The Valley of Death
1The Lord says: ‘At that time people will take out the bones of the kings_of_Judah from their graves and the bones of the officials of the kings and the bones of the priests and the prophets and the people who have lived in Jerusalem. 2The people will throw the bones everywhere where the sun and moon and all the stars shine. The sun and the moon and the stars were their gods. They loved those gods and served them. They asked the gods to help them and they bowed down before those gods. No one will come to pick up those bones and bury them. They will be all over the ground like dung. 3Some of these bad people whom I have chased away to other places are still_alive, but they will wish that they were dead.’
This is what the Lord, who rules over all, says.
My people do not want to come back to Me
4The Lord said:
‘Jeremiah, you must tell the people
of Jerusalem: The Lord says:
“When people have fallen, they stand up again,
and when they see that they have gone on the wrong road,
they turn_around and come back.
5Why do these people of Jerusalem
not come back to the right road?
Why do they continue to serve
idols that are worthless?
Why don't they want to come back to Me?
6I have listened carefully
to what these people say,
but they don't say what is right,
and they don't say the things that they must say.
No one is sorry about the bad things
that he does. No one says:
“‘I am sorry. I have done wrong.”’
Everyone walks in his own wrong way,
like a horse that runs straight into war.
7The storks, doves, swallows and thrushes
know when to come back and when to go,
but my people don't know
what I want them to do.
8They say they have wisdom
and they know what I want,
but the people who must write
what I want have told lies,
and they have written things that are not right.
9The people who think they have wisdom
are keeping quiet now,
and they do not know what to say.
That is because they did not listen
to what I said, and that is why
they do not have wisdom.” ’
My people did not become ashamed
10‘Because they have done this,
I will give their wives
to other people and I will bring other people
to take their land, because everyone
wants to become rich,
people who are important, and those who are not,
and they take things that belong to other people,
and the prophets and priests deceive my people.
11They think everything
will be all right if they say:
“There will be peace, there will be peace,”
but there is no peace.
12They did bad things that I hate
but they did not become ashamed,
and they are not sorry for what they did.
That is why they will also die in war.
I will punish them and they will die.’
This is what the Lord says.
13‘They have not done
what God wanted them to do.
They are like vines and fig trees
that have no grapes or figs when I want
to pick some, and their leaves
have become dry and have died.
That is why I will give them
to other nations and they
will take my people away.’
This is what the Lord says.
The enemies are coming
14The Lord says:
‘The people of Judah will say to each other:
“What are we waiting for?
Let us go to the cities that have strong walls.
Let us go and die there
because the Lord our God wants us to die.
He wants us to drink water that is poisonous
because we have sinned_against Him.”
15They will wait for peace,
but nothing good will happen for them.
They will wait and hope
that things will become better again,
but they will become even more afraid.
16The enemies are already
coming past the city of Dan.
Their horses are snorting and
everyone in the land is afraid and trembles.
They will come and destroy everything,
the fields, the plants, the towns and cities,
and the people who live there.
17Yes, I am sending the enemies to you.
They will bite you like snakes
and no one will be able to stop them.’
I cry and mourn because they are going to die
18I, Jeremiah, am worried.
I am becoming sick and weak
19because I hear my people complaining
in a land far from here. They ask:
‘Is the Lord not in Zion anymore?
Is the King not living there anymore?’
But the Lord asks:
‘Why do they make Me angry with their images?
Why do they worship the gods
of other people that are worthless?’
20They will be in that far land and say:
‘The summer time is here, and the time
to harvest wheat has gone,
but the Lord has not saved us yet.’
21The enemies will make my people suffer a lot,
and that is why I am suffering now.
I cry and mourn because
they are going to die. I am afraid.
22There is balm in the land of Gilead,
and there are doctors,
but my people have not healed.
