Chapter 5

¹ Run ye about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye can find one, if there is any one that does judgment, and seeks faithfulness; and I will pardon them, saith the Lord. ² The Lord lives, they say; do they not therefore swear falsely? ³ O Lord, thine eyes are upon faithfulness: thou hast scourged them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them; but they would not receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; and they would not return. ⁴ Then I said, It may be they are poor; for they are weak, for they know not the way of the Lord, or the judgment of God. ⁵ I will go to the rich men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of God: but, behold, with one consent they have broken the yoke, they have burst the bonds.

⁶ Therefore has a lion out of the forest smitten them, and a wolf has destroyed them ¹even to their houses, and a leopard has watched against their cities: all that go forth from them shall be hunted: for they have multiplied their ungodliness, they have strengthened themselves in their revoltings. ⁷ In what way shall I forgive thee for these things? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and lodged in harlots' houses. ⁸ They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after his neighbour's wife. ⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this.

¹⁰ Go up upon her battlements, and break them down; but make not a full end: leave her buttresses: for they are the Lord's. ¹¹ For the house of Israel have indeed dealt treacherously against me, saith the Lord: the house of Juda also ¹² have lied to their Lord, and they have said, These things are not so; no evils shall come upon us; and we shall not see sword or famine. ¹³ Our prophets became wind, and the word of the Lord was not in them.

¹⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I have made my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. ¹⁵ Behold, I will bring upon you a nation from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; a nation the sound of whose language

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one shall not understand. ¹⁶ They are all mighty men: ¹⁷ and they shall devour you harvest, and your bread; and shall devour your sons, and your daughters; and they shall devour your sheep, and your calves, and devour your vineyards, and your fig-plantations, and your olive yards: and they shall ²utterly destroy your strong cities, wherein ye trusted, with the sword. ¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in those days, saith the Lord thy God, that I will not utterly destroy you.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that thou shalt say to them, Because ye served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

²⁰ Proclaim these things to the house of Jacob, and let them be heard in the house of Juda. ²¹ Hear ye now these things, O foolish and senseless people; who have eyes, and see not; and have ears, and hear not: ²² will ye not be afraid of me? saith the Lord; and will ye not fear before me, who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, as a perpetual ordinance, and it shall not pass it: yea, it shall ³rage, but not prevail; and its waves shall roar, but not pass over it.

²³ But this people has a disobedient and rebellious heart; and they have turned aside and gone back: ²⁴ and they have not said in their heart, Let us fear now the Lord our God, who gives us the early and latter rain, according to the season of the fulfillment of the ordinance of harvest, and has preserved it for us. ²⁵ Your transgressions have turned away these things, and your sins have removed good things from you. ²⁶ For among my people were found ungodly men; and they have set snares to destroy men, and have caught them.

²⁷ As a snare which has been set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore have they grown great, and become rich: ²⁸ and they have transgressed the rule of judgment; they have not judged the cause of the orphan, nor have they judged the cause of the widow. ²⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰ Shocking and horrible deeds have been done on the land; ³¹ the prophets utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands: and my people has loved to have it thus: and what will ye do for the future.