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¹ Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if ye can find a man, if there is [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.² And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.³ O LORD, [are] not thy eyes 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 return.⁴ Therefore I said, Surely these [are] poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, [nor] the judgment of their God.⁵ I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, [and] burst the bonds.⁶ Wherefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, [and] a 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, [and] their backslidings are increased.⁷ How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.⁸ They were [as] fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.⁹ Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰ Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they [are] not the LORD'S.¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.¹² They have belied 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 wind, and the word [is] not in them: thus shall it be done to them.¹⁴ Wherefore thus saith the LORD God 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.¹⁵ Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it [is] a mighty nation, it [is] an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.¹⁶ Their quiver [is] as an open sepulcher, they [are] all mighty men.¹⁷ And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees: they shall impoverish with the sword thy fortified cities, in which thou hast trusted.¹⁸ Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these [things] to us? then shalt thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye 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; who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not:²² Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand [for] the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?²³ But this people have a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.²⁴ Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: he reserveth to us the appointed weeks of harvest.

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 lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.²⁷ As a cage is full of birds, so [are] their houses full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and have grown rich.²⁸ They have become fat, they shine: yes, they surpass 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.²⁹ Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?³⁰ A wonderful and horrible thing is committed 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 ye do in the end thereof?