Jeremiah 9
1 If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the 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 in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men.
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 Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord.
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 keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil.
Beware you each of his neighbour, and trust you not in your brethren: for every one will surely supplant, and every friend will walk craftily.
5 Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.
Every one will mock his friend; they will not speak truth: their tongue has learnt to speak falsehoods; they have committed iniquity, they ceased not, so as to return.
6 There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.
[There is] usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, says the Lord.
7 So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing.
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 His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.
Their tongue is a wounding arrow; the words of their mouth are deceitful: [one] speaks peaceably to his neighbour, but in himself retains enmity.
9 Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from 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 Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.
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 mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.
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 wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through?
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 said, Because they have given up my law which I put before them, giving no attention to my voice and not being guided by it;
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 But they have been walking in the pride of their hearts, going after the Baals, as their fathers gave them teaching.
but went after the lusts of their evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them [to worship]:
15 So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for 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 And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them.
and I will scatter them amongst 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 armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come:
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 quickly make cries of sorrow for us, so that drops may be flowing from our eyes till they are streaming 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 a sound of weeping goes up from Zion, a cry, How has destruction come on us? we are overcome with shame because we have gone away from our land; he has sent us out from our house.
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 But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.
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 neighbour a dirge.
21 For death has come up into our windows, forcing its way into our great houses; cutting off the children in the streets and the young men in the wide places.
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 The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up.
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 the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth:
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 if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.
but let him that boasts boast in this, the understanding and knowing that I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgement, and righteousness, upon the earth; for in these things is my pleasure, says the Lord.
25 See, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on all those who have circumcision in the flesh;
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;
26 On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.
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.
