1 “ Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem, and look and learn. Look in her open places to see if you can find just one man who does what is right and looks for the truth. Then I will forgive this 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 E ven if they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ for sure their promises are false.”

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

3 O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have punished them, but they were not sorry. You have destroyed them, but they would not change. They have made their faces harder than rock. They would not be sorry for their sins and turn from them.

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, “They are only the poor. They are foolish. For they do not know the way of the Lord or the 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 know the way of the Lord, and the Law of their God.” But they too have broken the load from their neck and have broken the chains.

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 S o a lion from among the trees will kill them. A wolf of the deserts will destroy them. A leopard is watching their cities. Every one who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, because they have done many sins. They have turned away from the Lord in many ways.

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 “ Why should I forgive you? Your sons have left Me and have sworn by those who are not gods. When I gave them everything they needed, they did sex sins and met at the house of the woman who sells the use of her body.

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 well-fed horses full of sinful desire, each one wanting his neighbor’s wife.

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

9 S hould I not punish these people?” says the Lord. “Should I not make a nation such as this pay for its sins?

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 up through her grape-fields and destroy, but do not destroy all of them. Cut away her branches, 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 people of Israel and the people of Judah have not been faithful to Me,” says the Lord. Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed

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

12 “ They have lied about the Lord and said, ‘He will do nothing. Nothing bad will happen to us, and we will not see sword or hunger.

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 T he men who speak for God are only wind. The word is not in them. So let what they say be done to them!’”

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

14 S o the Lord, the God of All, says, “Because you have said this, I am making My words in your mouth a fire and I am making these people wood so they will be burned up.

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 S ee, I am bringing a nation that is far away against you, O people of Israel,” says the Lord. “It is a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language you do not know. You cannot 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 arrow-holder is like an open grave. All of them are powerful men.

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

17 T hey will eat up your food that you gather from your fields. They will eat the food your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your cattle. They will destroy your grape-fields and your fig trees. They will destroy with the sword your strong cities in which you trust.

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 “ Yet even in those days I will not make a complete end of you,” says the Lord.

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

19 “ When your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you will say to them, ‘As you have left Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will 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 “ Make this known in the family of Jacob and in Judah, saying,

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

21 ‘ Hear this, O foolish people without understanding, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but 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 you not fear Me?’ says the Lord. ‘Do you not shake in fear before Me? For I have placed the sand to be on one side of the sea, a lasting wall that it cannot cross. Even if there are waves, they cannot pass. Even if they make much noise, they cannot cross 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 these people have a strong-will and a heart that has turned against Me. They have turned aside and gone away.

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

24 T hey do not say in their heart, “Let us fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain in its time, both the fall rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us the weeks for gathering food.”

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 wrong-doing has kept these good things away. 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 sinful men are found among My people. They watch like men lying in wait watching for birds. They set a trap, and 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 L ike a basket full of birds, their houses are full of lies and false ways. So they have become important 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 fat and smooth, and have done many sinful acts. They do not do what is right for those whose parents have died so that they may do well. And they do not help fight for the rights 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 “ Should I not punish these people?” says the Lord. “Should I not punish a nation such 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 very bad and surprising thing has happened in the land.

An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land.

31 T he men of God say things that are not true, and the religious leaders rule by their own thoughts. And My people love to have it this way! But what will you do in the end?

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?