 1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth. And I will pardon her. 2 Though they say, As the Lord lives. Surely they swear falsely. 3 O Lord, are not your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have destroyed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to return. 4 So I said, Surely these are poor. They are foolish. For they do not know the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. 5 I will go up for myself to the great men, and will speak to them. For they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. But these have broken the yoke together and have torn off the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them and a wolf of the deserts will rob them. A leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from them will be torn in pieces because their sins are many and their backslidings are multiplied. 7 Why should I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me. They have sworn by false gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery and gathered together in harlot's houses. 8 They were like lusty, well fed stallions in the morning. Every one neighing after his neighbor's wife. 9 Shall I not judge for these things? says the Lord. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10 Go up on her vine rows and destroy. But do not make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's. 11 The house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt deceitfully against me, says the Lord. 12 They have lied against the Lord and said, It is not He. No evil will come to us. We will not see sword or famine. 13 Those prophets will become wind because the Word is not in them. So it will be done to them. 14 Therefore thus says the Lord, God of hosts, Because you falsely spoke this word, behold, I will make my words fire in your mouth, and these people wood, and it will devour them. 15 I will bring a nation on you from far away 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 understand what they say. 16 Their quiver is as an open grave. They are all mighty men. 17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. One will beat down your fortified cities with the sword, those in which you trust. 18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a complete end with you. 19 When you say, Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us? Then you shall answer them, Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and cry it in Judah saying, 21 Now hear this, O foolish people without heart. You who have eyes and do not see. You who have ears and do not hear. 22 Do you not fear me? says the Lord. Will you not tremble at my presence, I who have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a never ending decree, so that it cannot pass it? Though they toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail. Though its waves roar, yet they cannot pass over it. 23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and are gone. 24 They do not say in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season. He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 25 Your iniquities have turned away these things. Your sins have withheld good from you. 26 For wicked ones are found among my people. They lie in wait like one who sets snares. They set a trap. They catch men. 27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. 28 They have become fat. They shine. Yes, they go past the deeds of the wicked. They do not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless so that they might get rich. They do not judge the right of the needy. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord. Shall my soul not be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 An astounding and horrible thing has happened in the land. 31 The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. And what will you do at the end of it?
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