Jer 5 | NASB2020 | STEP | “ Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem , And look and take notice . And seek in her public squares , If you can find a person , If there is one who does justice , who seeks honesty , Then I will forgive her.

Jeremiah 5

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

1 “ ^aRoam about through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look and take notice.
And seek in her public squares,
If you can ^bfind a person,
^cIf there is one who does justice, who seeks honesty,
Then I will forgive ^{▼▼I.e., Jerusalem}her.
2 “And ^ealthough they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Certainly they swear falsely.”
3 Lord, do ^fYour eyes not look for honesty?
You have ^gstruck them,
But they did not ^{▼▼Or become sick}weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ⁱrefused to accept discipline.
They have ^jmade their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ^kdo not know the way of the Lord
Or the judgment of their God.
5 “I will go to the great
And speak to them,
For ^lthey know the way of the Lord
And the judgment of their God.”
But together they too have ^mbroken the yoke
And burst the restraints.
6 Therefore ⁿa lion from the forest will kill them,
A ^owolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A ^pleopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their ^qwrongdoings are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

7 “Why should I forgive you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And ^rsworn by those who are ^snot gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ^tcommitted adultery
And stayed at the prostitute’s house.
8 “They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing at his ^uneighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord,
“And ^vshall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

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 ^whouse of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
12 They have ^xlied about the Lord
And said, “ ^{▼▼Lit He is not
,} ^zNot He;
Misfortune will ^aanot come upon us,
^abNor will we see sword or famine.
13 “The ^acprophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
So it will be done to them!”

Judgment Proclaimed

14 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^admaking My words fire in your mouth,
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
15 “Behold, I am ^aebringing a nation against you from far away, you house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^aflanguage you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16 “Their ^agquiver is like an ^ahopen grave,
All of them are warriors.
17 “They will ^aidevour 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 ^ajvines and your fig trees;
They will demolish your ^akfortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete destruction of you. 19 And it shall come about ^alwhen ^{▼▼Or you}they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^anserve 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, you foolish and ^{▼▼Lit without heart}senseless people,
Who have ^apeyes but do not see,
Who have ears but do not hear.
22 ‘Do you not ^aqfear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have ^arplaced the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal limit, and it will not cross over it.
Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, they will not cross over it.
23 ‘But this people has a ^asstubborn 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 ^atgives rain in its season,
Both ^authe autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The ^avappointed weeks of the harvest.”
25 ‘Your ^awwrongdoings have turned these away,
And your sins have kept good away from you.
26 ‘For wicked people are found among My people,
They ^axwatch like fowlers ^{▼▼Perhaps, crouching down}lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch people.
27 ‘Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of ^azdeceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28 ‘They are ^bafat, 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
,} ^bdorphan, so that they may be successful;
And they do not ^{▼▼Lit judge}defend the rights of the poor.
29 ‘ ^bfShall I not punish them for these things?’ declares the Lord,
‘Or shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?’

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