Jeremiah Mourns for His People

8 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

⁵ And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.

Judgment on Israel

2 Thus says the Lord:

The Dry Bones Live

37 The ^(A)hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out ^(B)in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

³² “Therefore behold, ^(A)the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; ^(B)for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. ³³ The ^(C)corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ Then I will cause to ^(D)cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For ^(E)the land shall be desolate.

^4 (A)They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them ^(B)and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He also ^(C)burned the bones of the priests on their ^(D)altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

^20 (A)He ^(B)executed all the priests of the ^[a]high places who were there, on the altars, and ^(C)burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the ^(A)word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

² Then he cried out against the altar ^[a]by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, ^(A)Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be ^(B)burned on you.’ ”