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.”[1]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.[2] 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.
Jeremias 8
English Standard Version
fra Crossway1“At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs.2And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. (5.Mos 4,19; 2.Kong 21,3; 2.Kong 23,5; Job 27,19; Job 31,26; Jer 9,22; Jer 16,4; Jer 25,33; Ez 8,16)3Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts. (Job 3,21; Job 7,15; Jer 23,3; Jer 23,8; Jer 29,14; Jer 29,18; Jer 32,37; Dan 9,7; Åb 9,6)
Sin and Treachery
4“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? (Rom 11,11)5Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. (Jer 2,19; Jer 7,24; Jer 9,6)6I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle. (Job 39,19; 2.Pet 3,9)7Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane[1] keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules[2] of the Lord. (Høj 2,12; Es 1,3; Es 38,14; Jer 5,4)8“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (Rom 2,17)9The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them? (Job 5,13; 1.Kor 1,19)10Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. (Es 56,11; Jer 6,12)11They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. (Jer 8,21)12Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. (Jer 3,3; Hos 4,5)13When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”[3] (Es 1,30; Es 5,1; Joel 1,7; Matt 21,19; Luk 13,6)14Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord. (5.Mos 29,18; Jer 4,5; Jer 9,15; Jer 23,15; Klag 3,15; Klag 3,19; Amos 6,12; Åb 8,11)15We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror. (Job 30,26; Jer 14,19)16“The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. (Dom 5,22; Job 39,20; Salm 60,2; Jer 4,15; Jer 10,25; Jer 47,2; Jer 49,21; Jer 51,29)17For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” declares the Lord. (3.Mos 26,22; 4.Mos 21,6; Salm 58,4; Præd 10,11)
Jeremiah Grieves for His People
18My joy is gone; grief is upon me;[4] my heart is sick within me. (Es 1,5; Klag 1,13; Klag 1,22; Klag 5,17)19Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?” (5.Mos 32,21; Es 33,17; Es 39,3)20“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”21For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. (Job 30,30; Jer 8,11; Jer 14,17; Klag 4,8; Joel 2,6; Nah 2,10)22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored? (1.Mos 37,25; Jer 46,11)