Jeremiah 8:4-17

“You are to say to them: This is what the LORD says: Do people fall and not get up again?  If they turn away, do they not return? Why have these people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always turning away? They take hold of deceit;  they refuse to return.  I have paid careful attention. They do not speak what is right. No one regrets his evil, asking, ‘What have I done? ’ Everyone has stayed his course like a horse rushing into battle.  Even storks in the sky know their seasons. Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes  are aware of their migration, but my people do not know the requirements of the  LORD.  “How can you claim, ‘We are wise; the law of the LORD is with us’? In fact, the lying pen of scribes  has produced falsehood. The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the  LORD,  so what wisdom do they really have? Therefore, I will give  their wives to other men, their fields to new occupants, for from the least to the greatest,  everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated the brokenness of my dear  people superficially, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,”  says the LORD. “I will gather them and bring them to an end.”  , This is the  LORD’s declaration. “There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.” Why are we just sitting here? Gather together; let’s enter the fortified cities and perish there,  for the LORD our God has destroyed   us. He has given us poisoned water to drink,  because we have sinned against the  LORD.  We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.  From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,  the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all its residents. Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers  that cannot be charmed.  They will bite you. This is the  LORD’s declaration.