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¹ Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there is any that does justly, that seeks truth; and I will pardon her.² And if they say, As Yahweh lives; surely they swear falsely.³ O Yahweh, don't your eyes look at truth? you have stricken them, but they were not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.⁴ Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God:⁵ I will get myself to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.⁶ Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings have increased.⁷ How can I pardon you? your sons have forsaken me, and sworn by those that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and they dwell at a prostitute's house.⁸ They were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰ Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh's.¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says Yahweh.¹² They have denied Yahweh, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:¹³ and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus it shall be done to them.¹⁴ Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, Because you speak this word, look, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.¹⁵ Look, I will bring a nation on you from far, O house of Israel, says Yahweh: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know, neither understand what they say.¹⁶ Their quiver is an open tomb, 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 beat down your fortified cities, wherein you trust, with the sword.¹⁸ But even in those days, says Yahweh, I will not make a full end with you.¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us? then you shall say to them, Like 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 this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,²¹ Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes, and don't see; that have ears, and don't hear:²² Don't you fear me? says Yahweh: Will you not tremble at my presence, who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.²³ But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.²⁴ Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear Yahweh our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

²⁵ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.²⁶ For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as a fowler lying in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.²⁷ As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and waxed rich.²⁸ They are waxed fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy.²⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?³⁰ A wonderful and horrible thing has come to pass in the land:³¹ the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?