Jeremiah 9-10

New International Version

9 ^[a]¹Oh, that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears!^(A)
I would weep^(B) day and night
    for the slain of my people.^(C)
²Oh, that I had in the desert^(D)
    a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
    and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,^(E)
    a crowd of unfaithful^(F) people.

³“They make ready their tongue
    like a bow, to shoot lies;^(G)
it is not by truth
    that they triumph^[b] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
    they do not acknowledge^(H) me,”
declares the Lord.
⁴“Beware of your friends;^(I)
    do not trust anyone in your clan.^(J)
For every one of them is a deceiver,^[c]^(K)
    and every friend a slanderer.^(L)
⁵Friend deceives friend,^(M)
    and no one speaks the truth.^(N)
They have taught their tongues to lie;^(O)
    they weary themselves with sinning.
⁶You^[d] live in the midst of deception;^(P)
    in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“See, I will refine^(Q) and test^(R) them,
    for what else can I do
    because of the sin of my people?
⁸Their tongue^(S) is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,^(T)
    but in their hearts they set traps^(U) for them.^(V)
⁹Should I not punish them for this?”
    declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge^(W) myself
    on such a nation as this?”

¹⁰I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.^(X)
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds^(Y) have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem a heap^(Z) of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;^(AA)
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah^(AB)
so no one can live there.”^(AC)

¹²Who is wise^(AD) 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?

¹³The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.^(AE) ¹⁴Instead, they have followed^(AF) the stubbornness of their hearts;^(AG) they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food^(AH) and drink poisoned water.^(AI) ¹⁶I will scatter them among nations^(AJ) that neither they nor their ancestors have known,^(AK) and I will pursue them with the sword^(AL) until I have made an end of them.”^(AM)

¹⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Consider now! Call for the wailing women^(AN) to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
¹⁸Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.^(AO)
¹⁹The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined^(AP) we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

²⁰Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
    open your ears to the words of his mouth.^(AQ)
Teach your daughters how to wail;
    teach one another a lament.^(AR)
²¹Death has climbed in through our windows^(AS)
    and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
    and the young men^(AT) from the public squares.

²²Say, “This is what the Lord declares:

“‘Dead bodies will lie
like dung^(AU) on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.’”

²³This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom^(AV)
    or the strong boast of their strength^(AW)
    or the rich boast of their riches,^(AX)
²⁴but let the one who boasts boast^(AY) about this:
    that they have the understanding to know^(AZ) me,
that I am the Lord,^(BA) who exercises kindness,^(BB)
    justice and righteousness^(BC) on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

²⁵“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh^(BD)— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.^[e]^(BE) For all these nations are really uncircumcised,^(BF) and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.^(BG)”

God and Idols^(BH)

10 Hear what the Lord says to you, people of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations^(BI)
    or be terrified by signs^(BJ) in the heavens,
    though the nations are terrified by them.
³For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman^(BK) shapes it with his chisel.^(BL)
⁴They adorn it with silver^(BM) and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.^(BN)
⁵Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;^(BO)
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.^(BP)
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm^(BQ)
    nor can they do any good.”^(BR)

⁶No one is like you,^(BS) Lord;
    you are great,^(BT)
    and your name is mighty in power.
⁷Who should not fear^(BU) you,
    King of the nations?^(BV)
    This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like you.

⁸They are all senseless^(BW) and foolish;^(BX)
    they are taught by worthless wooden idols.^(BY)
⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish^(BZ)
    and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made^(CA)
    is then dressed in blue and purple—
    all made by skilled workers.
¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God,^(CB) the eternal King.^(CC)
When he is angry,^(CD) the earth trembles;^(CE)
    the nations cannot endure his wrath.^(CF)

¹¹“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish^(CG) from the earth and from under the heavens.’”^[f]

¹²But God made^(CH) the earth^(CI) by his power;
    he founded the world by his wisdom^(CJ)
    and stretched out the heavens^(CK) by his understanding.
¹³When he thunders,^(CL) the waters in the heavens roar;
    he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning^(CM) with the rain^(CN)
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(CO)

