Jeremiah 5-6

New King James Version

The Justice of God’s Judgment

5 “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
See now and know;
And seek in her open places
^(A)If you can find a man,
^(B)If there is anyone who executes ^[a]judgment,
Who seeks the truth,
^(C)And I will pardon her.
²^(D)Though they say, ‘As ^(E)the Lord lives,’
Surely they ^(F)swear falsely.”

³O Lord, are not ^(G)Your eyes on the truth?
You have ^(H)stricken them,
But they have not grieved;
You have consumed them,
But ^(I)they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to return.

⁴Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor.
They are foolish;
For ^(J)they do not know the way of the Lord,
The judgment of their God.
⁵I will go to the great men and speak to them,
For ^(K)they have known the way of the Lord,
The judgment of their God.”

But these have altogether ^(L)broken the yoke
And burst the bonds.
⁶Therefore ^(M)a lion from the forest shall slay them,
^(N)A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them;
^(O)A leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many;
Their backslidings have increased.

⁷“How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
And ^(P)sworn by those ^(Q)that are not gods.
^(R)When I had fed them to the full,
Then they committed adultery
And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
⁸^(S)They were like well-fed lusty stallions;
Every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“And shall I not ^(T)avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

¹⁰“Go up on her walls and destroy,
But do not ^[b]make a ^(U)complete end.
Take away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
¹¹For ^(V)the house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” says the Lord.

¹²^(W)They have lied about the Lord,
And said, ^(X)“It is not He.
^(Y)Neither will ^[c]evil come upon us,
Nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³And the prophets become wind,
For the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them.”

¹⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts:

“Because you speak this word,
^(Z)Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire,
And this people wood,
And it shall devour them.
¹⁵Behold, I will bring a ^(AA)nation against you ^(AB)from afar,
O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
“It is a mighty nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶Their quiver is like an open tomb;
They are all mighty men.
¹⁷And they shall eat up your ^(AC)harvest and your bread,
Which your sons and daughters should eat.
They shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
They shall destroy your fortified cities,
In which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸“Nevertheless in those days,” says the Lord, “I ^(AD)will not ^[d]make a complete end of you. ¹⁹And it will be when you say, ^(AE)‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have ^(AF)forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so ^(AG)you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
²¹‘Hear this now, O ^(AH)foolish people,
Without ^[e]understanding,
Who have eyes and see not,
And who have ears and hear not:
²²^(AI)Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord.
‘Will you not tremble at My presence,
Who have placed the sand as the ^(AJ)bound of the sea,
By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it?
And though its waves toss to and fro,
Yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
²³But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart;
They have revolted and departed.
²⁴They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
^(AK)Who gives rain, both the ^(AL)former and the latter, in its season.
^(AM)He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
²⁵^(AN)Your iniquities have turned these things away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.

²⁶‘For among My people are found wicked men;
They ^(AO)lie in wait as one who sets snares;
They set a trap;
They catch men.
²⁷As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
²⁸They have grown ^(AP)fat, they are sleek;
Yes, they ^[f]surpass the deeds of the wicked;
They do not plead ^(AQ)the cause,
The cause of the fatherless;
^(AR)Yet they prosper,
And the right of the needy they do not defend.
²⁹^(AS)Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord.
‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’

³⁰“An astonishing and ^(AT)horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
³¹The prophets prophesy ^(AU)falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people ^(AV)love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?

Impending Destruction from the North

6 “O you children of Benjamin,
Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
And set up a signal-fire in ^(AW)Beth Haccerem;
^(AX)For disaster appears out of the north,
And great destruction.
²I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
³The ^(AY)shepherds with their flocks shall come to her.
They shall pitch their tents against her all around.
Each one shall pasture in his own place.”

⁴“Prepare^(AZ) war against her;
Arise, and let us go up ^(BA)at noon.
Woe to us, for the day goes away,
For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
⁵Arise, and let us go by night,
And let us destroy her palaces.”

⁶For thus has the Lord of hosts said:

“Cut down trees,
And build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished.
She is full of oppression in her midst.
⁷^(BB)As a fountain ^[g]wells up with water,
So she wells up with her wickedness.
^(BC)Violence and plundering are heard in her.
Before Me continually are ^[h]grief and wounds.
⁸Be instructed, O Jerusalem,
Lest ^(BD)My soul depart from you;
Lest I make you desolate,
A land not inhabited.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel;
As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Indeed their ^(BE)ear is uncircumcised,
And they cannot give heed.
Behold, ^(BF)the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.
¹¹Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord.
^(BG)I am weary of holding it in.
“I will pour it out ^(BH)on the children outside,
And on the assembly of young men together;
For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,
The aged with him who is full of days.
¹²And ^(BI)their houses shall be turned over to others,
Fields and wives together;
For I will stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.
¹³“Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is given to ^(BJ)covetousness;
And from the prophet even to the ^(BK)priest,
Everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴They have also ^(BL)healed the ^[i]hurt of My people ^[j]slightly,
^(BM)Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹⁵Were they ^(BN)ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:

“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the ^(BO)old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find ^(BP)rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷Also, I set ^(BQ)watchmen over you, saying,
^(BR)‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
¹⁸Therefore hear, you nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
¹⁹^(BS)Hear, O earth!
Behold, I will certainly bring ^(BT)calamity on this people—
^(BU)The fruit of their thoughts,
Because they have not heeded My words
Nor My law, but rejected it.
²⁰^(BV)For what purpose to Me
Comes frankincense ^(BW)from Sheba,
And ^(BX)sweet cane from a far country?
^(BY)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people,
And the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them.
The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”

²²Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, a people comes from the ^(BZ)north country,
And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.
²³They will lay hold on bow and spear;
They are cruel and have no mercy;
Their voice ^(CA)roars like the sea;
And they ride on horses,
As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”

²⁴We have heard the report of it;
Our hands grow feeble.
^(CB)Anguish has taken hold of us,
Pain as of a woman in ^[k]labor.
²⁵Do not go out into the field,
Nor walk by the way.
Because of the sword of the enemy,
Fear is on every side.
²⁶O daughter of my people,
^(CC)Dress in sackcloth
^(CD)And roll about in ashes!
^(CE)Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation;
For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.

²⁷“I have set you as an assayer and ^(CF)a fortress among My people,
That you may know and test their way.
²⁸^(CG)They are all stubborn rebels, ^(CH)walking as slanderers.
They are ^(CI)bronze and iron,
They are all corrupters;
²⁹The bellows blow fiercely,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
The smelter refines in vain,
For the wicked are not drawn off.
³⁰People will call them ^(CJ)rejected silver,
Because the Lord has rejected them.”