Jeremiah 9
9
1 # 9:1 Verse 9:1 is numbered 8:23 in Hebrew text. If only my head were a pool of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
for all my people who have been slaughtered.
2 # 9:2 Verses 9:2-26 are numbered 9:1-25 in Hebrew text. Oh, that I could go away and forget my people
and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert.
For they are all adulterers—
a pack of treacherous liars.
Judgment for Disobedience
3“My people bend their tongues like bows
to shoot out lies.
They refuse to stand up for the truth.
They only go from bad to worse.
They do not know me,”
says the Lord.
4“Beware of your neighbor!
Don’t even trust your brother!
For brother takes advantage of brother,
and friend slanders friend.
5They all fool and defraud each other;
no one tells the truth.
With practiced tongues they tell lies;
they wear themselves out with all their sinning.
6They pile lie upon lie
and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,”
says the Lord.
7Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“See, I will melt them down in a crucible
and test them like metal.
What else can I do with my people?#9:7 Hebrew with the daughter of my people? Greek version reads with the evil daughter of my people?
8For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows.
They speak friendly words to their neighbors
while scheming in their heart to kill them.
9Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?”
10I will weep for the mountains
and wail for the wilderness pastures.
For they are desolate and empty of life;
the lowing of cattle is heard no more;
the birds and wild animals have all fled.
11“I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the Lord.
“It will be a place haunted by jackals.
The towns of Judah will be ghost towns,
with no one living in them.”
12Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it?
13The Lord replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said. 14Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them. 15So now, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. 16I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.”
Weeping in Jerusalem
17This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“Consider all this, and call for the mourners.
Send for the women who mourn at funerals.
18Quick! Begin your weeping!
Let the tears flow from your eyes.
19Hear the people of Jerusalem#9:19 Hebrew Zion. crying in despair,
‘We are ruined! We are completely humiliated!
We must leave our land,
because our homes have been torn down.’”
20Listen, you women, to the words of the Lord;
open your ears to what he has to say.
Teach your daughters to wail;
teach one another how to lament.
21For death has crept in through our windows
and has entered our mansions.
It has killed off the flower of our youth:
Children no longer play in the streets,
and young men no longer gather in the squares.
22This is what the Lord says:
“Bodies will be scattered across the fields like clumps of manure,
like bundles of grain after the harvest.
No one will be left to bury them.”
23This is what the Lord says:
“Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom,
or the powerful boast in their power,
or the rich boast in their riches.
24But those who wish to boast
should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
who demonstrates unfailing love
and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
25“A time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit— 26the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places,#9:26 Or in the desert and clip the corners of their hair. and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.”
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Jeremiah 9: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremiah 9
9
1 Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a spring of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2Oh that I had in the wilderness
a lodging place of wayfaring men,
that I might leave my people
and go from them!
For they are all adulterers,
an assembly of treacherous men.
3“They bend their tongue,
as their bow, for falsehood.
They have grown strong in the land,
but not for truth;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they don’t know me,” says the LORD.
4“Everyone beware of his neighbour,
and don’t trust in any brother;
for every brother will utterly supplant,
and every neighbour will go around like a slanderer.
5 Friends deceive each other,
and will not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies.
They weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the middle of deceit.
Through deceit, they refuse to know me,” says the LORD.
7Therefore the LORD of Armies says,
“Behold, I will melt them and test them;
for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow.
It speaks deceit.
One speaks peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth,
but in his heart, he waits to ambush him.
9Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says the LORD.
“Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains,
and lament for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are burnt up, so that no one passes through;
Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock.
Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled.
They are gone.
11“I will make Jerusalem heaps,
a dwelling place of jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant.”
12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burnt up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
13 The LORD says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in my ways, 14but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.” 15Therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 16I will scatter them also amongst the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
17 The LORD of Armies says,
“Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come.
Send for the skilful women, that they may come.
18 Let them make haste
and take up a wailing for us,
that our eyes may run down with tears
and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
‘How we are ruined!
We are greatly confounded
because we have forsaken the land,
because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
20 Yet hear the LORD’s word, you women.
Let your ear receive the word of his mouth.
Teach your daughters wailing.
Everyone teach her neighbour a lamentation.
21 For death has come up into our windows.
It has entered into our palaces
to cut off the children from outside,
and the young men from the streets.
22Speak, “The LORD says,
“‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field,
and as the handful after the harvester.
No one will gather them.’”
23 The LORD says,
“Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom.
Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might.
Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
24 But let him who glories glory in this,
that he has understanding, and knows me,
that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth,
for I delight in these things,” says the LORD.
25“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh: 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
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