¹⁴Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is shamed^(CP) by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;^(CQ)
    they have no breath in them.
¹⁵They are worthless,^(CR) the objects of mockery;
    when their judgment comes, they will perish.
¹⁶He who is the Portion^(CS) of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the Maker of all things,^(CT)
including Israel, the people of his inheritance^(CU)—
    the Lord Almighty is his name.^(CV)

Coming Destruction

¹⁷Gather up your belongings^(CW) to leave the land,
    you who live under siege.
¹⁸For this is what the Lord says:
    “At this time I will hurl^(CX) out
    those who live in this land;
I will bring distress^(CY) on them
    so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹Woe to me because of my injury!
    My wound^(CZ) is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
    “This is my sickness, and I must endure^(DA) it.”
²⁰My tent^(DB) is destroyed;
    all its ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me and are no more;^(DC)
    no one is left now to pitch my tent
    or to set up my shelter.
²¹The shepherds^(DD) are senseless^(DE)
    and do not inquire of the Lord;^(DF)
so they do not prosper^(DG)
    and all their flock is scattered.^(DH)
²²Listen! The report is coming—
    a great commotion from the land of the north!^(DI)
It will make the towns of Judah desolate,^(DJ)
    a haunt of jackals.^(DK)

Jeremiah’s Prayer

²³Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
    it is not for them to direct their steps.^(DL)
²⁴Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
    not in your anger,^(DM)
    or you will reduce me to nothing.^(DN)
²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations^(DO)
    that do not acknowledge you,
    on the peoples who do not call on your name.^(DP)
For they have devoured^(DQ) Jacob;
    they have devoured him completely
    and destroyed his homeland.^(DR)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-26 is numbered 9:1-25.
Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth
Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob
Jeremiah 9:6 That is, Jeremiah (the Hebrew is singular)
Jeremiah 9:26 Or wilderness and who clip the hair by their foreheads
Jeremiah 10:11 The text of this verse is in Aramaic.

Jude

New International Version

¹Jude,^(A) a servant of Jesus Christ^(B) and a brother of James,

To those who have been called,^(C) who are loved in God the Father and kept for^[a] Jesus Christ:^(D)

²Mercy, peace^(E) and love be yours in abundance.^(F)

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

³Dear friends,^(G) although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share,^(H) I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend^(I) for the faith^(J) that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.^(K) ⁴For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about^[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you.^(L) They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.^(M)

⁵Though you already know all this,^(N) I want to remind you^(O) that the Lord^[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.^(P) ⁶And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.^(Q) ⁷In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah^(R) and the surrounding towns^(S) gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.^(T)

⁸In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.^(U) ⁹But even the archangel^(V) Michael,^(W) when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses,^(X) did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”^[d]^(Y) ¹⁰Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.^(Z)

¹¹Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;^(AA) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;^(AB) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.^(AC)

¹²These people are blemishes at your love feasts,^(AD) eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.^(AE) They are clouds without rain,^(AF) blown along by the wind;^(AG) autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted^(AH)—twice dead. ¹³They are wild waves of the sea,^(AI) foaming up their shame;^(AJ) wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.^(AK)

¹⁴Enoch,^(AL) the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming^(AM) with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones^(AN) ¹⁵to judge^(AO) everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”^[e]^(AP) ¹⁶These people are grumblers^(AQ) and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires;^(AR) they boast^(AS) about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁷But, dear friends, remember what the apostles^(AT) of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.^(AU) ¹⁸They said to you, “In the last times^(AV) there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”^(AW) ¹⁹These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.^(AX)

²⁰But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up^(AY) in your most holy faith^(AZ) and praying in the Holy Spirit,^(BA) ²¹keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait^(BB) for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.^(BC)

²²Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³save others by snatching them from the fire;^(BD) to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.^[f]^(BE)

Doxology

²⁴To him who is able^(BF) to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence^(BG) without fault^(BH) and with great joy— ²⁵to the only God^(BI) our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!^(BJ) Amen.^(BK)

Footnotes

Jude 1:1 Or by; or in
Jude 1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation
Jude 1:5 Some early manuscripts Jesus
Jude 1:9 Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century a.d.).
Jude 1:15 From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century b.c.)
Jude 1:23 The Greek manuscripts of these verses vary at several points.