Not one is upright
1 ① “Go through the streets of Jerusalem; observe carefully and take note. Search the entire city squares and find, if you can, even one man who acts justly and seeks the truth, that I may forgive this city.” 2Even though they swear, “As surely as Yahweh lives” they do not mean what they say.
3O Yahweh, are you not looking for truth? You struck them but they did not feel it; you crushed them but they rejected correction. They set their faces harder than a rock and refused to repent.
4Then I thought: “Such are the poor, they act foolishly because they do not know the way of Yahweh, the law of their God! 5So I will go to the well-to-do and speak to them for they know the way of Yahweh and the law of their God.” But they, too, have broken their yoke and burst their bonds!
6That is why the lion from the forest will slay them and the wolf from the desert will destroy them, while the leopard lurks around their cities. Anyone who comes out is torn to pieces, for great is their sin and many are their desertions!
7“Why should I pardon you? Your children have rejected me and sworn by false gods. I gave them all they needed and yet they committed adultery and trooped to the harlot’s house. They are well-fed, 8lusty stallions, each one neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9Shall I not call them to account – it is Yahweh who speaks – shall I not take vengeance against a nation like this?
10Go up, nations, through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not entirely destroy my vine. Cut off her branches for they are not Yahweh’s. 11For the people of Israel and Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me – it is Yahweh who speaks.
12They have spoken falsely of Yahweh, say ing, “He does not exist; no harm will happen to us; we shall see neither the sword nor famine! 13As for the prophets, they are but wind. God doesn’t speak to them.”
14Because of this, Yahweh the God of hosts has spoken, “This is what I am going to do to them: I will put words in your mouth. They will be like a fire, and this people will be the wood it devours.”
15People of Israel! I will bring against you a nation from faraway to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand. 16All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. Their arrows will send you to your grave.
17They will devour your harvest and your food,
devour your sons and daughters, devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and your fig trees. They will devastate with the sword the fortified cities in which you trust.
18But even in those days – it is Yahweh who speaks – I will not utterly destroy them. 19And when they ask, “Why has Yahweh our God done all this to us?” you shall say to them, “Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your own.”
20Declare this to the people of Jacob and make it known in Judah,
21listen, stupid and senseless people! who have eyes and do not see, who have ears and do not hear!
22Do you not fear me? – it is Yahweh who speaks –
Will you not tremble before me?
I set the sand as a limit to the sea, an everlasting barrier it may never pass; its waves toss but cannot prevail;
they roar but are unable to go beyond it. 23But this people’s heart is rebellious and stubborn; they have turned aside and gone away! 24They do not say in their hearts, “Let us fear Yahweh our God who sends in season the rain, and has in store for us the harvest.”
25Your crimes have turned order into chaos, your sins have deprived you of these blessings, 26for among my people are scoundrels; they set traps like fowlers and catch human beings.
27Their houses are filled with loot, like a cage full of birds.
It has turned them rich and powerful; 28they have become fat and sleek. Great is their wickedness;
there is no justice in their judgment,
for they do not protect the orphan’s rights nor defend the needy’s cause!
29Should I not severely punish them for such things? – it is Yahweh who speaks – Should I not exact vengeance against a people like them?
30A terrible and abominable thing has happened in the land, 31prophets prophesy lies and priests teach what pleases them, and my people like it to be so. But what will you do soon?
- Jer 5,1 This passage referring to an invasion from the north was begun in Chapter 4. Search the entire city squares and find, if you can, each one man who acts justly and seeks the truth. Yahweh would forgive everything for the sake of one just person, just as we saw in Genesis 18. The search is in vain, and Jeremiah also looks in vain for someone who would understand. After so many invasions the one sounds the alarm announcing the final destruction. This is how people and nations remain deaf until they perish. In the New Testament, John the Baptist and then Jesus and his apostles try to arouse their compatriots and they issue the same call: be converted because the tragedy - the judgment- is at hand.
