Jeremiah 8:4-17

New King James Version

“Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
⁵ Why has this people ^(A)slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
^(B)They hold fast to deceit,
^(C)They refuse to return.
^6 (D)I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
^(E)No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.

⁷ “Even ^(F)the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But ^(G)My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁸ “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
^(H)And the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
^9 (I)The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord;
So ^(J)what wisdom do they have?
¹⁰ Therefore ^(K)I will give their wives to others,
And their fields to those who will inherit them;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is given to ^(L)covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹¹ For they have ^(M)healed the hurt of the daughter of My people ^[a]slightly,
Saying, ^(N)‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹² Were they ^(O)ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed,
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
In the time of their punishment
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹³ “I will surely ^[b]consume them,” says the Lord.
“No grapes shall be ^(P)on the vine,
Nor figs on the ^(Q)fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall ^(R)pass away from them.” ’ ”

¹⁴ “Why do we sit still?
^(S)Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the Lord our God has put us to silence
And given us ^(T)water^[c] of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵ “We ^(U)looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
¹⁶ The snorting of His horses was heard from ^(V)Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His ^(W)strong ones;
For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”

¹⁷ “For behold, I will send serpents among you,
Vipers which cannot be ^(X)charmed,
And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.