1. At that time, said the Lord, 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;
2. and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved and whom they have served and after whom they have walked and whom they have sought and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those that remain of this evil generation, in all the places where I have driven those that remain, said the Lord of the hosts.
4. Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the Lord said: The one who falls, does he never arise? he who turns away, does he never return?
5. Why then is this people of Jerusalem rebellious with a perpetual rebellion? They hold fast deceit; they refuse to return.
6. I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright: there was no man that repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? each one returned to his course as the horse rushes into the battle.
7. Even the stork in the heaven knows her appointed time; and the turtle dove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people did not know the judgment of the Lord.
8. How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Behold, certainly in vain did he make the pen; the scribes were in vain.
9. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?