Jeremiah 9

¹If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people!

²If only I had in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men.

³Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord.

⁴Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil.

⁵Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.

⁶There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.

⁷So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing.

⁸His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him.

⁹Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?

¹⁰Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone.

¹¹And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.

¹²Who is the wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through?

¹³And the Lord said, Because they have given up my law which I put before them, giving no attention to my voice and not being guided by it;

¹⁴But they have been walking in the pride of their hearts, going after the Baals, as their fathers gave them teaching.

¹⁵So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink.

¹⁶And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them.

¹⁷This is what the Lord of armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come:

¹⁸Let them quickly make cries of sorrow for us, so that drops may be flowing from our eyes till they are streaming with water.

¹⁹For a sound of weeping goes up from Zion, a cry, How has destruction come on us? we are overcome with shame because we have gone away from our land; he has sent us out from our house.

²⁰But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief.

²¹For death has come up into our windows, forcing its way into our great houses; cutting off the children in the streets and the young men in the wide places.

²²The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up.

²³This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth:

²⁴But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.

²⁵See, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on all those who have circumcision in the flesh;

²⁶On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.

Jeremiah 9

¹Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring 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 of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men."

³"They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me," says the Lord.

⁴"Take heed everyone of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

⁵They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

⁶Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me," says the Lord.

⁷Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?

⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait for him.

⁹Shall I not visit them for these things?" says the Lord; "shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

¹⁰"For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone."

¹¹"I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."

¹²"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?"

¹³The Lord says, "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,

¹⁴but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them;

¹⁵therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

¹⁶I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.'"

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:"

¹⁸"and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, 'How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"

²⁰"Yet hear the word of the Lord, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.

²¹'For death has come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.'

²²Speak, 'Thus says the Lord, "The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them."'"

²³Thus says the Lord, "Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, do not let the rich man glory in his riches;

²⁴but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight," says the Lord.

²⁵"Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will punish all those who are circumcised in uncircumcision:

²⁶Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."