Is Anyone Honest and Faithful?
The Lord said to me:
1 “Search Jerusalem
for honest people
who try to be faithful.
If you can find even one,
I'll forgive the whole city.
2 Everyone breaks promises
made in my name.”
3 I answered, “I know
that you look for truth.
You punished your people
for their lies,
but in spite of the pain,
they became more stubborn
and refused to turn back
to you.”
4 Then I thought to myself,
“These common people
act like fools,
and they have never learned
what the Lord their God
demands of them.
5 So I'll go and talk to the leaders.
They know what God demands.”
But even they had decided
not to obey the Lord.
6 The people have rebelled
and rejected the Lord
too many times.
So enemies will attack
like lions from the forest
or wolves from the desert.
Those enemies will watch
the towns of Judah,
and like leopards
they will tear to pieces
whoever goes outside.
Enemies Will Punish Judah
The Lord said:
7 People of Judah,
how can I forgive you?
I gave you everything,
but you abandoned me
and worshiped idols.
You men go to prostitutes
and are unfaithful
to your wives.
8 You are no better than animals,
and you always want sex
with someone else's wife.
9 Why shouldn't I punish
the people of Judah?
10 I will tell their enemies,
“Go through my vineyard.
Don't destroy the vines,
but cut off the branches,
because they are the people
who don't belong to me.”
11 In every way, Judah and Israel
have been unfaithful to me.
* 12 Their prophets lie and say,
“The Lord won't punish us.
We will have peace
and plenty of food.”
13 They tell these lies in my name,
so now they will be killed in war
or starve to death.
14 I am the Lord God All-Powerful.
Jeremiah, I will tell you
exactly what to say.
Your words will be a fire;
Israel and Judah
will be the fuel.
15 People of Israel,
I have made my decision.
An army from a distant country
will attack you.
I've chosen an ancient nation,
and you won't understand
their language.
16 All of them are warriors,
and their arrows bring death.
17 This nation will eat your crops
and livestock;
they will leave no fruit
on your vines or fig trees.
And although you feel safe
behind thick walls,
your towns will be destroyed
and your children killed.
Israel Refused To Worship the Lord
18 The Lord said:
Jeremiah, the enemy army won't kill everyone in Judah. 19 And the people who survive will ask, “Why did the Lord our God do such terrible things to us?” Then tell them:
I am the Lord,
but you abandoned me
and worshiped other gods
in your own land.
Now you will be slaves
in a foreign country.
20 Tell these things to each other,
you people of Judah,
you descendants of Jacob.
21 You fools! Why don't you listen
when I speak?
Why can't you understand
22 that you should worship me
with fear and trembling?
I'm the one who made the shore
to hold back the ocean.
Waves may crash on the beach,
but they can come no farther.
23 You stubborn people have rebelled
and turned your backs on me.
24 You refuse to say,
“Let's worship the Lord!
He's the one who sends rain
in spring and autumn
and gives us a good harvest.”
25 That's why I cannot bless you!
* 26 A hunter traps birds
and puts them in a cage,
but some of you trap humans
and make them your slaves.
27 You are evil, and you lie and cheat
to make yourselves rich.
You are powerful
28 and prosperous,
but you refuse to help the poor
get the justice they deserve.
29 You need to be punished,
and so I will take revenge.
30 Look at the terrible things
going on in this country.
I am shocked!
31 Prophets give their messages
in the name of a false god,
my priests don't want
to serve me,
and you—my own people—
like it this way!
But on the day of disaster,
where will you turn for help?
1 Run to and from by the streetes of Ierusalem, and beholde nowe, and knowe, and inquire in the open places thereof, if ye can finde a man, or if there be any that executeth iudgement, and seeketh the trueth, and I will spare it. 2 For though they say, The Lord liueth, yet doe they sweare falsely. 3 O Lord, are not thine eyes vpon the trueth? thou hast striken them, but they haue not sorowed: thou hast consumed them, but they haue refused to receiue correction: they haue made their faces harder then a stone, and haue refused to returne. 4 Therefore I saide, Surely they are poore, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the iudgement of their God. 5 I will get me vnto the great men, and will speake vnto them: for they haue knowen the way of the Lord, and the iudgement of their God: but these haue altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bondes. 6 Wherefore a lyon out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolfe of the wildernesse shall destroy them: a leopard shall watch ouer their cities: euery one that goeth out thence, shall be torne in pieces, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased. 7 Howe should I spare thee for this? thy children haue forsaken me, and sworne by them that are no gods: though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adulterie, and assembled them selues by companies in the harlots houses. 8 They rose vp in the morning like fed horses: for euery man neyed after his neighbours wife. 9 Shall I not visite for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this? 10 Clime vp vpon their walles, and destroy them, but make not a full ende: take away their batilments, for they are not the Lords. 11 For the house of Israel, and the house of Iudah haue grieuously trespassed against me, saith the Lord. 12 They haue denied the Lord, and saide, It is not he, neither shall the plague come vpon vs, neither shall we see sworde nor famine. 13 And the Prophetes shall be as winde, and the worde is not in them: thus shall it come vnto them. 14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hostes, Because ye speake such wordes, beholde, I will put my wordes into thy mouth, like a fire, and this people shall be as wood, and it shall deuoure them. 15 Loe, I will bring a nation vpon you from farre, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, which is a mightie nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither vnderstandest what they say. 16 Whose quiuer is as an open sepulchre: they are all very strong. 17 And they shall eate thine haruest and thy bread: they shall deuoure thy sonnes and thy daughters: they shall eate vp thy sheepe and thy bullocks: they shall eate thy vines and thy figge trees: they shall destroy with the sworde thy fenced cities, wherein thou didest trust. 18 Neuerthelesse at those dayes, sayth the Lord, I will not make a full ende of you. 19 And when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God doe these things vnto vs? then shalt thou answere them, Like as ye haue forsaken me and serued strange gods in your land, so shall ye serue strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Declare this in the house of Iaakob, and publish it in Iudah, saying, 21 Heare nowe this, O foolish people, and without vnderstanding, which haue eyes and see not, which haue eares and heare not. 22 Feare ye not me, saith the Lord? or will ye not be afraide at my presence, which haue placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it, and though the waues thereof rage, yet can they not preuaile, though they roare, yet can they not passe ouer it? 23 But this people hath an vnfaithfull and rebellious heart: they are departed and gone. 24 For they say not in their heart, Let vs nowe feare the Lord our God, that giueth raine both early and late in due season: hee reserueth vnto vs the appointed weekes of the haruest. 25 Yet your iniquities haue turned away these things, and your sinnes haue hindred good things from you. 26 For among my people are founde wicked persons, that lay waite as hee that setteth snares: they haue made a pit, to catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birdes, so are their houses full of deceite: thereby they are become great and waxen riche. 28 They are waxen fat and shining: they doe ouerpasse the deedes of the wicked: they execute no iudgement, no not the iudgement of the fatherlesse: yet they prosper, though they execute no iudgement for the poore. 29 Shall I not visite for these things, sayth the Lord? or shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this? 30 An horrible and filthie thing is committed in the land. 31 The Prophets prophesie lies, and ye Priests receiue giftes in their handes, and my people delite therein. What will ye then doe in the ende thereof?