1. “At that time,” declares Yahweh, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Judah from their graves.
2. And they shall spread them out before the sun, and before the moon, and before all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and which they have gone after, and which they have inquired about, and to which they have bowed in worship. They shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground.
3. And death will be preferred to life by all the remaining of this evil clan in all the remaining places where I have driven them away,” declares Yahweh.
4. “And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asks Yahweh: “Do men fall and not stand up? If one turns away does he not return?
5. Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy? They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.
6. I have listened attentively, and I have listened. They do not speak honestly, there is no man who regrets his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ All of them are turning to their ways of running, like a horse plunging into battle.
7. Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time, and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird, they observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the ordinance of Yahweh.
8. How can you say, ‘We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us’? Look, surely the lying stylus of the scribes has made it a lie.
9. The wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what is wisdom to them?
10. Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from the smallest to the greatest, all of them make profit for unlawful gain, from prophet to priest, all of them practice deceit.
11. And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.