1At that time, says Yehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves; 2and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, 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 be buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. 3And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yehovah of hosts. 4Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says Yehovah: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return? 5Why then has this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. 6I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright: no man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong into the battle. 7Indeed, 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 law of Yehovah. 8How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yehovah is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely. 9The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yehovah; and what kind of wisdom is in them? 10Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 11And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yehovah. 13I will utterly consume them, says Yehovah: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. 14Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yehovah our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yehovah. 15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay! 16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell in it. 17For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yehovah. 18Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me. 19Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: is not Yehovah in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities? 20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold of me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?