Jer 1:6, Jer 5 | ESV | STEP | Then I said , Ah , Lord God ! Behold , I do not know how to speak , for I am only a youth .

1 ^cRun to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
^dif you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
^ethat I may pardon her.
2 ^fThough they say, “As the Lord lives,”
^gyet they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
^hYou have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
ⁱThey 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;
^jfor they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
^kBut they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore ^la lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a ^mwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
ⁿA leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their ^oapostasies are great.
7 ^p“How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
^qand have sworn by those who are no gods.
^rWhen I fed them to the full,
^sthey committed adultery
^tand trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
^ueach neighing ^vfor his neighbor’s wife.
9 ^wShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10 ^x“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
^ybut make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord’s.
11 ^zFor the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly treacherous to me,

declares the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
^aano disaster will come upon us,
^abnor shall we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

The Lord Proclaims Judgment

14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, ^acI am making my words in your mouth ^ada fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 ^aeBehold, I am bringing against you
a nation from afar, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
^afnor can you understand what they say.
16 ^agTheir quiver is like ^ahan open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
17 ^aiThey shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your ^ajfortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with the sword.”
18 “But even in those days, declares the Lord, ^akI will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, ^al‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, ^amso you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, ^anO foolish and senseless people,
^aowho have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 ^apDo you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand ^aqas the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though ^arthey roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 ^asBut this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
^atwho gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
^authe weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 ^avYour iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
^awthey lurk like fowlers lying in wait. ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
^ayThey set a trap;
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 ^azthey have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
^bathey judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 ^bbShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”
30 An appalling and ^bchorrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 ^bdthe prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
^bemy people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?