Jeremiah 8:11-9:15

English Standard Version

¹¹They have healed ^(A)the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, ^(B)they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
^(C)Therefore 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 ^(D)no grapes on the vine,
    ^(E)nor figs on the fig tree;
^(F)even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.”^[a]

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

¹⁶^(L)“The snorting of their horses is heard ^(M)from Dan;
    at the sound of the neighing ^(N)of their stallions
    ^(O)the whole land quakes.
They come ^(P)and devour the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
¹⁷For behold, I am sending among you ^(Q)serpents,
    adders ^(R)that cannot be charmed,
    ^(S)and they shall bite you,”
declares the Lord.

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

¹⁸My joy is gone; grief is upon me;^[b]
    ^(T)my heart is sick within me.
¹⁹Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
    from ^(U)the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    ^(V)Is her King not in her?”
^(W)“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 ^(X)the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
    ^(Y)I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

²²Is there no ^(Z)balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?
9 ^[c] ^(AA)Oh that my head were waters,
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of ^(AB)the daughter of my people!
²^[d] Oh that I had in the desert
    a travelers' lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all ^(AC)adulterers,
    a company of ^(AD)treacherous men.
³^(AE)They bend their tongue like a bow;
    falsehood and not truth has grown strong^[e] in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    ^(AF)and they do not know me, declares the Lord.

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

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^(AK)I will refine them and ^(AL)test them,
    for what else can I do, ^(AM)because of my people?
⁸^(AN)Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    ^(AO)it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^(AP)each speaks peace to his neighbor,
    but in his heart ^(AQ)he plans an ambush for him.
⁹^(AR)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 ^(AS)the pastures of the wilderness,
^(AT)because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^(AU)both the birds of the air and the beasts
    have fled and are gone.
¹¹^(AV)I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    ^(AW)a lair of jackals,
^(AX)and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.”

¹²^(AY)Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined ^(AZ)and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And the Lord says: ^(BA)“Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, ¹⁴but ^(BB)have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BC)Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^(BD)poisonous water to drink.