Olam 2

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, <i>and</i> the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, <i>that</i> bewaileth herself, <i>that</i> spreadeth her hands, <i>saying</i>, Woe <i>is</i> me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be <i>any</i> that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

O LORD, <i>are</i> not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, <i>but</i> they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Therefore I said, Surely these <i>are</i> poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, <i>nor</i> the judgment of their God.

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, <i>and</i> the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, <i>and</i> burst the bonds.

Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, <i>and</i> a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, <i>and</i> their backslidings are increased.

How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by <i>them that are</i> no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

They were <i>as</i> fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.

Shall I not visit for these <i>things</i>? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?