The Berean Pursuit
"Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look now and take note; search her squares.
If you can find a single person,
anyone who acts justly,
anyone who seeks the truth,
then I will forgive the city.
Although they say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
they are swearing falsely."
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain.
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.
They have made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.
Then I said, "They are only the poor;
they have played the fool,
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.
I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God."
But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.
Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them.
A leopard will lie in wait near their cities,
and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.
For their rebellious acts are many,
and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.
"Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery
and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.
They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing after his neighbor's wife.
Should I not punish them for these things?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?
Go up through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not finish them off.
Strip off her branches,
for they do not belong to the LORD.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to Me,"
declares the LORD.
They have lied about the LORD and said:
"He will not do anything; harm will not come to us;
we will not see sword or famine.
The prophets are but wind,
for the word is not in them.
So let their own predictions befall them."
Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says:
"Because you have spoken this word,
I will make My words a fire in your mouth
and this people the wood it consumes.
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you,
O house of Israel," declares the LORD.
"It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know
and whose speech you do not understand.
Their quivers are like open graves;
they are all mighty men.
They will devour your harvest and food;
they will consume your sons and daughters;
they will eat up your flocks and herds;
they will feed on your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust."
"Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not make a full end of you. And when the people ask, 'For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' You are to tell them, 'Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.'?"
Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
"Hear this,
O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.
Do you not fear Me?"
declares the LORD.
"Do you not tremble before Me,
the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea,
an enduring barrier it cannot cross?
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot cross it.
But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.
They have turned aside and gone away.
They have not said in their hearts,
'Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season,
who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.'
Your iniquities have diverted these from you;
your sins have deprived you of My bounty.
For among My people are wicked men;
they watch like fowlers lying in wait;
they set a trap to catch men.
Like cages full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become powerful and rich.
They have grown fat and sleek,
and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked.
They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless,
that they might prosper;
nor have they defended
the rights of the needy.
Should I not punish them for these things?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?
A horrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land.
The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it so,
but what will you do in the end?
"Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin;
flee from Jerusalem!
Sound the ram's horn in Tekoa;
send up a signal over Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms from the north,
even great destruction.
Though she is beautiful and delicate,
I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.
Shepherds and their flocks
will come against her;
they will pitch their tents all around her,
each tending his own portion:
'Prepare for battle against her;
rise up, let us attack at noon.
Woe to us, for the daylight is fading;
the evening shadows grow long.
Rise up, let us attack by night
and destroy her fortresses!'?"
For this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Cut down the trees
and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished;
there is nothing but oppression in her midst.
As a well gushes its water,
so she pours out her evil.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
sickness and wounds are ever before Me.
Be forewarned, O Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you;
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitant."
This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Glean the remnant of Israel
as thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer
over the branches."
To whom can I give this warning?
Who will listen to me?
Look, their ears are closed,
so they cannot hear.
See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them;
they find no pleasure in it.
But I am full of the LORD's wrath;
I am tired of holding it back.
"Pour it out on the children in the street,
and on the young men gathered together.
For both husband and wife will be captured,
the old and the very old alike.
Their houses will be turned over to others,
their fields and wives as well,
for I will stretch out My hand
against the inhabitants of the land,"
declares the LORD.
"For from the least of them to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
from prophet to priest,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of My people
with very little care,
saying, 'Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace at all.
Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they will collapse,"
says the LORD.
This is what the LORD says:
"Stand at the crossroads and look.
Ask for the ancient paths: 'Where is the good way?'
Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it!'
I appointed watchmen over you and said,
'Listen for the sound of the ram's horn.'
But they answered, 'We will not listen!'
Therefore hear, O nations,
and learn, O congregations,
what will happen to them.
Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people,
the fruit of their own schemes,
because they have paid no attention to My word
and have rejected My instruction.
What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please Me."
Therefore this is what the LORD says:
"I will lay stumbling blocks before this people;
fathers and sons alike will be staggered;
friends and neighbors will perish."
This is what the LORD says:
"Behold, an army is coming
from the land of the north;
a great nation is stirred up
from the ends of the earth.
They grasp the bow and spear;
they are cruel and merciless.
Their voice roars like the sea,
and they ride upon horses,
lined up like men in formation
against you, O Daughter of Zion."
We have heard the report;
our hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped us,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
Do not go out to the fields;
do not walk the road.
For the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side.
O daughter of my people,
dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes.
Mourn with bitter wailing,
as you would for an only son,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
"I have appointed you to examine My people like ore,
so you may know and try their ways.
All are hardened rebels,
walking around as slanderers.
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt.
The bellows blow fiercely,
blasting away the lead with fire.
The refining proceeds in vain,
for the wicked are not purged.
They are called rejected silver,
because the LORD has rejected them."
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, "Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting:
'This is the temple of the LORD,
the temple of the LORD,
the temple of the LORD.'
For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, 'We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations'? Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.
But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers. And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.
As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger. But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again. Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore you must say to them, 'This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.'
For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire-something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland."
For the choirmaster: To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A Psalm of Asaph. A song.
We give thanks to You, O God;
we give thanks, for Your Name is near.
The people declare Your wondrous works.
"When I choose a time,
I will judge fairly.
When the earth and all its dwellers quake,
it is I who bear up its pillars.
Selah
I say to the proud, 'Do not boast,'
and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horn.
Do not lift up your horn against heaven
or speak with an outstretched neck.'?"
For exaltation comes neither from east nor west,
nor out of the desert,
but it is God who judges;
He brings down one and exalts another.
For a cup is in the hand of the LORD,
full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours from His cup,
and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to the dregs.
But I will proclaim Him forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
"All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous will be exalted."