No One is Just
1 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look and see, searching in its wide places.
If you can find one man,
if there is anyone who acts justly,
who seeks truth,
then I will pardon the city.
2 Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
surely they are swearing falsely.”
3 O Lord, your eyes look for truth.
You struck them, but they were not grieved.
You crushed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than a rock.
They have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “Surely these people must be poor and foolish,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
nor the law of their God.
5 I will go to the leaders and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
and the law of their God.”
But they, in one accord, have broken the yoke of the Lord,
and torn off the chains.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them.
A wolf from the desert will destroy them.
A leopard will be watching their cities
to tear into pieces, everyone who goes out
because their transgressions are many,
and their backsliding has increased.
7 “How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by what are not gods.
When I had fed them full,
they committed adultery,
and assembled in troops
at the house of prostitutes.
8 They were like fed horses roaming at large.
Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“Should I not be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Climb her walls and destroy the vines,
but do not destroy them completely.
Strip away her branches,
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 have denied the Lord and said,
“It is not he. Disaster will not come upon us.
We will not see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are full of wind,
and the word is not in them.
Thus it will be done to them.”
The Lord Proclaims Judgment
14 Therefore the Lord, the God of Hosts says,
“Because you have spoken this word,
I will make my words in your mouth fire,
and these people wood,
and it will devour them.
15 House of Israel:
I will bring a nation on you from far away,” says the Lord.
“It is a mighty nation.
It is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you have never heard,
and you will not understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open tomb.
They are all mighty men.
17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread,
which your sons and your daughters should eat.
They will eat up your flocks and your herds.
They will eat up your vines and your fig trees.
With the sword, they will tear down
your fortified cities in which you trust.
18 “But even in those days,” says the Lord, “I will not completely destroy you. 19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob and announce it in Judah, saying,
21 “Hear this now, foolish people without understanding,
who have eyes and do not see,
who have ears and do not hear:
22 Do you not fear me?’ says the Lord,
‘Will you not tremble at my presence,
the One who has placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
as a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond?
Though its waves toss themselves,
yet they cannot prevail.
Though they roar, they still cannot pass over it.”
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.
They have rebelled and gone away.
24 They do not say in their heart,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives rain, in both spring and harvest,
in its season, who reserves for us,
the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 Your iniquities have turned all these things away,
and your sins have withheld good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people.
They watch, as fowlers lie in wait.
They set a trap. They catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
28 They have grown fat and sleek.
Indeed, they excel in deeds of wickedness.
They do not plead the cause of the fatherless,
that they may prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 Should I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“Should not I be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 An astonishing and horrible thing
has happened in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love to have it so.
What will you do in the end of it?”