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Moff JER Chapter 5

◄ JER 5 ► ║ ©

Scour the streets of Jerusalem,

search the squares and se

if you can find a man of honest mind

and true integrity.

They may swear, ‘As the Eternal lives!’

but the oath is perjury.

O thou Eternal, what thou look- est for

is honesty, not falsehood.

Thou hast struck them, but they smarted not

they would not learn:

they hardened themselves like a flint,

they would not turn.

‘But these are the poor,’ I said

‘mere ignorant folk,

who never learned the rules of the Eternal

or the religion of their God.

I will turn to the upper classes

I will talk to them;

for they have learned the rules of the Eternal,

and the religion of their God.’

But they had flung off all restraints,

and broken every bond.

So a lion from the jungle shall slay them,

a wolf from the steppes;

a leopard shall prowl around their towns,

till he who ventures out is torn in pieces;

for they have sinned repeatedly

and lapsed over and again.”

“How can I pardon them?”

the Eternal asks;

“for they have abandoned m

and sworn by gods that are no gods.

I gave them their fill, and they turned to vice,

they were at home in a harlot’s house--

pampered horses, lusty stallions

neighing each for his neighbour’s wife!

Must I not punish them for that?”

the Eternal asks;

“shall I not make such people pay for that?”

Get in among her vines and ravage them!

Strip off her branches—they are not the Eternal’s!

For Israel’s house and Judah’s house

have been full faithless to him.

They have belied the Eternal,

crying, “He will do nothing

No harm can come to us

no suffering from war or famine.

The prophets are but windbags;

the Word is not with them!”

So the Eternal, God of hosts, declares,

“Since thus they talk,

I put my Word into your mouth, Jeremiah,

to be a fire,

and I will make this people fue

to be burned.”

“I bring a nation on you from afar,

O house of Israel,” says the Eternal;

“a nation that endures

an ancient nation

with a language that you know not,

and speech you cannot understand.

Their arrows deal death far and wide;

they are all fighting men.

They shall devour your harvest and your food

your flocks and herds;

they shall devour your grapes and figs,

and sword in hand shall batter down

your vaunted forts, each walled town.”

[[Yet even then, the Eternal declares,

I will not make a clean end of you. 19 And when they ask, “Why has the Eternal our God done all this to us?” you shall tell them, “Just as you forsook me to serve foreign gods in your own land, so you must serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.”]]

Proclaim this to the house of Jacob,

announce it within Judah

“Listen, you foolish, senseless folk,

with eyes that see not

with ears that hear not;

will you not fear me, says the Eternal,

will you not tremble at my presence?

I set the sands to bound the deep,

a barrier that no breakers shall o’erleap;

the sea may toss, but it cannot prevail,

the waves may roar, but they cannot reach further.

Yet this folk is at heart restless, rebellious;

they swerve aside, defiantly.

They never say to themselves,

‘Come, let us fear the Eternal our God,

who sends the rain in spring and autumn due,

and brings our harvest in its season true.’

It is your crimes that keep such blessings back,

your sins that spoil your welfare.

For rogues are to be found among my folk

who set their snares to trap their fellows:

like cages filled with birds,

their houses are full of swindling gains.

Thus they become great men and prosperous,

grow stout and sleek;

they go to any length in crime,

but make no move for justice;

they never champion an orphan’s cause

or rally to a poor man’s rights.

Must I not punish them for that?”

the Eternal asks;

“shall I not make such peopl

pay for that?”

A horrible thing, an appalling,

has happened in the land:

the prophets prophesy falsely,

the priests rule at their beck and call,

and my people love to have it so!

But what will you do, at the end of it all?

◄ JER 5 ► ║ ©

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