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.
Yirmeyah 9
9
1Oh that my rosh (head) were mayim, and mine eyes a makor dimah (a fountain of tears), that I might weep yomam valailah for the slain of the Bat Ami!
2 Oh that I had in the midbar a malon orkhim (travelersʼ lodge); that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all no'afim (adulterers), an atzeret bogedim (band of treacherous traitors).
3 And they bend to the ready their leshon like their keshet (bow) for sheker; but not for emunah have they prevailed in ha'aretz; for they proceed from ra'ah to ra'ah, and they know not Me, saith Hashem.
4 Be ye shomer every one over his re'a (neighbor, friend) and trust ye not in kol ach (any brother); for kol ach will ya'akov (utterly supplant, deceive), and every re'a (neighbor) will holech rakhil (walk as the slanderer, gossiper).
5 And they will deceive every one his re'a, and will not speak emes; they have taught their leshon to speak sheker, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of mirmah; through mirmah they refuse to know Me, saith Hashem.
7 Therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, Hineni, I will refine them, and test them; for what but this shall I do for the Bat Ami?
8 Their leshon is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh mirmah; one speaketh shalom to his re'a with his mouth, but inwardly he lieth in ambush.
9 Shall I not visit them [in punishment] for these things? saith Hashem. Shall not My Nefesh be avenged on such a Goy (nation) as this?
10 I take up a weeping and nehi (lamentation) for the harim, and for the pastures of the midbar a kinah (lamentation), because they are scorched, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the mikneh (cattle); both the oph haShomayim and the behemah are fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins, and a ma'on of jackals; and I will make the towns of Yehudah desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is the ish hechacham (wise man), that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Hashem hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what HaAretz perisheth and is scorched like a midbar, that none passeth through?
13 And Hashem saith, Because they have forsaken My torah which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein;
14 But have walked after the sherirut (stubbornness) of their own lev, and after Ba'alim, which their avot taught them;
15 Therefore thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, the Elohei Yisroel; Hineni, I will make this people eat la'anah (wormwood), and give them poisoned water to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the Goyim, whom neither they nor their avot have known; and I will send a cherev after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, Consider ye, and call for the wailing women, that they may come; and send for the chachamot (wise women), that they may come;
18 And let them make haste, and take up a nehi (lamentation) for us, that our eyes may run down with dimah (tears), and our eyelids gush out with mayim.
19 For a sound of nehi (lamentation) is heard from Tziyon, How are we plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken eretz, because mishkenoteinu have expelled us.
20 Yet hear the Devar Hashem, O ye nashim, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your banot nehi (lamentation), and everyone her re'a (neighbor) kinah (dirge).
21 For mavet (death) is come up into our windows, and is entered into our fortresses, to cut off the olal (children) from the street, and the bochurim from the rechovot.
22 Speak, Thus saith Hashem, Even the nevilah of adam shall fall like domen (dung) upon the sadeh, and the omer (sheaf) after the kotzer (harvester), and none shall gather them.
23 Thus saith Hashem, Let not the chacham (wise man) glory in his chochmah, neither let the gibbor (mighty man) glory in his gevurah (might), let not the oisher (rich man) glory in his riches;
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am Hashem Who exercises chesed, mishpat, and tzedakah, on ha'aretz; for in these things I delight, saith Hashem.
25 Hinei, the yamim come, saith Hashem, that I will punish kol mul b'arlah (all circumcized in arlah [only]);
26 Mitzrayim, and Yehudah, and Edom, and the Bnei Ammon, and Moav, and kol ketzutzei pe'ah (all in the farthest corners), that dwell in the midbar; for all these Goyim are uncircumcised, and kol Bais Yisroel are arlei lev (uncircumcised in heart).#9:26 i.e., in need of regeneration, see Jn 3:3; Dt 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4; 31:31-34; Ro 9:6; 2:28-29; Isa 52:1; Ezek 36:25-27; 44:7,9; Co 2:11-12; 2C 5:17; Ti 3:4-7
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