Run to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem, and behold now, and know, and inquire in the open places thereof, if ye can find a man, or if there be any that executeth judgment, and seeketh the truth, and I will spare [a]it.
2 For though they say, The [b]Lord liveth, yet do they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the [c]truth? thou hast [d]stricken them, but they have not sorrowed: thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a stone, and have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely they are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the [e]great men, and will speak unto them: for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a [f]lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the wilderness shall destroy them: a leopard shall watch over their cities: everyone that goeth out thence, shall be torn in pieces, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased.
7 How should I spare thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and [g]sworn by them that are no gods: though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by companies in the harlot’s houses.
8 They rose up in the morning like fed horses: for every man neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 [h]Climb up upon their walls, and destroy them, but make not a full end: [i]take away their battlements, for they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel, and the house of Judah have grievously trespassed against me, saith the Lord.
12 They have [j]denied the Lord, and said, It is not he, neither shall the plague come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine.
13 And the Prophets shall be as [k]wind, and the word is [l]not in them: thus shall it come unto them.
14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak such words, behold, I will put my words into [m]thy mouth, like a fire, and this people shall be as wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you [n]from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, which is a mighty nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16 Whose quiver is as an [o]open sepulcher: they are all very strong.
17 And they shall eat thine harvest and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy sheep and thy bullocks: they shall eat thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall destroy with the sword thy fenced cities, wherein thou didst trust.
18 Nevertheless, at those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end of [p]you.
19 And when ye shall say, Wherefore doth the Lord our God do these things unto us? then shalt [q]thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and [r]without understanding, which have eyes and see not, which have ears and hear not.
22 Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? or will ye not be afraid at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetual decree that it cannot pass it, and though the waves thereof rage, yet can they not prevail, though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people hath an unfaithful and rebellious heart: they are departed and gone.
24 For they say not in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain both early and late in due season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Yet your [s]iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have hindered good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked persons, that lay wait as he that setteth snares: they have made a pit, to catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: thereby they are become great and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat and shining: they do overpass the deeds of the wicked: they execute no judgment, no not the judgment of the fatherless: yet they [t]prosper, though they execute no judgment for the poor.
29 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 An horrible and filthy thing is committed in the land.
31 The [u]prophets prophesy lies, and the priests [v]receive gifts in their hands, and my people delight therein. What will ye then do in the end thereof?