Jeremiah 8
8
1At that time, says the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs; 2and they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have followed, and which they have inquired of and worshiped; and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be like dung on the surface of the ground. 3Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says the Lord of hosts.
The Blind Perversity of the Whole Nation
4You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When people fall, do they not get up again?
If they go astray, do they not turn back?
5Why then has this people#8.5 One Ms Gk: MT this people, Jerusalem, turned away
in perpetual backsliding?
They have held fast to deceit,
they have refused to return.
6I have given heed and listened,
but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
saying, “What have I done!”
All of them turn to their own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7Even the stork in the heavens
knows its times;
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane#8.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain
observe the time of their coming;
but my people do not know
the ordinance of the Lord.
8How can you say, “We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us,”
when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie?
9The wise shall be put to shame,
they shall be dismayed and taken;
since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom is in them?
10Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest
everyone deals falsely.
11They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
12They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
yet they were not at all ashamed,
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
13When I wanted to gather them, says the Lord,
there are#8.13 Or I will make an end of them, says the Lord. There are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.#8.13 Meaning of Heb uncertain
14Why do we sit still?
Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there;
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish,
and has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15We look for peace, but find no good,
for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
16The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who live in it.
17See, I am letting snakes loose among you,
adders that cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,
says the Lord.
The Prophet Mourns for the People
18My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
my heart is sick.
19Hark, the cry of my poor people
from far and wide in the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?”)
20“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
22Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored?
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Jeremiah 8: NRSV
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 8
8
1“‘The Lord says: At that time the bones will be removed from the tombs. The bones of Judah’s kings and officers, priests and prophets and the people of Jerusalem will be removed. 2The bones will be spread on the ground under the sun, moon and stars the people loved and served. They went after these gods, searched them out and worshiped them. No one will gather up the bones and bury them. So they will be like dung thrown on the ground. 3I will force the people of Judah to leave their homes and their land. Those of this evil family who are not dead will wish they were dead, says the Lord.’
Sin and Punishment
4“Say to the people of Judah: ‘This is what the Lord says:
When a man falls down, doesn’t he get up again?
And when a man goes the wrong way, doesn’t he come back again?
5Why, then, have the people of Judah gone the wrong way?
And why do the people of Jerusalem not turn back?
They believe their own lies.
They refuse to turn around and come back.
6I have listened to them very carefully.
But they do not say what is right.
They do not feel sorry about their wicked ways.
The people don’t think about the bad things they have done.
Each person goes his own way.
He is like a horse charging into a battle.
7Even the birds in the sky
know the right times to do things.
The storks, doves, swifts and thrushes
know when it is time to migrate.
But my people don’t know
what the Lord wants them to do!
8“‘You keep saying, “We are wise.
This is because we have the teachings of the Lord.”
But actually, those who copy the Scriptures
have written lies with their pens.
9These wise men refused to listen to the word of the Lord.
So they are not really wise at all.
They will be ashamed.
They will be shocked and trapped.
10So I will give their wives to other men.
I will give their fields to new owners.
Everyone, from the least important to the greatest,
is greedy for money.
Even the prophets and priests
all tell lies.
11They try to heal my people’s serious injuries
as if they were small wounds.
They say, “It’s all right, it’s all right!”
But really, it is not all right.
12They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act.
But they are not ashamed at all.
They don’t even know how to blush about their sins.
So they will fall, along with everyone else.
They will be thrown to the ground when I punish them, says the Lord.
13“‘I will take away their crops, says the Lord.
There will be no grapes on the vine.
There will be no figs on the fig tree.
Even the leaves will dry up and die.
I will take away what I gave them!’”
14“Why are we just sitting here?
Let’s get together!
We have sinned against the Lord.
So he has given us poisoned water to drink.
Come, let’s run to the strong, walled cities.
The Lord our God has decided that we must die.
So let’s die there.
15We hoped to have peace.
But nothing good has come.
We hoped for a time when he would heal us.
But only disaster has come!
16From the land of the tribe of Dan,
the snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard.
The ground shakes from the neighing of their large horses.
They have come to destroy
the land and everything in it.
They have come to destroy
the city and all the people who live there.”
17“Look! I am sending poisonous snakes to attack you.
These snakes cannot be charmed.
They will bite you,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah’s Sadness
18God, you are my comfort when I am very sad.
You are my comfort when I’m afraid.
19Listen to my people!
They are crying for help from a faraway land.
They say, “Is the Lord still in Jerusalem?
Is Jerusalem’s king still there?”
But God says, “Why did the people make me angry by worshiping idols?
They worshiped their useless foreign idols.”
20And the people say, “Harvest time is over.
Summer has ended.
And we have not been saved.”
21My people are crushed. So I am crushed.
I cry loudly, and I am afraid for them.
22Surely there is a balm in the land of Gilead.
Surely there is a doctor there.
So why aren’t the hurts of my people healed?
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.