Jeremiah 9

I wish my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears. Then I could cry day and night for the people of mine who have been killed.

1Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

NoteIn Hebrew Bibles this verse is numbered 8:23, so chapter and verse numbers here run one behind those in Hebrew editions from this point. "Daughter of my people" is a Hebrew way of speaking of a whole community as a single woman, an affectionate, grieving way of naming the nation, not a reference to any individual. The speaker through verse 2 is the prophet Jeremiah, whose ministry ran through the last decades of the kingdom of Judah before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BC.

2I wish I had a travelers' shelter out in the desert. Then I could leave my people and go away from them. They all break their marriage promises. They are a crowd of people who betray one another.

2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

NoteIn the prophets, "adultery" carries two senses at once: literal unfaithfulness between husband and wife, and the nation's abandoning of the LORD for other gods, since the bond between God and Israel was routinely pictured as a marriage. Both are likely in view here.

3"They bend their tongues like a bow to shoot lies. They have no courage to stand for the truth in the land. They go from one evil to the next, and they do not know me," says the LORD.

3And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

Note"The LORD" printed in capitals stands for the four-letter Hebrew personal name of God (YHWH), which Jewish readers traditionally did not pronounce, saying "the Lord" instead; English translations have followed that custom ever since. Ancient bows were strung and drawn by bracing them with the foot and pulling, "bending" the bow, so the image is of a deliberate, forceful act of aiming, not a careless word.

4Watch out, every one of you, for your neighbor. Do not trust even your own brother. Every brother cheats and trips up others, and every neighbor goes around spreading lies about people.

4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

NoteThe Hebrew verb behind "cheats and trips up" is built on the same root as the name Jacob, who was called a heel-grabber and supplanter for taking his brother's place. To Hebrew ears the line says something like "every brother acts the Jacob." "Neighbour" here means a fellow member of the community, a friend or associate, not merely the person next door.

5Each one deceives his neighbor, and no one tells the truth. They have trained their tongues to lie. They wear themselves out doing wrong.

5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

6"You live in the middle of deceit. Through deceit they refuse to know me," says the LORD.

6Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

7So this is what the LORD who commands the armies of heaven says: "Look, I will melt them down like metal and test them. What else can I do about my people?"

7Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

Note"The LORD of hosts" translates a title meaning "the LORD of armies," picturing God at the head of heaven's forces. Refining is metalworking language: ore was heated until it liquefied so the impurities could be skimmed off, and the same operation both purified the metal and revealed what it was actually worth. The single Hebrew process covers both "melt" and "test."

8Their tongue is like an arrow shot from a bow, and it speaks lies. A man speaks in a friendly way to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.

8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.

9"Should I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "Should I not pay back a nation like this?"

9Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

NoteIn older English "visit" means to come and inspect with consequences following, here, to call to account and punish. It has nothing to do with a friendly call.

10I will cry and wail for the mountains, and sing a funeral song for the open pastures in the wild. They are burned up, so no one travels through them, and no one hears the sound of cattle. The birds of the sky and the wild animals have run away. They are gone.

10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.

NoteThe "habitations of the wilderness" are the open grazing lands beyond the farmed areas, where shepherds pastured flocks. The silence of the cattle is the point: these were noisy, inhabited places, and now nothing is there.

11"I will turn Jerusalem into piles of rubble, a place where jackals live. I will make the towns of Judah empty ruins, with no one living in them."

11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

NoteThe KJV's "dragons" translates a Hebrew word for jackals, wild scavenging dogs that took over abandoned ruins. Ruined cities collapsed into mounds of rubble that were left standing for centuries, so "heaps" describes a recognisable landscape feature, not just wreckage.

12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has heard the LORD speak, so that he can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and burned dry like a desert, so that no one passes through it?

12Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

13And the LORD said, "It is because they turned away from my law, which I set in front of them. They did not obey my voice, and they did not live by it.

13And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

Note"My law" translates torah, which means teaching or instruction as much as legislation, the whole body of direction God had given Israel, not a legal code alone.

14Instead they followed their own stubborn hearts and went after the Baals, the gods their fathers taught them to follow."

14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

NoteBaal was the Canaanite storm god, credited with rain and so with crops, herds and fertility. "The Baals" is plural because each local shrine had its own version of him, and worship of these gods was long established in the land alongside worship of the LORD.

