Jeremiah 8–9

^1–28“And when the time comes”—God’s Decree!—“I’ll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They’ll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they’ve been so infatuated with all these years, following their ‘lucky stars’ in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to re-enter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.

³“Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead.” Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

To Know Everything but God’s Word

^4–7“Tell them this, God’s Message:

“ ‘Do people fall down and not get up?

Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?

So why does this people go backward,

and just keep on going—backward!

They stubbornly hold on to their illusions,

refuse to change direction.

I listened carefully

but heard not so much as a whisper.

No one expressed one word of regret.

Not a single “I’m sorry” did I hear.

They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly

banging their heads against a brick wall.

Cranes know when it’s time

to move south for winter.

And robins, warblers, and bluebirds

know when it’s time to come back again.

But my people? My people know nothing,

not the first thing of God and his rule.

^8–9“ ‘How can you say, “We know the score.

We’re the proud owners of God’s revelation”?

Look where it’s gotten you—stuck in illusion.

Your religion experts have taken you for a ride!

Your know-it-alls will be unmasked,

caught and shown up for what they are.

Look at them! They know everything but God’s Word.

Do you call that “knowing”?

^10–12“ ‘So here’s what will happen to the know-it-alls:

I’ll make them wifeless and homeless.

Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,

little people and big people alike.

Prophets and priests and everyone in between

twist words and doctor truth.

My dear Daughter—my people—broken, shattered,

and yet they put on Band-Aids,

Saying, “It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.”

But things are not “just fine”!

Do you suppose they are embarrassed

over this outrage?

Not really. They have no shame.

They don’t even know how to blush.

There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom

and there’s no getting up.

As far as I’m concerned,

they’re finished.’ ” God has spoken.

¹³“ ‘I went out to see if I could salvage anything’ ”

—God’s Decree—

“ ‘but found nothing:

Not a grape, not a fig,

just a few withered leaves.

I’m taking back

everything I gave them.’ ”

^14–16So why are we sitting here, doing nothing?

Let’s get organized.

Let’s go to the big city

and at least die fighting.

We’ve gotten God’s ultimatum:

We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t—

damned because of our sin against him.

We hoped things would turn out for the best,

but it didn’t happen that way.

We were waiting around for healing—

and terror showed up!

From Dan at the northern borders

we hear the hooves of horses,

Horses galloping, horses neighing.

The ground shudders and quakes.

They’re going to swallow up the whole country.

Towns and people alike—fodder for war.

¹⁷“ ‘What’s more, I’m dispatching

poisonous snakes among you,

Snakes that can’t be charmed,

snakes that will bite you and kill you.’ ”

God’s Decree!

Advancing from One Evil to the Next

^18–22I drown in grief.

I’m heartsick.

Oh, listen! Please listen! It’s the cry of my dear people

reverberating through the country.

Is God no longer in Zion?

Has the King gone away?

Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods,

their silly, imported no-gods before me?

The crops are in, the summer is over,

but for us nothing’s changed.

We’re still waiting to be rescued.

For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken.

I weep, seized by grief.

Are there no healing ointments in Gilead?

Isn’t there a doctor in the house?

So why can’t something be done

to heal and save my dear, dear people?

^1–29I wish my head were a well of water

and my eyes fountains of tears

So I could weep day and night

for casualties among my dear, dear people.

At times I wish I had a wilderness hut,

a backwoods cabin,

Where I could get away from my people

and never see them again.

They’re a faithless, feckless bunch,

a congregation of degenerates.

^3–6“Their tongues shoot out lies

like a bow shoots arrows—

A mighty army of liars,

the sworn enemies of truth.

They advance from one evil to the next,

ignorant of me.”

God’s Decree.

“Be wary of even longtime neighbors.

Don’t even trust your grandmother!

Brother schemes against brother,

like old cheating Jacob.

Friend against friend

spreads malicious gossip.

Neighbors gyp neighbors,

never telling the truth.

They’ve trained their tongues to tell lies,

and now they can’t tell the truth.

They pile wrong upon wrong, stack lie upon lie,

and refuse to know me.”

God’s Decree.

^7–9Therefore, God-of-the-Angel-Armies says:

“Watch this! I’ll melt them down

and see what they’re made of.

What else can I do

with a people this wicked?

Their tongues are poison arrows!

Deadly lies stream from their mouths.

Neighbor greets neighbor with a smile,

‘Good morning! How’re things?’

while scheming to do away with him.

Do you think I’m going to stand around and do nothing?”

God’s Decree.

“Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures

against a people like this?

^10–11“I’m lamenting the loss of the mountain pastures.

I’m chanting dirges for the old grazing grounds.

They’ve become deserted wastelands too dangerous for travelers.

No sounds of sheep bleating or cattle mooing.

Birds and wild animals, all gone.

Nothing stirring, no sounds of life.

I’m going to make Jerusalem a pile of rubble,

fit for nothing but stray cats and dogs.

I’m going to reduce Judah’s towns to piles of ruins

where no one lives!”

¹²I asked, “Is there anyone around bright enough to tell us what’s going on here? Anyone who has the inside story from God and can let us in on it?

“Why is the country wasted?

“Why no travelers in this desert?”

^13–15God’s answer: “Because they abandoned my plain teaching. They wouldn’t listen to anything I said, refused to live the way I told them to. Instead they lived any way they wanted and took up with the Baal gods, who they thought would give them what they wanted—following the example of their parents.” And this is the consequence. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so:

“I’ll feed them with pig slop.

“I’ll give them poison to drink.

¹⁶“Then I’ll scatter them far and wide among godless peoples that neither they nor their parents have ever heard of, and I’ll send Death in pursuit until there’s nothing left of them.”

A Life That Is All Outside but No Inside

^17–19A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Look over the trouble we’re in and call for help.

Send for some singers who can help us mourn our loss.

Tell them to hurry—

to help us express our loss and lament,

Help us get our tears flowing,

make tearful music of our crying.

Listen to it!

Listen to that torrent of tears out of Zion:

‘We’re a ruined people,

we’re a shamed people!

We’ve been driven from our homes

and must leave our land!’ ”

^20–21Mourning women! Oh, listen to God’s Message!

Open your ears. Take in what he says.

Teach your daughters songs for the dead

and your friends the songs of heartbreak.

Death has climbed in through the window,

broken into our bedrooms.

Children on the playgrounds drop dead,

and young men and women collapse at their games.

²²Speak up! “God’s Message:

“ ‘Dead bodies everywhere, scattered at random

like sheep and goat dung in the fields,

Like wheat cut down by reapers

and left to rot where it falls.’ ”

^23–24God’s Message:

“Don’t let the wise brag of their wisdom.

Don’t let heroes brag of their exploits.

Don’t let the rich brag of their riches.

If you brag, brag of this and this only:

That you understand and know me.

I’m God, and I act in loyal love.

I do what’s right and set things right and fair,

and delight in those who do the same things.

These are my trademarks.”

God’s Decree.

^25–26“Stay alert! It won’t be long now”—God’s Decree!—“when I will personally deal with everyone whose life is all outside but no inside: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab. All these nations are big on performance religion—including Israel, who is no better.”