Jeremiah 8:5–12

5 Why has this people dslidden back,

Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?

eThey hold fast to deceit,

fThey refuse to return.

6 gI 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.

9 lThe wise men are ashamed,

They are dismayed and taken.

Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;

So mwhat wisdom do they have?

10 Therefore 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.

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

Saying, q‘Peace, peace!’

When there is no peace.

12 Were 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.