8 ⁴ "You shall say to them, Thus says Yahweh:
When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
8 ⁵ Why then has this people turned away
in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit,
they refuse to return.
8 ⁶ I have given heed and listened,
but they have not spoken aright;
no man repents of his wickedness,
saying, 'What have I done?'
Every one turns to his own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
8 ⁷ Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times;
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
keep the time of their coming;
but my people know not
the ordinance of Yahweh.

8 ⁸ "How can you say, 'We are wise,
and the law of Yahweh is with us'?
But, behold, the false pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
8 ⁹ The wise men shall be put to shame,
they shall be dismayed and taken;
lo, they have rejected the word of Yahweh,
and what wisdom is in them?
8 ¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
every one is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest
every one deals falsely.
8 ¹¹ They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, 'Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace.
8 ¹² Were 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 Yahweh.
8 ¹³ When I would gather them, says Yahweh,
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."

8 ¹⁴ Why do we sit still?
Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities and perish there;
for Yahweh our God has doomed us to perish,
and has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against Yahweh.
8 ¹⁵ We looked for peace, but no good came,
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

8 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.
8 ¹⁷ For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
adders which cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,"
says Yahweh.