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 5,6 Jer 5,6
The young lions have roared upon him, and {Hebrew: given out their voice.}yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
Thou makest darkness, and it is night,Wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when he led thee by the way?
A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
He hath left his covert, as the lion; for their land is become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, and because of his fierce anger.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen {Or, spread themselves}press proudly on: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through?
And Jehovah saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,
but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the {Or, swelling}pride of the Jordan {Or, unto the permanent pastures}against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that will stand before me?
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they {Or, gnaw not the bones on the morrow}leave nothing till the morrow.
Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name's sake, O Jehovah; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, {Or, Let the sword go}Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast;
though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast;
though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?
then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me:
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man; and a man's heart was given to it.
The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it.
For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.
And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel.
Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens.
I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart; and there will I devour them like a lioness; the wild beast shall tear them.
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel.
Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light.
For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; {Or, and}or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper;For Jehovah hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.
Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
Thou hast built thy lofty place at the head of every way, and hast made thy beauty an abomination, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredom.
The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.
Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.