Jeremiah 5

Wycliffe Bible

5 Compass ye the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in the streets thereof, whether ye find a man doing doom, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them. (Go ye about the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in its streets, whether ye can find anyone doing justice, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them.)

² That if also they say, The Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely. (But even if they say, As the Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely.)

³ Lord, thine eyes behold faith; thou hast smitten them, and they made not sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, and they forsook to take chastising; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not turn again. (Lord, thine eyes look for faithfulness; thou hast struck them, but they did not have sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, but they refused to accept their discipline, or their correction; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not return to thee.)

⁴ Forsooth I said, In hap they be poor men, and fools, that know not the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. (And I said, Perhaps they be the poor, and the foolish, and they do not know the way of the Lord, and the judgement, or the justice, of their God.)

⁵ Therefore I shall go to the principal men, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. And lo! they have more broken together the yoke, and have broken [the] bonds. (And so I shall go to the principal men, or to the leaders, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the judgement, or the justice, of their God. But lo! they also have altogether broken the yoke, and have broken their bonds.)

⁶ Therefore a lion of the wood smote them; a wolf at eventide wasted them, a leopard watching on the cities of them. Each man that goeth out of them, shall be taken; for the trespassings of them be multiplied, the turnings away of them be comforted (Each person who goeth out of them, shall be taken, or shall be torn apart; for their trespassings be multiplied, their turnings away be increased).

⁷ On what thing may I be merciful to thee? Thy sons have forsaken me, and swear by them that be not gods. I [full-]filled them, and they did adultery, and in the house of an whore they did lechery. (For what thing can I be merciful to thee? Thy children have deserted me, and swear by those that be not gods. I filled them full, and they still did adultery, that is, idolatry, yea, they still did lechery in a whorehouse.)

⁸ They be made horses, and stallions, lovers to women (lovers of women); each man neighed to the wife of his neighbour.

⁹ Whether I shall not visit on these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a folk? (Shall I not punish them for these things? saith the Lord, and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a nation?)

¹⁰ Go ye up on the walls thereof, and destroy ye; but do not ye make an ending. Do ye away the scions thereof, for they be not servants of the Lord.

¹¹ For why the house of Israel and the house of Judah hath trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord; (Because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord;)

¹² they denied the Lord, and said, He is not, neither evil shall come [up]on us; we shall not see sword and hunger (we shall not see the sword and hunger).

¹³ The prophets spake against the wind, and none answer was in them; therefore these things shall come to them. (The prophets spoke nothing but wind, and there was no word of God in them; and so these things shall come to them.)

¹⁴ The Lord God of hosts saith these things, For ye spake this word, lo! I give my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into trees, and it shall devour them. (The Lord God of hosts saith these things, Because ye spoke these words, lo! I shall make my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into wood, and it shall devour them.)

¹⁵ Lo! thou house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring on you a folk from [a]far; a strong folk, an old folk, a folk whose language thou shalt not know, neither shalt understand what it speaketh. (Lo! O house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring upon you a nation from far away; a strong nation, an old nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor shalt thou understand what they say.)

¹⁶ The arrow case thereof is as an open sepulchre; all be strong men. (Its arrow case, or its quiver, is an open grave, or an empty tomb; they all be strong men.)

¹⁷ And it shall eat thy corns, and it shall devour thy bread, thy sons and thy daughters; it shall eat thy flock, and thy droves, it shall eat also thy vinery, and thy fig tree; it shall all-break thy strong cities with sword, in which thou hast trusted. (And they shall eat thy corn, or thy harvest, and shall devour thy bread, or thy food, and thy sons and thy daughters; they shall eat thy flocks, and thy herds, and they shall eat thy vines, and thy fig trees; and they shall all-break with the sword thy strong cities, in which thou hast trusted.)

¹⁸ Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I shall not make you into (a) [full] ending. (Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I shall not make an end of you.)

¹⁹ That if ye say, Why hath our Lord God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them, As ye forsook me, and served an alien god in your land, so ye shall serve alien gods in a land not yours. (And when they ask, Why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them, As ye deserted me, and served a strange, or a foreign, god in your own land, so now ye shall serve strange, or foreign, gods in a land not your own.)

²⁰ Tell ye this to the house of Jacob, and make ye (it) heard in Judah, and say ye,

²¹ Hear, thou fond people, that hast none heart; which have eyes, and see not, and ears, and hear not. (Listen, O foolish people, ye who have no heart; yea, ye who have eyes, but cannot see, and ears, but cannot hear.)

²² Therefore shall not ye dread me, saith the Lord, and shall not ye make sorrow for my face? Which have set gravel to be a term, either end, to the sea, an everlasting commandment, which it shall not pass; and the waves thereof shall be moved, and shall not have power; and shall wax great, and shall not pass it. (And so shall ye not fear me, saith the Lord, and shall ye not tremble before my face? Yea, before I, who hath set the sand to be the term, or the boundary, of the sea, by an everlasting commandment, which it shall not pass over; and its waves shall be moved, but they shall not have the power to pass over it; yea, they shall grow great, but they shall not pass over it.)

²³ Forsooth an heart unbelieveful and stirring (me) to wrath is made to this people; they departed, and went away, (But this people hath an unbelieving heart, and stirreth me to anger; they departed, and went away,)

²⁴ and they said not in their heart, Dread we our Lord God, that giveth to us rain timeful, and lateful in his time; that keepeth to us the plenty of harvest of the year. (and they did not say in their hearts, Let us fear the Lord our God/Let us revere the Lord our God, who giveth us timely rain, and late rain in its time; and who giveth us the plenty of the harvest every year.)

²⁵ Your wickednesses did away these things, and your sins forbidded good from (coming to) you.

²⁶ For there be found wicked men in my people, setting treason, as fowlers setting snares and traps, to take men. (For the wicked be found among my people, setting treason, like fowlers settings snares and traps, to take hold of, or to catch, people.)

²⁷ As a net, either a trap, (is) full of birds, so the houses of them be full of guile. (Like a net, or a trap, is full of birds, so their houses be full of deceit.)

²⁸ Therefore they be magnified, and made rich, made fat within, and made fat withoutforth, and they passed worst my words; they deemed not the cause of a widow, they (ad)dressed not the cause of a fatherless child, and they deemed not the doom of poor men. (And so they be magnified, or enlarged, and made rich, made fat within, and made fat outside, and their deeds surpassed even those of the very worst; they judged not justly a widow’s case, they did not even address the case of a fatherless child, and they judged not justly for the poor.)

²⁹ Whether I shall not visit on these things, saith the Lord, either shall not my soul take vengeance on such a folk? (Shall I not punish them for these things? saith the Lord, or shall I not take vengeance upon such a nation?)

³⁰ Wonder and marvelous things be made in the land; (A horrible and terrible thing is done in the land;)

³¹ prophets prophesied leasing, and priests joyed with their hands, and my people loved such things. What therefore shall be done in the last thing thereof? (prophets prophesied lies, and the priests clapped their hands, and my people loved such things. And so what shall be done in its last things, or at the end of it all?)