ai[See ver. 10 above]
bq[See ver. 1 above]
bu[See ver. 7 above]
bv[See ver. 7 above]
ca[See ver. 4 above]

Jeremiah 5

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

1 aRun to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
bif you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
cthat I may pardon her.
2 dThough they say, “As the Lord lives,”
eyet they swear falsely.
3O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
fYou have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
gThey 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;
hfor 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.”
iBut they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore ja lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a kwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
lA leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their mapostasies are great.
7 nHow can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
oand have sworn by those who are no gods.
pWhen I fed them to the full,
qthey committed adultery
rand trooped to the houses of whores.
8They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
seach neighing tfor his neighbor’s wife.
9 uShall I not punish them for these things?

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

declares the Lord.
12They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
yno disaster will come upon us,
znor shall we see sword or famine.
13The 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, aaI am making my words in your mouth aba fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 acBehold, 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,
adnor can you understand what they say.
16 aeTheir quiver is like afan open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
17 agThey 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 ahfortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with the sword.”
18“But even in those days, declares the Lord, aiI will not make a full end of you. 19And when your people say, ajWhy 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, akso you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21Hear this, alO foolish and senseless people,
amwho have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 anDo you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand aoas the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though apthey roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 aqBut this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
arwho gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
asthe weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 atYour iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
26For wicked men are found among my people;
authey lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

awThey set a trap;
they catch men.
27Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 axthey have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
aythey judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 azShall 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 bahorrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 bbthe prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
bcmy people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?

Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah’s Complaint

1 bdRighteous are you, O Lord,
when I complain to you;
yet I would plead my case before you.
beWhy does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all bfwho are treacherous thrive?
2You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and produce fruit;
bgyou are near in their mouth
and far from their heart.
3 bhBut you, O Lord, know me;
biyou see me, and test my heart toward you.
bjPull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for bkthe day of slaughter.
4 blHow long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
bmFor the evil of those who dwell in it
bnthe beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

5 If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
what will you do in bothe thicket of the Jordan?
6For bpeven your brothers and the house of your father,
bqeven they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
brdo not believe them,
though they speak friendly words to you.”
7 “I have forsaken my house;
I have abandoned bsmy heritage;
I have given btthe beloved of my soul
into the hands of her enemies.
8 buMy heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me;
therefore I hate her.
9Is bvmy heritage to me like bwa hyena’s lair?
Are the bxbirds of prey against her all around?
Go, byassemble all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
bzthey have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
11They have made it a desolation;
desolate, cait mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
cbbut no man lays it to heart.
12Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
13 ccThey have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
cdthey have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their
Hebrew your
harvests
cfbecause of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
14Thus says the Lord concerning all cgmy evil neighbors chwho touch the heritage that ciI have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, cjand I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. 16And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, ckto swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, clthen they shall be built up in the midst of my people. 17 cmBut if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”

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