| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1"Wander through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and investigate; search through her squares and see whether you find anyone— even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth. Then I'll forgive them. | 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. |
| 2Although they say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,' still 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." |
| 3LORD, don't your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they didn't flinch. You brought them to an end, but they refused to receive discipline. They made their faces harder than stone, and they refused to repent. | 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 said, "These are only the poor, they're foolish, for they don't know the LORD's way, the requirement 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. |
| 5Let me go to the leaders and speak to them. For they know the LORD's way, the requirement of their God." "But they, all together, have broken the yoke and torn off the restraints. | 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 attack them, a wolf from the desert will devastate them. A leopard is watching their towns, and everyone who goes out of them will be torn to pieces. For their transgressions are many, and their apostasies 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 sons have forsaken me, and you have sworn by those who aren't gods. When I gave them enough food to satisfy them, they committed adultery and marched to 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 were well-fed, lusty stallions, each one neighing after his neighbor's wife. | 8They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor's wife. |
| 9"Should I not punish them for these things?" asks the LORD, "And on a nation like this, should I not seek retribution?" | 9I will surely punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!" |
| 10"Go through her rows of vines and destroy them, but don't completely destroy them. Strip away her branches, because they aren't the LORD's. | 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. |
| 11For both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me," declares the LORD. | 11For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me," says the LORD. |
| 12"They have lied about the LORD by saying, 'He wouldn't do that! Disaster won't come on us. We won't see sword and 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 are nothing but wind, and the word is not in them. So may the disaster 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 the Heavenly Armies says: "Because you people have said this, my words in your mouth will become a fire and these people the wood. The fire will destroy 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." |
| 15People of Israel, I'm now bringing a nation from far away to attack you," declares the LORD. "It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know. And you won't understand what they say. | 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, and all of them are powerful warriors. | 16All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. Their arrows will send you to your grave. |
| 17"They'll devour your harvest and your food. They'll devour your sons and your daughters. They'll devour your vines and your fig trees. With their swords they'll batter down 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"Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I won't destroy you completely. | 18Yet even then I will not completely destroy you," says the LORD. |
| 19When the people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you are to say to them, 'Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will 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 to the descendants of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah: | 20"Proclaim this message among the descendants of Jacob. Make it known throughout Judah. |
| 21Hear this, you foolish and stupid people: They have eyes, but don't see; they have ears, but 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: |
| 22You don't fear me, do you?' declares the LORD. 'You don't tremble before me, do you? I'm the one who put the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot cross. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail against it, though they roar, they cannot cross 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 don't say to themselves, 'Let's fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn and the spring rain. He sets aside for us the weeks appointed for 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 iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back from you what is good. | 25Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.' |
| 26"Evil men are found among my people. They lie in wait like someone who traps birds. They set a trap, but they do so to catch people. | 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 filled with treachery. This is how they have become prominent 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. |
| 28and have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They don't argue the case of the orphan to secure justice. They don't defend the rights of the poor. | 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 this?' asks the LORD. 'Should I not avenge myself on a nation like this?' | 29I will certainly punish them for doing such things!" says the LORD. "I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this! |
| 30"An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: | 30"Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah: |
| 31The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?" | 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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