Jeremiah 8
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 8
1 At that time, says the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of its priests and prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be exhumed from their graves. 2 They will be spread out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven which they loved and served, and which they followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up and buried but will be left upon the ground like dung. 3 And death will be preferred to life by the survivors of the wicked race in any of the places to which I have banished them, says the Lord of hosts.
Israel’s Infidelity
4 [a]Then you are to say to them,
Thus says the Lord:
When someone falls, does he not stand up again?
If people go astray, do they not turn back?
5 Why then do these people continue to rebel
and persist in their obstinate infidelity?
Why do they continue in their treachery
and refuse to turn back?
6 I have listened to them attentively
but they never utter a truthful word.
Not a single one repents of his wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
All of them continue to follow the same course
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows its appointed seasons;
turtledoves, swallows, and cranes
are aware when it is time to migrate.
But my people do not know
the ordinances of the Lord.
8 How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when that law has been falsified
by the lying pen of the scribes?
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and caught in errors.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
of what value is their wisdom?
Unrepentant for Their Sins
10 Therefore, I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
everyone is greedy for ill-gotten gain.
All of them practice fraud,
including prophets and priests.
11 They bandage the wound of my people
as though it were a minor injury.
“Peace! Peace!” they say,
when there is no peace.
12 They should be embarrassed at their loathsome deeds,
yet they are not the least bit ashamed;
they do not even know how to blush.
Therefore, they will join the others who have fallen;
when the day of punishment arrives,
they will be thrown down, says the Lord.
A Prophet’s Lament
13 I will gather them all in,
the Lord has promised;
there will be no grapes on the vine,
no figs on the fig trees.
Even the leaves will be withered;
what I have given them
will be taken away from them.
14 Why are we just sitting idly here?
It is time to mobilize.
Let us march into the fortified cities
and perish there.
For the Lord, our God, has doomed us for destruction
and given us poisoned water to drink
because we have sinned against him.
15 We are praying for peace, but to no avail;
for a time of healing,
only to be confronted with terror.
16 The snorting of horses is heard from Dan;
the neighing of his stallions
causes the entire land to quake.
The enemy is advancing to devour the land
and all that it contains,
the city and those who dwell there.
17 Behold, I will send against you
venomous snakes that cannot be charmed,
and they will bite you, says the Lord.
18 There is no cure for my grief,
and my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of distress
from my people in a distant land.
“Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her king no longer in their midst?”
(Why do they provoke me with their idols
and with their foreign gods?)
20 “The time of harvest is past,
the summer is at an end,
and we are not saved.”
21 The suffering of my people causes me to suffer too.
I mourn, overcome with terror.
22 Is there no more balm in Gilead?[b]
Can no physician be found there?
Why has there not been any progress
to restore the health of my people?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 8:4 Among the rebukes and threats in this part of the Book is inserted a sorrowful lament: the people do not know the Lord! To know God and heed his word is true wisdom. Because it has preferred its own wisdom, the nation is plunging into ruin.
- Jeremiah 8:22 Gilead: in the Transjordan area, famous for its medicinal spices.
Jeremiah 8
King James Version
8 At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before 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 whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.
8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
13 I will surely consume them, saith the Lord: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah 8
Contemporary English Version
8 Then the bones of the dead kings of Judah and their officials will be dug up, along with the bones of the priests, the prophets, and everyone else in Jerusalem 2 who loved and worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. These bones will be scattered and left lying on the ground like trash, where the sun and moon and stars can shine on them.
3 Some of you people of Judah will be left alive, but I will force you to go to foreign countries, and you will wish you were dead. I, the Lord God All-Powerful, have spoken.
The People Took the Wrong Road
4 The Lord said:
People of Jerusalem,
when you stumble and fall,
you get back up,
and if you take a wrong road,
you turn around and go back.[a]
5 So why do you refuse
to come back to me?
Why do you hold so tightly
to your false gods?
6 I listen carefully,
but none of you admit
that you've done wrong.
Without a second thought,
you run down the wrong road[b]
like horses running blindly
into battle.
7 Storks, doves, swallows,
and thrushes
all know when it's time
to fly away for the winter
and when to come back.
But you, my people,
don't know what I demand.
8 You say, “We are wise
because we have the teachings
and laws of the Lord.”
But I say that your teachers
have turned my words
into lies!
9 Your wise men
have rejected what I say,
and so they have no wisdom.
Now they will be trapped
and put to shame;
they won't know what to do.
10 (A) I'll give their wives and fields
to strangers.
Everyone is greedy and dishonest,
whether poor or rich.
Even the prophets and priests
cannot be trusted.
11 (B) All they ever offer
to my deeply wounded people
are empty hopes for peace.
12 They should be ashamed
of the way they live,
but they don't even blush.
And so, when I punish Judah,
they will end up on the ground,
dead like everyone else.
13 I will wipe them out.[c]
They are vines without grapes;
fig trees without figs or leaves.
They have not done a thing
that I told them![d]
I, the Lord, have spoken.
The People and Their Punishment
14 The people of Judah
say to each other,
“What are we waiting for?
Let's run to a town with walls
and die there.
We rebelled against the Lord,
and we were sentenced to die
by drinking poison.
15 We had hoped for peace
and a time of healing,
but all we got was terror.
16 Our enemies have reached
the town of Dan in the north,
and the snorting of their horses
makes us tremble with fear.
The enemy will destroy Jerusalem
and our entire nation.
No one will survive.”
17 “Watch out!” the Lord says.
“I'm sending poisonous snakes
to attack you,
and no one can stop them.”
Jeremiah Mourns for His People
18 I'm burdened with sorrow
and feel like giving up.
19 In a foreign land
my people are crying.
Listen! You'll hear them say,
“Has the Lord deserted Zion?
Is he no longer its king?”
I hear the Lord reply,
“Why did you make me angry
by worshiping useless idols?”
20 The people complain,
“Spring and summer
have come and gone,
but still the Lord
hasn't rescued us.”
21 My people are crushed,
and so is my heart.
I am horrified and mourn.
22 If medicine and doctors
may be found in Gilead,
why aren't my people healed?
Footnotes
- 8.4 if you take … go back: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 8.6 you run down the wrong road: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 8.13 I will wipe them out: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 8.13 They have not … them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
