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.
12. Were they ashamed, for they had committed a detestable thing? What’s worse, they were not ashamed at all, and they did not know to feel humiliated. Therefore they will fall among those who fall; at the time of their punishment they will stumble,” says Yahweh.
13. “I will take away their harvest,” declares Yahweh. “There are no grapes on the vine, and there are no figs on the fig tree, and the leaves wither, and what I gave to them passed over them.” ’ ”
14. Why are we sitting? Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities, and let us perish there, for Yahweh our God has caused us to perish, and has provided drink for us, water of poison, because we have sinned against Yahweh.
15. We hope for peace, but there is no good, for a time of healing, but there is terror.
16. “From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses, from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes, for they come and devour the land, and that which fills the city, and those who live in it.
17. For look, I am letting loose among you snakes, adders for which there is no incantation, and they will bite you,” declares Yahweh.