Jeremiah 8
8
1This message is from the Lord: “At that time men will take the bones of the kings and important rulers of Judah from their tombs. They will take the bones of the priests and prophets from their tombs. They will take the bones of all the people of Jerusalem from their tombs. 2They will spread the bones on the ground under the sun, the moon, and the stars. The people of Jerusalem love to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars. No one will gather the bones and bury them again. So the bones of those people will be like dung thrown on the ground.
3“I will force the people of Judah to leave their homes and their land. They will be taken away to foreign lands. Some of the people of Judah who were not killed in the war will wish that they had been killed.” This message is from the Lord All-Powerful.
Sin and Punishment
4“Jeremiah, say this to the people of Judah: ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘You know if a man falls down,
he gets up again.
And if a man goes the wrong way,
he turns around and comes back.
5The people of Judah went the wrong way.
But why do the people of Jerusalem continue going the wrong way?
They believe their own lies.
They refuse to turn around and come back.
6I have listened to them very carefully,
but they don’t say what is right.
They are not sorry for their sins.
They don’t think about the evil they have done.
They do things without thinking.
They are like horses running into a battle.
7Even the birds in the sky
know the right time to do things.
The storks, doves, swifts, and thrushes
know when it is time to fly to a new home.
But my people don’t know
what the Lord wants them to do.
8“‘You keep saying, “We have the Lord’s teachings. So we are wise!”
But this is not true, because the scribes have lied with their pens.
9These “wise people” refused to listen to the Lord’s teachings.
So they are not really wise at all.
These “wise people” were trapped.
They became shocked and ashamed.
10So I will give their wives to other men.
I will give their fields to new owners.
All the people of Israel want more and more money.
All of them, from the least important to the most important, are like that.
Even the prophets and priests tell lies.
11They should bandage the wounds my people have suffered,
but they treat their wounds like small scratches.
They say, “It’s all right, everything is all right.”
But it is not all right!
12They should be ashamed of the evil things they do,
but they are not ashamed at all.
They don’t know enough to be embarrassed by their sins.
So they will be punished with everyone else.
They will be thrown to the ground when I punish the people.’”
This is what the Lord said.
13“‘I will take away their fruit and crops
so that there will be no harvest, says the Lord.
There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree.
Even the leaves will become dry and die.
I will take away the things I gave them.’”#8:13 I will take away … gave them The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
14“They will say, ‘Why are we just sitting here?
Come, let’s run to the strong cities.
If the Lord our God is going to make us die,
then let’s die there.
We have sinned against the Lord,
so he has given us poisoned water to drink.
15We hoped to have peace,
but nothing good has come.
We hoped that he would forgive us,
but only disaster has come.
16From the land of the tribe of Dan,
we hear the snorting#8:16 snorting The sound caused by forcing breath very hard through the nose. of the enemy’s horses.
The ground shakes from the pounding of their hooves.
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“People of Judah, I am sending poisonous snakes#8:17 poisonous snakes This probably means one of Judah’s enemies. to attack you.
These snakes cannot be controlled.
They will bite you.”
This message is from the Lord.
18God, I am very sad and afraid.
19Listen to my people.
Everywhere in this country, people are crying for help.
They say, “Is the Lord still at Zion?
Is Zion’s King still there?”
But God says,
“The people of Judah worshiped their worthless foreign idols.
That made me very angry!
Why did they do that?”
20And the people say,
“Harvest time is over.
Summer is gone,
and still we have not been saved.”
21My people are hurt, so I am hurt.
I am too sad to speak.
22Surely there is some medicine in Gilead.
Surely there is a doctor in Gilead.
So why are the wounds of my people not healed?
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremiah 8
8
1At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. 3And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.
4Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? 5Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. 6I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. 7Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.
8How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.#8.8 Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. or But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath made of it a falsehood. 9The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them? 10#Jer 6.12-15. Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 11#Ezek 13.10. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush; therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. 13I will surely consume them, saith the Lord: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defensed cities, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord. 15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. 17For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
A Lament for Judah and Jerusalem
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. 19Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? 20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gil´e-ad? is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.