Jeremiah, 9

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.

1. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

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.

2. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they [be] all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

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.

3. And they bend their tongues [like] their bow [for] lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

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.

4. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

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

5. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, [and] weary themselves to commit iniquity.

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

6. Thine habitation [is] in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

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.

7. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

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

8. Their tongue [is as] an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: [one] speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.

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.

9. Shall I not visit them for these [things]? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

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

10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.

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?

11. And I will make Jerusalem heaps, [and] a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

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,

12. 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 the land perisheth [and] is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

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

13. And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

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

14. But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught 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.'

15. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

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

16. I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.

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

17. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning [women], that they may come:

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!" '

18. And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

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,

19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast [us] out.

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-

20. Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

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.'

21. For death is come up into our windows, [and] is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, [and] the young men from the streets.

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

22. Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather [them].

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.

23. Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

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

24. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.

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.'

25. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all [them which are] circumcised with the uncircumcised;

26.

26. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all [that are] in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all [these] nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised in the heart.