Olive Tree Bible App

Jeremiah 9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Grief over Zion

9 ^[a]^(A)Oh, that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For those slain of the ^(B)daughter of my people!
²^[b]^(C)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place;
So that I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For all of them are ^(D)adulterers,
An assembly of ^(E)treacherous people.
³“They ^(F)bend their tongues like their bows;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they ^(G)proceed from evil to evil,
And they ^(H)do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
⁴“Let everyone ^(I)be on guard against his neighbor,
And ^(J)do not trust any brother;
Because every ^(K)brother utterly ^[c]betrays,
And every neighbor ^(L)goes about as a slanderer.
⁵Everyone ^(M)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They ^(N)weary themselves committing wrongdoing.
⁶Your ^(O)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they ^(P)refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says:

“Behold, I will refine them and ^(Q)put them to the test;
For ^(R)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
⁸Their ^(S)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one ^(T)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he ^(U)sets an ambush for him.
⁹^(V)Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

¹⁰“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the ^(W)mountains,
And for the pastures of the ^(X)wilderness a song of mourning,
Because they are ^(Y)laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the sound of the livestock is not heard;
Both the ^(Z)birds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.
¹¹I will make Jerusalem a ^(AA)heap of ruins,
A haunt of ^(AB)jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a ^(AC)desolation without inhabitant.”

¹²Who is the ^(AD)wise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom ^(AE)the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? ^(AF)Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through? ¹³The Lord said, “Because they have ^(AG)abandoned My Law which I put before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, ¹⁴but have ^(AH)followed the stubbornness of their heart and the ^(AI)Baals, ^[d]as their ^(AJ)fathers taught them,” ¹⁵therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, ^(AK)I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them ^(AL)poisoned water to drink. ¹⁶I will also ^(AM)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^(AN)sword after them until I have put an end to them.”

¹⁷This is what the Lord of armies says:

“Consider and call for the ^(AO)mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the ^[e]^(AP)skillful women, that they may come!
¹⁸Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us,
So that our ^(AQ)eyes may shed tears,
And our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹For a voice of ^(AR)wailing is heard from Zion:
‘^(AS)How devastated we are!
We are put to great shame,
For we have ^(AT)abandoned the land
Because they have torn down our homes.’”
²⁰Now hear the word of the Lord, you ^(AU)women,
And let your ears receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.
²¹For ^(AV)death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To eliminate the ^(AW)children from the streets,
The young men from the public squares.
²²Speak, “This is what the Lord says:
‘The corpses of people will fall ^(AX)like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them.’”

²³This is what the Lord says: “^(AY)Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the ^(AZ)mighty man boast of his might, nor a ^(BA)rich man boast of his riches; ²⁴but let the one who boasts ^(BB)boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who ^(BC)exercises ^[f]mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I ^(BD)delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^(BE)uncircumcised— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(BF)all those inhabiting the desert who trim the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(BG)uncircumcised of heart.”

New American Standard Bible (NASB)