Jeremiah 8:1-13

Here is what YAHWEH says: “At that time, they will desecrate the graves of Jerusalem and bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the false prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of the city. They will spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, which they loved and served. They went after cosmic powers, inquired of them, bowed down before them in adoration, and worshiped them. Because they did these things, their bones will not be buried but will become fertilizer for the ground. However, I will leave some of these evil people alive and banish them to other places. Yet all the survivors will prefer death over life. For I, Lord YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, have spoken.” “Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘YAHWEH says: “ ‘Don’t people get back up when they fall down? Don’t they turn around when they take the wrong road? So why have you, the people of Jerusalem, continually refused to turn back to me? Why do you cling so tightly to your deception instead of coming home to me?’ ” I have listened carefully to what they say, but nothing they say is right. No one is sorry about his sin, saying, “What have I done wrong?” Everyone keeps on going his own way, like a war-horse plunging headlong into battle. YAHWEH “Even the stork in the skies knows her season of migration. And migratory birds—the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane — instinctively take flight according to the times I have set for them, but my people pay no attention to the orders of YAHWEH. How dare you say, ‘We are wise, because we have the law of YAHWEH?’ Look! The scribes teach lies about the law. They have made the law itself into a lie! The know-it-alls will be shamed, terrorized, and trapped. They walked away from the word of YAHWEH, so wisdom walked away from them. Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to those who will take over the land. From the smallest to the greatest, they are all greedy for corrupt profits; priest and prophet alike, they all practice deceit. And they treat the wounds of my beloved people as though they were scratches. ‘Don’t worry,’ they say. ‘Peace, everything is well,’ when there is no peace, and nothing is well. They have acted shamefully, and have committed abhorrent acts, yet they feel no shame. They don’t know how to blush. Surely, they will fall among the fallen, and stumble when I deal with them,” says YAHWEH. YAHWEH says