The Sin of Jerusalem
1 People of Jerusalem, run through your streets!
Look around! See for yourselves!
Search the marketplaces!
Can you find one person
who does what is right
and tries to be faithful to God?
If you can, the Lord will forgive Jerusalem.
2 Even though you claim to worship the Lord,
you do not mean what you say.
3 Surely the Lord looks for faithfulness.
He struck you, but you paid no attention;
he crushed you, but you refused to learn.
You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.
4 Then I thought, “These are only the poor and ignorant.
They behave foolishly;
they don't know what their God requires,
what the Lord wants them to do.
5 I will go to the people in power
and talk with them.
Surely they know what their God requires,
what the Lord wants them to do.”
But all of them have rejected the Lord's authority
and refuse to obey him.
6 That is why lions from the forest will kill them;
wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces,
and leopards will prowl through their towns.
If those people go out, they will be torn apart
because their sins are numerous
and time after time they have turned from God.
7 The Lord asked, “Why should I forgive the sins of my people?
They have abandoned me
and have worshiped gods that are not real.
I fed my people until they were full,
but they committed adultery
and spent their time with prostitutes.
8 They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire,
each lusting for his neighbor's wife.
9 Shouldn't I punish them for these things
and take revenge on a nation such as this?
10 I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards,
but not to destroy them completely.
I will tell them to strip away the branches,
because those branches are not mine.
11 The people of Israel and Judah
have betrayed me completely.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”
The Lord Rejects Israel
12 The Lord's people have denied him and have said, “He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine.” 13-14 They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the Lord. The Lord God Almighty said to me, “Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up.”
15 People of Israel, the Lord is bringing a nation from far away to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. 16 Their archers are mighty soldiers who kill without mercy. 17 They will devour your crops and your food; they will kill your sons and your daughters. They will slaughter your flocks and your herds and destroy your vines and fig trees. The fortified cities in which you trust will be destroyed by their army.
18 The Lord says, “Yet even in those days I will not completely destroy my people. 19 When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs.”
God Warns His People
20 The Lord says, “Tell the descendants of Jacob, tell the people of Judah: 21 Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear. 22 I am the Lord; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through. 23 But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me. 24 You never thought to honor me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year. 25 Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.
26 “Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who lay nets to catch birds, but they have set their traps to catch people. 27 Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich, 28 why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.
29 “But I, the Lord, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation. 30 A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?”
1 Run to and from by the streetes of Ierusalem, and beholde nowe, and knowe, and inquire in the open places thereof, if ye can finde a man, or if there be any that executeth iudgement, and seeketh the trueth, and I will spare it. 2 For though they say, The Lord liueth, yet doe they sweare falsely. 3 O Lord, are not thine eyes vpon the trueth? thou hast striken them, but they haue not sorowed: thou hast consumed them, but they haue refused to receiue correction: they haue made their faces harder then a stone, and haue refused to returne. 4 Therefore I saide, Surely they are poore, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the iudgement of their God. 5 I will get me vnto the great men, and will speake vnto them: for they haue knowen the way of the Lord, and the iudgement of their God: but these haue altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bondes. 6 Wherefore a lyon out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolfe of the wildernesse shall destroy them: a leopard shall watch ouer their cities: euery one that goeth out thence, shall be torne in pieces, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased. 7 Howe should I spare thee for this? thy children haue forsaken me, and sworne by them that are no gods: though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adulterie, and assembled them selues by companies in the harlots houses. 8 They rose vp in the morning like fed horses: for euery man neyed after his neighbours wife. 9 Shall I not visite for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this? 10 Clime vp vpon their walles, and destroy them, but make not a full ende: take away their batilments, for they are not the Lords. 11 For the house of Israel, and the house of Iudah haue grieuously trespassed against me, saith the Lord. 12 They haue denied the Lord, and saide, It is not he, neither shall the plague come vpon vs, neither shall we see sworde nor famine. 13 And the Prophetes shall be as winde, and the worde is not in them: thus shall it come vnto them. 14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hostes, Because ye speake such wordes, beholde, I will put my wordes into thy mouth, like a fire, and this people shall be as wood, and it shall deuoure them. 15 Loe, I will bring a nation vpon you from farre, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, which is a mightie nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither vnderstandest what they say. 16 Whose quiuer is as an open sepulchre: they are all very strong. 17 And they shall eate thine haruest and thy bread: they shall deuoure thy sonnes and thy daughters: they shall eate vp thy sheepe and thy bullocks: they shall eate thy vines and thy figge trees: they shall destroy with the sworde thy fenced cities, wherein thou didest trust. 18 Neuerthelesse at those dayes, sayth the Lord, I will not make a full ende of you. 19 And when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God doe these things vnto vs? then shalt thou answere them, Like as ye haue forsaken me and serued strange gods in your land, so shall ye serue strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Declare this in the house of Iaakob, and publish it in Iudah, saying, 21 Heare nowe this, O foolish people, and without vnderstanding, which haue eyes and see not, which haue eares and heare not. 22 Feare ye not me, saith the Lord? or will ye not be afraide at my presence, which haue placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it, and though the waues thereof rage, yet can they not preuaile, though they roare, yet can they not passe ouer it? 23 But this people hath an vnfaithfull and rebellious heart: they are departed and gone. 24 For they say not in their heart, Let vs nowe feare the Lord our God, that giueth raine both early and late in due season: hee reserueth vnto vs the appointed weekes of the haruest. 25 Yet your iniquities haue turned away these things, and your sinnes haue hindred good things from you. 26 For among my people are founde wicked persons, that lay waite as hee that setteth snares: they haue made a pit, to catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birdes, so are their houses full of deceite: thereby they are become great and waxen riche. 28 They are waxen fat and shining: they doe ouerpasse the deedes of the wicked: they execute no iudgement, no not the iudgement of the fatherlesse: yet they prosper, though they execute no iudgement for the poore. 29 Shall I not visite for these things, sayth the Lord? or shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this? 30 An horrible and filthie thing is committed in the land. 31 The Prophets prophesie lies, and ye Priests receiue giftes in their handes, and my people delite therein. What will ye then doe in the ende thereof?