Jeremias 9
1 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.
Who doth make my head waters, And mine eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people.
2 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.
Who doth give me in a wilderness A lodging-place of travellers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them [are] adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones.
3 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.
And they bend their tongue, their bow [is] a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah!
4 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.
Each of his friend — beware ye, And on any brother, do not trust, For every brother doth utterly supplant, For every friend slanderously doth walk,
5 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.
And each at his friend they mock, And truth they do not speak, They taught their tongue to speak falsehood, To commit iniquity they have laboured.
6 [There is] usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, says the Lord.
thy dwelling [is] in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
7 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.
Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am refining them, and have tried them, For how do I do because of the daughter of My people?
8 Their tongue is a wounding arrow; the words of their mouth are deceitful: [one] speaks peaceably to his neighbor, but in himself retains enmity.
A slaughtering arrow [is] their tongue, Deceit it hath spoken in its mouth, Peace with its neighbour it speaketh, And in its heart it layeth its ambush,
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this?
For these things do not I see after them? An affirmation of Jehovah, Against a nation such as this doth not My soul avenge itself?
10 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.
For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, And for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, For they have been burnt up without any passing over, Nor have they heard the voice of cattle, From the fowl of the heavens unto the beast they have fled, they have gone.
11 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.
And I make Jerusalem become heaps, A habitation of dragons, And the cities of Judah I make a desolation, Without inhabitant.
12 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.
Who [is] the wise man? and he understandeth this, And he to whom the mouth of Jehovah spake? And he doth declare it, For what hath the land perished? It hath been burnt up as a wilderness, Without any passing through.
13 And the Lord said to me, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not listened to my voice;
And Jehovah saith: Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, And they have not hearkened to My voice nor walked in it,
14 but went after the lusts of their evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them [to worship]:
And they walk after the stubbornness of their heart, And after the Baalim, that their fathers taught them,
15 therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink water of gall:
Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing them — this people — to eat wormwood, And I have caused them to drink water of gall,
16 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.
And I have scattered them among nations Which they knew not, they and their fathers, And have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them.
17 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;
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,
18 and let them take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your eyelids drop water.
And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow.
19 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!
For — a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How have we been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because they have cast down our tabernacles.
20 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.
But hear, ye women, a word of Jehovah, And your ear receiveth a word of His mouth, And teach ye your daughters wailing, and each her neighbour lamentation.
21 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.
For death hath come up into our windows, It hath come into our palaces, To cut off the suckling from without, Young men from the broad places.
22 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].
Speak thus — an affirmation of Jehovah, And fallen hath the carcase of man, As dung on the face of the field, And as a handful after the reaper, And there is none gathering.
23 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;
Thus said Jehovah: Let not the wise boast himself in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, Let not the rich boast himself in his riches,
24 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.
But — in this let the boaster boast himself, In understanding and knowing Me, For I [am] Jehovah, doing kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, For in these I have delighted, An affirmation of Jehovah.
25 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;
Lo, days are coming — an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have laid a charge on all circumcised in the foreskin,
26 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.
On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, And on the sons of Ammon, and on Moab, And on all cutting the corner [of the beard], Who are dwelling in the wilderness, For all the nations [are] uncircumcised, And all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised in heart!
