Jeremiah 8:4-22

4“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do men 1fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not 2repent?5Why then has this people, Jerusalem, 3Turned away in continual apostasy? They 4hold fast to deceit, They 5refuse to return.6I 6have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; 7No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, Like a 8horse charging into the battle.7Even the stork in the sky 9Knows her seasons; And the 10turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their 11migration; But 12My people do not know The ordinance of the Lord.

8“13How 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.9The wise men are 14put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have 15rejected the word of the Lord, And what kind of wisdom do they have?10Therefore I will 16give their wives to others, Their fields to 17new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is 18greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit.11They 19heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.12Were they 20ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall 21fall among those who fall; At the 22time of their punishment they shall be brought down,” Says the Lord.

13“I will 23surely snatch them away,” declares the Lord; “There will be 24no grapes on the vine And 25no figs on the fig tree, And the leaf will wither; And what I have given them will pass away.”’”14Why are we sitting still? 26Assemble yourselves, and let us 27go into the fortified cities And let us perish there, Because the Lord our God has doomed us And given us 28poisoned water to drink, For 29we have sinned against the Lord.15We 30waited for peace, but no good came; For a time of healing, but behold, terror!16From 31Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; At the sound of the neighing of his 32stallions The whole land quakes; For they come and 33devour the land and its fullness, The city and its inhabitants.17“For behold, I am 34sending serpents against you, Adders, for which there is 35no charm, And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

1836My 37sorrow is beyond healing, My 38heart is faint within me!19Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a 39distant land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?” “Why have they 40provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign 4142idols?”20“Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved.”21For the 43brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I 44mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.22Is there no 45balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? 46Why then has not the 47health of the daughter of my people 48been restored?