Jeremiah 9

Jeremiah’s Lament

1 “Oh, if my head were full of water and my eyes were a fountain of tears, I would cry day and night for the slain of my people.”

2 “I wish I had a place to stay in the desert, far from everyone, because these people are all adulterers and a crowd of traitors.”

Deceit Everywhere

3 “They bend their tongues like bows for lies. Truth has no place in the land. They go from sin to sin; they do not know Me,” declares the LORD.

4 “Be careful with everyone, do not trust even your own brother. Every brother cheats, and every neighbor walks in slander.”

5 “Each one tricks his neighbor; no one speaks the truth. They have trained their tongues to lie and worn themselves out doing evil.”

6 “You live in a world of lies. Because of their deceit, they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.

God Will Refine His People

7 “Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am going to refine them and test them. What else can I do with a people like this?”

8 “Their tongues shoot deadly arrows. Their mouths speak peace to neighbors, but in their hearts they are setting traps.”

9 “Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not take revenge on a nation like this?”

The Land in Ruins

10 “I will cry out and weep for the mountains and mourn for the pastures, because they have burned up. No one travels through them. The sounds of cattle are gone. Birds and animals have all fled.”

11 “I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins, a home for jackals. I will turn Judah’s cities into wastelands with no one living there.”

Why the Land Is Destroyed

12 “Who is wise enough to understand this, Who has the word of the LORD so he can explain it, Why is the land ruined and burned like a desert no one passes through?”

13 The LORD says, “Because they abandoned My law that I set before them. They did not listen to My voice or walk in it.”

14 “Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and chased after the Baals, just like their fathers taught them.”

15 “Therefore, this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says: I am feeding them bitter food and giving them poisoned water to drink.”

16 “I will scatter them among nations neither they nor their fathers knew. I will send the sword after them until I have finished with them.”

Call for Mourning Women

17 “This is what the LORD says: Call for the mourning women. Summon the skilled wailers.”

18 “Let them hurry and cry for us, so our eyes overflow with tears and our eyelids pour out water.”

19 “The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘We are ruined! We are disgraced! We had to leave our land because our homes were torn down.’”

20 “You women, listen to the word of the LORD; teach your daughters to wail and each other to cry.”

21 “Death has climbed through our windows. It is entered our homes. It cuts down children in the streets and young men in the squares.”

22 “Say this: ‘The dead bodies of men will lie like fertilizer on the ground, like grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them,’” declares the LORD.

Boast Only in Knowing God

23 “This is what the LORD says: Do not let the wise brag about their wisdom, or the strong brag about their strength, or the rich brag about their riches.”

24 “But let the one who brags brag about this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

Judgment on the Circumcised and Uncircumcised Alike

25 “Look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh.”

26 “Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all who live in the desert with shaved temples, all of them are uncircumcised, and all of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”