Jeremiah 8

1 Yahweh says, “At the time [that your corpses are scattered on the ground], [your enemies will] break open the graves of your kings and [other] officials who lived in Judah, and the graves of your priests and prophets and other people who lived there.

“In that time, says the Lord, they will cast out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its leaders, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of those who were living in Jerusalem, from their graves.

2 They will take out their bones [from their graves] and [dishonor them by] scattering them on the ground under the sun and the moon and the stars— those are the gods which my people loved and served and worshiped. No one will gather up their bones and bury them [again]; they will remain scattered on the ground like dung.

And they will spread them out before the sun and the moon and the entire army of the heavens, which they have loved, and served, and followed, and which they have sought and adored. They will not be collected, and they will not be buried. They will be like manure upon the face of the earth.

3 And all the people of this wicked nation [who are still alive and] whom I have exiled to other countries will say, ‘We would prefer to die than to continue to stay alive [here in these countries].’ [That will be true because I], Yahweh, have said it.”

And they will greatly prefer death to life: all those who will have been left from this wicked kindred, in all the forsaken places to which I will cast them out, says the Lord of hosts.

4 [Yahweh said to me, “Jeremiah], tell the people that this is what [I], Yahweh, am saying to them: ‘When people fall down, they get up again, do they not [RHQ]? When people are going along a road and find out that they are walking on the wrong road, they go back [and find the correct road], do they not [RHQ]?

And you will say to them: Thus says the Lord: He who falls, will he not rise again? And he who has been turned away, will he not return?

5 [Yes, they do], so why do these people [of Judah] continue [trusting in those idols that have deceived them]? They continue turning away from me, [even though I have warned them].

Then why have this people in Jerusalem turned away with a contentious loathing? They have taken hold of what is false, and they are not willing to return.

6 I have listened carefully [DOU] [to what they say], but they do not say what they should say. Not one of them is sorry for having sinned. No one says, “I have done [RHQ] wicked things.” They are [sinning and] doing what they want to as fast as [SIM] a horse that is running into a battle.

I paid close attention and I listened carefully. No one is speaking what is good. There is no one who does penance for his sin, saying: ‘What have I done?’ They have all turned to their own course, like a horse rushing with fury into battle.

7 All the birds [that fly south for the (winter/cold season)] know the time that they need to fly south, and they all return at the right time the following year. But my people [are not like those birds]! They do not know what [I], Yahweh, require them to do.

The hawk in the heavens has known her time. The turtledove, and the swallow, and the stork have kept the time of their arrival. But my people have not known the judgment of the Lord.

8 Your men who teach you [the laws that Moses wrote] have been saying false things [about those laws]. [So], why [RHQ] do they [continue] saying, “We are [very] wise [because] we have the laws of Yahweh”?

How can you say: ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?’ Truly, the lying pen of the scribes has wrought falsehood.

9 Those teachers, who think that [IRO] they are wise, will be ashamed/disgraced and dismayed when they are taken [to other countries by their enemies] because they sinned by rejecting what I told them. Truly, they were not [RHQ] very wise to do that!

The wise men have been confounded; they were terrified and captured. For they cast aside the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them.

10 So, I will give their wives to other men; I will give their fields to [the enemy soldiers] who conquer them. All the people, including those who are important and those who are not important, deceive [others] in order to obtain their possessions. Even [my] prophets and my priests do that.

Because of this, I will give their wives to outsiders and their fields to others as an inheritance. For from the least, even to the greatest, they all pursue avarice; from the prophet, even to the priest, they all act with deceit.

11 [They act as though the sins of my people] are not serious, [like] [MET] wounds that do not need to be cleaned and bandaged. They tell the people that everything will go well with them, [but that is not true]; things will not go well with them.

And they healed the destruction of the daughter of my people with disgrace, by saying: ‘Peace, peace,’ though there was no peace.

12 They should be [RHQ] ashamed when they do disgusting things [RHQ], but they do not even know how to show on their faces that they are ashamed [about their sins]. So, [they will be killed, and] their corpses [also] will lie among the corpses of others who have been slaughtered [by their enemies]. They will be killed when I punish them.

They have been confounded because they committed abomination. Or rather, they have not been confounded with shame, for they do not know how to blush. For this reason, they will fall among the fallen. In the time of their visitation, they will fall, says the Lord.

13 I will [allow their enemies to] take away the figs and grapes that the people would have harvested from their fields. Their fruit trees will all wither. They will not receive [all] the blessings that I prepared for them. [This will certainly happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.’”

When gathering, I will gather them together, says the Lord. There are no grapes on the vine, and there are no figs on the fig tree. The leaves have fallen. And I have given them the things that have passed away.”

14 [Then the people will say], “(Why should we wait here [in these small towns]?/We should not wait here [in these small towns].) [RHQ]! We should go to the cities that have high walls around them, [but even if we do that] we will be killed there, because Yahweh our God has decided that we must be destroyed; [it is as though] [MET] he has given us a cup of poison to drink, because we sinned against him.

“Why are we sitting still? Assemble, and let us enter the fortified city, and let us remain silent there. For the Lord our God has brought us to silence, and he has given us the water of gall as a drink. For we have sinned against the Lord.

15 We hoped/desired that things would go well for us, but things have not gone well. We hoped that bad things would not happen to us any more, but only things that terrify us [are happening to us].

We expected peace, but there was nothing good. We expected a time of health, and behold, dread.”

16 People [far north in Israel] in [the city of] Dan can already hear the snorting of the horses of their enemies [who are preparing to attack us]. [It is as though] the entire land [of Judah] is shaking as their army approaches; they are coming to destroy our land and everything in it, the people and the cities.”

“From Dan, the snorting of his horses was heard; the entire land was shaken by the voice of the neighing of his fighters. And they arrived and devoured the land and its plenitude, the city and its inhabitants.

17 [Yahweh says], “I will send [those enemy soldiers to Judah], and they will be like [MET] poisonous snakes among you. No one will be able to stop them from attacking you [MET]; they will attack you like snakes do, [and kill you].”

For behold, I will send among you serpents, king snakes, against which there is no charm, and they will bite you, says the Lord.

18 I grieve very much [for the people of Judah], and my grieving does not end. I am very sad [IDM].

My sorrow is beyond sorrow; my heart mourns within me.

19 Throughout our land, the people ask, “Has Yahweh abandoned Jerusalem? Is [he], our city’s king, no longer there?” [Yahweh replies], “Why do the people cause me to become very angry by [worshiping] idols and foreign gods?” [RHQ]

Behold, the voice of the daughter of my people from a far away land. Is the Lord not with Zion, and is her king not within her? Then why have they provoked me to wrath by their graven images, and by their strange vanities?

20 [The people say], “The harvest [season] is finished, the (summer/hot season) has ended, [and we hoped that we would receive blessings from Yahweh], but he has not rescued us [from our enemies].”

The harvest has passed by, the summer is at an end, and we have not been saved.

21 I cry because my people have been crushed. I mourn, and I am completely dismayed.

Over the destruction of the daughter of my people, I am contrite and saddened; astonishment has taken hold of me.

22 [I ask], “Surely there is [RHQ] medicinal balm in the Gilead [region]! Surely there are [RHQ] doctors there!” But my people have been badly wounded [in their spirits], and nothing can heal them.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Or is there no physician there? Then why has the wound of the daughter of my people not been closed?”