Jeremiah 9 - Prayer Tents

A Lament over Zion

9OH, THAT my head were waters and my eyes a reservoir of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!H5414H7218H4325H5869H4726H1832H1058H3119H3915H2491H1323H5971 2Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers [rendering worship to idols instead of to the Lord, Who has espoused the people to Himself]; they are a gang of treacherous men [faithless even to each other].H5414H4057H4411H732H5800H5971H3212H5003H6116H898 3And they bend their tongue, [which is] their bow for the lies [they shoot]. And not according to faithfulness do they rule {and} become strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know {and} understand {and} acknowledge Me, says the Lord.H1869H3956H7198H8267H1396H530H776H3318H7451H7451H3045H5002H3068 4Let everyone beware of his neighbor and put no trust in any brother. For every brother is an utter {and} complete supplanter (one who takes by the heel and trips up, a deceiver, a Jacob), and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.H8104H376H7453H982H251H251H6117H6117H7453H1980H7400 5And they deceive {and} mock every one his neighbor and do not speak the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.H2048H376H7453H1696H571H3925H3956H1696H8267H3811H5753 6Your habitation is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; through deceit they refuse to know {and} understand Me, says the Lord.H3427H8432H4820H4820H3985H3045H5002H3068 7Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt them [by the process of affliction to remove the dross] and test them, for how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?H559H3068H6635H6884H974H6213H6440H1323H5971 8Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaks deceitfully; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays snares and waits in ambush for him.H3956H2671H7819H1696H4820H1696H7965H7453H6310H7130H7760H696 9Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?H6485H5002H3068H5315H5358H1471 10For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing and for the pastures of the wilderness a lament, because they are burned up {and} desolated, so that no one passes through [them]; neither can men hear [any longer] the lowing of cattle. Both the fowls of the air and the beasts have fled, they are gone!H2022H5375H1065H5092H4999H4057H7015H3341H376H5674H8085H6963H4735H5775H8064H929H5074H1980 11I will make Jerusalem heaps [of ruins], a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.H5414H3389H1530H4583H8577H5414H5892H3063H8077H3427 12Who is the wise man who may understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined {and} laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through it?H2450H376H995H6310H3068H1696H5046H776H6H3341H4057H5674 13And the Lord says, Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to {and} obeyed My voice or walked in accordance with itH3068H559H5800H8451H5414H6440H8085H6963H1980 14But have walked stubbornly after their own hearts and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,H3212H310H8307H3820H310H1168H1H3925 15Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them bitter {and} poisonous water to drink.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H398H5971H3939H4325H7219H8248 16I will scatter them also among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword among them {and} after them until I have consumed them.H6327H1471H1H3045H7971H2719H310H3615 17Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come.H559H3068H6635H995H7121H6969H935H7971H2450H935 18Let them make haste and raise a wailing over us {and} for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush with water.H4116H5375H5092H5869H3381H1832H6079H5140H4325 19For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] out of Zion: How we are plundered {and} ruined! We are greatly confounded {and} utterly put to shame, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings [our dwellings that have cast us out].H6963H5092H8085H6726H7703H3966H954H5800H776H4908H7993 20Yet hear the word of the Lord, O you women, and let your ears receive the word of His mouth; teach your daughters a lament, and each one [teach] her neighbor a dirge.H8085H1697H3068H802H241H3947H1697H6310H3925H1323H5092H802H7468H7015 21For death has come up into our windows; it has entered into our palaces, cutting off the children from outdoors and the young men from the streets.H4194H5927H2474H935H759H3772H5768H2351H970H7339 22Speak, Thus says the Lord: The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung on the open field and like sheaves [of grain] behind the reaper, and none shall gather them.H1696H5002H3068H5038H120H5307H1828H6440H7704H5995H310H7114H622 23Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise {and} skillful person glory {and} boast in his wisdom {and} skill; let not the mighty {and} powerful person glory {and} boast in his strength {and} power; let not the person who is rich [in physical gratification and earthly wealth] glory {and} boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] riches;H559H3068H2450H1984H2451H1368H1984H1369H6223H1984H6239 24But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me [personally and practically, directly discerning and recognizing My character], that I am the Lord, Who practices loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.H1984H1984H7919H3045H3068H6213H2617H4941H6666H776H2654H5002H3068 25Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all who though circumcised [outwardly, in the flesh] are still uncircumcised [in corresponding inward purity]--H3117H935H5002H3068H6485H4135H6190 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab [all of whom are related except Egypt], and all who live in the desert and who clip off the corners of their hair {and} beards; for all these nations are uncircumcised [in heart], and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.H4714H3063H123H1121H5983H4124H7112H6285H3427H4057H1471H6189H1004H3478H6189H3820