Jeremiah 8
8
1Then the bones of the dead kings of Judah and their officials will be dug up, along with the bones of the priests, the prophets, and everyone else in Jerusalem 2who loved and worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. These bones will be scattered and left lying on the ground like trash, where the sun and moon and stars can shine on them.
3Some of you people of Judah will be left alive, but I will force you to go to foreign countries, and you will wish you were dead. I, the Lord God All-Powerful, have spoken.
The People Took the Wrong Road
4The Lord said:
People of Jerusalem,
when you stumble and fall,
you get back up,
and if you take a wrong road,
you turn around and go back.#8.4 if you take … go back: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5So why do you refuse
to come back to me?
Why do you hold so tightly
to your false gods?
6I listen carefully,
but none of you admit
that you've done wrong.
Without a second thought,
you run down the wrong road#8.6 you run down the wrong road: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
like horses running blindly
into battle.
7Storks, doves, swallows,
and thrushes
all know when it's time
to fly away for the winter
and when to come back.
But you, my people,
don't know what I demand.
8You say, “We are wise
because we have the teachings
and laws of the Lord.”
But I say that your teachers
have turned my words
into lies!
9Your wise men
have rejected what I say,
and so they have no wisdom.
Now they will be trapped
and put to shame;
they won't know what to do.
10 #
Jr 6.12-15. I'll give their wives and fields
to strangers.
Everyone is greedy and dishonest,
whether poor or rich.
Even the prophets and priests
cannot be trusted.
11 #
Ez 13.10. All they ever offer
to my deeply wounded people
are empty hopes for peace.
12They should be ashamed
of the way they live,
but they don't even blush.
And so, when I punish Judah,
they will end up on the ground,
dead like everyone else.
13I will wipe them out.#8.13 I will wipe them out: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
They are vines without grapes;
fig trees without figs or leaves.
They have not done a thing
that I told them!#8.13 They have not … them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
The People and Their Punishment
14The people of Judah
say to each other,
“What are we waiting for?
Let's run to a town with walls
and die there.
We rebelled against the Lord,
and we were sentenced to die
by drinking poison.
15We had hoped for peace
and a time of healing,
but all we got was terror.
16Our enemies have reached
the town of Dan in the north,
and the snorting of their horses
makes us tremble with fear.
The enemy will destroy Jerusalem
and our entire nation.
No one will survive.”
17“Watch out!” the Lord says.
“I'm sending poisonous snakes
to attack you,
and no one can stop them.”
Jeremiah Mourns for His People
18I'm burdened with sorrow
and feel like giving up.
19In a foreign land
my people are crying.
Listen! You'll hear them say,
“Has the Lord deserted Zion?
Is he no longer its king?”
I hear the Lord reply,
“Why did you make me angry
by worshiping useless idols?”
20The people complain,
“Spring and summer
have come and gone,
but still the Lord
hasn't rescued us.”
21My people are crushed,
and so is my heart.
I am horrified and mourn.
22If medicine and doctors
may be found in Gilead,
why aren't my people healed?
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 8: CEVDCI
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 8
8
1The Lord declares, “At that time the bones of the kings and the leaders of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the others who lived in Jerusalem will be taken out of their graves. 2They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground.
3“Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them,” declares the Lord of Armies.
The Lord’s Judgment on Judah’s False Religion
4“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
When someone falls, he gets back up.
When someone turns away from me, he returns.
5The people of Jerusalem turned away from me without ever returning.
They still cling to deceit.
They refuse to return.
6I have paid attention and listened,
but they weren’t honest.
They don’t turn away from their wickedness and ask,
“What have we done?”
They go their own ways like horses charging into battle.
7Even storks know when it’s time to return.
Mourning doves, swallows, and cranes know
when it’s time to migrate.
But my people don’t know
that I, the Lord, am urging them to return.
8“ ‘How can you say that you are wise
and that you have the Lord’s teachings?
The scribes have used their pens to turn these teachings into lies.
9Wise people are put to shame, confused, and trapped.
They have rejected the Lord’s word.
They don’t really have any wisdom.
10That is why I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
All of them, from the least important to the most important,
are eager to make money dishonestly.
All of them, from prophets to priests, act deceitfully.
11They treat my dear people’s wounds
as though they were not serious, saying,
“Everything is alright! Everything is alright!”
But it’s not alright.
12Are they ashamed that they do disgusting things?
No, they’re not ashamed.
They don’t even know how to blush.
So they will die with those who die.
They will be brought down when I punish them,’ ” says the Lord.
13“ ‘I would have gathered their harvest,’ ” declares the Lord,
“ ‘but there are no grapes on the vine.
There are no figs on the tree,
and the leaves have dried up.
What I have given them will be taken away.’ ”
14Why are we just sitting here? Let’s get up!
Let’s go into the fortified cities and die there.
The Lord our God has condemned us to die.
He has given us poison to drink
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15We hoped for peace, but nothing good has happened.
We hoped for a time of healing, but there’s only terror.
16The snorting of horses can be heard from Dan.
The neighing of stallions makes the whole land tremble.
They are coming to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and its people.
17“I am going to send snakes among you,
vipers that can’t be charmed.
They will bite you,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah’s Grief over His People’s Punishment
18Sorrow has overwhelmed me.
I am sick at heart!
19The cry from my dear people comes from a distant land:
“Isn’t the Lord in Zion?
Isn’t Zion’s king still there?”
They make me furious with their idols, with their foreign gods.
20The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we haven’t been saved.
21I am crushed because my dear people have been crushed.
I mourn; terror grips me.
22Isn’t there medicine in Gilead?
Aren’t there doctors there?
Then why hasn’t the health of my dear people been restored?
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.