Sin and Treachery
4
"Moreover you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD:
"Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
5
Why has this people d slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
e They hold fast to deceit,
f They refuse to return.
6
g I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
h No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, 'What have I done?'
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.
7
"Even i the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But j My people do not know the judgment of the LORD.
8
"How can you say, 'We are wise,
k And the law of the LORD is with us'?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
9
l The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD;
So m what wisdom do they have?
10
Therefore n I will give their wives to others,
And their fields to those who will inherit them;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is given to o covetousness;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
11
For they have p healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly,
Saying, q 'Peace, peace!'
When there is no peace.
12
Were they r ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed,
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
In the time of their punishment
They shall be cast down," says the LORD.
13
"I will surely consume them," says the LORD.
"No grapes shall be s on the vine,
Nor figs on the t fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade;
And the things I have given them shall u pass away from them." ' "
14
"Why do we sit still?
v Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the LORD our God has put us to silence
And given us w water of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the LORD.
15
" We x looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
16
The snorting of His horses was heard from y Dan.
The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His z strong ones;
For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it."
17
"For behold, I will send serpents among you,
Vipers which cannot be a charmed,
And they shall bite you," says the LORD.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 7:24
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 9:6
Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.
-
Cross References
Psalms 14:2
The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
-
Cross References
Ezekiel 22:30
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
Micah 7:2
The faithful man has perished from the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net.
Revelation 9:20
But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
-
Cross References
Proverbs 6:6 - 8
Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise.
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.
Isaiah 1:3
The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.
Matthew 16:2
He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'.
Matthew 16:3
And in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 5:4
Therefore I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God.
Jeremiah 9:3
And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me," says the LORD.
-
Cross References
Romans 2:17
Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God.
-
Cross References
Isaiah 19:11
Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; Pharaoh's wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, The son of ancient kings?
Jeremiah 6:15
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down," says the LORD.
1 Corinthians 1:27
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.
-
Cross References
Isaiah 44:25
Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness.
Jeremiah 4:22
"For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge."
-
Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:30
You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes.
Amos 5:11
Therefore, because you tread down the poor And take grain taxes from him, Though you have built houses of hewn stone, Yet you shall not dwell in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink wine from them.
Zephaniah 1:13
Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.
-
Cross References
Isaiah 56:11
Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory.
Isaiah 57:17
For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
Jeremiah 6:13
Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 6:14
They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.
-
Cross References
Ezekiel 13:10
Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, 'Peace!' when there is no peace - and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar -
-
Cross References
Psalms 52:1
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goo...
Psalms 52:7
"Here is the man who did not make God his stren...
Isaiah 3:9
The look on their countenance witnesses against...
Jeremiah 3:3
Therefore the showers have been withheld, And t...
Jeremiah 6:15
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomi...
Zephaniah 3:5
The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do ...
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 5:17
And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, Which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; They shall destroy your fortified cities, In which you trust, with the sword.
Jeremiah 7:20
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place - on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.
Joel 1:17
The seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered.
-
Cross References
Matthew 21:19
And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away.
Luke 13:6
He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
-
Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:39
You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Deuteronomy 28:40
You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 4:5
Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: "Blow the trumpet in the land; Cry, 'Gather together,' And say, 'Assemble yourselves, And let us go into the fortified cities.
-
Cross References
Deuteronomy 29:18
So that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.
Psalms 69:21
They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Jeremiah 9:15
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Lamentations 3:19
Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
Matthew 27:34
They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 14:19
Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
-
Cross References
Judges 18:29
And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.
Jeremiah 4:15
For a voice declares from Dan And proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim:
-
Cross References
Jeremiah 47:3
At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, At the rushing of his chariots, At the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers will not look back for their children, Lacking courage.
-
Cross References
Psalms 58:4
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear.
Psalms 58:5
Which will not heed the voice of charmers, Charming ever so skillfully.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.