Jeremiah 5:1-9

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 ⁿ“How 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?

Jeremiah 5:25-31

25 ^vYour iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
26For wicked men are found among my people;
^wthey lurk like fowlers lying in wait. ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

^yThey 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 ^zthey have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
^aathey judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 ^abShall 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 ^achorrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 ^adthe prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
^aemy people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?

Micah 6:9-12

Destruction of the Wicked

9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
and it is sound wisdom to fear ^afyour name:
“Hear of ^agthe rod and of him who appointed it! ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

10Can I forget any longer the treasures ▼

▼Or Are there still treasures

of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and the scant measure that is accursed?
11Shall I acquit the man ^ajwith wicked scales
and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12Your ▼

▼Hebrew whose

rich men are ^alfull of violence;
your inhabitants ^amspeak lies,
and ^antheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Zephaniah 3:1-4

Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations

1 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
^aothe oppressing city!
2She listens to no voice;
^apshe accepts no correction.
^aqShe does not trust in the Lord;
she does not draw near to her God.
3 ^arHer officials within her
are roaring lions;
her judges are ^asevening wolves
that leave nothing till the morning.
4 ^atHer prophets are fickle, treacherous men;
^auher priests ^avprofane what is holy;
they do violence to the law.