Jeremiah — Chapter 9

Oh, to be in the desert,At an encampment for wayfarers!Oh, to leave my people,To go away from them—For they are all adulterers,A band of rogues.

They bend their tongues like bows;They are valorous in the landFor treachery, not for honesty;They advance from evil to evil.And they do not heed Me—declares GOD.

Each of you, beware of your friend!Trust not even your kinsfolk!For every sibling takes advantage,aevery sibling takes advantage Or “every brother is a heel-grabber”; cf. Gen. 25.26; 27.36. Every friend deals basely.bdeals basely See note at Lev. 19.16.

They cheat each other,They will not speak truth;They have trained their tongues to speak falsely;They wear themselves out working iniquity.

You dwell in the midst of deceit.In their deceit,cThey wear themselves out … In their deceit Meaning of Heb. uncertain. they refuse to heed Me—declares GOD.

Assuredly, thus said GOD of Hosts:Lo, I shall smelt and assay them—For what else can I do because of My poor people?dFor what else can I do because of My poor people? Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

Their tongue is a sharpened arrow,They use their mouths to deceive.They speak to their fellows in friendship,But lay an ambush for them in their hearts.

Shall I not punish them for such deeds?—says GOD—Shall I not bring retributionOn such a nation as this?

For the mountains I take up weeping and wailing,For the pastures in the wilderness, a dirge.They are laid waste; nobody passes through,And no sound of cattle is heard.Birds of the sky and beasts as wellHave fled and are gone.

I will turn Jerusalem into rubble,Into dens for jackals;And I will make the towns of JudahA desolation without inhabitants.

Is anybody so wiseAs to understand this?To whom has GOD’s mouth spoken,So that it can be related:Why is the land in ruins,Laid waste like a wilderness,With none passing through?

GOD replied: Because they forsook the Teaching I had set before them. They did not obey Me and they did not follow it,

but followed their own willful heart and followed the Baalim, as their ancestors had taught them.

Assuredly, thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to feed that people wormwood and make them drink a bitter draft.

I will scatter them among nations that they and their ancestors never knew; and I will dispatch the sword after them until I have consumed them.

Thus said GOD of Hosts:Listen!Summon the dirge-singers,edirge-singers The Heb. term denotes women. let them come;Send for the skilled women, let them come.

Let them quickly start a wailing for us,That our eyes may run with tears,Our pupils flow with water.

For the sound of wailingIs heard from Zion:How we are despoiled!How greatly we are shamed!Ah, we must leave our land,AbandonfAbandon Lit. “They abandoned.” our dwellings!

Hear, O women, the word of GOD,Let your ears receive the divine word,gdivine word Lit. “word of His mouth.” And teach your daughters wailing,And one another lamentation.

For death has climbed through our windows,Has entered our fortresses,To cut off babes from the streets,Young men from the squares.

Speak thus—says GOD:People’s carcasses shall lieLike dung upon the fields,Like sheaves behind the reaper,With none to pick them up.

Thus said GOD:Let not the wise glory in their wisdom;Let not the strong glory in their strength;Let not the rich glory in their riches.

But only in this should one glory:In being earnestly devoted to Me.For I GOD act with kindness,Justice, and equity in the world;For in these I delight—declares GOD.

Lo, days are coming—declares GOD—when I will take note of everyone circumcised in the foreskin:hcircumcised in the foreskin Force of Heb. uncertain.

of Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the desert dwellers who have the hair of their temples clipped. For all these nations are uncircumcised, but all the House of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.iuncircumcised of heart I.e., their minds are blocked to God’s commandments.