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Jeremiah 9

World English Bible British Edition · Berean Standard Bible

9:1

Oh that my head were waters,

Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

9:2

Oh that I had in the wilderness

If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.

9:3

“They bend their tongue,

“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.

9:4

“Everyone beware of his neighbour,

“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.

9:5

Friends deceive each other,

Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.

9:6

Your habitation is in the middle of deceit.

in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.

9:7

Therefore the LORD of Armies says,

Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do the daughter of My people?

9:8

Their tongue is a deadly arrow.

Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.

9:9

Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says the LORD.

Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”

9:10

I will weep and wail for the mountains,

I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.

9:11

“I will make Jerusalem heaps,

“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

9:12

Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burnt up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it?

9:13

The LORD says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in my ways,

And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice.

9:14

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

Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”

9:15

Therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

9:16

I will scatter them also amongst the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”

9:17

The LORD of Armies says,

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.

9:18

Let them make haste

Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.

9:19

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,

For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”

9:20

Yet hear the LORD’s word, you women.

Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. Open your ears to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail, and one another to lament.

9:21

For death has come up into our windows.

For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.

9:22

Speak, “The LORD says,

Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”

9:23

The LORD says,

This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.

9:24

But let him who glories glory in this,

But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I , who exercises , justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

9:25

“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—

9:26

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who 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.”

Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”