Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh {Or, faithfulness}truth; and I will pardon her.
And though they say, As Jehovah liveth; surely they swear falsely.
O Jehovah, {Hebrew: are not thine eyes upon.}do not thine eyes look upon {Or, faithfulness}truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive {Or, instruction}correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God:
I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the {Or, deserts}evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
How can I pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had {Or, according to another reading, made them swear}fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses;
they were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.
Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Jehovah's.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith Jehovah.
They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
Wherefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is {Or, an enduring nation}a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall {Or, impoverish}beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword.
But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without {Hebrew: heart.}understanding; that have eyes, and see not; that have ears, and hear not:
Fear ye not me? saith Jehovah: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, {Or, an everlasting ordinance which it cannot pass}by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good from you.
For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxed rich.
They are waxed fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
{Or, Astonishment and horror}A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land:
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule {Or, at their hands}by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Querverweise zu Jeremia 5,3 Jer 5,3
great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
In vain have I smitten your children; they received no {Or, instruction}correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
A wicked man hardeneth his face;But as for the upright, {Another reading is, he considereth his way.}he establisheth his ways.
For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
And thou shalt say unto them, This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received {Or, correction}instruction: {Or, faithfulness}truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
Jehovah is in his holy temple;Jehovah, his throne is in heaven;His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
Jehovah trieth the righteous;But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
Upon the wicked he will rain snares;Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.
For Jehovah is righteous; He loveth {Or, righteous deeds}righteousness: {Or, His countenance doth behold the upright}The upright shall behold his face.
And in the time {Or, that he distressed him}of his distress did he trespass yet more against Jehovah, this same king Ahaz.
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart.
Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads.
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts;And in the hidden part thou wilt make me to know wisdom.
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt;They have beaten me, and I felt it not:When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
But they refused to hearken, and {Or, turned a stubborn shoulder}pulled away the shoulder, and {Or, made their ears heavy See Isaiah 6:10.}stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge;But he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man.
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with bruised grain,Yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts.
{Many ancient authorities read For.}And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things.
{Or, Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt &c.}Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? {Or, every}the whole head is sick, and {Or, every}the whole heart faint.
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Yet the people have not turned unto him that smote them, neither have they sought Jehovah of hosts.
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of {Or, our spirits}spirits, and live?
Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
{Or, For thy filthy lewdness}In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed, thou shalt not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest.
Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted! to the oppressing city!
She obeyed not the voice; she received not {Or, instruction}correction; she trusted not in Jehovah; she drew not near to her God.
I said, Only fear thou me; receive {Or, instruction}correction; so her dwelling shall not be cut off, {Or, however I have punished her}according to all that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.