¹ Roam through the streets of Jerusalem,
    look around and take careful note;
    search through the public squares.
If you can find even one person
    who acts justly and seeks the truth,
    I will pardon this city.
² Even though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
    they are in fact swearing falsely.
³ Do your eyes not search for truth, O Lord?
    When you struck them, they felt no anguish;
    when you brought them down, they refused correction.
They have made their faces harder than stone
    and refused to repent.
⁴ Then I thought, “These are only the poor;
    they tend to act foolishly.
For they do not know the way of the Lord
    or the ordinances of their God.
⁵ Therefore, I will go to their leaders
    and speak to them.
Surely they will know the way of the Lord
    and their responsibilities to their God.”
But those, too, had broken the yoke
    and torn away from their bonds.
⁶ Therefore, lions from the forest will tear them to pieces,
    and wolves from the desert will ravage them.
Leopards will be on the prowl around their cities;
    all those who depart from them
    will be torn to pieces
because of their many crimes
    and their apostasies
    without number.
⁷ Why should I forgive you?
    Your children have forsaken me to swear by gods
    that are not gods in any way.
When I gave them everything they needed,
    they committed adultery
    and hastened to the houses of prostitutes.
⁸ They are well-fed and lusty stallions,
    each one neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things?
    asks the Lord.
Shall I not take vengeance on a nation such as this?
¹⁰ Ascend to her vineyards and ravage them
    but do not totally destroy them.
Strip off her branches,
    for these people no longer belong to the Lord.
¹¹ Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been completely unfaithful to me, says the Lord.
¹² They have denied the Lord,
    boldly asserting, “He will do nothing.
No harm will come to us;
    we will not endure either sword or famine.
¹³ The prophets are nothing but wind;
    the word is not in them.
    Their dire predictions will redound upon them.”
¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord, the God of hosts, has this to say:
Because you have said these things,
    my words will become a fire in your mouth,
and I will make this people like wood
    that the fire will consume.
¹⁵ Be forewarned that I will bring against you
    a nation from a great distance,
    O house of Israel, says the Lord—
a long-existent nation,
    a nation founded long ago,
a people whose language you do not know
    and whose speech you cannot understand.
¹⁶ The quivers of these people are like open graves;
    all of them are mighty warriors.
¹⁷ They will 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 vines and your fig trees;
with their swords they will destroy
    your fortified towns in which you place your trust.

²⁰ Announce this in the house of Jacob,
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ Pay attention to this,
    you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
    who have ears but do not hear.
²² Do you have no fear of me? asks the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I was the one who established the sand
    as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it can never pass.
Its waves may rise up but cannot prevail;
    they may roar but cannot cross the limits.
²³ But this people has a rebellious and stubborn heart;
    they have risen up in defiance and gone away.
²⁴ Nor do they say to themselves,
    “Let us fear the Lord, our God,
who gives us in their proper season
    the autumn and spring rains
and unfailingly provides for us
    the weeks designated for the harvest.”
²⁵ Your iniquities have upset the order of nature,
    and your sins have deprived you of its bounty.
²⁶ For there are wicked scoundrels among my people
    who, like fowlers, set traps,
    but with men as their quarry.
²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of treachery.
As a result, they have grown rich and powerful,
²⁸     well fed and well groomed.
Their wickedness knows no bounds,
    and they do not practice justice in their dealings.
They do not uphold the rights of the orphan
    or defend the cause of the needy.
²⁹ How can I fail to punish such things?
    says the Lord.
How can I refuse to exact vengeance on a nation such as this?
³⁰ An appalling and outrageous situation
    has occurred in the land.
³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely,
    the priests are in league with them,
and the people are delighted with this situation.
    But when the end comes, what will you do?