Jeremiah 8:18-9:11

New King James Version

“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 (B)For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am ^(C)mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.
²² Is there no ^(D)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 ^(G)they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from ^(H)evil to evil,
And they ^(I)do not know Me,” says the Lord.
⁴ “Everyone^(J) take heed to his ^[a]neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
For every brother will utterly supplant,
And every neighbor will ^(K)walk with slanderers.
⁵ Everyone will ^(L)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, ^(M)I will refine them and ^[b]try them;
^(N)For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
⁸ Their tongue is an arrow shot out;
It speaks ^(O)deceit;
One speaks ^(P)peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
But ^[c]in his heart he ^[d]lies in wait.
^9 (Q)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 ^(R)for the ^[e]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.
^(S)Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;
They are gone.

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