1 At that time, says Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its rulers, 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 shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the heavens, which they have loved and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and to which they have bowed down. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth.

3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of Hosts.

4 Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah, Shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return?

5 Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a continual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.

6 I listened and heard, but they did not speak right; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turned to his own course, as a horse rushes into the battle.

7 Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah.

8 How can you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsehood.

9 The wise are ashamed, they are dismayed, and are captured. Lo, they have rejected the Word of Jehovah; so what wisdom is in them?

10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall inherit them, for everyone from the least even to the greatest profits from unjust gain. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

11 For they have healed the ruin of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

13 I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; I give them to those who pass through.

14 Why do we sit still? Gather yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and has given us bitter water to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah.

15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, but behold, terror!

16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his valiant ones. For they have come, and devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who live in it.

17 For, behold, I will send serpents and vipers among you, which cannot be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Jehovah.

18 I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with foreign vanities?

20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

21 For the ruin of the daughter of my people I am broken; I am in gloom; horror has seized me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not come?