Jerusalem Refused to Repent
1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
if you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
that I may pardon her.
2 Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
yet they fswear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
You have gstruck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to htake correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the ijustice of their God.
5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had jburst the bonds.
6 Therefore a klion from the forest shall strike them down;
a lwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
A mleopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their apostasies are great.
7 “How can I pardon you?
Your children have nforsaken me
and have osworn by those who are pno gods.
When I fed them to the full,
they committed adultery
and trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
each qneighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9 rShall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
and shall I not savenge myself
on a nation such as this?
25 kFor lcircumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 mSo, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded1 as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically2 uncircumcised but keeps the law will ncondemn you who have the owritten code3 and circumcision but break the law. 28 For pno one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and qcircumcision is a matter of the heart, rby the Spirit, not by the letter. sHis praise is not from man but from God.
God’s Righteousness Upheld
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, tthe Jews were entrusted with the uoracles of God. 3 vWhat if some were unfaithful? wDoes their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
x“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, ywhat shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could zGod judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And awhy not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
No One Is Righteous
9 What then? Are we Jews4 any better off?5 No, not at all. For we have already charged that ball, both cJews and dGreeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
e“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 f“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
g“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 h“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 i“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 j“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Witnesses to Jesus
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and pmy judgment is just, because I seek qnot my own will but rthe will of him who sent me. 31 If I salone tbear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You usent to John, and he has vborne witness to the wtruth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may xbe saved. 35 He was a burning and yshining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me zto accomplish, the very works that I am doing, abear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself bborne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, chis form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word dabiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has esent. 39 You fsearch the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that gbear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to hcome to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God iwithin you. 43 I have come jin my Father’s name, and you kdo not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive lglory from one another and do not mseek the nglory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, oon whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for phe wrote of me. 47 But qif you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
