Jeremiah 9
1 Who doth make my head waters, And mine eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, For the wounded of the daughter of my people.
How I wish my head was a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! Then I would weep day and night over all my people who have been killed.
2 Who doth give me in a wilderness A lodging-place of travellers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them [are] adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones.
I wish I had a temporary shelter in the desert—I would give up on my people and leave them, because they're all adulterers, a bunch of traitors!
3 And they bend their tongue, their bow [is] a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah!
Their words are like arrows shot from a bow. Lies win out over the truth throughout the country. They go from one evil thing to the next, forgetting all about me, declares the Lord.
4 Each of his friend — beware ye, And on any brother, do not trust, For every brother doth utterly supplant, For every friend slanderously doth walk,
Everyone, watch out for your friends! Don't even trust your brother! Every brother is deceitful, and every friend slanders other people.
5 And each at his friend they mock, And truth they do not speak, They taught their tongue to speak falsehood, To commit iniquity they have laboured.
Everyone betrays their friends; no one tells the truth. They've made themselves into expert liars; they tire themselves out doing wrong.
6 thy dwelling [is] in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Everyone exploits each other, and in all their lies they don't want to know me, declares the Lord.
7 Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am refining them, and have tried them, For how do I do because of the daughter of My people?
So this is what the Lord Almighty says: Look, I'm going to test them and purify them like metal in a furnace. What else can I do because of what my people have done?
8 A slaughtering arrow [is] their tongue, Deceit it hath spoken in its mouth, Peace with its neighbour it speaketh, And in its heart it layeth its ambush,
Their words are arrows that kill; they always tell lies. They're nice to their friends on the outside while plotting against them inside.
9 For these things do not I see after them? An affirmation of Jehovah, Against a nation such as this doth not My soul avenge itself?
Shouldn't I punish them for all this? declares the Lord. Shouldn't I retaliate for what this nation has done?
10 For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, And for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, For they have been burnt up without any passing over, Nor have they heard the voice of cattle, From the fowl of the heavens unto the beast they have fled, they have gone.
I will weep and wail for the mountains, I will sing a funeral song over the pastures in the countryside, because they have been so badly burned that no one can pass through, and there are no cattle to make any noise. The birds have flown and the wild animals have run away.
11 And I make Jerusalem become heaps, A habitation of dragons, And the cities of Judah I make a desolation, Without inhabitant.
I'm going to make Jerusalem into a heap of rubble, a place where jackals live. I will destroy the towns of Judah, leaving them empty.
12 Who [is] the wise man? and he understandeth this, And he to whom the mouth of Jehovah spake? And he doth declare it, For what hath the land perished? It hath been burnt up as a wilderness, Without any passing through.
Who is wise enough to understand this? Has the Lord told anyone so they can explain what's happened? Why has the land been destroyed and burned so it's like a desert, so no one can pass through it?
13 And Jehovah saith: Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, And they have not hearkened to My voice nor walked in it,
The Lord replied, It's because they have given up keeping my laws that I placed before them. They haven't followed them; they haven't done what I told them.
14 And they walk after the stubbornness of their heart, And after the Baalim, that their fathers taught them,
On the contrary, they have followed their own stubborn way of thinking, and went to worship the Baals, just as their forefathers taught them.
15 Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing them — this people — to eat wormwood, And I have caused them to drink water of gall,
So this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Watch out! I will give these people wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink.
16 And I have scattered them among nations Which they knew not, they and their fathers, And have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them.
I'm about to scatter them among nations unfamiliar to them and their forefathers, and I will send enemies with swords to chase after them until I have wiped them out.
17 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Be aware of what's happening! Call for the professional women mourners, ask for the best of them.
18 And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow.
Have them come as quickly as possible, and sing a funeral song about us, so we can cry our eyes out, so our tears will flow like streams.
19 For — a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How have we been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because they have cast down our tabernacles.
The sound of weeping comes from Zion, “We're completely devastated! We're totally ashamed, because we've had to abandon our country, because our houses have been demolished.”
20 But hear, ye women, a word of Jehovah, And your ear receiveth a word of His mouth, And teach ye your daughters wailing, and each her neighbour lamentation.
Women, listen to the Lord's message, hear what he has to say. Teach your daughters to mourn and sing songs of sadness.
21 For death hath come up into our windows, It hath come into our palaces, To cut off the suckling from without, Young men from the broad places.
Death has slipped in through our windows; it has come into our fortresses. It has killed the children playing in the streets and the young people gathering in the town squares.
22 Speak thus — an affirmation of Jehovah, And fallen hath the carcase of man, As dung on the face of the field, And as a handful after the reaper, And there is none gathering.
Tell everyone this is what the Lord says: Dead bodies will be left where they fall like manure in the fields, lying there like stalks of freshly-cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to collect them.
23 Thus said Jehovah: Let not the wise boast himself in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, Let not the rich boast himself in his riches,
This is what the Lord says: The wise shouldn't boast about their wisdom. The strong shouldn't boast about their strength. The rich shouldn't boast about their riches.
24 But — in this let the boaster boast himself, In understanding and knowing Me, For I [am] Jehovah, doing kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, For in these I have delighted, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Anyone who wants to boast should boast that they really know and understand me, recognizing that I am the Lord who acts with trustworthy love, who shows fairness, and who does what is right everywhere on earth, because these mean the most to me, declares the Lord.
25 Lo, days are coming — an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have laid a charge on all circumcised in the foreskin,
Watch out, for the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all who are only physically 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!
Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the desert people who trim their hair on the sides of their heads—all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the Israelites are spiritually uncircumcised.
