Jeremiah 9
9
1I wish my head were a well of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I could cry day and night
for my people who have been killed.
2I wish I had a place to stay in the desert
where I could get away from my people.
They are all unfaithful,
a mob of traitors.
3They are always ready to tell lies;
dishonesty instead of truth rules the land.
The LORD says,
“My people do one evil thing after another,
and do not acknowledge me as their God.”
4Everyone must be on guard against his friend,
and no one can trust his brother;
for every brother is as deceitful as Jacob,
and everyone slanders his friends.
5-6They all mislead their friends,
and no one tells the truth;
they have taught their tongues to lie
and will not give up their sinning.
They do one violent thing after another,
and one deceitful act follows another.
The LORD says that his people reject him.
7Because of this the LORD Almighty says,
“I will refine my people like metal
and put them to the test.
My people have done evil —
what else can I do with them?
8Their tongues are like deadly arrows;
they always tell lies.
Everyone speaks friendly words to his neighbour,
but is really setting a trap for him.
9Will I not punish them for these things?
Will I not take revenge on a nation like this?
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
10I said, “I will mourn for the mountains
and weep for the pastures,
because they have dried up,
and no one travels through them.
The sound of livestock is no longer heard;
birds and wild animals have fled and gone.”
11The LORD says, “I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins,
a place where jackals live;
the cities of Judah will become a desert,
a place where no one lives.”
12I asked, “LORD, why is the land devastated and dry as a desert, so that no one travels through it? Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom have you explained it so that he can tell others?”
13The LORD answered, “This has happened because my people have abandoned the teaching that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them. 14Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshipped the idols of Baal as their ancestors taught them to do. 15So then, listen to what I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink. 16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them.”
The People of Jerusalem Cry Out for Help
17The LORD Almighty said,
“Think about what is happening!
Call for the mourners to come,
for the women who sing funeral songs.”
18The people said,
“Tell them to hurry and sing a funeral song for us,
until our eyes fill with tears,
and our eyelids are wet from crying.”
19Listen to the sound of crying in Zion,
“We are ruined!
We are completely disgraced!
We must leave our land;
our homes have been torn down.”
20I said,
“Listen to the LORD, you women,
and pay attention to his words.
Teach your daughters how to mourn,
and your friends how to sing a funeral song.
21Death has come in through our windows
and entered our palaces;
it has cut down the children in the streets
and the young men in the market places.
22Dead bodies are scattered everywhere,
like piles of manure on the fields,
like corn cut and left behind by the reapers,
corn that no one gathers.
This is what the LORD has told me to say.”
23The LORD says,
“The wise should not boast of their wisdom,
nor the strong of their strength,
nor the rich of their wealth.
24 #
1 Cor 1.31; 2 Cor 10.17 If anyone wants to boast,
he should boast that he knows and understands me,
because my love is constant,
and I do what is just and right.
These are the things that please me.
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
25-26The LORD says, “The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short.#9.25–26 hair cut short: The desert people cut their hair short in honour of their god, a pagan practice forbidden to the Israelites (see Lev 19.27). All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 9
9
1Oh, #Is. 22:4; Jer. 10:19; Lam. 2:18that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
2Oh, that I had in the wilderness
A lodging place for travelers;
That I might leave my people,
And go from them!
For #Jer. 5:7, 8; 23:10; Hos. 4:2they are all adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.
3“And like their bow #Ps. 64:3; Is. 59:4; Jer. 9:8; Hos. 4:1, 2they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from #Jer. 4:22; 13:23evil to evil,
And they #Judg. 2:10; 1 Sam. 2:12; Jer. 4:22; Hos. 4:1; 1 Cor. 15:34do not know Me,” says the Lord.
4“Everyone#Ps. 12:2; Prov. 26:24, 25; Jer. 9:8; Mic. 7:5, 6 take heed to his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
For every brother will utterly supplant,
And every neighbor will #Ps. 15:3; Prov. 10:18; Jer. 6:28walk with slanderers.
5Everyone will #Ps. 36:3, 4; Is. 59:4deceive his neighbor,
And will not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.
7Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, #Is. 1:25; Jer. 6:27; Mal. 3:3I will refine them and try them;
#Hos. 11:8For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
8Their tongue is an arrow shot out;
It speaks #Ps. 12:2deceit;
One speaks #Ps. 55:21peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
But in his heart he lies in wait.
9#Is. 1:24; Jer. 5:9, 29Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,
And #Jer. 4:26; Hos. 4:3for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation,
Because they are burned up,
So that no one can pass through;
Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle.
#Jer. 4:25; Hos. 4:3Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;
They are gone.
11“I will make Jerusalem #Is. 25:2; Jer. 19:3, 8; 26:9a heap of ruins, #Is. 13:22; 34:13a den of jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”
12#Ps. 107:43; Is. 42:23; Hos. 14:9Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?
13And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have #Jer. 3:25; 7:24not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14but they have #Jer. 7:24; 11:8; Rom. 1:21–24walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, #Gal. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:18which their fathers taught them,” 15therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will #Ps. 80:5feed them, this people, #Deut. 29:18; Jer. 8:14; 23:15; Lam. 3:15with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16I will #Lev. 26:33; Deut. 28:64; Jer. 15:2–4scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. #Lev. 26:33; Jer. 44:27; Ezek. 5:2And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”
The People Mourn in Judgment
17Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Consider and call for #2 Chr. 35:25; Job 3:8; Eccl. 12:5; Amos 5:16; Matt. 9:23the mourning women,
That they may come;
And send for skillful wailing women,
That they may come.
18Let them make haste
And take up a wailing for us,
That #Is. 22:4; Jer. 9:1; 14:17our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
19For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How we are plundered!
We are greatly ashamed,
Because we have forsaken the land,
Because we have been cast out of #Lev. 18:28our dwellings.’ ”
20Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21For death has come through our windows,
Has entered our palaces,
To kill off #2 Chr. 36:17; Jer. 6:11; 18:21; Ezek. 9:5, 6the children— no longer to be outside!
And the young men— no longer on the streets!
22Speak, “Thus says the Lord:
‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall #Ps. 83:10; Is. 5:25; Jer. 8:1, 2as refuse on the open field,
Like cuttings after the harvester,
And no one shall gather them.’ ”
23Thus says the Lord:
#(Eccl. 9:11; Is. 47:10); Ezek. 28:3–7“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his #Ps. 33:16–18might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24But #Ps. 20:7; 44:8; Is. 41:16; Jer. 4:2; 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17; (Gal. 6:14)let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
#Is. 61:8; Mic. 7:18For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
25“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that #(Jer. 4:4; Rom. 2:28, 29)I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the #Jer. 25:23farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are #Lev. 26:41; Jer. 4:4; 6:10; Ezek. 44:7; (Rom. 2:28)uncircumcised in the heart.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.