Jeremiah 5:1-13 - The Depravity Of Jerusalem

¹ The Lord said, "Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city. ² These people make promises in the name of the Lord. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie." ³ Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. They refuse to change their ways.

⁴ I thought, "Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. They do not know what their God requires of them. ⁵ I will go to the leaders and speak with them. Surely they know what the Lord demands. Surely they know what their God requires of them." Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. ⁶ So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things.

⁷ The Lord asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes. ⁸ They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor's wife. ⁹ I will surely punish them for doing such things!" says the Lord. "I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!"

¹⁰ The Lord commanded the enemy, "March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord. ¹¹ For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me," says the Lord. ¹² "These people have denied what the Lord says. They have said, 'That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine. ¹³ The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The Lord has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.'"