Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that executeth judgment, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.
1
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around and take note! Search its squares and see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth— so that I may pardon Jerusalem.
2 And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely.
2
Although they say, "As the Lord lives," yet they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return.
3
O Lord, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck them, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to turn back.
4 But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.
4
Then I said, "These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God.
5 I will go therefore to the great men, and will speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God: and behold these have altogether broken the yoke more, and have burst the bonds.
5
Let me go to the rich and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.
6
Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces— because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.
7 How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot’s house.
7
How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.
8 They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
8
They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
9
Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?
10 Scale the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord’s.
10
Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but do not make a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
11 For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
11
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me, says the Lord.
12 They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.
12
They have spoken falsely of the Lord, and have said, "He will do nothing. No evil will come upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine."
13 The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them.
13
The prophets are nothing but wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!
14 Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them.
14
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: Because they have spoken this word, I am now making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.
15 Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.
15
I am going to bring upon you a nation from far away, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.
16
Their quiver is like an open tomb; all of them are mighty warriors.
17 And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.
17
They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.
18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.
18
But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.
19 And if you shall say: Why hath the Lord our God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.
19
And when your people say, "Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?" you shall say to them, "As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours."
20 Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda, saying:
20
Declare this in the house of Jacob, proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not.
21
Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but do not see, who have ears, but do not hear.
22 Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it.
22
Do you not fear me? says the Lord; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away.
23
But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
24 And they have not said in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fulness of the yearly harvest.
24
They do not say in their hearts, "Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest."
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
25
Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have deprived you of good.
26 For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.
26
For scoundrels are found among my people; they take over the goods of others. Like fowlers they set a trap; they catch human beings.
27 As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched.
27
Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich,
28 They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, and they have not judged the judgment of the poor.
28
they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation?
29
Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord, and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?
30 Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.
30
An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?
31
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule as the prophets direct; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.