Jeremiah 5

All 31 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and see, and search in the public squares, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who acts justly and seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.
2. 2Even when they say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,' they are surely swearing falsely.
3. 3LORD, are your eyes not on the truth? You struck them, but they did not grieve. You consumed them, but they refused to receive correction. They made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4. 4So I thought, 'Surely these are poor and foolish; they do not know the way of the LORD or the judgment of their God.'
5. 5I'll go to the leaders and speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD and the judgment of their God. But they have all broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6. 6Because of this, a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the wilderness will tear them apart, and a leopard will stalk their cities. Anyone who steps outside will be ripped to pieces — because their sins are piled high and their backslidings keep increasing.
7. 7How can I forgive you for this? Your children have abandoned me and sworn by those who are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery and gathered in troops at the houses of harlots.
8. 8They were like well-fed horses in the morning, each one neighing after his neighbor's wife.
9. 9Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD. Shall not my soul be avenged on a nation like this?
10. 10Go up on her walls and destroy them, but do not destroy everything. Remove her defenses, for they do not belong to the LORD.
11. 11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me, says the LORD.
12. 12They have lied about the LORD, saying, "He won't do anything. No disaster will come to us. We'll never see war or famine."
13. 13The prophets will become like the wind, and the word is not in them. This is what will happen to them.
14. 14Therefore, this is what the LORD God of hosts says: Because you speak these words, I will make my words in your mouth like fire, and this people will be like wood, and it will consume them.
15. 15"Watch — I am bringing a nation against you from far away, people of Israel," says the LORD. "It is a powerful nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know and whose words you can't understand.
16. 16Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty men.
17. 17They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will impoverish your fortified cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.
18. 18"But even in those days," says the LORD, "I will not completely destroy you.
19. 19When the people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you will answer them: 'Just as you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve foreigners in a land that isn't yours.'"
20. 20"Announce this to the descendants of Jacob and proclaim it throughout Judah:
21. 21'Listen to this, you foolish people who have no understanding — you have eyes but don't see, you have ears but don't hear.
22. 22Don't you fear me?' says the LORD. 'Won't you tremble in my presence? I'm the one who set the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal limit it can never cross. The waves may crash and roar, but they cannot break through it.'
23. 23But these people have a revolting and rebellious heart; they have turned away and are gone.
24. 24They never stop to think, 'We should fear the LORD our God — the one who sends the autumn and spring rains right on schedule and guarantees us the weeks of harvest.'
25. 25"Your sins have disrupted all of this. Your wrongdoing has kept these good things from reaching you.
26. 26Wicked people lurk among my people. They crouch in hiding like bird trappers, setting snares to catch other human beings.
27. 27Just as a cage is filled with birds, so their houses are filled with deceit. Therefore, they have become great and grown rich.
28. 28They have grown fat and they shine. Yes, they go beyond the deeds of the wicked. They do not judge the case of the fatherless, yet they prosper, and they do not judge the right of the needy.
29. 29"Shouldn't I punish them for this?" says the LORD. "Shouldn't my soul be avenged on a nation like this?"
30. 30"Something shocking and horrifying has happened in this land:
31. 31The prophets speak lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it that way. But what will you do in the end?