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 learned
what the Lord their God
demands of them.
5So I'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 worshiped 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.
* 12Their prophets lie and say,
“The Lord won't punish us.
We will have peace
and plenty of food.”
13They 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 fig 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 worshiped 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.
21 #
Is 6.9,10; Ez 12.2; Mk 8.18. You fools! Why don't you listen
when I speak?
Why can't you understand
22 #
Job 38.8-11. that you should worship me
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 farther.
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!
* 26A hunter traps birds
and puts them in a cage,
but some of you trap humans
and make them your slaves.
27You 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: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 5
5
The Sin of Jerusalem
1People of Jerusalem, run through your streets!
Look around! See for yourselves!
Search the market places!
Can you find one person
who does what is right
and tries to be faithful to God?
If you can, the LORD will forgive Jerusalem.
2Even though you claim to worship the LORD,
you do not mean what you say.
3Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness.
He struck you, but you paid no attention;
he crushed you, but you refused to learn.
You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.
4Then I thought, “These are only the poor and ignorant.
They behave foolishly;
they don't know what their God requires,
what the LORD wants them to do.
5I will go to the people in power,
and talk with them.
Surely they know what their God requires,
what the LORD wants them to do.”
But all of them have rejected the LORD's authority
and refuse to obey him.
6That is why lions from the forest will kill them;
wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces,
and leopards will prowl through their towns.
If those people go out, they will be torn apart
because their sins are numerous
and time after time they have turned from God.
7The LORD asked, “Why should I forgive the sins of my people?
They have abandoned me
and have worshipped gods that are not real.
I fed my people until they were full,
but they committed adultery
and spent their time with prostitutes.
8They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire,
each lusting for his neighbour's wife.
9Shouldn't I punish them for these things
and take revenge on a nation such as this?
10I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards,
but not to destroy them completely.
I will tell them to strip away the branches,
because those branches are not mine.
11The people of Israel and Judah
have betrayed me completely.
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
The LORD Rejects Israel
12The LORD's people have denied him and have said, “He won't really do anything.#5.12 He won't… anything; or We don't want anything to do with him. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine.” 13-14They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the LORD. The LORD God Almighty said to me, “Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up.”
15People of Israel, the LORD is bringing a nation from afar to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. 16Their bowmen are mighty soldiers who kill without mercy. 17They will devour your crops and your food; they will kill your sons and your daughters. They will slaughter your flocks and your herds and destroy your vines and fig trees. The fortified cities in which you trust will be destroyed by their army.
18The LORD says, “Yet even in those days I will not completely destroy my people. 19When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs.”
God Warns his People
20The LORD says, “Tell the descendants of Jacob, tell the people of Judah: 21#Is 6.9–10; Ezek 12.2; Mk 8.18Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear. 22#Job 38.8–11I am the LORD; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through. 23But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me. 24You never thought to honour me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year. 25Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.
26“Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who spread nets to catch birds,#5.26 Probable text they… birds; Hebrew unclear. but they have set their traps to catch people. 27Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich, 28why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.
29“But I, the LORD, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation. 30A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.