Judah’s Sin and Punishment

1“At that time,” a declaration of YHWH, “They shall bring 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 those dwelling in Jerusalem, out from their graves. 2And they will spread them out before the sun, and before the moon, and before all the host of the heavens, which they have loved, and which they have served, and which they have walked after them, and which they have sought, and which they have bowed down to them. They will not be gathered, and they will be buried; they will be like dung over the face of the land. 3And they will choose and death over life for all the remant remaining of this evil family, those remaining in all the places where I have driven them!” A declaration of YHWH of Hosts.

4And you shall say to them, thus says YHWH!

“Will they fall, and not rise? Will

they turn away, and not return?

5Why is this people of Jerusalem turned away

by a perpetual backsliding?

They hold firmly to deceit,

they refuse to return.

6I paid attention and listened;

they did not speak what is right;

there was no man repenting over his wickedness,

saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turned to his own course,

like a horse rushing into the battle.

7Even the stork in the heavens

knows her appointed times,

and the turtledove and the swift and the thrush†

watch over the time of their coming;

and My people do not know

the judgment of YHWH.

8How can you⁺ say, ‘We are wise

and the law of YHWH is with us?’

Truly behold—in falsehood he made it;

the pen of the scribes is false.

9The wise ones have been put to shame,

they are dismayed and captured;

behold, they have rejected the word of YHWH—

what wisdom is unto them?

10Therefore I will give their wives to others,

and their fields to those possessing them;

for from the least and to the greatest,

everyone is greedy for dishonest gain;

from the prophet and to the priest,

everyone deals falsely.

And they have healed the breaking of the daughter of My people

upon being light,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,

when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they did the abomination?

No, they were not ashamed at all,

and they did not know how to blush!

Therefore they shall fall among those falling;

in the time of their punishment, they shall be cast down,

says YHWH.

13Surely I will consume them,’

a declaration of YHWH,

no grapes will be on the vine,

and no figs on the fig tree;

and the leaf is withered,

and the things I have given to them pass away from them.”

The People Respond

14Why are we sitting?

Gather yourselves,

and let us go into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there,

for YHWH our God has made us perish,

and given us water of gall,

because we have sinned against YHWH—

15looking for peace,

and no good has come,

and for a time of health,

and behold, terror!

16From Dan is heard

the snorting of his horses,

the whole land quakes

from the voice of the neighing of His mighty ones;

and they will come and consume the land and its fullness,

the city and those dwelling in it.

17“For behold, I am sending you⁺ among serpents—

vipers that there is not unto them a charm,

and they will bite you⁺,”

a declaration of YHWH.

Jeremiah Weeps for His People

18My sorrow is beyond healing;†

My heart is faint within me.

19Behold! The voice of the outcry of the daughter of my people,

from a land far away:

“Is YHWH not in Zion?

Is her King not in her?”

“Why have they provoked Me

with their carved images,

with foreign idols?”

20“The harvest has passed, the summer has ended,

and we have not been saved.”

21Because of the breaking of the daughter of my people, I am broken;

I am mourning; dismay has seized me.

22Is no balm in Gilead?

Is a healer not there?

Then why does not go up

the health of the daughter of my people?