Jeremiah 22

1 How long shall I see men fleeing away, how long shall I hear the sound of the trumpet? 2 For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish and senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 3 I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them. 4 I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled: and all the hills were troubled. 5 I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds of the air were gone. 6 I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation. 7 For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy. 8 The Earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament from above: because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented, neither am I turned away from it. 9 At the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is fled away: they have entered into thickets and climbed up the rocks: all the cities are forsaken, and there dwelleth not a man in them. 10 But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life. 11 For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as of a woman in labour of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion, dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted because of them that are slain. 13 Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that executeth judgment, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it. 14 And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear falsely. 15 O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and they have refused to return. 16 But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. 17 I will go therefore to the great men, and will speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God: and behold these have altogether broken the yoke more, and have burst the bonds. 18 Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened. 19 How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot’s house. 20 They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. 21 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? and shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation? 22 Scale the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the Lord’s. 23 For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly transgressed against me, saith the Lord. 24 They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine. 25 The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them. 26 Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: because you have spoken this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them. 27 Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say. 28 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant. 29 And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest. 30 Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.