30 And against spoiling what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself in scarlet, Though thou adornest thyself with ornaments of Though thou distendest thy eyes with paint, Thy paramours have rejected thee, They seek thy life. 31 Surely I have heard the cry as of a woman in travail, 1 Distress as of one that bringeth forth a first child, She sobbeth, she spreadeth out her hands, For my soul fainteth because of murderers. CHAP. V. RUN ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And see now and know, and seek in her broad places, If ye can find a single man, If there be one that doeth justice, That seeketh truth; that I may pardon her. 2 But though they say, As JEHOVAH liveth, Surely they will swear falsely. 3 O JEHOVAH, are not thine eyes towards the truth? Thou hast smitten them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; They have made their faces harder than a rock, 4 Then said I, Surely these are the meaner sort, who have acted foolishly, Because they have not known the way of JEHOVAH, The judgment of their God. 5 I will get me unto the great ones, And I will speak unto them; of JEHOVAH, For these have known the way of J: But these have in like manner broken the yoke, 6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, A wolf of the plains shall spoil them, A leopard shall watch over their cities; Every one that goeth out of them shall be torn in pieces; Because their rebellions are multiplied, Their apostasies are increased. 7 How can I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me, And sworn by them that are no gods: When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, And assembled themselves in the harlot's house. 8 They were libidinous as stallion horses, Every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. 9 For these things shall I not visit? saith JEHOVAH; And shall not my soul avenge itself of such a nation as this? 10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, And make ye not an end; Take away her branches, For they belong not to JEHOVAн. 11 For they have dealt very unfaithfully with me, The house of Israel, and the house of Judah, saith JEHOVAH. 12 They have denied JEHOVAH, And have said, It is not He: Neither shall calamity come upon us, And the sword and famine shall we not see: 13 But the Prophets shall be as wind; And they have no authority to say, 14 Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH God of hosts; Behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, may devour them. 15 Behold I will bring against you a nation from far, O house of Israel, saith JEHOVAH; It is a strong nation, It is a nation of great antiquity; A nation whose language thou shalt not know, 16 Their quiver is an open sepulchre ; All of them are mighty men. 17 And they shall consume thy harvest and thy bread, They shall consume thy sons, and thy daughters, They shall consume thy sheep, and thy oxen, They shall consume thy vine, and thy fig-tree, They shall impoverish thy fortified cities, In which thou trustedst, with the sword. 18 And also in those days, saith JEHOVAH, I will not make a finishing with you. 19 And it shall be, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath JEHOVAH our God done all these things unto us? Then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, And have served strange gods in your land; So shall ye serve strangers In a land that is not yours. F 38 20 JEREMIAH. Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, 21 Hear ye now this, CHAP. V. O foolish people, and without understanding; Who have ears, yet they will not hear. 22 Will ye not fear me? saith JEHOVAH, Will ye not tremble at my presence? Who have appointed the sand a bound to the sea, A perpetual ordinance, and it shall not go beyond it; A Though it toss itself about, yet shall it not prevail; Though the waves thereof roar, yet shall they not go beyond it. 23 But this people hath a revolting and rebellious heart; They have revolted, and are gone. 24 Neither have they said in their heart, Let us now fear JEHOVAH our God, Who giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season 3 A sufficiency of the appointed things of harvest he secureth to us. 25 Your iniquities have turned aside these things, And your sins have withholden that which is good from you. 26 For among my people are found wicked men, Who lie on the watch like the cowring of fowlers; They have set a trap, that they may catch men. 27 As a trap cage is full of birds, So are their houses full of fraud; Therefore are they grown great and rich, 28 They are waxen fat, and shine. Though they have gone beyond the claims of the wicked; They have not maintained the cause, The cause of the orphan, so as to make it prosper; And the right of the poor have they not vindicated. 29 For these things shall I not visit? saith JEHOVAH; Shall not my soul avenge itself of such a nation as this? 30 An astonishing and horrible thing hath been 31 The prophets have prophecied falsely; And what will ye do in regard to the consequen- 31 1 CHAP. VI. RETIRE in a body, O ye sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa sound ye the trumpet, Also upon Beth-haccerem light up a fire-beacon; 2 The habitation, even the delightful one, have I doomed to destruction, The daughter of Sion. 3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her, And they shall pitch their tents against her round about,!! And shall feed each in his quarter. 4 Declare ye war against her; Arise, and let us go up at noonday: Alas for us for the day is upon the decline, |