8 1 "At that time," declares our Father, "the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves. 2 They will be spread out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they loved and served, which they followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be like manure on the surface of the ground. 3 And death will be chosen over life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, in all the places where I have driven them," declares the Father of heaven's armies.
A People Who Will Not Return
4 You will say to them, "This is what our Father says: When people fall down, do they not get up again? If someone turns away, does he not return? 5 Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. 6 I have listened closely, but they do not speak what is right. No one turns from his evil, asking, 'What have I done?' Each one runs his own course, like a horse charging into battle. 7 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the turtledove, the swift, and the crane keep the time of their coming. But my people do not know the just ways of their Father. 8 How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of our Father is with us,' when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has turned it into a lie? 9 The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Look, they have rejected my word, so what wisdom is left in them? 10 Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to new owners. For from the least to the greatest, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone practices deceit. 11 They dress the wound of the daughter of my people as though it were nothing, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed of the detestable things they did? No, they felt no shame at all; they did not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I deal with them, they will be brought down," says our Father. 13 "I will surely gather them in," declares our Father. "There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaves will wither; what I gave them will pass away from them."
14 Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for our Father has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him. 15 We hoped for peace, but no good has come; for a time of healing, but instead there is terror. 16 The snorting of the enemy's horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They come and devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.
17 "For look, I am sending venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you," declares our Father.
Jeremiah Weeps for His People
18 My joy is gone, grief overwhelms me; my heart is sick within me. 19 Listen — the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: "Is our Father not in Zion? Is her King no longer in her?" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?" 20 "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved." 21 For the wound of the daughter of my people I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not come?