Jer 5 | NASB1995 | STEP | “ Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem , And look now and take note . And seek in her open squares , If you can find a man , If there is one who does justice , who seeks truth , Then I will pardon her.

Jeremiah 5

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

1 ^a“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look now and take note.
And seek in her open squares,
If you can ^bfind a man,
^cIf there is one who does justice, who seeks ^{▼▼ Lit faithfulness}truth,
Then I will pardon her.
2 “And ^ealthough they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Lord, do not ^fYour eyes look for ^{▼▼ Lit faithfulness}truth?
You have ^hsmitten them,
But they did not ^{▼▼ Or become sick}weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ^jrefused to take correction.
They have ^kmade their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ^ldo not know the way of the Lord
Or the ordinance of their God.
5 “I will go to the great
And will speak to them,
For ^mthey know the way of the Lord
And the ordinance of their God.”
But they too, with one accord, have ⁿbroken the yoke
And burst the bonds.
6 Therefore ^oa lion from the forest will slay them,
A ^pwolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A ^qleopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their ^rtransgressions are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

7 “Why should I pardon you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And ^ssworn by those who are ^tnot gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ^ucommitted adultery
And trooped to the harlot’s house.
8 “They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing after his ^vneighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not punish ^{▼▼ Or for these things}these people,” declares the Lord,
“And on a nation such as this
^xShall I not avenge Myself?

10 “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
11 “For the ^yhouse of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
12 They have ^zlied about the Lord
And said, ^{▼▼ Lit He is not
,} ^ab“Not He;
Misfortune will ^acnot come on us,
And we ^adwill not see sword or famine.
13 “The ^aeprophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
Thus it will be done to them!”

Judgment Proclaimed

14 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts,
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^afmaking My words in your mouth fire
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
15 “Behold, I am ^agbringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^ahlanguage you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16 “Their ^aiquiver is like an ^ajopen grave,
All of them are mighty men.
17 “They will ^akdevour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your ^alvines and your fig trees;
They will demolish with the sword your ^amfortified cities in which you trust.

18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make you a complete destruction. 19 “It shall come about ^anwhen ^{▼▼ Or you}they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^apserve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Now hear this, O foolish and ^{▼▼ Lit without heart}senseless people,
Who have ^areyes but do not see;
Who have ears but do not hear.
22 ‘Do you not ^asfear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have ^atplaced the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.
23 ‘But this people has a ^austubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed.
24 ‘They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
Who ^avgives rain in its season,
Both ^awthe autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The ^axappointed weeks of the harvest.”
25 ‘Your ^ayiniquities have turned these away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.
26 ‘For wicked men are found among My people,
They ^azwatch like fowlers ^{▼▼ Perhaps, crouching down}lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch men.
27 ‘Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of ^bbdeceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28 ‘They are ^bcfat, they are sleek,
They also ^{▼▼ Lit pass over, or, overlook deeds}excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the ^{▼▼ Or fatherless
,} ^bforphan, that they may prosper;
And they do not ^{▼▼ Lit judge}defend the rights of the poor.
29 ‘ ^bhShall I not punish ^{▼▼ Or for these things}these people?’ declares the Lord,
‘On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?’

30 “An appalling and ^bjhorrible thing
Has happened in the land:
31 The ^bkprophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule ^{▼▼ Lit over their own hands}on their own authority;
And My people ^bmlove it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?