1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places if it, if ye can find a man, if there is any who does justly, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.
2 And though they say, As LORD lives, surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, do not thine eyes look upon truth? Thou have stricken them, but they were not grieved. Thou have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused t
4 Then I said, Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of LORD, nor the law of their God.
5 I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of LORD, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them; a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them; a leopard shall watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are m
7 How can I pardon thee? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large; everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says LORD. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not LORD's.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says LORD.
12 They have denied LORD, and said, It is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine.
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.
14 Therefore thus says LORD, the 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.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says LORD. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou know not, nor understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open sepulcher. They are all mighty men.
17 And 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 beat down thy fortified cities,
18 But even in those days, says LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why has LORD our God done all these things to us? Then thou shall say to them, Just as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so ye shall serve strangers in a land t
20 Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, who have eyes, and see not, who have ears, and hear not:
22 Do ye not fear me? says LORD. Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevai
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
24 Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men. They watch as fowlers lay in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grown rich.
28 They have grown fat. They shine. Yea, they overflow in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper. And they do not judge the right of the needy.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? says LORD. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 An astonishing and horrible thing has come to pass 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 ye do in the end thereof?