[5:1] People of Jerusalem, run through your streets! Look around! See for yourselves! Search the marketplaces! Can you find one person who does what is right and tries to be faithful to God? If you can, the Lord will forgive Jerusalem.
[5:2] Even though you claim to worship the Lord, you do not mean what you say.
[5:3] Surely the Lord looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.
[5:4] Then I thought, “These are only the poor and ignorant. They behave foolishly; they don't know what their God requires, what the Lord wants them to do.
[5:5] I will go to the people in power and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what the Lord wants them to do.” But all of them have rejected the Lord's authority and refuse to obey him.
[5:6] That is why lions from the forest will kill them; wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces, and leopards will prowl through their towns. If those people go out, they will be torn apart because their sins are numerous and time after time they have turned from God.
[5:7] The Lord asked, “Why should I forgive the sins of my people? They have abandoned me and have worshiped gods that are not real. I fed my people until they were full, but they committed adultery and spent their time with prostitutes.
[5:8] They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire, each lusting for his neighbor's wife.
[5:9] Shouldn't I punish them for these things and take revenge on a nation such as this?
[5:10] I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards, but not to destroy them completely. I will tell them to strip away the branches, because those branches are not mine.
[5:11] The people of Israel and Judah have betrayed me completely. I, the Lord, have spoken.”