Jeremiah 9
9
1If only I had a travelers’ lodging place in the wilderness, then I might leave my people and get away from them! For they are all adulterers, a bunch of traitors.
2They bend their tongue like a bow. Lies, not faithfulness, prevail in the land. “For they go from evil to evil and do not know Me,” says Adonai.
3Beware, everyone, of your neighbor! Don’t even trust a brother. For every brother grabs like Jacob and every neighbor spreads slander.
4Everyone deceives his neighbor and does not speak the truth. They taught their tongue to speak lies. They wear themselves out doing wrong.
5“You dwell in the midst of deceit. In deceit they refuse to know Me.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
6Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to refine them and test them. For what else can I do for the daughter of My people?
7Their tongue is a deadly arrow, speaking deceit. With his mouth each says shalom to his neighbor, while inwardly setting a trap for him.
8For such things shall I not punish them?” It is a declaration of Adonai. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
9For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, a lament for the desert pastures. For they are so scorched that no one passes through— the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone.
10“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair for jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a wasteland without inhabitant.
11Who is the one wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken that he may explain it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?”
12Adonai said “It is because they have forsaken My Torah that I set before them. They have neither obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,
13but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baalim that their fathers taught them.
14Therefore, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “look, I will make this people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water.
15I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will pursue them with the sword, until I have finished with them.”
16Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Pay attention! Call the dirge-singers and let them come. Send for the most skillful wailers and let them come!”
17“Let them come quickly and lift up a wailing over us so our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush with water.”
18For a wailing voice is heard from Zion: “How we are ruined! We are utterly ashamed— we have forsaken the land, for they tore down our dwellings.”
19Now, hear the word of Adonai, O women, let your ear receive the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters wailing and everyone her neighbor a dirge.
20For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off children from the street and young men from the squares.”
21“Say this,” declares Adonai. “The carcasses of men will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one gathering them.”
Boast in Knowing Adonai
22Thus says Adonai: “Let not the wise boast in his wisdom nor the mighty boast in his might nor the rich glory in his riches.
23But let one who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me. For I am Adonai who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth. For in these things I delight.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
24“Days are soon coming,” declares Adonai, “when I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised—
25Egypt, Judah, Edom and Ammon’s children and Moab, and all that have cut the corners of their hair—that dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
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Jeremiah 9: TLV
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Jeremiah 9
9
1I wish my head were a spring of water!
I wish my eyes were a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for my people who have been killed.
2I wish I had somewhere to go in the desert
where a traveler could stay!
Then I could leave my people.
I could get away from them.
All of them commit adultery by worshiping other gods.
They aren’t faithful to the Lord.
3“They get ready to use
their tongues like bows,”
announces the Lord.
“Their mouths shoot out lies like arrows.
They tell lies to gain power in the land.
They go from one sin to another.
They do not pay any attention to me.
4Be on guard against your friends.
Do not trust the members of your own family.
Every one of them cheats.
Every friend tells lies.
5One friend cheats another.
No one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues how to lie.
They wear themselves out sinning.
6Jeremiah, you live among people who tell lies.
When they lie, they refuse to pay any attention to me,”
announces the Lord.
7So the Lord who rules over all says,
“I will put them through the fire to test them.
What else can I do?
My people are so sinful!
8Their tongues are like deadly arrows.
They tell lies.
With their mouths all of them speak kindly to their neighbors.
But in their hearts they set traps for them.
9Shouldn’t I punish them for this?”
announces the Lord.
“Shouldn’t I pay back the nation
that does these things?”
10I will cry and mourn over the mountains.
I will sing a song of sadness about the desert grasslands.
They are dry and empty. No one travels through them.
The mooing of cattle isn’t heard there.
The birds have flown away.
All the animals are gone.
11The Lord says, “I will knock down all of Jerusalem’s buildings.
I will make it a home for wild dogs.
The towns of Judah will be completely destroyed.
No one will be able to live in them.”
12Who is wise enough to understand these things? Who has been taught by the Lord? Who can explain them? Why has the land been destroyed so completely? Why has it become like a desert that no one can go across?
13The Lord answered me, “Because my people have turned away from my law. I gave it to them. But they have not kept it. They have not obeyed me. 14Instead, they have done what their stubborn hearts wanted them to do. They have worshiped the gods that are named Baal. They have done what their people have taught them to do through the years.” 15So now the Lord who rules over all speaks. He is the God of Israel. He says, “I will make these people eat bitter food. I will make them drink poisoned water. 16I will scatter them among the nations. They and their people before them didn’t know about these nations. With swords I will chase these people. I will hunt them down until I have destroyed them.”
17The Lord rules over all. He says,
“Here is something I want you to think about.
Send for the women who mourn for the dead.
Send for the most skilled among them.”
18Let them come quickly
and weep for us.
Let them cry until tears flow from our eyes.
Let them weep until water pours out of our eyes.
19People are heard weeping in Zion.
They are saying, “We are destroyed!
We are filled with shame!
We must leave our land.
Our houses have been torn down.”
20You women, hear the Lord’s message.
Listen to what he’s saying.
Teach your daughters how to mourn for the dead.
Teach one another a song of sadness.
21Death has climbed in through our windows.
It has entered our forts.
Death has removed the children from the streets.
It has taken the young men out of the market.
22Say, “The Lord announces,
“ ‘Dead bodies will be like human waste
lying in the open fields.
They will lie there like grain
that is cut down at harvest time.
No one will gather them up.’ ”
23The Lord says,
“Do not let wise people brag about how wise they are.
Do not let strong people boast about how strong they are.
Do not let rich people brag about how rich they are.
24But here is what the one who brags should boast about.
They should brag that they have the understanding to know me.
I want them to know that I am the Lord.
No matter what I do on earth, I am always kind, fair and right.
And I take delight in this,”
announces the Lord.
25“The days are coming when I will judge people,” announces the Lord. “I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their bodies. 26That includes the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon and Moab. It also includes all those who live in the desert in places far away. None of the people in these nations is really circumcised. And not even the people of Israel are circumcised in their hearts.”
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