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“Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says:

“‘Do men fall, and not rise up again?
    Does one turn away, and not return?
Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding?
    They cling to deceit.
    They refuse to return.
I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right.
    No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”
Everyone turns to his course,
    as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times.
    The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming;
    but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.

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Deception by False Prophets

“Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again?
    When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?
Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?
    Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?
They cling tightly to their lies
    and will not turn around.
I listen to their conversations
    and don’t hear a word of truth.
Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?
    Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”?
No! All are running down the path of sin
    as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!
Even the stork that flies across the sky
    knows the time of her migration,
as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.[a]
    They all return at the proper time each year.
But not my people!
    They do not know the Lord’s laws.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:7 The identification of some of these birds is uncertain.