JeremiahChapter 8

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¹"At that time," declares the LORD, "the bones of the kings of Judah will be taken out of their graves. So will the bones of the officials, the priests, the prophets, and the people of Jerusalem. ²Their bones will be spread out under the sun and moon and all the stars of the sky. The people loved those things. They served them, followed them, asked them for advice, and worshiped them. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground. ³In all the places where I have driven them, those who are left from this evil family will choose death over life," declares the LORD of Hosts. ⁴"So tell them that this is what the LORD says:
'When people fall down, don't they get up again?
When someone turns away, doesn't he come back? ⁵Then why have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem keep turning away?
They hold on tight to lies.
They refuse to come back. ⁶I have listened carefully.
They do not say what is right.
No one is sorry for his evil.
No one asks, "What have I done?"
Each one keeps going his own way,
like a horse charging into battle. ⁷Even the stork in the sky
knows the seasons set for her.
The dove, the swift, and the thrush
know when it is time to fly away.
But my people do not know
what the LORD requires. ⁸How can you say, "We are wise.
We have the Law of the LORD"?
The truth is that the scribes
have used their lying pens to write lies. ⁹The wise will be put to shame.
They will be upset and trapped.
They have rejected the word of the LORD.
So what wisdom do they really have? ¹⁰So I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
For from the least of them to the greatest,
all of them are greedy for money.
From prophet to priest,
all of them cheat and lie. ¹¹They treat the wound of my dear people
as if it were not serious.
They say, "Peace, peace,"
when there is no peace at all. ¹²Are they ashamed of the disgusting things they have done?
No, they are not ashamed at all.
They do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall with those who fall.
When I punish them, they will be brought down,
says the LORD. ¹³I will take away their harvest,
declares the LORD.
There will be no grapes on the vine
and no figs on the tree.
Even the leaves will dry up.
What I gave them will be taken from them.'" ¹⁴Why are we just sitting here?
Come together!
Let's run to the walled cities and die there!
For the LORD our God has doomed us to die.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵We hoped for peace,
but nothing good has come.
We hoped for a time of healing,
but there was only terror. ¹⁶The snorting of the enemy's horses
is heard from Dan.
At the neighing of their strong horses
the whole land shakes.
They come to eat up the land and everything in it,
the city and everyone who lives there. ¹⁷"Look, I will send snakes among you,
poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed.
They will bite you," declares the LORD. ¹⁸My sorrow cannot be healed.
My heart is sick inside me. ¹⁹Listen to the cry of my dear people
from a land far away:
"Is the LORD no longer in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?"
"Why have they made me angry with their carved idols,
with their worthless foreign gods?" ²⁰"The harvest is over.
The summer has ended.
But we have not been saved." ²¹My dear people are broken,
so I am crushed.
I mourn, and horror has taken hold of me. ²²Is there no healing balm in Gilead?
Is there no doctor there?
Then why haven't my dear people
been made well?