Jeremiah 8
1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring 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:
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.
2 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 worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
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.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
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.”
4 Moreover, thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
[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]?
5 Why [then] hath this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
[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].
6 I hearkened and heard, [but] they spoke not aright: no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth to the battle.
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.
7 Yes, 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.
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.
8 How do ye say, We [are] wise, and the law of the LORD [is] with us? Lo, certainly in vain he hath made [it]; the pen of the scribes [is] in vain.
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”?
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?
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!
10 Therefore will I give their wives to others, [and] their fields to them that shall inherit [them]: for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even to the priest every one dealeth falsely.
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.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.
[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.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, 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.
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.
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 to them shall pass away from them.
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.’”
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified 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.
[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.
15 We looked for peace, but no good [came]; [and] for a time of health, and behold, trouble!
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].
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 therein.
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.”
17 For behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
[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].”
18 [When] I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart [is] faint in me.
I grieve very much [for the people of Judah], and my grieving does not end. I am very sad [IDM].
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a distant 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?
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]
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
[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].”
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
I cry because my people have been crushed. I mourn, and I am completely dismayed.
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.
[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.
