The Sin and Treachery of Judah

      1“At that time,” declares the LORD, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2“They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have gone after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground. 3“And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the LORD of hosts.

4“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD,
            “Do men fall and not get up again?
            Does one turn away and not repent?

      5“Why then has this people, Jerusalem,
            Turned away in continual apostasy?
            They hold fast to deceit,
            They refuse to return.

      6“I have listened and heard,
            They have spoken what is not right;
            No man repented of his wickedness,
            Saying, ‘What have I done?’
            Everyone turned to his course,
            Like a horse charging into the battle.

      7“Even the stork in the sky
            Knows her seasons;
            And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush
            Observe the time of their migration;
            But My people do not know
            The ordinance of the LORD.

      8“How 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.

      9“The wise men are put to shame,
            They are dismayed and caught;
            Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
            And what kind of wisdom do they have?

      10“Therefore I will give their wives to others,
            Their fields to new owners;
            Because from the least even to the greatest
            Everyone is greedy for gain;
            From the prophet even to the priest
            Everyone practices deceit.

      11“They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
            Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
            But there is no peace.

      12“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
            They certainly were not ashamed,
            And they did not know how to blush;
            Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
            At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,”
            Says the LORD.

      13“I will surely snatch them away,” declares the LORD;
            “There will be no grapes on the vine
            And no figs on the fig tree,
            And the leaf will wither;
            And what I have given them will pass away.”’”

      14Why are we sitting still?
            Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities
            And let us perish there,
            Because the LORD our God has doomed us
            And given us poisoned water to drink,
            For we have sinned against the LORD.

      15We waited for peace, but no good came;
            For a time of healing, but behold, terror!

      16From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;
            At the sound of the neighing of his stallions
            The whole land quakes;
            For they come and devour the land and its fullness,
            The city and its inhabitants.

      17“For behold, I am sending serpents against you,
            Adders, for which there is no charm,
            And they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

      18My sorrow is beyond healing,
            My heart is faint within me!

      19Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land:
            “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
            “Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?”

      20“Harvest is past, summer is ended,
            And we are not saved.”

      21For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;
            I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.

      22Is there no balm in Gilead?
            Is there no physician there?
            Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?