Jeremiah 8:4-10:25

English Standard Version

Sin and Treachery

⁴“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^(A)When men fall, do they not rise again?
    If one turns away, does he not return?
⁵Why then has this people ^(B)turned away
    in perpetual ^(C)backsliding?
^(D)They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return.
⁶^(E)I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    ^(F)like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
⁷Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and ^(G)the turtledove, ^(H)swallow, and crane^[a]
    keep the time of their coming,
^(I)but my people know not
    the rules^[b] of the Lord.

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

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

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

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

¹⁸My joy is gone; grief is upon me;^[d]
    ^(AH)my heart is sick within me.
¹⁹Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
    from ^(AI)the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    ^(AJ)Is her King not in her?”
^(AK)“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 ^(AL)the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
    ^(AM)I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

²²Is there no ^(AN)balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?
9 ^[e] ^(AO)Oh that my head were waters,
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of ^(AP)the daughter of my people!
²^[f] 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 ^(AQ)adulterers,
    a company of ^(AR)treacherous men.
³^(AS)They bend their tongue like a bow;
    falsehood and not truth has grown strong^[g] in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    ^(AT)and they do not know me, declares the Lord.

⁴^(AU)Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
    and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^(AV)brother is a deceiver,
    and every neighbor ^(AW)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,
    ^(AX)they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^(AY)I will refine them and ^(AZ)test them,
    for what else can I do, ^(BA)because of my people?
⁸^(BB)Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    ^(BC)it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^(BD)each speaks peace to his neighbor,
    but in his heart ^(BE)he plans an ambush for him.
⁹^(BF)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 ^(BG)the pastures of the wilderness,
^(BH)because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
^(BI)both the birds of the air and the beasts
    have fled and are gone.
¹¹^(BJ)I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    ^(BK)a lair of jackals,
^(BL)and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.”

¹²^(BM)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 ^(BN)and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And the Lord says: ^(BO)“Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, ¹⁴but ^(BP)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: ^(BQ)Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^(BR)poisonous water to drink. ¹⁶^(BS)I will scatter them among the nations ^(BT)whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will ^(BU)send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

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

²⁰Hear, 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.
²¹For death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces,
^(BZ)cutting off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.
²²Speak: “Thus declares the Lord,
^(CA)‘The dead bodies of men shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
^(CB)like sheaves after the reaper,
    and none shall gather them.’”

²³Thus says the Lord: ^(CC)“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, ²⁴but ^(CD)let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. ^(CE)For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(CF)I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— ²⁶^(CG)Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(CH)all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(CI)uncircumcised in heart.”

Idols and the Living God

10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord:

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

⁶^(CQ)There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
⁷^(CR)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^(CS)They are both ^(CT)stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
⁹^(CU)Beaten silver is brought from ^(CV)Tarshish,
    and gold from ^(CW)Uphaz.
^(CX)They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    ^(CY)they are all the work of skilled men.
¹⁰^(CZ)But the Lord is the true God;
    ^(DA)he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹¹Thus shall you say to them: ^(DB)“The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth ^(DC)shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”^[j]

¹²^(DD)It is he who ^(DE)made the earth by his power,
    ^(DF)who established the world by his wisdom,
    and ^(DG)by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
¹³^(DH)When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    ^(DI)and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
^(DJ)He makes lightning ^(DK)for the rain,
    ^(DL)and he brings forth the wind ^(DM)from his storehouses.
¹⁴^(DN)Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    ^(DO)every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    ^(DP)and there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶Not like these is he who is ^(DQ)the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
^(DR)and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    ^(DS)the Lord of hosts is his name.

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

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

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

²³^(EG)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^(EH)Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

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