1 R un to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and take notice! Seek in her broad squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice, who seeks truth, sincerity, and faithfulness; and I will pardon.

Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray you, and know, And seek in her broad places, if ye find a man, If there be one doing judgment, seeking stedfastness -- Then am I propitious to her.

2 A nd though they say, As the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely.

And if they say, `Jehovah liveth,' Surely to a falsehood they swear.

3 O Lord, do not your eyes look on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to take correction or instruction. They have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to repent and return to You.

Jehovah, Thine eyes, are they not on stedfastness? Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back.

4 T hen I said, Surely these are only the poor; they are foolish and have no understanding, for they know not the way of the Lord, the judgment (the just and righteous law) of their God.

And I -- I said, `Surely these poor, They have been foolish, For they have not known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.

5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they must know the way of the Lord, the judgment (the just and righteous law) of their God. But these had all alike broken the yoke and had burst the bonds.

I get me to the great, and I speak with them, For they have known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.' Surely they together have broken the yoke, They have drawn away the bands.

6 T herefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the desert shall destroy them, a leopard or panther shall lie in wait against their cities. Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their backslidings and total desertion of faith are increased and have become great and mighty.

Therefore smitten them hath a lion out of the forest, A wolf of the deserts doth spoil them, A leopard is watching over their cities, Every one who is going out of them is torn, For many have been their transgressions, Mighty have been their backslidings.

7 W hy should I and how can I pass over this and forgive you for it? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full and bound them to Me by oath, they committed adultery, assembling themselves in troops at the houses of harlots.

For this I am not propitious to thee, Thy sons have forsaken Me, And are satisfied by that which is not god, I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, And at the house of a harlot They gather themselves together.

8 T hey were like fed stallions roaming at large; each one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

Fed horses -- they have been early risers, Each to the wife of his neighbour they neigh.

9 S hall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord; and shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

For these do I not lay a charge? An affirmation of Jehovah, And on a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

10 G o up within walls and destroy, but do not make a full and complete end. Trim away the tendrils, for they are not the Lord’s.

Go ye up on her walls, and destroy, And a completion make not, Turn aside her branches, for they not Jehovah's,

11 F or the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very faithlessly and treacherously against Me, says the Lord.

For dealt treacherously against Me have the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah.

12 T hey have lied about and denied the Lord by saying, It is not He! Evil shall not come upon us; nor shall we see war or famine.

They have lied against Jehovah, And they say, ` not He, Nor come in against us doth evil, Yea, sword and famine we do not see.

13 A nd the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.

And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them,' -- thus it is done by them.

14 T herefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold, I will make My words fire in your mouth and this people wood, and it will devour them.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, Because of your speaking this word, Lo, I am making My words in thy mouth become fire, And this people wood, and it hath devoured them.

15 B ehold, I am bringing a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is a mighty and enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.

Lo, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah, A nation -- strong it, a nation -- from of old it, A nation -- thou knowest not its tongue, Nor understandest what it speaketh.

16 T heir quiver is like an open sepulcher are all mighty men (heroes).

Its quiver as an open sepulchre, All of them -- mighty ones.

17 T hey shall consume your harvest and your food; they shall consume your sons and your daughters; they shall consume your flocks and your herds; they shall consume your vines and your fig trees. They shall break down and impoverish your fortified cities in which you trust, with the sword.

And it hath consumed thy harvest and thy bread, They consume thy sons, and thy daughters, It consumeth thy flock, and thy herd, It consumeth thy vine, and thy fig-tree, It maketh poor thy fenced cities, In which thou art trusting -- by the sword.

18 B ut even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full and complete end of you.

And even in those days, an affirmation of Jehovah, I do not make you a completion.

19 A nd when your people say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? then you shall answer them, As you have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers (gods) in a land that is not yours.

And it hath come to pass, when ye say, `For what hath Jehovah our God done to us all these?' That thou hast said unto them, `As ye have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So do ye serve strangers in a land not yours.

20 D eclare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah:

Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, And sound ye it in Judah, saying,

21 H ear now this, O foolish people without understanding or heart, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not:

Hear ye, I pray you, this, O people, foolish and without heart, Eyes they have, and they see not, Ears they have, and they hear not.

22 D o you not fear and reverence Me? says the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me? I placed the sand for the boundary of the sea, a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass and by an everlasting ordinance beyond which it cannot go? And though the waves of the sea toss and shake themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though roar, yet they cannot pass over that.

Me do ye not fear, an affirmation of Jehovah? From My presence are ye not pained? Who hath made sand the border of the sea, A limit age-during, and it passeth not over it, They shake themselves, and they are not able, Yea, sounded have its billows, and they pass not over.

23 B ut these people have hearts that draw back from God and wills that rebel against Him; they have revolted and quit His service and have gone away.

And this people hath an apostate and rebellious heart, They have turned aside, and they go on.

24 N or do they say in their hearts, Let us now reverently fear and worship the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the autumn and the spring rain in its season, Who reserves and keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

And they have not said in their heart, `Let us fear, we pray you, Jehovah our God, who is giving rain, The sprinkling and the gathered, in its season, The appointed weeks of harvest He keepeth for us.'

25 Y our iniquities have turned these blessings away, and your sins have kept good from you.

Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you.

26 F or among My people are found wicked men; they watch like fowlers who lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.

For the wicked have been found among My people. It looketh about the covering of snares, They have set up a trap -- men they capture.

27 A s a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit and treachery; therefore they have become great and grown rich,

As a cage full of fowls, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich.

28 T hey have grown fat and sleek. Yes, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge and plead with justice the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

They have been fat, they have shone, Yea, they have overpassed the acts of the evil, Judgment they have not judged, The judgment of the fatherless -- and they prosper, And the judgment of the needy they have not judged.

29 S hall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

For these do not I inspect, an affirmation of Jehovah, On a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

30 A n appalling and horrible thing has come to pass in the land:

An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land.

31 T he prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests exercise rule at their own hands and by means of the prophets. And My people love to have it so! But what will you do when the end comes?

The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved so, And what do they at its latter end?