1 At that time, declares the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge}, they will pull out the bones of the kings of Judah, its princes {sarim: ruling officials}, the priests, the prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves.
2 And they shall spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the host{tseva-hashamayim: astral bodies worshipped} of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and which they have walked after and which they have sought and which they have bowed down to{hishtachavu: ritual bowing}. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the earth.
3 Then death will be preferred over life by the entire remnant {she’erit: survivors remaining} of this evil nation, in every place where I have driven them—declares the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Sovereign Commander}.
4 You shall tell them, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Speaker}: ‘When people fall, do they not get up again? If someone turns away {yashuv: to turn back or repent}, does he not return?’”
5 Why has this people—Jerusalem—turned away with unending backsliding {meshuvah: apostasy}? They hold tightly to deceit and refuse to return {lashuv: turning back}.
6 I paid attention and listened, but their words are not right; no one repents {nikham: deep regret leading to change} of his evil {ra'ah: moral wrong or harm} and says, “What have I done?” Each one runs after his own path, like a horse charging wildly into battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times {moadeha: fixed seasons}, and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane watch for the season of their arrival; but my people do not know the judgment of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}.
8 How can you say, “We are wise, and the law of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Revealer} is with us”? Look—surely the scribes’ {soferim: literary recorders} pen has dealt in falsehood.
9 The wise men are put to shame; they are terrified and taken. Look, they have rejected the word of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}; so what wisdom {khokhmah: true understanding} can be found in them?
10 Therefore I {YHWH, Righteous Judge} will hand their wives over to others and their fields to those who will take possession {yorshim: new possessors}, for from the least to the greatest they all pursue covetous gain, and from prophet to priest they all engage in deception.
11 They have treated the fracture {shever: injury or breaking} of the daughter {bat: personified community} of my people as a small matter, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed because they committed abomination? No—they are not ashamed at all, and they do not even know how to blush. Therefore they will fall with those who fall; in the time of their punishment {pekudatam: appointed visitation} they will be brought down, says the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
13 “I will surely sweep them away,” declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}. “There are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf {aleh: symbol of vitality} withers. What I have given them will pass away from them.”
14 Why do we remain seated? Gather yourselves; let us go into the fortified cities and be silent there, and perish there; for the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Disciplining Judge} has silenced us and made us drink water of gall {rosh: bitter poison}, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We waited for peace, but nothing good arrived; we hoped for healing {marpeh: restoration}, but instead there was terror {be'atah: sudden calamity}.
16 From Dan {dan: northernmost territory of Israel} came the resonant snort of his horses; at the neighing of his mighty steeds the entire land quaked. They advanced and laid waste the land and its fullness {umeloah: everything it contains}, the city and those dwelling within it.
17 Behold, “I set loose among you serpents and vipers that admit no charm {lechash: magical incantation}, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD {YHWH, Judicial Arbiter}.
18 My comfort {mavligiti: hoped relief} is gone; grief is upon me; my heart {libbi: seat of inner life} is faint within me.
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people is heard from a distant land: “Is the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} not in Zion? Is her King not there?” And the LORD says, “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their idols {pislehem: carved images} and with foreign vanities?”
20 The harvest {katsir: crop gathering} is gone, the summer has come to an end, and we have not been saved {noshanu: deliverance expected}.
21 Because of the breaking {shever: grievous breach} of the daughter of my people, I am broken; I mourn, and desolation {shammah: utter ruin} has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm {tsari: resinous healing gum} in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing {arukhat: restoration} of the daughter of my people not come about?