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¹ RUN to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know, and search in its broad places, if you can find a man, if there is any that executes justice, that seeks truth; and I will pardon them.² And though they say, The LORD lives; truly they swear falsely.³ O LORD, thine eyes are upon the truth; thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to repent.⁴ Therefore I said, It is because they are poor; they have gone astray, for they do not know the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.⁵ I will go to the princes and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD and the judgment of their God; but truly they have altogether broken the yoke; they have burst the bonds.⁶ Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them and hungry wolves of the evening shall tear them in pieces; a leopard shall lie in wait over their cities; every one that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are multiplied and become so strong that they will not repent.⁷ How shall I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those that are no gods; when I had fed them until they were satisfied, they then committed adultery, and they fought one another in the harlots houses.⁸ They were wanton like stallions, every one lusting after his neighbors wife.⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on such a people as this?

¹⁰ Go up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end; spare her foundations, for they belong to the LORD.¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.¹² They have lied against the LORD and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:¹³ And the prophets shall become a whirlwind and will have nothing to say; thus shall it be done to them.¹⁴ Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words fire in your mouth, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.¹⁵ Lo, I will bring a nation against you, a people from afar, O house of Israel, says the LORD; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know; neither can you understand what they say.¹⁶ Their quiver is like an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.¹⁷ And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall impoverish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.¹⁸ Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us? Then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD. Because you have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying,²¹ Hear now this, O foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not:²² Do you not revere me? says the LORD, and will you not tremble at my presence? I have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual ordinance, that it cannot overflow; though the waves roar, yet they cannot prevail; and though they toss, yet they cannot pass over it.²³ But this people has a contentious and rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone astray.²⁴ Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now worship the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves for us the summer crops for the winter.

²⁵ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.²⁶ For among my people are found wicked men; they have laid snares like hedges that they may catch men with them.²⁷ As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit;²⁸ Therefore they have become great and rich and have perverted judgment; they do not execute justice, and they do not judge aright the cause of the orphan; and the cause of the needy they did not judge.²⁹ Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD; shall I not avenge myself on such a people as this?³⁰ An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land:³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests have supported them; and my people love to have it so; and what will you do at the end?