Jeremiah 9
1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? then would I weep for this my people day and night, [even] for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.
Who would give me a most distant lodge in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, and depart from them? for they all commit adultery, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,”
And they have bent their tongue like a bow: falsehood and not faithfulness has prevailed upon the earth; for they have gone on from evil to evil, and have not known me, says the Lord.
4 “Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
Beware you each of his neighbor, and trust you not in your brethren: for every one will surely supplant, and every friend will walk craftily.
5 Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.
Every one will mock his friend; they will not speak truth: their tongue has learned to speak falsehoods; they have committed iniquity, they ceased not, so as to return.
6 You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,”
[There is] usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, says the Lord.
7 Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?
Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will try them with fire, and prove them; for I will do [thus] because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
Their tongue is a wounding arrow; the words of their mouth are deceitful: [one] speaks peaceably to his neighbor, but in himself retains enmity.
9 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this?
10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
Take up a lamentation for the mountains, and a mournful dirge for the paths of the wilderness, for they are desolate for lack of men; they heard not the sound of life from the birds of the sky, nor the cattle: they were amazed, they are gone.
11 “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
And I will remove the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and make it a dwelling-place of dragons; and I will utterly waste the cities of Juda, so that they shall not be inhabited.
12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it?
Who is the wise man, that he may understand this? and he that has the word of the mouth of the Lord [addressed] to him, let him tell you therefore the land has been destroyed, has been ravaged by fire like a desert, so that no one passes through it.
13 And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice.
And the Lord said to me, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not listened to my voice;
14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”
but went after the lusts of their evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them [to worship]:
15 Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink water of gall:
16 I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
and I will scatter them among the nations, to them whom neither they nor their fathers knew; and I will send a sword upon them, until I have consumed them with it.
17 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
Thus says the Lord, Call you the mourning women, and let them come; and send to the wise women, and let them utter their voice;
18 Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.
and let them take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your eyelids drop water.
19 For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”
For a voice of lamentation has been heard in Sion, How are we become wretched! we are greatly ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, and have abandoned our tabernacles!
20 Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. Open your ears to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail, and one another to lament.
Hear now, you women, the word of God, and let your ears receive the words of his mouth, and teach your daughters lamentation, and [every] woman her neighbor a dirge.
21 For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.
For death has come up through your windows, it has entered into our land, to destroy the infants without, and the young men from the streets.
22 Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”
And the carcases of the men shall be for an example on the face of the field of your land, like grass after the mower, and there shall be none to gather [them].
23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his strength, and let not the rich man boast in his wealth;
24 But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth— for I delight in these things,”
but let him that boasts boast in this, the understanding and knowing that I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and righteousness, upon the earth; for in these things is my pleasure, says the Lord.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised yet uncircumcised:
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;
26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
on Egypt, and on Idumea, and on Edom, and on the children of Ammon, and on the children of Moab, and on every one that shaves his face round about, [even] them that dwell in the wilderness; for all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in flesh, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised [in] their hearts.
