New Living Translation

Holman Christian Standard Bible

1“Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city.

1Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and take note; search in her squares. If you find one person, any who acts justly, who seeks to be faithful, then I will forgive her.

2But even when they are under oath, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are still telling lies!”

2When they say, "As the LORD lives," they are swearing falsely.

3LORD, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.

3 LORD, don't Your eyes look for faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return.

4Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the LORD. They don’t understand God’s laws.

4Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have played the fool. For they don't understand the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

5So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the LORD and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains.

5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

6So now a lion from the forest will attack them; a wolf from the desert will pounce on them. A leopard will lurk near their towns, tearing apart any who dare to venture out. For their rebellion is great, and their sins are many.

6Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down. A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them. A leopard keeps watch over their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many, their unfaithful deeds numerous.

7“How can I pardon you? For even your children have turned from me. They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all! I fed my people until they were full. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the brothels.

7Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned Me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute's house.

8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.

8They are well-fed, eager stallions, each neighing after someone else's wife.

9Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

9Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD's declaration. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

10“Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy the grapevines, leaving a scattered few alive. Strip the branches from the vines, for these people do not belong to the LORD.

10Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them, but do not finish them off. Prune away her shoots, for they do not belong to the LORD.

11The people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me,” says the LORD.

11They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have dealt very treacherously with Me. This is the LORD's declaration.

12“They have lied about the LORD and said, ‘He won’t bother us! No disasters will come upon us. There will be no war or famine.

12They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, "It won't happen. Harm won't come to us; we won't see sword or famine."

13God’s prophets are all windbags who don’t really speak for him. Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves!’”

13The prophets become only wind, for the LORD's word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them.

14Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies says: “Because the people are talking like this, my messages will flame out of your mouth and burn the people like kindling wood.

14Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: Because you have spoken this word, I am going to make My words become fire in your mouth. These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them.

15O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you cannot understand.

15I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. This is the LORD's declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

16Their weapons are deadly; their warriors are mighty.

16Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all mighty warriors.

17They will devour the food of your harvest; they will devour your sons and daughters. They will devour your flocks and herds; they will devour your grapes and figs. And they will destroy your fortified towns, which you think are so safe.

17They will consume your harvest and your food. They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. They will destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

18“Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely,” says the LORD.

18"But even in those days"--this is the LORD's declaration--"I will not finish you off.

19“And when your people ask, ‘Why did the LORD our God do all this to us?’ you must reply, ‘You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’ A Warning for God’s People

19When people ask, 'For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

20“Make this announcement to Israel, and say this to Judah:

20"Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

21Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear.

21Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't hear.

22Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set.

22Do you not fear Me? This is the LORD's declaration. Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.

23But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me.

23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away.

24They do not say from the heart, ‘Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.’

24They have not said to themselves, 'Let's fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.'

25Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.

25Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you. Your sins have withheld My bounty from you,

26“Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind. They continually set traps to catch people.

26for wicked men live among My people. They watch like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

27Like a cage filled with birds, their homes are filled with evil plots. And now they are great and rich.

27Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

28They are fat and sleek, and there is no limit to their wicked deeds. They refuse to provide justice to orphans and deny the rights of the poor.

28They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.

29Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

29Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD's declaration. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

30A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land—

30A horrible, terrible thing has taken place in the land.

31the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes?

31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.