Jeremiah 8-12

New King James Version

Jeremiah Mourns for His People

8 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its 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. ²They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and ^(A)which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered ^(B)nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. ³Then ^(C)death shall be chosen rather than life by all the ^[a]residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.

The Peril of False Teaching

⁴“Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
⁵Why has this people ^(D)slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
^(E)They hold fast to deceit,
^(F)They refuse to return.
⁶^(G)I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
^(H)No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.

⁷“Even ^(I)the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But ^(J)My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁸“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
^(K)And the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
⁹^(L)The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
So ^(M)what wisdom do they have?
¹⁰Therefore ^(N)I will give their wives to others,
And their fields to those who will inherit them;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is given to ^(O)covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹¹For they have ^(P)healed the hurt of the daughter of My people ^[b]slightly,
Saying, ^(Q)‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹²Were they ^(R)ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed,
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
In the time of their punishment
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹³“I will surely ^[c]consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be ^(S)on the vine,
Nor figs on the ^(T)fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall ^(U)pass away from them.” ’ ”

¹⁴“Why do we sit still?
^(V)Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the Lord our God has put us to silence
And given us ^(W)water^[d] of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵“We ^(X)looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
¹⁶The snorting of His horses was heard from ^(Y)Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His ^(Z)strong ones;
For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”

¹⁷“For behold, I will send serpents among you,
Vipers which cannot be ^(AA)charmed,
And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.

The Prophet Mourns for the People

¹⁸I would comfort myself in sorrow;
My heart is faint in me.
¹⁹Listen! The voice,
The cry of the daughter of my people
From ^(AB)a far country:
“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked Me to anger
With their carved images—
With foreign idols?”

²⁰“The harvest is past,
The summer is ended,
And we are not saved!”

²¹^(AC)For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am ^(AD)mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.
²²Is there no ^(AE)balm in Gilead,
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery
For the health of the daughter of my people?

Disobedience Brings God’s Judgment

9 Oh, ^(AF)that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
²Oh, that I had in the wilderness
A lodging place for travelers;
That I might leave my people,
And go from them!
For ^(AG)they are all adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.

³“And like their bow ^(AH)they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from ^(AI)evil to evil,
And they ^(AJ)do not know Me,” says the Lord.
⁴“Everyone^(AK) take heed to his ^[e]neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
For every brother will utterly supplant,
And every neighbor will ^(AL)walk with slanderers.
⁵Everyone will ^(AM)deceive his neighbor,
And will not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
⁶Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, ^(AN)I will refine them and ^[f]try them;
^(AO)For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
⁸Their tongue is an arrow shot out;
It speaks ^(AP)deceit;
One speaks ^(AQ)peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
But ^[g]in his heart he ^[h]lies in wait.
⁹^(AR)Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,
And ^(AS)for the ^[i]dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation,
Because they are burned up,
So that no one can pass through;
Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle.
^(AT)Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;
They are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem ^(AU)a heap of ruins, ^(AV)a den of jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”

¹²^(AW)Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

¹³And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have ^(AX)not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, ¹⁴but they have ^(AY)walked according to the ^[j]dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, ^(AZ)which their fathers taught them,” ¹⁵therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will ^(BA)feed them, this people, ^(BB)with wormwood, and give them ^[k]water of gall to drink. ¹⁶I will ^(BC)scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. ^(BD)And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

The People Mourn in Judgment

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Consider and call for ^(BE)the mourning women,
That they may come;
And send for skillful wailing women,
That they may come.
¹⁸Let them make haste
And take up a wailing for us,
That ^(BF)our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How we are plundered!
We are greatly ashamed,
Because we have forsaken the land,
Because we have been cast out of ^(BG)our dwellings.’ ”

²⁰Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
²¹For death has come through our windows,
Has entered our palaces,
To kill off ^(BH)the children—^[l]no longer to be outside!
And the young men—^[m]no longer on the streets!

²²Speak, “Thus says the Lord:

‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall ^(BI)as refuse on the open field,
Like cuttings after the harvester,
And no one shall gather them.’ ”

²³Thus says the Lord:

^(BJ)“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his ^(BK)might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
²⁴But ^(BL)let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, ^[n]judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
^(BM)For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that ^(BN)I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the ^(BO)farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(BP)uncircumcised in the heart.”

