Lord, do (A)Your eyes not look for honesty?
You have (B)struck them,
But they did not [a]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they (C)refused to accept discipline.
They have (D)made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

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

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 5:3 Or become sick

Lord, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people,
    but they paid no attention.
You crushed them,
    but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone;
    they have refused to repent.

Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor?
    They are ignorant.
They don’t know the ways of the Lord.
    They don’t understand God’s laws.
So I will go and speak to their leaders.
    Surely they know the ways of the Lord
    and understand God’s laws.”
But the leaders, too, as one man,
    had thrown off God’s yoke
    and broken his chains.
So now a lion from the forest will attack them;
    a wolf from the desert will pounce on them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns,
    tearing apart any who dare to venture out.
For their rebellion is great,
    and their sins are many.

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