Jeremiah 9

9Oh, ^athat my head were waters,

And my eyes a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

²Oh, that I had in the wilderness—

A lodging place for travelers;

That I might leave my people,

And go from them!

For ^bthey are all adulterers,

An assembly of treacherous men.

³“And like their bow ^cthey have bent their tongues for lies.

They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.

For they proceed from ^devil to evil,

And they ^edo not know Me,” says the Lord.

⁴“Everyone ^ftake heed to his ¹neighbor,

And do not trust any brother;

For every brother will utterly supplant,

And every neighbor will ^gwalk with slanderers.

⁵Everyone will ^hdeceive his neighbor,

And will not speak the truth;

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They weary themselves to commit iniquity.

⁶Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;

Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, ⁱI will refine them and ²try them;

^jFor how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?

⁸Their tongue is an arrow shot out;

It speaks ^kdeceit;

One speaks ^lpeaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,

But ³in his heart he ⁴lies in wait.

^9mShall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.

“Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,

And ⁿfor the ⁵dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation,

Because they are burned up,

So that no one can pass through;

Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle.

^oBoth the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;

They are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem ^pa heap of ruins, ^qa den of jackals.

I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”

^12rWho is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

¹³And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have ^snot obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, ¹⁴but they have ^twalked according to the ⁶dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, ^uwhich their fathers taught them,” ¹⁵therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will ^vfeed them, this people, ^wwith wormwood, and give them ⁷water of gall to drink. ¹⁶I will ^xscatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. ^yAnd I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

The People Mourn in Judgment

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Consider and call for ^zthe mourning women,

That they may come;

And send for skillful wailing women,

That they may come.

¹⁸Let them make haste

And take up a wailing for us,

That ^aour eyes may run with tears,

And our eyelids gush with water.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:

‘How we are plundered!

We are greatly ashamed,

Because we have forsaken the land,

Because we have been cast out of ^bour dwellings.’ ”

²⁰Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women,

And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.

²¹For death has come through our windows,

Has entered our palaces,

To kill off ^cthe children—⁸no longer to be outside!

And the young men—⁹no longer on the streets!

²²Speak, “Thus says the Lord:

‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall ^das refuse on the open field,

Like cuttings after the harvester,

And no one shall gather them.’ ”

²³Thus says the Lord:

^e“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

Let not the mighty man glory in his ^fmight,

Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

²⁴But ^glet him who glories glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, ¹judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

^hFor in these I delight,” says the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that ⁱI will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised—²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the ^jfarthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^kuncircumcised in the heart.”