Jeremiah 9

1 “Who would give me a far-off lodging in the wilderness, so that I could leave my people and go away from them? For they all commit adultery — a company of faith-breakers.”

2 “They bent their tongue like a bow; lying, not faithfulness, has grown strong in the land. They went from evil to evil, and they have not known me.”

3 “Let each one guard against his neighbor; put no trust in your brothers — for every brother will cheat you outright, and every friend goes about with deceit.”

4 “Everyone makes a fool of his friend; they will not speak the truth, for their tongue has learned to tell lies. They did wrong, and they did not pause to turn back.”

5 “Interest piled on interest, deceit on deceit — they did not want to know me.”

6 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: Look, I will refine them in fire and test them, for I will act because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.”

7 “Their tongue is an arrow that wounds; the words of their mouth are deceitful. A man speaks peace to his neighbor while holding hatred inside himself.”

8 “Will I not call them to account for these things? says the Lord. Will my soul not take vengeance on a people like this?”

9 “Take up a lament over the mountains, and a dirge over the desert paths, for they have failed — no people are left, and no sound of life is heard. From the birds of the sky to the cattle, all were startled, and they are gone.”

10 “And I will give Jerusalem over to deportation and make her a home for dragons, and I will turn the cities of Judah into ruin, with no one living there.”

11 “Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the word of the Lord’s mouth come, so that he can tell you why the land has perished — burned like a wilderness, with no one passing through?”

12 And the Lord said to me:

“Because they abandoned my law, which I set before their face, and did not listen to my voice,”

13 “but went after what pleased their own evil heart, and after the idols their fathers taught them —”

14 “therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Look, I will feed them hardship and make them drink water of gall,”

15 “and I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers knew, and I will send the sword after them until it has finished them off.”

16 “This is what the Lord says: Call for the mourning women; let them come. Send for the skilled women; let them lift their voices.”

17 “Let them raise a lament over you; let your eyes run down with tears and your eyelids stream with water.”

18 “For the sound of grieving is heard in Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How deeply ashamed — for we have left the land and thrown our tents away.’”

19 “Hear the word of God, you women; let your ears receive the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters the lament, and each woman teach her neighbor the dirge.”

20 “For death has climbed in through your windows; it has entered your land to wipe out the infants outside and the young men from the squares.”

21 “And the corpses of men will lie as an example on the open field of your land, like grass behind the reaper, and there will be no one to gather them.”

22 “This is what the Lord says: Let the wise man not boast in his wisdom, and let the strong man not boast in his strength, and let the rich man not boast in his riches.”

23 “But let the one who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows that I am the Lord, who does mercy and judgment and righteousness on the earth — for in these things is my delight, says the Lord.”

24 “Look, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will call to account all those whose circumcision is only of the foreskin —”

25 “Egypt and Judah and Edom and the sons of Ammon and the sons of Moab, and everyone who clips the hair around his face and lives in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, but the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”