Jeremias (Jeremiah) 9
9
1Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people?
2Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people and depart from them, because they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors?
3And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies and not for truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth: for they have proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith the Lord.
4Let every man take heed of his neighbour, and let him not trust in any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully.
5And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies, they have laboured to commit iniquity.
6Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord.
7Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt and try them. For what else shall I do before the daughter of my people?
8Their tongue is a piercing arrow: it hath spoken deceit. With his mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait for him.
9Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? Or shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation?
10For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them. And they have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts, they are gone away and departed.
11And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps of sand, and dens of dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an inhabitant.
12Who is the wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why the land hath perished and is burnt up like a wilderness which none passeth through?
13And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law which I gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in it.
14But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.
15Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink.
16And I will scatter them among the nations which they and their fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they be consumed.
17Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste:
18Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes shed tears and our eyelids run down with waters.
19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and greatly confounded? Because we have left the land, because our dwellings are cast down.
20Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord, and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighboor mourning.
21For death is come up through our windows: it is entered into our houses, to destroy the children from without, the young men from the streets.
22Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the mower, and there is none to gather it.
23Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy and judgment and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord.
25Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that hath the foreskin circumcised.
26Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled round, that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 9: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Jeremiah 9
9
1I wish my head were like a spring of water.
And I wish my eyes were a fountain of tears!
Then I could cry day and night
for my people who have been killed.
2I wish I had a place in the desert—
a house where travelers spend the night.
Then I could leave my people.
I could go away from them.
This is because they are all unfaithful to God.
They are all turning against him.
Judah’s Failures
3“They use their tongues like a bow.
They shoot lies from their mouths like arrows.
Lies, not truth,
have grown strong in the land.
They go from one evil thing to another.
They do not know who I am,” says the Lord.
4“Watch your friends.
Don’t trust your own brothers.
This is because every brother is a cheater.
And every friend tells lies about you.
5Everyone lies to his friend.
No one speaks the truth.
The people of Judah have taught their tongues to lie.
They become tired from sinning.
6Jeremiah, you live in the middle of evil.
And lies follow lies.
The people have refused to know me,” says the Lord.
7So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“I will test the people of Judah as a person tests metal in a fire.
I have no other choice.
My people have sinned.
8Their tongues are like sharp arrows.
Their mouths speak lies.
Everyone speaks nicely to his neighbor.
But he is secretly planning to attack him.
9Shouldn’t I punish the people for doing this?” says the Lord.
“Shouldn’t I give them the punishment they deserve?”
10I, Jeremiah, will cry loudly for the mountains.
I will sing a funeral song for the empty fields.
They are empty, and no one passes through.
The mooing of cattle cannot be heard.
The birds have flown away,
and the animals are gone.
11“I, the Lord, will make the city of Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
It will become a home for wild dogs.
I will destroy the cities in the land of Judah
so no one can live there.”
12What man is wise enough to understand these things? Is there someone who has been taught by the Lord who can explain them? Why was the land ruined? Why has it been made like an empty desert where no one goes?
13The Lord answered, “It is because Judah quit following my teachings that I gave them. They have not obeyed me. They have not done what I told them to do. 14Instead, the people of Judah were stubborn. They followed the false god Baal. Their fathers taught them to do this!” 15So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, God of Israel, says: “I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food. I will make them drink poisoned water. 16I will scatter them through other nations. They will live in strange nations that they and their ancestors never knew about. I will chase the people of Judah with the sword until they are all killed.”
17This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“Now, think about these things!
Call for the women who cry at funerals.
Send for those women who are good at that job.
18Let them come quickly
and cry loudly for us.
Then our eyes will fill with tears.
And streams of water will come out of our eyes.
19The sound of loud crying is heard from Jerusalem:
‘We are truly ruined!
We are truly ashamed!
We must leave our land,
because our houses are in ruins.’”
20Now, women of Judah, listen to the word of the Lord.
Open your ears to hear the words of his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to cry loudly.
Teach one another a funeral song!
21Death has climbed in through our windows.
It has entered our strong cities.
Death has taken away our children who play in the streets.
It has taken the young men who meet in the city squares.
22Say, “This is what the Lord says:
‘The dead bodies of men will lie
in the open field like dung.
They will lie on the ground like grain a farmer has cut.
But there will be no one to gather them.’”
23This is what the Lord says:
“Wise men must not brag about their wisdom.
Strong men must not brag about their strength.
Rich men must not brag about their money.
24But if someone wants to brag, let him brag about this:
Let him brag that he understands and knows me.
Let him brag that I am the Lord.
Let him brag that I am kind and fair.
Let him brag that I do things that are right on earth.
This kind of bragging pleases me,” says the Lord.
25The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. 26That is the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon and Moab. I will also punish the desert people who cut their hair short. The men in all those countries have not given themselves to serving me. And the men of Israel do not give themselves to serving me.”
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