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The Faithlessness of Jerusalem

¹ "At that time," declares Yahweh, "they will ^(C1)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 "And they will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^(C1)host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^(C2)or buried; ^(C3)they will be as dung on the face of the ground.³ "And ^(C1)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^(C2)places to which I have banished them," declares Yahweh of hosts.⁴ "You shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh,

"Do men ^(C1)fall and not get up again?
Does one turn away and not ^(F1)turn back?

⁵ "Why then has this people, Jerusalem,
^(F1)(C1)Turned away in continual faithlessness?
They ^(C2)hold fast to deceit;
They ^(C3)refuse to return.

⁶ "I ^(C1)have given heed and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
^(C2)No man regretted his evil,
Saying, 'What have I done?'
Everyone turned to his course,
Like a ^(C3)horse charging into the battle.

⁷ "Even the stork in the sky
^(C1)Knows her seasons;
And the ^(C2)turtledove and the swift and the crane
Keep the time of their ^(F1)migration;
But ^(C3)My people do not know
The legal judgment of Yahweh.

⁸ "^(C1)How can you say, 'We are wise,
And the law of Yahweh is with us'?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.

⁹ "The wise men are ^(C1)put to shame;
They are dismayed and captured;
Behold, they have ^(C2)rejected the word of Yahweh,
And what kind of wisdom do they have?

¹⁰ "Therefore I will ^(C1)give their wives to others,
Their fields to ^(F1)new possessors,
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is ^(C2)greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices lying.

¹¹ "They ^(C1)heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, 'Peace, peace,'
But there is no peace.

¹² "Were they ^(C1)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They certainly were not ashamed,
And they did not know how to feel dishonor;
Therefore they shall ^(C2)fall among those who fall;
At the ^(C3)time of their ^(F1)punishment they shall be brought down,"
Says Yahweh.

¹³ "I will ^(C1)surely gather them up," declares Yahweh;
"There will be ^(C2)no grapes on the vine
And ^(C3)no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away."'"

¹⁴ Why are we sitting still?
^(C1)Gather yourselves, and let us ^(C2)go into the fortified cities
And let us be silent there
Because Yahweh our God has silenced us
And given us ^(F1)(C3)poisoned water to drink,
For ^(C4)we have sinned against Yahweh.

¹⁵ We ^(C1)waited for peace, but there was no good;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!

¹⁶ From ^(C1)Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his ^(C2)valiant steeds
The whole land quakes;
And they come and ^(C3)devour the land as well as its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.

¹⁷ "For behold, I am ^(C1)sending serpents against you,
Vipers, for which there is ^(C2)no charm,
And they will bite you," declares Yahweh.

Sorrow over Zion

^18 (F1)My ^(C1)sorrow is beyond healing;
My ^(C2)heart is faint within me!

¹⁹ Behold, the sound! The cry of the daughter of my people from a ^(C1)distant land:
"Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her King not within her?"
"Why have they ^(C2)provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with foreign ^(F1)(C3)idols?"

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

²¹ For the ^(C1)brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;
I ^(C2)mourn, desolation has taken hold of me.

²² Is there no ^(C1)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
^(C2)Why then has not the ^(F1)health of the daughter of my people gone up?