Jeremiah 8:5-10

8:5 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.

8:6 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.

8:7 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.

8:8 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.

8:9 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?

8:10 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.