1 ¶ Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and find out and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that execute judgment, that seek the truth; and I will pardon the city.

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 if they should say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.

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

3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they did not feel it; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive chastisement; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

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 herefore I said, Surely these are poor; they have become foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD nor the judgment 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 unto the 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.

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, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased.

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 H ow shall I pardon thee for this? Thy sons have forsaken me and sworn by them that are not gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.

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 as fed horses in the morning; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

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

9 S hall I not visit for these things? said the LORD; and shall not my soul be avenged 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 ¶ Go ye up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end; take away her battlements 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 made a firm decision to rebel against me, saith 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 denied the LORD and said, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor 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 b ut the prophets shall become like wind, and there is no word in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

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

14 T herefore thus hath the LORD God of the hosts said: Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall 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 will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, saith the LORD; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou dost not know, neither dost thou 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 as an open sepulcher; they are all mighty men.

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

17 A nd they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees; and thy fenced cities, in which thou dost trust, they shall bring to nothing 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 N evertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

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

19 A nd it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things unto us? Then thou shalt 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.

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 ¶ Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying,

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

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

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 ye not fear me? saith the LORD; will ye not tremble at my presence, who placed the sand for the bound of the sea by an eternal order, which cannot be broken? Storms shall raise themselves up, yet they shall not prevail; their waves shall roar, yet they shall not pass over it.

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 this people have a false and rebellious heart; they turned and went.

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

24 N either do they say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; he shall keep us with 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 ¶ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.

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

26 F or among my people were found wicked men: they lay in wait as he that sets snares; they set a trap of perdition to 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 full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; thus they became great and 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 are become fat; they shine; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they did not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless; with all this they made themselves prosperous; and they did not judge the cause of the poor.

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 visit for these things? saith the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged 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 horrible and ugly thing is committed in the land:

An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land.

31 T he prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bore rule by their hands; and my people love to have it so. What will ye do in the end thereof?

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?