Jeremiah 8:4–13

The Peril of False Teaching

⁴“Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Will they fall and not rise?

Will one turn away and not return?

⁵Why has this people ^dslidden back,

Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?

^eThey hold fast to deceit,

^fThey refuse to return.

^6gI listened and heard,

But they do not speak aright.

^hNo man repented of his wickedness,

Saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turned to his own course,

As the horse rushes into the battle.

⁷“Even ⁱthe stork in the heavens

Knows her appointed times;

And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow

Observe the time of their coming.

But ^jMy people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁸“How can you say, ‘We are wise,

^kAnd the law of the Lord is with us’?

Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.

^9lThe wise men are ashamed,

They are dismayed and taken.

Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;

So ^mwhat wisdom do they have?

¹⁰Therefore ⁿI will give their wives to others,

And their fields to those who will inherit them;

Because from the least even to the greatest

Everyone is given to ^ocovetousness;

From the prophet even to the priest

Everyone deals falsely.

¹¹For they have ^phealed the hurt of the daughter of My people ²slightly,

Saying, ^q‘Peace, peace!’

When there is no peace.

¹²Were they ^rashamed when they had committed abomination?

No! They were not at all ashamed,

Nor did they know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

In the time of their punishment

They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹³“I will surely ³consume them,” says the Lord.

“No grapes shall be ^son the vine,

Nor figs on the ^tfig tree,

And the leaf shall fade;

And the things I have given them shall ^upass away from them.” ’ ”