Chapter 5 – Chapter 6

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

1 Go round through the streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray, and know, Inquire also in its cross-ways, Whether ye shall find a man, Whether there be any, who doeth judgment, Who seeketh the truth, And I will spare it. (1:252)

2 Though they say, “Live does Jehovah;” Yet in this they swear falsely.

3 Jehovah! are not thine eyes on the truth? Thou hast smitten them, But they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, But they have not received correction: They have made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to return.

4 But I said, Surely the poor are these; They have acted foolishly, Because they knew not the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God:

5 I will go to the great and speak to them, For they know the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God: But these have altogether broken the yoke, They have burst the bonds.

6 Therefore smite them shall the lion from the forest, The wolf of the desert shall spoil them, The leopard shall watch over their cities; Whosoever goeth out shall be torn: For manifold are their transgressions, Increased are their defections.

7 How for this shall I spare thee? Thy children have forsaken me, And have sworn by one that is not a god; When I fully satisfied them, they committed adultery, And at the house of the harlot they assembled:

8 Fed horses! rising early in the morning, Every one at his neighbor’s wife neigheth.

9 Should I not for these things visit? saith Jehovah, And on such a nation as this Shall not my soul be avenged?

10 Ascend her walls and demolish, But an end make not; Take away her foundations, For they are not Jehovah’s:

11 For by transgressing they have transgressed against me, The house of Israel and the house of Judah saith Jehovah.

12 They have denied Jehovah and said, “He is not, and come on us shall no evil; Yea, the sword and the famine we shall not see:

13 And the prophets shall be wind, For the word is not in them: Thus shall it be done to them.”

14 Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, — Because you have uttered this word, Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, And this people wood, And it shall devour them:

15 Behold I will bring on you a nation from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, A strong nation, an ancient nation, A nation whose language thou knowest not, And understandest not what it says: (1:286)

16 Their quiver is like an open sepulcher, All of them are valiant;

17 And they will devour thy harvest and thy bread; They will devour thy sons and thy daughters, They will devour thy flocks and thy herds, They will devour thy vine and thy fig-tree; To want shall they reduce thy fortified cities, To which thou trustest, by the sword:

18 But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make with you an end.

19 And it shall be, when ye say, “Why hath Jehovah our God done to us All these things?” that thou wilt say to them, — As ye have forsaken me, And served foreign gods in your land, So shall ye serve foreigners in a land not your own.

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, And publish it in Judah, saying, —

21 Hear this, I pray, Ye foolish people and void of heart, Who have eyes and see not, Who have ears and hear not:

22 Will ye not fear me? saith Jehovah; Will ye not at my presence tremble? Who have set the sand a bound to the sea, By a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it; Though its waves rage, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

23 But this people hath a perverse and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed:

24 And they have not said in their heart, — Let us now fear Jehovah our God, Who giveth rain, both the early And the latter shower in its season, Who keeps to us the appointed weeks of harvest.

25 Your iniquities have prevented these things, And your sins have restrained good from you.

26 For found among my people are the wicked; They look, as though they would set snares; A trap they set, in which they catch men. (1:303)

27 As a cage is full of birds So their houses are full of fraud: Therefore they are increased and become rich;

28 They are become fat, they shine; They even surpass the deeds of the wicked: The cause they judge not, The cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; And the judgment of the poor they judge not. (1:306)

29 Shall I not for this visit, saith Jehovah? On such a nation as this Shall not my soul be avenged?

30 A monstrosity and baseness is in the land!

31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their means; (1:309) And my people wish it to be so: But what will ye do at the end of it?

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

1 Be assembled, ye children of Benjamin, From the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa sound the trumpet; In Beth-haccerem also set up a sign; For evil is seen from the north, And great distress.

2 To a quiet and delicate woman Have I likened the daughter of Sion:

3 To her shall come shepherds and their flocks; They shall pitch their tents near her around, Feed shall each in his own place.

4 Prepare ye war against her: “Arise ye, and let us ascend at mid-day; Alas for us! for declined has the day, For extended are the evening shadows:

5 Arise, and let us ascend in the night, And let us demolish her palaces.” (1:319)

6 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Cut ye down wood, And form against. Jerusalem a mound; It is a city of visitation, Entire oppression is in the midst of her:

7 As a fountain casts out its waters, So she casts out her wickedness; Violence and plunder is heard of in her; Before me continually is grief and smiting.

8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, Lest my soul be torn from thee, Lest I make thee a desert, A land not inhabited.

9 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — By gleaning they shall glean, as a vine, The remnant of Israel: Turn back thine hand, As a grape-gatherer into the baskets. (1:326)

10 To whom shall I speak and protest, That they may hear? Behold, uncircumcised is their ear, And they cannot hear; Behold, the word of Jehovah is to them a reproach; They delight not in it.

11 Of Jehovah’s indignation therefore am I full, I am wearied with refraining To pour it on the children in the streets, And on the assembly of young men also; For the husband with his wife shall be taken, The aged with the full of days:

12 And turned shall be their houses to aliens, Their fields and their wives in like manner; For I will stretch out my hand On the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah:

13 For from the least to the greatest of them, Every one is given to covetousness; And from the prophet to the priest, Every one acts deceitfully;

14 And healed have they the wound Of the daughter of my people slightly By saying, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace. (1:336)

15 Were they ashamed, that they had done abomination? Even of shame they were not ashamed, And how to blush they knew not: Fall therefore shall they among the fallen; At the time of their visitation They shall perish, saith Jehovah. (1:339)

16 Thus said Jehovah, — Stand in the ways and see, Inquire also concerning the old paths, Which is the right way, and walk ye in it, That ye may find rest to your soul: And they said, “We will not walk in it.”

17 I also set over them watchmen, That they might, attend to the sound of the trumpet; But they said, “We will not attend.”

18 Hear therefore, ye nations, And know, thou assembly, what shall be to them:

19 Hear, thou land; behold I bring an evil On this people, the fruit of their thoughts; Because to my words they have not hearkened, And my law have they despised.

20 To what purpose is this to me? Incense cometh from Sheba, And the sweet came from a far country; Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, And your sacrifices are not pleasant to me.

21 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, I lay before this people stumblingblocks; And stumble shall fathers and sons alike; Neighbor and friend, they shall perish.

22 Thus saith Jehovah, — Behold, a people shall corns from the north country, And a great nation shall be roused From the sides of the earth:

23 On the bow and spear shall they lay hold; They are cruel and will not spare; Their voice, like the sea, will roar, And on horses shall they mount; Arrayed shall they be as men for war, Against thee, O daughter of Sion.

24 We have heard its fame; Relaxed are our hands, Anguish has laid hold on us, The pain as of one in travail.

25 Go not forth into the field, Nor walk by the way; For the sword of the enemy Is a terror on every side.

26 Daughter of my people! gird on sackcloth, And roll thyself in the dust; Make thee mourning, as for an only son, Most bitter lamentation; For suddenly shall come on thee the spoiler.

27 A tower have I made thee to my people, — A fortress; that thou mightest know And try their ways:

28 All are entire apostates, Walking in detraction; Brass and iron are they; All of them are corrupters. (1:358)

29 Burnt are the bellows by the fire, Entire is the lead, In vain has melted the melter; For the wicked have not been refined:

30 Reprobate silver shall they call them, Because rejected them has Jehovah (1:360)