8
1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “they will take from their graves 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. 2 They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they loved, which they served, which they followed, which they sought, and to which they bowed down. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. 3 All the remnant left of this evil clan will choose death over life, in all the places where I have driven those who remain,” declares the LORD of hosts.
4 “Tell them: This is what the LORD says: When people fall, do they not get up?
When someone turns away, does he not return?
5 Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in perpetual apostasy?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 I have listened attentively, but they do not speak rightly.
No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Each returns to his course like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times;
the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane keep the time of their coming.
But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
8 How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’?
Look, the lying pen of the scribes has made it a lie!
9 The wise are put to shame;
they are dismayed and caught.
Look, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to new possessors, for from the least to the greatest, all are greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
11 They have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination?
No, they were not ashamed at all;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they will fall among the fallen;
at the time of their punishment, they will stumble, says the LORD.
13 I will utterly sweep them away, declares the LORD.
There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will wither.
What I have given them will pass away from them.”
14 “Why are we sitting here?
Gather together;
let us enter the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.”
16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of his stallions’ neighing the whole land trembles.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who live in it.
17 “For look, I am sending serpents among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
18 Oh, for comfort in sorrow!
My heart is sick within me.
19 Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: “Is the LORD not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we have not been saved.”
21 I am broken by the brokenness of the daughter of my people;
I mourn, and horror has gripped me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?