Jeremiah 9

Let Him Who Boasts Boast in This: That He Knows Me

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A Remote Station in the Wilderness

9:1Who would give me a remote station in the wilderness, and I will leave my people and go away from them? For all commit adultery, an assembly of those rejecting faithfulness.

9:2And they stretched their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not faithfulness grew strong upon the earth, because they went from evils to evils and did not know Me.

9:3Each of you, guard against his neighbor, and do not put trust in their brothers, because every brother will trip with the heel, and every friend will walk deceitfully.

9:4Each will mock his friend; they certainly will not speak truth. Their tongue has learned to speak false things; they did wrong and did not cease turning back.

9:5Interest upon interest, deceit upon deceit: they were unwilling to know Me.

I Will Put Them Through Fire

9:6Therefore thus says the Lord: Look, I will put them through fire and test them, because I will act on account of the evil of the daughter of My people.

9:7Their tongue is a wounding missile; the utterances of their mouth are deceitful. One speaks peaceful things to his neighbor, and within himself he holds enmity.

9:8Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord. Or will not My soul take vengeance on such a people?

Take Up Mourning for the Mountains

9:9Take up mourning for the mountains and a dirge for the wilderness paths, because they failed for lack of people. They did not hear the sound of possessions; from heaven’s birds to livestock, they were displaced and went away.

9:10And I will give Jerusalem over to deportation and as a dwelling of dragons, and make Judah’s cities a disappearance, so that they are not inhabited.

9:11Who is the discerning person? Let him understand this; and the one to whom the word of the Lord’s mouth comes, let him announce it to you: for what reason did the land perish, kindled like a wilderness so that no one passes through it?

9:12And the Lord said to me: Because they abandoned My law that I set before them and did not hear My voice,

9:13but walked after the things pleasing to their evil heart and after the idols that their fathers taught them,

9:14therefore thus says the Lord, Israel’s God: Look, I will feed them distresses and make them drink gall-water,

9:15and I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers knew, and send the sword upon them until I consume them by it.

Call the Women Who Lament

9:16Thus says the Lord: Call the women who lament, and let them come; send for the skilled women, and let them speak,

9:17and let them take up a dirge over you; let your eyes bring down tears, and let your eyelids flow with water.

9:18For a voice of lament was heard in Zion: How we suffered misery and were greatly ashamed, because we abandoned the land and threw away our dwellings!

9:19Hear God’s word now, women, and let your ears receive His mouth’s words; teach your daughters lament, and each woman her neighbor a dirge.

9:20For death climbed through your windows and entered your land, to wipe out little children outside and young men from the squares.

9:21And people’s dead will become an example on the surface of your land’s plain, and like grass behind one reaping, and there will be no one gathering.

Let the Wise Not Boast in His Wisdom

9:22Thus says the Lord: Let the wise not boast in his wisdom, and let the strong not boast in his strength, and let the rich not boast in his wealth,

9:23but let the one boasting boast in this: understanding and knowing that I am the Lord, doing mercy and judgment and righteousness upon the earth, because in these is My will, says the Lord.

9:24Look, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will visit all who have been circumcised in their foreskins:

The Circumcised and the Uncircumcised

9:25Egypt and Judea and Edom and the sons of Ammon and the sons of Moab and everyone who clips the hair around his face, those dwelling in the wilderness; because all the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, and all Israel’s house are uncircumcised in their hearts.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.