Jeremiah 5

The Depravity of Jerusalem

1 Roam  * 5:1 2Ch 16:9 through the streets of Jerusalem.

Investigate;  * 5:1 Lit See and know

search in her squares.

If you find one person,  * 5:1 Ps 14:1–3; Ezk 22:30; Rm 3:10

any who acts justly,

who pursues faithfulness,

then I will forgive her.  * 5:1 Gn 18:26–32

2 When they say, "As the  Lord  lives,"  * 5:2 Jr 4:2

they are swearing falsely.  * 5:2 Lv 19:12; Is 48:1; Jr 7:9

3 Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?  * 5:3 2Ch 16:9; Ps 51:6

You have struck them, but they felt no pain.  * 5:3 Pr 23:35

You finished them off,

but they refused to accept discipline.  * 5:3 Pr 27:22

They made their faces harder than rock,  * 5:3 Ezk 3:7–9

and they refused to return.  * 5:3 Hs 11:5

4 Then I thought:

They are just the poor;

they have been foolish.

For they don’t understand the way of the  Lord,  * 5:4 Gn 18:19; 2Kg 17:26; 21:22; Ps 95:10; Jr 8:7; Hs 4:6

the justice of their God.  * 5:4 Mc 3:1

5 I will go to the powerful

and speak to them.

Surely they know the way of the  Lord,

the justice of their God.  * 5:5 Ps 103:7

However, these also had broken the yoke

and torn off the chains.  * 5:5 Ps 2:3; Jr 2:20

6 Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.  * 5:6 2Kg 17:26; Jr 4:7; 25:38

A wolf from arid plains will ravage them.

A leopard  * 5:6 Hs 13:7; Rv 13:2 stalks their cities.

Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces

because their rebellious acts are many,  * 5:6 Is 59:12

their unfaithful deeds numerous.  * 5:6 Jr 3:6,8,11–12,22; 14:7; 30:15; Am 5:12

7 Why should I forgive you?

Your children have abandoned me

and sworn by those who are not gods.  * 5:7 Dt 32:21; Jos 23:7; Gl 4:8

I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;  * 5:7 Hs 4:10

they gashed themselves  * 5:7 1Kg 18:24 at the  * 5:7 Or adultery and trooped to the, or adultery and lodged at the; Hb obscure  prostitute’s house.

8 They are well-fed,  * 5:8 Lit well-equipped; Hb obscure eager  * 5:8 Lit early-rising; Hb obscure  stallions,  * 5:8 Ezk 23:20

each neighing  * 5:8 Jr 13:27 after someone else’s wife.  * 5:8 Ex 20:14; Ezk 22:11

9 Should I not punish them for these things?  * 5:9 Jr 5:29; 8:10; 9:9

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

Should I not avenge myself  * 5:9 Dt 32:35; Heb 10:30

on such a nation as this?

10 Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,  * 5:10 2Kg 24:2

but do not finish them off.  * 5:10 Jr 4:27

Prune away her shoots,

for they do not belong to the  Lord.  * 5:10 Hs 1:9

11 They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

have dealt very treacherously with me.  * 5:11 Is 21:2; 24:16; 48:8; Hs 6:7

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

12 They have contradicted the  Lord

and insisted, "It won’t happen.  * 5:12 Lit "He does not exist,* 5:12 Is 28:15; Jr 23:17

Harm won’t come to us;

we won’t see sword or famine."

13 The prophets become only wind,

for the Lord’s word is not in them.

This will in fact happen to them.

Coming Judgment

14 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Armies says:

Because you have spoken this word,

I am going to make my words

become fire in your mouth.  * 5:14 Hs 6:5; Rv 11:5

These people are the wood,

and the fire will consume them.  * 5:14 Zch 12:6

15 I am about to bring a nation

from far away against you,  * 5:15 Is 10:3; 13:5; 30:27; Jr 4:16

house of Israel.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

It is an established nation,

an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know

and whose speech you do not understand.  * 5:15 Dt 28:49; Is 28:11; 33:19; 1Co 14:21

16 Their quiver is like an open grave;  * 5:16 Ps 5:9; Rm 3:13

they are all warriors.

17 They will consume your harvest and your food.  * 5:17 Lv 26:16; Dt 28:31,33,51

They will consume your sons and your daughters.

They will consume your flocks and your herds.

They will consume your vines and your fig trees.

With the sword they will destroy

your fortified cities  * 5:17 Hs 8:14 in which you trust.

18 "But even in those days" — this is the Lord’s declaration — "I will not finish you off.  * 5:18 2Ch 12:12; Jr 4:27; 5:10; 30:11; Ezk 11:13; 20:17; Rm 11:1–519 When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us? ’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me  * 5:19 Dt 28:20; 29:24–25; 31:16; Jdg 2:12; 1Sm 8:8; 1Kg 9:8–9; Is 1:4,28; Jr 1:16; 2:13,17,19; 16:11; 17:13 and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ * 5:19 Dt 4:27–28; 28:47–48

20 "Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

21 Hear this,

you foolish and senseless  * 5:21 Lit without heart  people.  * 5:21 Dt 32:6

They have eyes, but they don’t see.

They have ears, but they don’t hear.  * 5:21 Ps 115:5–6; 135:16–17; Is 6:9; 42:20; Ezk 12:2; Mt 13:14; Mk 8:18

22 Do you not fear me?

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

Do you not tremble before me,

the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,

an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?  * 5:22 Jb 26:10; 38:10–11; Ps 104:9; Pr 8:29

The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.

They roar but cannot pass over it.

23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.  * 5:23 Dt 21:18,20; Ps 78:8; Is 1:5; Heb 3:12

They have turned aside and have gone away.

24 They have not said to themselves,

‘Let’s fear the  Lord our God,  * 5:24 Pr 9:10; Hs 6:1

who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring,  * 5:24 Dt 11:14; Jl 2:23; Mt 5:45

who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

25 Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.

Your sins have withheld my bounty from you,  * 5:25 Is 59:2

26 for wicked men live among my people.

They watch like hunters  * 5:26 Lit hunters of birds lying in wait.  * 5:26 Hb obscure,* 5:26 Pr 1:11

They set a trap;  * 5:26 Ps 10:9

they catch men.

27 Like a cage full of birds,

so their houses are full of deceit.  * 5:27 Ps 10:7; 50:19; Is 3:14; 5:18; 30:12; Jr 8:5; Zph 1:9; Ac 13:10; Rm 1:29

Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

28 They have become fat  * 5:28 Dt 32:15 and sleek.

They have also excelled in evil matters.

They have not taken up cases,

such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,

and they have not defended the rights of the needy.  * 5:28 Dt 24:14; Jb 29:16; 30:25; 31:19; Ps 82:3–4; 140:12; Pr 14:31; 31:9; Is 1:23; Zch 7:10; Ac 4:34

29 Should I not punish them for these things?

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

Should I not avenge myself  * 5:29 Jr 5:9; 8:19; Heb 10:30

on such a nation as this?

30 "An appalling, horrible thing

has taken place in the land.  * 5:30 Hs 6:10

31 The prophets prophesy falsely,  * 5:31 Jr 6:13; 8:10; 14:14; 20:6; 23:14,25–26,32; 27:10,14–16; 28:15; 29:9,21,31; Lm 2:14; Zch 13:3

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it like this.

But what will you do at the end of it?  * 5:31 Dt 32:29; Is 10:3