Jeremiah 9
1 I wish that my head was [like] [MET] a spring of water, and that my eyes were [like] a fountain of tears. Then I would cry night and day for all of my people who have been killed [by our enemies].
Oh that one would make my head water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people!
2 I wish that I could leave my people and forget them, and go and live in a shack/shelter in the desert, because they have not remained faithful [MET] [to Yahweh]; they are a mob of people who deceive others.
Oh that one would place me in the wilderness in a lodging-place of wayfaring men. that I might leave my people, and go from them! for all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors.
3 [Yahweh replied to me], “They use their tongues [to tell] [MET] lies like people shoot [arrows] with bows. It is because they tell lies that they have become more powerful in this land, and they do not know me.
And they bend their tongues, their bow of falsehood, and not for the truth are they valiant in the land; for from evil to evil do they proceed, and me they know not, saith the Lord.
4 Do not trust your neighbors and [even] your brothers! They all are as deceitful [as Jacob was]. They slander [each other] and tell lies [about each other].
Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and on any brother place ye no reliance; for every brother will surely supplant, and every neighbor will go about as a talebearer.
5 They deceive their friends and never tell the truth. They lie continually and, because of that, they have become skilled liars; they do one oppressive thing after another, and are unable to stop doing it.
And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and the truth will they not speak: they have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 They habitually lie and deceive [each other], and no one will admit/say that I am God.
Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.
7 Therefore [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, say this: Listen carefully to what I say: I will [cause my people to experience great afflictions, ] [like a metalworker puts metal in a hot fire] [MET] to completely burn out the impure bits. Because of all [the evil things] that my people have done, there is absolutely nothing else [RHQ] that I can do.
Therefore thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and probe them; for how [else] shall I do because of the daughter of my people?
8 What they say [MTY] [injures people like] [MET] poisoned arrows do. They say to their neighbors, ‘I hope things will go well for you,’ while they are planning to kill them.
A murderous arrow is their tongue; [every one] speaketh deceit: with his mouth speaketh he peaceably to his neighbor, but in his heart he layeth wait for him.
9 Should I not punish them for doing that [RHQ]? Yes, I should certainly (get revenge on/give what they deserve to) [the people of] a nation that does things like that!”
Shall I not for these things inflict punishment on them? saith the Lord: or shall not on a nation such as this my soul be avenged?
10 So, I will weep and wail for [the people who live in] the mountains and in the (pastures/places where the livestock eat the grass), because those areas will be desolate, and no one will live there. There will be no cattle there to call to each other, and all the birds and wild animals will have fled [to other places].
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation; because they are burnt up, so that no man can pass through them; and they hear not the voice of the cattle: both the fowls of the heavens and the beasts are fled; they are gone away.
11 [Yahweh also says], “I will cause Jerusalem to become a heap of ruins, and [only] jackals/wolves will live there. I will destroy the towns of Judah, with the result that they will be completely deserted; no one will live there.”
And I will change Jerusalem into heaps of ruins, a dwelling for monsters: and the cities of Judah will I make desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 [I said], “Only people who are very wise [RHQ] can understand these things. Only those who have been taught by Yahweh can [RHQ] explain these things to others. The wise people are [RHQ] the only ones who can explain why the land will be completely ruined with the result that everyone [RHQ] will be afraid to travel through it.”
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it: for what is the land destroyed, burnt up like the wilderness, without one that passeth through?
13 Yahweh replied, “[These things will happen] because my people have rejected my laws which I gave to them; they have not obeyed me or my instructions.
And the Lord said, Because they forsook my law which I had set before them, and hearkened not to my voice, and walked not therein;
14 Instead, they have stubbornly done the things that they wanted to do. They have worshiped the idols that represent the god Baal, which is what their ancestors did.
But have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Be'alim, which their fathers had taught them.
15 So now listen to what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God of the Israelis, say: [What I will do will be like] [MET] giving these people bitter things to eat and poison to drink:
Therefore thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them—this people, with wormwood, and give them poison-water to drink.
16 I will scatter them to many nations which neither they nor their ancestors have known [anything about]; I will [enable their enemies to] strike them with swords until I have destroyed them.”
And I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send out after them the sword, till I have consumed them.
17 This is also what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “Think [about what is happening], [then] summon those women who mourn [when someone has died].
Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Consider it well, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the women skilled in lament, that they may come;
18 Tell them to come quickly and start to wail, with the result that tears will stream down from your(pl) eyes.
And let them make haste, and take up for us a lamentation, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids drop down water.
19 Listen to [the people of] Jerusalem crying/lamenting, saying, ‘We have been ruined/destroyed! We have experienced a terrible disaster! Now we are very ashamed, because our houses have been destroyed [by our enemies], and we [are being forced to] leave our land.’”
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we wasted! we are greatly ashamed; because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.
20 You women, listen to what Yahweh says [MTY]. Pay attention to his words [DOU]. Teach your daughters to wail. Teach each other how to sing funeral songs,
For hear, O ye women, the word of the Lord, and let your ear perceive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
21 because people will be dying [PRS] in your houses and in palaces. There will be no more children playing in the streets, there will be no more young men [gathering] in the city squares/marketplaces.
For death is come up through our windows, is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from the street, the young men from the open places.
22 There will be corpses scattered across the fields like dung; their dead bodies will lie there like [SIM] grain that has been cut by reapers/farmers, and there will be no one [still alive] to bury them.
Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Yea, the carcasses of men shall lie as dung upon the open field, and as the sheaves [left] after the harvestman, with none to gather them.
23 Yahweh says this: “Wise men should not boast about their being wise, strong men should not boast about their being strong; and rich people should not boast about their being rich.
Thus hath said the Lord, Let not the wise glorify himself in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glorify himself in his might, let not the rich glorify himself in his riches;
24 Instead, those who want to boast should boast about their knowing me and about understanding that I am Yahweh, that I am kind and just and righteous, that I faithfully love [people], and that I am delighted with [people who act] that way.
But let him that glorifieth himself glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord who exercise kindness, justice, and righteousness, on the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
25 There will be a time when I will punish all those people of Egypt and of the Moab people-group and of the Edom [people-group] and of the Ammon [people-group], all those people who live close to desert areas (OR, who cut their hair short [to please their gods]) far from Judah, all those people who have [changed their bodies by] circumcising them [MET] but who have not [changed] their inner beings. I will punish the people of Judah also, because they have not changed their inner beings, [either].”
Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, that I will send punishment on all the circumcised who are [yet] uncircumcised;
On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, and on the children of 'Ammon, and on Moab, and all who have the locks of their hair cut off round that dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
