Jeremiah 9
9I wish my head were a well of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed.H5414H7218H4325H5869H4726H1832H1058H3119H3915H2491H1323H59712I wish I had a place to stay in the desert where I could get away from my people. They are all unfaithful, a mob of traitors.H5414H4057H4411H732H5800H5971H3212H5003H6116H8983They are always ready to tell lies; dishonesty instead of truth rules the land. The LORD says, "My people do one evil thing after another and do not acknowledge me as their God."H1869H3956H7198H8267H1396H530H776H3318H7451H7451H3045H5002H30684Everyone must be on guard against their friends, and no one can trust their relatives; for all relatives are as deceitful as Jacob, and everyone slanders their friends.H8104H376H7453H982H251H251H6117H6117H7453H1980H74005They all mislead their friends, and no one tells the truth; they have taught their tongues to lie and will not give up their sinning. They do one violent thing after another, and one deceitful act follows another.H2048H376H7453H1696H571H3925H3956H1696H8267H3811H57536The LORD says that his people reject him.H3427H8432H4820H4820H3985H3045H5002H30687Because of this the LORD Almighty says, "I will refine my people like metal and put them to the test. My people have done evil - what else can I do with them?H559H3068H6635H6884H974H6213H6440H1323H59718Their tongues are like deadly arrows; they always tell lies. Everyone speaks friendly words to their neighbors, but they are really setting a trap for them.H3956H2671H7819H1696H4820H1696H7965H7453H6310H7130H7760H6969Will I not punish them for these things? Will I not take revenge on a nation like this? I, the LORD, have spoken."H6485H5002H3068H5315H5358H147110I said, "I will mourn for the mountains and weep for the pastures, because they have dried up, and no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard; birds and wild animals have fled and gone."H2022H5375H1065H5092H4999H4057H7015H3341H376H5674H8085H6963H4735H5775H8064H929H5074H198011The LORD says, "I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins, a place where jackals live; the cities of Judah will become a desert, a place where no one lives."H5414H3389H1530H4583H8577H5414H5892H3063H8077H342712I asked, " LORD, why is the land devastated and dry as a desert, so that no one travels through it? Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom have you explained it so that they can tell others?"H2450H376H995H6310H3068H1696H5046H776H6H3341H4057H567413The LORD answered, "This has happened because my people have abandoned the teaching that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them.H3068H559H5800H8451H5414H6440H8085H6963H198014Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshiped the idols of Baal as their ancestors taught them to do.H3212H310H8307H3820H310H1168H1H392515So then, listen to what I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink.H559H3068H6635H430H3478H398H5971H3939H4325H7219H824816I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them."H6327H1471H1H3045H7971H2719H310H361517The LORD Almighty said, "Think about what is happening! Call for the mourners to come, for the women who sing funeral songs."H559H3068H6635H995H7121H6969H935H7971H2450H93518The people said, "Tell them to hurry and sing a funeral song for us, until our eyes fill with tears, and our eyelids are wet from crying."H4116H5375H5092H5869H3381H1832H6079H5140H432519Listen to the sound of crying in Zion: "We are ruined! We are completely disgraced! We must leave our land; our homes have been torn down."H6963H5092H8085H6726H7703H3966H954H5800H776H4908H799320I said, "Listen to the LORD, you women, and pay attention to his words. Teach your daughters how to mourn, and your friends how to sing a funeral song.H8085H1697H3068H802H241H3947H1697H6310H3925H1323H5092H802H7468H701521Death has come in through our windows and entered our palaces; it has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the marketplaces.H4194H5927H2474H935H759H3772H5768H2351H970H733922Dead bodies are scattered everywhere, like piles of manure on the fields, like grain cut and left behind by the reapers, grain that no one gathers. This is what the LORD has told me to say."H1696H5002H3068H5038H120H5307H1828H6440H7704H5995H310H7114H62223The LORD says, "The wise should not boast of their wisdom, nor the strong of their strength, nor the rich of their wealth.H559H3068H2450H1984H2451H1368H1984H1369H6223H1984H623924If any want to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me, because my love is constant, and I do what is just and right. These are the things that please me. I, the LORD, have spoken."H1984H1984H7919H3045H3068H6213H2617H4941H6666H776H2654H5002H306825The LORD says, "The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short.H3117H935H5002H3068H6485H4135H619026All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant."H4714H3063H123H1121H5983H4124H7112H6285H3427H4057H1471H6189H1004H3478H6189H3820
Columbus, OH
