Thus hath the Lord(245) said: 9 Glean, let them glean as a vine Israel’s remnant; Like the grape-gleaner turn thy hand Again to its(246) tendrils. “To whom shall I utter myself, 10 And witness that they may hear? “Lo, uncircumcised is their ear, They cannot give heed. “The Word of the Lord is their scorn, No pleasure have they therein. “I am full of the rage of the Lord, 11 “Weary with holding it back! Pour(247) it out on the child in the street, On the youths where they gather; Both husband and wife shall be taken, The old with the full of days. Their homes shall be turned to others, 12 Their fields and wives together, When I stretch forth My Hand On those that dwell in this(248) land. [Rede of the Lord.] Because from the least to the greatest 13 All are greedy of gain, Right on from prophet to priest Every one worketh lies. They would heal the breach of My people, 14 As though it were trifling, Saying, “It is well, it is well”— When—where(249) is it well? Were they shamed of their loathsome deeds? 15 Nay, not at all ashamed! They know not even to blush! So they with the fallen shall fall, And shall reel in the time that I visit, Rede of the Lord. Still another Oracle which gives no glimpse of the Scythians, but threatens a vague disaster and once more states the moral reasons for Judah’s doom. Its allusion to incense and sacrifices is no reason for dating it after the discovery of Deuteronomy.(250) Thus hath the Lord said— 16 Halt on the ways and look, And ask for the ancient paths: Where is(251) the way that is good? Go ye in that, And rest shall ye find to your soul, But they—“We go not!” I raised up sentinels for you— 17 Heed the sound of the trump!(252) But they—“We heed not!” Therefore, O nations, hearken, 18 And own My record against them (?)(253) Hear thou, O Earth, 19 Lo, evil I bring to this people, The fruit of their own devices,(254) Since they have not heeded My Word, And My Law have despised. To Me what is incense that cometh from Sheba, 20 Sweet-cane from a far-off land? Your holocausts are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifice pleasing. Therefore thus hath the Lord said: 21 Behold I set for this people Blocks upon which to stumble; Fathers and children together, Neighbour and friend shall perish. None of the foregoing brief and separate Oracles diverts from the moral theme of all these earlier utterances of the Prophet, that Judah’s afflictions, whether from Nature or from invaders, are due to her own wickedness. And this record even the foreign peoples are called to witness—another proof that from the first Jeremiah had a sense of a mission to _the nations_ as well as to his own countrymen.