Jeremiah 9-10

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

9 ^[a]O that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of the daughter of my people!^(A)
2 [b]O that I had in the desert
    a traveler’s lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
    a band of traitors.^(B)
3 They bend their tongues like bows;
    they have grown strong in the land for falsehood and not for truth,
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    and they do not know me, says the Lord.^(C)

⁴ Beware of your neighbors,
    and put no trust in any of your kin,
for all your kin are supplanters,
    and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.^(D)
5 They all deceive their neighbors,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to speak lies;
    they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.^[c](E)
6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit^[d] upon deceit!
    They refuse to know me, says the Lord.^(F)

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
I will now refine and test them,
    for what else can I do with the daughter of my people?^(G)
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceit through the mouth.
They all speak friendly words to their neighbors
    but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.^(H)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord,
    and shall I not bring retribution
    on a nation such as this?^(I)

¹⁰ Take up^[e] weeping and wailing for the mountains
    and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
both the birds of the air and the animals
    have fled and are gone.^(J)
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    a lair of jackals,
and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.^(K)

²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ears receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a dirge
    and each to her neighbor a lament.^(T)
21 “Death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces
to cut off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.”^(U)
22 Speak! Thus says the Lord:
“Human corpses shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves behind the reaper,
    and no one shall gather them.”^(V)

Do not learn the way of the nations
    or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens,
    for the nations are dismayed at them.^(AA)
3 For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;^(AB)
4 they deck it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammers and nails
    so that it cannot move.^(AC)
5 Their idols^[f] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    nor is it in them to do good.^(AD)

⁶ There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.^(AE)
7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For that is your due;
among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is no one like you.^(AF)
8 They are both stupid and foolish;
    the instruction given by idols
    is no better than wood!^[g](AG)
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish
    and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is blue and purple;
    they are all the product of skilled workers.^(AH)
10 But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.^[h](AI)

¹² It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom
    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.^(AK)
13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(AL)
14 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
    goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.^(AM)
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the Lord of hosts is his name.^(AN)

¹⁹ Woe is me because of my hurt!
    My wound is severe.
But I said, “Truly this is my punishment,
    and I must bear it.”^(AO)
20 My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
    and they are no more;
there is no one to spread my tent again
    and to set up my curtains.^(AP)
21 For the shepherds are stupid
    and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
    and all their flock is scattered.^(AQ)

²² Hear, a noise! Listen, it is coming—
    a great commotion from the land of the north
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    a lair of jackals.^(AR)

²³ I know, O Lord, that the way of humans is not in their control,
    that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.^(AS)
24 Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure;
    not in your anger, or you will bring me to nothing.^(AT)

²⁵ Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you
    and on the peoples that do not call on your name,
for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him
    and have laid waste his habitation.^(AU)