Other evils that shall fall upon the Jews for their impenitence.
8:1. At that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the
kings of Juda, and the bones of the princes thereof, and the bones of
the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.
8:2. And they shall spread them abroad to 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
adored: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they
shall be as dung upon the face of the earth.
8:3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all that shall
remain of this wicked kindred in all places, which are left, to which I
have cast them out, saith the Lord of hosts.
8:4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that
falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn
again?
8:5. Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn
revolting? they have laid hold on lying, and have refused to return.
8:6. I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is
none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are
all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle.
8:7. The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the
swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my
people have not known the judgment of the Lord.
8:8. How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?
Indeed the lying pen of the scribes hath wrought falsehood.
8:9. The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for
they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in
them.
8:10. Therefore will I give their women to strangers, their fields to
others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest
all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest all deal
deceitfully.
8:11. And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people
disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: when there was no peace.
8:12. They are confounded, because they have committed abomination: yea
rather they are not confounded with confusion, and they have not known
how to blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the
time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord.
8:13. Gathering I will gather them together, saith the Lord, there is
no grape on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig tree, the leaf
is fallen: and I have given them the things that are passed away.
8:14. Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into
the fenced city, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath
put us to silence, and hath given us water of gall to drink: for we
have sinned against the Lord.
8:15. We looked for peace and no good came: for a time of healing, and
behold fear.
8:16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan, all the land was
moved at the sound of the neighing of his warriors: and they came and
devoured the land, and all that was in it: the city and its
inhabitants.
8:17. For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against
which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
8:18. My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.
8:19. Behold the voice of the daughter of my people from a far country:
Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? why then have they
provoked me to wrath with their idols, and strange vanities?
8:20. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
8:21. For the affliction of the daughter of my people I am afflicted,
and made sorrowful, astonishment hath taken hold on me.
8:22. Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there? Why
then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?