Jeremiah 9

9^†Oh ^athat my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night for the slain of ^bthe daughter of my people!

²Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of ^bbwayfaring men;

That I might leave my people, and go from them!

For ^cthey be all adulterers, ^dan assembly of ^etreacherous men.

³And ^fthey bend their tongues like their bow for lies:

But ^gthey are not valiant for ^hthe truth upon the earth;

For they proceed from evil to evil,

And ^hithey know not me, saith the Lord.

^4kTake ye heed every one of his ^||neighbour,

And ^ktrust ye not in any brother:

For every brother ^lwill utterly supplant,

And every neighbour ^mwill walk with slanders.

⁵And they will ^||deceive every one his neighbour,

And will not speak the truth:

They have taught their tongue to speak lies,

And weary themselves ⁿto commit iniquity.

⁶Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit;

^oThrough deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts,

Behold, I will ^pmelt them, and ^qtry them;

For ^rhow shall I do for ^bthe daughter of my people?

^8fsTheir tongue is as an arrow shot out; ^tit speaketh deceit:

One ^uspeaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth,

But ^†in heart ^vhe layeth ^||his wait.

^9wShall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord:

Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing,

And ^xfor the ^||yhabitations of the wilderness a lamentation,

Because they are ^||zburned up, so that none can pass through them;

Neither can men hear the voice of the cattle;

^†Both ^athe fowl of the heavens and the beast

^aAre fled; they are gone.

¹¹And I will make Jerusalem ^bheaps, and ^ca den of ^ddragons;

And I will make the cities of Judah ^†desolate, without an inhabitant.

^12eWho is the wise man, that may understand this?

And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it,

For what the land perisheth

And ^fis burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

¹³And the Lord saith, Because ^gthey have forsaken my law which I set before them,

And have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

¹⁴But ^hhave walked after the ^||himagination of their own heart,

And after Baalim, ⁱwhich their fathers taught them:

¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;

Behold, ^kI will feed them, even this people, ^lwith wormwood,

And ^mgive them water of gall to drink.

¹⁶ⁿI ^owill scatter them also among the heathen, ^pwhom neither they nor their fathers have known:

And ^nqI will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.

¹⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts,

Consider ye, and call for ^rthe mourning women, that they may come;

And send for cunning women, that they may come:

¹⁸And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us,

That ^sour eyes may run down with tears,

And our eyelids gush out with waters.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ^tHow are we spoiled!

We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land,

Because our dwellings have ^ucast us out.

²⁰Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women,

And let your ear receive the word of his mouth,

And teach your daughters wailing,

And every one her neighbour lamentation.

²¹For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces,

To cut off ^vthe children ^wfrom without, and ^vthe young men ^wfrom the streets.

²²Speak, Thus saith the Lord,

Even the carcases of men shall fall ^xas dung upon the open field,

And as ^ythe handful after the harvestman, and ^znone ^xshall gather them.

²³Thus saith the Lord,

^abLet not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Neither let the mighty man glory in his might,

Let not the rich man glory in his riches:

^24bBut ^clet him that glorieth glory in this,

That he understandeth and ^dknoweth me,

That I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:

For ^ein these things I delight, saith the Lord.

²⁵Behold, ^fthe days come, saith the Lord,

That ^gI will ^†punish all them which are ^gcircumcised with the uncircumcised;

^26hEgypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab,

And all that are ^†in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness:

For all these nations are uncircumcised,

And all the house of Israel ⁱare uncircumcised in the heart.