Jeremiah 9:9–14

⁹Shouldn’t I punish them for that?”

announces the Lord.

“Shouldn’t I pay back the nation

that does those things?”

¹⁰I will cry and sob over the fields in the hills.

I will sing a song of sadness about the desert grasslands.

They are dry and empty. No one travels through them.

The mooing of cattle isn’t heard there.

The birds of the air have flown away.

All of the animals are gone.

¹¹The Lord says, “I will knock all of Jerusalem’s buildings down.

I will make it a home for wild dogs.

The towns of Judah will be completely destroyed.

No one will be able to live in them.”

¹²Who is wise enough to understand those things? Who has been taught by the Lord? Who can explain them? Why has the land been destroyed so completely? Why has it become like a desert that no one can go across?

¹³The Lord answered me, “Because my people have turned away from my law. I gave it to them. But they have not kept it. They have not obeyed me. ¹⁴Instead, they have done what their stubborn hearts wanted them to do. They have worshiped the gods that are named after Baal. They have done what their people have taught them to do down through the years.”