Judah
will be the fuel.
15People of Israel,
I have made my decision.
An army from a distant country
will attack you.
I've chosen an ancient nation,
and you won't understand
their language.
16All of them are warriors,
and their arrows bring death.
17This nation will eat your crops
and livestock;
they will leave no fruit
on your vines or trees.
And although you feel safe
behind thick walls,
your towns will be destroyed
and your children killed.
Israel refused to worship the LORD
18The LORD said:
Jeremiah, the enemy army won't kill everyone in Judah. 19And the people who survive will ask, “Why did the LORD our God do such terrible things to us?” Then tell them:
I am the LORD,
but you abandoned me
and worshipped other gods
in your own land.
Now you will be slaves
in a foreign country.
20Tell these things to each other,
you people of Judah,
you descendants of Jacob.
21You fools! Why don't you listen#Is 6.9,10; Ez 12.2; Mk 8.18.
when I speak?
Why can't you understand
22that you should worship me#Job 38.8-11.
with fear and trembling?
I'm the one who made the shore
to hold back the ocean.
Waves may crash on the beach,
but they can come no further.
23You stubborn people have rebelled
and turned your backs on me.
24You refuse to say,
“Let's worship the LORD!
He's the one who sends rain
in spring and autumn
and gives us a good harvest.”
25That's why I cannot bless you!
26-27A hunter traps birds
and puts them in a cage,
but some of you trap humans
and make them your slaves.
You are evil, and you lie and cheat
to make yourselves rich.
You are powerful
28and prosperous,
but you refuse to help#5.28 refuse to help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. the poor
get the justice they deserve.
29You need to be punished,
and so I will take revenge.
30Look at the terrible things
going on in this country.
I am shocked!
31Prophets give their messages
in the name of a false god,#5.31 give…god: Or “tell lies”.
my priests don't want
to serve me,#5.31 don't…me: Or “don't care what I want”.
and you—my own people—
like it this way!
But on the day of disaster,
where will you turn for help?
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Jeremiah 5: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
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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