Jeremiah 8

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

1 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will ^abring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^bheavenly ▼

▼Lit host

lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^dnor buried; ^ethey will be like dung on the face of the ground. 3And ^fdeath will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^gplaces to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.

4 “You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Do people ^hfall and not get up?
Does one turn away and not ▼

▼Lit turn back

repent?
5 “Why has this people, Jerusalem,
^jTurned away in continual apostasy?
They ^khold on to deceit,
They ^lrefuse to return.
6 “I ^mhave listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
ⁿNo one repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
Like a ^ohorse charging into the battle.
7 “Even the stork in the sky
^pKnows her seasons;
And the ^qturtledove, the swallow, and the crane
Keep to the time of their ▼

▼Lit coming

migration;
But ^sMy people do not know
The judgment of the Lord.

8 “ ^tHow can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the Law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
9 “The wise men are ^uput to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have ^vrejected the word of the Lord,
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 “Therefore I will ^wgive their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is ^xgreedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest,
Everyone practices deceit.
11 “They have ^yhealed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
12 “Were they ^zashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
And they did not know how to be ashamed;
Therefore they will ^aafall among those who fall;
At the ^abtime of their punishment they will collapse,”
Says the Lord.

13 “I will ^accertainly snatch them away,” declares the Lord.
“There will be ^adno grapes on the vine
And ^aeno figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
14 Why are we sitting still?
^afAssemble yourselves, and let’s ^aggo into the fortified cities
And perish there,
For the Lord our God has doomed us
And given us ^ahpoisoned water to drink,
Because ^aiwe have sinned against the Lord.
15 We ^ajwaited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
16 From ^akDan there is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his ^alstallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and ^amdevour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
17 “For behold, I am ^ansending serpents among you,
Vipers for which there is ^aono charm;
And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

18 ▼

▼As in LXX and ancient versions

My ^aqsorrow is beyond healing,
My ^arheart is faint within me!
19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a ^asdistant land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they ^atprovoked Me with their carved images, with foreign ▼

▼Lit futilities

, ^avidols?”
20 “Harvest is past, summer is over,
And we are not saved.”
21 I am broken over the ^awbrokenness of the daughter of my people.
I ^axmourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no ^aybalm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
^azWhy then has not the ▼

▼Or healing

health of the daughter of my people ▼

▼Lit gone up

been restored?