VerseAI

NIV

Jeremiah 9

  1. 1<pb/><t><f>[9]</f>Oh, that my head were a spring of water</t> <t>and my eyes a fountain of tears!</t> <t>I would weep day and night</t> <t>for the slain of my people.</t>
  2. 2<t>Oh, that I had in the desert</t> <t>a lodging place for travelers,</t> <t>so that I might leave my people</t> <t>and go away from them;</t> <t>for they are all adulterers,</t> <t>a crowd of unfaithful people. <pb/></t>
  3. 3<t>“They make ready their tongue</t> <t>like a bow, to shoot lies;</t> <t>it is not by truth</t> <t>that they triumph<f>[10]</f> in the land.</t> <t>They go from one sin to another;</t> <t>they do not acknowledge me,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t>
  4. 4<t>“Beware of your friends;</t> <t>do not trust anyone in your clan.</t> <t>For every one of them is a deceiver,<f>[11]</f></t> <t>and every friend a slanderer.</t>
  5. 5<t>Friend deceives friend,</t> <t>and no one speaks the truth.</t> <t>They have taught their tongues to lie;</t> <t>they weary themselves with sinning.</t>
  6. 6<t>You<f>[12]</f> live in the midst of deception;</t> <t>in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t>
  7. 7<pb/>Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: <pb/><t>“See, I will refine and test them,</t> <t>for what else can I do</t> <t>because of the sin of my people?</t>
  8. 8<t>Their tongue is a deadly arrow;</t> <t>it speaks deceitfully.</t> <t>With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,</t> <t>but in their hearts they set traps for them.</t>
  9. 9<t>Should I not punish them for this?”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t> <t>“Should I not avenge myself</t> <t>on such a nation as this?” <pb/></t>
  10. 10<t>I will weep and wail for the mountains</t> <t>and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.</t> <t>They are desolate and untraveled,</t> <t>and the lowing of cattle is not heard.</t> <t>The birds have all fled</t> <t>and the animals are gone. <pb/></t>
  11. 11<t>“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,</t> <t>a haunt of jackals;</t> <t>and I will lay waste the towns of Judah</t> <t>so no one can live there.”</t>
  12. 12<pb/>Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
  13. 13<pb/>The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.
  14. 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”
  15. 15Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
  16. 16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”
  17. 17<pb/>This is what the LORD Almighty says: <pb/><t>“Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;</t> <t>send for the most skillful of them.</t>
  18. 18<t>Let them come quickly</t> <t>and wail over us</t> <t>till our eyes overflow with tears</t> <t>and water streams from our eyelids.</t>
  19. 19<t>The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:</t> <t>‘How ruined we are!</t> <t>How great is our shame!</t> <t>We must leave our land</t> <t>because our houses are in ruins.’ ” <pb/></t>
  20. 20<t>Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD;</t> <t>open your ears to the words of his mouth.</t> <t>Teach your daughters how to wail;</t> <t>teach one another a lament.</t>
  21. 21<t>Death has climbed in through our windows</t> <t>and has entered our fortresses;</t> <t>it has removed the children from the streets</t> <t>and the young men from the public squares.</t>
  22. 22<pb/>Say, “This is what the LORD declares: <pb/><t>“ ‘Dead bodies will lie</t> <t>like dung on the open field,</t> <t>like cut grain behind the reaper,</t> <t>with no one to gather them.’ ”</t>
  23. 23<pb/>This is what the LORD says: <pb/><t>“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom</t> <t>or the strong boast of their strength</t> <t>or the rich boast of their riches,</t>
  24. 24<t>but let the one who boasts boast about this:</t> <t>that they have the understanding to know me,</t> <t>that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,</t> <t>justice and righteousness on earth,</t> <t>for in these I delight,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t>
  25. 25<pb/>“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
  26. 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.<f>[13]</f> For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”