Jeremiah Chapter 5
Jerusalem Refuses to Repent
1 “Wander back and forth in the streets in Jerusalem;
search all around in it.
Look in its open squares:
if you can find one honest person,
one that looks for the truth,
I’ll pardon it.
2 Although they swear, ‘As sure as the LORD lives,’
they don’t mean it.
3 LORD, aren’t you looking for honesty? You’ve struck them,
but they didn’t feel anything;
you’ve consumed them,
but they’ve refused to be corrected;
they’ve set their faces like stone
and refused to repent.”
Jer 5:1-3
4 Then I said, “They’re poor and foolish, because they don’t know the way of the LORD or the ordinance of their God.
5I’ll go to their leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD,
what their God requires.
As a group, their leaders have broken his yoke off
and kicked his traces.
6 So a lion from the woods will kill them;
a wolf from the desert will destroy them;
a leopard is watching their towns,
ready to maul anyone that ventures out,
because their sins are many,
their apostasies. numerous.
Jer 5:4-6
7 “Why should I pardon you?
Your offspring have left me
and sworn by what aren’t gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery
and trooped to houses of prostitution.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
each one neighing for his neighbor’s mare.
9 Won’t I punish them
and avenge myself on a nation like that?”
the LORD says.
Jer 5:7-9
10 “Go through its rows of grapevines
and cut down all but a few;
strip away their branches
because they don’t belong to me.
11 Israel and Judah have dealt deviously with me.
12 They’ve misjudged me and said, ‘He won’t do anything; misfortune won’t fall on us; we won’t see sword or famine. 13 His prophets are windbags;
they don’t have any message from him.’ Indeed, those things will happen to them!”
Jer 5:10-13
14 So the LORD God of hosts says.
“Since they’ve claimed that,
I’ll make my word fire in your mouth,
make these people kindling,
and burn them up.
15 I’ll bring a distant nation against you, Israel,
an ancient, enduring one
whose language you don’t know,
whose speech you can’t understand.
16 Their quiver is like an open grave;
they’re all powerful men.
17 They’ll eat your harvest and your food,
kill your children,
eat your flocks and herds,
eat the fruit on your grapevines and fig trees,
and destroy with the sword
the fortified towns you rely on.
Jer 5:14-17
18 Yet even at that time,” the LORD says, “I won’t destroy you completely. 19 When they say, ’Why has the LORD our God done this to us?’ tell them, ‘As you’ve left me and served foreign gods in your country, so you’ll serve foreigners in someone else’s country.’
Jer 5:18-19
20 “Tell Jacob, announce it in Judah,
21 ‘Foolish, senseless people, listen to this, you that have eyes, but don’t see, and ears, but don’t hear,
22You’re not going to respect me? You’re not going to tremble in my presence?’” the LORD says.
Jer 5:20-22a
“I’ve made sand a boundary for the ocean, an eternal decree it can’t cross;
though the waves toss and roar,
they can’t wash over it.
23 But my people have a stubborn, rebellious heart; they’ve turned aside and left.
24 They don’t say in their hearts,
‘Let’s respect the LORD our God,
who sends rain in its season,
autumn and spring,
who keeps for us
the set weeks for harvest.’
Jer 5:22b-24
25 Your iniquities have deprived you of those things;
your sins have robbed you of them.
26 Sinners among my people
lie in wait like fowlers in a blind;
they set traps to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
that’s how they’ve become important and rich.
28 They’re healthy and sleek,
excelling in sinful things.
29 Won’t I punish them?
won’t I avenge myself on a nation like that?”
the LORD says.
Jer 5:25-29
30 “A shocking, horrible thing is happening in the land;
31the prophets prophesy falsely,
the priests rule on their own authority,
and my people like it that way!
But how will this end for you?
Jer 5:30-31