| 章 |
| 5:1 |
"Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
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| 5:2 |
Although they say, `As surely as the LORD lives, 'still they are swearing falsely."
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| 5:3 |
O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
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| 5:4 |
I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.
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| 5:5 |
So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God." But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.
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| 5:6 |
Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
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| 5:7 |
"Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
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| 5:8 |
They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man's wife.
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| 5:9 |
Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
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| 5:10 |
"Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD.
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| 5:11 |
The house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me," declares the LORD.
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| 5:12 |
They have lied about the LORD; they said, "He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.
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| 5:13 |
The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them."
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| 5:14 |
Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: "Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.
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| 5:15 |
O house of Israel," declares the LORD, "I am bringing a distant nation against you-- an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand.
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| 5:16 |
Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.
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| 5:17 |
They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.
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| 5:18 |
"Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not destroy you completely.
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| 5:19 |
And when the people ask, `Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, `As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.
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| 5:20 |
"'Announce this to the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
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| 5:21 |
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
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| 5:22 |
Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
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| 5:23 |
But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
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| 5:24 |
They do not say to themselves, `Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.
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| 5:25 |
'Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
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| 5:26 |
"Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men.
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| 5:27 |
Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful
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| 5:28 |
and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor.
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| 5:29 |
Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
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| 5:30 |
"A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:
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| 5:31 |
The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
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