Jeremiah 5
5
The Depravity of Jerusalem
1Roam # 2Ch 16:9 through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look and take note;
search in her squares.
If you find one person, # Ps 14:1-3; Ezk 22:30; Rm 3:10
any who acts justly,
who seeks to be faithful,
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
3Lord, 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 played the fool.
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 an arid plain will ravage them.
A leopard # Hs 13:7; Rv 13:2 keeps watch over 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 # Or adultery and trooped to the, or adultery and lodged at the ; Hb obscure prostitute’s house.
8They are well-fed, # Lit well-equipped ; Hb obscure eager # 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. # 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 Hosts 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 mighty 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.
They will destroy with the sword
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 # 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 rain, # Mt 5:45 both early and late, # Jl 2:23 in its season, # Dt 11:14
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 fowlers lying in wait. # 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. # Deut 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?
30A horrible, terrible 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: HCSB
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Jeremiah 5
5
The Justice of God’s Judgment
1#2Ch 16:9; Eze 22:30 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
see now and know;
seek in the open places
if you can find a man,
if there is any who executes justice, who seeks the truth,
that I may pardon her.
2#Titus 1:16; Isa 48:1 Though they say, “The Lord lives,”
surely they swear falsely.
3#Jer 2:30; 2Ch 16:9 O Lord, are not Your eyes upon the truth?
You have stricken them, but they have not grieved.
You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than a rock;
they have refused to return.
4#Jer 8:7; Isa 27:11 Therefore I said, “Surely these are the poor.
They are foolish;
for they know not the way of the Lord
or the judgment of their God.
5#Jer 2:20 I will go to the great men
and will speak to 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.
6#Jer 4:7; Hab 1:8 Therefore a lion out of the forest will slay them,
and a wolf from the deserts will destroy them;
a leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many
and their backslidings have increased.
7#Dt 32:21; Jos 23:7 How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
then they committed adultery
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8#Jer 13:27; Eze 22:11 They were as fed horses in the morning;
everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9#Jer 9:9; 5:29 Shall I not punish for these things? says the Lord,
and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10#Jer 4:27; 39:8 Go up upon her walls and destroy,
but make not a full end.
Take away her battlements.
For they are not the Lord’s.
11#Jer 3:20 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously againstMe,
says the Lord.
12#2Ch 36:16; Jer 43:2–3 They have lied about the Lord,
and said, “Not He.
Neither shall evil come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.”
13#Jer 14:15; Job 8:2 And the prophets shall become wind,
and the word is not in them.
Thus it shall be done to them!
14#Jer 1:9; 23:29Therefore thus says the Lord God of Hosts:
Because you speak this word,
indeed I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15#Dt 28:49; Isa 5:26 Truly, I will bring a nation upon you from far,
O house of Israel, says the Lord.
It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor do you understand what they say.
16#Ps 5:9; Isa 5:28 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher,
they all are mighty men.
17#Lev 26:16; Dt 28:33 They will eat up your harvest and your bread
which your sons and your daughters should eat.
They will eat up your flocks and your herds;
they will eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they will impoverish your fenced cities,
in which you trusted, with the sword.
18#Jer 4:27; 5:10Nevertheless in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. 19#1Ki 9:8–9; Jer 13:22It shall come to pass when they say, “Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?” then you shall answer them, “As you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”
20Declare this in the house of Jacob
and publish it in Judah, saying:
21#Isa 6:9–10; Eze 12:2 Hear this now, O foolish people and without understanding,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.
22#Ps 119:120; Dt 28:58 Do you not fear Me? says the Lord.
Will you not tremble at My presence?
For I have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea
by a perpetual decree so that it cannot pass over it.
And though the waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail;
though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23#Jer 6:28 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart;
they have revolted and gone aside.
24#Ge 8:22; Ps 147:8 They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
25#Jer 3:3 Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26#Pr 1:11; Jer 18:22 For among My people are found wicked men.
They lie in wait, as he who sets snares;
they set a trap, they catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28#Dt 32:15; Isa 1:23 They are fat, they are sleek.
Indeed, they excel in deeds of wickedness.
They do not judge the cause of the fatherless,
so that they may prosper;
and the right of the needy they do not defend.
29#Jer 5:9; Mal 3:5 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord.
Shall not My soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
30#Jer 23:14; Hos 6:10 An appalling and horrible thing
has been committed in the land.
31#Eze 13:6; Mic 2:11 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority;
and My people love to have it so.
Yet what will you do in the end?
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