Jeremiah 8:4–13

Deception by False Prophets

⁴“Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says:

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

When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?

⁵Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?

Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?

They cling tightly to their lies

and will not turn around.

⁶I listen to their conversations

and don’t hear a word of truth.

Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?

Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”?

No! All are running down the path of sin

as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!

⁷Even the stork that flies across the sky

knows the time of her migration,

as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.

They all return at the proper time each year.

But not my people!

They do not know the Lord’s laws.

⁸“ ‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,”

when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?

⁹These wise teachers will fall

into the trap of their own foolishness,

for they have rejected the word of the Lord.

Are they so wise after all?

¹⁰I will give their wives to others

and their farms to strangers.

From the least to the greatest,

their lives are ruled by greed.

Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that.

They are all frauds.

¹¹They offer superficial treatments

for my people’s mortal wound.

They give assurances of peace

when there is no peace.

¹²Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions?

Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush!

Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered.

They will be brought down when I punish them,

says the Lord.

¹³I will surely consume them.

There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes.

Their fruit trees will all die.

Whatever I gave them will soon be gone.

I, the Lord, have spoken!’