Jeremiah 9
1 O that my head were waters, And mine eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!
I wish that my head was [like] [MET] a spring of water, and that my eyes were [like] a fountain of tears. Then I would cry night and day for all of my people who have been killed [by our enemies].
2 O that I had a traveller's lodge in the wilderness, That I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers; An assembly of revolters.
I wish that I could leave my people and forget them, and go and live in a shack/shelter in the desert, because they have not remained faithful [MET] [to Yahweh]; they are a mob of people who deceive others.
3 They bend their tongues, like their bows, for lies, And not by truth do they grow mighty in the earth; They proceed from wickedness to wickedness, And have no regard to me, saith Jehovah.
[Yahweh replied to me], “They use their tongues [to tell] [MET] lies like people shoot [arrows] with bows. It is because they tell lies that they have become more powerful in this land, and they do not know me.
4 Be on your guard each one against his neighbor, And trust ye not in any brother; For every brother will supplant, And every neighbor will slander.
Do not trust your neighbors and [even] your brothers! They all are as deceitful [as Jacob was]. They slander [each other] and tell lies [about each other].
5 They deceive every one his neighbor, And do not speak the truth; They have accustomed their tongues to speak lies; They weary themselves in doing iniquity.
They deceive their friends and never tell the truth. They lie continually and, because of that, they have become skilled liars; they do one oppressive thing after another, and are unable to stop doing it.
6 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit, [[O prophet!]] Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah.
They habitually lie and deceive [each other], and no one will admit/say that I am God.
7 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold I will melt them and try them; For what else can I do on account of the daughter of my people?
Therefore [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, say this: Listen carefully to what I say: I will [cause my people to experience great afflictions, ] [like a metalworker puts metal in a hot fire] [MET] to completely burn out the impure bits. Because of all [the evil things] that my people have done, there is absolutely nothing else [RHQ] that I can do.
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; Every one of them speaketh treachery; With their mouth they speak peace to their neighbor, But in their heart they lay snares for him.
What they say [MTY] [injures people like] [MET] poisoned arrows do. They say to their neighbors, ‘I hope things will go well for you,’ while they are planning to kill them.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? saith Jehovah; Shall I not be avenged on such a nation as this?
Should I not punish them for doing that [RHQ]? Yes, I should certainly (get revenge on/give what they deserve to) [the people of] a nation that does things like that!”
10 For the mountains will I lift up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the plains a lamentation, For they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; No more is heard the voice of the cattle; Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled, and are gone.
So, I will weep and wail for [the people who live in] the mountains and in the (pastures/places where the livestock eat the grass), because those areas will be desolate, and no one will live there. There will be no cattle there to call to each other, and all the birds and wild animals will have fled [to other places].
11 I will make Jerusalem heaps of stones, The dwelling-place of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
[Yahweh also says], “I will cause Jerusalem to become a heap of ruins, and [only] jackals/wolves will live there. I will destroy the towns of Judah, with the result that they will be completely deserted; no one will live there.”
12 Who is the wise man, that he may understand this, And he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it? Why is it that the land perisheth, That it is burned up like a desert, which none passeth through?
[I said], “Only people who are very wise [RHQ] can understand these things. Only those who have been taught by Yahweh can [RHQ] explain these things to others. The wise people are [RHQ] the only ones who can explain why the land will be completely ruined with the result that everyone [RHQ] will be afraid to travel through it.”
13 Jehovah himself hath said: It is because they have forsaken my law, Which I set before them, And have not hearkened to my voice, Nor walked according to it;
Yahweh replied, “[These things will happen] because my people have rejected my laws which I gave to them; they have not obeyed me or my instructions.
14 But have walked after the obstinacy of their own heart, And after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.
Instead, they have stubbornly done the things that they wanted to do. They have worshiped the idols that represent the god Baal, which is what their ancestors did.
15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, And give them water of hemlock to drink.
So now listen to what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God of the Israelis, say: [What I will do will be like] [MET] giving these people bitter things to eat and poison to drink:
16 I will also scatter them among nations Which neither they nor their fathers have known, And I will send after them the sword, Till I have made an end of them.
I will scatter them to many nations which neither they nor their ancestors have known [anything about]; I will [enable their enemies to] strike them with swords until I have destroyed them.”
17 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, And send to the skilful ones, that they may come;
This is also what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “Think [about what is happening], [then] summon those women who mourn [when someone has died].
18 Let them make haste, and lift up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run down with tears, And our eyelids gush forth with waters.
Tell them to come quickly and start to wail, with the result that tears will stream down from your(pl) eyes.
19 Behold, a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: “How are we spoiled! How are we put to shame! We must leave our native land; They have cast down our habitations.”
Listen to [the people of] Jerusalem crying/lamenting, saying, ‘We have been ruined/destroyed! We have experienced a terrible disaster! Now we are very ashamed, because our houses have been destroyed [by our enemies], and we [are being forced to] leave our land.’”
20 Hear, O ye women, the word of Jehovah! Let your ear receive the word of his mouth! Teach your daughters a lamentation, And every one her companion a mournful dirge!
You women, listen to what Yahweh says [MTY]. Pay attention to his words [DOU]. Teach your daughters to wail. Teach each other how to sing funeral songs,
21 For death cometh in through our windows, It entereth our palaces; It cutteth off the children from the street, And the young men from the public places.
because people will be dying [PRS] in your houses and in palaces. There will be no more children playing in the streets, there will be no more young men [gathering] in the city squares/marketplaces.
22 Declare it, saith Jehovah! The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, And as the handful behind the reaper, Which none gathereth up.
There will be corpses scattered across the fields like dung; their dead bodies will lie there like [SIM] grain that has been cut by reapers/farmers, and there will be no one [still alive] to bury them.
23 Thus saith Jehovah: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty glory in his might, Nor let the rich glory in his riches!
Yahweh says this: “Wise men should not boast about their being wise, strong men should not boast about their being strong; and rich people should not boast about their being rich.
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, That he hath regard to me, and knoweth me, That I am Jehovah, who exercise loving-kindness, Justice, and righteousness upon the earth; For in these do I delight, saith Jehovah.
Instead, those who want to boast should boast about their knowing me and about understanding that I am Yahweh, that I am kind and just and righteous, that I faithfully love [people], and that I am delighted with [people who act] that way.
25 Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, That I will punish all the circumcised with the uncircumcised,
There will be a time when I will punish all those people of Egypt and of the Moab people-group and of the Edom [people-group] and of the Ammon [people-group], all those people who live close to desert areas (OR, who cut their hair short [to please their gods]) far from Judah, all those people who have [changed their bodies by] circumcising them [MET] but who have not [changed] their inner beings. I will punish the people of Judah also, because they have not changed their inner beings, [either].”
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, And the sons of Ammon and Moab, And all with shaven cheeks, that dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised, And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.
