Jeremiah 8
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. 2 They 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. 3 Then (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?
5 Why 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?
10 Therefore (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.
11 For they have (P)healed the hurt of the daughter of My people [b]slightly,
Saying, (Q)‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
12 Were 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!
16 The 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
18 I would comfort myself in sorrow;
My heart is faint in me.
19 Listen! 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.
22 Is 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?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 8:3 remnant
- Jeremiah 8:11 Superficially
- Jeremiah 8:13 Or take them away
- Jeremiah 8:14 Bitter or poisonous water
Jeremiah 16
New King James Version
Jeremiah’s Lifestyle and Message
16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4 “They shall die (A)gruesome deaths; they shall not be (B)lamented nor shall they be (C)buried, but they shall be (D)like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their (E)corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5 For thus says the Lord: (F)“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; (G)neither shall men lament for them, (H)cut themselves, nor (I)make themselves bald for them. 7 Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to (J)drink for their father or their mother. 8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, (K)I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of [a]mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, (L)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them, (M)‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 12 And you have done (N)worse than your fathers, for behold, (O)each one [b]follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 13 (P)Therefore I will cast you out of this land (Q)into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
God Will Restore Israel(R)
14 “Therefore behold, the (S)days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the (T)north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For (U)I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I will send for many (V)fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For My (W)eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 And first I will repay (X)double for their iniquity and their sin, because (Y)they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
19 O Lord, (Z)my strength and my fortress,
(AA)My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and (AB)unprofitable things.”
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
(AC)Which are not gods?
21 “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that (AD)My name is the Lord.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 16:9 rejoicing
- Jeremiah 16:12 walks after the stubbornness or imagination
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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