Jeremiah 9:1–10:25
1 1aOh 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!
2 1aOh that I had in the desert
A wayfarers’ lodging place;
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are badulterers,
An assembly of ctreacherous men.
3 “They abend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they bproceed from evil to evil,
And they cdo not know Me,” declares the Lord.
4 “Let everyone abe on guard against his neighbor,
And bdo not trust any brother;
Because every cbrother deals 1craftily,
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 adwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they brefuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them and aassay them;
For bwhat else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
8 “Their atongue is a deadly 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 the Lord.
“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 dirge,
Because they are claid waste 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.”
12 Who is the awise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom bthe mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? cWhy is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?
13 The Lord said, “Because they have aforsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,
14 but have awalked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the bBaals, as their cfathers taught them,”
15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, aI will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them bpoisoned 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 annihilated them.”
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Consider and call for the amourning women, that they may come;
And send for the 1bwailing 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 are we ruined!
We are put to great shame,
For we have cleft the land,
Because they have cast down our dwellings.’ ”
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, O you awomen,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a dirge.
21 For adeath has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To cut off the bchildren from the streets,
The young men from the town squares.
22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord,
‘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.’ ”
23 Thus says the Lord, “aLet not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the bmighty man boast of his might, let not a crich man boast of his riches;
24 but let him who boasts aboast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who bexercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I cdelight in these things,” declares the Lord.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet auncircumcised—
26 Egypt 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.”
1 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
“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;
3 For the customs of the peoples are 1adelusion;
Because bit is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4 “They adecorate it with silver and with gold;
They bfasten 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 walk!
Do not fear them,
For they ccan do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”
6 aThere is none like You, O Lord;
You are bgreat, and great is Your name in might.
7 aWho 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.
8 But they are altogether astupid and foolish
In their discipline of 1delusion—2their idol is wood!
9 Beaten asilver is brought from bTarshish,
And cgold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Violet and purple are their clothing;
They are all the dwork of skilled men.
10 But the Lord 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.
11 1Thus you shall say to them, “The agods that did not make the heavens and the earth will bperish from the earth and from under the 2heavens.”
12 It 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.
13 When He utters 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.
14 Every man is astupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his 1idols;
For his molten images are deceitful,
And there is no breath in them.
15 They are aworthless, a work of mockery;
In the btime of their punishment they will perish.
16 The aportion of Jacob is not like these;
And cIsrael is the tribe of His inheritance;
The dLord of hosts is His name.
17 aPick up your bundle from the ground,
You who dwell under siege!
“Behold, I am aslinging out the inhabitants of the land
At this time,
And will cause them distress,
That they may 1be found.”
19 aWoe is me, because of my 1injury!
My bwound is incurable.
But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,
And I cmust bear it.”
20 My atent is destroyed,
And all my ropes are broken;
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.
21 For the shepherds have become stupid
And ahave not sought the Lord;
Therefore they have not prospered,
And ball their flock is scattered.
22 The sound of a areport! Behold, it comes—
A great commotion bout of the land of the north—
To cmake the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals.
23 I know, O Lord, that aa man’s way is not in himself,
bNor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
24 aCorrect me, O Lord, but with justice;
Not with Your anger, or You will 1bring me to nothing.
25 aPour 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 laid waste his 1habitation.