Add parallel Print Page Options

You are to tell them that this is what the Lord says:
Do people fall and not get up again?
If a person turns away, doesn’t he turn back again?
Then why has this people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They hang on to deception
and refuse to let it go.
I have paid attention and listened,
but they do not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness.
No one asks, “What have I done?”
Everyone pursues his own course,
    like a horse charging into battle.
Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons.
The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush[a]
    observe the right time for their migration.
But my people do not recognize
    the just judgments of the Lord.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:7 The precise identification of these species of birds is uncertain.

Yahweh Questions His People

“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asks[a] Yahweh:

“Do men fall and not stand up?
    If one turns away does he not return?
Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy?
    They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.[b]
I have listened attentively,
    and I have listened.
They do not speak honestly,
    there is no man who regrets his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’
All of them are turning to their ways of running,
    like a horse plunging into battle.
Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time,
    and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird,
they observe the time of their coming.
    But my people do not know the ordinance[c] of Yahweh.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:4 Or “says”
  2. Jeremiah 8:5 Or “repent”
  3. Jeremiah 8:7 Or “law”