Jer 8, Jer 19 | ESV | STEP | 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 .

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. 2 And 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?
5 Why 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.
7 Even 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.
11 They have healed ^vthe wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were 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.
13 When 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.
17 For 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.
19 Behold, 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.”
21 For 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 19

The Broken Flask

1 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^axa potter’s earthenware ^ayflask, and take some of ^azthe elders of the people and some of ^bathe elders of the priests, 2 and go out ^bbto the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ^bc‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^bdO kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that ^bethe ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 ^bfBecause the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; ^bgand because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 ^bhand have built the high places of Baal ^bito burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^bjwhich I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, ^bkbehold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^blthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place ^bmI will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^bnand will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^boI will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city ^bpa horror, ^bqa thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 ^brAnd I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^bsin the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

10 “Then ^btyou shall break ^buthe flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^bvas one breaks a potter’s vessel, ^bwso that it can never be mended. ^bxMen shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. 12 Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^bylike Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah— ^bzall the houses on whose ^caroofs offerings have been offered ^cbto all the host of heaven, and ^ccdrink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^cdlike the place of Topheth.’”

14 Then Jeremiah came from ^ceTopheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^cfand he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, ^cgbecause they have stiffened their neck, ^chrefusing to hear my words.”