Bible in Basic English
Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.
For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it.
As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth.
They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land;
The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?
— Jeremiah 5:25-1964, Bible in Basic English
“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? ”
Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it.
But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone.
And they do not say in their hearts, Now let us give worship to our God, who gives the rain, the winter and the spring rain, at the right time; who keeps for us the ordered weeks of the grain-cutting.
Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.
For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it.
As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth.
They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights.
Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?
A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land;
The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?