Jeremiah, 9

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!

1. Who will give me a lodging, in the desert, that I may leave my people and go far from them? For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors.

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.

2. They bend their tongue like bows. Deceit and not truth prevail in the land. They commit one crime after another and do not know me.

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.

3. Each one is suspicious of his friend and no one trusts his brother, brother deceives brother, friend slanders friend.

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.

4. They deceive each other; no one speaks the truth. Their tongues are addicted to lying; they are perverse and too hardened to repent.

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.

5. They live amidst deceitfulness and deceitfulness prevents them from knowing me.

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

6. That is why - word of Yahweh God of hosts - I will refine and test them, for what else can I do for my people?

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?

7. Their tongues are like deadly arrows, uttering deceitful words. With their friend they speak of peace but in their heart they set a trap for him.

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.

8. Isn't it reason enough for me to punish them? Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation?

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

9. On the mountains there will be weeping and wailing, and on the prairies of the wilderness a dirge, because they have been burnt and deserted, and the sound of flock is heard no more. The birds of the sky and the beasts have all fled and are gone.

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.

10. I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a wasteland without inhabitants."

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

11. Who is wise enough to understand these events? And who is the one Yahweh has chosen to reveal them? Why has the land perished and been laid waste like a desert where no one passes?

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?

12. Yahweh answered, "It is because they have forsaken the Law that I gave them. They have not listened to me

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;

13. but in the stubbornness of their heart they have followed the Baals as they were instructed by their fathers."

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

14. That is why Yahweh, the God of hosts and the God of Israel says, "I will make this people eat bitter food and I will give them poisoned water.

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.

15. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers knew and I will send the sword after them until I have finished with them."

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.

16. Listen! Call for the wailing women to come, send for the most skillful!

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:

17. Let them hasten to intone a funeral song, and let us weep, our eyes running with tears.

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.

18. The sound of wailing is heard in Zion. A terrible disaster has befallen us! How great our shame to leave the land, to see our homes broken down!

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.

19. You women, take heed of what Yahweh says, let your ears pay attention to his words. Teach this lament to your daughters and each of them to their friends:

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.

20. "Death has come through our windows and invaded our palaces, cutting down the children in the street and young men in the squares!

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.

21. The corpes are scattered in the fields like dung; like sheaves cut by the reaper with no one to gather them!"

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].

22. It is Yahweh who speaks: "Let not the wise boast of his wisdom, nor the valiant of his valor nor the wealthy of his wealth!

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:

23. But if someone wants to boast, let him boast of this: of understanding and knowing me. I am Yahweh, the merciful; I implement justice and rule the world with righteousness. "For in these things I delight," - this is Yahweh's word.

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.

24. "The time is coming," Yahweh says, "when I will ask to account both those who are circumcised and those who are not:

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

25. Egypt, Juda, the Amonites and the Moabites with all the Arabs of the desert, for all these nations are not circumcised, and the people of Israel are not circumcised in their heart."

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.

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