THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
JEREMIAH
Jeremiah 8 ©
A further prophecy concerning the future justly deserved reproach and distress of the Jews, dead as well as alive, v. 1, etc. And upbraiding of their continual brutish impenitency, (with a disgracing of them by the example of the brute beasts) sottish and false boasting of wisdom, wresting of the law, falsehood, scornful flatteries, and impudence of the false prophets and priests, general transgression, and idolatry; all which God will severely punish by the Babylonians, 4. Whereas the prophet mourns and laments bitterly, 18.
AT that time, saith the LORD, 1they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, 2whom they have loved, and whom they have served,a and after whom they have walked, and whom they have 3sought, and whom they have worshipped: 4they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the 5earth.
And death shall be 6chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of 7hosts.
¶Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; 8Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a 9perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the 10horse rusheth into the battle.
Yea, the stork 11in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtleb and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people knowc not the 12judgment of the LORD.
How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly 13in vain made he it; the pen of the 14scribes is in vain.
The 15wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and 16what wisdom is in them?
Therefore will I give their wivesd unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for 17every one frome the least even unto the greatest is givenf to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed 18when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
¶I will surely 19consume them, saith the LORD: 20there shall be no grapes on the vine,g nor figs on the fig tree,h and the leaf shall fade; 21and 22the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
23Why do we sit still? assemblei yourselves, and let us enter into the 24defenced cities, and let us be 25silent there: 26for the LORD our God hath 27put us to silence, and given us 28waterj of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
29Wek looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of 30health, and behold trouble!
The snorting of 31his horses was heard froml32Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his 33strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and 34all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
35For, behold, I will send 36serpents, cockatrices,m among you, which will not be 37charmed,n and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
¶When I would comfort myself 38against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell 39in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? 40is not her king in her? 41Why have they 42provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with 43strange vanities?
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
For the 44hurt of the daughter of my people am I 45hurt; I am 46black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Is there no 47balmo in Gilead; is there no 48physician there? why then is not the 49health of the daughter of my people 50recovered?