1“Diligently search the streets of Yerushalayim, and please look, and know and seek in her open places if you find a man, if there is anyone doing right-ruling, seeking the truth, then I shall pardon her.

2“Even when they say, ‘As יהוה lives,’ they swear falsely, for certain.”

3O יהוה, are Your eyes not on truth? You have smitten them, but they have not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive instruction. They made their faces harder than rock, they refused to turn back.

4Then I said, “These are only the poor. They have been foolish, for they have not known the way of יהוה, the right-ruling of their Elohim.

5“Let me go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of יהוה, the right-ruling of their Elohim.” But these have altogether broken the yoke and torn off the bonds.

6Therefore a lion from the forest shall smite them, a wolf of the deserts ravage them. A leopard is watching over their cities, whoever comes out of them is torn in pieces. For their transgressions have been many, their backslidings have been numerous.

7“Why should I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not mighty ones. When I had filled them up, they then committed adultery and they thronged to the house of a whore.

8“They were like well-fed horses, every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

9“Would I not punish them for this?” declares יהוה. “And would I not revenge Myself on such a nation as this?

10“Go up on her walls and destroy, but do not make a complete end. Take away her branches, for they do not belong to יהוה.

11“For the house of Yisra’ĕl and the house of Yehuḏah have utterly betrayed Me,” declares יהוה.

12They have been untrue to יהוה, and said, “It is not He. No evil comes upon us, nor do we see sword or scarcity of food.”

13And the prophets have become wind, and the Word is not in them. Thus shall be done to them:

14Therefore thus said יהוה Elohim of hosts, “Because you speak this word, see, I am making My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

15“See, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Yisra’ĕl,” declares יהוה. “It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor do you understand what they say.

16“Their quiver is like an open tomb, all of them are mighty men.

17“And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds, they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. With the sword they shall demolish your walled cities, in which you are trusting.

18“But even in those days,” declares יהוה, “I shall not make a complete end of you.

19“And it shall be, when they say, ‘Why does יהוה our Elohim do all this to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign mighty ones in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’

20“Declare this in the house of Ya‛aqoḇ and proclaim it in Yehuḏah, saying,

21‘Hear this now, O foolish people without heart, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not:

22‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares יהוה. ‘Do you not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, by an everlasting law, and it does not pass over it? Though its waves toss to and fro, they are not able; though they roar, they do not pass over it.

23‘But this people has a backsliding and rebellious heart, they have turned aside and gone away.

24‘And they do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear יהוה our Elohim, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He guards for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

25‘Your crookednesses have turned these away, and your sins have kept the good from you.

26‘For among My people are found wrong men who lie in wait as one who sets snares. They have set up a trap, they catch men.

27‘As a cage is filled with birds, so their houses are filled with deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich.

28‘They have become fat, they are sleek. They also overlook the deeds of the wrong. They did not rightly rule the cause of the fatherless, so that they prosper. And the right of the needy they did not rightly rule.

29‘Would I not punish them for this?’ declares יהוה. ‘Would I not revenge Myself on such a nation as this?’

30“An astounding and horrible matter has come to be in the land:

31The prophets have prophesied falselya, and the priests rule by their own hand, and My people have loved it so.b And what are you going to do at the end of it?