Jeremiah 9

Oh 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!

1I wish my head were full of water. I wish my eyes were a spring of tears. Then I could cry day and night. I would cry for my people who have been killed.

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.

2I wish I had a small shelter out in the empty land, where travelers sleep. Then I would leave my people and go away. They are all unfaithful to the ones they married. They are a crowd of people no one can trust.

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.

3They use their tongues like a bow that shoots arrows. But what they shoot are lies. They do not stand up for the truth in the land. They go from one bad thing to a worse thing. They do not know me, says the LORD.

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.

4Be careful with your neighbor. Do not even trust your own brother. Every brother tricks and cheats. Every neighbor spreads unkind stories.

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.

5Each one lies to his friend. No one tells the truth. They have trained their tongues to lie. They wear themselves out doing wrong.

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

6You live in the middle of lies. Because they love lying, they refuse to know me, says the LORD.

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?

7So the LORD of Heaven's Armies says this. I will melt them in the fire like metal, to test them. What else can I do for my dear people?

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.

8Their tongues are like arrows that kill. They say things that are not true. A man speaks kindly to his neighbor with his mouth. But in his heart he is setting a trap.

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

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

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.

10I will cry and wail for the mountains. I will sing a sad song for the open grasslands. They are burned up. No one walks through them now. No one hears the cows calling. The birds and the animals have run away. They are gone.

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

11I will turn Jerusalem into piles of broken stone. Wild dogs will live there. I will leave the towns of Judah empty. No one will live in them.

NoteThe old English says "dragons." The word means jackals, which are wild dogs that live in empty places.

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?

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

13And the LORD answered. It is because they left my law, which I gave them. They did not obey me or live by it.

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

14Instead they did whatever their stubborn hearts wanted. They followed the Baals, the false gods their fathers taught them about.

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.

15So the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says this. I will feed this people bitter plants. I will give them poisoned water to drink.

NoteWormwood is a plant with a very bitter taste. Gall is something bitter that makes a person sick.

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.

16I will scatter them among nations they never knew. Their fathers never knew those nations either. I will send swords after them, until they are finished.

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:

17The LORD of Heaven's Armies says this. Think about it. Call for the women who cry loudly at funerals. Send for the ones who do it best.

NoteIn those days, families hired women to cry and sing sad songs at a funeral. It was their job, and some were very good at it.

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.

18Tell them to hurry and sing a sad song for us. Then our eyes will fill with tears. Water will pour from our eyes.

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.

19A sound of crying comes from Zion, which is Jerusalem. It says, "We are ruined! We are so ashamed! We have left our land. Our houses have been torn down."

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.

20Women, listen to what the LORD says. Open your ears to his words. Teach your daughters this sad song. Teach one another how to mourn.

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.

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

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.

22Say this. The LORD says, "Dead bodies will lie in the open fields like waste. They will lie like cut grain left behind the farmer. No one will gather them up."

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:

23The LORD says this. A wise man should not brag about being wise. A strong man should not brag about being strong. A rich man should not brag about being rich.

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.

24If anyone brags, let him brag about this. Let him brag that he knows me and understands me. I am the LORD. I show faithful love. I do what is fair and right on the earth. These are the things I love, says the LORD.

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

25Look, the days are coming, says the LORD. I will punish everyone who has the mark of circumcision but is not really changed.

NoteCircumcision was a small cut made on the body of Jewish boys. It was a sign that they belonged to God's people.

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.

26That means Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. It also means the desert people who cut the hair at the sides of their heads. None of these nations carry God's mark. And the people of Israel are not changed on the inside.