Jeremiah 9

1Who makes my head waters, || And my eye a fountain of tears? And I weep by day and by night, || For the wounded of the daughter of my people.

2Who gives me in a wilderness || A lodging-place for travelers? And I leave my people, and go from them, || For all of them [are] adulterers, || An assembly of treacherous ones.

3“And they bend their tongue, || Their bow [is] a lie, || And they have not been mighty for steadfastness in the land, || For they have gone forth from evil to evil, || And they have not known Me,” || A declaration of YHWH!

4“You each beware of his friend, || And do not trust any brother, || For every brother utterly supplants, || For every friend slanderously walks,

5And they each mock at his friend, || And they do not speak truth, || They taught their tongue to speak falsehood, || They have labored to commit iniquity.

6Your dwelling [is] in the midst of deceit, || Through deceit they refused to know Me,” || A declaration of YHWH.

7Therefore, thus said YHWH of Hosts: “Behold, I am refining them, and have tried them, || For how do I deal with the daughter of My people?

8Their tongue [is] a slaughtering arrow, || It has spoken deceit in its mouth, || It speaks peace with its neighbor, || And in its heart it lays its ambush,

9Do I not see after them for these things?” A declaration of YHWH, “Does My soul not avenge itself against a nation such as this?”

10I lift up weeping and wailing for the mountains, || And a lamentation for the habitations of the wilderness, || For they have been burned up without any passing over, || Nor have they heard the voice of livestock, || From the bird of the heavens and to the beast—they have fled, || They have gone.

11“And I make Jerusalem become heaps, || A habitation of dragons, || And I make the cities of Judah a desolation, || Without inhabitant.”

12Who [is] the wise man? And he understands this, || And he to whom the mouth of YHWH spoke? And he declares it, || For why has the land perished? It has been burned up as a wilderness, || Without any passing through.

13And YHWH says: “Because of their forsaking My law that I set before them, || And they have not listened to My voice nor walked in it,

14And they walk after the stubbornness of their heart, || And after the Ba‘alim, || That their fathers taught them,”

15Therefore, thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: “Behold, I am causing them—this people—to eat wormwood, || And I have caused them to drink water of gall,

16And I have scattered them among nations || Which they did not know, they and their fathers, || And have sent the sword after them, || Until I have consumed them.”

17Thus said YHWH of Hosts: “Consider, and call for mourning women, || And they come, || And send to the wise women, || And they come,

18And they hurry, and lift up a wailing for us. And tears run down our eyes, || And waters flow from our eyelids.

19For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How we have been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, || Because we have forsaken the land, || Because they have cast down our dwelling places.”

20But hear, you women, a word of YHWH, || And your ear receives a word of His mouth, || And teach your daughters wailing, || And each her neighbor lamentation.

21For death has come up into our windows, || It has come into our palaces, || To cut off the suckling from outside, || Young men from the broad places.

22Speak thus, “A declaration of YHWH, || And the carcass of man has fallen, || As dung on the face of the field, || And as a handful after the reaper, || And there is none gathering.”

23Thus said YHWH: “Do not let the wise boast himself in his wisdom, || Nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, || Do not let the rich boast himself in his riches,

24But let the boaster boast himself in this, || In understanding and knowing Me, || For I [am] YHWH, doing kindness, || Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, || For I have delighted in these,” || A declaration of YHWH.

25“Behold, days are coming,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “And I have laid a charge on all circumcised in the foreskin,

26On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, || And on the sons of Ammon, and on Moab, || And on all cutting the corner [of the beard], || Who are dwelling in the wilderness, || For all the nations [are] uncircumcised, || And all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised in heart!”