¹ At that time, says the LORD, they will 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 ² And they will spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, who they have loved, and who they have served, and after who they have walked, and who they have sought, and who they have worshipped: they will not be gathered, nor be buried; they will be for dung on the face of the earth. ³ And death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts. ⁴ Moreover you will say to them, So says the LORD; will they fall, and not arise ? will he turn away, and not return? ⁵ Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. ⁶ I listened 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 rushes into the battle. ⁷ Yes, the stork in the heaven know 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. ⁸ How do you 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. ⁹ 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 to others, and their fields to them that will inherit them: for every one from the least even to the greats is given to covetousness, from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely. ¹¹ For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. ¹² Were they ashamed when they have committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore will they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says the LORD. ¹³ I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade; and the things that I have given them will pass away from them. ¹⁴ Why do we sit still ? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defensed cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has made us silent, and given us water of bitterness 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 see 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 have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell in it. ¹⁷ For, see, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they will bite you, says the LORD. ¹⁸ When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. ¹⁹ See 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 has 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?