15So this is what the LORD who commands the armies of heaven, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I will feed this people bitter wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

15Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

NoteWormwood is a shrub of the region whose leaves are intensely bitter; it was proverbial for anything bitter to endure, and was not itself deadly. The word behind "gall" or "poisoned water" names some bitter, toxic plant, possibly hemlock or the poppy, and stands for poison generally. Together they describe food and drink that punish rather than nourish.

16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers ever knew. I will send war after them until I have finished them off."

16I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.

Note"Heathen" in the KJV simply means the nations, foreign peoples other than Israel, without the modern overtone of savagery. Scattering among the nations is the language of forced deportation: conquering empires routinely broke up defeated populations and resettled them far from home. "A sword after them" means war pursuing them even into exile.

17This is what the LORD who commands the armies of heaven says: "Think about this. Call for the women who mourn at funerals, so they will come. Send for the most skilled of them, so they will come.

17Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:

NoteProfessional mourners were a recognized trade in the ancient Near East. Women were hired to attend a funeral and lead the formal weeping and chanting, and the best of them were valued for skill in composing and performing laments, which is what the KJV's "cunning" means here: expert, not sly. The word has reversed its sense since 1611.

18Tell them to hurry and sing a sad song for us, until our eyes stream with tears and water pours from our eyelids."

18And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

19A sound of wailing is heard from Zion: "How ruined we are! We are covered with shame, because we have left the land, because our homes have thrown us out."

19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

NoteZion was originally the fortified hill David captured, and came to stand for Jerusalem as a whole. "Spoiled" means plundered and laid waste, and "confounded" means publicly shamed and humiliated, for an ancient community, defeat was disgrace as much as loss.

20Now listen to the word of the LORD, you women, and let your ears take in what he says. Teach your daughters how to wail, and each of you teach her neighbor a funeral song.

20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

21Death has climbed in through our windows and come into our strong houses. It takes away the children outside and the young men in the streets.

21For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

NoteDeath is pictured as a burglar or besieger climbing through the windows, the one opening a fortified house could not seal. Some scholars hear behind this an echo of Canaanite stories of Mot, the god of death, who entered through a window. "Palaces" translates a word for large fortified buildings, the strongest places in a city.

22Say this: "The LORD says, the dead bodies of people will fall like dung on an open field, like grain left behind the man who cuts it, and no one will gather them."

22Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

NoteCorpses left unburied on open ground were among the worst horrors an Israelite could imagine; proper burial was a basic obligation to the dead. The second image is from harvesting: the reaper cut the grain and dropped it in handfuls behind him, and binders followed to gather it into sheaves. Here no one follows, so the cut grain simply lies where it fell.

23This is what the LORD says: "The wise man must not boast about how wise he is. The strong man must not boast about his strength. The rich man must not boast about his riches.

23Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

24But anyone who boasts should boast about this: that he understands me and knows me. I am the LORD, and I show faithful love, fair judgment, and right dealing on the earth. These are the things I delight in," says the LORD.

24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Note"Lovingkindness" translates hesed, a Hebrew word with no single English equivalent: loyal, committed care shown to someone you are bound to, going beyond what obligation strictly requires. "Judgment" here means justice, deciding cases and governing rightly, rather than condemnation.

25"Look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will punish all those who are circumcised along with those who are not:

25Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;

NoteCircumcision, the cutting away of the foreskin of male infants, was the physical mark of Israel's covenant with God. The point of the line is that Israel's neighbors practiced it too, so the mark alone distinguished no one; the Hebrew is compressed and says, roughly, "all the circumcised in foreskin."

26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who live out in the desert and cut the hair at the sides of their heads. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."

26Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

NoteEgypt, Edom, Ammon and Moab were Judah's neighboring kingdoms; Edom, Ammon and Moab were reckoned as blood relations of Israel in the ancestral traditions, and all of them practiced circumcision. The last group is described by a phrase meaning literally "clipped at the edge," which the KJV took as living in the far corners of the desert, while most modern translations take it as a distinctive haircut, Arabian tribes trimmed the hair at the temples for religious reasons. The Hebrew genuinely permits both. "Uncircumcised in heart" is a standing Israelite idiom for being closed off and unresponsive, the inward counterpart of the outward mark.