Jeremiah 9
9
1I wish that my eyes
were fountains of tears,
so I could cry day and night
for my people
who were killed.
2I wish I could go into the desert
and find a hiding place
from all who are treacherous
and unfaithful to God.
The Lord Answers Jeremiah
3The Lord replied:
Lies come from the mouths
of my people,
like arrows from a bow.
With each dishonest deed
their power increases,
and not one of them will admit
that I am God.
4Jeremiah, all your friends
and relatives
tell lies about you,
so don't trust them.
5They wear themselves out,
always looking for a new way
to cheat their friends.
6Everyone takes advantage
of everyone else,
and no one will admit
that I am God.
7And so I will purify
the hearts of my people
just as gold is purified
in a furnace.
I have no other choice.
8They say they want peace,
but this lie is deadly,
like an arrow that strikes
when you least expect it.
9Give me one good reason
not to punish them
as they deserve.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have spoken.
Jeremiah Weeps for His People
10I weep for the pastureland
in the hill country.
It's so barren and scorched
that no one travels there.
No cattle can be found there,
and birds and wild animals
have all disappeared.
11I heard the Lord reply,
“When I am finished,
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah
will be piles of ruins
where only jackals#9.11 jackals: Desert animals related to wolves, but smaller. live.”
Why the Land Was Destroyed
12I said to the Lord, “None of us can understand why the land has become like an uncrossable desert. Won't you explain why?”
13The Lord said:
I destroyed the land because the people disobeyed me and rejected my laws and teachings. 14They were stubborn and worshiped Baal,#9.14 Baal: See the note at 2.23. just as their ancestors did. 15So I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, promise them poison to eat and drink.#9.15 poison to eat and drink: Or “bitter disappointment to eat, and tears to drink.” 16I'll scatter them in foreign countries that they and their ancestors have never even heard of. Finally, I will send enemy soldiers to kill every last one of them.
The Women Who Are Paid To Weep
17The Lord All-Powerful said,
“Make arrangements now
for the women who are paid
to weep at funerals,#9.17 women … weep at funerals: Or “the women who weep for Baal”; the god Baal was believed to have died and come back to life, and some women would go to places of worship and weep over the death of Baal.
especially the women
who can cry the loudest.”
18The people answered,
“Let them come quickly
and cry for us,
until our own eyes
are flooded with tears.
19Now those of us on Zion cry,
‘We are ruined!
We can't stand the shame.
Our homes have been destroyed,
and we must leave our land.’
20“We ask you women
to pay attention
to what the Lord says.
We will teach you a funeral song
that you can teach
your daughters and friends:
21‘We were in our fortress,
but death sneaked in
through our windows.
It even struck down
children at play
and our strongest young men.’
22“The Lord has told us
the ground will be covered
with dead bodies,
like ungathered stalks of grain
or manure in a field.”
What the Lord Likes Best
23The Lord says:
Don't brag about your wisdom
or strength or wealth.
24 #
1 Co 1.31; 2 Co 10.17. If you feel you must brag,
then have enough sense
to brag about worshiping me,
the Lord.
What I like best
is showing kindness,
justice, and mercy
to everyone on earth.
25-26Someday I will punish the nations of Egypt, Edom, Ammon, and Moab, and the tribes of the desert.#9.25,26 the tribes of the desert: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. The men of these nations are circumcised, but they don't worship me. And it's the same with you people of Judah. Your bodies are circumcised, but your hearts are unchanged.
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Jeremiah 9: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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