Jeremiah 8
8:1 The
Willful Disregard of God Will Lead to Destruction
8:4 The
“Tell them, ‘The
Do people not get back up when they fall down?
Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way?10
8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem11
continually turn away from me in apostasy?
They hold fast to their deception.12
They refuse to turn back to me.13
8:6 I have listened to them very carefully,14
but they do not speak honestly.
None of them regrets the evil he has done.
None of them says, “I have done wrong!”15
All of them persist in their own wayward course16
like a horse charging recklessly into battle.
when it is time to move on.17
The turtledove, swallow, and crane18
recognize19 the normal times for their migration.
But my people pay no attention
to20 what I, the
8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!
We have the law of the
The truth is,22 those who teach it23 have used their writings
to make it say what it does not really mean.24
8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.25
Since they have rejected the word of the
what wisdom do they really have?
8:1026 So I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
For from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
8:11 They offer only superficial help
for the hurt my dear people27 have suffered.28
They say, “Everything will be all right!”
But everything is not all right!29
8:12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?
No, they are not at all ashamed!
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die just like others have died.30
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,
says the
8:13 I will take away their harvests,31 says the
There will be no grapes on their vines.
There will be no figs on their fig trees.
Even the leaves on their trees will wither.
The crops that I gave them will be taken away.’”32
Jeremiah Laments over the Coming Destruction
8:14 The people say,33
“Why are we just sitting here?
Let us gather together inside the fortified cities.34
Let us at least die there fighting,35
since the
He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment36
because we have sinned against him.37
8:15 We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it.
We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror.38
8:16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses
is already being heard in the city of Dan.
The sound of the neighing of their stallions39
causes the whole land to tremble with fear.
They are coming to destroy the land and everything in it!
They are coming to destroy40 the cities and everyone who lives in them!”
8:17 The
“Yes indeed,42 I am sending an enemy against you
that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away.43
And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.”44
8:18 Then I said,45
“There is no cure46 for my grief!
I am sick at heart!
8:19 I hear my dear people47 crying out48
throughout the length and breadth of the land.49
They are crying, ‘Is the
Is her divine King50 no longer there?’”
The
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”52
8:20 “They cry,53 ‘Harvest time has come and gone, and the summer is over,54
and still we have not been delivered.’
8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people55 are being crushed.56
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.57
8:22 There is still medicinal ointment58 available in Gilead!
There is still a physician there!59
Why then have my dear people60
not been restored to health?61