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O that my head were a spring of water,

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night

for the slain of my poor people!

O that I had in the desert

a traveler’s lodging place,

that I might leave my people

and go away from them!

For they are all adulterers,

a band of traitors.

They bend their tongues like bows;

they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth;

for they proceed from evil to evil,

and they do not know me, says the L ord.

Beware of your neighbors,

and put no trust in any of your kin;

for all your kin are supplanters,

and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.

They all deceive their neighbors,

and no one speaks the truth;

they have taught their tongues to speak lies;

they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.

Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit!

They refuse to know me, says the L ord.

Therefore thus says the L ord of hosts:

I will now refine and test them,

for what else can I do with my sinful people?

Their tongue is a deadly arrow;

it speaks deceit through the mouth.

They all speak friendly words to their neighbors,

but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.

Shall I not punish them for these things? says the L ord;

and shall I not bring retribution

on a nation such as this?

Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,

and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,

because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,

and the lowing of cattle is not heard;

both the birds of the air and the animals

have fled and are gone.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,

a lair of jackals;

and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation,

without inhabitant.

¹² Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the L ord spoken, so that they may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? ¹³And the L ord says: Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accordance with it, ¹⁴but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their ancestors taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the L ord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink. ¹⁶I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.

The People Mourn in Judgment

Thus says the L ord of hosts:

Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;

send for the skilled women to come;

let them quickly raise a dirge over us,

so that our eyes may run down with tears,

and our eyelids flow with water.

For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion:

“How we are ruined!

We are utterly shamed,

because we have left the land,

because they have cast down our dwellings.”

Hear, O women, the word of the L ord,

and let your ears receive the word of his mouth;

teach to your daughters a dirge,

and each to her neighbor a lament.

“Death has come up into our windows,

it has entered our palaces,

to cut off the children from the streets

and the young men from the squares.”

Speak! Thus says the L ord:

“Human corpses shall fall

like dung upon the open field,

like sheaves behind the reaper,

and no one shall gather them.”

²³ Thus says the L ord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; ²⁴but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the L ord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the L ord.

²⁵ The days are surely coming, says the L ord, when I will attend to all those who are circumcised only in the foreskin: ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Prophet here introduces God as the speaker, that the Jews might know that they had not to do with mortal man. For they might, according to their usual perverseness, have raised this objection, “Thou indeed severely condemnest us, and treatest us reproachfully; but who has made thee our judge?” Lest then they should think that the words which he had hitherto declared, were the words of man, he interposes the authority of God, Thou, he says, dwellest in the midst of a deceitful people

But we must observe that this admonition to the Prophet was necessary for two reasons. For when God searches the minds and hearts of men by his word, ministers of the word are necessary to exercise this jurisdiction, men endued with wisdom, understanding, and prudence. The word, says the apostle, is like a two — edged sword, or it is one that cuts on both sides, for it penetrates into the hearts and thoughts of man and into their very marrow. (Hebrews 4:12.) We also know what Paul says,

“When an unbeliever comes into your assembly, his conscience is searched; so that he will be constrained to fall down and to give glory to God.” (1 Corinthians 14:24, 25.)

To the same purpose is this saying of Christ,

“When the Spirit is come, He will judge the world,”
(John 16:8)

for by the Spirit He means the preaching of the Gospel. It is then necessary that the ministers of the word, in order that they may faithfully and profitably perform their office, should be taught to understand the deceits and subterfuges by which men are wont to deceive. As then there are many hidden things in the hearts of men, he who would effectually teach must know that the innermost recesses of the heart must be probed and searched. The Prophet had heard from God that the people, over whom He was appointed, were fallacious and filled with guiles and frauds: Thou, He says, dwellest in the midst of a deceitful people; as though he had said, “Thou hast to do with dishonest men, who not only openly betray their wickedness, but also deceive when they pretend any repentance or profess obedience to God: that they may not therefore weaken or cajole thy resolution by their deceptions, settle it in thy mind that thou wilt have to contend with their wiles.” This is one reason.

There is another reason; for as God’s servants ought to know their wiles, which they are bidden to reprove, so there is need of courage and perseverance, lest hypocrisy should dishearten them: for such a thought as this may occur to the minds of God’s servants, “What shall I do? for hidden to me are the thoughts of men: now the truth ought to penetrate into the whole soul; but I know not what lies hid within in any one.” Thus pious teachers might be weakened in their efforts and disheartened, or wholly discouraged, unless God supported them. It was then for this reason that Jeremiah was expressly told, that He had to do with a deceitful and false people. ²³⁹²³⁹     Houbigant, Horsley, and Venema have suggested emendations as to this verse, derived in some measure from the Septuagint. A part of the first word, שבתך, is connected by the Septuagint with the former verse; for it is divided into שב and תך As to this division the preceding authors agree; but they differ as to the construction, though mainly the same in sense. The most probable is that of Venema, for he only divides the word, and gives this version,
   Burst forth does robbery upon robbery, deceit, on deceit;
They refuse to know me, saith Jehovah.
   Burst forth, or boil — exoestuat, is certainly not the meaning of שב which signifies to return, to turn, to restore, etc. Then the rendering would be,
   Return does guile for guile, deceit for deceit.
   The first word is rendered “usury — τόκος” by the Septuagint, but תך means guile or fraud. See Psalm 10:7; Psalm 55:12; Psalm 72:14. The meaning is, that their dishonest dealings were reciprocal: the cheats cheated one another.
   Our version agrees with the Vulgate and the Syriac, and is adopted by Blayney: and he concludes from the end of this verse, that the speaker from the 2d verse is not the Prophet, but God; who, adopting the language of man, intimates his wish to leave a people so wicked. But this conclusion is not necessary; for the prophets often introduce sentences of this kind. — Ed.

He afterwards adds, Through guile they refuse to know me God had before complained, that he was not known by the people; but he now exaggerates their crime by saying, that they craftily evaded every light, as though he had said, that they could not plead ignorance or any levity; for through guile, says God, they refuse to know me. As they wholly flattered themselves with deceptions, they designedly extinguished, as far as they could, the light. By guile then he means that obstinate craftiness by which the people cast aside every instruction. It afterwards follows —

²³⁹ Houbigant, Horsley, and Venema have suggested emendations as to this verse, derived in some measure from the Septuagint. A part of the first word, שבתך, is connected by the Septuagint with the former verse; for it is divided into שב and תך As to this division the preceding authors agree; but they differ as to the construction, though mainly the same in sense. The most probable is that of Venema, for he only divides the word, and gives this version, Burst forth does robbery upon robbery, deceit, on deceit; They refuse to know me, saith Jehovah. Burst forth, or boil — exoestuat, is certainly not the meaning of שב which signifies to return, to turn, to restore, etc. Then the rendering would be, Return does guile for guile, deceit for deceit. The first word is rendered “usury — τόκος” by the Septuagint, but תך means guile or fraud. See Psalm 10:7; Psalm 55:12; Psalm 72:14. The meaning is, that their dishonest dealings were reciprocal: the cheats cheated one another. Our version agrees with the Vulgate and the Syriac, and is adopted by Blayney: and he concludes from the end of this verse, that the speaker from the 2d verse is not the Prophet, but God; who, adopting the language of man, intimates his wish to leave a people so wicked. But this conclusion is not necessary; for the prophets often introduce sentences of this kind. — Ed.