Jeremiah, 9

1. Would that I had in the desert a travelers' lodge! That I might leave my people and depart from them. They are all adulterers, a faithless band.

1. Who will find me a wayfarer's shelter in the desert, for me to quit my people, and leave them far behind? For all of them are adulterers, a conspiracy of traitors.

2. They ready their tongues like a drawn bow; with lying, and not with truth, they hold forth in the land. They go from evil to evil, but me they know not, says the LORD.

2. They bend their tongues like a bow; not truth but falsehood holds sway in the land; yes, they go from crime to crime, but me they do not know, Yahweh declares.

3. Be on your guard, everyone against his neighbor; put no trust in any brother. Every brother apes Jacob, the supplanter, every friend is guilty of slander.

3. Let each be on his guard against his friend; do not trust a brother, for every brother aims but to supplant, and every friend is a peddler of slander.

4. Each one deceives the other, no one speaks the truth. They have accustomed their tongues to lying, and are perverse, and cannot repent.

4. Each one cheats his friend, never telling the truth; they have trained their tongues to lie and devote all their energies to doing wrong.

5. Violence upon violence, deceit upon deceit: They refuse to recognize me, says the LORD.

5. You live in a world of bad faith! Out of bad faith, they refuse to know me, Yahweh declares.

6. Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: I will smelt them and test them; how else should I deal with their wickedness?

6. And, so, Yahweh Sabaoth declares, now I shall purge them and test them, no other way to treat the daughter of my people!

7. A murderous arrow is his tongue, his mouth utters deceit; He speaks cordially with his friends, but in his heart he lays an ambush!

7. Their tongue is a deadly arrow, their words are in bad faith; with his mouth each wishes his neighbour peace, while in his heart plotting a trap for him.

8. For these things, says the LORD, shall I not punish them? On a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance?

8. Shall I fail to punish them for this, Yahweh demands, or on such a nation fail to exact vengeance?

9. Over the mountains, break out in cries of lamentation, over the pasture lands, intone a dirge: They are scorched, and no man crosses them, unheard is the bleat of the flock; Birds of the air as well as beasts, all have fled, and are gone.

9. I raise the wail and lament for the mountains, the dirge for the desert pastures, for they have been burnt: no one passes there, the sound of flocks is heard no more. Birds of the sky and animals, all have fled, all are gone.

10. I will turn Jerusalem into a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; The cities of Judah I will make into a waste, where no one dwells.

10. I shall make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair for jackals, and the towns of Judah an uninhabited wasteland.

11. Who is so wise that he can understand this? Let him to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken make it known: Why is the land ravaged, scorched like a wasteland untraversed?

11. Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has Yahweh's mouth spoken to explain it? Why is the country annihilated, burnt like the desert where no one passes?

12. The LORD answered: Because they have abandoned my law, which I set before them, and have not followed it or listened to my voice,

12. Yahweh says, 'This is because they have forsaken my Law which I gave them and have not listened to my voice or followed it,

13. but followed rather the hardness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers had taught them;

13. but have followed their own stubborn hearts, have followed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.'

14. therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: See now, I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink.

14. So Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, 'Now I shall give this people wormwood to eat and poisoned water to drink.

15. I will scatter them among nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; I will send the sword to pursue them until I have completely destroyed them.

15. I shall scatter them among nations unknown to their ancestors or to them; and I shall pursue them with the sword until I have annihilated them.'

16. Thus says the LORD of hosts: Attention! tell the wailing women to come, summon the best of them;

16. Yahweh Sabaoth says this, 'Prepare to call for the mourning women! Send for those who are best at it!

17. Let them come quickly and intone a dirge for us, That our eyes may be wet with weeping, our cheeks run with tears.

17. Let them lose no time in raising the lament over us! Let our eyes rain tears, our eyelids run with weeping!

18. The dirge is heard from Zion: Ruined we are, and greatly ashamed; We must leave the land, give up our homes!

18. A lament makes itself heard in Zion, "What ruin is ours, what utter shame! For we must leave the country, our homes have been knocked down!" '

19. Hear, you women, the word of the LORD, let your ears receive his message. Teach your daughters this dirge, and each other this lament.

19. Now listen, you women, to Yahweh's word, let your ears take in the word his own mouth speaks. Teach your daughters how to wail and teach one another this dirge,

20. Death has come up through our windows, has entered our palaces; It cuts down the children in the street, young people in the squares.

20. 'Death has climbed in at our windows, and made its way into our palaces; it has cut down the children in the street, the young people in the squares-

21. The corpses of the slain lie like dung on a field, Like sheaves behind the harvester, with no one to gather them.

21. Speak! Yahweh declares this -- human corpses are strewn like dung in the open field, like sheaves left by the reaper, with no one to gather them.'

22. Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength, nor the rich man glory in his riches;

22. Yahweh says this, 'Let the sage not boast of wisdom, nor the valiant of valour, nor the wealthy of riches!

23. But rather, let him who glories, glory in this, that in his prudence he knows me, Knows that I, the LORD, bring about kindness, justice and uprightness on the earth; For with such am I pleased, says the LORD.

23. But let anyone who wants to boast, boast of this: of understanding and knowing me. For I am Yahweh, who acts with faithful love, justice, and uprightness on earth; yes, these are what please me,' Yahweh declares.

24. See, days are coming, says the LORD, when I will demand an account of all those circumcised in their flesh:

24. 'Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh:

25. Egypt and Judah, Edom and the Ammonites, Moab and the desert dwellers who shave their temples. For all these nations, like the whole house of Israel, are uncircumcised in heart.

25. Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the men with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all those nations, and the whole House of Israel too, are uncircumcised at heart.'