Jeremiah 9

1 If 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!

“Who will provide water for my head, and a fount of tears for my eyes? And then I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

2 If 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.

Who will provide me, in the wilderness, with a lodging place along the road? And then I will forsake my people, and withdraw from them. For they are all adulterers, a union of transgressors.

3 Their 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.

And they have bent their tongue, like a bow, to send forth lies and not the truth. They have been strengthened upon the earth. And they have gone from one evil to another. But they have not known me, says the Lord.

4 Let 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.

Let each one guard himself against his neighbor, and let him have no trust in any brother of his. For every brother will utterly overthrow, and every friend will advance deceitfully.

5 Everyone 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.

And a man will deride his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they have labored to commit iniquity.

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

Your habitation is in the midst of deceit. In their deceitfulness, they have refused to know me, says the Lord.”

7 So 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.

Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them, and I will test them. For what else can I do before the face of the daughter of my people?

8 His 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.

Their tongue is a wounding arrow; it has spoken deceit. With his mouth, he speaks peace with his friend, and then he secretly lies in ambush for him.

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

Shall I not visit upon them concerning these things, says the Lord? Or shall my soul not take vengeance on a nation of this kind?

10 Give 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.

I will take up weeping and lamentation over the mountains, and mourning over the beautiful places in the desert. For they have been scorched because no man is passing through them. And they have not heard the voice of any occupant. From the birds of the air, even to the cattle, they have migrated and withdrawn.

11 And 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.

And I will make Jerusalem into piles of sand and into a lair for serpents. And I will make the cities of Judah desolate, so much so that there will be no inhabitant.

12 Who 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?

Who is the wise man who understands this, and to whom a word from the mouth of the Lord may be given, so that he may announce this: why the land has perished, and has been scorched like a desert, so much so that no one passes through it?”

13 And 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;

And the Lord said: “It is because they have abandoned my law, which I gave to them, and they have not listened to my voice, and they have not walked by it.

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

And they have gone after the depravity of their own heart, and after Baal, which they learned from their fathers.”

15 So 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.

For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed this people with absinthe, and I will give them the water of gall to drink.

16 And 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.

And I will disperse them among nations, which they and their fathers have not known. And I will send the sword after them, until they are consumed.”

17 This 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:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Consider and call upon the women mourners, and let them approach. And send to those women who are wise, and let them hurry.

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

‘Let them hasten to take up a lamentation over us. Let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run with water.’

19 For 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.

For a voice of lamentation has been heard from Zion: ‘How is it that we have been devastated and greatly confounded? Our tabernacles have been thrown down because we have forsaken the land.’”

20 But 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.

“Therefore, listen, O women, to the word of the Lord! And let your ears take up the word of his mouth. And teach your daughters to lament. And let each one teach her neighbor to mourn:

21 For 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.

‘For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered our houses to perish the little children from the outdoors, the youths from the streets.’”

22 The 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.

“Speak: Thus says the Lord: And the corpses of men will fall like manure over the face of the countryside, and like hay behind the back of the reaper, and there will be no one to gather it.”

23 This 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:

Thus says the Lord: “The wise man should not glory in his wisdom, and the strong man should not glory in his strength, and the rich man should not glory in his riches.

24 But 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.

But he who glories should glory in this: to know me and to know me well. For I am the Lord, who accomplishes mercy and judgment and justice upon the earth. For these things are pleasing to me, says the Lord.

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

Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will visit upon all who are uncircumcised:

26 On 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.

upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all who have shaved off their hair, living in the desert. For all the nations are uncircumcised in body, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”