Jeremiah 8:4–13

Sin and Punishment

⁴The Lord told me to say to his people, “When someone falls down, doesn’t he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn’t he turn back? ⁵Why then, my people, do you turn away from me without ever turning back? You cling to your idols and refuse to return to me. ⁶I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for his wickedness; not one of you has asked, ‘What have I done wrong?’ Everyone keeps on going his own way, like a horse rushing into battle. ⁷Even storks know when it is time to return; doves, swallows, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate. But, my people, you do not know the laws by which I rule you. ⁸How can you say that you are wise, and that you know my laws? Look, the laws have been changed by dishonest scribes. ⁹Your wise men are put to shame; they are confused and trapped. They have rejected my words; what wisdom have they got now? ^10*So I will give their fields to new owners and their wives to other men. Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly. Even prophets and priests cheat the people. ^11*They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well. ^12*My people, were you ashamed because you did these disgusting things? No, you were not ashamed at all; you don’t even know how to blush! And so you will fall as others have fallen; when I punish you, that will be the end of you. I, the Lord, have spoken.

¹³“I wanted to gather my people, as a farmer gathers a harvest; but they are like a vine with no grapes, like a fig tree with no figs; even the leaves have withered. Therefore, I have allowed outsiders to take over the land.”^g