Jeremiah 5:1-9

New American Standard Bible

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

5 “^(A)Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look and take notice.
And seek in her public squares,
If you can ^(B)find a person,
^(C)If there is one who does justice, who seeks honesty,
Then I will forgive ^[a]her.
²And ^(D)although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Certainly they swear falsely.”
³Lord, do ^(E)Your eyes not look for honesty?
You have ^(F)struck them,
But they did not ^[b]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ^(G)refused to accept discipline.
They have ^(H)made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ^(I)do not know the way of the Lord
Or the judgment of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
And speak to them,
For ^(J)they know the way of the Lord
And the judgment of their God.”
But together they too have ^(K)broken the yoke
And burst the restraints.
⁶Therefore ^(L)a lion from the forest will kill them,
A ^(M)wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A ^(N)leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their ^(O)wrongdoings are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

⁷“Why should I forgive you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And ^(P)sworn by those who are ^(Q)not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ^(R)committed adultery
And stayed at the prostitute’s house.
⁸They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing at his ^(S)neighbor’s wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord,
“And ^(T)shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?