Jeremiah 9

1 Who makes my head waters, And my eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people.

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.

2 Who gives me in a wilderness A lodging-place for travelers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them [are] adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones.

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.

3 “And they bend their tongue, Their bow [is] a lie, And they have not been mighty for steadfastness in the land, For they have gone forth from evil to evil, And they have not known Me,” A declaration of YHWH!

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.

4 “You each beware of his friend, And do not trust any brother, For every brother utterly supplants, For every friend slanderously walks,

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.

5 And they each mock at his friend, And they do not speak truth, They taught their tongue to speak falsehood, They have labored to commit iniquity.

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.

6 Your dwelling [is] in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me,” A declaration of YHWH.

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

7 Therefore, thus said YHWH of Hosts: “Behold, I am refining them, and have tried them, For how do I deal with the daughter of My people?

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?

8 Their tongue [is] a slaughtering arrow, It has spoken deceit in its mouth, It speaks peace with its neighbor, And in its heart it lays its ambush,

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.

9 Do I not see after them for these things?” A declaration of YHWH, “Does My soul not avenge itself against a nation such as this?”

Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation?

10 I lift up weeping and wailing for the mountains, And a lamentation for the habitations of the wilderness, For they have been burned up without any passing over, Nor have they heard the voice of livestock, From the bird of the heavens and to the beast—they have fled, They have gone.

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.

11 “And I make Jerusalem become heaps, A habitation of dragons, And I make the cities of Judah a desolation, Without inhabitant.”

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.

12 Who [is] the wise man? And he understands this, And he to whom the mouth of YHWH spoke? And he declares it, For why has the land perished? It has been burned up as a wilderness, Without any passing through.

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?

13 And YHWH says: “Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, And they have not listened to My voice nor walked in it,

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.

14 And they walk after the stubbornness of their heart, And after the Ba‘alim, That their fathers taught them,”

But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.

15 Therefore, thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: “Behold, I am causing them—this people—to eat wormwood, And I have caused them to drink water of gall,

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.

16 And I have scattered them among nations Which they did not know, they and their fathers, And have sent the sword after them, Until I have consumed them.”

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.

17 Thus said YHWH of Hosts: “Consider, and call for mourning women, And they come, And send to the wise women, And they come,

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:

18 And they hurry, and lift up a wailing for us. And tears run down our eyes, And waters flow from our eyelids.

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

19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How we have been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because they have cast down our dwelling places.”

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.

20 But hear, you women, a word of YHWH, And your ear receives a word of His mouth, And teach your daughters wailing, And each her neighbor lamentation.

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.

21 For death has come up into our windows, It has come into our palaces, To cut off the suckling from outside, Young men from the broad places.

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.

22 Speak thus, “A declaration of YHWH, And the carcass of man has fallen, As dung on the face of the field, And as a handful after the reaper, And there is none gathering.”

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.

23 Thus said YHWH: “Do not let the wise boast himself in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, Do not let the rich boast himself in his riches,

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:

24 But let the boaster boast himself in this, In understanding and knowing Me, For I [am] YHWH, doing kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, For I have delighted in these,” A declaration of YHWH.

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.

25 “Behold, days are coming,” A declaration of YHWH, “And I have laid a charge on all circumcised in the foreskin,

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that hath the foreskin circumcised.

26 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!”

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.