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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 9
9
1If my head were filled with water,
and if my eyes were a fountain of tears,
I would cry day and night for my people who have been destroyed.
2If only I had a place in the desert—
a house where travelers spend the night—
so I could leave my people.
I could go away from them,
because they are all unfaithful to God.
They have all turned against him.
3“They use their tongues like a bow;
lies fly from their mouths like arrows.
Lies, not truth,
have grown strong in this land.
They go from one sin to another.
They don’t know me.”
This is what the Lord said.
4“Watch your neighbors!
Don’t trust your own brothers,
because every brother is a cheat.
Every neighbor talks behind your back.
5Everyone lies to their neighbor.
No one speaks the truth.
The people of Judah have taught
their tongues to lie.
They sinned until they were too tired
to come back.
6One bad thing followed another,
and lies followed lies.
The people refused to know me.”
This is what the Lord said.
7So the Lord All-Powerful says,
“A worker heats metal in a fire to test it and see if it is pure.
I will test the people of Judah like that.
I have no other choice.
My people have sinned.
8The people of Judah have tongues as sharp as arrows.
Their mouths speak lies.
They all speak kindly to their neighbors,
but they are secretly planning ways to attack them.
9Should I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?”
This message is from the Lord.
“You know I should punish a nation such as this.
I should give it the punishment it deserves.”
10I, Jeremiah, will cry for the mountains.
I will sing a funeral song for the empty fields,
because all the animals were taken away.
No one travels there now.
The sounds of cattle cannot be heard.
The birds have flown away,
and the animals are gone.
11The Lord says,#9:11 The Lord says This is implied from the context. “I will make the city of Jerusalem a pile of garbage.
It will be a home for jackals.
I will destroy the cities in the land of Judah,
so no one will live there.”
12Is there a man who is wise enough to understand these things? Is there someone who has been taught by the Lord? Can anyone explain his message? Why was the land ruined? Why was it made like an empty desert where no one goes?
13The Lord answered, “It is because the people of Judah stopped following my teachings. I gave them my teachings, but they refused to listen to me. They did not follow my teachings. 14The people of Judah lived their own way. They were stubborn. They followed the false god Baal. Their fathers taught them to follow those false gods.”
15So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, “I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. 16I will scatter the people of Judah throughout other nations. They will live in strange nations that they and their fathers never knew about. I will send men with swords. They will kill the people of Judah. They will kill them until all the people are gone.”
17This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Now think about these things!
Call for the women who get paid to cry at funerals.
Send for the people who are good at that job.
18The people say,
‘Let those women come quickly
and cry for us.
Then our eyes will fill with tears
that flow over our eyelids like streams of water.’
19“The sound of loud crying is heard from Zion:
‘We are really ruined!
We are so ashamed!
We must leave our land,
because our houses have been destroyed.
Now our houses are only piles of rock.’”
20Now, women of Judah, listen to the message from the Lord.
Listen to the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to cry loudly.
Each of them must learn to sing this funeral song:
21“Death has climbed in through our windows
and has come into our palaces.
Death has come to our children who play in the streets
and to the young men who meet in the public places.”
22This is what you should say: “The Lord says,
‘Dead bodies will lie
in the fields like dung.
Their bodies will lie on the ground like grain a farmer has cut.
But there will be no one to gather them.’”
23This is what the Lord says:
“The wise must not brag about their wisdom.
The strong men must not brag about their strength.
The rich must not brag about their money.
24But if someone wants to brag, then let them brag about this:
Let them brag that they learned to know me.
Let them brag that they understand that I am the Lord,
that I am kind and fair,
and that I do good things on earth.
I love this kind of bragging.”
This message is from the Lord.
25This is what the Lord says: “The time is coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the body. 26I am talking about the people of the nations of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all those who live in the desert. The circumcision they do is not the kind the Lord wants. But the people of Israel are not really circumcised either. They are not circumcised in their hearts.#9:26 circumcised in their hearts See the note at Jer. 4:4.”
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