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

The Prophet Speaks

Lord, don’t your eyes look for truth?
    You struck[a] them, but they didn’t flinch.[b]
You brought them to an end,
    but they refused to receive discipline.
They made their faces harder than stone,
    and they refused to repent.
Then I said, “These are only the poor,
    they’re foolish,
for they don’t know the Lord’s way,
    the requirement[c] of their God.
Let me go to the leaders[d] and speak to them.
    For they know the Lord’s way,
        the requirement[e] of their God.”

The Lord Answers

“But they, all together, have broken the yoke
    and torn off the restraints.[f]
Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
    a wolf from the desert will devastate them.
A leopard is watching their towns,
    and everyone who goes out of them
        will be torn to pieces.
For their transgressions are many,
    and their apostasies numerous.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 5:3 I.e. in discipline
  2. Jeremiah 5:3 Or did not weaken
  3. Jeremiah 5:4 Or judgments
  4. Jeremiah 5:5 Lit. great ones
  5. Jeremiah 5:5 Or judgments
  6. Jeremiah 5:5 Or cords