Jeremiah 9

1 Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain 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 Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors.

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 And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth, for they have proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith 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 every man take heed of his neighbor, and let his not trust in any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully.

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 And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies: they have laboured to commit iniquity.

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 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord.

[There is] usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, says the Lord.

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will melt, and try them: for what else shall I do before 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 tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait 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 Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation?

Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this?

10 For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts they are gone away and departed.

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 to be heaps of sand, and dens of dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an 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 wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why the land hath perished, and is burnt up like a wilderness, which none passeth 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 forsaken my law, which I gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in 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 gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and after Baalim, which 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 thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall 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 And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they be consumed.

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 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste:

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 hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters.

and let them take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your eyelids drop water.

19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our dwellings are cast 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 Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and every one her neighbor mourning.

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 is come up through our windows, it is entered into our houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the streets.

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 Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the mower, and there is none 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 Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory 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 that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith 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 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that hath the foreskin circumcised.

Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;

26 Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled round, that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the 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.