Idols and the True God

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²Thus says the Lord:

^(BQ)“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
³For the customs of the peoples are ^[o]futile;
For ^(BR)one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
⁴They decorate it with silver and gold;
They ^(BS)fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
⁵They are upright, like a palm tree,
And ^(BT)they cannot speak;
They must be ^(BU)carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For ^(BV)they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”

⁶Inasmuch as there is none ^(BW)like You, O Lord
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
⁷^(BX)Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For ^(BY)among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
⁸But they are altogether ^(BZ)dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a ^[p]worthless doctrine.
⁹Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And ^(CA)gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all ^(CB)the work of skillful men.
¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;
He is ^(CC)the living God and the ^(CD)everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

¹¹Thus you shall say to them: ^(CE)“The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth ^(CF)shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²He ^(CG)has made the earth by His power,
He has ^(CH)established the world by His wisdom,
And ^(CI)has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.
¹³^(CJ)When He utters His voice,
There is a ^[q]multitude of waters in the heavens:
^(CK)“And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

¹⁴^(CL)Everyone is ^(CM)dull-hearted, without knowledge;
^(CN)Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;
^(CO)For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶^(CP)The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things,
And ^(CQ)Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
^(CR)The Lord of hosts is His name.

The Coming Captivity of Judah

¹⁷^(CS)Gather up your wares from the land,
O ^[r]inhabitant of the fortress!

¹⁸For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will ^(CT)throw out at this time
The inhabitants of the land,
And will distress them,
^(CU)That they may find it so.”

¹⁹^(CV)Woe is me for my hurt!
My wound is severe.
But I say, ^(CW)“Truly this is an infirmity,
And ^(CX)I must bear it.”
²⁰^(CY)My tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are ^(CZ)no more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be ^(DA)scattered.
²²Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the ^(DB)north country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a ^(DC)den of jackals.

²³O Lord, I know the ^(DD)way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
²⁴O Lord, ^(DE)correct me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
²⁵^(DF)Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, ^(DG)who do not know You,
And on the families who do not call on Your name;
For they have eaten up Jacob,
^(DH)Devoured him and consumed him,
And made his dwelling place desolate.

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ³and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(DI)“Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant ⁴which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, ^(DJ)from the iron furnace, saying, ^(DK)‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ ⁵that I may establish the ^(DL)oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ^(DM)‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ”

And I answered and said, ^[s]“So be it, Lord.”

⁶Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant ^(DN)and do them. ⁷For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, ^(DO)rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” ⁸^(DP)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ^(DQ)everyone ^[t]followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”

⁹And the Lord said to me, ^(DR)“A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to ^(DS)the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to ^[u]escape; and ^(DT)though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and ^(DU)cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. ¹³For according to the number of your ^(DV)cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

¹⁴“So ^(DW)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

¹⁵“What^(DX) has My beloved to do in My house,
Having ^(DY)done lewd deeds with many?
And ^(DZ)the holy flesh has passed from you.
When you do evil, then you ^(EA)rejoice.
¹⁶The Lord called your name,
^(EB)Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are broken.

¹⁷“For the Lord of hosts, ^(EC)who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”

Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

¹⁸Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings. ¹⁹But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, ^(ED)and let us cut him off from ^(EE)the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰But, O Lord of hosts,
You who judge righteously,
^(EF)Testing the ^[v]mind and the heart,
Let me see Your ^(EG)vengeance on them,
For to You I have revealed my cause.

²¹“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^(EH)Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ^(EI)‘Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, lest you die by our hand’— ²²therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall ^(EJ)die by famine; ²³and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even ^(EK)the year of their punishment.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Question

12 Righteous ^(EL)are You, O Lord, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
^(EM)Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
²You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bear fruit.
^(EN)You are near in their mouth
But far from their ^[w]mind.

³But You, O Lord, ^(EO)know me;
You have seen me,
And You have ^(EP)tested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for ^(EQ)the day of slaughter.
⁴How long will ^(ER)the land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
^(ES)The beasts and birds are consumed,
^(ET)For the wickedness of those who dwell there,
Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

⁵“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in ^(EU)the ^[x]floodplain of the Jordan?
⁶For even ^(EV)your brothers, the house of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Yes, they have called ^[y]a multitude after you.
^(EW)Do not believe them,
Even though they speak ^[z]smooth words to you.

⁷“I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
⁸My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;
It cries out against Me;
Therefore I have ^(EX)hated it.
⁹My ^[aa]heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;
The vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
^(EY)Bring them to devour!

¹⁰“Many ^(EZ)rulers^[ab] have destroyed ^(FA)My vineyard,
They have ^(FB)trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My ^[ac]pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
¹¹They have made it ^(FC)desolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because ^(FD)no one takes it to heart.
¹²The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
¹³^(FE)They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have ^[ad]put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who ^(FF)touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will ^(FG)pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵^(FH)Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them ^(FI)and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. ¹⁶And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, ^(FJ)to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be ^(FK)established in the midst of My people. ¹⁷But if they do not ^(FL)obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.