Chapter 5

  Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.  

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  And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.  

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  O LORD, [are] not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, [but] they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.  

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  Therefore I said, Surely these [are] poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, [nor] the judgment of their God.  

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  I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, [and] burst the bonds.  

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  Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, [and] a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings are increased.  

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  How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.  

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  They were [as] fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.  

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  Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?  

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  Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they [are] not the LORD'S.  

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  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.  

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  They have belied the LORD, and said, [It is] not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:  

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  And the prophets shall become wind, and the word [is] not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.  

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  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.  

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  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it [is] a mighty nation, it [is] an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.  

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  Their quiver [is] as an open sepulchre, they [are] all mighty men.  

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  And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.  

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  Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.  

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  And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these [things] unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.  

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  Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,  

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  Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:  

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  Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand [for] the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?  

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  But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.  

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  Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.  

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  Your iniquities have turned away these [things], and your sins have withholden good [things] from you.  

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  For among my people are found wicked [men]: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.  

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  As a cage is full of birds, so [are] their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.  

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  They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.  

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  Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?  

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  A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;  

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  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?  

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