Falske ledere har forført Guds folk
1Når fjenderne kommer, vil de åbne gravene, hvor Judas konger, stormænd, præster, profeter og andre ligger. 2De vil sprede deres knogler ud på jorden, så de ligger utildækket under solen og månen og stjernerne, som de i sin tid tilbad og søgte råd hos. Der vil de ligge og blive til gødning. 3Nogle få af mit oprørske folk vil overleve og blive sendt i eksil, men de vil ønske de var døde,” siger Herren, den Almægtige.
4Derefter bad Herren mig sige følgende til folket: „Hør, hvad Herren siger: Når man falder, skynder man sig så ikke at komme på benene igen? Og når man er gået i den forkerte retning, vender man så ikke straks om, når man opdager det? 5Hvorfor bliver Jerusalems indbyggere så ved med at gøre oprør? Hvorfor nægter de at vende om fra deres vantro? 6Jeg lytter opmærksomt til deres samtaler, men ingen siger et sandt ord. Ingen angrer deres synd eller indrømmer deres fejltagelser. Nej, de styrter sig hovedkulds ud i synden som stridsheste, der stormer frem til kamp. 7Selv storken ved, hvornår den skal trække bort, og det samme gælder duen, tranen og svalen. Hvert år vender de tilbage i rette tid. Men mit folk? De er ligeglade med mine befalinger.
8Hvordan kan I påstå, at I er kloge og kender mine love, når jeres skriftlærde har løjet for jer og fordrejet dem? 9Men jeg vil lukke munden på dem og straffe dem. Hvad visdom er der i at forkaste Herrens ord? 10Jeg overdrager deres koner og ejendom til andre, fordi de alle kun er ude på at skrabe til sig, så meget de kan. Selv præsterne og profeterne er fulde af løgn. 11De behandler dybe sår, som var det ufarlige rifter. ‚Det sker der ikke noget ved,’ forsikrer de, men de tager grueligt fejl. 12De skal straffes for deres afskyelige afgudsdyrkelse, for de har ikke skam i livet. Derfor skal de dø ligesom alle de andre, siger Herren. 13Da jeg ville høste, var der ingen druer på vinstokkene og ingen figner på figentræerne. Alle bladene var visne. Derfor sender jeg en fjende, som skal trampe dem ned.”8,13 Teksten er uklar.
14Da vil folket sige: „Hvad venter vi på? Kom, lad os samles i de befæstede byer, for vi vil ikke dø uden kamp. Vores Gud, Herren, har fældet dødsdom over os og rakt os giftbægeret som straf for vores synder. 15Vi havde håbet på fred og bedre tider, men nu er ulykken over os. 16Fjendens hær kan allerede høres i Dan, hele landet skælver af angst. Fjenderne er på vej for at ødelægge landet, lægge byerne i ruiner og slå hele befolkningen ihjel.”
17„Ja,” siger Herren, „jeg sender en hær imod jer som utæmmelige giftslanger, der dræber jer med deres bid.”
Jeremias sørger over Judas synder
18Da udbrød jeg: „Mit hjerte er knust af sorg! 19Hør folkets fortvivlede skrig ud over landet.
‚Hvor er Herren blevet af?’ råber de. ‚Hvorfor har han forladt sit tempel i Jerusalem?’
Men Herren vil svare: ‚Hvorfor vakte I min vrede med jeres afgudsbilleder og tomme ritualer?’
20‚Ak,’ råber folket til Herren, ‚tiden er gået, og nu er det for sent.8,20 Ordret „Høsten er overstået, og sommeren er forbi”. Det er en talemåde for, at tiden er forspildt. Hvorfor greb du ikke ind og reddede os?’ ”
21Jeg er fortvivlet over mit folks ulykke. Jeg er knust, utrøstelig og stum af sorg. 22Er der ingen salve tilbage i Gilead? Er der ingen læge, der kan lindre smerten? Er der slet ingen redning for mit folk? 23Jeg ville ønske, jeg havde et hav af tårer, for så kunne jeg græde dag og nat over Jerusalems dræbte indbyggere.
1“At that time the tombs will be opened,” announces the Lord. “The bones of the kings and officials of Judah will be brought out. The bones of the priests and prophets will be removed. So will the bones of the people of Jerusalem. 2They will lie outside under the sun, moon and all the stars. All these people had loved and served these things. They had followed them and worshiped them. They had asked them for advice. So the bones of these people will not be gathered up or buried again. Instead, they will be like human waste lying there on the ground. 3Everyone left alive in this evil nation will want to die rather than live. That is what they will long for in the lands where I force them to go.” The Lord who rules over all announces this.
The Lord Punishes His Sinful People
4“Jeremiah, tell them, ‘The Lord says,
“ ‘ “When people fall down, don’t they get up again?
When someone turns away, don’t they come back?
5Then why have the people of Jerusalem turned away from me?
Why do they always turn away?
They keep on telling lies.
They refuse to come back to me.
6I have listened carefully.
But they do not say what is right.
They refuse to turn away from their sins.
None of them says, ‘What have I done?’
Each of them goes their own way.
They are like horses charging into battle.
7Storks know when to fly south.
So do doves, swifts and thrushes.
But my people do not know
what I require them to do.
8“ ‘ “How can you people say, ‘We are wise.
We have the law of the Lord’?
Actually, the teachers of the law have told lies about it.
Their pens have not written what is true.
9Those who think they are wise will be put to shame.
They will become terrified. They will be trapped.
They have not accepted my message.
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10I will give their wives to other men.
I will give their fields to new owners.
Everyone wants to get richer and richer.
Everyone is greedy, from the least important to the most important.
Prophets and priests alike
try to fool everyone they can.
11They bandage the wounds of my people
as if they were not very deep.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say.
But there isn’t any peace.
12Are they ashamed of their hateful actions?
No. They do not feel any shame at all.
They do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall like others who have already fallen.
They will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
13“ ‘ “I will take away their harvest,”
announces the Lord.
“There will not be any grapes on the vines.
The trees will not bear any figs.
The leaves on the trees will dry up.
What I have given my people
will be taken away from them.” ’ ”
14Why are we sitting here?
Let’s gather together!
Let’s run to the cities that have high walls around them!
Let’s die there!
The Lord our God has sentenced us to death.
He has given us poisoned water to drink.
That’s because we’ve sinned against him.
15We hoped peace would come.
But nothing good has happened to us.
We hoped we would finally be healed.
But there is only terror.
16When our enemy’s horses snort,
the noise is heard all the way from the city of Dan.
When their stallions neigh,
the whole land trembles with fear.
They have come to destroy
the land and everything in it.
The city and everyone who lives there will be destroyed.
17“People of Judah, I will send poisonous snakes among you.
No one will be able to charm them.
And they will bite you,”
announces the Lord.
18Lord, my heart is weak inside me.
You comfort me when I’m sad.
19Listen to the cries of my people
from a land far away.
They cry out, “Isn’t the Lord in Zion?
Isn’t its King there anymore?”
The Lord says, “Why have they made me so angry
by worshiping their wooden gods?
Why have they made me angry
with their worthless statues
of gods from other lands?”
20The people say, “The harvest is over.
The summer has ended.
And we still haven’t been saved.”
21My people are crushed, so I am crushed.
I mourn, and I am filled with horror.
22Isn’t there any healing lotion in Gilead?
Isn’t there a doctor there?
Then why doesn’t someone heal
the wounds of my people?
