Jeremiah 9
1 How I wish my head was a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! Then I would weep day and night over all my people who have been killed.
Oh that one would make my head water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people!
2 I wish I had a temporary shelter in the desert—I would give up on my people and leave them, because they're all adulterers, a bunch of traitors!
Oh that one would place me in the wilderness in a lodging-place of wayfaring men. that I might leave my people, and go from them! for all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors.
3 Their words are like arrows shot from a bow. Lies win out over the truth throughout the country. They go from one evil thing to the next, forgetting all about me, declares the Lord.
And they bend their tongues, their bow of falsehood, and not for the truth are they valiant in the land; for from evil to evil do they proceed, and me they know not, saith the Lord.
4 Everyone, watch out for your friends! Don't even trust your brother! Every brother is deceitful, and every friend slanders other people.
Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and on any brother place ye no reliance; for every brother will surely supplant, and every neighbor will go about as a talebearer.
5 Everyone betrays their friends; no one tells the truth. They've made themselves into expert liars; they tire themselves out doing wrong.
And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and the truth will they not speak: they have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Everyone exploits each other, and in all their lies they don't want to know me, declares the Lord.
Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.
7 So this is what the Lord Almighty says: Look, I'm going to test them and purify them like metal in a furnace. What else can I do because of what my people have done?
Therefore thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and probe them; for how [else] shall I do because of the daughter of my people?
8 Their words are arrows that kill; they always tell lies. They're nice to their friends on the outside while plotting against them inside.
A murderous arrow is their tongue; [every one] speaketh deceit: with his mouth speaketh he peaceably to his neighbor, but in his heart he layeth wait for him.
9 Shouldn't I punish them for all this? declares the Lord. Shouldn't I retaliate for what this nation has done?
Shall I not for these things inflict punishment on them? saith the Lord: or shall not on a nation such as this my soul be avenged?
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains, I will sing a funeral song over the pastures in the countryside, because they have been so badly burned that no one can pass through, and there are no cattle to make any noise. The birds have flown and the wild animals have run away.
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation; because they are burnt up, so that no man can pass through them; and they hear not the voice of the cattle: both the fowls of the heavens and the beasts are fled; they are gone away.
11 I'm going to make Jerusalem into a heap of rubble, a place where jackals live. I will destroy the towns of Judah, leaving them empty.
And I will change Jerusalem into heaps of ruins, a dwelling for monsters: and the cities of Judah will I make desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Has the Lord told anyone so they can explain what's happened? Why has the land been destroyed and burned so it's like a desert, so no one can pass through it?
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it: for what is the land destroyed, burnt up like the wilderness, without one that passeth through?
13 The Lord replied, It's because they have given up keeping my laws that I placed before them. They haven't followed them; they haven't done what I told them.
And the Lord said, Because they forsook my law which I had set before them, and hearkened not to my voice, and walked not therein;
14 On the contrary, they have followed their own stubborn way of thinking, and went to worship the Baals, just as their forefathers taught them.
But have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Be'alim, which their fathers had taught them.
15 So this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Watch out! I will give these people wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink.
Therefore thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them—this people, with wormwood, and give them poison-water to drink.
16 I'm about to scatter them among nations unfamiliar to them and their forefathers, and I will send enemies with swords to chase after them until I have wiped them out.
And I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send out after them the sword, till I have consumed them.
17 This is what the Lord Almighty says: Be aware of what's happening! Call for the professional women mourners, ask for the best of them.
Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Consider it well, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the women skilled in lament, that they may come;
18 Have them come as quickly as possible, and sing a funeral song about us, so we can cry our eyes out, so our tears will flow like streams.
And let them make haste, and take up for us a lamentation, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids drop down water.
19 The sound of weeping comes from Zion, “We're completely devastated! We're totally ashamed, because we've had to abandon our country, because our houses have been demolished.”
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we wasted! we are greatly ashamed; because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.
20 Women, listen to the Lord's message, hear what he has to say. Teach your daughters to mourn and sing songs of sadness.
For hear, O ye women, the word of the Lord, and let your ear perceive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
21 Death has slipped in through our windows; it has come into our fortresses. It has killed the children playing in the streets and the young people gathering in the town squares.
For death is come up through our windows, is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from the street, the young men from the open places.
22 Tell everyone this is what the Lord says: Dead bodies will be left where they fall like manure in the fields, lying there like stalks of freshly-cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to collect them.
Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Yea, the carcasses of men shall lie as dung upon the open field, and as the sheaves [left] after the harvestman, with none to gather them.
23 This is what the Lord says: The wise shouldn't boast about their wisdom. The strong shouldn't boast about their strength. The rich shouldn't boast about their riches.
Thus hath said the Lord, Let not the wise glorify himself in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glorify himself in his might, let not the rich glorify himself in his riches;
24 Anyone who wants to boast should boast that they really know and understand me, recognizing that I am the Lord who acts with trustworthy love, who shows fairness, and who does what is right everywhere on earth, because these mean the most to me, declares the Lord.
But let him that glorifieth himself glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord who exercise kindness, justice, and righteousness, on the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
25 Watch out, for the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all who are only physically circumcised.
Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, that I will send punishment on all the circumcised who are [yet] uncircumcised;
26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the desert people who trim their hair on the sides of their heads—all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the Israelites are spiritually uncircumcised.
On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, and on the children of 'Ammon, and on Moab, and all who have the locks of their hair cut off round that dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
