Jeremiah 8:8-17

English Standard Version

⁸^(A)“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^(B)The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed ^(C)and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    so what wisdom is in them?
¹⁰^(D)Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone ^(E)is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹¹They have healed ^(F)the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, ^(G)they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
^(H)Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
    when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
¹³When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
    there are ^(I)no grapes on the vine,
    ^(J)nor figs on the fig tree;
^(K)even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.”^[a]

¹⁴Why do we sit still?
^(L)Gather together; ^(M)let us go into the fortified cities
    and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and has ^(N)given us ^(O)poisoned water to drink,
    because we have sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵^(P)We looked for peace, but no good came;
    for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

¹⁶^(Q)“The snorting of their horses is heard ^(R)from Dan;
    at the sound of the neighing ^(S)of their stallions
    ^(T)the whole land quakes.
They come ^(U)and devour the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
¹⁷For behold, I am sending among you ^(V)serpents,
    adders ^(W)that cannot be charmed,
    ^(X)and they shall bite you,”
declares the Lord.