Jeremiah 8
Christian Standard Bible
Death over Life
8 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.(A) 2 They will be exposed(B) to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky,(C) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.(D) 3 Death will be chosen over life(E) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.”(F) This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
4 “You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?(G)
If they turn away, do they not return?
5 Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;(H)
they refuse to return.(I)
6 I have paid careful attention.
They do not speak what is right.
No one regrets his evil,
asking, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone has stayed his course
like a horse rushing into battle.(J)
7 Even storks in the sky
know their seasons.
Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes[a]
are aware of their migration,
but my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.(K)
Punishment for Judah’s Leaders
8 “How can you claim, ‘We are wise;
the law of the Lord is with us’?
In fact, the lying pen of scribes(L)
has produced falsehood.
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and snared.
They have rejected the word of the Lord,(M)
so what wisdom do they really have?
10 Therefore, I will give(N) their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,(O)
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have treated the brokenness
of my dear[b] people superficially,
claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”(P)
says the Lord.
13 “I will gather them and bring them to an end.”[c](Q)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
“There will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and even the leaf will wither.
Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”
God’s People Unrepentant
14 Why are we just sitting here?
Gather together; let’s enter the fortified cities
and perish there,[d]
for the Lord our God has destroyed[e] us.
He has given us poisoned water to drink,(R)
because we have sinned against the Lord.(S)
15 We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing, but there was only terror.(T)
16 From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,(U)
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
17 Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,
poisonous vipers(V) that cannot be charmed.(W)
They will bite you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Lament over Judah
18 My joy has flown away;
grief has settled on me.
My heart is sick.(X)
19 Listen—the cry of my dear people
from a faraway land,
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,(Y)
her King not within her?”
Why have they angered me
with their carved images,
with their worthless foreign idols?(Z)
20 Harvest has passed, summer has ended,
but we have not been saved.
21 I am broken by the brokenness
of my dear people.(AA)
I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?(AB)
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?
Jeremiah 8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 At that time, says the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs,(A) 2 and they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have followed, and which they have inquired of and worshiped, and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be like dung on the surface of the ground.(B) 3 Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says the Lord of hosts.(C)
The Blind Perversity of the Whole Nation
4 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When people fall, do they not get up again?
If they go astray, do they not turn back?(D)
5 Why then has this people[a] turned away
in perpetual faithlessness?
They have held fast to deceit;
they have refused to return.(E)
6 I have given heed and listened,
but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
saying, “What have I done!”
All of them turn to their own course
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.(F)
7 Even the stork in the heavens
knows its times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane[b]
observe the time of their coming,
but my people do not know
the ordinance of the Lord.(G)
8 How can you say, “We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us,”
when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie?(H)
9 The wise shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom is in them?(I)
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(J)
11 They have treated the wound of the daughter of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.(K)
12 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
yet they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.(L)
13 I will surely gather them,[c] says the Lord;
there are no grapes on the vine
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.[d](M)
14 Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has given us poisoned water to drink
because we have sinned against the Lord.(N)
15 We look for peace but find no good,
for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.(O)
16 The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who live in it.(P)
17 See, I am letting snakes loose among you,
adders that cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,
says the Lord.(Q)
The Prophet Mourns for the People
18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;
my heart is sick.
19 Listen! The cry of the daughter of my people
from far and wide in the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?”)(R)
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken,
I mourn, and horror has seized me.(S)
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?(T)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.