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
The Corruption of the People
1Oh, that I had in the wilderness
a travelers’ lodging!
That I might leave my people
and depart from them.
They are all adulterers,
a band of traitors.
2They ready their tongues like a drawn bow;
with lying, and not with truth,
they are powerful in the land.
They go from evil to evil,
and me they do not know—oracle of the Lord.
3Be on your guard, everyone against his neighbor;
put no trust in any brother.
Every brother imitates Jacob, the supplanter,#Jacob, the supplanter: in Hebrew, a play on words. In the popular etymology given in Gn 25:26, the name Jacob means “he supplants,” for he deprived his brother Esau of his birthright (cf. Gn 25:33).
every neighbor is guilty of slander.
4Each one deceives the other,
no one speaks the truth.
They have accustomed their tongues to lying,
they are perverse and cannot repent.#Jer 12:6.
5Violence upon violence,
deceit upon deceit:
They refuse to know me—
oracle of the Lord.
6Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts:
I will refine them and test them;
how else should I deal with the daughter of my people?
7A murderous arrow is their tongue,
their mouths utter deceit;
They speak peaceably with their neighbors,
but in their hearts they lay an ambush!#Ps 28:3; 62:4.
8Should I not punish them for these deeds—oracle of the Lord;
on a nation such as this should I not take vengeance?#Jer 5:9, 29.
Dirge over the Ravaged Land
9Over the mountains I shall break out in cries of lamentation,
over the pastures in the wilderness, in a dirge:
They are scorched, and no one crosses them,
no sound of lowing cattle;
Birds of the air as well as beasts,
all have fled and are gone.#Jer 4:25; 12:4.
10I will turn Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;
The cities of Judah I will make a waste,
where no one dwells.#Is 13:22.
11Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken? Let him declare it!
Why is the land ravaged,
scorched like a wilderness no one crosses?#Ps 107:43; Hos 14:10.
12The Lord said: Because they have abandoned my law, which I set before them, and did not listen to me or follow it, 13but followed instead their stubborn hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors had taught them,#Jer 7:24; 19:4–5. 14therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: See now, I will give this people wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink.#Jer 23:15. 15I will scatter them among nations whom neither they nor their ancestors have known; I will send the sword to pursue them until I have completely destroyed them.#Lv 26:33; Dt 28:36, 64.
16Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Inquire, and call the wailing women to come;
summon the most skilled of them.
17Let them come quickly
and raise for us a dirge,
That our eyes may run with tears,
our pupils flow with water.#Jer 14:17.
18The sound of the dirge is heard from Zion:
We are ruined and greatly ashamed;
We have left the land,
given up our dwellings!
19Hear, you women, the word of the Lord,
let your ears receive the word of his mouth.
Teach your daughters a dirge,
and each other a lament:
20Death has come up through our windows,
has entered our citadels,
To cut down children in the street,
young people in the squares.#Jer 14:16.
21Corpses shall fall
like dung in the open field,
Like sheaves behind the harvester,
with no one to gather them.
True Glory
22Thus says the Lord:
Let not the wise boast of his wisdom,
nor the strong boast of his strength,
nor the rich man boast of his riches;
23But rather, let those who boast, boast of this,
that in their prudence they know me,#Prv 21:30.
Know that I, the Lord, act with fidelity,
justice, and integrity on earth.
How I take delight in these—oracle of the Lord.
False Circumcision. 24See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will demand an account of all those circumcised in the foreskin:#Jer 4:4. 25Egypt and Judah, Edom and the Ammonites, Moab, and those who live in the wilderness and shave their temples.#Shave their temples: some Arabian tribes practiced this custom. None of the nations who practice circumcision understand the meaning of their action, not even Israel; no one conforms to life under the covenant. For all the nations are uncircumcised, even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised at heart.
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