4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Hashem: Shall they fall, and not get up? Shall one turn away, and not turn back?

5 Why then does HaAm Hazeh turn away in perpetual meshuvah (backsliding)? They hold fast to deceit, refusing to make teshuvah.

6 I paid heed and heard, but they spoke not aright; no ish made teshuvah from his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Every one pursues his own course, like the sus (horse) charging into milchamah.

7 Yea, the stork in the Shomayim knoweth her mo'adim (appointed times); and the turtledove and the swift and the crane are shomer over their time for migration; but Ami (My People) have no da'as (knowledge) of the Mishpat Hashem (rule, ordinance, regulation, law of Hashem).

8 How can ye say, We are chachamim (wise ones), and the torat Hashem is with us, when, hinei, the et sheker (deceiving pen) of the sofrim (scribes) has made it [the torat Hashem] into sheker (a falsehood, T.N. i.e., falsely authoritative scribal interpretation has twisted Scripture, perverting its truth; see also Jer 2:8; 2K3:16; here is a warning against false teachers, and it is important because the scribal group in Israel would become the rabbinic group in time to come, and here their doctrines are coming into direct opposition to the and the inerrant prophecies of Jeremiah.).

9 The chachamim (wise men) are ashamed, they are dismayed and trapped; they have rejected the Devar Hashem; so what chochmah (wisdom) is in them?

10 Therefore will I give their nashim unto others, and their sadot to them that shall inherit them; for every one from the katan even unto the gadol is greedy for unjust gain, from the navi even unto the kohen every one doeth sheker.

11 For they give superficial treatment to the hurt of Bat Ami, saying, Shalom, shalom; v'ein shalom.

12 Were they ashamed when they did to'evah (abomination)? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they know to blush; therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their pekuddah (visitation [for punishment], time of reckoning) they shall be brought down, saith Hashem.

13 I would surely have harvested them, saith Hashem, but no grapes are on the gefen, nor te'enim (figs) on the te'enah (fig tree), even the leaf shall wither; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

14 Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us perish there; for Hashem Eloheinu hath made us to perish, and given us mey rosh (poisonous water) to drink, because we have sinned against Hashem.

15 We looked for shalom, but no tov came; and for et marpeh (a time of healing), and, hinei, terror!

16 The snorting of his [the foe from the north] susim (horses) was heard from Dan; kol ha'aretz trembled at the sound of the neighing of his stallions; for they are come, and have devoured eretz, and all that is in it; the Ir (city, T.N. i.e., the city of Dan in the north of Israel), and those that dwell therein.

17 For, hinei, I will send nachashim, tzifonim (vipers), among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith Hashem.

18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my lev is faint within me.

19 Hinei, the voice of the cry of the Bat Ami from eretz markhakim (a land of places far away): is Hashem not in Tziyon? Is her Melech not in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their pesilim (idols), and with alien vanities (futile foreign g-ds)?

20 The katzir (harvest) is past, kayitz (summer) is ended, and loh noshanu (we are not saved [from coming judgment and punishment]).

21 For the hurt of the Bat Ami am I hurt; I mourn; desolation hath taken hold on me.

22 Is there no tzori (medicinal balsam or balm) in Gil`ad; is there no rofeh (physician) there? Why then is the health of the Bat Ami not recovered?