1"At that time," says the LORD, "they will bring out of their graves 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 people who lived in Jerusalem."
2They will spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, and followed, and sought, and worshipped. The bones will not be gathered up or buried. They will lie like dung on the face of the ground.
3"All who are left of this evil family, everyone still alive in every place where I have driven them, will choose death rather than life," says the LORD of hosts.
4"You will also say to them, This is what the LORD says: When men fall, do they not get up again? When someone turns away, does he not come back?"
5Why then have these people of Jerusalem turned away, and kept on turning away for ever? They hold tightly to deceit; they refuse to return.
6I listened and heard, but they did not speak what was right. No one repented of his wickedness and said, 'What have I done?' Each one turned to his own way, like a horse rushing into the battle.
7Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the crane and the swallow keep the time of their coming. But my people do not know the judgment of the LORD.
8How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? Look, the pen of the scribes has worked falsely; it has made the law into a lie.
9The wise men are put to shame. They are dismayed and caught. Look, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they have?
10So I will give their wives to other men, and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, every one is greedy for gain. From the prophet to the priest, every one deals falsely.
11They have treated the wound of the daughter of my people as if it were a small thing. They say, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.
12"Were they ashamed when they did these disgusting things? No, they were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. So they will fall among those who fall. When the time comes for me to punish them, they will be brought down," says the LORD.
13"I will surely make an end of them," says the LORD. "There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will wither. What I have given them will be taken away from them."
14Why are we sitting still? Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For the LORD our God has put us to silence. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15We looked for peace, but no good came; we looked for a time of healing, and look, there was terror.
16The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones. They have come and have devoured the land and everything in it, the city and those who live in it.
17"Look, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you," says the LORD.
18When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint within me.
19Listen to the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her king not in her?" "Why have they made me angry with their carved images, and with foreign, worthless things?"
20"The harvest is past, the summer is over, and we are not saved."
21Because the daughter of my people is wounded, I am wounded. I go about in black; horror has taken hold of me.
22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?