1Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem. Look now, and find out. Search in her open squares. See if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does what is just and seeks the truth. Then I will pardon the city.
2Even when they say, "As the LORD lives," they are surely swearing falsely.
3LORD, are your eyes not looking for truth? You struck them, but they felt no grief. You wore them down, but they refused to take correction. They made their faces harder than rock. They refused to turn back.
4So I said, "These are only the poor. They are foolish. They do not know the way of the LORD, or the law of their God."
5"I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD and the law of their God." But these too had broken the yoke completely and torn off the bonds.
6So a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the deserts will destroy them. A leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces. For their sins are many, and they have turned away again and again.
7How can I pardon you for this? Your children have left me and sworn by those who are not gods. I fed them until they were full, and then they committed adultery. They crowded into the houses of prostitutes.
8They were like well-fed horses in the morning. Each one neighed after his neighbour's wife.
9Should I not punish them for these things? says the LORD. Should I not take revenge on a nation like this?
10Go up onto her walls and destroy, but do not make a full end of her. Take away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.
11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me, says the LORD.
12They have lied about the LORD and said, "It is not he. No harm will come to us. We will not see sword or famine."
13"The prophets are only wind. The word is not in them. Let what they say be done to them."
14So this is what the LORD God of hosts says: "Because you speak this word, look, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will burn them up."
15Look, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, house of Israel, says the LORD. It is a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. You will not understand what they say.
16Their quiver is like an open grave. They are all mighty men.
17They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. With the sword they will break down your walled cities, which you trusted in.
18Yet even in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.
19When you ask, "Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?" then you will answer them, "Just as you left me and served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours."
21"Hear this now, you foolish people, who have no understanding. You have eyes, but you do not see. You have ears, but you do not hear."
22Do you not fear me? says the LORD. Will you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, by a lasting decree, and it cannot pass it. Though the waves toss, they cannot win. Though they roar, they cannot cross it.
23But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and gone.
24They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the LORD our God. He gives the rain, both the early rain and the late rain, in its season. He keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest."
25Your wrongdoing has turned these things away. Your sins have kept good things from you.
26For among my people wicked men are found. They lie in wait like a man setting snares for birds. They set a trap, and they catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. So they have become great and grown rich.
28They have grown fat and sleek. They go beyond even the deeds of the wicked. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless, yet they do well. They do not give justice to the needy.
29Should I not punish them for these things? says the LORD. Should I not take revenge on a nation like this?
30An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
31The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests rule by their own authority. And my people love to have it so. But what will you do when the end comes?