Jeremiah 9
1 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].
Who schal yyue watir to myn heed, and a welle of teeris to myn iyen? And Y schal biwepe dai and niyt the slayn men of the douyter of my puple.
2 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.
Who schal yyue me in to a wildirnesse of dyuerse weigoeris? And I schal forsake my puple, and Y schal go awei fro hem. For whi alle ben auowteris, and the cumpenyes of trespassouris ayens the lawe;
3 [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.
and thei helden forth her tunge as a bouwe of leesyng, and not of treuthe Thei ben coumfortid in erthe, for thei yeden out fro yuel to yuel, and thei knewen not me, seith the Lord.
4 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].
Ech man kepe hym fro his neiybore, and haue no trist in ony brother of hym; for whi ech brother disseyuyng schal disseyue, and ech frend schal go gilefuli.
5 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.
And a man schal scorne his brother, and schal not speke treuthe; for thei tauyten her tunge to speke leesyng; thei traueliden to do wickidli.
6 They habitually lie and deceive [each other], and no one will admit/say that I am God.
Thi dwellyng is in the myddis of gile; in gile thei forsoken to knowe me, seith the Lord.
7 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.
Therfor the Lord of oostis seith these thingis, Lo! Y schal welle togidere, and Y schal preue hem; for whi what other thing schal Y do fro the face of the douyter of my puple?
8 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.
The tunge of hem is an arowe woundynge, and spak gile; in his mouth he spekith pees with his frend, and priueli he settith tresouns to hym.
9 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!”
Whether Y schal not visite on these thingis, seith the Lord, ether schal not my soule take veniaunce on siche a folc?
10 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].
On hillis Y schal take wepyng and mournyng, and weilyng on the faire thingis of desert, for tho ben brent; for no man is passynge forth, and thei herden not the vois of hym that weldith; fro a brid of the eir `til to scheep, tho passiden ouer, and yeden awei.
11 [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.”
And Y schal yyue Jerusalem in to heepis of grauel, and in to dennes of dragouns; and Y schal yyue the citees of Juda in to desolacioun, for ther is no dwellere.
12 [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.”
Who is a wise man that schal vndurstonde these thingis, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord schal be maad, that he telle this? Whi the erthe perischide, it is brent as desert, for noon is that passith?
13 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.
And the Lord seide, For thei forsoken my lawe, which Y yaf to hem, and thei herden not my vois, and thei yeden not therynne;
14 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.
and thei yeden aftir the schrewidnesse of her herte, and aftir Baalym, which thei lerneden of her fadris;
15 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:
therfor the Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, Lo! Y schal fede this puple with wermod, and Y schal yyue to hem drynke the watir of galle.
16 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.”
And Y schal scatere hem among hethene men, whiche thei and her fadris knewen not; and Y schal sende swerd aftir hem, til thei ben wastid.
17 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].
The Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, Biholde ye, and clepe ye wymmen `that weilen, and come thei; and sende ye to tho wymmen that ben wise, and haste thei.
18 Tell them to come quickly and start to wail, with the result that tears will stream down from your(pl) eyes.
Haste thei, and take thei weilynge on you; youre iyen brynge doun teeris, and youre iyelidis flowe with watris;
19 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.’”
for the vois of weilyng is herd fro Sion. Hou ben we distried, and schent greetli? for we han forsake the lond, for oure tabernaclis ben forsakun.
20 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,
Therfor, wymmen, here ye the word of the Lord, and youre eeris take the word of his mouth; and teche ye youre douytris weilyng, and ech womman teche hir neiybore mournyng.
21 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.
For whi deth stiede bi youre wyndows, it entride in to youre housis, to leese litle children with outforth, and yonge men fro the stretis.
22 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.
Speke thou, the Lord seith, these thingis, And the deed bodi of a man schal fal doun as a toord on the face of the cuntrei, and as hei bihynde the bak of the mowere, and noon is that gaderith.
23 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.
The Lord seith these thingis, A wise man haue not glorie in his wisdom, and a strong man haue not glorie in his strengthe, and a riche man haue not glorie in hise richessis; but he that hath glorie,
24 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.
haue glorie in this, to wite and knowe me, for Y am the Lord, that do merci and dom and riytfulnesse in erthe. For whi these thingis plesen me, seith the Lord.
25 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].”
Lo! daies comen, seith the Lord, and Y schal visite on ech man that hath prepucie vncircumcidid; on Egipt,
and on Juda, and on Edom, and on the sones of Amon, and on Moab, and on alle men that ben clippid on long heer, and dwellen in desert; for whi alle hethene men han prepucie, forsothe al the hous of Israel ben vncircumcidid in herte.
