ay[See ver. 1 above]
cz[See ver. 23 above]
de[See ver. 25 above]
dj[See ver. 28 above]
dr[See ver. 33 above]
du[See ver. 33 above]

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 qHow 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 23

The Righteous Branch

1 axWoe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning aythe shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. azBehold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 baThen I will gather the remnant of my flock bbout of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, bcand they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 bdI will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 beBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous bfBranch, and bghe shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved, and bhIsrael will bidwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: bj‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

7 bkTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he
Septuagint; Hebrew I
had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

9Concerning the prophets:

bmMy heart is broken within me;
bnall my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 boFor the land is full of adulterers;
bpbecause of the curse bqthe land mourns,
and brthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
bsTheir course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 btBoth prophet and priest are ungodly;
even buin my house I have found their evil,

declares the Lord.
12 bvTherefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths bwin the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
bxin the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.
13In the prophets of bySamaria
bzI saw an unsavory thing:
cathey prophesied by Baal
cband led my people Israel astray.
14But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
ccthey commit adultery and walk in lies;
cdthey strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
ceall of them have become like Sodom to me,
cfand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
cgBehold, I will feed them with bitter food
chand give them cipoisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
16Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, cjfilling you with vain hopes. ckThey speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, cl‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who cmstubbornly follows his own heart, they say, cnNo disaster shall come upon you.’”

18 For cowho among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 cpBehold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
cqa whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 crThe anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and csaccomplished
the intents of his heart.
ctIn the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21 cu“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 cvBut if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
cwand they would have turned them from their evil way,
and cxfrom the evil of their deeds.
23 cy“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 czCan a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. daDo I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25I have heard what the prophets have said dbwho prophesy lies in my name, saying, dc‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26How long shall there be lies in the heart of ddthe prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27who think to make my people forget my name deby their dreams that they tell one another, even as their dffathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 dgLet the prophet who has a dream dhtell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. diWhat has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 djIs not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and dklike a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 dlTherefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and dmlead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when dnI did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 doWhen one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,
Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden?
and dqI will cast you off, declares the Lord.’
34And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ drI will punish that man and his household. 35Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and dsyou pervert the words of dtthe living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and ducast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 dvAnd I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and dwperpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

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