⁸ “‘How can you say, “We are wise,
    for we have the law^(A) of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
    has handled it falsely?
⁹ The wise^(B) will be put to shame;
    they will be dismayed^(C) and trapped.^(D)
Since they have rejected the word^(E) of the Lord,
    what kind of wisdom^(F) do they have?
¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to other men
    and their fields to new owners.^(G)
From the least to the greatest,
    all are greedy for gain;^(H)
prophets^(I) and priests alike,
    all practice deceit.^(J)
11 They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
    when there is no peace.^(K)
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
    No, they have no shame^(L) at all;
    they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
    they will be brought down when they are punished,^(M)
says the Lord.^(N)

¹³ “‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the Lord.
    There will be no grapes on the vine.^(O)
There will be no figs^(P) on the tree,
    and their leaves will wither.^(Q)
What I have given them
    will be taken^(R) from them.^[a]’”

¹⁴ Why are we sitting here?
    Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities^(S)
    and perish there!
For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and given us poisoned water^(T) to drink,
    because we have sinned^(U) against him.
¹⁵ We hoped for peace^(V)
    but no good has come,
for a time of healing
    but there is only terror.^(W)
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses^(X)
    is heard from Dan;^(Y)
at the neighing of their stallions
    the whole land trembles.^(Z)
They have come to devour^(AA)
    the land and everything in it,
    the city and all who live there.

¹⁷ “See, I will send venomous snakes^(AB) among you,
    vipers that cannot be charmed,^(AC)
    and they will bite you,”
declares the Lord.

¹⁸ You who are my Comforter^[b] in sorrow,
    my heart is faint^(AD) within me.
¹⁹ Listen to the cry of my people
    from a land far away:^(AE)
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    Is her King^(AF) no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused^(AG) my anger with their images,
    with their worthless^(AH) foreign idols?”^(AI)

²⁰ “The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
    and we are not saved.”

²¹ Since my people are crushed,^(AJ) I am crushed;
    I mourn,^(AK) and horror grips me.
²² Is there no balm in Gilead?^(AL)
    Is there no physician^(AM) there?
Why then is there no healing^(AN)
    for the wound of my people?

³ “They make ready their tongue
    like a bow, to shoot lies;^(AU)
it is not by truth
    that they triumph^[d] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
    they do not acknowledge^(AV) me,”
declares the Lord.
⁴ “Beware of your friends;^(AW)
    do not trust anyone in your clan.^(AX)
For every one of them is a deceiver,^[e](AY)
    and every friend a slanderer.^(AZ)
5 Friend deceives friend,^(BA)
    and no one speaks the truth.^(BB)
They have taught their tongues to lie;^(BC)
    they weary themselves with sinning.
⁶ You^[f] live in the midst of deception;^(BD)
    in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.

“See, I will refine^(BE) and test^(BF) them,
    for what else can I do
    because of the sin of my people?
⁸ Their tongue^(BG) is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,^(BH)
    but in their hearts they set traps^(BI) for them.^(BJ)
9 Should I not punish them for this?”
    declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge^(BK) myself
    on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰ I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.^(BL)
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds^(BM) have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

¹¹ “I will make Jerusalem a heap^(BN) of ruins,
    a haunt of jackals;^(BO)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah^(BP)
    so no one can live there.”^(BQ)

“Consider now! Call for the wailing women^(CB) to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
¹⁸ Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.^(CC)
19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined^(CD) we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

²⁰ Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
    open your ears to the words of his mouth.^(CE)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
    teach one another a lament.^(CF)
21 Death has climbed in through our windows^(CG)
    and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
    and the young men^(CH) from the public squares.

“‘Dead bodies will lie
    like dung^(CI) on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
    with no one to gather them.’”

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom^(CJ)
    or the strong boast of their strength^(CK)
    or the rich boast of their riches,^(CL)
24 but let the one who boasts boast^(CM) about this:
    that they have the understanding to know^(CN) me,
that I am the Lord,^(CO) who exercises kindness,^(CP)
    justice and righteousness^(CQ) on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;^(A)
    in spite of his wonders,^(B) they did not believe.^(C)
33 So he ended their days in futility^(D)
    and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever God slew them, they would seek^(E) him;
    they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their Rock,^(F)
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.^(G)
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,^(H)
    lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷ their hearts were not loyal^(I) to him,
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful;^(J)
    he forgave^(K) their iniquities^(L)
    and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger^(M)
    and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,^(N)
    a passing breeze^(O) that does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled^(P) against him in the wilderness^(Q)
    and grieved him^(R) in the wasteland!
⁴¹ Again and again they put God to the test;^(S)
    they vexed the Holy One of Israel.^(T)
42 They did not remember^(U) his power—
    the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,^(V)
43 the day he displayed his signs^(W) in Egypt,
    his wonders^(X) in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their river into blood;^(Y)
    they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies^(Z) that devoured them,
    and frogs^(AA) that devastated them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper,^(AB)
    their produce to the locust.^(AC)
47 He destroyed their vines with hail^(AD)
    and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock^(AE) to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹ He unleashed against them his hot anger,^(AF)
    his wrath, indignation and hostility—
    a band of destroying angels.^(AG)
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death
    but gave them over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,^(AH)
    the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.^(AI)
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;^(AJ)
    he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
⁵³ He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
    but the sea engulfed^(AK) their enemies.^(AL)
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to the hill country his right hand^(AM) had taken.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations^(AN) before them
    and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;^(AO)
    he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.