1471 - Jeremiah 5 part 1
Jeremiah Chapter 5 part 1
“Run up and down every street, in Jerusalem,” says the Lord.
“Look high and low; search throughout the city!
If you can find even one just, and honest person, I will not destroy the city.
But, even when they are under oath, …saying, ‘As surely, as the Lord lives,’ they are still telling lies!”
Lord, you are searching, for honesty.
You struck your people, but they paid no attention.
You crushed them, but they refused, to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone; and they have refused to repent.
Then, I said, “But what can we expect, from the poor?
They are ignorant.
They don’t know the ways, of the Lord.
They don’t understand …God’s laws.
So, I will go and speak, to their leaders.
Surely, they know the ways, of the Lord, and they understand God’s laws.”
But, the leaders, too, as one man,
had thrown off God’s yoke, and they too had broken his chains.
So, now, a lion, from the forest… will attack them; …a wolf, from the desert, will pounce on them.
A leopard …will lurk, near their towns, tearing apart any, who dare to venture out.
Because their rebellion is great, and their sins are many.
“How can I pardon you? says the Lord.
For even your children… have turned from me.
They have sworn, by gods, that are not gods at all!
I fed my people, until they were full.
But they thanked me, by committing adultery, and lining up, at the brothels.
They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each, neighing, for his neighbor’s wife.
Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself, against such a nation?
“Go down the rows, of the vineyards, and destroy the grapevines, …leaving only a few …scattered alive.
Strip the branches, from the vines, because these people …do not belong, to the Lord.
The people, of Israel and Judah,
are full of treachery, against me,”
says the Lord.
“They have lied, about the Lord,
and they said…
‘He won’t bother us!
No disasters will come upon us.
There will be no war or famine.
God’s prophets are all windbags, who don’t really speak for him.
Let their predictions, of disaster, fall on themselves!’ ”
Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Heaven’s Armies says:
“Because the people are talking like this, my messages will flame out, of your mouth, and burn the people, like kindling wood.
O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,” says the Lord.
“It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, and whose speech you cannot understand.
Their weapons are deadly;
their warriors are mighty.
They will devour the food, of your harvest; they will devour your sons and daughters.
They will devour your flocks and herds; they will devour your grapes and figs.
And they will destroy your fortified towns, …which you think are so safe.
“Yet, even in those days, I will not blot you out, completely,” says the Lord.
“And, when your people ask, ‘Why did the Lord, our God, do all this to us?’ …you must reply, ‘You rejected him, and gave yourselves, to foreign gods, in your own land.
Now, you will serve foreigners, in a land that is not your own.’
The Holy Bible
New Living Translation
Praise be to God!
Comments
Post a Comment