Yirmiyahu - Chapter 5

1. Stroll in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know, and seek in its squares, whether you will find a man, whether there is one who performs justice, who seeks faith, and I will forgive her.

2. And if they say, "As the Lord lives," they, nevertheless, will swear falsely.

3. O Lord, are not Your eyes upon faith? You smote them but they felt no pain, You consumed them, [but] they refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to repent.

4. And I said, "But they are poor, they have become foolish, for they did not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.

5. I will go to the great ones and speak with them, for they know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God: but they together broke the yoke, burst the bands.

6. Therefore, a lion from the forest smote them, a wolf of the deserts spoils them, a leopard hastens upon their cities, anyone who comes out of them shall be torn to pieces, for their transgressions are many, their backslidings are increased.

7. Shall I forgive you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and they swore by no-gods. Here I sated them and they committed adultery, and they banded together in the house of a harlot.

8. Like armed stallions, they would arise early; they would neigh, each one over his friend's wife.

9. Shall I not punish for these things? says the Lord, or for a nation such as this shall My soul not wreak vengeance?

10. Ascend upon its rows and destroy, but make no complete end; remove its roots, for they are not the Lord's.

11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt treacherously with Me, says the Lord.

12. They denied the Lord and said, "It is not He, and no evil will befall us, neither will we see sword or famine.

13. And the prophets shall become wind, for there is no speech in them." So shall be done to them.

14. Therefore, so says the Lord God of Hosts, because you have spoken this word. Behold I put My words into your mouth as fire, and this people [shall be wood] and it shall consume them.

15. Behold I bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you will not know, and you will not understand what he will speak.

16. His quiver is like an open grave, all of them are mighty men.

17. And he will devour your harvest and your bread; they will devour your sons and your daughters; he will devour your flocks and your cattle; he will devour your vines and your fig trees; he will impoverish your fortified cities upon which you rely, with the sword.

18. And also in those days, says the Lord, I will not make an end to you.

19. And it will be that you will say, "For what reason has the Lord our God done all these to us?" you shall say to them: As you have forsaken Me and worshipped foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land not yours.

20. Tell this in the house of Jacob and make it heard in Judah, saying:

21. Hearken to this, foolish people without understanding; they have eyes yet they see not, they have ears yet they hear not.

22. Will you not fear Me? says the Lord, or, do you not quake from before Me, for I made sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass, and [its waves] toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; and its waves roar, but they do not pass it.

23. And this people had a revolting and rebellious heart; they turned away and they were gone.

24. And they did not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, the early rain and the latter rain in its time, the weeks of the laws of harvest He keeps for us."

25. Your iniquities have brought these about, and your sins have withheld the good from you.

26. For wicked men are found in My people; they lie in wait as a trap bites; they station an ambush, they catch people.

27. As a cage is full, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore, they have become great and they have become rich.

28. They have become fat, they have become thick; also they transgress in deeds of wickedness; they did not plead the cause of an orphan that they prosper, and the judgment of the poor they did not judge.

29. Shall I not punish for these? says the Lord, or for such a nation shall My soul not take vengeance?

30. An appalling and horrible thing has come about in the land.

31. The prophets have prophesied falsely, and the priests govern after them, and My people love to have it so. Now what shall you do in the end thereof?