Jeremiah 5

“Go through the streets of Jerusalem;
look and find out.
Search her squares.
If you can find one person who acts justly and seeks faithfulness, I will pardon her. Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ they are surely swearing falsely.” LORD, do your eyes not look for 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 return. Then I said, “Surely these are only the poor.
They act foolishly because they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. I will go to the prominent men and speak with them, for they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.”
But they too had all broken the yoke and torn off the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf of the desert will devastate them, and a leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from them will be torn to pieces, because their transgressions are many and their apostasies have increased. “How can I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those who are no gods.
I fed them to the full, but they committed adultery and thronged to a prostitute’s house. They were well-fed horses, up early, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife. Shall I not punish them for these things?”
declares the LORD.
“Shall I not avenge myself on a nation like this? Go up through her vineyard rows and destroy, but do not make a complete end.
Strip away her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me,” declares the LORD. They have denied the LORD and said, “It is not he!
Disaster will not come upon us;
we will see neither sword nor famine. The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Let this be done to them!” Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of hosts, says: “Because you have spoken these words, look, I am making my words in your mouth a fire and this people wood, and it will consume them. Look, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
“It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand. Its quiver is like an open grave;
all of them are mighty warriors. It will devour your harvest and your bread;
they will devour your sons and daughters.
It will devour your flocks and herds;
it will devour your vines and fig trees.
It will shatter with the sword the fortified cities in which you trust. Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a complete end of you. And when you ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you are to tell them: ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’ Announce this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah: Hear this, foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. Do you not fear me?”
declares the LORD.
“Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a lasting decree that it cannot cross.
Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot cross it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the fall rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you. For wicked men are found among my people.
They lurk like crouching birdcatchers;
they set a trap and catch people. Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich. They have grown fat and sleek;
they even surpass the deeds of the wicked.
They do not judge the case, the case of the fatherless, yet they prosper;
they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things?”
declares the LORD.
“Shall I not avenge myself on a nation like this? An appalling and horrifying thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule with their support, and my people love it this way.
But what will you do when the end comes?”

Rights and attribution