Chapter 9

¹ Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? then would I weep for this my people day and night, even for the slain of the daughter of my people.

² Who would give me a most distant lodge in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, and depart from them? for they all commit adultery, an assembly of treacherous men. ³ And they have bent their tongue like a bow: falsehood and not faithfulness has prevailed upon the earth; for they have gone on from evil to evil, and have not known me, saith the Lord. ⁴ Beware ye each of his neighbour, and trust ye not in your brethren: for every one will surely supplant, and every friend will walk craftily. ⁵ Every one will mock his friend; they will not speak truth: their tongue has learned to speak falsehoods; they have committed iniquity, they ceased not, ¹so as to return. ⁶ There is usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, saith the Lord.

⁷ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will try them with fire, and prove them; for I will do thus because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people. ⁸ Their tongue is a wounding arrow; the words of their mouth are deceitful: one speaks peaceably to his neighbour, but in himself retains enmity. ⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this? ¹⁰ Take up a lamentation for the mountains, and a mournful dirge for the paths of the wilderness, for they are desolate for want of men; they heard not the sound of life from the birds of the sky, nor the cattle: they were amazed, they are gone. ¹¹ And I will remove the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and make it a dwelling-place of dragons; and I will utterly waste the cities of Juda, so that they shall not be inhabited.

¹² Who is the wise man, that he may understand this? and he that has the word of the mouth of the Lord addressed to him, let him tell you wherefore the land has been destroyed, has been ravaged by fire like a desert, so that no one passes through it. ¹³ And the Lord said to me, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not hearkened to my voice; ¹⁴ but went after the lusts of their evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them to worship: ¹⁵ therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink water of gall: ¹⁶ and I will scatter them among the nations, to them whom neither they nor their fathers knew; and I will send a sword upon them, until I have consumed them with it.

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¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord, Call ye the mourning women, and let them come; and send to the wise women, and let them utter their voice; ¹⁸ and let them take up a lamentation for you, and let your eyes pour down tears, and your eyelids drop water. ¹⁹ For a voice of lamentation has been heard in Sion, How are we become wretched! we are greatly ashamed, for we have forsaken the land, and have abandoned our tabernacles! ²⁰ Hear now, ye women, the word of God, and let your ears receive the words of his mouth, and teach your daughters lamentation, and every woman her neighbour a dirge. ²¹ For death has come up through your windows, it has entered into our land, to destroy the infants without, and the young men from the streets. ²² And the carcases of the men shall be for ²an example on the face of the field of your land, like grass after the ³mower, and there shall be none to gather them.

²³ Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his strength, and let not the rich man boast in his wealth; ²⁴ 1 Cor. 1. 31.but let him that boasts boast in this, the understanding and knowing that I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and righteousness, upon the earth; for in these things is my pleasure, saith the Lord.

²⁵ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will visit upon all the circumcised their ⁴uncircumcision; ²⁶ on Egypt, and on Idumea, and on Edom, and on the children of Ammon, and on the children of Moab, and on every one that shaves his face round about, even them that dwell in the wilderness; for all the Gentiles are uncircumcised in flesh, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts.