Chapter 8

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

1 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will abring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves.

2 “They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the ahost of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have gone after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered bor buried; cthey will be as dung on the face of the ground.

3 “And adeath will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the bplaces to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of hosts.

4 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord,

“Do men afall and not get up again?

Does one turn away and not 1repent?

5 “Why then has this people, Jerusalem,

aTurned away in continual apostasy?

They bhold fast to deceit,

They crefuse to return.

6 “I ahave listened and heard,

They have spoken what is not right;

bNo man repented of his wickedness,

Saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turned to his course,

Like a chorse charging into the battle.

7 “Even the stork in the sky

aKnows her seasons;

And the bturtledove and the swift and the thrush

Observe the time of their 1migration;

But cMy people do not know

The ordinance of the Lord.

8 “aHow 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.

9 “The wise men are aput to shame,

They are dismayed and caught;

Behold, they have brejected the word of the Lord,

And what kind of wisdom do they have?

10 “Therefore I will agive their wives to others,

Their fields to 1new owners;

Because from the least even to the greatest

Everyone is bgreedy for gain;

From the prophet even to the priest

Everyone practices deceit.

11 “They aheal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

But there is no peace.

12 “Were they aashamed because of the abomination they had done?

They certainly were not ashamed,

And they did not know how to blush;

Therefore they shall bfall among those who fall;

At the ctime of their punishment they shall be brought down,”

Says the Lord.

13 “I will asurely snatch them away,” declares the Lord;

“There will be bno grapes on the vine

And cno figs on the fig tree,

And the leaf will wither;

And what I have given them will pass away.” ’ ”

14 Why are we sitting still?

aAssemble yourselves, and let us bgo into the fortified cities

And let us perish there,

Because the Lord our God has doomed us

And given us cpoisoned water to drink,

For dwe have sinned against the Lord.

15 We awaited for peace, but no good came;

For a time of healing, but behold, terror!

16 From aDan is heard the snorting of his horses;

At the sound of the neighing of his bstallions

The whole land quakes;

For they come and cdevour the land and its fullness,

The city and its inhabitants.

17 “For behold, I am asending serpents against you,

Adders, for which there is bno charm,

And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

18 1My asorrow is beyond healing,

My bheart is faint within me!

19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a adistant land:

“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”

“Why have they bprovoked Me with their graven images, with foreign 1cidols?”

20 “Harvest is past, summer is ended,

And we are not saved.”

21 For the abrokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;

I bmourn, dismay has taken hold of me.

22 Is there no abalm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

bWhy then has not the 1health of the daughter of my people 2been restored?