1 ¶ Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around, and pay attention, search its streets and squares, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who applies judgment, and seeks the truth; I will pardon it.

2 Even though they say, As the LORD lives; the oath they take is a lie.

3 O LORD, don’t your eyes look for the truth? you have punished them, but they are not sorry; you have disciplined them, but they have refused to accept correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor, and are foolish, because they do not know the way of the LORD, or the judgment of their God.

5 I will go to the important men, and will speak to them; because they know the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but they all alike had broken the yoke, and cast off its restraint.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them, and a wolf from the desert will tear them to pieces, a leopard will prowl around their towns: so that anyone who leaves them will be destroyed: because their sins are many, and they drift further away.

7 How can I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are not gods: when I satisfied their needs, they committed adultery, and crowds of them gathered in the houses of whores.

8 They were like well fed horses in the morning: each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

9 Shall I not punish them for these things? asks the LORD: and shouldn’t I take vengeance on a nation such as this?

10 ¶ Go up on her walls, and destroy them; but do not totally remove them: tear down her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.

12 They lie about the LORD, and say, he does not exist; and no harm will come to us; nor will we see sword or famine:

13 And the prophets will prove to be windbags, and the word of God is not in them: that is what should happen to them.

14 Therefore the LORD God of hosts says, Because they say this, I will make my words become fire in your mouth, and it will devour these people like brushwood.

15 Behold, the LORD says, I will bring a nation upon you from far away, O house of Israel: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language is not known to you, nor can you understand what they say.

16 Their quiver is like an open grave, for they are all mighty men.

17 And they will devour your harvest, and your food, your sons and your daughters: your flocks and your herds: your vines and your fig trees: and their sword will destroy the fortified cities, in which you trusted.

18 But even in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.

19 And when they ask, Why did the LORD our God do all these things to us? then you should say, As you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your country, so you will serve strangers in a country that is not yours.

20 ¶ Announce this to the people of Jacob, and proclaim it in Judah, saying,

21 Listen to this, you foolish people, who are devoid of understanding; who have eyes, but do not see; who have ears, but do not hear:

22 Do you not fear me? asks the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, I who put the sand in place as a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it cannot pass over. Though its waves toss, they can not overcome it; though they roar, they cannot cross over it?

23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.

24 Nor do they say in their hearts, Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives us rain, both the early and the late, in its season: who reserves for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.

25 ¶ Your iniquities have disrupted these things, and your sins have kept good harvests from you.

26 For wicked men are found among my people: they lie in wait, like those who set snares; they set traps, and catch men.

27 As a cage is full of birds, their houses are full of deceit: that is how they have become great, and grown rich.

28 They have grown fat, and sleek: there is no limit to their wickedness: they do not seek to do what is right, to help the orphans better their lot; or to stand up for the rights of the poor.

29 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things? asks the LORD: shouldn’t I avenge myself on a nation like that?

30 An astounding and horrible thing has happened in the land;

31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: but what will you do when the end comes?