1 “Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, || And see now and know, || And seek in her broad places, || If you find a man, || If there is one doing judgment, || Seeking steadfastness—Then I am propitious to her. 2 And if they say, YHWH lives, || Surely they swear to a falsehood.” 3 YHWH, Your eyes, are they not on steadfastness? You have struck them, and they have not grieved, || You have consumed them, || They have refused to receive instruction, || They made their faces harder than a rock, || They have refused to turn back. 4 And I said, “Surely these are poor, || They have been foolish, || For they have not known the way of YHWH, || The judgment of their God. 5 I go to the great, and I speak with them, || For they have known the way of YHWH, || The judgment of their God.” Surely they have broken the yoke together, || They have drawn away the bands. 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest has struck them, || A wolf of the deserts spoils them, || A leopard is watching over their cities, || Everyone who is going out of them is torn, || For their transgressions have been many, || Their backslidings have been mighty. 7 “I am not propitious to you for this, || Your sons have forsaken Me, || And are satisfied by those who are not gods, || I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, || And at the house of a harlot || They gather themselves together. 8 Fed horses—they have been early risers, || They each neigh to the wife of his neighbor. 9 Do I not lay a charge for these?” A declaration of YHWH, “And on a nation such as this, || Does My soul not avenge itself? 10 Go up on her walls, and destroy, || And I do not make a completion, || Turn her branches aside, || For they are not YHWH’s, 11 For the house of Israel has dealt treacherously against Me, || And the house of Judah,” || A declaration of YHWH. 12 They have lied against YHWH, || And they say, “It is not He, || Nor does evil come in against us, || Indeed, we do not see sword and famine. 13 And the prophets become wind, || And the word is not in them, || Thus it is done to them.” 14 Therefore, thus said YHWH, God of Hosts: “Because of your speaking this word, || Behold, I am making My words become fire in your mouth, || And this people wood, || And it has devoured them. 15 Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, || O house of Israel,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “It is a strong nation, || It is an ancient nation, || A nation whose tongue you do not know, || Nor understand what it speaks. 16 Its quiver is as an open tomb, || All of them—mighty ones. 17 And it has consumed your harvest and your bread, || They consume your sons, and your daughters, || It consumes your flock, and your herd, || It consumes your vine and your fig tree, || It makes your fortified cities poor, || In which you are trusting—by the sword. 18 And even in those days,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “I do not make you a completion. 19 And it has come to pass, when you say, Why has our God YHWH done all these things to us? That you have said to them, As you have forsaken Me, || And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, || So you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, || And sound it in Judah, saying, 21 Now hear this, || O people, foolish and without heart, || They have eyes, and they do not see, || They have ears, and they do not hear. 22 Do you not fear Me?” A declaration of YHWH; “Are you not pained from My presence? Who has made sand the border of the sea, || A perpetual limit, and it does not pass over it, || They shake themselves, and they are not able, || Indeed, its billows have sounded, and they do not pass over. 23 And this people has an apostatizing and rebelling heart, || They have turned aside, and they go on. 24 And they have not said in their heart, || Now let us fear our God YHWH, who is giving rain, || The autumn rain and the spring rain, in its season, || He keeps the appointed weeks of harvest for us. 25 Your iniquities have turned these away, || And your sins have kept the good from you. 26 For the wicked have been found among My people. He watches like one who sets snares, || They have set up a trap—they capture men. 27 As a cage full of birds, || So their houses are full of deceit, || Therefore they have been great, and are rich. 28 They have been fat, they have shone, || Indeed, they have surpassed the acts of the evil, || They have not judged judgment, || The judgment of the fatherless—and they prosper, || And they have not judged the judgment of the needy. 29 Do I not inspect for these,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “On a nation such as this, || Does My soul not avenge itself? 30 An astonishing and horrible thing has been in the land: 31 The prophets have prophesied falsely, || And the priests bear rule by their means, || And My people have loved it so, || And what do they do at its latter end?”