Jeremiah 9–11

CHAPTER 9

^11aOh that my head were waters

And my eyes a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the ^bdaughter of my people!

^21aOh that I had in the desert

A travelers’ lodging place,

That I might leave my people

And go from them!

For all of them are ^badulterers,

A solemn assembly of ^ctreacherous men.

³“They ^abend their tongue like their bow;

Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,

For they ^bgo onward from evil to evil,

And they ^cdo not know Me,” declares Yahweh.

⁴“Let everyone ^abeware of his neighbor,

And ^bdo not trust any brother,

Because every ^cbrother ¹surely supplants,

And every neighbor ^dgoes about as a slanderer.

⁵“Everyone ^adeceives his neighbor

And does not speak the truth;

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They ^bweary themselves committing iniquity.

⁶“Your ^ahabitation is in the midst of deceit;

Through deceit they ^brefuse to know Me,” declares Yahweh.

⁷Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Behold, I will refine them and ^atest them;

For ^bwhat else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

⁸“Their ^atongue is a slaughtering arrow;

It speaks deceit;

With his mouth one ^bspeaks peace to his neighbor,

But inwardly he ^csets an ambush for him.

⁹“^aShall I not punish them for these things?” declares Yahweh.

“On a nation such as this

Shall I not avenge Myself?

¹⁰“For the ^amountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,

And for the pastures of the ^bwilderness a funeral lamentation,

Because they are ^cturned into ruin so that no one passes through,

And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;

Both the ^dbirds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem a ^aheap of ruins,

A haunt of ^bjackals;

And I will make the cities of Judah a ^cdesolation, without inhabitant.”

¹²Who is the ^awise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom ^bthe mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? ^cWhy has the land perished, turned into ruin like a desert, so that no one passes through?

¹³Yahweh said, “Because they have ^aforsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice nor walked according to it,

¹⁴but have ^awalked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the ^bBaals, as their ^cfathers taught them,”

¹⁵therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, ^aI will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them ^1bpoisoned water to drink.

¹⁶“I will ^ascatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^bsword after them until I have consumed them.”

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Carefully consider and call for the ^amourning women, that they may come;

And send for the ^1bskillful women, that they may come!

¹⁸“Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,

That our ^aeyes may shed tears

And our eyelids flow with water.

¹⁹“For a voice of ^awailing is heard from Zion,

‘^bHow we are destroyed!

We are put to great shame,

For we have ^cleft the land

Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

²⁰Indeed, hear the word of Yahweh, O you ^awomen,

And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And everyone her neighbor a funeral lamentation.

²¹For ^adeath has come up through our windows;

It has entered our palaces

To cut off the ^binfants from the streets,

The choice men from the open squares.

²²Speak, “Thus declares Yahweh,

‘The corpses of men will fall ^alike dung on the open field

And like the sheaf after the reaper,

But no one will gather them.’”

²³Thus says Yahweh, “^aLet not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the ^bmighty man boast in his might; let not a ^crich man boast in his riches,

²⁴but let him who boasts ^aboast in this, that he ¹understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who ^bshows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I ^cdelight in these things,” declares Yahweh.

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^auncircumcised—

²⁶Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and ^aall those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^buncircumcised of heart.”

CHAPTER 10

Yahweh Alone Is the Living God

¹Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²Thus says Yahweh,

“^aDo not learn the way of the nations,

And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens

Although the nations are terrified by them;

³For the statutes of the peoples are ^avanity

Because ^bit is wood cut from the forest,

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

⁴“They ^amake it beautiful with silver and with gold;

They ^bstrengthen it with nails and with hammers

So that it will not totter.

⁵“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,

And they ^acannot speak;

They must be ^bcarried

Because they cannot take a step!

Do not fear them,

For they ^ccan do no harm,

Nor can they do any good.”

^6aThere is none like You, O Yahweh;

You are ^bgreat, and great is Your name in might.

^7aWho would not fear You, O ^bKing of the nations?

