No One Is Just

1Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if you can find a man, if there is any that executes justice, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.

2And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.

3O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the law of their God.

5I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the law of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

6Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: everyone that goes out there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

7How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

8They were as fed horses in the morning: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

9Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not the LORD'S.

11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.

12They have lied about the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

13And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

14Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

15Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say.

16Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men.

17And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fortified cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.

18Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

19And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

21Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and see not; who have ears, and hear not:

22Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, who has 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?

23But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone away.

24Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: he reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

25Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.

26For among my people are found wicked men: they lie in wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and grown rich.

28They have grown fat, they shine: yea, they pass over 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 defend.

29Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

30An appalling and horrible thing is committed in the land;

31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their own power; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end?