Jeremiah 9
1 Who would give me a most distant
lodge in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, and depart from them?
for they all commit adultery, an assembly of treacherous men.
2 And they have bent their tongue like
a bow: falsehood and not faithfulness has prevailed upon the earth; for they
have gone on from evil to evil, and have not known me, saith the Lord.
3 Beware ye each of his neighbour, and
trust ye not in your brethren: for every one will surely supplant, and every
friend will walk craftily. 4 Every one
will mock his friend; they will not speak truth: their tongue has learned to
speak falsehoods; they have committed iniquity, they ceased not, so as to
return. 5 There is usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit:
they would not know me, saith the Lord.
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I will try them with fire, and prove them; for I will do
thus because of the wickedness of the daughter of my
people. 7 Their tongue is a wounding
arrow; the words of their mouth are deceitful:
one speaks peaceably to his neighbour, but in himself
retains enmity. 8 Shall I not visit
for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a
people as this? 9 Take up a
lamentation for the mountains, and a mournful dirge for the paths of the
wilderness, for they are desolate for want of men; they heard not the sound of
life from the birds of the sky, nor the cattle: they were amazed, they are
gone. 10 And I will remove the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and make it a dwelling-place of dragons; and I will
utterly waste the cities of Juda, so that they shall not be inhabited.
11 Who is the wise man, that he may
understand this? and he that has the word of the mouth of the Lord
addressed to him, let him tell you wherefore the land
has been destroyed, has been ravaged by fire like a desert, so that no one
passes through it. 12 And the Lord
said to me, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and
have not hearkened to my voice;
13 but went after the lusts of their
evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them
to worship:
14 therefore thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink
water of gall: 15 and I will scatter
them among the nations, to them whom neither they nor their fathers knew; and
I will send a sword upon them, until I have consumed them with it.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Call ye the
mourning women, and let them come; and send to the wise women, and let them
utter their voice; 17 and let them
take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your
eyelids drop water. 18 For a voice of
lamentation has been heard in Sion, How are we become wretched! we are greatly
ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, and have abandoned our tabernacles!
19 Hear now, ye women, the word of
God, and let your ears receive the words of his mouth, and teach your
daughters lamentation, and every woman her neighbour
a dirge. 20 For death has come up
through your windows, it has entered into our land, to destroy the infants
without, and the young men from the streets.
21 And the carcases of the men shall
be for an example on the face of the field of your land, like grass after the
mower, and there shall be none to gather them.
22 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the
wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his
strength, and let not the rich man boast in his wealth;
23 but let him that boasts boast in
this, the understanding and knowing that I am the Lord that exercise mercy,
and judgment, and righteousness, upon the earth; for in these things is my
pleasure, saith the Lord.
24 Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their uncircumcision;
25 on Egypt, and on Idumea, and on
Edom, and on the children of Ammon, and on the children of Moab, and on every
one that shaves his face round about, even them that
dwell in the wilderness; for all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in flesh, and
all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their
hearts.