Judah’s Sin and Punishment
1 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2 They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth. 3 Death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says Lord of Hosts.
4 “Moreover you shall tell them, ‘The Lord says:
“Do men fall and not rise up again?
Does one turn away and not return?
5 Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back
by continuous backsliding?
They cling to deceit.
They refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard,
but they did not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his course,
like a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows the seasons.
The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane
observe the time of their migration,
but my people do not know the law of the Lord.
8 How do you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us?’
But the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie.
9 The wise men are disappointed.
They are dismayed and trapped.
They have rejected the word of the Lord.
What kind of wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to those who will possess them.
For everyone from the least to the greatest is given to covetousness,
from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely.
11 They have superficially dressed the wounds
of the daughter of my people, saying,
‘Peace, peace.’ when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed.
They could not blush.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall.
In the time of their visitation
they will be cast down,” says the Lord.
13 I will utterly consume them, says the Lord.
No grapes will be on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and the leaf will fade.
The things that I have given them
will pass away from them.”
The Response of the People
14 Why do we sit still?
Assemble yourselves!
Let us enter into the fortified cities,
and let us be silent there,
for the Lord our God has made us silent
and given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came,
and for a time of healing,
but instead there was terror!
16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan.
The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing steeds,
for they have come and have devoured the land and all that is in it,
the city and those who dwell therein.
17 “For I will send serpents,
poisonous vipers among you,
which will not be charmed,
and they will bite you,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah Weeps for His People
18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!
My heart is faint within me.
19 The voice of the daughter’s cry of my people
from a land that is very far off,
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger
with their engraved images,
and with foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past.
The summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the pain of the daughter of my people,
I hurt. I mourn.
Dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is the health of the daughter of my people not recovered?