Jeremiah 5:1-9

New King James Version

The Justice of God’s Judgment

5 “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
See now and know;
And seek in her open places
^(A)If you can find a man,
^(B)If there is anyone who executes ^[a]judgment,
Who seeks the truth,
^(C)And I will pardon her.
²^(D)Though they say, ‘As ^(E)the Lord lives,’
Surely they ^(F)swear falsely.”

³O Lord, are not ^(G)Your eyes on the truth?
You have ^(H)stricken them,
But they have not grieved;
You have consumed them,
But ^(I)they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to return.

⁴Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor.
They are foolish;
For ^(J)they do not know the way of the Lord,
The judgment of their God.
⁵I will go to the great men and speak to them,
For ^(K)they have known the way of the Lord,
The judgment of their God.”

But these have altogether ^(L)broken the yoke
And burst the bonds.
⁶Therefore ^(M)a lion from the forest shall slay them,
^(N)A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them;
^(O)A leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many;
Their backslidings have increased.

⁷“How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
And ^(P)sworn by those ^(Q)that are not gods.
^(R)When I had fed them to the full,
Then they committed adultery
And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
⁸^(S)They were like well-fed lusty stallions;
Every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“And shall I not ^(T)avenge Myself on such a nation as this?