Jeremiah 8

1 “At that time, says the Lord, they will bring out of their graves the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its rulers and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the people who lived in Jerusalem.”

2 “And they will spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the stars and all the army of heaven — the things they loved and served and walked after and clung to and bowed down to. They will not be mourned, and they will not be buried; they will lie as an example on the face of the earth.”

3 “For they chose death over life — and so will all who remain of that generation, in every place where I drive them out.”

4 “This is what the Lord says: Does the one who falls not get up? Does the one who turns away not turn back?”

5 “Then why has this people of mine turned away in a shameless turning? They are gripped by their own choice, and they refuse to return.”

6 “Give ear now and listen: this is not how they talk. There is no one with a change of heart about his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ The runner has quit his course, like a horse drenched in sweat at his neighing.”

7 “Even the stork in the sky knows her season; the turtledove and the swallow and the sparrows of the field keep the times of their coming. But this people of mine does not know the judgments of the Lord.”

8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? Look — the scribes’ lying pen has worked for nothing.”

9 “The wise have been put to shame, terrified, and caught, because they rejected the word of the Lord. What wisdom is left in them?”

10 “Therefore I will give their wives to other men, and their fields to those who will inherit them.”

13 “And they will gather in their produce, says the Lord: there are no grapes on the vines, there are no figs on the fig trees, and the leaves have fallen.”

14 “Why are we sitting still? Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities and be thrown away there, for God has thrown us away. He has made us drink water of gall, because we sinned before him.”

15 “We gathered for peace, but nothing good came; for a time of healing — and look, panic.”

16 “From Dan we hear the sound of his swift horses; at the neighing of his galloping horses the whole land shook. He will come and devour the land and everything that fills it — the city and those who live in it.”

17 “For look, I am sending against you deadly snakes that no charm can touch, and they will bite you —”

18 “bites past healing, with the pain of your bewildered heart.”

19 “Look — the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: ‘Is the Lord not in Zion? Is there no king there?’ Why have they provoked me with their carved images and with foreign empty things?”

20 “The summer has gone, the harvest is past, and we have not been rescued.”

21 “Over the wound of the daughter of my people I have gone dark. Bewilderment has overpowered me — pangs like a woman’s in labor.”

22 “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why has healing not come up for the daughter of my people?”

23 “Who will give my head water, and my eyes a spring of tears? Then I would weep for this people day and night — for the slain of the daughter of my people.”