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Jeremiah 5

¹Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh truth; and I will pardon her. ²And though they say, As YHWH liveth; surely they swear falsely. ³O Jehovah, do not yours eyes look upon truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; you hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. ⁴Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God: ⁵I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. ⁶Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings are increased. ⁷How can I pardon thee? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses. ⁸They were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor's wife. ⁹Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? ¹⁰Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Jehovah's. ¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith Jehovah. ¹²They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: ¹³and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. ¹⁴Wherefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. ¹⁵Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you knowest not, neither understandest what they say. ¹⁶Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. ¹⁷And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, [which] your sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein you trustest, with the sword. ¹⁸But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you. ¹⁹And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath YHWH our God done all these things unto us? then shall you say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. ²⁰Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, ²¹Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes, and see not; that have ears, and hear not: ²²Fear ye not me? saith Jehovah: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. ²³But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. ²⁴Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear YHWH our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. ²⁵Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good from you. ²⁶For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. ²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxed rich. ²⁸They are waxed fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. ²⁹Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? ³⁰A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land: ³¹the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

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