Jeremiah 5:1-6

1 Compass ye the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in the streets thereof, whether ye find a man doing doom, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them. (Go ye about the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in its streets, whether ye can find anyone doing justice, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them.)
2 That if also they say, The Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely. (But even if they say, As the Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely.)
3 Lord, thine eyes behold faith; thou hast smitten them, and they made not sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, and they forsook to take chastising; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not turn again. (Lord, thine eyes look for faithfulness; thou hast struck them, but they did not have sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, but they refused to accept their discipline, or their correction; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not return to thee.)
4 Forsooth I said, In hap they be poor men, and fools, that know not the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. (And I said, Perhaps they be the poor, and the foolish, and they do not know the way of the Lord, and the judgement, or the justice, of their God.)
5 Therefore I shall go to the principal men, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. And lo! they have more broken together the yoke, and have broken [the] bonds. (And so I shall go to the principal men, or to the leaders, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the judgement, or the justice, of their God. But lo! they also have altogether broken the yoke, and have broken their bonds.)
6 Therefore a lion of the wood smote them; a wolf at eventide wasted them, a leopard watching on the cities of them. Each man that goeth out of them, shall be taken; for the trespassings of them be multiplied, the turnings away of them be comforted (Each person who goeth out of them, shall be taken, or shall be torn apart; for their trespassings be multiplied, their turnings away be increased).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.