Jeremiah 5:1-13 ▼

1 Loke through Hierusalem, beholde and see, seeke through her streetes also within, yf ye can fynde one man that doth equall and ryght, or seketh for the trueth, and I shall spare that citie, saith the Lorde.

2 For though they can say, the Lorde lyueth: yet they sweare to deceaue.

3 Wheras thou (O Lorde) lokest only vpon faith and trueth: Thou hast scourged them, but they toke no repentaunce, thou hast corrected them for amendement, but they refused thy correction, they made their faces harder then a stone, and woulde not amende.

4 Therfore I thought in my selfe: peraduenture they are so simple & foolishe that they vnderstande nothyng of the Lordes way, and iudgementes of their God.

5 Therfore will I go vnto their heades and rulers, and talke with them, if they knowe the way of the Lord, and iudgementes of their God: But these in lyke maner haue broken the yoke, and burst the bondes in sunder.

6 Wherfore a lion out of the wood hath hurt them, and a woolfe in the euenyng shall destroy them, the Leoparde doth lye lurkyng by their cities, to teare in peeces all them that come therout: for their offences are multiplied, and their departyng away is encreased.

7 Shoulde I then for all this haue mercie vpon thee? Thy children haue forsaken me, and sworne by them that are no gods: and albeit that I fed them to the full, yet they fall to adulterie, and haunt harlottes houses.

8 In the desire of vncleanly lust they are become lyke the stoned horse, euery man neyeth at his neighbours wife.

9 Shoulde I not correct this, saith the Lorde? shoulde I not be auenged of euery people that is lyke vnto this?

10 Climbe vp vpon their walles, beate them downe, and destroy them not vtterly: take away their battlementes, because they are not the lordes.

11 For vnfaithfully hath the house of Israel and Iuda forsaken me, saith the Lorde.

12 They haue denied the Lorde and sayde, It is not he that loketh vpon vs tushe, there shall no misfortune come vpon vs, we shall see neither sworde nor hunger.

13 As for the warning of the prophetes, it is but wynde, yea there is not the worde of God in them: such thynges shall happen vnto them selues.