Jeremiah 9:17-26

New King James Version

The People Mourn in Judgment

¹⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Consider and call for ^(A)the mourning women,
That they may come;
And send for skillful wailing women,
That they may come.
¹⁸Let them make haste
And take up a wailing for us,
That ^(B)our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
¹⁹For 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 ^(C)our dwellings.’ ”

²⁰Yet 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.
²¹For death has come through our windows,
Has entered our palaces,
To kill off ^(D)the children—^[a]no longer to be outside!
And the young men—^[b]no longer on the streets!

²²Speak, “Thus says the Lord:

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

²³Thus says the Lord:

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

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