Jeremiah 9

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”