[1] "At that time, says the LORD, the bones of the kings of Judah, the
bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets,
and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their
tombs; [2] and they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the
host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone
after, and which they have sought and worshiped; and they shall not be
gathered or buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. [3]
Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this
evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of
hosts. [4] "You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do
they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? [5] Why then
has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to
deceit, they refuse to return. [6] I have given heed and listened, but they
have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, saying, `What
have I done?' Every one turns to his own course, like a horse plunging
headlong into battle. [7] Even the stork in the heavens knows her times;
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming; but
my people know not 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 false pen of
the scribes has made it into a lie. [9] The wise men shall be put to shame,
they shall be dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the
LORD, and what wisdom is in them? [10] Therefore I will give their wives to
others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the
greatest every one is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest every
one deals falsely. [11] They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, `Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. [12] Were they ashamed when
they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not
know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I
punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD. [13] When I would
gather them, says the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on
the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed
away from them." [14] Why do we sit still? Gather together, let us go into
the fortified cities and perish there; for the LORD our God has doomed us
to perish, and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned
against the LORD. [15] We looked for peace, but no good came, for a time of
healing, but behold, terror. [16] "The snorting of their horses is heard
from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land
quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and
those who dwell in it. [17] For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
adders which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," says the LORD.
[18] My grief is beyond healing, my heart is sick within me. [19] Hark, the
cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land:
"Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" "Why have they provoked
me to anger with their graven images, and with their foreign idols?" [20]
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." [21] For
the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded, I mourn, and
dismay has taken hold on me. [22] Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no
physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not
been restored?
