Jeremiah 8:4–13

⁴“You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:

Do people fall and not get up again?^t

If they turn away, do they not return?

⁵Why have these people turned away?

Why is Jerusalem always turning away?

They take hold of deceit;^u

they refuse to return.^v

⁶I have paid careful attention.

They do not speak what is right.

No one regrets his evil,

asking, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone has stayed his course

like a horse rushing into battle.^w

⁷Even storks in the sky

know their seasons.

Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes^D

are aware of their migration,

but my people do not know

the requirements of the Lord.^x

PUNISHMENT FOR JUDAH’S LEADERS

⁸“How can you claim, ‘We are wise;

the law of the Lord is with us’?

In fact, the lying pen of scribes^y

has produced falsehood.

⁹The wise will be put to shame;

they will be dismayed and snared.

They have rejected the word of the Lord,^z

so what wisdom do they really have?

¹⁰Therefore, I will give^aa their wives to other men,

their fields to new occupants,

for from the least to the greatest,^ab

everyone is making profit dishonestly.

From prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

¹¹They have treated the brokenness

of my dear people superficially,

claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace.

¹²Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?

They weren’t at all ashamed.

They can no longer feel humiliation.

Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.

When I punish them, they will collapse,”^ac

says the Lord.

¹³“I will gather them and bring them to an end.”^Ba

This is the Lord’s declaration.

“There will be no grapes on the vine,

no figs on the fig tree,

and even the leaf will wither.

Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”