Jeremiah 5:21-25

New International Reader's Version

²¹ ‘Listen to this, you foolish people,
    who do not have any sense.
You have eyes, but you do not see.
    You have ears, but you do not hear.
²² Shouldn’t you have respect for me?’
    announces the Lord.
    ‘Shouldn’t you tremble with fear in front of me?
I made the sand to hold the ocean back.
    It will do that forever.
    The ocean can’t go past it.
The waves might roll, but they can’t sweep over it.
    They might roar, but they can’t go across it.
²³ But you people have stubborn hearts.
    You refuse to obey me.
You have turned away from me.
    You have gone astray.
²⁴ You do not say to yourselves,
    “Let us have respect for the Lord our God.
He sends rain in the fall and the spring.
    He promises us that the harvest will come
    at the same time each year.”
²⁵ But the things you have done wrong
    have robbed you of these gifts.
Your sins have kept these good things
    far away from you.’