The LORD Punishes His Sinful People
4 "Jeremiah, tell them, 'The LORD says, " ' "When people fall down, don't they get up again? When someone turns away, doesn't he come back?
5
Then why have the people of Jerusalem turned away from me? Why do they always turn away? They keep on telling lies. They refuse to come back to me.
6
I have listened carefully. But they do not say what is right. They refuse to turn away from their sins. No one says, 'What have I done?' All of them go their own way. They are like horses charging into battle.
7
Storks know when to fly south. So do doves, swifts and thrushes. But my people do not know what I require them to do.
8
" ' "How can you people say, 'We are wise. We have the law of the Lord'? Actually, the teachers of the law have told lies about it. Their pens have not written what is true.
9
Those who think they are wise will be put to shame. They will become terrified. They will be trapped. They have not accepted my message. So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10
I will give their wives to other men. I will give their fields to new owners. Everyone wants to get richer and richer, from the least important of them to the most important. Prophets and priests alike try to fool everyone they can.
11
They bandage the wounds of my people as if they were not very deep. 'Peace, peace,' they say. But there isn't any peace.
12
Are they ashamed of their hateful actions? No. They do not feel any shame at all. They do not even know how to blush. So they will fall like others who have already fallen. They will be brought down when I punish them," says the Lord.
13
" ' "I will take away their harvest," announces the Lord. "There will not be any grapes on the vines. The trees will not bear any figs. The leaves on the trees will dry up. What I have given them will be taken away from them." ' "
14
Why are we sitting here? Let's gather together! Let's run to the cities that have high walls around them! Let's die there! The LORD our God has sentenced us to death. He has given us poisoned water to drink. That's because we've sinned against him.
15
We hoped peace would come. But nothing good has happened to us. We hoped we would finally be healed. But all we got was terror.
16
When our enemy's horses snort, the noise is heard all the way from Dan. When their stallions neigh, the whole land trembles with fear. They have come to destroy the land and everything in it. The city and everyone who lives there will be destroyed.
17
"People of Judah, I will send poisonous snakes among you. No one will be able to charm them. And they will bite you," announces the Lord.
18
Lord, my heart is weak inside me. You comfort me when I'm sad.
19
Listen to the cries of my people from a land far away. They cry out, "Isn't the LORD in Zion? Isn't its King there anymore?" The LORD says, "Why have they made me so angry by worshiping their wooden gods? Why have they made me angry with their worthless statues of gods from other lands?"
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The people say, "The harvest is over. The summer has ended. And we still haven't been saved."
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My people are crushed, so I am crushed. I sob, and I am filled with horror.
22
Isn't there any healing lotion in Gilead? Isn't there a doctor there? Then why doesn't someone heal the wounds of my people?