Top of Page
Page Style
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who acts justly,
who seeks after truth,
then I will forgive Jerusalem.
2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’,
yet they are still swearing falsely.”
3 O Lord, do Your eyes not look for truth? You struck them,
but they felt no anguish;
You crushed them,
but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than rock,
and they refused to repent.
4 Then I said:
“These are only the poor;
they act foolishly,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
5 I will go to the leading men
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of Lord,
the justice of their God.”
But they had also all broken the yolk,
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore, a lion from the forest will slay them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them.
A leopard will lie in wait near their cities;
anyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.
For their transgressions are many,
and their backslidings many.
7 “Why should I forgive you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me,
and sworn by those that are not gods.
I fed them to the full,
yet they committed adultery;
they trooped together to the houses of prostitutes.
8 They were well-fed lusty stallions,
each one neighing after his neighbour’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for these things,”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge Myself
on a nation such as this?
10 “Go up through the terraces of her vineyards and destroy,
but do not make a complete end;
strip off her branches,
for they do not belong to the Lord.
11 The house of Israel and the house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously with Me,”
declares the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely about the Lord;
they said: “He will do nothing!
Harm will not come to us;
we will never see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are only wind,
and the word is not in them.”
Thus will it be done to them!
14 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Hosts says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
I will make My words fire in your mouth.
This people are the wood,
and the fire will consume them.
15 “Behold, I am about to bring a nation
against you from far away,
O house of Israel,”
declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
whose speech you do not understand.
16 Their quiver is like an open grave;
they are all mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvest and your food;
they will devour your sons and your daughters;
they will devour your flocks and your herds;
they will devour your vines and your fig trees.
They will destroy with the sword
your fortified cities in which you trust.
18 “But even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete end of you. 19 And when people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not your own’.
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 ‘Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but do not see,
who have ears, but do not hear:
22 Do you not fear Me?’
declares the Lord.
‘Should you not tremble in My presence?
‘It was I who placed the sand as the boundary of the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross.
Though the waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail;
though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
they have turned aside and gone astray.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
“Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season;
who appoints for us the regular weeks of the harvest.”
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
your sins have deprived you of good.
26 ‘Among My people are found wicked men;
they lie in wait, like a fowler who set snares;
they set a trap, and they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have grown powerful and rich;
28they have become fat and sleek.
They have no limit in their evil deeds;
they do not pursue justice for the fatherless
in order that they may prosper more,
and they do not defend the rights of the poor.
29 Should I not punish them for this?’
declares the Lord.
‘Should I not avenge Myself
on a nation such as this?’
30 “An appalling and horrible thing
has taken place in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love to have it this way;
but what will you do when it all comes to an end?”