Jeremiah 8

⁵I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.

⁴Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

⁵Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars. So he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁰On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.

²And he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, “O altar, O altar, this is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’”

¹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.

⁵Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

¹⁹When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

⁵those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the Lord but also swear by Milcom,

²²Declare that this is what the Lord says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”

⁴²But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

³For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.

⁶In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.

¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the Lord. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

⁸Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ Then they will dwell once more in their own land.”

³Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴Even if you have been banished to the farthest horizon, He will gather you and return you from there.

¹⁵so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.

¹⁶I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁶For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

¹“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the Lord.

¹Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

¹⁰Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, yet they do not return to the Lord their God; despite all this, they do not seek Him.

⁶You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

³O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

²⁵See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?

⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

⁷My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.

²The Lord looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.

²⁸Because he considered and turned from all the transgressions he had committed, he will surely live; he will not die.

¹⁷Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!

¹⁸I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁸Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

¹“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

³The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

¹²At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the Lord and fail to see the work of His hands.

⁶Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

⁷Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,

¹²The flowers have appeared in the countryside; the season of singing has come, and the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.

⁴¹“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

¹Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,

²to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

¹²He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.

⁶he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

⁹⁸Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.

⁹⁹I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.

¹²He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.

¹⁵Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the Lord.

⁷The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

¹²Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.

¹³“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.

³¹So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.

¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.

¹³Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.

²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

²⁸Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

³⁰You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.

³¹Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.

¹⁴They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

¹⁰Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,

¹¹tell those whitewashing the wall that it will fall. Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will burst forth.

³Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and carried to Babylon.

⁴And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

⁹But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

¹⁰For they prophesy to you a lie that will serve to remove you from your land; I will banish you and you will perish.

¹⁴The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

⁶So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” “Go up,” they replied, “and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

³Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.

⁹The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

³⁵Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

¹⁵Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the Lord.

⁷“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”

¹For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.

¹⁹Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.

⁷It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.

³He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

⁴Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.

⁸He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.

¹⁷I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the Lord.

³⁹You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

⁴⁰You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

²¹They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

¹¹So when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem to escape the armies of the Chaldeans and the Arameans.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

³²But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.

¹⁹Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

¹²For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem.

³While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

¹¹They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

²²Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions.

²⁸But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—

²⁹They named it Dan, after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city was formerly named Laish.

¹⁵For a voice resounds from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

¹⁶Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

¹Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah.

¹A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.

⁴Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,

⁵refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.

¹¹If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.

²⁴They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.

⁶So the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

¹⁹For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to inflict harm.

²⁴We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.

¹⁶For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁷Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

⁴Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

¹⁷Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—

¹⁹Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.”

²⁰My tent is destroyed, and all its ropes are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one left to pitch my tent or set up my curtains.

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹⁴then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

³Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”

⁵They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the Lord and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.

¹“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

¹⁹Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

²²For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. It is He who will save us.

²Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

²⁵After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

⁵He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

⁴⁴They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,

¹⁷You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.

¹⁰She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

⁶Nations writhe in horror before them; every face turns pale.

⁵I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.

³for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

⁴How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?

⁴¹As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

¹¹Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.

²⁵And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.

⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.

¹²For this is what the Lord says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.

¹³There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sores, no recovery for you.

⁴³including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.

³¹Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”