Jeremiah 9

1Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! {Oh...: Heb. Who will give my head, etc}● 2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they {be} all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.● 3And they bend their tongues {like} their bow {for} lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.● 4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. {neighbour: or, friend}● 5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, {and} weary themselves to commit iniquity. {deceive: or, mock}● 6Thine habitation {is} in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.● 7Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?● 8Their tongue {is as} an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: {one} speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. {in heart: Heb. in the midst of him} {his wait: or, wait for him}● 9Shall I not visit them for these {things}? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?● 10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through {them}; neither can {men} hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. {habitations: or, pastures} {burned up: or, desolate} {both...: Heb. from the fowl even to, etc}● 11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, {and} a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. {desolate: Heb. desolation}● 12Who {is} the wise man, that may understand this? and {who is he} to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth {and} is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?● 13And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;● 14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: {imagination: or, stubbornness}● 15Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, {even} this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.● 16I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.● 17Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning {women}, that they may come:● 18And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.● 19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast {us} out.● 20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.● 21For death is come up into our windows, {and} is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, {and} the young men from the streets.● 22Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather {them}.● 23Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise {man} glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty {man} glory in his might, let not the rich {man} glory in his riches:● 24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I {am} the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these {things} I delight, saith the LORD.● 25Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all {them which are} circumcised with the uncircumcised; {punish: Heb. visit upon}● 26Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all {that are} in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all {these} nations {are} uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel {are} uncircumcised in the heart. {in the utmost...: Heb. cut off into corners, or, having the corners of their hair polled}●