Jeremiah 5-6

English Standard Version

⁴ Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
^(H)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.
⁵ I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”
^(I)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

⁶ Therefore ^(J)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a ^(K)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
^(L)A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their ^(M)apostasies are great.

^7 (N)“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    ^(O)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
^(P)When I fed them to the full,
    ^(Q)they committed adultery
    ^(R)and trooped to the houses of whores.
⁸ They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    ^(S)each neighing ^(T)for his neighbor's wife.
^9 (U)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

^10 (V)“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    ^(W)but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord's.
^11 (X)For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
¹² They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
^(Y)no disaster will come upon us,
    ^(Z)nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³ The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ “Hear this, ^(AL)O foolish and senseless people,
    ^(AM)who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.
^22 (AN)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand ^(AO)as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though ^(AP)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
^23 (AQ)But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴ They do not say in their hearts,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
^(AR)who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    ^(AS)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
^25 (AT)Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶ For wicked men are found among my people;
    ^(AU)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.^[a]
(AV)They set a trap;
    they catch men.
²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
^{28     (AW)}they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    ^(AX)they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
    and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
^29 (AY)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?”

³⁰ An appalling and ^(AZ)horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
^31 (BA)the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
^(BB)my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?

⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(BL)“Cut down her trees;
    ^(BM)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be ^(BN)punished;
    there is nothing but oppression within her.
^7 (BO)As a well keeps its water fresh,
    so she keeps fresh her evil;
^(BP)violence and destruction are heard within her;
    sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸ Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    ^(BQ)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you ^(BR)a desolation,
    an uninhabited land.”

⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(BS)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
    over its branches.”
^10 (BT)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
^(BU)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
    ^(BV)they cannot listen;
behold, ^(BW)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.
¹¹ Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
    ^(BX)I am weary of holding it in.
^(BY)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
    and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
^(BZ)both husband and wife ^(CA)shall be taken,
    the elderly and the very aged.
^12 (CB)Their houses shall be turned over to others,
    their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
^13 (CC)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone ^(CD)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from ^(CE)prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴ They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ^(CF)‘Peace, peace,’
    ^(CG)when there is no peace.
^15 (CH)Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    ^(CI)at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
    and ask for ^(CJ)the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
    ^(CK)and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
^17 (CL)I set watchmen over you, saying,
    ‘Pay attention to ^(CM)the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ^(CN)‘We will not pay attention.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
    ^(CO)the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
    and as for my law, they have rejected it.
^20 (CP)What use to me is ^(CQ)frankincense that comes from ^(CR)Sheba,
    or sweet cane from a distant land?
^(CS)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
²¹ Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(CT)‘Behold, I will lay before this people
    stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
    neighbor and friend shall perish.’”

²² Thus says the Lord:
^(CU)“Behold, a people is coming ^(CV)from the north country,
    a great nation is stirring from ^(CW)the farthest parts of the earth.
²³ They lay hold on bow and javelin;
    they are ^(CX)cruel and have no mercy;
    ^(CY)the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    set in array as a man for battle,
    against you, O daughter of Zion!”
²⁴ We have heard the report of it;
    ^(CZ)our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
    ^(DA)pain as of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Go not out into the field,
    nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
    ^(DB)terror is on every side.
²⁶ O daughter of my people, ^(DC)put on sackcloth,
    and ^(DD)roll in ashes;
^(DE)make mourning as for an only son,
    most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.

²⁷ “I have made you ^(DF)a tester of metals among my people,
    that you may know and ^(DG)test their ways.
^28 (DH)They are all stubbornly rebellious,
    ^(DI)going about with slanders;
they are ^(DJ)bronze and iron;
    all of them act corruptly.
²⁹ The ^(DK)bellows blow fiercely;
    the lead is consumed by the fire;
^(DL)in vain the refining goes on,
    for the wicked are not removed.
^30 (DM)Rejected silver they are called,
    for the Lord has rejected them.”