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5. Not One Is Upright

¹ “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
   look around and consider,
   search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
   who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
   I will forgive this city.
² Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’
   still they are swearing falsely.”

    ³ LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
   You struck them, but they felt no pain;
   you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
   and refused to repent.
⁴ I thought, “These are only the poor;
   they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
   the requirements of their God.
⁵ So I will go to the leaders
   and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the LORD,
   the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
   and torn off the bonds.
⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
   a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
   to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
   and their backslidings many.

    ⁷ “Why should I forgive you?
   Your children have forsaken me
   and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
   yet they committed adultery
   and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
   each neighing for another man’s wife.
⁹ Should I not punish them for this?”
   declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself
   on such a nation as this?

    ¹⁰ “Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
   but do not destroy them completely.
Strip off her branches,
   for these people do not belong to the LORD.
¹¹ The people of Israel and the people of Judah
   have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.

    ¹² They have lied about the LORD;
   they said, “He will do nothing!
No harm will come to us;
   we will never see sword or famine.
¹³ The prophets are but wind
   and the word is not in them;
   so let what they say be done to them.”

¹⁴ Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says:

   “Because the people have spoken these words,
   I will make my words in your mouth a fire
   and these people the wood it consumes.
¹⁵ People of Israel,” declares the LORD,
   “I am bringing a distant nation against you—
an ancient and enduring nation,
   a people whose language you do not know,
   whose speech you do not understand.
¹⁶ Their quivers are like an open grave;
   all of them are mighty warriors.
¹⁷ They will devour your harvests and food,
   devour your sons and daughters;
they will devour your flocks and herds,
   devour your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
   the fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely. ¹⁹ And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’

    ²⁰ “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob
   and proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
   who have eyes but do not see,
   who have ears but do not hear:
²² Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD.
   “Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
   an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
   they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
²³ But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
   they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴ They do not say to themselves,
   ‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
   who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
²⁵ Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
   your sins have deprived you of good.

    ²⁶ “Among my people are the wicked
   who lie in wait like men who snare birds
   and like those who set traps to catch people.
²⁷ Like cages full of birds,
   their houses are full of deceit;
they have become rich and powerful
    ²⁸ and have grown fat and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit;
   they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;
   they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
²⁹ Should I not punish them for this?”
   declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself
   on such a nation as this?

    ³⁰ “A horrible and shocking thing
   has happened in the land:
³¹ The prophets prophesy lies,
   the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
   But what will you do in the end?

God again holds, as it were, a conference with them, and for this purpose, — that he might check all their complaints and close their mouths, lest they should object and say, that they were too severely treated. That this objection then might be removed, God repeats that he could not pardon such atrocious sins. And this principle is adopted, that it was impossible not to punish such wicked men who would not repent. For since God is the Judge of the world, he can no more surrender his judgment than his essence. As, then, the majesty of God and his office of a Judge are inseparably connected, the Prophet concludes, that what the Jews thought was impossible, that is, that they could escape unpunished, and yet continue to provoke God, as it were, by open war, with their dreadful sins: Should I not then visit for this, saith Jehovah?

Here is introduced the name of Jehovah. An earthly judge may pardon the ungodly and the worst of men; but this cannot be done by God; for whenever God pardons, he leads sinners to repentance: so that he never suffers sins to be unpunished. For he who repents becomes his own judge, and thus anticipates God’s judgment. Where then there is true conversion, God shews no indulgence to sins. But when persistency in sins is such, that they who are warned despise all instruction, it is impossible that God should forgive; as in that case he would renounce his own glory, which can never be. Should I not then visit for this, saith Jehovah?

And on such a nation as this should not vengeance my soul take? God speaks here after the manner of men, for he seeks no vengeance; and when he speaks of his soul, even this is not strictly suitable to him; but there is here nothing obscure; for what is meant is, that he is at enmity with wickedness, as it is said in Psalm 5:5, that he cannot bear iniquity. Since it is so, it follows that he must either be thrust from his celestial throne, or punishment must be inflicted on the wicked, who remain perverse and set no end nor bounds to their sins. Whenever then delusion creeps over us and Satan seeks by his allurements to lead us to forget God’s judgment, let this come to our minds — that God would not be God, except he were to punish sins. It is then necessary that he should punish sins or be displeased with us: but, as it has been said, he cannot be inconsistent with himself or dissimilar in his nature, since no change can take place in him. Either then his hand is stretched out to punish our sins, or his judgment must be anticipated by us. And how can this be done? By learning to bring sentence against ourselves, by becoming displeased with our sins.

When therefore our conversion will be of this kind, then God will be merciful to us; and thus he will not pardon our sins, as though he approved of them, or as though he did not exercise his office as a judge. But as I have said, what is here taught is rightly addressed to those who are either refractory, or whom Satan renders so stupid and forgetful, that they call not themselves to an account; in short, what is here said will render the ungodly, who go on in their perverseness, inexcusable, or it will awake those who are healable, that they may judge themselves, and not wait until God stretches forth his hand to execute extreme punishment.