Jeremiah 8
New American Standard Bible
The Sin and Treachery of Judah
8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will (A)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the (B)heavenly [a]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered (C)nor buried; (D)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. 3 And (E)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the (F)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.
4 “You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Do people (G)fall and not get up?
Does one turn away and not [b]repent?
5 Why has this people, Jerusalem,
(H)Turned away in continual apostasy?
They (I)hold on to deceit,
They (J)refuse to return.
6 I (K)have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
(L)No one repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
Like a (M)horse charging into the battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
(N)Knows her seasons;
And the (O)turtledove, the swallow, and the crane
Keep to the time of their [c]migration;
But (P)My people do not know
The judgment of the Lord.
8 “(Q)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 The wise men are (R)put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have (S)rejected the word of the Lord,
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will (T)give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is (U)greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest,
Everyone practices deceit.
11 They have (V)healed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
12 Were they (W)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
And they did not know how to be ashamed;
Therefore they will (X)fall among those who fall;
At the (Y)time of their punishment they will collapse,”
Says the Lord.
13 “I will (Z)certainly snatch them away,” declares the Lord.
“There will be (AA)no grapes on the vine
And (AB)no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
14 Why are we sitting still?
(AC)Assemble yourselves, and let’s (AD)go into the fortified cities
And perish there,
For the Lord our God has doomed us
And given us (AE)poisoned water to drink,
Because (AF)we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We (AG)waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
16 From (AH)Dan there is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his (AI)stallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and (AJ)devour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
17 “For behold, I am (AK)sending serpents among you,
Vipers for which there is (AL)no charm;
And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.
18 [d]My (AM)sorrow is beyond healing,
My (AN)heart is faint within me!
19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a (AO)distant land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they (AP)provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign [e](AQ)idols?”
20 “Harvest is past, summer is over,
And we are not saved.”
21 I am broken over the (AR)brokenness of the daughter of my people.
I (AS)mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no (AT)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
(AU)Why then has not the [f]health of the daughter of my people [g]been restored?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 8:2 Lit host
- Jeremiah 8:4 Lit turn back
- Jeremiah 8:7 Lit coming
- Jeremiah 8:18 As in LXX and ancient versions
- Jeremiah 8:19 Lit futilities
- Jeremiah 8:22 Or healing
- Jeremiah 8:22 Lit gone up
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)
Jeremiah 8
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
8 At that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the kings of Juda, and the bones of the princes thereof, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.
2 And they shall spread them abroad to the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and adored: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all that shall remain of this wicked kindred in all places, which are left, to which I have cast them out, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?
5 Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting? they have laid hold on lying, and have refused to return.
6 I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle.
7 The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord.
8 How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Indeed the lying pen of the scribes hath wrought falsehood.
9 The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them.
10 Therefore I will give their women to strangers, their fields to others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest, all deal deceitfully.
11 And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying Peace, peace: when there was no peace.
12 They are confounded, because they have committed abomination: yea rather they are not confounded with confusion, and they have not know how to blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord.
13 Gathering I will gather them together, saith the Lord, there is no grape on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig tree, the leaf is fallen: and I have given them the things that are passed away.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and hath given us water of gall to drink: for we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace and no good came: for a time of healing, and behold fear.
16 The snorting of his horse was heard from Dan, all the land was moved at the sound of the neighing of his warriors: and they came and devoured the land, and all that was in it: the city and its inhabitants.
17 For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
18 My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.
19 Behold the voice of the daughter my people from a far country: Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? why then have they provoked me to wrath with their idols, and strange vanities?
20 The harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the affliction of the daughter of my people I am afflicted, and made sorrowful, astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Galaad? or is no physician there? Why then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?
Jeremiah 8
The Message
8 1-2 “And when the time comes”—God’s Decree!—“I’ll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They’ll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they’ve been so infatuated with all these years, following their ‘lucky stars’ in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.
3 “Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead.” Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
To Know Everything but God’s Word
4-7 “Tell them this, God’s Message:
“‘Do people fall down and not get up?
Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?
So why does this people go backward,
and just keep on going—backward!
They stubbornly hold on to their illusions,
refuse to change direction.
I listened carefully
but heard not so much as a whisper.
No one expressed one word of regret.
Not a single “I’m sorry” did I hear.
They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly
banging their heads against a brick wall.
Cranes know when it’s time
to move south for winter.
And robins, warblers, and bluebirds
know when it’s time to come back again.
But my people? My people know nothing,
not the first thing of God and his rule.
8-9 “‘How can you say, “We know the score.
We’re the proud owners of God’s revelation”?
Look where it’s gotten you—stuck in illusion.
Your religion experts have taken you for a ride!
Your know-it-alls will be unmasked,
caught and shown up for what they are.
Look at them! They know everything but God’s Word.
Do you call that “knowing”?
10-12 “‘So here’s what will happen to the know-it-alls:
I’ll make them wifeless and homeless.
Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My dear Daughter—my people—broken, shattered,
and yet they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, “It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.”
But things are not “just fine”!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
Not really. They have no shame.
They don’t even know how to blush.
There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom
and there’s no getting up.
As far as I’m concerned,
they’re finished.’” God has spoken.
* * *
13 “‘I went out to see if I could salvage anything’”
—God’s Decree—
“‘but found nothing:
Not a grape, not a fig,
just a few withered leaves.
I’m taking back
everything I gave them.’”
14-16 So why are we sitting here, doing nothing?
Let’s get organized.
Let’s go to the big city
and at least die fighting.
We’ve gotten God’s ultimatum:
We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t—
damned because of our sin against him.
We hoped things would turn out for the best,
but it didn’t happen that way.
We were waiting around for healing—
and terror showed up!
From Dan at the northern borders
we hear the hooves of horses,
Horses galloping, horses neighing.
The ground shudders and quakes.
They’re going to swallow up the whole country.
Towns and people alike—fodder for war.
17 “‘What’s more, I’m dispatching
poisonous snakes among you,
Snakes that can’t be charmed,
snakes that will bite you and kill you.’”
God’s Decree!
Advancing from One Evil to the Next
18-22 I drown in grief.
I’m heartsick.
Oh, listen! Please listen! It’s the cry of my dear people
reverberating through the country.
Is God no longer in Zion?
Has the King gone away?
Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods,
their silly, imported no-gods before me?
The crops are in, the summer is over,
but for us nothing’s changed.
We’re still waiting to be rescued.
For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken.
I weep, seized by grief.
Are there no healing ointments in Gilead?
Isn’t there a doctor in the house?
So why can’t something be done
to heal and save my dear, dear people?
* * *
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