Jeremiah 8:4–13

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.’ ”