1
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executethjudgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
2
And though they say, The LORDliveth; surely they swearfalsely.
3
O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receivecorrection: they have made their facesharder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4
Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5
I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogetherbroken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings[a] shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are nogods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
8
They were as fedhorses in the morning: every oneneighed after his neighbour'swife.
9
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S.
11
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt verytreacherously against me, saith the LORD.
12
They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evilcome upon us; neither shall we seesword nor famine:
13
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14
Wherefore thus saith the LORDGod of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouthfire, and this peoplewood, and it shall devour them.
15
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel,saith the LORD: it is a mightynation, it is an ancientnation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16
Their quiver is as an opensepulchre, they are all mighty men.
17
And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fencedcities, wherein thoutrustedst, with the sword.
18
Nevertheless in those days,saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore*doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and servedstrangegods in your land, so shall ye servestrangers in a land that is not yours.
20
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah,saying,
21
Hear now this, O foolishpeople, and without understanding;[b] which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetualdecree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23
But this people hath a revolting and a rebelliousheart; they are revolted and gone.
24
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that givethrain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointedweeks of the harvest.
25
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholdengood things from you.
26
For among my people are foundwicked men: they lay wait, as he that settethsnares; they set a trap, they catchmen.
27
As a cage[c] is full of birds, so are their housesfull of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30
A wonderful[d] and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31
The prophetsprophesyfalsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my peoplelove to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?