Jeremiah 8:4–13

⁴“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh,

“Do men ^afall and not get up again?

Does one turn away and not ¹turn back?

⁵“Why then has this people, Jerusalem,

^1aTurned away in continual faithlessness?

They ^bhold fast to deceit;

They ^crefuse to return.

⁶“I ^ahave given heed and heard,

They have spoken what is not right;

^bNo man regretted his evil,

Saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turned to his course,

Like a ^chorse charging into the battle.

⁷“Even the stork in the sky

^aKnows her seasons;

And the ^bturtledove and the swift and the crane

Keep the time of their ¹migration;

But ^cMy people do not know

The legal judgment of Yahweh.

⁸“^aHow can you say, ‘We are wise,

And the law of Yahweh is with us’?

But behold, the lying pen of the scribes

Has made it into a lie.

⁹“The wise men are ^aput to shame;

They are dismayed and captured;

Behold, they have ^brejected the word of Yahweh,

And what kind of wisdom do they have?

¹⁰“Therefore I will ^agive their wives to others,

Their fields to ¹new possessors,

Because from the least even to the greatest

Everyone is ^bgreedy for gain;

From the prophet even to the priest

Everyone practices lying.

¹¹“They ^aheal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

But there is no peace.

¹²“Were they ^aashamed because of the abomination they had done?

They certainly were not ashamed,

And they did not know how to feel dishonor;

Therefore they shall ^bfall among those who fall;

At the ^ctime of their ¹punishment they shall be brought down,”

Says Yahweh.

¹³“I will ^asurely gather them up,” declares Yahweh;

“There will be ^bno grapes on the vine

And ^cno figs on the fig tree,

And the leaf will wither;

And what I have given them will pass away.” ’ ”