Jeremías 8

¹At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of Judah’s kings and officials, of the priests and prophets, and of all who lived in Jerusalem will be taken from their graves. ²They will lie spread out under the sun, the moon and the whole host of heaven, which they loved and served, which they followed, consulted and worshiped. No one will gather them or bury them; they will lie like dung on the surface of the ground. ³All who are left of this evil family, in every place where I have driven them, will choose death rather than life, declares the LORD of Armies.”^a

A people who will not turn back

⁴Say to them, The LORD says this: \q When people fall, do they not get up again? \q When someone turns away, do they not turn back? ⁵Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away, and kept on turning away? \q They cling to deceit; \q they refuse to come back. ⁶I have listened closely and heard; they do not speak what is right. \q No one is sorry for their wickedness \q and says, “What have I done?” \q Each of them turns off on their own course, \q like a horse charging into battle. ⁷Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons, \q and the turtledove, the swift and the crane keep the time of their return; \q but my people do not know \q the order the LORD has set.^{b 8}How can you say, “We are wise; \q we have the instruction of the LORD”? \q In fact, the lying pen of the scribes \q has turned it into a lie.^{cd 9}The wise will be put to shame; \q they will be shattered and trapped. \q They have rejected the word of the LORD, \q so what kind of wisdom do they have?

¹⁰So I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors; \q for from the smallest to the greatest, \q all are out for dishonest gain; \q from prophet to priest, \q every one of them deals in lies.^{e 11}They have treated the fracture of my dear people as though it were slight, \q saying, “Peace, peace,” \q when there is no peace. ¹²Were they ashamed when they did such detestable things? \q Not in the least; they have forgotten how to blush. \q So they will fall with the fallen; \q when the time comes to call them to account they will be brought down, says the LORD.

¹³I will gather them in and put an end to them, declares the LORD. \q There are no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree; even the leaves have withered. \q What I gave them will pass away from them.^{fg 14}“Why are we sitting here? \q Come together, let us go into the fortified cities and meet our end there; \q for the LORD our God has doomed us to die and made us drink poisoned water, \q because we have sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵We hoped for peace, but nothing good came; \q for a time of healing, but there was only terror.” ¹⁶The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of his stallions \q the whole land shakes. \q They come and devour the land and all that is in it, \q the city with its people.

¹⁷For I am about to send snakes among you, \q vipers that no charmer can control, \q and they will bite you, declares the LORD.

Is there no balm in Gilead?

¹⁸My joy is gone; grief has come over me; \q my heart is sick within me.^{h 19}Listen! The cry of my dear people for help comes from a land far away: \q “Is the LORD not in Zion? \q Is her King no longer there?” \q Why have they made me angry with their idols, with worthless foreign gods?^{i 20}“The harvest is over and the summer is gone, \q and still we are not saved.” ²¹Because my dear people are broken, I am broken; \q I mourn, and horror has taken hold of me. ²²Is there no balm in Gilead? \q Is there no doctor there? \q Why then has the wound of my dear people \q not been healed? ²³If only my head were all water \q and my eyes a fountain of tears, \q so that I could weep day and night \q for the slain of my dear people!^j