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.
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 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!
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 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.”
[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 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.
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 Each man mocks his neighbor and does not speak the truth. Their tongues teach deceitful things. They are exhausted from committing 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 Your dwelling is in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
They habitually lie and deceive [each other], and no one will admit/say that I am God.
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 [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 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.
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 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?
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 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.
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 So I will turn Jerusalem into piles of ruins, a hideout for jackals. I will make Judah's cities ruined places without inhabitants.”
[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 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?
[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 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.
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 It is because they have walked by their stubborn hearts and have followed the Baals as their fathers taught them to do.
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 Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says this, 'See, I am about to make this people eat wormwood and drink poisonous water.
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 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.'”
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 Yahweh of hosts says this, “Think about this: Summon funeral singers; let them come. Send out for women skilled at lamenting; let them 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 hurry and sing a mournful song over us, so our eyes may run with tears and our eyelids flow with water.
Tell them to come quickly and start to wail, with the result that tears will stream down from your(pl) eyes.
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.'
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 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.
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 has come through our windows; it goes into our palaces. It destroys children from outside, and young men in the city squares.
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 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.'”
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 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.
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 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.”
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 “See, days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when I will punish all the circumcised who are such only in their body.
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 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.”
