Jeremiah 8
1 Yahweh says, “At the time [that your corpses are scattered on the ground], [your enemies will] break open the graves of your kings and [other] officials who lived in Judah, and the graves of your priests and prophets and other people who lived there.
At that time, sayeth the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the Kings of Iudah, and the bones of their princes, and the bones of the Priests and the bones of the Prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Ierusalem out of their graues.
2 They will take out their bones [from their graves] and [dishonor them by] scattering them on the ground under the sun and the moon and the stars— those are the gods which my people loved and served and worshiped. No one will gather up their bones and bury them [again]; they will remain scattered on the ground like dung.
And they shall spread them before the sunne and the moone, and all the host of heauen, whom they haue loued, and whome they haue serued, and whome they haue followed, and whome they haue sought, and whome they haue worshipped: they shall not be gathered nor be buried, but shall be as doung vpon the earth.
3 And all the people of this wicked nation [who are still alive and] whom I have exiled to other countries will say, ‘We would prefer to die than to continue to stay alive [here in these countries].’ [That will be true because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
And death shall bee desired rather then life of all the residue that remaineth of this wicked familie, which remaine in all the places where I haue scattered them, sayeth the Lord of hostes.
4 [Yahweh said to me, “Jeremiah], tell the people that this is what [I], Yahweh, am saying to them: ‘When people fall down, they get up again, do they not [RHQ]? When people are going along a road and find out that they are walking on the wrong road, they go back [and find the correct road], do they not [RHQ]?
Thou shalt say vnto them also, Thus sayeth the Lord, Shall they fall and not arise? shall he turne away and not turne againe?
5 [Yes, they do], so why do these people [of Judah] continue [trusting in those idols that have deceived them]? They continue turning away from me, [even though I have warned them].
Wherefore is this people of Ierusalem turned backe by a perpetuall rebellion? they gaue themselues to deceit, and would not returne.
6 I have listened carefully [DOU] [to what they say], but they do not say what they should say. Not one of them is sorry for having sinned. No one says, “I have done [RHQ] wicked things.” They are [sinning and] doing what they want to as fast as [SIM] a horse that is running into a battle.
I hearkened and heard, but none spake aright: no man repented him of his wickednesse, saying, What haue I done? euery one turned to their race, as the horse rusheth into the battell.
7 All the birds [that fly south for the (winter/cold season)] know the time that they need to fly south, and they all return at the right time the following year. But my people [are not like those birds]! They do not know what [I], Yahweh, require them to do.
Euen the storke in the aire knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallowe obserue the time of their comming, but my people knoweth not the iudgement of the Lord.
8 Your men who teach you [the laws that Moses wrote] have been saying false things [about those laws]. [So], why [RHQ] do they [continue] saying, “We are [very] wise [because] we have the laws of Yahweh”?
Howe doe yee say, Wee are wise, and the Lawe of the Lord is with vs? Loe, certeinly in vaine made hee it, the penne of the scribes is in vaine.
9 Those teachers, who think that [IRO] they are wise, will be ashamed/disgraced and dismayed when they are taken [to other countries by their enemies] because they sinned by rejecting what I told them. Truly, they were not [RHQ] very wise to do that!
The wise men are ashamed: they are afraid and taken. loe, they haue reiected the word of the Lord, and what wisdome is in them?
10 So, I will give their wives to other men; I will give their fields to [the enemy soldiers] who conquer them. All the people, including those who are important and those who are not important, deceive [others] in order to obtain their possessions. Even [my] prophets and my priests do that.
Therefore will I giue their wiues vnto others, and their fieldes to them that shall possesse them: for euery one from the least euen vnto the greatest is giuen to couetousnesse, and from the Prophet euen vnto the Priest, euery one dealeth falsely.
11 [They act as though the sins of my people] are not serious, [like] [MET] wounds that do not need to be cleaned and bandaged. They tell the people that everything will go well with them, [but that is not true]; things will not go well with them.
For they haue healed the hurt of the daughter of my people with sweete woordes, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
12 They should be [RHQ] ashamed when they do disgusting things [RHQ], but they do not even know how to show on their faces that they are ashamed [about their sins]. So, [they will be killed, and] their corpses [also] will lie among the corpses of others who have been slaughtered [by their enemies]. They will be killed when I punish them.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not ashamed, neither coulde they haue any shame: therefore shall they fall among the slaine: when I shall visite them, they shall be cast downe, sayeth the Lord.
13 I will [allow their enemies to] take away the figs and grapes that the people would have harvested from their fields. Their fruit trees will all wither. They will not receive [all] the blessings that I prepared for them. [This will certainly happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.’”
I wil surely consume them, sayth the Lord: there shalbe no grapes on the vine, nor figges on the figtree, and the leafe shall fade, and the things that I haue giuen them, shall depart from them.
14 [Then the people will say], “(Why should we wait here [in these small towns]?/We should not wait here [in these small towns].) [RHQ]! We should go to the cities that have high walls around them, [but even if we do that] we will be killed there, because Yahweh our God has decided that we must be destroyed; [it is as though] [MET] he has given us a cup of poison to drink, because we sinned against him.
Why doe we stay? assemble your selues, and let vs enter into the strong cities, and let vs be quiet there: for the Lord our God hath put vs to silence and giuen vs water with gall to drinke, because we haue sinned against the Lord.
15 We hoped/desired that things would go well for us, but things have not gone well. We hoped that bad things would not happen to us any more, but only things that terrify us [are happening to us].
We looked for peace, but no good came, and for a time of health, and behold troubles.
16 People [far north in Israel] in [the city of] Dan can already hear the snorting of the horses of their enemies [who are preparing to attack us]. [It is as though] the entire land [of Judah] is shaking as their army approaches; they are coming to destroy our land and everything in it, the people and the cities.”
The neying of his horses was heard from Dan, the whole lande trembled at the noyse of the neying of his strong horses: for they are come, and haue deuoured the land with all that is in it, the citie, and those that dwell therein.
17 [Yahweh says], “I will send [those enemy soldiers to Judah], and they will be like [MET] poisonous snakes among you. No one will be able to stop them from attacking you [MET]; they will attack you like snakes do, [and kill you].”
For beholde, I will sende serpents, and cockatrices among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall sting you, sayth the Lord.
18 I grieve very much [for the people of Judah], and my grieving does not end. I am very sad [IDM].
I would haue comforted my selfe against sorowe, but mine heart is heauie in me.
19 Throughout our land, the people ask, “Has Yahweh abandoned Jerusalem? Is [he], our city’s king, no longer there?” [Yahweh replies], “Why do the people cause me to become very angry by [worshiping] idols and foreign gods?” [RHQ]
Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people for feare of them of a farre countrey, Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her? Why haue they prouoked mee to anger with their grauen images, and with the vanities of a strange god?
20 [The people say], “The harvest [season] is finished, the (summer/hot season) has ended, [and we hoped that we would receive blessings from Yahweh], but he has not rescued us [from our enemies].”
The haruest is past, the sommer is ended, and we are not holpen.
21 I cry because my people have been crushed. I mourn, and I am completely dismayed.
I am sore vexed for the hurt of ye daughter of my people: I am heauie, and astonishment hath taken me.
22 [I ask], “Surely there is [RHQ] medicinal balm in the Gilead [region]! Surely there are [RHQ] doctors there!” But my people have been badly wounded [in their spirits], and nothing can heal them.
Is there no balme at Gilead? is there no Physition there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered.
