Jeremiah 5:3-5

The Voice

³ Jeremiah: O Eternal One, aren’t You looking for truth and integrity?
        You struck them, but they did not flinch.
    You destroyed them, but they did not yield to Your correction.
        They wouldn’t change their ways.
    They have set their stony faces against You—
        defiant and determined, refusing to repent.

⁴ And I thought to myself, “How could they know any better?
    They are poor and senseless people, unfamiliar with the ways of the Eternal,
Unaware of what their God requires.
⁵ So I will go to their leaders and share what I see.
    They will do the right thing because they know the Eternal’s ways.
Surely, they will do what their God requires.”
    But to a person, I was wrong; leaders were no different;
They, too, had broken the yoke, burst the bonds,
    and pulled away from God’s guidance and correction.