Jeremiah 8:18–9:2

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.