At that
time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out 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
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
02 And they shall spread them before the sun, and
the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they
have loved, and whom they have served, and after
whom they have walked, and whom they have sought,
and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be
gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung
upon the face of the earth.
03 And death shall be chosen rather than life by
all the residue of them that remain of this evil
family, which remain in all the places whither I
have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.
04 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall
he turn away, and not return?
05 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden
back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast
deceit, they refuse to return.
06 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not
aright: no man repented him of his wickedness,
saying, What have I done? every one turned to his
course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
07 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her
appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and
the swallow observe the time of their coming; but
my people know not the judgment of the Lord.
08 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the
Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he
it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
09 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed
and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the
Lord; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others,
and their fields to them that shall inherit them:
for every one from the least even unto the
greatest is given to covetousness, from the
prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth
falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter
of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when
there is no peace.
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12 Were they ashamed when they had committed
abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed,
neither could they blush: therefore shall they
fall among them that fall: in the time of their
visitation they shall be cast down, saith the
Lord.
13 I will surely consume them, saith the Lord:
there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on
the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the
things that I have given them shall pass away
from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and
let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us
be silent there: for the Lord our God hath put us
to silence, and given us water of gall to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for
a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan:
the whole land trembled at the sound of the
neighing of his strong ones; for they are come,
and have devoured the land, and all that is in
it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents,
cockatrices, among you, which will not be
charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my
heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of
my people because of them that dwell in a far
country: Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king
in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with
their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and
we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I
hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on
me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no
physician there? why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?
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