Jeremiah 5
Search the Streets and See If You Find One Just Man
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Run Through Jerusalem’s Streets
5:1Run through Jerusalem’s streets and see and learn, and search her squares: if you find a man, if there is one doing justice and seeking faithfulness, then I will be merciful to them, says the Lord.
5:2They say, ‘The Lord lives’; do they not therefore swear on falsehoods?
5:3Lord, Your eyes are toward faithfulness. You scourged them, and they did not suffer; You brought them to an end, and they would not accept instruction. They hardened their faces beyond rock and would not return.
5:4And I said: Perhaps they are poor, because they had no ability, because they did not know the Lord’s way and God’s judgment.
5:5I will go to the prosperous and speak to them, for they recognized the Lord’s way and God’s judgment. And look, with one accord they broke the yoke and tore the bonds.
5:6Therefore a lion from the woodland struck them, and a wolf destroyed them as far as the houses, and a leopard kept watch over their cities. All who leave them will be hunted, because they multiplied their impieties and grew strong in their turnings away.
Why Should I Be Merciful to You?
5:7For which of these things should I be merciful to you? Your sons abandoned Me and swore by those who are not gods. And I fed them fully, and they committed adultery and lodged in prostitutes’ houses.
5:8They became horses mad for mares; each neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
5:9Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord. Or will not My soul take vengeance on such a nation?
5:10Go up against her battlements and tear them down, but do not make a complete end. Leave her supports, because they belong to the Lord.
5:11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have utterly rejected Me, says the Lord.
5:12They lied to their own Lord and said: These things are not so; evils will not come upon us, and we will not see sword or famine.
5:13Our prophets became wind, and the Lord’s word was not in them. Thus it will be for them.
5:14Therefore thus says the Lord Almighty: Because you spoke this utterance, look, I have made My words fire in your mouth, and this people wood, and it will devour them.
A Nation from Far Away
5:15Look, I am bringing a nation upon you from far away, house of Israel, says the Lord, a nation whose language’s sound you will not understand.
5:16All are strong,
5:17and they will devour your harvest and your bread, and devour your sons and daughters, and devour your sheep and calves, and devour your vineyards and fig orchards and olive groves; and they will thresh with a sword your fortified cities in which you have trusted.
5:18And it will be in those days, says the Lord your God: I will certainly not bring you to a complete end.
5:19And when you say, ‘For what reason has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them: Because you served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve foreigners in a land not yours.
5:20Announce these things to the house of Jacob, and let it be heard in Judah.
Hear, Foolish and Senseless People
5:21Hear these things now, foolish and senseless people: they have eyes and do not see; they have ears and do not hear.
5:22Will you not fear Me? says the Lord. Or will you not show reverence before Me, who appointed sand as the sea’s boundary, an eternal command it will not cross? It will be stirred and will not prevail, and its waves will roar, and it will not cross it.
5:23But this people acquired an unheeding and disobedient heart, and they turned aside and went away.
5:24And they did not say in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives us early and late rain at the time of fulfillment of the harvest’s command, and He kept it for us.
5:25Your lawless acts turned these things aside, and your sins removed good things from you.
5:26For impious people were found among My people, and they set traps to destroy men and were catching them.
Deceit in the Houses, Falsehood Among the Prophets
5:27Like a set trap full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they became great and rich.
5:28And they transgressed judgment; they did not judge an orphan’s case, and they were not judging a widow’s case.
5:29Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord. Or will not My soul take vengeance on such a nation?
5:30Astonishment and horrifying things happened upon the land:
5:31The prophets prophesy unjust things, and the priests applauded with their hands, and My people loved it so. And what will you do after these things?
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.