| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and take note; search in her squares. If you find one person, any who acts justly, who seeks to be faithful, then I will forgive her. | 1The LORD said, "Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city. |
| 2When they say, "As the LORD lives," they are swearing falsely. | 2These people make promises in the name of the LORD. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie." |
| 3 LORD, don't Your eyes look for faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return. | 3LORD, I know you look for faithfulness. But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. They refuse to change their ways. |
| 4Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have played the fool. For they don't understand the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. | 4I thought, "Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the LORD demands. They do not know what their God requires of them. |
| 5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains. | 5I will go to the leaders and speak with them. Surely they know what the LORD demands. Surely they know what their God requires of them." Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. |
| 6Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down. A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them. A leopard keeps watch over their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many, their unfaithful deeds numerous. | 6So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things. |
| 7Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned Me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute's house. | 7The LORD asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes. |
| 8They are well-fed, eager stallions, each neighing after someone else's wife. | 8They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor's wife. |
| 9Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD's declaration. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? | 9I will surely punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!" |
| 10Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them, but do not finish them off. Prune away her shoots, for they do not belong to the LORD. | 10The LORD commanded the enemy, "March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the LORD. |
| 11They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have dealt very treacherously with Me. This is the LORD's declaration. | 11For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me," says the LORD. |
| 12They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, "It won't happen. Harm won't come to us; we won't see sword or famine." | 12"These people have denied what the LORD says. They have said, 'That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine. |
| 13The prophets become only wind, for the LORD's word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them. | 13The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The LORD has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.'" |
| 14Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: Because you have spoken this word, I am going to make My words become fire in your mouth. These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them. | 14Because of that, the LORD, the God who rules over all, said to me, "Because these people have spoken like this, I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up." |
| 15I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. This is the LORD's declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand. | 15The LORD says, "Listen, nation of Israel! I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand. |
| 16Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty warriors. | 16All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. Their arrows will send you to your grave. |
| 17They will consume your harvest and your food. They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. They will destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust. | 17They will eat up your crops and your food. They will kill off your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your sheep and your cattle. They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. Their weapons will batter down the fortified cities you trust in. |
| 18"But even in those days"--this is the LORD's declaration--"I will not finish you off. | 18Yet even then I will not completely destroy you," says the LORD. |
| 19When people ask, 'For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. | 19"So then, Jeremiah, when your people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' tell them, 'It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So you must serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.' |
| 20"Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying: | 20"Proclaim this message among the descendants of Jacob. Make it known throughout Judah. |
| 21Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't hear. | 21Tell them: 'Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive: |
| 22Do you not fear Me? This is the LORD's declaration. Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it. | 22"You should fear me!" says the LORD. "You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary." |
| 23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away. | 23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way. |
| 24They have not said to themselves, 'Let's fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.' | 24They do not say to themselves, "Let us revere the LORD our God. It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time. It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest." |
| 25Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you. Your sins have withheld My bounty from you, | 25Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.' |
| 26for wicked men live among My people. They watch like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. | 26"Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. They set deadly traps to catch people. |
| 27Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich. | 27Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. |
| 28They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy. | 28That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor. |
| 29Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD's declaration. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? | 29I will certainly punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! |
| 30A horrible, terrible thing has taken place in the land. | 30"Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah: |
| 31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it? | 31The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! |
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