Jeremiah Grieves for His People

18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;[a]
    (A)my heart is sick within me.
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
    from (B)the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    (C)Is her King not in her?”
(D)“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
    and with their foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
    and we are not saved.”
21 For the wound of (E)the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
    (F)I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

22 Is there no (G)balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?
[b] (H)Oh that my head were waters,
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of (I)the daughter of my people!
[c] Oh that I had in the desert
    a travelers' lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all (J)adulterers,
    a company of (K)treacherous men.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:18 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  2. Jeremiah 9:1 Ch 8:23 in Hebrew
  3. Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Hebrew

18 No healing,
    only grief;
        my heart is broken.[a]
19 Listen to the weeping of my people
        all across the land:
    “Isn’t the Lord in Zion?
        Is her king no longer there?”
Why then did they anger me with their images,
    with pointless foreign gods?
20 “The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
        yet we aren’t saved.”
21 Because my people are crushed,
    I am crushed;
    darkness and despair overwhelm me.

What to do with God’s people

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then have my people
    not been restored to health?

[b] If only my head were a spring of water,
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
    for the wounds of my people.
[c] If only I could flee for shelter in the desert,
    to leave my people
        and forget them—
    for they are all adulterers,
        a bunch of crooks.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 8:18 Heb uncertain
  2. Jeremiah 9:1 8:23 in Heb
  3. Jeremiah 9:2 9:1 in Heb