Jeremiah 8–9

8“ ‘The Lord says: At that time they will remove from their tombs the bones of Judah’s kings and officers, priests and prophets, and the people of Jerusalem. ²The bones will be spread on the ground under the sun, moon, and stars that the people loved and served and went after and searched for and worshiped. No one will gather up the bones and bury them. So they will be like dung thrown on the ground. ³I will force the people of Judah to leave their homes and their land. Those of this evil family who are not dead will wish they were, says the Lord All-Powerful.’

Sin and Punishment

⁴“Say to the people of Judah: ‘This is what the Lord says:

When people fall down, don’t they get up again?

And when someone goes the wrong way, doesn’t he turn back?

⁵Why, then, have the people of Jerusalem gone the wrong way

and not turned back?

They believe their own lies

and refuse to turn around and come back.

⁶I have listened to them very carefully,

but they do not say what is right.

They do not feel sorry about their wicked ways,

saying, “What have I done?”

Each person goes his own way,

like a horse charging into a battle.

⁷Even the birds in the sky

know the right times to do things.

The storks, doves, swifts, and thrushes

know when it is time to migrate.

But my people don’t know

what the Lord wants them to do.

⁸“ ‘You keep saying, “We are wise,

because we have the teachings of the Lord.”

But actually, those who explain the Scriptures

have written lies with their pens.

⁹These wise teachers refused to listen to the word of the Lord,

so they are not really wise at all.

They will be ashamed.

They will be shocked and trapped.

¹⁰So I will give their wives to other men

and their fields to new owners.

Everyone, from the least important to the greatest,

is greedy for money.

Even the prophets and priests

all tell lies.

¹¹They tried to heal my people’s serious injuries

as if they were small wounds.

They said, “It’s all right, it’s all right.”

But really, it is not all right.

¹²They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act,

but they are not ashamed at all.

They don’t even know how to blush about their sins.

So they will fall, along with everyone else.

They will be thrown to the ground when I punish them, says the Lord.

¹³“ ‘I will take away their crops, says the Lord.

There will be no grapes on the vine

and no figs on the fig tree.

Even the leaves will dry up and die.

I will take away what I gave them.’ ”

¹⁴“Why are we just sitting here?

Let’s get together!

We have sinned against the Lord,

so he has given us poisoned water to drink.

Come, let’s run to the strong, walled cities.

The Lord our God has decided that we must die,

so let’s die there.

¹⁵We hoped to have peace,

but nothing good has come.

We hoped for a time when he would heal us,

but only terror has come.

¹⁶From the land of Dan,

the snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard.

The ground shakes from the neighing of their large horses.

They have come and destroyed

the land and everything in it,

the city and all who live there.”

¹⁷“Look! I am sending poisonous snakes to attack you.

These snakes cannot be charmed,

and they will bite you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Sadness

¹⁸God, you are my comfort when I am very sad

and when I am afraid.

¹⁹Listen to the sound of my people.

They cry from a faraway land:

“Isn’t the Lord still in Jerusalem?

Isn’t Jerusalem’s king still there?”

But God says, “Why did the people make me angry by worshiping idols,

useless foreign idols?”

²⁰And the people say, “Harvest time is over;

summer has ended,

and we have not been saved.”

²¹Because my people are crushed, I am crushed.

I cry loudly and am afraid for them.

²²Isn’t there balm in the land of Gilead?

Isn’t there a doctor there?

So why aren’t the hurts of my people healed?

9I wish my head were like a spring of water

and my eyes like a fountain of tears!

Then I could cry day and night

for my people who have been killed.

²I wish I had a place in the desert—

a house where travelers spend the night—

so I could leave my people.

I could go away from them,

because they are all unfaithful to God;

they are all turning against him.

Judah’s Failures

³“They use their tongues like a bow,

shooting lies from their mouths like arrows.

Lies, not truth,

have grown strong in the land.

They go from one evil thing to another.

They do not know who I am,” says the Lord.

⁴“Watch out for your friends,

and don’t trust your own relatives,

because every relative is a cheater,

and every friend tells lies about you.

⁵Everyone lies to his friend,

and no one speaks the truth.

The people of Judah have taught their tongues to lie.

They have become tired from sinning.

⁶Jeremiah, you live in the middle of lies.

With their lies the people refuse to know me,” says the Lord.

⁷So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says:

“I will test the people of Judah as a person tests metal in a fire.

I have no other choice,

because my people have sinned.

⁸Their tongues are like sharp arrows.

Their mouths speak lies.

Everyone speaks nicely to his neighbor,

but he is secretly planning to attack him.

⁹Shouldn’t I punish the people for doing this?” says the Lord.

“Shouldn’t I give a nation like this the punishment it deserves?”

¹⁰I, Jeremiah, will cry loudly for the mountains

and sing a funeral song for the empty fields.

They are empty, and no one passes through.

The mooing of cattle cannot be heard.

The birds have flown away,

and the animals are gone.

¹¹“I, the Lord, will make the city of Jerusalem a heap of ruins,

a home for wild dogs.

I will destroy the cities of Judah

so no one can live there.”

¹²What person is wise enough to understand these things? Is there someone who has been taught by the Lord who can explain them? Why was the land ruined? Why has it been made like an empty desert where no one goes?

¹³The Lord answered, “It is because Judah quit following my teachings that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them to do. ¹⁴Instead, they were stubborn and followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them to do. ¹⁵So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. ¹⁶I will scatter them through other nations that they and their ancestors never knew about. I will chase the people of Judah with the sword until they are all killed.”

¹⁷This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:

“Now, think about these things!

Call for the women who cry at funerals to come.

Send for those women who are good at that job.

¹⁸Let them come quickly

and cry loudly for us.

Then our eyes will fill with tears,

and streams of water will flow from our eyelids.

¹⁹The sound of loud crying is heard from Jerusalem:

‘We are truly ruined!

We are truly ashamed!

We must leave our land,

because our houses are in ruins.’ ”

²⁰Now, women of Judah, listen to the word of the Lord;

open your ears to hear the words of his mouth.

Teach your daughters how to cry loudly.

Teach one another a funeral song.

²¹Death has climbed in through our windows

and has entered our strong cities.

Death has taken away our children who play in the streets

and the young men who meet in the city squares.

²²Say, “This is what the Lord says:

‘The dead bodies of people will lie

in the open field like dung.

They will lie like grain a farmer has cut,

but there will be no one to gather them.’ ”

²³This is what the Lord says:

“The wise must not brag about their wisdom.

The strong must not brag about their strength.

The rich must not brag about their money.

²⁴But if people want to brag, let them brag

that they understand and know me.

Let them brag that I am the Lord,

and that I am kind and fair,

and that I do things that are right on earth.

This kind of bragging pleases me,” says the Lord.

²⁵The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh: ²⁶the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people who cut their hair short. The men in all those countries are not circumcised. And the whole family of Israel does not give itself to serving me.”