1Roam through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note, and search her squares—if you can find a man, if there is one doing justice, seeking faithfulness—that I may pardon her.
2And though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.
3Yahweh, are not your eyes upon faithfulness? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you consumed them, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock; they refused to turn back.
4And I said, ‘Surely these are only the poor; they act foolishly, for they do not know the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God.
5Let me go to the great ones and speak with them, for they know the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God.’ But they too, together, had broken the yoke and torn off the bonds.
6Therefore a lion from the forest strikes them down, a wolf of the desert plains ravages them, a leopard keeps watch over their cities—everyone who goes out from them will be torn to pieces. For their transgressions are many; their apostasies are numerous.
7For what reason should I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and thronged to the house of the prostitute.
8They were well-fed, lusty stallions; each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
9Shall I not punish for these things?—declares Yahweh. And on a nation such as this shall I not avenge myself?
10Go up among her vine-rows and destroy, but do not make a full end; strip away her branches, for they do not belong to Yahweh.
11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have utterly betrayed me—declares Yahweh.
12They have denied Yahweh and said, ‘It is not he; no disaster will come upon us, and we will not see sword or famine.’
13The prophets are but wind, and the word is not in them; thus let it be done to them.
14Therefore 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.
15Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from far away, O house of Israel—declares Yahweh. It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you cannot understand.
16Its quiver is like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.
17They will devour your harvest and your bread; 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. With the sword they will shatter your fortified cities in which you trust.
18Yet even in those days—declares Yahweh—I will not make a full end of you.
19And when you 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 shall serve strangers in a land not your own.’
20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21Hear this now, O foolish people without understanding, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
22Do you not fear me?—declares Yahweh. Do you not tremble before my presence, who set the sand as a boundary for the sea, an everlasting decree that it cannot cross? Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot cross it.
23But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
24They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us fear Yahweh our God, who gives the rain, the early rain and the latter rain in its season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have withheld the good from you.
26For among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait like fowlers crouching; they set a trap, they catch men.
27Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich.
28They have grown fat and sleek; indeed, they overflow with deeds of evil. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and yet they prosper; and the justice of the needy they do not defend.
29Shall I not punish for these things?—declares Yahweh. And on a nation such as this shall I not avenge myself?
30An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their hands, and my people love it so. But what will you do at its end?
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