Jeremiah 5:1-17

1Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye can find a man, if there is any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. 2And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely. 3O LORD, are not thy 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. 4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. 5I will go 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 altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6Therefore a lion from 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 from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.12 7How 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, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. 8They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. 9Shall I not punish for these things ? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S. 11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. 12They have denied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: 13And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them. 14Therefore 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. 15Lo, 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. 16Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish with the sword thy fortified cities, in which thou didst trust.