8. “How can you claim, ‘We are wise;the law of the Lord is with us’?In fact, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.
9. The wise will be put to shame;they will be dismayed and snared.They have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom do they really have?
10. Therefore, I will give their wives to other men,their fields to new occupants,for from the least to the greatest, everyone is making profit dishonestly.From prophet to priest,everyone deals falsely.
11. They have treated superficially the brokennessof My dear people,claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’when there is no peace.
12. Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?They weren’t at all ashamed.They can no longer feel humiliation.Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.When I punish them, they will collapse,” says the Lord.
13. I will gather them and bring them to an end. This is the Lord’s declaration.There will be no grapes on the vine,no figs on the fig tree,and even the leaf will wither.Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.
14. Why are we just sitting here?Gather together; let us enter the fortified citiesand perish there, for the Lord our God has destroyed us.He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.
15. We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
16. From Dan the snorting of horses is heard.At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes.They come to devour the land and everything in it,the city and all its residents.
17. Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you,poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you.This is the Lord’s declaration.
18. My joy has flown away;grief has settled on me.My heart is sick.
19. Listen — the cry of my dear peoplefrom a far away land,“Is the Lord no longer in Zion, her King not within her? ”Why have they provoked me to angerwith their carved images,with their worthless foreign idols?
20. Harvest has passed, summer has ended,but we have not been saved.
21. I am broken by the brokennessof my dear people. I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
22. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?So why has the healing of my dear peoplenot come about?