Jeremiah 9–11

9^aOh, that my head were a spring of water

and my eyes a fountain of tears!^g

I would weep^h day and night

for the slain of my people.ⁱ

²Oh, that I had in the desert^j

a lodging place for travelers,

so that I might leave my people

and go away from them;

for they are all adulterers,^k

a crowd of unfaithful^l people.

³“They make ready their tongue

like a bow, to shoot lies;^m

it is not by truth

that they triumph^b in the land.

They go from one sin to another;

they do not acknowledgeⁿ me,”

declares the Lord.

⁴“Beware of your friends;^o

do not trust anyone in your clan.^p

For every one of them is a deceiver,^cq

and every friend a slanderer.^r

⁵Friend deceives friend,^s

and no one speaks the truth.^t

They have taught their tongues to lie;^u

they weary themselves with sinning.

⁶You^d live in the midst of deception;^v

in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”

declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will refine^w and test^x them,

for what else can I do

because of the sin of my people?

⁸Their tongue^y is a deadly arrow;

it speaks deceitfully.

With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,^z

but in their hearts they set traps^a for them.^b

⁹Should I not punish them for this?”

declares the Lord.

“Should I not avenge^c myself

on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰I will weep and wail for the mountains

and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.^d

They are desolate and untraveled,

and the lowing of cattle is not heard.

The birds^e have all fled

and the animals are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem a heap^f of ruins,

a haunt of jackals;^g

and I will lay waste the towns of Judah^h

so no one can live there.”ⁱ

¹²Who is wise^j enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

¹³The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.^{k 14}Instead, they have followed^l the stubbornness of their hearts;^m they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter foodⁿ and drink poisoned water.^{o 16}I will scatter them among nations^p that neither they nor their ancestors have known,^q and I will pursue them with the sword^r until I have made an end of them.”^s

¹⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Consider now! Call for the wailing women^t to come;

send for the most skillful of them.

¹⁸Let them come quickly

and wail over us

till our eyes overflow with tears

and water streams from our eyelids.^u

¹⁹The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:

‘How ruined^v we are!

How great is our shame!

We must leave our land

because our houses are in ruins.’ ”

²⁰Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;

open your ears to the words of his mouth.^w

Teach your daughters how to wail;

teach one another a lament.^x

²¹Death has climbed in through our windows^y

and has entered our fortresses;

it has removed the children from the streets

and the young men^z from the public squares.

²²Say, “This is what the Lord declares:

“ ‘Dead bodies will lie

like dung^a on the open field,

like cut grain behind the reaper,

with no one to gather them.’ ”

²³This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom^b

or the strong boast of their strength^c

or the rich boast of their riches,^d

²⁴but let the one who boasts boast^e about this:

that they have the understanding to know^f me,

that I am the Lord,^g who exercises kindness,^h

justice and righteousnessⁱ on earth,

for in these I delight,”

declares the Lord.

²⁵“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh^j—²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.^ek For all these nations are really uncircumcised,^l and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.^m”

God and Idols

10:12–16pp—Jer 51:15–19

10Hear what the Lord says to you, people of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nationsⁿ

or be terrified by signs^o in the heavens,

though the nations are terrified by them.

³For the practices of the peoples are worthless;

they cut a tree out of the forest,

and a craftsman^p shapes it with his chisel.^q

⁴They adorn it with silver^r and gold;

they fasten it with hammer and nails

so it will not totter.^s

⁵Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,

their idols cannot speak;^t

they must be carried

because they cannot walk.^u

Do not fear them;

they can do no harm^v

nor can they do any good.”^w

⁶No one is like you,^x Lord;

you are great,^y

and your name is mighty in power.

⁷Who should not fear^z you,

King of the nations?^a

This is your due.

Among all the wise leaders of the nations

and in all their kingdoms,

there is no one like you.

⁸They are all senseless^b and foolish;^c

they are taught by worthless wooden idols.^d

⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish^e

and gold from Uphaz.

What the craftsman and goldsmith have made^f

is then dressed in blue and purple—

all made by skilled workers.

¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;

he is the living God,^g the eternal King.^h

When he is angry,ⁱ the earth trembles;^j

the nations cannot endure his wrath.^k

¹¹“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish^l from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ”^a

¹²But God made^m the earthⁿ by his power;

he founded the world by his wisdom^o

and stretched out the heavens^p by his understanding.

¹³When he thunders,^q the waters in the heavens roar;

he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.

He sends lightning^r with the rain^s

and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^t

¹⁴Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;

every goldsmith is shamed^u by his idols.

The images he makes are a fraud;^v

they have no breath in them.

¹⁵They are worthless,^w the objects of mockery;

when their judgment comes, they will perish.

¹⁶He who is the Portion^x of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the Maker of all things,^y

including Israel, the people of his inheritance^z—

the Lord Almighty is his name.^a

Coming Destruction

¹⁷Gather up your belongings^b to leave the land,

you who live under siege.

¹⁸For this is what the Lord says:

“At this time I will hurl^c out

those who live in this land;

I will bring distress^d on them

so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹Woe to me because of my injury!

My wound^e is incurable!

Yet I said to myself,

“This is my sickness, and I must endure^f it.”

²⁰My tent^g is destroyed;

all its ropes are snapped.

My children are gone from me and are no more;^h

no one is left now to pitch my tent

or to set up my shelter.

²¹The shepherdsⁱ are senseless^j

and do not inquire of the Lord;^k

so they do not prosper^l

and all their flock is scattered.^m

²²Listen! The report is coming—

a great commotion from the land of the north!ⁿ

It will make the towns of Judah desolate,^o

a haunt of jackals.^p

Jeremiah’s Prayer

²³Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;

it is not for them to direct their steps.^q

²⁴Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—

not in your anger,^r

or you will reduce me to nothing.^s

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations^t

that do not acknowledge you,

on the peoples who do not call on your name.^u

For they have devoured^v Jacob;

they have devoured him completely

and destroyed his homeland.^w

The Covenant Is Broken

11This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Listen to the terms of this covenant^x and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. ³Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed^y is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant—⁴the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt,^z out of the iron-smelting furnace.^a’ I said, ‘Obey^b me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people,^c and I will be your God. ⁵Then I will fulfill the oath I swore^d to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’^e—the land you possess today.”

I answered, “Amen,^f Lord.”

⁶The Lord said to me, “Proclaim^g all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow^h them. ⁷From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again,ⁱ saying, “Obey me.” ⁸But they did not listen or pay attention;^j instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts.^k So I brought on them all the curses^l of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.^m’ ”

⁹Then the Lord said to me, “There is a conspiracyⁿ among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their ancestors,^o who refused to listen to my words.^p They have followed other gods^q to serve them.^r Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant^s I made with their ancestors. ¹¹Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster^t they cannot escape.^u Although they cry^v out to me, I will not listen^w to them. ¹²The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense,^x but they will not help them at all when disaster^y strikes. ¹³You, Judah, have as many gods^z as you have towns;^a and the altars you have set up to burn incense^b to that shameful^c god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹⁴“Do not pray^d for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen^e when they call to me in the time of their distress.

¹⁵“What is my beloved doing in my temple

as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes?

Can consecrated meat^f avert your punishment?^g

When you engage in your wickedness,

then you rejoice.^a”

¹⁶The Lord called you a thriving olive tree^h

with fruit beautiful in form.

But with the roar of a mighty storm

he will set it on fire,ⁱ

and its branches will be broken.^j

¹⁷The Lord Almighty, who planted^k you, has decreed disaster^l for you, because the…