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 beanythat executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
And though they say, TheLORDliveth; surely they swear falsely.
OLORD,arenot thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them,butthey have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
Therefore I said, Surely thesearepoor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of theLORD,northe judgment of their God.
I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of theLORD,andthe judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke,andburst the bonds.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them,anda wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many,andtheir backslidings are increased.
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn bythem that areno gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
They wereasfed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
Shall I not visit for thesethings? saith theLORD: 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 battlements; for theyarenot theLORD’s.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith theLORD.
They have belied theLORD, and said,It isnot he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
And the prophets shall become wind, and the wordisnot in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
Wherefore thus saith theLORDGod 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 theLORD: itisa mighty nation, itisan ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
Their quiverisas an open sepulchre, theyareall mighty men.
And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread,whichthy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
Nevertheless in those days, saith theLORD, I will not make a full end with you.
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth theLORDour God all thesethingsunto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a landthat isnot yours.
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Fear ye not me? saith theLORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sandforthe bound of the sea 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 theLORDour God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
Your iniquities have turned away thesethings, and your sins have withholden goodthingsfrom you.
For among my people are found wickedmen:they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, soaretheir houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
Shall I not visit for thesethings? saith theLORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people loveto have itso: and what will ye do in the end thereof?