Jeremiah 9

9^yIf my head were a spring of water,

my eyes a fountain of tears,

I would weep day and night ^z

over the slain of my dear ^apeople.

^2bIf only I had a traveler’s lodging place

in the wilderness, ^c

I would abandon my people

and depart from them,

for they are all adulterers, ^d

a solemn assembly of treacherous people. ^e

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. ^f

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, ^g

and every friend spread slander. ^h

⁵Each one betrays his friend; ⁱ

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. ^jk

In their deception they refuse to know Me. ^l

This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁷Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:

I am about to refine them and test them, ^m

for what else can I do

because of My dear ⁿpeople? ^o

⁸Their tongues are deadly arrows—

they speak deception. ^p

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 ^q

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, ^r

everything has fled—they have gone away.

¹¹I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, ^s

a jackals’ den. ^t

I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,

an uninhabited place.

¹²Who is the man wise enough to understand this? ^uWho 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 ^vthat 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 ^wand followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them.” ^x15Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood ^yand give them poisonous water to drink. ^z16I will scatter them among the nations ^athat 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; ^b

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, ^c

for we have abandoned the land;

our dwellings have been torn down.

²⁰Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.

Pay attention to ^dthe word of His mouth.

Teach your daughters a lament

and one another a dirge,

²¹for Death ^ehas 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, ^f

like newly cut grain ^gafter 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 ^h—

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: ⁱ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples. ^jAll these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” ^k