真希望我的头是水泉,

眼是泪泉,
好为我被杀的同胞昼夜哭泣;
真希望我在旷野有栖身之处,
以便远离我的同胞,
因为他们是一群不忠不贞之徒。
耶和华说:
“他们鼓舌如簧,射出谎言,
遍地充满诡诈,毫无诚实;
他们行恶不断,
不认我是上帝。
你们要提防邻居,
不要信赖弟兄,
因为弟兄诡计多端,
邻居满口是非。
他们彼此欺骗,不说真话;
他们说谎成性,
不知疲倦地肆意犯罪;
他们充满诡诈,
不认我是上帝。
这是耶和华说的。”

因此,万军之耶和华说:
“看啊,我要熬炼、试验这些罪恶的子民,
除此之外,我别无选择。
他们舌如毒箭,说话诡诈,
对邻居口蜜腹剑。
难道我不该惩罚他们吗?
难道我不该报应这样的民族吗?
这是耶和华说的。”

10 我要为众山悲伤痛哭,
为旷野的草原唱哀歌,
因为那里一片荒凉,杳无人迹,
听不见牲畜的叫声,
飞鸟和走兽也逃去无踪。
11 耶和华说:“我要使耶路撒冷沦为废墟,
成为豺狼出没之地;
我要使犹大的城邑荒凉,
不见人烟。”

12 谁有智慧明白这事呢?谁曾受过耶和华的指教可以讲解这事呢?为什么这片土地被蹂躏,变得荒凉、杳无人迹? 13 耶和华说:“这是因为他们弃绝我赐给他们的律法,不听从我的话,不遵守我的命令, 14 执迷不悟,随从他们祖先的教导去供奉巴力。” 15 因此,以色列的上帝——万军之耶和华说:“看啊,我要使这百姓吃苦艾,喝毒药; 16 我要把他们分散到他们及其祖先都不认识的列国;我要使敌人追杀他们,直到灭绝他们。”

17 万军之耶和华说:
“把陪哭的妇人请来,
把最会哭的妇人带来,
18 叫她们速来为我的子民哀哭,
哭得他们泪盈满眶,
哭得他们泪如泉涌。
19 因为从锡安传出哀鸣,
‘我们灭亡了!
我们受了奇耻大辱!
我们的家园被毁,
我们只好背井离乡。’”
20 妇人啊,你们要听耶和华的话,
接受祂的教诲;
你们要教导女儿哀哭,
教导邻居唱挽歌。
21 因为死亡从窗户爬进我们的城堡,
吞灭街上的孩童和广场上的青年。
22 耶和华说:“人们必尸横遍野,
像散布在田野上的粪便,
又像收割者身后没有收集的禾捆。”

23 耶和华说:“智者不要夸耀自己的智慧,勇士不要夸耀自己的力量,富人不要夸耀自己的财富。 24 若有人夸耀,就让他夸耀自己认识我是耶和华,知道我喜欢在地上凭慈爱、公平和正义行事。这是耶和华说的。” 25 耶和华说:“看啊,时候将到,我要惩罚所有只在身体受过割礼的人, 26 就是埃及人、犹大人、以东人、亚扪人、摩押人和所有住在旷野、剃了鬓发的人,因为这些人,包括以色列人,都没有受过真正的割礼,没有受过内心的割礼。”

Disobedience Brings God’s Judgment

Oh, (A)that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
Oh, that I had in the wilderness
A lodging place for travelers;
That I might leave my people,
And go from them!
For (B)they are all adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.

“And like their bow (C)they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from (D)evil to evil,
And they (E)do not know Me,” says the Lord.
“Everyone(F) take heed to his [a]neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
For every brother will utterly supplant,
And every neighbor will (G)walk with slanderers.
Everyone will (H)deceive his neighbor,
And will not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, (I)I will refine them and [b]try them;
(J)For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
Their tongue is an arrow shot out;
It speaks (K)deceit;
One speaks (L)peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
But [c]in his heart he [d]lies in wait.
(M)Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”

10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,
And (N)for the [e]dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation,
Because they are burned up,
So that no one can pass through;
Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle.
(O)Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled;
They are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem (P)a heap of ruins, (Q)a den of jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”

12 (R)Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

13 And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have (S)not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have (T)walked according to the [f]dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, (U)which their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will (V)feed them, this people, (W)with wormwood, and give them [g]water of gall to drink. 16 I will (X)scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. (Y)And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

The People Mourn in Judgment

17 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Consider and call for (Z)the mourning women,
That they may come;
And send for skillful wailing women,
That they may come.
18 Let them make haste
And take up a wailing for us,
That (AA)our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How we are plundered!
We are greatly ashamed,
Because we have forsaken the land,
Because we have been cast out of (AB)our dwellings.’ ”

20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21 For death has come through our windows,
Has entered our palaces,
To kill off (AC)the children—[h]no longer to be outside!
And the young men—[i]no longer on the streets!

22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord:

‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall (AD)as refuse on the open field,
Like cuttings after the harvester,
And no one shall gather them.’ ”

23 Thus says the Lord:

(AE)“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his (AF)might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But (AG)let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, [j]judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
(AH)For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

25 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that (AI)I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the (AJ)farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are (AK)uncircumcised in the heart.”

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:4 friend
  2. Jeremiah 9:7 test
  3. Jeremiah 9:8 Inwardly he
  4. Jeremiah 9:8 sets his ambush
  5. Jeremiah 9:10 Or pastures
  6. Jeremiah 9:14 stubbornness or imagination
  7. Jeremiah 9:15 Bitter or poisonous water
  8. Jeremiah 9:21 Lit. from outside
  9. Jeremiah 9:21 Lit. from the square
  10. Jeremiah 9:24 justice