Jeremiah 8
8
1 “At that time,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Judah from their graves. 2And they shall spread them out before the sun, and before the moon, and before all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and which they have gone after, and which they have inquired about, and to which they have bowed in worship. They shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. 3And death will be preferred to life by all the remaining of this evil clan#Or “family” in all the remaining places where I have driven them away,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
Yahweh Questions His People
4“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asks#Or “says” Yahweh:
“Do men fall and not stand up?
If one turns away does he not return?
5Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy?
They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.#Or “repent”
6I have listened attentively,
and I have listened.
They do not speak honestly,
there is no man who regrets his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’
All of them are turning to their ways of running,
like a horse plunging into battle.
7Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time,
and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird,
they observe the time of their coming.
But my people do not know the ordinance#Or “law” of Yahweh.
8How can you say, ‘We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us’?
Look, surely the lying stylus of the scribes#Literally “stylus of lie of scribes” has made it a lie.
9The wise will be put to shame,
they will be dismayed,
and they will get taken.
Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh,
and what is wisdom to them?
10Therefore I will give their wives to others,
their fields to conquerors,
because from the smallest to the greatest,
all of them make profit for unlawful gain,
from prophet to priest,
all of them practice deceit.
11And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly,
saying,#Literally “to say” ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.
12Were they ashamed, for they had committed a detestable thing?
What’s worse,#Or “also” they were not ashamed at all,
and they did not know to feel humiliated.
Therefore#Literally “To thus” they will fall among those who fall;
at the time of their punishment they will stumble,” says Yahweh.
13“I will take away their harvest,”#Literally “I will take away, I will make an end to them” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
“There are no grapes on the vine,
and there are no figs on the fig tree,
and the leaves wither,
and what I gave to them passed over them.” ’ ”
The Nation Longs for Yahweh’s Help
14Why are we sitting?
Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities,
and let us perish there,
for Yahweh our God has caused us to perish,
and has provided drink for us, water of poison,
because we have sinned against Yahweh.
15We hope for peace,
but there is no good,
for a time of healing,
but there is terror.
16“From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses,
from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes,
for they come and devour the land,
and that which fills the city,
and those who live in it.
17For look, I am letting loose among you snakes,
adders for which there is no incantation,
and they will bite you,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.
18“My comfort is gone from me,
sorrow is on me,
my heart is sick.
19Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people
from a distant land,
‘Is Yahweh not in Zion?
Is her king not in her?’
Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with idols of a foreign land?”
20The harvest has passed,
the summer has come to an end,
and we have not received help.#Or “been saved”
Yahweh’s Lament
21“Because of the wound of the daughter of my people I am broken down,
I mourn, horror has seized me.
22Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no healer there?
Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?
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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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