2 Chronicles 36:14-16

14All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

15The Lord, the God of their fathers, asent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 bBut they kept mocking the messengers of God, cdespising his words and scoffing at his prophets, duntil the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Isaiah 1:4

4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
eoffspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have fdespised gthe Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly hestranged.

Isaiah 59:2-8

2 ibut your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3 jFor your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 kNo one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
lthey conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5They hatch adderseggs;
they weave the spider’s web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
6 mTheir webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 nTheir feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
ono one who treads on them knows peace.

Isaiah 59:12-15

12For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
pspeaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

14 qJustice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
Hebrew  and it was evil in his eyes

that there was no justice.

Jeremiah 5:1-9

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

1 sRun to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
tif you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
uthat I may pardon her.
2 vThough they say, “As the Lord lives,”
wyet they swear falsely.
3O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
xYou have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
yThey have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
zfor they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
5I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
aaBut they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore aba lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a acwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
adA leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their aeapostasies are great.
7 afHow can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
agand have sworn by those who are no gods.
ahWhen I fed them to the full,
aithey committed adultery
ajand trooped to the houses of whores.
8They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
akeach neighing alfor his neighbor’s wife.
9 amShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?

Jeremiah 7:8-9

8Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 anWill you steal, murder, commit adultery, aoswear falsely, apmake offerings to Baal, aqand go after other gods that you have not known,

Micah 3:9-12

9 arHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
aswho detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 atwho build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 auIts heads give judgment for a bribe;
avits priests teach for a price;
awits prophets practice divination for money;
axyet they lean on the Lord and aysay,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
azNo disaster shall come upon us.”
12Therefore because of you
baZion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem bbshall become a heap of ruins,
and bcthe mountain of the house bda wooded height.
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