Jeremiah 5
5
Sins Are Piled Sky-High
1-2“Patrol Jerusalem’s streets.
Look around. Take note.
Search the market squares.
See if you can find one man, one woman,
A single soul who does what is right
and tries to live a true life.
I want to forgive that person.”
God’s Decree.
“But if all they do is say, ‘As sure as God lives . . . ’
they’re nothing but a bunch of liars.”
3-6But you, God,
you have an eye for truth, don’t you?
You hit them hard, but it didn’t faze them.
You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
Hardheaded, harder than rock,
they wouldn’t change.
Then I said to myself, “Well, these are just poor people.
They don’t know any better.
They were never taught anything about God.
They never went to prayer meetings.
I’ll find some people from the best families.
I’ll talk to them.
They’ll know what’s going on, the way God works.
They’ll know the score.”
But they were no better! Rebels all!
Off doing their own thing.
The invaders are ready to pounce and kill,
like a mountain lion, a wilderness wolf,
Panthers on the prowl.
The streets aren’t safe anymore.
And why? Because the people’s sins are piled sky-high;
their betrayals are past counting.
7-9“Why should I even bother with you any longer?
Your children wander off, leaving me,
Taking up with gods
that aren’t even gods.
I satisfied their deepest needs, and then they went off with the ‘sacred’ whores,
left me for orgies in sex shrines!
A bunch of well-groomed, lusty stallions,
each one pawing and snorting for his neighbor’s wife.
Do you think I’m going to stand around and do nothing?”
God’s Decree.
“Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures
against a people like this?
Eyes That Don’t Really Look, Ears That Don’t Really Listen
10-11“Go down the rows of vineyards and rip out the vines,
but not all of them. Leave a few.
Prune back those vines!
That growth didn’t come from God!
They’ve betrayed me over and over again,
Judah and Israel both.”
God’s Decree.
12-13“They’ve spread lies about God.
They’ve said, ‘There’s nothing to him.
Nothing bad will happen to us,
neither famine nor war will come our way.
The prophets are all windbags.
They speak nothing but nonsense.’”
14Therefore, this is what God said to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“Because they have talked this way,
they are going to eat those words.
Watch now! I’m putting my words
as fire in your mouth.
And the people are a pile of kindling
ready to go up in flames.
15-17“Attention! I’m bringing a far-off nation
against you, O house of Israel.”
God’s Decree.
“A solid nation,
an ancient nation,
A nation that speaks another language.
You won’t understand a word they say.
When they aim their arrows, you’re as good as dead.
They’re a nation of real fighters!
They’ll clean you out of house and home,
rob you of crops and children alike.
They’ll feast on your sheep and cattle,
strip your vines and fig trees.
And the fortresses that made you feel so safe—
leveled with a stroke of the sword!
18-19“Even then, as bad as it will be”—God’s Decree!—“it will not be the end of the world for you. And when people ask, ‘Why did our God do all this to us?’ you must say to them, ‘This is back on you. Just as you left me and served foreign gods in your own country, so now you must serve foreigners in their own country.’
20-25“Tell the house of Jacob this,
put out this bulletin in Judah:
Listen to this,
you scatterbrains, airheads,
With eyes that see but don’t really look,
and ears that hear but don’t really listen.
Why don’t you honor me?
Why aren’t you in awe before me?
Yes, me, who made the shorelines
to contain the ocean waters.
I drew a line in the sand
that cannot be crossed.
Waves roll in but cannot get through;
breakers crash but that’s the end of them.
But this people—what a people!
Uncontrollable, untamable runaways.
It never occurs to them to say,
‘How can we honor our God with our lives,
The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn
and maintains the rhythm of the seasons,
Who sets aside time each year for harvest
and keeps everything running smoothly for us?’
Of course you don’t! Your bad behavior blinds you to all this.
Your sins keep my blessings at a distance.
To Stand for Nothing and Stand Up for No One
26-29“My people are infiltrated by wicked men,
unscrupulous men on the hunt.
They set traps for the unsuspecting.
Their victims are innocent men and women.
Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten gain,
like a hunter’s bag full of birds.
Pretentious and powerful and rich,
hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat.
Worse, they have no conscience.
Right and wrong mean nothing to them.
They stand for nothing, stand up for no one,
throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor.
Do you think I’ll stand by and do nothing about this?”
God’s Decree.
“Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures
against a people like this?
* * *
30-31“Unspeakable! Sickening!
What’s happened in this country?
Prophets preach lies
and priests hire on as their assistants.
And my people love it. They eat it up!
But what will you do when it’s time to pick up the pieces?”
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Jeremiah 5: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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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