1 Jehovah says: »At that time the bones of the kings and the leaders of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the others who lived in Jerusalem will be taken out of their graves.

2 »They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground.

3 »Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them, declares Jehovah of Hosts.

4 »Say to them: ‘This is what Jehovah says: »When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns.« ’«

5 »The people of Jerusalem turned away from me without ever returning. They still cling to deceit. They refuse to return.

6 »I paid attention and listened, but they were not honest. They do not turn away from their wickedness. They do not ask: ‘What have we done?’ They go their own ways like horses charging into battle.’«

7 »Even storks know when it is time to return. Mourning doves, swallows swifts, and cranes know when it is time to migrate. But my people do not know that I, Jehovah, am urging them to return.

8 »How can you say you are wise and that you have Jehovah’s Laws? The scribes have used their pens to spread falsehoods.

9 »Wise people are put to shame, confused, and trapped. They have rejected the word of Jehovah. They do not really have any wisdom.

10 »So I will give their wives to other men. I will give their fields to new owners. From the least even to the greatest everyone is greedy for gain. From the prophet even to the priest everyone is deceitful.

11 »They heal the brokenness of the daughter of my people superficially. They say: ‘Peace! Peace!’ But there is no peace.

12 »Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed! And they did not know how to blush. For that reason they will fall among those who fall. At the time of their punishment they will be brought down,« Says Jehovah.

13 »‘I will surely snatch them away,« declares Jehovah. »There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. The leaf will wither and what I have given them will pass away.’«

14 »Why are we sitting still? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified mother cities. Let us perish there, because Jehovah our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, for we have sinned against Jehovah.

15 We waited for peace, but no good came. We waited for a time of healing, but all we got was terror!

16 From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses. At the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes. For they come and devour the land and its fullness, the city and its inhabitants.

17 »I am sending serpents against you, adders, for which there is no charm. They will bite you,« says Jehovah.

18 My sorrow is beyond healing, my heart is faint within me!

19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: »Is Jehovah not in Zion? Is her King not within her?« »Why have they provoked me with their graven images, with foreign idols?«

20 »Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved.«

21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken. I mourn and dismay has taken hold of me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician healer there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?