Jeremiah 8
8
1-2“And when the time comes”—God’s Decree!—“I’ll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They’ll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they’ve been so infatuated with all these years, following their ‘lucky stars’ in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.
3“Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead.” Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
To Know Everything but God’s Word
4-7“Tell them this, God’s Message:
“‘Do people fall down and not get up?
Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?
So why does this people go backward,
and just keep on going—backward!
They stubbornly hold on to their illusions,
refuse to change direction.
I listened carefully
but heard not so much as a whisper.
No one expressed one word of regret.
Not a single “I’m sorry” did I hear.
They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly
banging their heads against a brick wall.
Cranes know when it’s time
to move south for winter.
And robins, warblers, and bluebirds
know when it’s time to come back again.
But my people? My people know nothing,
not the first thing of God and his rule.
8-9“‘How can you say, “We know the score.
We’re the proud owners of God’s revelation”?
Look where it’s gotten you—stuck in illusion.
Your religion experts have taken you for a ride!
Your know-it-alls will be unmasked,
caught and shown up for what they are.
Look at them! They know everything but God’s Word.
Do you call that “knowing”?
10-12“‘So here’s what will happen to the know-it-alls:
I’ll make them wifeless and homeless.
Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My dear Daughter—my people—broken, shattered,
and yet they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, “It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.”
But things are not “just fine”!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
Not really. They have no shame.
They don’t even know how to blush.
There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom
and there’s no getting up.
As far as I’m concerned,
they’re finished.’” God has spoken.
* * *
13“‘I went out to see if I could salvage anything’”
—God’s Decree—
“‘but found nothing:
Not a grape, not a fig,
just a few withered leaves.
I’m taking back
everything I gave them.’”
14-16So why are we sitting here, doing nothing?
Let’s get organized.
Let’s go to the big city
and at least die fighting.
We’ve gotten God’s ultimatum:
We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t—
damned because of our sin against him.
We hoped things would turn out for the best,
but it didn’t happen that way.
We were waiting around for healing—
and terror showed up!
From Dan at the northern borders
we hear the hooves of horses,
Horses galloping, horses neighing.
The ground shudders and quakes.
They’re going to swallow up the whole country.
Towns and people alike—fodder for war.
17“‘What’s more, I’m dispatching
poisonous snakes among you,
Snakes that can’t be charmed,
snakes that will bite you and kill you.’”
God’s Decree!
Advancing from One Evil to the Next
18-22I drown in grief.
I’m heartsick.
Oh, listen! Please listen! It’s the cry of my dear people
reverberating through the country.
Is God no longer in Zion?
Has the King gone away?
Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods,
their silly, imported no-gods before me?
The crops are in, the summer is over,
but for us nothing’s changed.
We’re still waiting to be rescued.
For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken.
I weep, seized by grief.
Are there no healing ointments in Gilead?
Isn’t there a doctor in the house?
So why can’t something be done
to heal and save my dear, dear people?
* * *
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Jeremiah 8: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Jeremiah 8
8
Death over Life
1“At that time” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves. # 2Kg 9:37; 23:16; Am 2:1 2They will be exposed # 2Sm 21:12-14; Ps 53:5; Ezk 6:5 to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly host, # Dt 4:19; 2Kg 17:16; 21:3; 23:4-5; Ezk 8:16 which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the surface of the soil. # Ps 83:10; Jr 9:22; 16:4; 25:33 3Death will be chosen over life # Dt 30:11-20; Jb 3:21-22; 7:15-16; Rev. 9:6 by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.” # Jr 23:3,8; 29:14,18; 32:37; Dn 9:7This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.
4“You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again? # Is 24:20; Jr 25:27; Am 5:2
If they turn away, do they not return?
5Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit; # Jr 14:14; 23:26; Zph 3:13
they refuse to return. # Jr 5:3; Hs 11:5
6I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle. # Jb 39:19-25
7Even the stork in the sky
knows her seasons.
The turtledove, swallow, and crane # Hb obscure
are aware of their migration,
but My people do not know
the requirements of the Lord. # 2Kg 17:26; Ps 95:10; Is 1:3; Jr 4:22; 5:4
Punishment for Judah’s Leaders
8“How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the Lord is with us’?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes # Jb 19:24; Ps 45:1; Jr 17:1
has produced falsehood.
9The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord, # 1Sm 15:23,26
so what wisdom do they really have?
10Therefore, I will give # Jr 6:13-15 their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest, # Est 1:20; Jr 6:13; 31:34; 42:1,8; 44:12
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11They have treated superficially the brokenness
of My dear # Lit of the daughter of My people,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,” # Jr 10:15; 49:8; 51:18
says the Lord.
13I will gather them and bring them to an end. # Lit Gathering I will end them # Zph 1:2
This is the Lord’s declaration.
There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.
God’s People Unrepentant
14Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities
and perish there, # Or there be silenced
for the Lord our God has destroyed # Or silenced us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink, # 2Kg 7:3-4; Jr 9:15; 21:8-9
because we have sinned against the Lord. # Is 64:5; Jr 3:25; 14:7,20; Lm 3:42; 5:16; Dn 9:5
15We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror. # Jr 14:19; 33:9
16From Dan the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, # Jdg 5:22; Jr 47:3; 50:11
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers # Nm 21:6-9; Dt 32:24 that cannot be charmed. # Ps 58:4-5; Ec 10:11
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Lament over Judah
18My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick. # Lm 5:17
19Listen — the cry of my dear # Lit of the daughter of my people
from a far away land,
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion, # Ps 99:2; 102:21; Jr 14:9; Jl 3:17,21; Mc 3:11
her King not within her? ”
Why have they provoked me to anger
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols? # Dt 32:21; Jr 2:5
20Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.
21I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear # Lit of the daughter of my people. # Jr 6:14; 8:11
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22Is there no balm in Gilead? # Gn 37:25; Jr 46:11
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear # Lit of the daughter of my people
not come about?
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