1“At that time,” declares יהוה, “they shall bring the bones of the sovereigns of Yehuḏah, and the bones of its heads, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, out of their graves,

2and 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, which they have sought, and to which they have bowed themselves. They shall not be gathered nor buried, they shall be for dung on the face of the earth.

3“And death shall be preferred to life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil people, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” declares יהוה of hosts.

4“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה, “Would they fall, and not rise? Does one turn away and not return?

5“Why then has this people, Yerushalayim, turned away in a continual backsliding? They cling to deceit, they refuse to turn back.

6“I have listened and heard – they do not speak right. No man has repented of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ They all turned to their own course, like a horse rushing into battle.

7“Even a stork in the heavens knows her appointed times. And a turtledove, and a swallow, and a thrush observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the right-ruling of יהוה.

8“How do you say, ‘We are wise, and the Torah of יהוה is with us’? But look, the false pen of the scribe has worked falsehood.

9“The wise shall be put to shame, they shall be broken down and caught. See, they have rejected the Word of יהוה, so what wisdom do they have?

10“Therefore I give their wives to others, and their fields to possessing ones. For from the least even to the greatest, they are all greedy for gain. From the prophet to the priest, all act falsely.

11“And they heal the breach of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.

12“Were they ashamed when they had done abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. So they shall fall among those who fall. They shall stumble in the time of their visitation,” said יהוה.

13“I shall snatch them away,” declares יהוה. “There are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf has faded. And what I gave them shall pass away from them.” ’ ”

14Why are we sitting still? Gather yourselves, and let us go into the walled cities, and let us be silent there. For יהוה our Elohim has let us perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against יהוה.

15We looked for peace, but there was no good; and for a time of healing, but see – fear!

16The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan. All the land shook at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones. They came and devoured the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.

17“For look, I am sending among you serpents, adders, which have no enchanter, and they shall bite you,” declares יהוה.

18When in grief I would seek comfort; my heart is sick within me.

19Observe! The voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land, “Is יהוה not in Tsiyon? Is her Sovereign not in her?” “Why have they provoked Me with their carved images, and with foreign worthlessnesses?”

20“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we have not been saved!”

21For the breach of the daughter of my people I have been broken. I have grown sad; astonishment has seized me.

22Is there no balm in Gil‛aḏ, is there no healer there? Why has the healing of the daughter of my people not come?