⁴ Moreover thou shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the LORD;
Shall they fall,
and not arise?
shall he turn away,
and not return?
⁵ Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back
by a perpetual backsliding?
they hold fast deceit,
they refuse to return.
⁶ I hearkened and heard,
but they spake not aright:
no man repented him of his wickedness,
saying,
What have I done?
every one turned to his course,
as the horse rusheth into the battle.
⁷ Yea,
the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;
and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe [this] the time of their coming;
but my people know not [this] the judgment of the LORD.
⁸ How do ye say,
We are wise,
and the law of the LORD is with us?
Lo,
certainly in vain made he it;
the pen of the scribes is in vain.
⁹ The wise men are ashamed,
they are dismayed and taken:
lo,
they have rejected the word of the LORD;
and what wisdom is in them?
¹⁰ Therefore will I give [this]
their wives unto others,
and their fields to them that shall inherit them:
for every one
from the least even unto the greatest
is given to covetousness [is greedy of gain],
from the prophet even unto the priest
every one dealeth falsely.
¹¹ For they have healed [this]
the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying,
Peace, peace;
when there is no peace.
¹² Were they ashamed
when they had committed abomination?
nay,
they were not at all ashamed [ashmed they were ashamed],
neither could they [know they how to] blush:
therefore shall they fall among them that fall:
in the time of their visitation
they shall be cast down,
saith the LORD.
¹³ I will surely consume them [snatching I will snatch them],
saith the LORD:
there shall be no [nothing of] grapes on the vine,
nor [nothing of] figs on the fig tree,
and the leaf shall fade;
and the things that I have given them
shall pass away from them.

¹⁴ Why do we sit still?
assemble yourselves,
and let us enter into the defenced cities,
and let us be silent there:
for the LORD our God hath put us to silence,
and given us water of gall to drink,
because we have sinned against the LORD.
¹⁵ We looked for peace,
but no [nothing of] good came;
and for a time of health,
and behold trouble!

¹⁶ The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan:
the whole land trembled
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones;
for they are come,
and have devoured the land,
and all that is in it [and her fullness];
the city,
and those that dwell therein.
¹⁷ For, behold,
I will send serpents,
cockatrices,
among you,
which will not be charmed,
and they shall bite you,
saith the LORD.

¹⁸ When I would comfort myself against sorrow,
my heart is faint in me.
¹⁹ Behold
the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people
because of them that dwell in a far country [from a land afar]:
Is [not] the LORD in Zion?
is [not] her king in her?
Why have they provoked me to anger
with their graven images,
and with strange vanities?
²⁰ The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.
²¹ For the hurt of the daughter of my people
am I hurt;
I am black;
astonishment hath taken hold on me.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?
why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?