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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?

Though God had reminded his Prophet of the event, yet he still invites the Jews to repentance; not that there was any hope of restoring them to a right mind, (for he had said that they were wholly irreclaimable,) but that their perverseness might be less excusable; and it was also his object to afford some relief to the small number of the godly who still remained; for they had not all fallen away into impiety, though the great body of the people had become corrupt. God then, partly to aggravate the sin of the ungodly, and partly to provide for his faithful people, exhorts those to repentance, who were yet wholly intractable. And here we ought to consider that God’s goodness, when abused, brings a much heavier judgment. God does here in a manner contend with the wickedness of his people, by setting before them the hope of pardon, if they repented.

Thou shalt then say to them; that is, “Though I have already testified to thee that thy labor would be in vain, yet thou shalt not give over thy work.” Shall they who have fallen rise again? This sentence is variously explained; the greater part of interpreters confine it to the Jews only, “Shall the Jews who have fallen rise again?” As to the second clause, some give this explanation, “If Israel returns, will not God also return?” that is, from his wrath, or, “Will he not be propitious?” Or, “If Israel turns away, will not God also turn away?” Others understand both parts of the sentence of the people, “If the people have once turned away, will they not yet return to God?” For the verb שוב, shub, has contrary meanings; it means, to fall away, to rebel, to go back; and it means also to return. But after having maturely considered the words and the design of the Prophet, I think it to be a general statement, as though he had said, “When any one falls, he immediately thinks of recovering his fall; when any one deviates from the right course, being warned of his going astray, he immediately looks for the road. This is what is usually done, what then means this so great a stupidity, that the people of Jerusalem do not repent, when yet they ought to have long ago acknowledged their fall and their wanderings?”