Jeremiah 8:4–13

Sin and Treachery

⁴“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:

^yWhen men fall, do they not rise again?

If one turns away, does he not return?

⁵Why then has this people ^zturned away

in perpetual ^abacksliding?

^bThey hold fast to deceit;

they refuse to return.

^6cI have paid attention and listened,

but they have not spoken rightly;

no man relents of his evil,

saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turns to his own course,

^dlike a horse plunging headlong into battle.

⁷Even the stork in the heavens

knows her times,

and ^ethe turtledove, ^fswallow, and crane¹

keep the time of their coming,

^gbut my people know not

the rules² of the Lord.

^8h“How can you say, ‘We are wise,

and the law of the Lord is with us’?

But behold, the lying pen of the scribes

has made it into a lie.

⁹ⁱThe wise men shall be put to shame;

they shall be dismayed ^jand taken;

behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,

so what wisdom is in them?

^10kTherefore I will give their wives to others

and their fields to conquerors,

because from the least to the greatest

everyone ^lis greedy for unjust gain;

from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

¹¹They have healed ^mthe wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace.

¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?

No, ⁿthey were not at all ashamed;

they did not know how to blush.

^oTherefore they shall fall among the fallen;

when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the Lord.

¹³When I would gather them, declares the Lord,

there are ^qno grapes on the vine,

^rnor figs on the fig tree;

^seven the leaves are withered,

and what I gave them has passed away from them.”³