Jeremiah 9
9
1 # 9:1
Jeremiah 9:1–26
in English Bibles is Jeremiah 8:23–9:25 in the Hebrew Bible. “I wish that my head were ⌞filled with⌟ water
and my eyes were a fountain of tears
so that I could cry day and night
for my dear people who have been killed.
2I wish I had a place to stay in the desert.
I would abandon my people and go away from them.
They are all adulterers,
a mob of traitors.
3They use their tongues like bows that shoot arrows.
Lies and dishonesty rule the land.#9:3 Greek; Masoretic Text “They bend their tongue. Their bow is falsehood. And not for truth are they strong in the land.”
They go from one evil thing to another,
and they don’t know me,” declares the Lord.
4“Beware of your neighbors.
Don’t trust your relatives.
Every relative cheats.
Every neighbor goes around slandering.
5Everyone cheats his neighbor.
No one speaks the truth.
My people train their tongues to speak lies.
They wear themselves out doing wrong.
6Oppression follows oppression.#9:6 Greek; Masoretic Text “Your sitting is in the midst of deceit.”
Deceit follows deceit.
They refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.
7This is what the Lord of Armies says:
I will now refine them with fire and test them.
What else can I do for my dear people?
8Their tongues are like deadly arrows.
They speak deceitfully.
People speak politely to their neighbors,
but they think of ways to set traps for them.
9I will punish them for these things, declares the Lord.
I will punish this nation.
I still won’t be satisfied.
10I will cry and weep for the mountains.
I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness.
They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them.
No one can hear the sound of cattle.
Birds and cattle have fled.
They are gone.
11I will turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, a home for jackals.
I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one can live there.
12No one is wise enough to understand this.
To whom has the Lord revealed this
so that they can explain it?
The land dies; it has been ruined like the desert
so that no one can travel through it.
13The Lord answered,
“They’ve abandoned my teachings that I placed in front of them.
They didn’t obey me, and they didn’t follow them.
14They followed their own stubborn ways and other gods—the Baals,
as their ancestors taught them.”
15This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
I am going to feed these people bitterness
and give them poison to drink.
16I will scatter them among nations
that they and their ancestors haven’t heard of.
I will send armies after them until I’ve wiped them out.
17This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Consider this:
Call for the women who cry at funerals.
Send for those who are the most skilled.
18They should come quickly and cry for us.
Our eyes will run with tears.
Our eyelids will flow with water.
19The sound of crying is heard from Zion.
“We’re ruined! We’re very ashamed.
We must leave our land because our homes have been torn down.”
20Listen to the Lord’s word, you women,
and open your ears to hear his words.
Teach your daughters how to cry.
Teach your neighbors funeral songs.
21Death has come through our windows and entered our palaces.
Death has cut down the children in the streets
and the young men in the marketplaces.
22This is what the Lord says:
Dead bodies will fall like manure on the field.
They will be like grain that has been cut but not gathered.
The LORD Is the Only True God
23This is what the Lord says:
Don’t let wise people brag about their wisdom.
Don’t let strong people brag about their strength.
Don’t let rich people brag about their riches.
24If they want to brag, they should brag that they understand and know me.
They should brag that I, the Lord, act out of love, righteousness,
and justice on the earth.
This kind of bragging pleases me, declares the Lord.
25“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will punish all who are circumcised.
26I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab.
I will punish all who shave the hair on their foreheads
or live in the desert.
Even though these nations are circumcised,
all Israel has uncircumcised hearts.”
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Jeremiah 9: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 9
9
A Lament over Zion
1Oh that 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 (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men,
That I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For they are all adulterers [worshiping idols instead of the Lord],
[They are] an assembly of treacherous men [of weak character, men without integrity].
3“They bend their tongue like their bow;
[Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me,” says the Lord.
4“Let everyone beware of his neighbor
And do not trust any brother.
For every brother is a supplanter [like Jacob, a deceiver, ready to grab his brother’s heel],
And every neighbor goes around as a slanderer. [Gen 25:26]
5“Everyone deceives and mocks his neighbor
And does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They exhaust themselves with sin and cruelty.
6“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit];
Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the Lord.
7Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them [through suffering] and test them;
For how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?
8“Their tongue is a murderous arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,
But in his heart he lays traps and waits in ambush for him.
9“Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself
On such a nation as this?
10¶“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,
And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness,
Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them];
Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle.
Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
A haunt and dwelling place of jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
12Who is the wise man who may understand this [without any doubt]? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13The Lord said, “Because they have #9:13 Lit forsaken.turned away from My law which I set before them, and have not listened to and obeyed My voice nor walked in accordance with it, 14but have walked stubbornly after their [own] heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,” 15therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them bitter and poisonous water to drink. 16I will [also] scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them.”
17Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Consider and call for the mourning women to come;
Send for the wailing women to come.
18“Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us,
That our eyes may shed tears
And our eyelids flow with water.
19“For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] from Zion:
‘How we are ruined!
We are greatly perplexed and utterly shamed,
Because we have left the land,
Because they have torn down our dwellings.’ ”
20Now hear the word of the Lord, O you women,
And let your ear hear the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters a song of mourning,
And each one [teach] her neighbor a dirge.
21For death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces,
Cutting off the children from the streets
And the young men from the town squares.
22Speak, “Thus says the Lord,
‘The dead bodies of men will fall like dung on the open field,
And like sheaves [of grain] behind the reaper,
And no one will gather them.’ ” [Jer 8:2]
23Thus says the Lord, “Let not the one who is wise and skillful boast in his insight; let not the one who is mighty and powerful boast in his strength; let not the one who is rich boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] abundance; 24but let the one who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me [and acknowledges Me and honors Me as God and recognizes without any doubt], that I am the Lord who practices lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” says the Lord. [1 Cor 1:31; 2 Cor 10:17]
25“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised [physically] and yet uncircumcised [spiritually]— [Rom 2:25-29] 26#9:26 All these nations are related to one another, except Egypt.Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those who live in the desert who clip off the hair on their temples; for all these nations are uncircumcised (sinful, impure), and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
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