Jeremiah 8:4-22

4“You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Do people 1fall and not get up? Does one turn away and not 2repent?5Why has this people, Jerusalem, 3Turned away in continual apostasy? They 4hold on to deceit, They 5refuse to return.6I 6have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; 7No one repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, Like a 8horse charging into the battle.7Even the stork in the sky 9Knows her seasons; And the 10turtledove, the swallow, and the crane Keep to the time of their 11migration; But 12My people do not know The judgment 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, So what kind of wisdom do they have?10Therefore I will 16give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is 17greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest, Everyone practices deceit.11They have 18healed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.12Were they 19ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They were not ashamed at all, And they did not know how to be ashamed; Therefore they will 20fall among those who fall; At the 21time of their punishment they will collapse,” Says the Lord.

13“I will 22certainly snatch them away,” declares the Lord. “There will be 23no grapes on the vine And 24no figs on the fig tree, And the leaf will wither; And what I have given them will pass away.”’”14Why are we sitting still? 25Assemble yourselves, and let’s 26go into the fortified cities And perish there, For the Lord our God has doomed us And given us 27poisoned water to drink, Because 28we have sinned against the Lord.15We 29waited for peace, but no good came; For a time of healing, but behold, terror!16From 30Dan there is heard the snorting of his horses; At the sound of the neighing of his 31stallions The whole land quakes; For they come and 32devour the land and its fullness, The city and its inhabitants.17“For behold, I am 33sending serpents among you, Vipers for which there is 34no charm; And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

1835My 36sorrow is beyond healing, My 37heart is faint within me!19Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a 38distant land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?” “Why have they 39provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign 4041idols?”20“Harvest is past, summer is over, And we are not saved.”21I am broken over the 42brokenness of the daughter of my people. I 43mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.22Is there no 44balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? 45Why then has not the 46health of the daughter of my people 47been restored?