1 Run you back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and
see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a
man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon
her. 2 Though they say, As Yahweh lives; surely they swear falsely. 3 O
Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? you have stricken them, but they were
not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive
correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused
to return. 4 Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for
they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God: 5 I will get
me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh,
and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and
burst the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a
wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their
cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their
transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased. 7 How
can I pardon you? 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 prostitutes’ houses. 8 They were as
fed horses roaming at large; everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; and shall not my soul
be avenged on such a nation as this? 10 Go up on her walls, and
destroy; but don’t make a full end: take away her branches; for they are not
Yahweh’s. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt
very treacherously against me, says Yahweh. 12 They have denied Yahweh,
and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see
sword nor famine: 13 and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is
not in them: thus shall it be done to them. 14 Therefore thus says Yahweh,
the God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my
words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel, says
Yahweh: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose
language you don’t know, neither understand what they say. 16 Their quiver
is an open tomb, they are all mighty men. 17 They shall eat up your
harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your 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 your fortified cities, in
which you trust, with the sword. 18 But even in those days, says Yahweh, I
will not make a full end with you. 19 It shall happen, when you shall
say, Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us? then shall you say
to them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your
land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare you this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah,
saying, 21 Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who
have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear: 22 Don’t you
fear me? says Yahweh: won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed
the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass
it? and though the waves of it toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail;
though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it. 23 But this people has a
revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. 24 Neither
say they in their heart, Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both
the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed
weeks of the harvest. 25 Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withheld good from you. 26 For among my people are
found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they
catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of
deceit: therefore they are become great, and grew rich. 28 They are grew
fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they don’t plead
the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right
of the needy they don’t judge. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? says
Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 A
wonderful and horrible thing is happen in the land: 31 the prophets
prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people
love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it?
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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