Day 285 of 730

¹"Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.

²Though they say, 'As the Lord lives;' surely they swear falsely."

³O Lord, do your eyes not look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

⁴Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, nor the law of their God.

⁵I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the Lord, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

⁷"How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.

⁸They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.

⁹Shouldn't I punish them for these things?" says the Lord; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰"Go up on her walls, and destroy; but do not make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not the Lord's.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me," says the Lord.

¹²They have denied the Lord, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine.

¹³The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them."

¹⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

¹⁵Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says the Lord. "It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand what they say.

¹⁶Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

¹⁷They shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸"But even in those days," says the Lord, "I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

²⁰"Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

²¹'Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and do not see; who have ears, and do not hear:

²²Do you not fear me?' says the Lord 'Won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? And though its waves toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.'

²³"But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.

²⁴Neither do they say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'

²⁵"Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.

²⁶For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.

²⁸They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they do not judge the right of the needy.

²⁹"Shall I not punish for these things?" says the Lord. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰"An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

¹"Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.

²The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.

³Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed everyone in his place."

⁴"Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

⁵Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces."

⁶For the Lord of hosts said, "Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

⁷As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.

⁸Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited."

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts, "They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets."

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.

¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord. I am weary with holding in. "Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.

¹²Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land," says the Lord.

¹³"For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

¹⁴They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace.

¹⁵Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down," says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, 'Where is the good way?' and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not walk in it."

¹⁷"I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'" But they said, "We will not listen!"

¹⁸"Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.

¹⁹Hear, earth! 'Behold, I will bring disaster on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

²⁰To what purpose comes there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.'

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.'

²²"Thus says the Lord, 'Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

²³They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.'"

²⁴"We have heard its report; our hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.

²⁵Do not go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror, are on every side."

²⁶"Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us."

²⁷"I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people; that you may know and try their way."

²⁸"They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.

³⁰Men will call them 'rejected silver,' because the Lord has rejected them."

¹Praise Yah! Praise the name of the Lord! Praise him, you servants of the Lord,

²you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God's house.

³Praise Yah, for the Lord is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant.

⁴For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself; Israel for his own possession.

⁵For I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is above all gods.

⁶Whatever the Lord pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;

⁷who causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth; who makes lightnings with the rain; who brings forth the wind out of his treasuries;

⁸Who struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal;

⁹Who sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants;

¹⁰who struck many nations, and killed mighty kings,

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan,

¹²and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people.

¹³Your name, Lord, endures forever; your renown, Lord, throughout all generations.

¹⁴For the Lord will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

¹⁶They have mouths, but they can't speak. They have eyes, but they can't see.

¹⁷They have ears, but they can't hear; neither is there any breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁹House of Israel, praise the Lord! House of Aaron, praise the Lord!

²⁰House of Levi, praise the Lord! You who fear the Lord, praise the Lord!

²¹Blessed be the Lord from Zion, Who dwells at Jerusalem. Praise Yah!

¹My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

²You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

³Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

⁷which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;

¹⁴in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

¹⁶There are six things which the Lord hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father's commandment, and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the Law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

²⁶For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

³⁰Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

³¹but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

³²He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

³³He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.