Jeremiah 9
1 If only my head could produce water, and my eyes be a fountain of tears! For I wish to weep day and night for those among the daughter of my people who have been killed.
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.
2 If only someone would give me a place for travelers in the wilderness to stay, where I could go to abandon my people. If only I could leave them, since all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors!
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.
3 Yahweh declares, “They tread on their bows of lies with their tongues, but it is not because of any faithfulness of theirs that they grow strong on the earth. They go from one wicked act to another. They do not know me.”
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.
4 Each of you, be on guard against your neighbor and do not trust in any brother. For every brother is certainly a deceiver, and every neighbor walks in slander.
Beware you each of his neighbour, and trust you not in your brethren: for every one will surely supplant, and every friend will walk craftily.
5 Each man mocks his neighbor and does not speak the truth. Their tongues teach deceitful things. They are exhausted from committing iniquity.
Every one will mock his friend; they will not speak truth: their tongue has learnt to speak falsehoods; they have committed iniquity, they ceased not, so as to return.
6 Your dwelling is in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
[There is] usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, says the Lord.
7 Yahweh of hosts says this, “See, I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of what my people have done?
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.
8 Their tongues are sharpened arrows; they speak unfaithful things. With their mouths they proclaim peace with their neighbors, but with their hearts they lie in wait for them.
Their tongue is a wounding arrow; the words of their mouth are deceitful: [one] speaks peaceably to his neighbour, but in himself retains enmity.
9 Should I not punish them because of these things—this is Yahweh's declaration— and should I not avenge myself on a nation that is like this?
Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this?
10 I will sing a song of mourning and wailing for the mountains, and a funeral song will be sung for the meadows. For they are burned so no one can pass through them. They will not hear the sound of any cattle. The birds of the skies and the animals have all fled away.
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.
11 So I will turn Jerusalem into piles of ruins, a hideout for jackals. I will make Judah's cities ruined places without inhabitants.”
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.
12 What man is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, and he will declare it? Why has the land perished and been destroyed like the wilderness that no one can pass through?
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.
13 Yahweh says, “It is because they have abandoned my law that I set before them, because they do not listen to my voice or walk by it.
And the Lord said to me, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not listened to my voice;
14 It is because they have walked by their stubborn hearts and have followed the Baals as their fathers taught them to do.
but went after the lusts of their evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them [to worship]:
15 Therefore Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says this, 'See, I am about to make this people eat wormwood and drink poisonous water.
therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink water of gall:
16 Then I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, neither they nor their ancestors. I will send out a sword after them until I have completely destroyed them.'”
and I will scatter them amongst 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.
17 Yahweh of hosts says this, “Think about this: Summon funeral singers; let them come. Send out for women skilled at lamenting; let them come.
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;
18 Let them hurry and sing a mournful song over us, so our eyes may run with tears and our eyelids flow with water.
and let them take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your eyelids drop water.
19 For the sound of wailing is heard in Zion, 'How we are devastated. We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land since they tore down our houses.'
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!
20 So you women, hear Yahweh's word; pay attention to the messages that come from his mouth. Then teach your daughters a mourning song, and each neighbor woman a funeral song.
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 neighbour a dirge.
21 For death has come through our windows; it goes into our palaces. It destroys children from outside, and young men in the city squares.
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.
22 Declare this, 'This is Yahweh's declaration—the corpses of men will fall like dung in the fields, and like grain stalks after the reapers, and there will be no one to gather them.'”
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].
23 Yahweh says this, “Do not let the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the warrior in his might. Do not let the wealthy man take pride in his riches.
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;
24 For if a man takes pride in anything, let it be in this, that he has insight and knows me. For I am Yahweh, who acts with covenant loyalty, justice and righteousness on earth. For it is in these that I take pleasure —this is Yahweh's declaration.”
but let him that boasts boast in this, the understanding and knowing that I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgement, and righteousness, upon the earth; for in these things is my pleasure, says the Lord.
25 “See, days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised who are such only in their body.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;
26 I will punish Egypt and Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all the people who cut the hair on their heads very short. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel has an uncircumcised heart.”
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.
