Judah's Sin and Punishment

1At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Juda, 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; 2and they shall spread them out to the sun, and the moon, and to all the stars, and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and to which they have held, and which they have worshipped; they shall not be mourned for, neither shall they be buried; but they shall be for an example on the face of the earth, 3because they chose death rather than life, even to all the remnant that are left of that family, in every place whither I shall drive them out.

4For thus saith the Lord, Shall not he that falls arise? or he that turns away, shall he not turn back again?

5Wherefore has this my people turned away with a shameless revolting, and strengthened themselves in their willfulness, and refused to return?

6Hearken, I pray you, and hear: will they not speak thus, There is no man that repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? the runner has failed from his course, as a tired horse in his neighing.

7Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her time, also the turtle-dove and wild swallow; the sparrows observe the times of their coming in; but this my people knows not the judgments of the Lord.

8How will ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? In vain have the scribes used a false pen.

9The wise men are ashamed, and alarmed, and taken; because they have rejected the word of the Lord; what wisdom is there in them?

10Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to new inheritors; and they shall gather their fruits, saith the Lord.

13There are no grapes on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig-trees, and the leaves have fallen off.

14Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the strong cities, and let us be cast out there: for God has cast us out, and made us drink water of gall, because we have sinned before him.

15We assembled for peace, but there was no prosperity; for a time of healing, but behold anxiety.

16We shall hear the neighing of his swift horses out of Dan: the whole land quaked at the sound of the neighing of his horses; and he shall come, and devour the land and the fullness of it; the city, and them that dwell in it.

17For, behold, I send forth against you deadly serpents, which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you

Jeremiah Weeps for his People

18mortally with the pain of your distressed heart.

19Behold, there is a sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land afar off: Is not the Lord in Sion? is there not a king there? because they have provoked me with their graven images, and with strange vanities.

20The summer is gone, the harvest is past, and we are not saved.

21For the breach of the daughter of my people I have been saddened: in my perplexity pangs have seized upon me as of a woman in travail.

22And is there no balm in Galaad, or is there no physician there? why has not the healing of the daughter of my people taken place?