Roam through the streets of Yerushalayim and see, and seek in its squares, if you find a man, if there is one doing justice, seeking faithfulness, and I will forgive her.

And if they say, 'As יהוה lives,' they swear falsely.

יהוה, are not your eyes toward faithfulness? You struck them, but they did not hurt; you finished them, but they refused to receive correction. They hardened their faces more than rock; they refused to return.

And I said, 'Surely they are the poor; they have acted foolishly, because they do not know the way of יהוה, the justice of their Elohim.'

I will go to the great ones and speak to them, for they know the way of יהוה, the justice of their Elohim. But they, together, have broken the yoke, they have snapped the restraints.

Therefore, a lion from the forest struck them, a wolf of the plains destroys them; a leopard watches over their cities. Everyone going out from them will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their turnings away are strong.

For this reason, I will not forgive you, my children. Your sons have forsaken me and sworn by those who are not Elohim. I satisfied them, and they committed adultery, and they gather in the house of a prostitute.

They were well-fed, lustful horses; each one neighs after the wife of his neighbor.

Should I not punish them for these things, declares יהוה? Should my soul not take vengeance on a nation like this?

Go up through her vineyards and destroy, but make not a complete end. Remove her branches, for they are not יהוה's.

For they have acted treacherously against me, the house of Yisra'el and the house of Yehudah, declares יהוה.

They have denied יהוה and said, 'He is not, and evil will not come upon us, and we will not see sword and famine.'

And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.

Therefore, thus says יהוה, Elohim of hosts: Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am putting my words in your mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it will consume them.

Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, house of Yisra'el, declares יהוה. It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, and you do not hear what it speaks.

Its quiver is like an open grave; all are mighty warriors.

And it will eat your harvest and your bread; your sons and your daughters it will eat. Your sheep and your cattle it will eat; your vine and your fig tree it will eat. It will ruin your fortified cities in which you trust, with the sword.

And even in those days, declares יהוה, I will not make a complete end of you.

And it will happen, when you say, 'Why has יהוה our Elohim done all these things to us?' you will say to them, 'Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign elohim in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

Declare this in the house of Ya'aqov and proclaim it in Yehudah, saying:

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without heart; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear.

Will you not fear me, declares יהוה? Will you not tremble before me, who has set the sand as a boundary for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, and it shall not pass over it? Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail; though its billows roar, they cannot pass over it.

But to this people there is a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.

And they have not said in their hearts, 'Let us fear יהוה our Elohim, who gives the early and late rain in its season, who preserves for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'

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

For wicked men are found among my people; they watch like fowlers, they set a trap; they catch men.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and have become rich.

They have become fat, they have become sleek; they have even surpassed the words of evil. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, and they succeed; and the justice of the needy they do not judge.

Should I not punish them for these things, declares יהוה? Should my soul not take vengeance on a nation like this?

A devastation and horror have occurred in the land.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their means; and my people love it so. And what will you do at its end?