Jeremiah 9–11

9^a Oh that my head were waters,^b

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night,

for the slain of the daughter of my people.

²Oh that I had^c in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers,

that I may leave my people and go from them,

for all of them are adulterers,

a band of traitors.

³And they bend their tongue like their bow,

for falsehood and not truth is superior in the land,

for they go forth^d from evil to evil,

and they do not know me,” declares^e Yahweh.

A Nation Characterized by Deceit

⁴“Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor,

and you must not trust in any brother,

for everyone surely betrays,

and every neighbor goes about with slander.

⁵And everyone deceives his neighbor,

and they do not speak the truth,

they have taught their tongues^f to speak lies,^g

they are tired from going astray.

⁶Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit,

upon^h deceit they refuse to know me,” declaresⁱ Yahweh.

⁷Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Look, I am about to refine them,

and I will test them,

for what else can I do,

because of the presence^j of the daughter of my people?

⁸Their tongue is a murderous arrow,

it speaks deceit.

With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor,

but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.

⁹Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares^k Yahweh,

“On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?

¹⁰For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing,

and for the pastures of the desert a lament,

because they are laid waste so that no man passes through.

And the sounds^l of cattle are not heard,

from the birds^m of heaven to the animalsⁿ

they have fled, they are gone.

¹¹And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals,

and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, without inhabitants.^o

¹²Who is the wise man that can understand this?

And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it?

Why is the land destroyed?

It is laid waste like the desert^p so that no one passes through.”

The Nation is Judged by Yahweh

¹³And Yahweh said, “Because of their forsaking my law that I set before^q them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it, ¹⁴but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors^r taught them.” ¹⁵Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison, ¹⁶and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors,^s and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end.”

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come,

and send for the skillful women, so that they come.

¹⁸And let them hasten,

and let them lift up wailing over us,

so that our eyes may melt with tears,

and our eyelids may flow with water.

¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion,

‘How we are devastated!

We are very ashamed because we have left the land,

because they have overthrown our dwelling places.’

²⁰For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh,

and let your ear receive the word of his mouth,

and teach your daughters a lamentation,

and each woman her neighbor a lament.

²¹For death has come into our windows,

it has entered into our fortresses,

to cut off the children^t from the streets,^u

the young men from the public squares.

²²Speak, ‘thus declares^v Yahweh:

“The dead body of the human will fall

like dung upon the surface of the field,

and like cut grain behind the reaper,

and there is no one who gathers.” ’ ”

The Things in Which Yahweh Delights

²³Thus says Yahweh,

“The wise man must not boast in his wisdom,

and the warrior must not boast in his might,

the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.

²⁴But only^w in this must the one who boasts boast,

that he has insight,

and that he knows me,

that I am Yahweh,

showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth,

for in these things I delight,” declares^x Yahweh.

The Way of the Nations

²⁵“Look, days are coming,” declares^y Yahweh, “and I will call into account all those who are circumcised in the foreskin: ²⁶Egypt, Judah, and Edom, and the Ammonites,^z and Moab, and all those who are trimmed to the side, those who live in the desert,^a for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”

10Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says Yahweh:

“You must not learn the way of the nations,

and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens,

for the nations are dismayed by them.

³For the statutes of the peoples are vanity,

for it is a tree cut down from the forest,

the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool.

⁴He decorates it with silver and gold,

they strengthen it with nails and hammers,

so that it does not stagger.

⁵They are like scarecrows^a in a cucumber field,

they cannot speak.

Indeed, they must be carried,

for they cannot march.

You must not be afraid of them,

for they cannot do evil;

furthermore, to do good is not in them.”

⁶There is none like you, O Yahweh,

you are great and your name is great in might.

⁷Who would not revere you, O king of the nations?

For you it is fitting.

For among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their kingdoms,^b

there is none like you.

⁸At the same time^c they are stupid and foolish,

in the instruction of idols, it is wood.

⁹Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought,

and gold from Uphaz,

the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith.

Blue and purple are their clothing,

all of them are the work of skillful people.

¹⁰But Yahweh is the true God,

he is the living God,

and an everlasting king.^d

Because of his wrath the earth quakes,

and the nations cannot endure his anger.

¹¹“Thus^e you shall say to them,

‘Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth

will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

¹²He is the maker of the earth by his power,

who created the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.

¹³When he utters his voice^f there is a noise of water in the heavens,

and he causes the mist to rise from the ends^g of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain,

and he causes the wind to go out from his storehouses.

¹⁴Everyone^h is stupid, without knowledge,ⁱ

every goldsmith is ashamed by his divine image,

for his cast image is an illusion,

and there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are vanity, a work of mockery,

at the time of their punishment, they will perish.

¹⁶The portion of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the creator of everything,

and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance,

Yahweh of hosts is his name.

¹⁷Gather your bundle from the ground,

you who live under the siege.’ ”

¹⁸For thus says Yahweh,

“Look, I am about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time,

and I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it.”

The Nation Accepts Its Judgment

¹⁹Woe to me, because of my wound.

My wound is incurable.

But I said, “Surely this is my sickness,

and I must bear it.”

²⁰My tent is devastated,

and all my tent cords are torn.

My children have gone out from me,

and they are not.

There is no one who pitches my tent again,

or one who puts up my tent curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become stupid,

they do not seek Yahweh.

Therefore^j they do not have insight,

and all of their flock are scattered.

²²Listen, news:^k

Look, it is coming,

a great roar from the land of the north,

to make the cities of Judah a desolation,

a lair of jackals.

²³I know, O Yahweh, that to the human is not his own way,

nor to a person is the walking and the directing of his own step.

²⁴Chastise^l me, O Yahweh, but in moderation,

not in your anger, lest you eradicate me.

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you,

and on the peoples that do not call on your name,

for they have devoured Jacob,

they have devoured and consumed him,

and they have caused his settlement to be desolate.

The Broken Covenant

11The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,^{a 2}“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people^b of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ³and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “The man is cursed who does not obey the words of this covenant, ⁴which I commanded your ancestors^c in the day of my bringing them from the land of Egypt, from the furnace of iron, saying,^d ‘Listen to my voice and do according to all that I command you, so will you be my people, and I will be your God.’^{e 5}in order to keep the oath that I swore to your ancestors,^f to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” ’ ” Then I answered and said, “Let it be so,^g O Yahweh.”

⁶And Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying,^h ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them, ⁷for I solemnly admonished your ancestorsⁱ in the day of my leading them out from the land of Egypt and up to this day, admonishing persistently,^j saying,^k “Obey my voice.” ⁸But they did not obey and they did not incline their ear. Instead each one walked in the stubbornness of his^l evil heart. Therefore, I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them^m to do, and they did not do it.’ ”ⁿ

⁹And Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy is found among the people^o of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to the iniquities of their former ancestors,^p who refused to obey my words, and they have gone after other gods, to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made^q with their ancestors.”^r

¹¹Therefore^s thus says Yahweh, “I am about to bring on them disaster from which they will not be able to escape. Though they cry out to me, yet I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they are making smoke offerings, but they will certainly not save…