Jeremiah 5-6

Jeremiah 5

¹Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broadways thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justice, that seeketh fidelity; and I will pardon it.

²And if they say, As Jehovah liveth! surely they swear falsely.

³Jehovah, are not thine eyes upon fidelity? Thou hast smitten them, but they are not sore; thou hast consumed them, they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

⁴And I said, Surely these are the wretched ones, they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, the judgment of their God.

⁵I will go unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, the judgment of their God; but these have altogether broken the yoke, have burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall waste them; the leopard lurketh against their cities, every one that goeth out thence is torn in pieces: for their transgressions are multiplied, their backslidings are increased.

⁷Wherefore should I pardon thee? Thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not God. I have satiated them, and they have committed adultery, and they troop to the harlots' house.

⁸As well fed horses, they roam about, every one neigheth after his neighbour's wife.

⁹Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰Go up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end; take away her battlements, for they are not Jehovah's.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith Jehovah.

¹²They have denied Jehovah, and say, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine;

¹³and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

¹⁴Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

¹⁵Behold, I bring a nation upon you from afar, house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest thou what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is as an open sepulchre; they are all mighty men.

¹⁷And they shall eat up thy harvest and thy bread, they shall eat up thy sons and thy daughters, they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds, they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall destroy with the sword thy strong cities, wherein thou trustedst.

¹⁸Nevertheless in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say to them, As ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

²¹Hear now this, O foolish and heartless people, who have eyes and see not; who have ears, and hear not.

²²Will ye not fear me? saith Jehovah. Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have set the sand a bound for the sea by a perpetual decree, and it shall not pass it? and its waves toss themselves, but they do not prevail; and they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

²³But this people hath a stubborn and a rebellious heart; they have turned aside and are gone.

²⁴And they say not in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, that giveth rain, both the early and the latter, in its season; who preserveth unto us the appointed weeks of harvest.

²⁵Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden from you what is good.

²⁶For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as fowlers stoop down; they set a trap, they catch men.

²⁷As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and have enriched themselves.

²⁸They are become fat, they shine, yea, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not adjudge.

²⁹Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰An appalling and horrible thing is committed in the land:

³¹the prophets prophesy falsehood, and the priests rule by their means; and my people love to have it so. But what will ye do in the end thereof?

Jeremiah 6

¹Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a signal in Beth-haccerem; for evil appeareth out of the north, and a great destruction.

²The comely and delicate one do I cut off, the daughter of Zion.

³Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

⁴Prepare war against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day hath declined, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening.

⁵Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

⁶For thus hath Jehovah of hosts said: Hew ye down trees, and cast a mound against Jerusalem. She is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

⁷As a well poureth forth her waters, so she poureth forth her wickedness: violence and destruction are heard in her; before me continually are grief and wounds.

⁸Be thou instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

⁹Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean like a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back thy hand, as a grape-gatherer unto the baskets.

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

¹¹And I am full of the fury of Jehovah, I am weary with holding in. Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken; the aged with him that is full of days.

¹²And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah.

¹³For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.

¹⁴And they have healed the breach of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace! when there is no peace.

¹⁵Are they ashamed that they have committed abomination? Nay, they are not at all ashamed, neither know they what it is to blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall stumble, saith Jehovah.

¹⁶Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, which is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

¹⁷Also I have set watchmen over you: -- Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

¹⁸Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O assembly, what is among them.

¹⁹Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for they have not hearkened unto my words, and as to my law, they have rejected it.

²⁰To what purpose should there come to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing unto me.

²¹Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall over them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

²²Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation is stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

²³They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as a man for the battle, against thee, daughter of Zion.

²⁴We have heard the report thereof: our hands are grown feeble; anguish hath taken hold of us, pain as of a woman that travaileth.

²⁵Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for there is the sword of the enemy, terror is on every side.

²⁶Daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes: make mourning, as for an only son -- bitter lamentation; for the spoiler cometh suddenly upon us.

²⁷I have set thee among my people as an assayer, a fortress, that thou mayest know and try their way.

²⁸They are all the most rebellious of rebels, going about with slander: they are bronze and iron; they are all corrupters.

²⁹The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; they have melted, and melted in vain; and the bad are not plucked away.

³⁰Reprobate silver shall they call them, for Jehovah hath rejected them.