Chapter 4
19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle. 20Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment. 21How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the horn? 22“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.” 23I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light. 24I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. 25I looked, and no man was left; all the birds of the air had fled. 26I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger. 27For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction. 28Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.” 29Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left. 30And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life. 31For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
Chapter 5
1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city. 2Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are swearing falsely.” 3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. 4Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. 5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains. 6Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous. 7“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes. 8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife. 9Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? 10Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD. 11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,” declares the LORD. 12They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine. 13The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them. ” 14Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes. 15Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand. 16Their quivers are like open graves; they are all mighty men. 17They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.” 18“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. 19And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’ ” 20Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah: 21“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. 22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it. 23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away. 24They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’ 25Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty. 26For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men. 27Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich. 28They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy. 29Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? 30A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land. 31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?