1Run up and down the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and search in her squares, and if you can find just one person that behaves justly and seeks the truth, I will pardon it.
2For even though they say, “The LORD lives”; even so, they swear falsely.
3O LORD, do Your eyes not look for truth? You have stricken them, but they are not contrite; You have devastated them, yet they refuse to accept correction. They have made their faces harder than a flint rock; they have refused to repent.
4Therefore I said, “Surely these are only the poor, the foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD, nor the law of their God.
5I will go and speak to the leaders; for surely they have known the way of the LORD, and understand God’s law, and what He requires of them; but these, to a man, have completely broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6Therefore, a lion from the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall ravage them, a leopard shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone who ventures out there shall be torn in pieces, because of their many transgressions, and their rebellion has increased.
7How can I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by idols that are not gods; when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled by troops in the harlots' houses.
8They were like well-fed lusty stallions in the morning; each neighed after his neighbor's wife.
9“Should I not punish them for these things?”, says the LORD; “and shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
10Go through her vineyards and destroy them, but not completely; for they are not the LORD's people.
11For the people of Israel and Judah have dealt deceitfully with Me”, says the LORD.
12They have lied about the LORD, and said, “He will do nothing to us, nor shall any harm come upon us; nor shall we suffer either sword nor famine;
13And the prophets are nothing but wind, and the word (truth) is not in them; so let what they say be done to them”.
14Therefore, thus says the LORD God of hosts, “Because you speak this word, I will make My words in your mouth be as fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15I will bring a distant nation against you, O house of Israel”, says the LORD; “it is an ancient and mighty nation, whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say.
16Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty warriors.
17And they shall devour your harvest, and your bread, which was meant for your sons and daughters; they shall also devour your flocks and your herds; and your vines and your fig trees; they shall destroy your fortified cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.”
18“Nevertheless, in those days”, says the LORD, “I will not wipe you out completely.
19And when you shall say, ‘Why does the LORD, our God, do all these things to us?’ Then you shall answer them, ‘As you have forsaken Me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’”
20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah:
21“Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but do not see; ears, and do not hear:
22“Should you not fear Me? Will you not tremble at My presence, I, Who has placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though its waves hurl themselves at it, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it?”
23But this people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have revolted and gone from Me.
24Nor do they say in their heart, ‘Let us now worship the LORD, our God, Who gives rains - both spring and autumn rains in their season; He assures us the appointed weeks of the harvest’.
25Your iniquities have prevented these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26For there are wicked men found among My people, that lie in wait, as one who sets traps to catch men.
27Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; and now they have become great, and grown rich.
28They have grown fat and lazy, there is no limit to their evil deeds; they deny justice to the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; as they deny the rights of the needy.
29“Should I not punish them for these things?”, says the LORD. “Should My soul not be avenged on such a nation as this?
30An appalling and horrible thing is committed in the land:
31The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests rule by their own rules, and My people love it this way; and what will you do in the end of all this?” Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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