5 Roam the streets of Jerusalem.
Look around and take note.
Search her public squares to see
Whether you can find a man who acts with justice,+
One who seeks to be faithful,
And I will forgive her.
2 Even if they say: “As surely as Jehovah is alive!”
They would still swear to what is false.+
3 O Jehovah, do your eyes not look for faithfulness?+
You struck them, but it made no impact on them.
You exterminated them, but they refused to accept discipline.+
They made their faces harder than a rock,+
And they refused to turn around.+
4 But I said to myself: “Surely these must be the lowly.
They act foolishly, for they do not know the way of Jehovah,
The judgment of their God.
5 I will go to the prominent men and speak with them,
For they must have taken note of the way of Jehovah,
The judgment of their God.+
But they had all broken the yoke
And torn apart the restraints.”
6 That is why a lion of the forest attacks them,
A wolf of the desert plains keeps ravaging them,
A leopard lies awake at their cities.
Everyone going out from them is torn to pieces.
For their transgressions are many;
Their acts of unfaithfulness are numerous.+
7 How can I forgive you for this?
Your sons have abandoned me,
And they swear by what is no God.+
I satisfied their needs,
But they kept committing adultery,
And they flocked to the house of a prostitute.
8 They are like eager, lustful horses,
Each neighing after another man’s wife.+
9 “Should I not call them to account for these things?” declares Jehovah.
“Should I not avenge myself on such a nation?”+
10 “Come up against her vineyard terraces and bring ruin,
But do not make a complete extermination.+
Take away her spreading shoots,
For they do not belong to Jehovah.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have been utterly treacherous with me,” declares Jehovah.+
12 “They have denied Jehovah, and they keep saying,
‘He will do nothing.+
No calamity will come upon us;
We will not see sword or famine.’+
13 The prophets are full of wind,
And the word is not in them.
Let this happen to them!”
14 Therefore this is what Jehovah, the God of armies, says:
“Because these men are saying this,
Here I am making my words a fire in your mouth,+
And this people is the wood,
And it will consume them.”+
15 “Here I am bringing in on you a nation from far away, O house of Israel,”+ declares Jehovah.
“It is an enduring nation.
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
And whose speech you cannot understand.+
16 Their quiver is like an open grave;
All of them are warriors.
17 They will devour your harvest and your bread.+
They will devour your sons and your daughters.
They will devour your flocks and your herds.
They will devour your vines and your fig trees.
They will destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.”
18 “But even in those days,” declares Jehovah, “I will not carry out a complete extermination of you.+ 19 And when they ask, ‘Why has Jehovah our God done all these things to us?’ you should answer them, ‘Just as you abandoned me to serve a foreign god in your land, so you will serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”+
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob,
And proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people:+
They have eyes but cannot see;+
They have ears but cannot hear.+
22 ‘Do you not fear me?’ declares Jehovah,
‘Should you not tremble before me?
It is I who placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
A permanent regulation that it cannot pass over.
Although its waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Although they roar, they still cannot pass beyond it.+
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and gone their own way.+
24 And they do not say in their heart:
“Let us now fear Jehovah our God,
The One who gives the rain in its season,
Both the autumn rain and the spring rain,
The One who guards for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”+
25 Your own errors have prevented these things from coming;
Your own sins have deprived you of what is good.+
26 For among my people there are wicked men.
They keep peering, as when birdcatchers crouch down.
They set a deadly trap.
It is men whom they catch.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of deception.+
That is why they have become powerful and rich.
28 They have grown fat and smooth;
They overflow with evil.
They do not plead the legal case of the fatherless,+
That they may gain success;
And they deny justice to the poor.’”+
29 “Should I not call them to account for these things?” declares Jehovah.
“Should I not avenge myself on such a nation?
30 Something appalling and horrible has occurred in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies,+
And the priests dominate by their own authority.
And my own people love it that way.+
But what will you do when the end comes?”
6 Take shelter, O sons of Benjamin, away from Jerusalem.
Blow the horn+ in Te·koʹa;+
Light a fire signal over Beth-hac·cheʹrem!
