Jerusalem Refused to Repent
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1Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see 2if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, 3that I may pardon her.
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O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? 6You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. 7They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.
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Then I said, "These are only the poor; they have no sense; 8for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.
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I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God." 9But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.
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Therefore 10a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a 11wolf from the desert shall devastate them. 12A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their 13apostasies are great.
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14"How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me 15and have sworn by those who are no gods. 16When I fed them to the full, 17they committed adultery 18and trooped to the houses of whores.
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21Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?
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22"Go up through her vine rows and destroy, 23but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.
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24For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the LORD.
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They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, 'He will do nothing; 25no disaster will come upon us, 26nor shall we see sword or famine.
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The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!'"
The Lord Proclaims Judgment
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Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: "Because you have spoken this word, behold, 27I am making my words in your mouth 28a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
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29Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, 30nor can you understand what they say.
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33They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your 34fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword."
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"But even in those days, declares the LORD, 35I will not make a full end of you.
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And when your people say, 36'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, 37so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'"
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Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah:
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"Hear this, 38O foolish and senseless people, 39who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.
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40Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand 41as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though 42they roar, they cannot pass over it.
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43But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.
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They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, 44who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us 45the weeks appointed for the harvest.'
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46Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.
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For wicked men are found among my people; 47they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.a 48They set a trap; they catch men.
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Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich;
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49they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; 50they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
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51Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?"
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An appalling and 52horrible thing has happened in the land:
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)