1. The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem.Look around and think about these things.Search the public squares of the city.See if you can find one person who does honest things.Find just one who searches for the truth.If you can, I will forgive this city.
2. The people say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’But they don’t really mean it.”
3. Lord, don’t you look for truth in people?You hit the people of Judah.But they didn’t feel any pain.You crushed them,but they refused to learn what is right.They became more stubborn than a rock.They refused to turn back to God.
4. But I thought,“These are only the poor, foolish people.They have not learned the way of the Lord.They do not know what their God wants them to do.
5. So I will go to the leaders of Judah.I will talk to them.Surely they understand the way of the Lord.They know what God wants them to do.”But the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord.They broke their ties with him.
6. So a lion from the forest will attack them.A wolf from the desert will kill them.A leopard is hiding and waiting for them near their towns.It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city.This will happen because the people of Judah have sinned greatly.They have wandered away from the Lord many times.