Ἱερεμίας 8
1 ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ λέγει κύριος ἐξοίσουσιν τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν βασιλέων Ιουδα καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν ἱερέων καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν κατοικούντων Ιερουσαλημ ἐκ τῶν τάφων αὐτῶν
“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 καὶ ψύξουσιν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν στρατιὰν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἃ ἠγάπησαν καὶ οἷς ἐδούλευσαν καὶ ὧν ἐπορεύθησαν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν καὶ ὧν ἀντείχοντο καὶ οἷς προσεκύνησαν αὐτοῖς οὐ κοπήσονται καὶ οὐ ταφήσονται καὶ ἔσονται εἰς παράδειγμα ἐπὶ προσώπου τῆς γῆς
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 ὅτι εἵλοντο τὸν θάνατον ἢ τὴν ζωήν καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῖς καταλειφθεῖσιν ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ἐκείνης ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ οὗ ἐὰν ἐξώσω αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖ
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 ὅτι τάδε λέγει κύριος μὴ ὁ πίπτων οὐκ ἀνίσταται ἢ ὁ ἀποστρέφων οὐκ ἐπιστρέφει
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 διὰ τί ἀπέστρεψεν ὁ λαός μου οὗτος ἀποστροφὴν ἀναιδῆ καὶ κατεκρατήθησαν ἐν τῇ προαιρέσει αὐτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησαν τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι
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 ἐνωτίσασθε δὴ καὶ ἀκούσατε οὐχ οὕτως λαλήσουσιν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος μετανοῶν ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας αὐτοῦ λέγων τί ἐποίησα διέλιπεν ὁ τρέχων ἀπὸ τοῦ δρόμου αὐτοῦ ὡς ἵππος κάθιδρος ἐν χρεμετισμῷ αὐτοῦ
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 καὶ ἡ ασιδα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἔγνω τὸν καιρὸν αὐτῆς τρυγὼν καὶ χελιδών ἀγροῦ στρουθία ἐφύλαξαν καιροὺς εἰσόδων αὐτῶν ὁ δὲ λαός μου οὐκ ἔγνω τὰ κρίματα κυρίου
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 πῶς ἐρεῖτε ὅτι σοφοί ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς καὶ νόμος κυρίου ἐστὶν μεθ’ ἡμῶν εἰς μάτην ἐγενήθη σχοῖνος ψευδὴς γραμματεῦσιν
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 ᾐσχύνθησαν σοφοὶ καὶ ἐπτοήθησαν καὶ ἑάλωσαν ὅτι τὸν λόγον κυρίου ἀπεδοκίμασαν σοφία τίς ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς
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 διὰ τοῦτο δώσω τὰς γυναῖκας αὐτῶν ἑτέροις καὶ τοὺς ἀγροὺς αὐτῶν τοῖς κληρονόμοις
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.
And they healed the destruction of the daughter of my people with disgrace, by saying: ‘Peace, peace,’ though there was no peace.
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 καὶ συνάξουσιν τὰ γενήματα αὐτῶν λέγει κύριος οὐκ ἔστιν σταφυλὴ ἐν ταῖς ἀμπέλοις καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν σῦκα ἐν ταῖς συκαῖς καὶ τὰ φύλλα κατερρύηκεν
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 ἐπὶ τί ἡμεῖς καθήμεθα συνάχθητε καὶ εἰσέλθωμεν εἰς τὰς πόλεις τὰς ὀχυρὰς καὶ ἀπορριφῶμεν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀπέρριψεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπότισεν ἡμᾶς ὕδωρ χολῆς ὅτι ἡμάρτομεν ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ
“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 συνήχθημεν εἰς εἰρήνην καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀγαθά εἰς καιρὸν ἰάσεως καὶ ἰδοὺ σπουδή
We expected peace, but there was nothing good. We expected a time of health, and behold, dread.”
16 ἐκ Δαν ἀκουσόμεθα φωνὴν ὀξύτητος ἵππων αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ φωνῆς χρεμετισμοῦ ἱππασίας ἵππων αὐτοῦ ἐσείσθη πᾶσα ἡ γῆ καὶ ἥξει καὶ καταφάγεται τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς πόλιν καὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν αὐτῇ
“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 διότι ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξαποστέλλω εἰς ὑμᾶς ὄφεις θανατοῦντας οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπᾷσαι καὶ δήξονται ὑμᾶς
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 ἀνίατα μετ’ ὀδύνης καρδίας ὑμῶν ἀπορουμένης
My sorrow is beyond sorrow; my heart mourns within me.
19 ἰδοὺ φωνὴ κραυγῆς θυγατρὸς λαοῦ μου ἀπὸ γῆς μακρόθεν μὴ κύριος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν Σιων ἢ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ διὰ τί παρώργισάν με ἐν τοῖς γλυπτοῖς αὐτῶν καὶ ἐν ματαίοις ἀλλοτρίοις
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 διῆλθεν θέρος παρῆλθεν ἄμητος καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐ διεσώθημεν
The harvest has passed by, the summer is at an end, and we have not been saved.
21 ἐπὶ συντρίμματι θυγατρὸς λαοῦ μου ἐσκοτώθην ἀπορίᾳ κατίσχυσάν με ὠδῖνες ὡς τικτούσης
Over the destruction of the daughter of my people, I am contrite and saddened; astonishment has taken hold of me.
22 μὴ ῥητίνη οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν Γαλααδ ἢ ἰατρὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ διὰ τί οὐκ ἀνέβη ἴασις θυγατρὸς λαοῦ μου
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?”