Indeed it is Your due!

For among all the ^cwise men of the nations

And in all their kingdoms,

There is none like You.

⁸But they are altogether ^asenseless and foolish;

They are in a discipline of ¹vanities—it is mere wood!

⁹Beaten ^asilver is brought from ^bTarshish,

And ^cgold from Uphaz,

The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

They are all the ^dwork of wise craftsmen.

¹⁰But Yahweh is the ^atrue God;

He is the ^bliving God and the ^ceverlasting King.

At His wrath the ^dearth quakes,

And the nations cannot ^eendure His indignation.

¹¹¹Thus you shall say to them, “The ^agods that did not make the heavens and the earth will ^bperish from the earth and from under ²the heavens.”

¹²It is ^aHe who made the earth by His power,

Who ^bestablished the world by His wisdom;

And by His understanding He has ^cstretched out the heavens.

¹³When He gives forth His ^avoice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

And He causes the ^bclouds to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain,

And brings out the ^cwind from His storehouses.

¹⁴Every man is ^asenseless, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images;

For his molten images are a lie,

And there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are ^avanity, a work of mockery;

In the ^btime of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁶The ^aportion of Jacob is not like these;

For the ^1bMaker of all is He,

And ^cIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;

^dYahweh of hosts is His name.

^17aGather up your bundle from the ground,

You who inhabit a land under siege!

¹⁸For thus says Yahweh,

“Behold, I am ^aslinging out the inhabitants of the land

At this time,

And will cause them distress,

That they may find it.”

^19aWoe is me, because of my ¹injury!

My ^bwound is desperately sick.

But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,

And I ^cmust bear it.”

²⁰My ^atent is destroyed,

And all my ropes are torn out;

My ^bsons have gone from me and are no more.

There is ^cno one to stretch out my tent again

Or to set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become senseless

And ^ahave not sought Yahweh;

Therefore they have not prospered,

And ^ball their flock is scattered.

²²The sound of a ^areport! Behold, it comes—

A great quaking ^bout of the land of the north—

To ^cmake the cities of Judah

A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

²³I know, O Yahweh, that ^aa man’s way is not in himself,

^bNor is it in a man who walks to ¹direct his steps.

^24aDiscipline me, O Yahweh, but with justice;

Not with Your anger, lest You ¹bring me to nothing.

^25aPour out Your wrath on the nations that ^bdo not know You

And on the families that ^cdo not call Your name,

For they have devoured Jacob;

They have ^ddevoured him and consumed him

And have made desolate his ¹abode.

CHAPTER 11

The Broken Covenant

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

²“^aHear the words of this ^bcovenant, and you shall speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem

³and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “^aCursed is the man who does not hear the words of this covenant

⁴which I commanded your fathers in the ^aday that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the ^biron furnace, saying, ‘^cListen to My voice, and ¹do according to all which I command you; so you shall be ^dMy people, and I will be your God,’

⁵in order to establish the ^aoath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” ’ ” Then I answered and said, “^bAmen, O Yahweh.”

⁶And Yahweh said to me, “^aCall out all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘^bHear the words of this covenant so that you will ^cdo them.

⁷‘For I solemnly ^awarned your fathers in the ^bday that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, ^crising up early and warning, saying, “^dListen to My voice.”

⁸‘Yet they ^adid not listen or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the ^bwords of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”

⁹Then Yahweh said to me, “A ^aconspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰“They have ^aturned back to the iniquities of their ¹ancestors who ^brefused to hear My words, and they ^chave walked after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have ^dbroken My covenant which I cut with their fathers.”

¹¹Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^abringing calamity on them which they will ^bnot be able to get out of; and they will ^ccry to Me, yet I will not listen to them.

¹²“Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will ^ago and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they surely will not save them in the time of their calamity.

¹³“For your gods are ^athe number of your cities, O Judah; and the number of the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the ^bshameful thing, altars to ^cburn incense…