3. Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.
4. “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: When men fall, do they not rise again?If one turns away, does he not return?
5. Why then has this people turned awayin perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit;they refuse to return.
6. I have paid attention and listened,but they have not spoken rightly;no man relents of his evil,saying, ‘What have I done?’Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7. Even the stork in the heavensknows her times,and the turtledove, swallow, and cranekeep the time of their coming, but my people know notthe rules of the Lord.
8. “How can you say, ‘We are wise,and the law of the Lord is with us’?But behold, the lying pen of the scribeshas made it into a lie.
9. The wise men shall be put to shame;they shall be dismayed and taken;behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,so what wisdom is in them?
10. Therefore I will give their wives to othersand their fields to conquerors,because from the least to the greatesteveryone is greedy for unjust gain;from prophet to priest,everyone deals falsely.
11. They have healed the wound of my people lightly,saying, ‘Peace, peace,’when there is no peace.
12. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?No, they were not at all ashamed;they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,says the Lord.
13. When I would gather them, declares the Lord,there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered,and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
14. Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified citiesand perish there,for the Lord our God has doomed us to perishand has given us poisoned water to drink,because we have sinned against the Lord.
15. We looked for peace, but no good came;for a time of healing, but behold, terror.