Jeremiah

¹ “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And see now and know, And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks faithfulness, Then I will pardon her.

² Then they swear to a lie.”

³ You have struck them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to receive discipline. They have made their faces stronger than rock; They have refused to repent.

⁴ They are foolish; For they do not know the way of Yahweh Or the legal judgment of their God.

⁵ And let me speak to them, For they know the way of Yahweh And the legal judgment of their God.” But they too, altogether, have broken the yoke And torn apart the bonds.

⁶ A wolf of the deserts will devastate them; A leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces Because their transgressions are many; Their acts of faithlessness are mighty.

⁷ Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. I had satisfied them to the full, Then they committed adultery And trooped to the harlot’s house.

⁸ Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

⁹ “And on a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?

¹⁰ But do not make a complete destruction; Remove her branches, For they are not Yahweh’s.

¹¹ Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares Yahweh.

¹² And said, “Not He; Calamity will not come on us, And we will not see sword or famine.

¹³ And the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them!”

¹⁴ Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts,“Because you have spoken this word, Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire And this people wood, and it will devour them.

¹⁵ “It is an enduring nation; It is an ancient nation, A nation whose tongue you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.

¹⁶ All of them are mighty men.

¹⁷ 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; They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will not make you a complete destruction.

¹⁹ It shall come about when they say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰ And cause it to be heard in Judah, saying,

²¹ Who have eyes but do not see, Who have ears but do not hear.

²² ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, A perpetual statute, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.

²³ They have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴ “Let us now fear Yahweh our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the early rain and the late rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.”

²⁵ And your sins have withheld good from you.

²⁶ They watch like fowlers lying in wait; They set a trap; They catch men.

²⁷ So their houses are full of deceit; Therefore they have become great and rich.

²⁸ They also excel in deeds of evil; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, that they may succeed; And they do not render justice for the poor.

²⁹ ‘On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?’

³⁰ Has happened in the land:

³¹ And the priests have dominion by their own hand; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?