(A)Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?

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Take notice, you senseless ones(A) among the people;
    you fools, when will you become wise?

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For (A)we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

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At one time(A) we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

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The stupid man cannot know;
    the fool cannot understand this:

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Senseless people(A) do not know,
    fools do not understand,

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11     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.

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11     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.

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10 For he sees (A)that even the wise die;
    (B)the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and (C)leave their wealth to others.

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10 For all can see that the wise die,(A)
    that the foolish and the senseless(B) also perish,
    leaving their wealth(C) to others.(D)

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29 (A)If they were wise, they would understand this;
    they would (B)discern their latter end!

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29 If only they were wise and would understand this(A)
    and discern what their end will be!(B)

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(A)They are both (B)stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!

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They are all senseless(A) and foolish;(B)
    they are taught by worthless wooden idols.(C)

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(A)I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    (B)like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and (C)the turtledove, (D)swallow, and crane[a]
    keep the time of their coming,
(E)but my people know not
    the rules[b] of the Lord.

(F)“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.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
  2. Jeremiah 8:7 Or just decrees

I have listened(A) attentively,
    but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent(B) of their wickedness,
    saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course(C)
    like a horse charging into battle.
Even the stork in the sky
    knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
    observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know(D)
    the requirements of the Lord.

“‘How can you say, “We are wise,
    for we have the law(E) of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
    has handled it falsely?

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11 When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
    women come and make a fire of them.
(A)For this is a people without discernment;
    therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
    he who formed them will show them no favor.

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11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off(A)
    and women come and make fires(B) with them.
For this is a people without understanding;(C)
    so their Maker has no compassion on them,
    and their Creator(D) shows them no favor.(E)

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12 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but he who (A)hates reproof is (B)stupid.

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12 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but whoever hates correction is stupid.(A)

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O (A)simple ones, learn (B)prudence;
    O (C)fools, learn sense.

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You who are simple,(A) gain prudence;(B)
    you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 8:5 Septuagint; Hebrew foolish, instruct your minds

22 I was (A)brutish and ignorant;
    I was like (B)a beast toward you.

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22 I was senseless(A) and ignorant;
    I was a brute beast(B) before you.

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22 “How long, O (A)simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will (B)scoffers delight in their scoffing
    and fools (C)hate knowledge?

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22 “How long will you who are simple(A) love your simple ways?
    How long will mockers delight in mockery
    and fools hate(B) knowledge?

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