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8. Sin and Punishment

¹ “‘At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. ² They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground. ³ Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.’

Sin and Punishment

⁴ “Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says:

   “‘When people fall down, do they not get up?
   When someone turns away, do they not return?
⁵ Why then have these people turned away?
   Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
   they refuse to return.
⁶ I have listened attentively,
   but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent of their wickedness,
   saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course
   like a horse charging into battle.
⁷ Even the stork in the sky
   knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
   observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
   the requirements of the LORD.

    ⁸ “‘How can you say, “We are wise,
   for we have the law of the LORD,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
   has handled it falsely?
⁹ The wise will be put to shame;
   they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the LORD,
   what kind of wisdom do they have?
¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to other men
   and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
   all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
   all practice deceit.
¹¹ They dress the wound of my people
   as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
   when there is no peace.
¹² Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
   No, they have no shame at all;
   they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
   they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.

    ¹³ “‘I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD.
   There will be no grapes on the vine.
There will be no figs on the tree,
   and their leaves will wither.
What I have given them
   will be taken from them. The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.’”

    ¹⁴ Why are we sitting here?
   Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities
   and perish there!
For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish
   and given us poisoned water to drink,
   because we have sinned against him.
¹⁵ We hoped for peace
   but no good has come,
for a time of healing
   but there is only terror.
¹⁶ The snorting of the enemy’s horses
   is heard from Dan;
at the neighing of their stallions
   the whole land trembles.
They have come to devour
   the land and everything in it,
   the city and all who live there.

    ¹⁷ “See, I will send venomous snakes among you,
   vipers that cannot be charmed,
   and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

    ¹⁸ You who are my Comforter The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. in sorrow,
   my heart is faint within me.
¹⁹ Listen to the cry of my people
   from a land far away:
“Is the LORD not in Zion?
   Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”

    ²⁰ “The harvest is past,
   the summer has ended,
   and we are not saved.”

    ²¹ Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
   I mourn, and horror grips me.
²² Is there no balm in Gilead?
   Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
   for the wound of my people?

He intimates in this verse, that all survivors would be doubly miserable, as it would be better for them to die at once than to pine away in unceasing evils: for they who give another meaning to the words, seem not to understand the design of the Prophet. The import then of the passage is, — that however dreadful God’s judgment would be, when slaughters everywhere prevailed, and dead bodies were drawn out which had been previously buried, yet all this would be a slight punishment in comparison with what God would inflict on the rest, such as remained alive: and he also intimates that their life would be more miserable than death itself, yea, than ten deaths.

That those then who would escape death might not think that they gained any advantage, the Prophet says, Chosen shall be death before life by all the residue We hence learn how grievous was to be God’s vengeance; for nothing would be better or more desirable than to undergo death at once, as life would be nothing else but a continued languor and torment. Expected then will be death in all places in which there shall be survivors, where I shall drive them He mentions a reason for this twofold misery, — they would not be allowed to live in their own country, but would become aliens, — and they would find in their exile God’s hand against them, and as it were following them everywhere. ²¹⁷²¹⁷     The literal rendering of this verse is as follows, —
   And chosen shall be death rather than life by all the remnant, — Who shall remain of this wicked family, In all the places of such as shall remain, Whither I shall have driven them, Saith Jehovah of hosts.
   Blayney justly observes, that the participle in the second line is in apposition with “remnant,“ as explanatory of it, and is not to be put in the genitive case, as in our version. A similar construction is found in Jeremiah 24:8. But there is no sufficient authority or reason for omitting the same participle after “places,“ as is done by Blayney. Such repetitions are common in the prophets. — Ed.