Jeremiah 8
8
1“At that time the bones of the kings and of the officials of Judah, as well as the bones of the priests, of the prophets, and of the other people who lived in Jerusalem, will be taken out of their graves. 2Instead of being gathered and buried, their bones will be like manure lying on the ground. They will be spread out before the sun, the moon, and the stars, which these people have loved and served, and which they have consulted and worshipped. 3And the people of this evil nation who survive, who live in the places where I have scattered them, will prefer to die rather than to go on living. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.”
Sin and Punishment
4The LORD told me to say to his people, “When someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn't he turn back? 5Why then, my people, do you turn away from me without ever turning back? You cling to your idols and refuse to return to me. 6I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for his wickedness; not one of you has asked, ‘What have I done wrong?’ Everyone keeps on going his own way, like a horse rushing into battle. 7Even storks know when it is time to return; doves, swallows, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate. But, my people, you do not know the laws by which I rule you. 8How can you say that you are wise, and that you know my laws? Look, the laws have been changed by dishonest scribes. 9Your wise men are put to shame; they are confused and trapped. They have rejected my words; what wisdom have they got now? 10#Jer 6.12–15So I will give their fields to new owners and their wives to other men. Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly. Even prophets and priests cheat the people. 11#Ezek 13.10They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well. 12My people, were you ashamed because you did these disgusting things? No, you were not ashamed at all; you don't even know how to blush! And so you will fall as others have fallen; when I punish you, that will be the end of you. I, the LORD, have spoken.
13“I wanted to gather my people, as a farmer gathers a harvest; but they are like a vine with no grapes, like a fig tree with no figs; even the leaves have withered. Therefore, I have allowed outsiders to take over the land.”#8.13 Therefore… land; Hebrew unclear.
14“Why are we sitting still?” God's people ask. “Come on, we will run to 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 him. 15We hoped for peace and a time of healing, but it was no use; terror came instead. 16Our enemies are already in the city of Dan; we hear the snorting of their horses. The whole land trembles when their horses neigh. Our enemies have come to destroy our land and everything in it, our city and all its people.”
17“Watch out!” the LORD says, “I am sending snakes among you, poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you.”
Jeremiah's Sorrow for his People
18My sorrow cannot be healed;#8.18 Probable text My sorrow… healed; Hebrew unclear.
I am sick at heart.
19Listen! Throughout the land
I hear my people crying out,
“Is the LORD no longer in Zion?
Is Zion's king no longer there?”
The LORD, their king, replies,
“Why have you made me angry by worshipping your idols
and by bowing down to your useless foreign gods?”
20The people cry out,
“The summer is gone, the harvest is over,
but we have not been saved.”
21My heart has been crushed
because my people are crushed;
I mourn; I am completely dismayed.
22Is there no medicine in Gilead?#8.22 Gilead: A region east of the Jordan, famous for plants that were used for medicinal purposes.
Are there no doctors there?
Why, then, have my people not been healed?
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 8: GNBDC
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 8
8
1“At that time,” says the LORD, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshipped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth. 3Death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the LORD of Armies. 4“Moreover you shall tell them, ‘The LORD says:
“‘Do men fall, and not rise up again?
Does one turn away, and not return?
5 Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding?
They cling to deceit.
They refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”
Everyone turns to his course,
as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times.
The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming;
but my people don’t know the LORD’s law.
8“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and the LORD’s law is with us”?
But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie.
9 The wise men are disappointed.
They are dismayed and trapped.
Behold, they have rejected the LORD’s word.
What kind of wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to those who will possess them.
For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness;
from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.
11 They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,
“Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed.
They couldn’t blush.
Therefore they will fall amongst those who fall.
In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says the LORD.
13“‘I will utterly consume them, says the LORD.
No grapes will be on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and the leaf will fade.
The things that I have given them
will pass away from them.’”
14“Why do we sit still?
Assemble yourselves!
Let’s enter into the fortified cities,
and let’s be silent there;
for the LORD our God has put us to silence,
and given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!
16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan.
The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones;
for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it,
the city and those who dwell therein.”
17“For, behold, I will send serpents,
adders amongst you,
which will not be charmed;
and they will bite you,” says the LORD.
18Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!
My heart is faint within me.
19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off:
“Isn’t the LORD in Zion?
Isn’t her King in her?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,
and with foreign idols?”
20“The harvest is past.
The summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt.
I mourn.
Dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
PUBLIC DOMAIN. "World English Bible" is trademark of eBible.org.