Willful Disregard of God Will Lead to Destruction

4 The Lord said to me,

“Tell them, ‘The Lord says,

Do people not get back up when they fall down?

Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way?

5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem

continually turn away from me in apostasy?

They hold fast to their deception.

They refuse to turn back to me.

6 I have listened to them very carefully,

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!”

All of them persist in their own wayward course

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

7 Even the stork knows

when it is time to move on.

The turtledove, swallow, and crane

recognize the normal times for their migration.

But my people pay no attention

to what I, the Lord, require of them.

8 How can you say, “We are wise!

We have the law of the Lord”?

The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings

to make it say what it does not really mean.

9 Your wise men will be put to shame.

They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

what wisdom do they really have?

10 

So I will give their wives to other men

and their fields to new owners.

For from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all practice deceit.

11 They offer only superficial help

for the hurt my dear people have suffered.

They say, “Everything will be all right!”

But everything is not all right!

12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?

No, they are not at all ashamed!

They do not even know how to blush!

So they will die just like others have died.

They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,

says the Lord.

13 I will take away their harvests, says the Lord.

There will be no grapes on their vines.

There will be no figs on their fig trees.

Even the leaves on their trees will wither.

The crops that I gave them will be taken away.’ ”