| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1“Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city. | 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. |
| 2But even when they are under oath, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are still telling lies!” | 2These people make promises in the name of the LORD. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie." |
| 3LORD, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; 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, “But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the LORD. They don’t understand God’s laws. | 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. |
| 5So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the LORD and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains. | 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. |
| 6So now a lion from the forest will attack them; a wolf from the desert will pounce on them. A leopard will lurk near their towns, tearing apart any who dare to venture out. For their rebellion is great, and their sins are many. | 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? For even your children have turned from me. They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all! I fed my people until they were full. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the brothels. | 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 are 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. |
| 9Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation? | 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 down the rows of the vineyards and destroy the grapevines, leaving a scattered few alive. Strip the branches from the vines, for these people do not belong to the LORD. | 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. |
| 11The people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me,” says the LORD. | 11For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me," says the LORD. |
| 12“They have lied about the LORD and said, ‘He won’t bother us! No disasters will come upon us. There will be no war 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. |
| 13God’s prophets are all windbags who don’t really speak for him. Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves!’” | 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, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies says: “Because the people are talking like this, my messages will flame out of your mouth and burn the people like kindling wood. | 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." |
| 15O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you cannot understand. | 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 weapons are deadly; their warriors are mighty. | 16All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. Their arrows will send you to your grave. |
| 17They will devour the food of your harvest; they will devour your sons and daughters. They will devour your flocks and herds; they will devour your grapes and figs. And they will destroy your fortified towns, which you think are so safe. | 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“Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely,” says the LORD. | 18Yet even then I will not completely destroy you," says the LORD. |
| 19“And when your people ask, ‘Why did the LORD our God do all this to us?’ you must reply, ‘You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’ A Warning for God’s People | 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.' |
| 20“Make this announcement to Israel, and say this to Judah: | 20"Proclaim this message among the descendants of Jacob. Make it known throughout Judah. |
| 21Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. | 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: |
| 22Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set. | 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 my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me. | 23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way. |
| 24They do not say from the heart, ‘Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.’ | 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 wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things. | 25Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.' |
| 26“Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind. They continually set traps to catch people. | 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 filled with birds, their homes are filled with evil plots. And now they are 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 are fat and sleek, and there is no limit to their wicked deeds. They refuse to provide justice to orphans and deny the rights of the poor. | 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. |
| 29Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation? | 29I will certainly punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! |
| 30A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land— | 30"Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah: |
| 31the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way! 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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