Jeremiah:5

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Run 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 . * Though they say , "As the LORD lives ," yet they swear falsely . * O LORD , do not thy eyes look for truth ? Thou hast smitten them , but they felt no anguish ; thou hast consumed them , but they refused to take correction . They have made their faces harder than rock ; they have refused to repent . * Then I said , "These are only the poor , they have no sense ; for they do not know the way of the LORD , the law of their God . * I will go to the great , and will speak to them ; for they know the way of the LORD , the law of their God ." But they all alike had broken the yoke , they had burst the bonds . * Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them , a wolf from the desert shall destroy them . A leopard is watching against their cities , every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces ; because their transgressions are many , their apostasies are great . * "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 harlots . * They were well-fed lusty stallions , each neighing for his neighbor 's wife . * Shall I not punish them for these things ? says the LORD ; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this ? * "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 . * For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me , says the LORD . * They have spoken falsely of the LORD , and have said , `He will do nothing ; no evil will come upon us , nor shall we see sword or famine . * The prophets will become wind ; the word is not in them . Thus shall it be done to them !'" * Therefore thus says the LORD , the God of hosts : "Because they have spoken this word , behold , I am making my words in your mouth a fire , and this people wood , and the fire shall devour them . * Behold , I am bringing upon you a nation from afar , O house of Israel , says 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 . * Their quiver is like an open tomb , they are all mighty men . * They 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 destroy with the sword ." * "But even in those days , says the LORD , I will not make a full end of you . * And 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 strangers in a land that is not yours .'" * Declare this in the house of Jacob , proclaim it in Judah : * "Hear this , O foolish and senseless people , who have eyes , but see not , who have ears , but hear not . * Do you not fear me ? says the LORD ; Do you not tremble before me ? I placed the sand as the bound for the sea , a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass ; though the waves toss , they cannot prevail , though they roar , they cannot pass over it . * But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart ; they have turned aside and gone away . * They 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 .' * Your iniquities have turned these away , and your sins have kept good from you . * For wicked men are found among my people ; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait . They set a trap ; they catch men . * Like a basket full of birds , their houses are full of treachery ; therefore they have become great and rich , * they have grown fat and sleek . They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness ; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless , to make it prosper , and they do not defend the rights of the needy . * Shall I not punish them for these things ? says the LORD , and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this ?" * An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land : * the 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 ?

---