Jeremiah Chapter 9
9:1Oh that my head was a body of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so I could weep day and night
for my people slain!
2 I wish I had an inn in the desert,
so I could escape from my people;
because they’re all adulterers, a pack of liars.
3 “They bend their tongues like bows;
lies, not truth, dominate the land.
The people move from one sin to another;
they don’t know me.
Jer 9:1-3
4 “Be leery of your neighbor;
don’t trust your own brother,
because every brother takes advantage of brother
and every neighbor slanders.
5 They all deceive their friends;
nobody tells the truth.
They’ve taught their tongues how to lie;
they wear themselves out sinning.
6 They live in deceit;
by deceiving, they refuse to know me,”
Yahveh says.
Jer 9:4-6
Judgment for Disobedience
7So he says:
“I’ll refine them and assay them;
what else can I do with them?
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows that deceive;
they talk peace to one another,
but inside they’re setting an ambush for them.
9 Am I not going to punish them for such things
and avenge myself on a nation like that?
Jer 9:7-9
10 “I’ll weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a dirge for the pastures,
because they’re laid waste, so nobody travels that way.
Nobody hears cattle bawling;
birds and animals have left.
11 I’ll make Jerusalem a pile of ruins, a den for jackals,
and the towns in Judah ghost towns.”
Jer 9:10-11
12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is Yahveh talking to that can pass it on? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert nobody travels through? 13 Yahveh answers,
“They’ve abandoned the Law I set before them;
they haven’t followed it or obeyed me.
14 They’ve followed Baal and their stubborn heart
like their ancestors taught them.
15 So I’ll feed them bitter plants to eat
and give them poisoned water to drink.
16 I’ll scatter them among nations
they and their ancestors never knew,
and chase them with the sword till I’ve wiped them out.”
Jer 9:12-16
17 Yahveh of Hosts says:
“Call for mourners;
call for wailing women!
18 Have them hurry and raise up wailing for us
so our eyes shed tears
and our eyelids flow with water.
19 There is wailing in Zion,
‘We’re ruined!
We’re disgraced
because we’ve left our country,
and they’ve torn down our houses.’”
20 Listen to Yahveh’s message, women;
your ears need to hear what he has to say.
Teach your daughters how to wail;
teach your friends a dirge.
21 Death has come up into our windows
and climbed into our houses;
it’s killed our children in the streets
and our young men in the town squares.
22 Say, “Yahveh says,
‘Corpses will fall like manure in the pasture,
like bundles behind the reaper;
but nobody will gather them up.’”
Jer 9:17-22
23 Yahveh says,
“Don’t let the wise brag about their wisdom,
or the strong boast of their strength.
or the rich gloat over their wealth.
24 Instead, they need to take pride
in knowing I’m Yahveh
who practices enduring love, justice, and goodness in the world,
because that’s what I delight in.
25“The time’s coming when I’ll punish everyone that’s circumcised in body but not in heart—26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and the ones in the desert that cut the corners of their hair.
All the nations are uncircumcised;
everyone in Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
Jer 9:23-26