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The Blind Perversity of the Whole Nation

You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When people fall, do they not get up again?
    If they go astray, do they not turn back?(A)
Why then has this people[a] turned away
    in perpetual faithlessness?
They have held fast to deceit;
    they have refused to return.(B)
I have given heed and listened,
    but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
    saying, “What have I done!”
All of them turn to their own course
    like a horse plunging headlong into battle.(C)
Even the stork in the heavens
    knows its times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane[b]
    observe the time of their coming,
but my people do not know
    the ordinance of the Lord.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 8.5 Heb ms Gk: MT this people, Jerusalem,
  2. 8.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain

A Stubborn People

“You are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Will a person fall down and then not get up?
    Will someone turn away[a] and then not turn back again?[b]
Why has this people turned away?[c]
    Why does Jerusalem continue in apostasy?
        They hold on to deceit and refuse to repent.
I’ve listened and I’ve heard,
    and what they say is not right.
No one repents of his evil and says,
    ‘What have I done?’
“They all turn to their own course
    like a horse racing into battle.
Even the stork in the sky knows its seasons,
    and the dove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time for migration.
But my people don’t know
    the requirements[d] of the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:4 Or repent
  2. Jeremiah 8:4 Or not repent
  3. Jeremiah 8:5 Lit. people committed apostasy
  4. Jeremiah 8:7 I.e. the behavior God expects of his people