Jeremiah 8

1“At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs. 2And they shall be spread ^abefore the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. ^bAnd they shall not be gathered or buried. ^cThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. 3 ^dDeath shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family ^ein all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.

Sin and Treachery

4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^fWhen men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
5Why then has this people ^gturned away
in perpetual ^hbacksliding?
ⁱThey hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 ^jI have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
^klike a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and ^lthe turtledove, ^mswallow, and crane ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

keep the time of their coming,
^obut my people know not
the rules ▼

▼Or just decrees

of the Lord.
8 ^q“How 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 ^rThe wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed ^sand taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
10 ^tTherefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone ^uis greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11They have healed ^vthe wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, ^wthey were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
^xTherefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the Lord.
13When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are ^yno grapes on the vine,
^znor figs on the fig tree;
^aaeven the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.” ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

14 Why do we sit still?
^acGather together; ^adlet us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has ^aegiven us ^afpoisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 ^agWe looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
16 ^ah“The snorting of their horses is heard ^aifrom Dan;
at the sound of the neighing ^ajof their stallions
^akthe whole land quakes.
They come ^aland devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
17For behold, I am sending among you ^amserpents,
adders ^anthat cannot be charmed,
^aoand they shall bite you,”

declares the Lord.

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me; ▼

▼Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

^aqmy heart is sick within me.
19Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
from ^arthe length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
^asIs her King not in her?”
^at“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
and with their foreign idols?”
20“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21For the wound of ^authe daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
^avI mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no ^awbalm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?

Jeremiah 13

The Ruined Loincloth

1Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and ^axput it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” 2So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. 3And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, 4“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, ^aygo to the Euphrates and hide it there in ^aza cleft of the rock.” 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there ^bathe loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took ^bbthe loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was ^bcspoiled; it was ^bdgood for nothing.

8Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9“Thus says the Lord: ^beEven so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great ^bfpride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, ^bgwho stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is ^bhgood for nothing. 11For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, ^bithat they might be for me a people, ^bja name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

The Jars Filled with Wine

12“You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that ^bkevery jar will be filled with wine?’ 13Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^blBehold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: ^bmthe kings who sit on David’s throne, ^bnthe priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 14And I will ^bodash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”

Exile Threatened

15 Hear and give ear; be not proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 ^bpGive glory to the Lord your God
^bqbefore he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the twilight mountains,
and ^brwhile you look for light
he turns it into gloom
and makes it ^bsdeep darkness.
17But if you will not listen,
^btmy soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,
because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to ^buthe king and ^bvthe queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for ^bwyour beautiful crown
has come down from your head.”
19 ^bxThe cities of the Negeb are shut up,
with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.
20 “Lift up your eyes ^byand see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?
21What will you say when they set as head over you
those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?
^bzWill not pangs take hold of you
like those of a woman in labor?
22And if you say in your heart,
^ca‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that ^cbyour skirts are lifted up
and you suffer violence.
23 ^ccCan the Ethiopian change his skin
or ^cdthe leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
24I will scatter you ▼

▼Hebrew them

^cflike chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
25 ^cgThis is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, declares the Lord,
because ^chyou have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
26 ^ciI myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.
27I have seen ^cjyour abominations,
your adulteries and ^ckneighings, your lewd whorings,
^clon the hills in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be ^cmbefore you are made clean?”