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5
1 Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and notice, and search in its broad places, if ye can find one man, if there be one that executeth justice, that searcheth for truth: and I will pardon it. 2 And though they say, “As the Lord liveth!” surely they only swear to a falsehood. 3 O Lord, are not thy eyes [directed] to the truth? thou didst strike them, but they felt it not; thou didst make an end of them, [yet] they refused to accept correction: they made their faces harder than a rock, they refused to return. 4 Yet I myself thought, Oh these are but poor; they are foolish; for they knew not the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their God. 5 I had better go unto the great men, and let me speak with them; for these surely know the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their God; but these altogether have broken the yoke, burst the bands. 6 Therefore slayeth them the lion out of the forest, the wolf of the deserts wasteth them, the leopard lieth in wait against their cities: every one that cometh out thence shall be torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, very numerous are their backslidings. 7 How shall I for this pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by those that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's house. 8 As robust horses they rose by times in the morning: every one neighed after the wife of his neighbor. 9 Shall I not for these things inflict punishment? saith the Lord: and shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged? 10 Scale ye her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: remove her young shoots; for they are not the Lord's. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. 12 They have denied the Lord, and said, “He existeth not; nor will evil come over us; and the sword and famine shall we not see. 13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them:” thus shall it be done unto them. 14 Therefore thus hath said the Lord the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth to be a fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Lo, I will bring over you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is a most ancient nation, a nation whose language thou wilt not know, and thou wilt not understand what they speak. 16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre: they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall consume thy harvest, and thy bread; they shall consume thy sons and thy daughters; they shall consume thy flocks and thy herds; they shall consume thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall depopulate thy fortified cities, those wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. 18 Nevertheless even in those days, saith the Lord, will I not make a full end of you. 19 And it shall come to pass, when ye will say, For what reason hath the Lord our God done all these things unto us? that thou shalt say unto them, In the same manner as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Announce this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 Do now hear this, O sottish people, who have no heart; who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not; 22 Will ye not fear me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand as a bound for the sea by an everlasting law, which it can never pass over? and though the waves thereof be upheaved, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. 23 But this people hath a stubborn and a rebellious heart: they have departed [from the right] and have gone their way. 24 And they have not said in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, the early and the latter rain, in its season: the appointed weeks of the harvest doth he ever preserve for us. 25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden what is good from you. 26 For there are found among my people wicked men: they lie in wait, as he that layeth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a coop is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore are they become great, and grown rich. 28 They are grown fat, they are stout; yea, they surpass even the deeds of the wicked: they pronounce no [just] sentence, the sentence of the fatherless, that they might prosper; and the cause of the needy do they not judge. 29 shall I not for these things inflict punishment? saith the Lord: or shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged? 30 An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so; but what will ye do in the end thereof?

- Jeremiah
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