Jeremiah 8:4-12

English Standard Version

Sin and Treachery

⁴“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^(A)When men fall, do they not rise again?
    If one turns away, does he not return?
⁵Why then has this people ^(B)turned away
    in perpetual ^(C)backsliding?
^(D)They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return.
⁶^(E)I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    ^(F)like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
⁷Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and ^(G)the turtledove, ^(H)swallow, and crane^[a]
    keep the time of their coming,
^(I)but my people know not
    the rules^[b] of the Lord.

⁸^(J)“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
    and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie.
⁹^(K)The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed ^(L)and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    so what wisdom is in them?
¹⁰^(M)Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone ^(N)is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹¹They have healed ^(O)the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, ^(P)they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
^(Q)Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
    when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 8:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Jeremiah 8:7 Or just decrees

Jeremiah 7:1-11

English Standard Version

Evil in the Land

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²^(A)“Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(B)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴^(C)Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

⁵“For if you truly ^(D)amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(E)execute justice one with another, ⁶if you ^(F)do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, ^(G)or shed innocent blood in this place, ^(H)and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, ⁷^(I)then I will let you dwell in this place, ^(J)in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

⁸“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹^(K)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, ^(L)swear falsely, ^(M)make offerings to Baal, ^(N)and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, ^(O)which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹^(P)Has this house, ^(Q)which is called by my name, ^(R)become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.