Jeremiah 5:1-19

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?

¹⁰“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
¹¹For the ^(U)house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
¹²They have ^(V)lied about the Lord
And said, “^[c]^(W)Not He;
Misfortune will ^(X)not come upon us,
^(Y)Nor will we see sword or famine.
¹³The ^(Z)prophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
So it will be done to them!”

Judgment Proclaimed

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^(AA)making My words fire in your mouth,
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
¹⁵Behold, I am ^(AB)bringing a nation against you from far away, you house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^(AC)language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶Their ^(AD)quiver is like an ^(AE)open grave,
All of them are warriors.
¹⁷They will ^(AF)devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your ^(AG)vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish your ^(AH)fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete destruction of you. ¹⁹And it shall come about ^(AI)when ^[d]they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^(AJ)serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’