For a calamity looms from the north, a great disaster.+
2 The daughter of Zion resembles a beautiful and delicate woman.+
3 The shepherds and their droves will come.
They will pitch their tents all around her,+
Each grazing the flock in his care.+
4 “Prepare for war against her!
Rise up, and let us attack her at midday!”
“Woe to us, for the day is declining,
For the shadows of evening are getting longer!”
5 “Rise up, and let us attack during the night
And destroy her fortified towers.”+
6 For this is what Jehovah of armies says:
“Cut down wood and raise up a siege rampart against Jerusalem.+
She is the city that must be held to account;
There is nothing but oppression within her.+
7 As a cistern keeps its water cool,
So she keeps her wickedness cool.
Violence and destruction are heard in her;+
Sickness and plague are constantly before me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you in disgust;+
I will make you desolate, a land without inhabitants.”+
9 This is what Jehovah of armies says:
“They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as the last grapes on a vine.
Pass your hand again like one gathering grapes from the vines.”
10 “To whom should I speak and give warning?
Who will listen?
Look! Their ears are closed, so that they are unable to pay attention.+
Look! The word of Jehovah has become something they scorn;+
They find no pleasure in it.
11 So I am filled with the wrath of Jehovah,
And I am tired of holding it in.”+
“Pour it out on the child in the street,+
On the groups of young men gathered together.
They will all be captured, a man along with his wife,
The old men along with the very old.+
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,
Together with their fields and their wives.+
For I will stretch my hand out against the inhabitants of the land,” declares Jehovah.
13 “For from the least to the greatest, each one is making dishonest gain;+
From the prophet to the priest, each one is practicing fraud.+
14 And they try to heal the breakdown of my people lightly, saying,
‘There is peace! There is peace!’
When there is no peace.+
15 Do they feel ashamed of the detestable things they have done?
They feel no shame at all!
They do not even know how to feel humiliated!+
So they will fall among the fallen.
When I bring punishment on them they will stumble,” says Jehovah.
16 This is what Jehovah says:
“Stand at the crossroads and see.
Ask about the ancient roadways,
Ask where the good way is, and walk in it,+
And find rest for yourselves.”
But they say: “We will not walk in it.”+
17 “And I appointed watchmen+ who said,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the horn!’”+
But they said: “We will not pay attention.”+
18 “Therefore hear, O nations!
And know, O assembly,
What will happen to them.
19 Listen, O earth!
I am bringing calamity on this people+
As the fruitage of their own schemes,
For they paid no attention to my words
And they rejected my law.”
20 “What do I care that you bring frankincense from Sheʹba
And sweet cane from a distant land?
Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable,
And your sacrifices do not please me.”+
21 Therefore this is what Jehovah says:
“Here I am setting for this people stumbling blocks,
And they will stumble over them,
Fathers and sons together,
A neighbor and his companion,
And they will all perish.”+
22 This is what Jehovah says:
“Look! A people is coming from the land of the north,
And a great nation will be awakened from the remotest parts of the earth.+
23 They will grab hold of the bow and the javelin.
They are cruel and will have no mercy.
Their voice will roar like the sea,
And they ride on horses.+
They draw up in battle order like a man of war against you, O daughter of Zion.”
24 We have heard the report about it.
Our hands fall limp;+
Distress has seized us,
Anguish like that of a woman giving birth.+
25 Do not go out into the field,
And do not walk on the road,
For the enemy has a sword;
There is terror all around.
26 O daughter of my people,
Put on sackcloth+ and roll in the ashes.
Mourn as for an only son, with bitter wailing,+
For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.+
27 “I have made you a metal tester among my people,
One making a thorough search;
You must take note and examine their way.
28 All of them are the most stubborn men,+
Walking about as slanderers.+
They are like copper and iron;
All of them are corrupt.
29 The bellows have been scorched.
Out from their fire there is lead.
One keeps refining intensely simply for nothing,+
And those who are bad have not been separated.+
30 Rejected silver is what people will certainly call them,
For Jehovah has rejected them.”+