Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations - Volume 1

1Go 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)

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

3Jehovah! 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.

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

5I 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.

6Therefore 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.

7How 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:

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

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

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

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

12They 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:

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

14Therefore, 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:

15Behold 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)

16Their quiver islike an open sepulcher, All of them arevaliant;

17And 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:

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

19And 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.

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

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

22Will 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.

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

24And 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.

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

26For 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)

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

28They 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)

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

30A monstrosity and baseness is in the land!

31The 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?