^8 (O)“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 (P)The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed ^(Q)and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    so what wisdom is in them?
^10 (R)Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone ^(S)is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹¹ They have healed ^(T)the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹² Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, ^(U)they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
^(V)Therefore 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 ^(W)no grapes on the vine,
    ^(X)nor figs on the fig tree;
^(Y)even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.”^[c]

¹⁴ Why do we sit still?
^(Z)Gather together; ^(AA)let us go into the fortified cities
    and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and has ^(AB)given us ^(AC)poisoned water to drink,
    because we have sinned against the Lord.
^15 (AD)We looked for peace, but no good came;
    for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

^16 (AE)“The snorting of their horses is heard ^(AF)from Dan;
    at the sound of the neighing ^(AG)of their stallions
    ^(AH)the whole land quakes.
They come ^(AI)and devour the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
¹⁷ For behold, I am sending among you ^(AJ)serpents,
    adders ^(AK)that cannot be charmed,
    ^(AL)and they shall bite you,”
declares the Lord.

²² Is there no ^(AS)balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?

^4 (G)Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
    and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^(H)brother is a deceiver,
    and every neighbor ^(I)goes about as a slanderer.
⁵ Everyone deceives his neighbor,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
    they weary themselves committing iniquity.
⁶ Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
    ^(J)they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^(K)I will refine them and ^(L)test them,
    for what else can I do, ^(M)because of my people?
^8 (N)Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    ^(O)it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^(P)each speaks peace to his neighbor,
    but in his heart ^(Q)he plans an ambush for him.
^9 (R)Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

¹⁰ “I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
    and a lamentation for ^(S)the pastures of the wilderness,
^(T)because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^(U)both the birds of the air and the beasts
    have fled and are gone.
^11 (V)I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    ^(W)a lair of jackals,
^(X)and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.”

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(AH)“Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
    send for the skillful women to come;
¹⁸ let them make haste ^(AI)and raise a wailing over us,
    ^(AJ)that our eyes may run down with tears
    and our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹ For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ^(AK)‘How we are ruined!
    We are utterly shamed,
because we have left the land,
    because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a lament,
    and each to her neighbor a dirge.
²¹ For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(AL)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.
²² Speak: “Thus declares the Lord,
^(AM)‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
^(AN)like sheaves after the reaper,
    and none shall gather them.’”

“Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
^3 (A)for the customs of the peoples are vanity.^[a]
(B)A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
^4 (C)They decorate it with silver and gold;
    ^(D)they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
⁵ Their idols^[b] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and ^(E)they cannot speak;
^(F)they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    ^(G)for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

^6 (H)There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
^7 (I)Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is none like you.
^8 (J)They are both ^(K)stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
^9 (L)Beaten silver is brought from ^(M)Tarshish,
    and gold from ^(N)Uphaz.
^(O)They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    ^(P)they are all the work of skilled men.
^10 (Q)But the Lord is the true God;
    ^(R)he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

^12 (U)It is he who ^(V)made the earth by his power,
    ^(W)who established the world by his wisdom,
    and ^(X)by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
^13 (Y)When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    ^(Z)and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
^(AA)He makes lightning ^(AB)for the rain,
    ^(AC)and he brings forth the wind ^(AD)from his storehouses.
^14 (AE)Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    ^(AF)every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    ^(AG)and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵ They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶ Not like these is he who is ^(AH)the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
^(AI)and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    ^(AJ)the Lord of hosts is his name.

^17 (AK)Gather up your bundle from the ground,
    O you who dwell under siege!
¹⁸ For thus says the Lord:
^(AL)“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
    at this time,
^(AM)and I will bring distress on them,
    that they may feel it.”

¹⁹ Woe is me because of my hurt!
    ^(AN)My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
    and I must bear it.”
^20 (AO)My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
    ^(AP)and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again
    and ^(AQ)to set up my curtains.
^21 (AR)For the shepherds ^(AS)are stupid
    and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
    ^(AT)and all their flock is scattered.

²² A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
    ^(AU)a great commotion out of the north country
to make ^(AV)the cities of Judah a desolation,
    ^(AW)a lair of jackals.

^23 (AX)I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
    that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
^24 (AY)Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
    not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

^25 (AZ)Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
    and on the peoples that call not on your name,
^(BA)for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him,
    and have laid waste his habitation.