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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Jeremiah 9: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. 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
1If my head were a spring of water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night # Ps 42:3; Jr 13:17; Lm 2:11; Lk 19:41
over the slain of my dear # Lit slain among the daughter of my people.
2# Jr 9:1 in HbIf only I had a traveler’s lodging place
in the wilderness, # 1Kg 19:9-10
I would abandon my people
and depart from them,
for they are all adulterers, # Jr 23:10; Hs 7:4; Mal 3:5
a solemn assembly of treacherous people. # Is 24:16; 33:1; Jr 12:1
3They bent their tongues like their bows;
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take Me into account. # Jr 4:22
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4Everyone has to be on guard against his friend.
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive, # Gn 27:36
and every friend spread slander. # Jr 6:28
5Each one betrays his friend; # Gn 31:7
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6You live in a world of deception. # LXX reads Oppression on oppression, deceit on deceit # Gn 27:35-36; 34:13
In their deception they refuse to know Me. # Rm 1:17
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:
I am about to refine them and test them, # Is 1:25; Jr 6:27
for what else can I do
because of My dear # Lit of the daughter of My people? # LXX, Tg read because of their evils
8Their tongues are deadly arrows —
they speak deception. # Ps 28:3
With his mouth
a man speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself # Jr 5:9,29
on such a nation as this?
10I will raise weeping and a lament
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals, # Jr 4:25; 12:4
everything has fled — they have gone away.
11I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, # 2Kg 19:25; Is 25:2
a jackals’ den. # Jr 10:22; 49:33; 51:37
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
12Who is the man wise enough to understand this? # Ps 107:43; Ec 8:1; Hs 14:9 Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned My instruction # 2Ch 12:1 that I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it. 14Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts # Dt 29:19; Ps 81:12 and followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them.” # Jr 2:8,23 15Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood # Dt 29:18; Jr 23:15; Lm 3:19 and give them poisonous water to drink. # Jr 8:14; 23:15 16I will scatter them among the nations # Lv 26:33; Dt 4:27; 28:64 that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn; # Ec 12:5; Am 5:16
send for the skillful women.
18Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids soaked with weeping.
19For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed, # Jr 2:26; 6:15; 8:12
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.
Pay attention to # Lit Your ears must receive the word of His mouth.
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
21for Death # Jb 18:13; 28:22; Ps 49:14 has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22Speak as follows:
This is what the Lord says:
Human corpses will fall
like manure on the surface of the field, # 2Kg 9:30,32,37
like newly cut grain # Am 2:13; Mc 4:12; Zch 12:6 after the reaper
with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23This is what the Lord says:
The wise man must not boast in his wisdom;
the strong man must not boast in his strength;
the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.
24But the one who boasts should boast in this,
that he understands and knows Me # Ps 34:2; 64:10; 105:3; 1Co 1:31; 2Co 10:17 —
that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25“The days are coming” — the Lord’s declaration — “when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised: # Jr 4:4; Rm 2:28-29 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples. # Or who live in distant places All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” # Lv 19:27; Jr 25:23; 49:32; Ezk 44:7,9
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