Jeremiah 9

¹Oh that my head were waters,[#Jeremiah 9:1–26 in the English Bible is 8:23–9:25 in the Hebrew Bible; #Literally “Who he gives my head waters”]

so that I might weep day and night,

²Oh that I had in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers,[#Literally “Who he gives me”]

for all of them are adulterers,

³And they bend their tongue like their bow,

for they go forth from evil to evil,

A Nation Characterized by Deceit

⁴“Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor,

for everyone surely betrays,

⁵And everyone deceives his neighbor,

they have taught their tongues to speak lies,

⁶Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit,

⁷Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Look, I am about to refine them,

for what else can I do,

⁸Their tongue is a murderous arrow,

With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor,

⁹Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares Yahweh,[#Literally “a declaration of”]

“On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?

¹⁰For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing,

because they are laid waste so that no man passes through.

from the birds of heaven to the animals

¹¹And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals,

¹²Who is the wise man that can understand this?

Why is the land destroyed?

The Nation is Judged by Yahweh

¹³And Yahweh said, “Because of their forsaking my law that I set before them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it,[#Literally “to the face of”]

¹⁴but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors taught them.”[#Or “fathers”]

¹⁵Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,

¹⁶and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end.”[#Or “fathers”]

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come,

¹⁸And let them hasten,

so that our eyes may melt with tears,

¹⁹For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion,

We are very ashamed because we have left the land,

²⁰For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh,

and teach your daughters a lamentation,

²¹For death has come into our windows,

to cut off the children from the streets,

²²Speak, ‘thus declares Yahweh:[#Literally “a declaration of”]

“The dead body of the human will fall

and like cut grain behind the reaper,

The Things in Which Yahweh Delights

²³Thus says Yahweh,

“The wise man must not boast in his wisdom,

the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.

²⁴But only in this must the one who boasts boast,[#Literally “But it”]

and that he knows me,

showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth,

The Way of the Nations

²⁵“Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will call into account all those who are circumcised in the foreskin:[#Literally “a declaration of”]

²⁶Egypt, Judah, and Edom, and the Ammonites, and Moab, and all those who are trimmed to the side, those who live in the desert, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”[#Literally “sons/children of Ammon”; #Or “wilderness”]