Jerusalem Refused to Repent

Jeremiah 5

1 y Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
z if you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
a that I may pardon her.
 2 b Though they say, "As the Lord lives,"
c yet they swear falsely.
 3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
d You have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
e They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, "These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
f for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
 5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God."
g But they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.

6 Therefore h a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a i wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
j A leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their k apostasies are great.

7 l "How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
m and have sworn by those who are no gods.
n When I fed them to the full,
o they committed adultery
p and trooped to the houses of whores.
 8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
q each neighing r for his neighbor's wife.
 9 s Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?

10 t "Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
u but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord's.
 11 v For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
 12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, 'He will do nothing;
w no disaster will come upon us,
x nor shall we see sword or famine.
 13 The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!'"

  1. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 16:9
    For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.
  2. Cross References
    Genesis 18:23 - 32
    Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:7
    How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.
  4. Cross References
    Titus 1:16
    They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
  5. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:9
    Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known.
  6. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:30
    In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
  7. Cross References
    Ezekiel 3:8
    Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:7
    Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the Lord.
    Micah 3:1
    And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? -
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:20
    For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.
    Psalms 2:3
    "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."
    Psalms 107:14
    He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.
  10. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:7
    A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.
  11. Cross References
    Habakkuk 1:8
    Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
    Zephaniah 3:3
    Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning.
  12. Cross References
    Hosea 13:7
    So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:19
    Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.
  14. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:1
    Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.
  15. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:21
    They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
    Joshua 23:7
    That you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.
    2 Chronicles 13:9
    Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods.
    Galatians 4:8
    Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
  16. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:15
    But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
  17. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:2
    Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.
    Jeremiah 23:10
    For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.
  18. Cross References
    Micah 5:1
    Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
  19. Cross References
    Jeremiah 13:27
    I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?
    Jeremiah 50:11
    Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my heritage, though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture, and neigh like stallions.
  20. Cross References
    Ezekiel 22:11
    One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter.
  21. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:29
    Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?
    Jeremiah 9:9
    Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?
    Romans 2:2
    We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
  22. Cross References
    Jeremiah 39:8
    The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:27
    For thus says the Lord, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
  24. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:20
    Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.'
  25. Cross References
    Genesis 3:4
    But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
  26. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:13
    Then I said: "Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'
    Isaiah 28:15
    Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter".
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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