1
“Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, || And see now and know, || And seek in her broad places, || If you find a man, || If there is one doing judgment, || Seeking steadfastness—Then I am propitious to her.
2
And if they say, YHWH lives, || Surely they swear to a falsehood.”
3
YHWH, Your eyes, are they not on steadfastness? You have struck them, and they have not grieved, || You have consumed them, || They have refused to receive instruction, || They made their faces harder than a rock, || They have refused to turn back.
4
And I said, “Surely these [are] poor, || They have been foolish, || For they have not known the way of YHWH, || The judgment of their God.
5
I go to the great, and I speak with them, || For they have known the way of YHWH, || The judgment of their God.” Surely they have broken the yoke together, || They have drawn away the bands.
6
Therefore a lion out of the forest has struck them, || A wolf of the deserts spoils them, || A leopard is watching over their cities, || Everyone who is going out of them is torn, || For their transgressions have been many, || Their backslidings have been mighty.
7
“I am not propitious to you for this, || Your sons have forsaken Me, || And are satisfied by [those who are] not gods, || I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, || And at the house of a harlot || They gather themselves together.
8
Fed horses—they have been early risers, || They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor.
9
Do I not lay a charge for these?” A declaration of YHWH, “And on a nation such as this, || Does My soul not avenge itself?
10
Go up on her walls, and destroy, || And I do not make a completion, || Turn her branches aside, || For they [are] not YHWH’s,
11
For the house of Israel has dealt treacherously against Me, || And the house of Judah,” || A declaration of YHWH.
12
They have lied against YHWH, || And they say, “[It is] not He, || Nor does evil come in against us, || Indeed, we do not see sword and famine.
13
And the prophets become wind, || And the word is not in them, || Thus it is done to them.”
Judgment Proclaimed
14
Therefore, thus said YHWH, God of Hosts: “Because of your speaking this word, || Behold, I am making My words become fire in your mouth, || And this people wood, || And it has devoured them.
15
Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, || O house of Israel,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “It [is] a strong nation, || It [is] an ancient nation, || A nation whose tongue you do not know, || Nor understand what it speaks.
16
Its quiver [is] as an open tomb, || All of them—mighty ones.
17
And it has consumed your harvest and your bread, || They consume your sons, and your daughters, || It consumes your flock, and your herd, || It consumes your vine and your fig tree, || It makes your fortified cities poor, || In which you are trusting—by the sword.
18
And even in those days,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “I do not make you a completion.
19
And it has come to pass, when you say, Why has our God YHWH done all these [things] to us? That you have said to them, As you have forsaken Me, || And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, || So you serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.
20
Declare this in the house of Jacob, || And sound it in Judah, saying,
21
Now hear this, || O people, foolish and without heart, || They have eyes, and they do not see, || They have ears, and they do not hear.
22
Do you not fear Me?” A declaration of YHWH; “Are you not pained from My presence? Who has made sand the border of the sea, || A perpetual limit, and it does not pass over it, || They shake themselves, and they are not able, || Indeed, its billows have sounded, and they do not pass over.
23
And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, || They have turned aside, and they go on.
24
And they have not said in their heart, || Now let us fear our God YHWH, who is giving rain, || The autumn rain and the spring rain, in its season, || He keeps the appointed weeks of harvest for us.
25
Your iniquities have turned these away, || And your sins have kept the good from you.
26
For the wicked have been found among My people. He watches like one who sets snares, || They have set up a trap—they capture men.
27
As a cage full of birds, || So their houses are full of deceit, || Therefore they have been great, and are rich.
28
They have been fat, they have shone, || Indeed, they have surpassed the acts of the evil, || They have not judged judgment, || The judgment of the fatherless—and they prosper, || And they have not judged the judgment of the needy.
29
Do I not inspect for these,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “On a nation such as this, || Does My soul not avenge itself?
30
An astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land:
31
The prophets have prophesied falsely, || And the priests bear rule by their means, || And My people have loved [it] so, || And what do they do at its latter end?”
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