⁸ “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
^(A)And the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
^9 (B)The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
So ^(C)what wisdom do they have?
¹⁰ Therefore ^(D)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 ^(E)covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹¹ For they have ^(F)healed the hurt of the daughter of My people ^[a]slightly,
Saying, ^(G)‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹² Were they ^(H)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 ^[b]consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be ^(I)on the vine,
Nor figs on the ^(J)fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall ^(K)pass away from them.” ’ ”

¹⁴ “Why do we sit still?
^(L)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 ^(M)water^[c] of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵ “We ^(N)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 ^(O)Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His ^(P)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 ^(Q)charmed,
And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.

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

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

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

¹⁰ I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,
And ^(AI)for the ^[h]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.
^(AJ)Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;
They are gone.

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

“Consider and call for ^(AU)the mourning women,
That they may come;
And send for skillful wailing women,
That they may come.
¹⁸ Let them make haste
And take up a wailing for us,
That ^(AV)our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
¹⁹ For 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 ^(AW)our dwellings.’ ”

²⁰ Yet 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.
²¹ For death has come through our windows,
Has entered our palaces,
To kill off ^(AX)the children—^[k]no longer to be outside!
And the young men—^[l]no longer on the streets!

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

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

³² In spite of this ^(A)they still sinned,
And ^(B)did not believe in His wondrous works.
^33 (C)Therefore their days He consumed in futility,
And their years in fear.

^34 (D)When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God.
³⁵ Then they remembered that ^(E)God was their rock,
And the Most High God ^(F)their Redeemer.
³⁶ Nevertheless they ^(G)flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue;
³⁷ For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
^38 (H)But He, being full of ^(I)compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time ^(J)He turned His anger away,
And ^(K)did not stir up all His wrath;
³⁹ For ^(L)He remembered ^(M)that they were but flesh,
^(N)A breath that passes away and does not come again.

⁴⁰ How often they ^(O)provoked^[a] Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
⁴¹ Yes, ^(P)again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember His ^[b]power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
⁴³ When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
^44 (Q)Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.
^45 (R)He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And ^(S)frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the ^(T)locust.
^47 (U)He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.
⁴⁸ He also gave up their ^(V)cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery ^[c]lightning.
⁴⁹ He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.
⁵⁰ He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave ^[d]their life over to the plague,
⁵¹ And destroyed all the ^(W)firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
⁵² But He ^(X)made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
⁵³ And He ^(Y)led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea ^(Z)overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And He brought them to His ^(AA)holy border,
This mountain ^(AB)which His right hand had acquired.
^55 (AC)He also drove out the nations before them,
^(AD)Allotted them an inheritance by ^[e]survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

^27 (A)Prepare your outside work,
Make it fit for yourself in the field;
And afterward build your house.