Jeremías 5

Search for one who acts justly

¹Roam the streets of Jerusalem; look around and take note; search her public squares. \q See if you can find a single person, \q one who acts justly and seeks to be faithful, \q and I will pardon the city.^{a 2}Even when they say, “As surely as the LORD lives,” \q they are swearing to a lie. ³LORD, do not your eyes look for faithfulness? \q You struck them, but they felt no pain; \q you crushed them, but they would not accept correction. \q They set their faces harder than rock; \q they would not turn back. ⁴I said, “These are only the poor; \q they act foolishly because they do not know the way of the LORD, \q what their God requires. ⁵I will go to the great and speak with them; \q surely they know the way of the LORD, \q what their God requires.” \q But they too, one and all, had broken the yoke \q and snapped the straps. ⁶So a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, \q a leopard lies in wait near their towns; \q anyone who goes out will be torn to pieces. \q For their rebellions are many, \q and they have turned away countless times.^{b 7}How can I forgive you for this? \q Your children have abandoned me \q and sworn by what are no gods at all. \q I filled them with food, yet they committed adultery \q and crowded into the house of a prostitute.^{c 8}They are like well-fed, lusty stallions; \q each one neighs for his neighbor’s wife.^{d 9}Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. \q On a nation such as this \q should I not take vengeance?

¹⁰Go up through her vineyard rows and ruin them, \q but do not destroy her completely. \q Cut away her branches; \q they do not belong to the LORD. ¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken faith with me completely, declares the LORD. ¹²They have told lies about the LORD; \q they have said, “He will do nothing! \q No harm will come to us; \q we will not see sword or famine. ¹³The prophets are nothing but wind; \q the word is not in them. \q Let what they threaten happen to them!”^e

A nation from far away

¹⁴Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, says this: \q Because you people have spoken these words, \q I am making my words in your mouth a fire, \q and this people the wood, and the fire will burn them up. ¹⁵House of Israel, I am bringing a nation from far away against you, declares the LORD. \q It is a nation that endures, a nation from ancient times, \q a nation whose language you do not know; \q you will not understand what they say.^{f 16}Their quiver is like an open grave; \q they are all mighty warriors. ¹⁷They will devour your harvest and your food; they will devour your sons and your daughters; \q they will devour your flocks and your herds; \q they will devour your vines and your fig trees. \q With the sword they will break down your fortified towns, the towns you trust in. ¹⁸Yet even in those days, declares the LORD, \q I will not destroy you completely. ¹⁹And when the people ask, “Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?” \q you must answer them, \q “As you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your own land, \q so now you will serve strangers in a land not your own.”

A stubborn and rebellious people

²⁰Announce this to the house of Jacob; \q make it heard in Judah: ²¹Listen to this, you foolish people with no sense, \q you who have eyes and do not see, \q who have ears and do not hear.^{g 22}Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Will you not tremble in my presence? \q I set the sand as the boundary of the sea, \q a lasting decree it cannot cross. \q Its waters may heave, but they cannot win; \q its waves may roar, but they cannot pass beyond it. ²³But this people has a stubborn, rebellious heart; \q they have turned away and gone off. ²⁴They do not say to themselves, “Let us fear the LORD our God, \q who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, \q and keeps for us the weeks set for the harvest.” ²⁵Your guilt has turned these blessings away; \q your sins have kept good things from you. ²⁶For there are wicked people among my people. \q They lie in wait like hunters crouching for birds; \q they set a deadly trap and catch human beings.^{h 27}Like a basket full of birds, \q their houses are full of what they gained by deceit. \q That is how they have become powerful and rich. ²⁸They have grown fat and sleek; their evil deeds go beyond all limits. \q They do not take up the case, \q the case of the fatherless, yet they prosper; \q they do not defend the rights of the needy.^{i 29}Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. \q On a nation such as this \q should I not take vengeance?

³⁰Something shocking and horrible \q has happened in the land: ³¹The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests rule with the prophets’ backing, \q and my people like it this way. \q But what will you do when the end comes?^j