Jeremiah 9
9
1If my head were a flowing spring,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night#Ps 42:3; Jr 13:17; Lm 2:11; Lk 19:41
over the slain of my dear#9:1 Lit slain among the daughter of my people.
2If only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness,#1Kg 19:9–10
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers,#Jr 23:10; Hs 7:4; Mal 3:5
a solemn assembly of treacherous people.#Is 24:16; 33:1; Jr 12:1
3They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take me into account.#Jr 4:22
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,#Gn 27:36
and every friend spread slander.#Jr 6:28
5Each one betrays his friend;#Gn 31:7
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6You live in a world of deception.#9:6 LXX reads Oppression on oppression, deceit on deceit#Gn 27:35–36; 34:13
In their deception they refuse to know me.#Rm 1:17
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says:
I am about to refine them and test them,#Is 1:25; Jr 6:27
for what else can I do
because of my dear#9:7 Lit of the daughter of my people?#9:7 LXX, Tg read because of their evils
8Their tongues are deadly arrows —
they speak deception.#Ps 28:3
With his mouth
one speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge myself#Jr 5:9,29
on such a nation as this?
10I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,#Jr 4:25; 12:4
everything has fled — they have gone away.
11I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,#2Kg 19:25; Is 25:2
a jackals’ den.#Jr 10:22; 49:33; 51:37
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
12Who is the person wise enough to understand this?#Ps 107:43; Ec 8:1; Hs 14:9 Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned my instruction,#2Ch 12:1 which I set before them, and did not obey my voice or walk according to it. 14Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts#Dt 29:19; Ps 81:12 and followed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.”#Jr 2:8,23 15Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood#Dt 29:18; Jr 23:15; Lm 3:19 and give them poisonous water to drink.#Jr 8:14; 23:15 16I will scatter them among the nations#Lv 26:33; Dt 4:27; 28:64 that they and their ancestors have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn;#Ec 12:5; Am 5:16
send for the skillful women.
18Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids be soaked with weeping.
19For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,#Jr 2:26; 6:15; 8:12
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to#9:20 Lit Your ears must receive the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
21for Death#Jb 18:13; 28:22; Ps 49:14 has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22“Speak as follows: ‘This is what the Lord declares: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field,#2Kg 9:30,32,37 like newly cut grain#Am 2:13; Mc 4:12; Zch 12:6 after the reaper with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23“‘This is what the Lord says:
The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
24But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that he understands and knows me#Ps 34:2; 64:10; 105:3; 1Co 1:31; 2Co 10:17 —
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25“‘Look, the days are coming — this is the Lord’s declaration — when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:#Jr 4:4; Rm 2:28–29 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples.#9:26 Or who live in distant places All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.’”#Lv 19:27; Jr 25:23; 49:32; Ezk 44:7,9
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Jeremiah 9: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 9
9
1 "Who will provide water for my head, and a fount of tears for my eyes? And then I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 Who will provide me, in the wilderness, with a lodging place along the road? And then I will forsake my people, and withdraw from them. For they are all adulterers, a union of transgressors.
3 And they have bent their tongue, like a bow, to send forth lies and not the truth. They have been strengthened upon the earth. And they have gone from one evil to another. But they have not known me, says the Lord.
4 Let each one guard himself against his neighbor, and let him have no trust in any brother of his. For every brother will utterly overthrow, and every friend will advance deceitfully.
5 And a man will deride his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they have labored to commit iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit. In their deceitfulness, they have refused to know me, says the Lord."
7 Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Behold, I will refine them, and I will test them. For what else can I do before the face of the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is a wounding arrow; it has spoken deceit. With his mouth, he speaks peace with his friend, and then he secretly lies in ambush for him.
9 Shall I not visit upon them concerning these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?
10 I will take up weeping and lamentation over the mountains, and mourning over the beautiful places in the desert. For they have been scorched because no man is passing through them. And they have not heard the voice of any occupant. From the birds of the air, even to the cattle, they have migrated and withdrawn.
11 And I will make Jerusalem into piles of sand and into a lair for serpents. And I will make the cities of Judah desolate, so much so that there will be no inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom a word from the mouth of the Lord may be given, so that he may announce this: why the land has perished, and has been scorched like a desert, so much so that no one passes through it?"
13 And the Lord said: "It is because they have abandoned my law, which I gave to them, and they have not listened to my voice, and they have not walked by it.
14 And they have gone after the depravity of their own heart, and after Baal, which they learned from their fathers."
15 For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed this people with absinthe, and I will give them the water of gall to drink.
16 And I will disperse them among nations, which they and their fathers have not known. And I will send the sword after them, until they are consumed."
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Consider and call upon the women mourners, and let them approach. And send to those women who are wise, and let them hurry.
18 'Let them hasten to take up a lamentation over us. Let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run with water.'
19 For a voice of lamentation has been heard from Zion: 'How is it that we have been devastated and greatly confounded? Our tabernacles have been thrown down because we have forsaken the land.' "
20 "Therefore, listen, O women, to the word of the Lord! And let your ears take up the word of his mouth. And teach your daughters to lament. And let each one teach her neighbor to mourn:
21 'For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered our houses to perish the little children from the outdoors, the youths from the streets.' "
22 "Speak: Thus says the Lord: And the corpses of men will fall like manure over the face of the countryside, and like hay behind the back of the reaper, and there will be no one to gather it."
23 Thus says the Lord: "The wise man should not glory in his wisdom, and the strong man should not glory in his strength, and the rich man should not glory in his riches.
24 But he who glories should glory in this: to know me and to know me well. For I am the Lord, who accomplishes mercy and judgment and justice upon the earth. For these things are pleasing to me, says the Lord.
25 Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all who are uncircumcised:
26 upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all who have shaved off their hair, living in the desert. For all the nations are uncircumcised in body, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
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