Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broadplacesthereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any thatexecutethjudgment, thatseeketh the truth; and I willpardon it.
O LORD, are not thineeyesupon the truth? thouhaststrickenthem, but theyhave not grieved; thouhastconsumedthem, but theyhaverefused to receivecorrection: theyhavemadetheirfacesharderthan a rock; theyhaverefused to return.
I will get me unto the great men, and willspeakuntothem; for theyhaveknown the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but thesehavealtogetherbroken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Wherefore a lion out of the forestshallslaythem, and a wolf of the eveningsshallspoilthem, a leopardshallwatchovertheircities: every one thatgoeth out thenceshall be torn in pieces: becausetheirtransgressions are many, and theirbackslidings are increased.
How shall I pardonthee for this? thy childrenhaveforsaken me, and sworn by themthat are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, theythencommittedadultery, and assembledthemselves by troops in the harlots’houses.
Whereforethussaith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speakthisword, behold, I willmake my words in thy mouthfire, and thispeoplewood, and it shalldevourthem.
Lo, I willbring a nationupon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mightynation, it is an ancientnation, a nationwhoselanguagethouknowest not, neitherunderstandestwhatthey say.
And theyshall eat up thineharvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughtersshould eat: theyshall eat up thy flocks and thineherds: theyshall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: theyshallimpoverish thy fencedcities, whereinthoutrustedst, with the sword.
And it shallcome to pass, when ye shall say, Whereforedoeth the LORD our God all thesethingsunto us? thenshaltthouanswerthem, Like as ye haveforsaken me, and servedstrangegods in yourland, so shall ye servestrangers in a landthat is not yours.
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, whichhaveplaced the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetualdecree, that it cannotpass it: and though the wavesthereoftossthemselves, yet can they not prevail; thoughtheyroar, yet can they not passover it?
Neither say they in theirheart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, thatgivethrain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reservethunto us the appointedweeks of the harvest.
They are waxen fat, theyshine: yea, theyoverpass the deeds of the wicked: theyjudge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet theyprosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.