Chapter 5

  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if ye can find a man, if there is any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. 

  And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely. 

  O LORD, are not thy eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. 

  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. 

  I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 

  Wherefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings 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. 

  How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. 

  They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor's wife. 

  Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 

  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. 

  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. 

  They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: 

  And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them. 

  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 

  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 

  Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men. 

  And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees: they shall impoverish with the sword thy fortified cities, in which thou hast trusted. 

  Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. 

  And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these things to us? then shalt thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 

  Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 

  Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not: 

  Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? 

  But this people have a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. 

  Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: he reserveth to us the appointed weeks of harvest. 

  Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you. 

  For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 

  As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and have grown rich. 

  They have become fat, they shine: yes, they surpass 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. 

  Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 

  A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 

  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?