Jeremiah 8–9

8“At that time,” declares^a Yahweh, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Judah from their graves. ²And they shall spread them out before the sun, and before the moon, and before all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and which they have gone after, and which they have inquired about, and to which they have bowed in worship. They shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. ³And death will be preferred to life by all the remaining of this evil clan^b in all the remaining places where I have driven them away,” declares^c Yahweh of hosts.

Yahweh Questions His People

⁴“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asks^d Yahweh:

“Do men fall and not stand up?

If one turns away does he not return?

⁵Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy?

They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.^e

⁶I 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.

⁷Even 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 ordinance^f of Yahweh.

⁸How 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.

⁹The 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?

¹⁰Therefore 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.

¹¹And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly,

saying,^h ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.

¹²Were 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

¹⁴Why 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.

¹⁵We hope for peace,

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.

¹⁷For 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.

¹⁹Look, 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?”

²⁰The harvest has passed,

the summer has come to an end,

and we have not received help.ⁿ

Yahweh’s Lament

²¹“Because of the wound of the daughter of my people I am broken down,

I mourn, horror has seized me.

²²Is 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.

²Oh 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.

³And they bend their tongue like their bow,

for falsehood and not truth is superior in the land,

for they go forth^d 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.

⁵And everyone deceives his neighbor,

and they do not speak the truth,

they have taught their tongues^f to speak lies,^g

they are tired from going astray.

⁶Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit,

upon^h deceit they refuse to know me,” declaresⁱ Yahweh.

⁷Therefore, 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?

⁸Their 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.

⁹Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares^k Yahweh,

“On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?

¹⁰For 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 sounds^l of cattle are not heard,

from the birds^m of heaven to the animalsⁿ

they have fled, they are gone.

¹¹And 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

¹²Who 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 desert^p so that no one passes through.”

The Nation is Judged by Yahweh

¹³And 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, ¹⁴but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors^r taught them.” ¹⁵Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison, ¹⁶and 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.”

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come,

and send for the skillful women, so that they come.

¹⁸And let them hasten,

and let them lift up wailing over us,

so that our eyes may melt with tears,

and our eyelids may flow with water.

¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion,

‘How we are devastated!

We are very ashamed because we have left the land,

because they have overthrown our dwelling places.’

²⁰For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh,

and let your ear receive the word of his mouth,

and teach your daughters a lamentation,

and each woman her neighbor a lament.

²¹For death has come into our windows,

it has entered into our fortresses,

to cut off the children^t from the streets,^u

the young men from the public squares.

²²Speak, ‘thus declares^v Yahweh:

“The dead body of the human will fall

like dung upon the surface of the field,

and like cut grain behind the reaper,

and there is no one who gathers.” ’ ”

The Things in Which Yahweh Delights

²³Thus says Yahweh,

“The wise man must not boast in his wisdom,

and the warrior must not boast in his might,

the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.

²⁴But only^w in this must the one who boasts boast,

that he has insight,

and that he knows me,

that I am Yahweh,

showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth,

for in these things I delight,” declares^x Yahweh.

The Way of the Nations

²⁵“Look, days are coming,” declares^y Yahweh, “and I will call into account all those who are circumcised in the foreskin: ²⁶Egypt, Judah, and Edom, and the Ammonites,^z and Moab, and all those who are trimmed to the side, those who live in the desert,^a for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”