| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. | 1The LORD said, "Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city. |
| 2Though they say, “As the LORD lives,” yet they swear falsely. | 2These people make promises in the name of the LORD. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie." |
| 3O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. | 3LORD, I know you look for faithfulness. But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. They refuse to change their ways. |
| 4Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. | 4I thought, "Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the LORD demands. They do not know what their God requires of them. |
| 5I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds. | 5I will go to the leaders and speak with them. Surely they know what the LORD demands. Surely they know what their God requires of them." Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. |
| 6Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. | 6So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things. |
| 7“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. | 7The LORD asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes. |
| 8They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife. | 8They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor's wife. |
| 9Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? | 9I will surely punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!" |
| 10“Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s. | 10The LORD commanded the enemy, "March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the LORD. |
| 11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the LORD. | 11For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me," says the LORD. |
| 12They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. | 12"These people have denied what the LORD says. They have said, 'That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine. |
| 13The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’” | 13The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The LORD has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.'" |
| 14Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them. | 14Because of that, the LORD, the God who rules over all, said to me, "Because these people have spoken like this, I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up." |
| 15Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. | 15The LORD says, "Listen, nation of Israel! I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand. |
| 16Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty warriors. | 16All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. Their arrows will send you to your grave. |
| 17They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword.” | 17They will eat up your crops and your food. They will kill off your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your sheep and your cattle. They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. Their weapons will batter down the fortified cities you trust in. |
| 18“But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. | 18Yet even then I will not completely destroy you," says the LORD. |
| 19And when your people say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’” | 19"So then, Jeremiah, when your people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' tell them, 'It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So you must serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.' |
| 20Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah: | 20"Proclaim this message among the descendants of Jacob. Make it known throughout Judah. |
| 21“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. | 21Tell them: 'Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive: |
| 22Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. | 22"You should fear me!" says the LORD. "You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary." |
| 23But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. | 23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way. |
| 24They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ | 24They do not say to themselves, "Let us revere the LORD our God. It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time. It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest." |
| 25Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. | 25Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.' |
| 26For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. | 26"Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. They set deadly traps to catch people. |
| 27Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; | 27Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. |
| 28they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. | 28That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor. |
| 29Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” | 29I will certainly punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! |
| 30An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: | 30"Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah: |
| 31the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? | 31The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! |
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