Jeremiah 8:4–9:16
4 “And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asksd Yahweh:
“Do men fall and not stand up?
If one turns away does he not return?
5 Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy?
They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.e
6 I have listened attentively,
and I have listened.
They do not speak honestly,
there is no man who regrets his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’
All of them are turning to their ways of running,
like a horse plunging into battle.
7 Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time,
and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird,
they observe the time of their coming.
But my people do not know the ordinancef of Yahweh.
8 How can you say, ‘We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us’?
Look, surely ⌊the lying stylus of the scribes⌋g has made it a lie.
9 The wise will be put to shame,
they will be dismayed,
and they will get taken.
Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh,
and what is wisdom to them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others,
their fields to conquerors,
because from the smallest to the greatest,
all of them make profit for unlawful gain,
from prophet to priest,
all of them practice deceit.
11 And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly,
⌊saying⌋,h ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed, for they had committed a detestable thing?
What’s worse,i they were not ashamed at all,
and they did not know to feel humiliated.
⌊Therefore⌋j they will fall among those who fall;
at the time of their punishment they will stumble,” says Yahweh.
13 “⌊I will take away their harvest⌋,”k ⌊declares⌋l Yahweh.
“There are no grapes on the vine,
and there are no figs on the fig tree,
and the leaves wither,
and what I gave to them passed over them.” ’ ”
The Nation Longs for Yahweh’s Help
14 Why are we sitting?
Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities,
and let us perish there,
for Yahweh our God has caused us to perish,
and has provided drink for us, water of poison,
because we have sinned against Yahweh.
but there is no good,
for a time of healing,
but there is terror.
16 “From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses,
from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes,
for they come and devour the land,
and that which fills the city,
and those who live in it.
17 For look, I am letting loose among you snakes,
adders for which there is no incantation,
and they will bite you,” ⌊declares⌋m Yahweh.
18 “My comfort is gone from me,
sorrow is on me,
my heart is sick.
19 Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people
from a distant land,
‘Is Yahweh not in Zion?
Is her king not in her?’
Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with idols of a foreign land?”
the summer has come to an end,
and we have not received help.n
21 “Because of the wound of the daughter of my people I am broken down,
I mourn, horror has seized me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no healer there?
Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?
9 a ⌊Oh that my head were waters⌋,b
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night,
for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 ⌊Oh that I had⌋c in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers,
that I may leave my people and go from them,
for all of them are adulterers,
a band of traitors.
3 And they bend their tongue like their bow,
for falsehood and not truth is superior in the land,
for they go forthd from evil to evil,
and they do not know me,” ⌊declares⌋e Yahweh.
A Nation Characterized by Deceit
4 “Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor,
and you must not trust in any brother,
for everyone surely betrays,
and every neighbor goes about with slander.
5 And everyone deceives his neighbor,
and they do not speak the truth,
they have taught their tonguesf to speak lies,g
they are tired from going astray.
6 Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit,
uponh deceit they refuse to know me,” ⌊declares⌋i Yahweh.
7 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“Look, I am about to refine them,
and I will test them,
for what else can I do,
because of the ⌊presence⌋j of the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is a murderous arrow,
it speaks deceit.
With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor,
but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.
9 Because of these things shall I not punish them?” ⌊declares⌋k Yahweh,
“On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?
10 For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing,
and for the pastures of the desert a lament,
because they are laid waste so that no man passes through.
And the soundsl of cattle are not heard,
from the birdsm of heaven to the animalsn
they have fled, they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals,
and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, ⌊without inhabitants⌋.o
12 Who is the wise man that can understand this?
And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it?
Why is the land destroyed?
It is laid waste like the desertp so that no one passes through.”
The Nation is Judged by Yahweh
13 And Yahweh said, “Because of their forsaking my law that I set ⌊before⌋q them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it, 14 but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestorsr taught them.” 15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison, 16 and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors,s and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end.”