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
1 "Who will provide water for my head, and a fount of tears for my eyes? And then I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 Who will provide me, in the wilderness, with a lodging place along the road? And then I will forsake my people, and withdraw from them. For they are all adulterers, a union of transgressors.
3 And they have bent their tongue, like a bow, to send forth lies and not the truth. They have been strengthened upon the earth. And they have gone from one evil to another. But they have not known me, says the Lord.
4 Let each one guard himself against his neighbor, and let him have no trust in any brother of his. For every brother will utterly overthrow, and every friend will advance deceitfully.
5 And a man will deride his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they have labored to commit iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit. In their deceitfulness, they have refused to know me, says the Lord."
7 Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Behold, I will refine them, and I will test them. For what else can I do before the face of the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is a wounding arrow; it has spoken deceit. With his mouth, he speaks peace with his friend, and then he secretly lies in ambush for him.
9 Shall I not visit upon them concerning these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?
10 I will take up weeping and lamentation over the mountains, and mourning over the beautiful places in the desert. For they have been scorched because no man is passing through them. And they have not heard the voice of any occupant. From the birds of the air, even to the cattle, they have migrated and withdrawn.
11 And I will make Jerusalem into piles of sand and into a lair for serpents. And I will make the cities of Judah desolate, so much so that there will be no inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom a word from the mouth of the Lord may be given, so that he may announce this: why the land has perished, and has been scorched like a desert, so much so that no one passes through it?"
13 And the Lord said: "It is because they have abandoned my law, which I gave to them, and they have not listened to my voice, and they have not walked by it.
14 And they have gone after the depravity of their own heart, and after Baal, which they learned from their fathers."
15 For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed this people with absinthe, and I will give them the water of gall to drink.
16 And I will disperse them among nations, which they and their fathers have not known. And I will send the sword after them, until they are consumed."
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Consider and call upon the women mourners, and let them approach. And send to those women who are wise, and let them hurry.
18 'Let them hasten to take up a lamentation over us. Let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run with water.'
19 For a voice of lamentation has been heard from Zion: 'How is it that we have been devastated and greatly confounded? Our tabernacles have been thrown down because we have forsaken the land.' "
20 "Therefore, listen, O women, to the word of the Lord! And let your ears take up the word of his mouth. And teach your daughters to lament. And let each one teach her neighbor to mourn:
21 'For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered our houses to perish the little children from the outdoors, the youths from the streets.' "
22 "Speak: Thus says the Lord: And the corpses of men will fall like manure over the face of the countryside, and like hay behind the back of the reaper, and there will be no one to gather it."
23 Thus says the Lord: "The wise man should not glory in his wisdom, and the strong man should not glory in his strength, and the rich man should not glory in his riches.
24 But he who glories should glory in this: to know me and to know me well. For I am the Lord, who accomplishes mercy and judgment and justice upon the earth. For these things are pleasing to me, says the Lord.
25 Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all who are uncircumcised:
26 upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all who have shaved off their hair, living in the desert. For all the nations are uncircumcised in body, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
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