Sin and Treachery

Jeremiah 8

4 "You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
y When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
 5 Why then has this people z turned away
in perpetual a backsliding?
b They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
 6 c I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, 'What have I done?'
Everyone turns to his own course,
d like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
 7 Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and e the turtledove, f swallow, and crane 1
keep the time of their coming,
g but my people know not
the rules 2 of the Lord.

8 h "How can you say, 'We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us'?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
 9 i The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed j and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
 10 k Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone l is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
 11 They have healed m the wound of my people lightly,
saying, 'Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace.
 12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, n they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
o Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
 13 When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are q no grapes on the vine,
r nor figs on the fig tree;
s even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them." 3

14 Why do we sit still?
t Gather together; t let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has u given us v poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
 15 w We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

16 x "The snorting of their horses is heard y from Dan;
at the sound of the neighing z of their stallions
a the whole land quakes.
They come b and devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
 17 For behold, I am sending among you c serpents,
adders d that cannot be charmed,
e and they shall bite you,"
declares the Lord.

  1. Cross References
    Romans 11:11
    So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:24
    But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:19
    Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.
  4. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:6
    Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.
  5. Cross References
    2 Peter 3:9
    The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
  6. Cross References
    Job 39:19 - 25
    Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
  7. Cross References
    Song of Solomon 2:12
    The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 38:14
    Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:4 - 5
    Then I said, "These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.
    Isaiah 1:3
    The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
  10. Cross References
    Romans 2:17 - 18
    But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God
  11. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 1:19 - 20
    For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.
  12. Cross References
    Job 5:13
    He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:10 - 12
    Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
    Jeremiah 6:12 - 15
    Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," declares the Lord.
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 56:11
    The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:21
    For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
  16. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:3
    Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.
  17. Cross References
    Hosea 4:5
    You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.
  18. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:1 - 2
    Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
    Joel 1:7
    It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.
  19. Cross References
    Matthew 21:19
    And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.
    Luke 13:6
    And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
  20. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:30
    For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.
  21. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:5
    Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!
  22. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:5
    Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:15
    Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God ...
    Jeremiah 23:15
    Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concernin...
    Lamentations 3:15
    He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated ...
    Lamentations 3:19
    Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the w...
    Amos 6:12
    Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there wit...
    Revelation 8:11
    The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of th...
  24. Cross References
    Jeremiah 23:15
    Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.
    Deuteronomy 29:18
    Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.
  25. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:19
    Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
    Job 30:26
    But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.
  26. Cross References
    Job 39:20
    Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
  27. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:15
    For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim.
  28. Cross References
    Judges 5:22
    Then loud beat the horses' hoofs with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
  29. Cross References
    Jeremiah 49:21
    At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.
    Jeremiah 51:29
    The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the Lord 's purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
    Psalms 60:2
    You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.
  30. Cross References
    Jeremiah 10:25
    Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
    Jeremiah 47:2
    Thus says the Lord : Behold, waters are rising out of the north, and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
  31. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:22
    And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.
  32. Cross References
    Psalms 58:4 - 5
    They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear.
    Ecclesiastes 10:11
    If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.
  33. Cross References
    Numbers 21:6
    Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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