-
9:1 Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! 9:2 O that I had in the desert A wayfarers' lodging place; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men. 9:3 "And they bend their tongue [like] their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me," declares the LORD. 9:4 "Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. 9:5 "And everyone deceives his neighbor, And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. 9:6 "Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD. 9:7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I will refine them and assay them; For what [else] can I do, because of the daughter of My people? 9:8 "Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him. 9:9 "Shall I not punish them for these things?" declares the LORD. "On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself? 9:10 "For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge, Because they are laid waste, so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone. 9:11 "And I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, A haunt of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant." 9:12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? And [who is] he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? 9:13 And the LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 9:14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them," 9:15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 9:16 "And I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them." 9:17 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the wailing women, that they may come! 9:18 "And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may shed tears, And our eyelids flow with water. 9:19 "For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, 'How are we ruined! We are put to great shame, For we have left the land, Because they have cast down our dwellings.'" 9:20 Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a dirge. 9:21 For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To cut off the children from the streets, The young men from the town squares. 9:22 Speak, "Thus declares the LORD, 'The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather [them].'" 9:23 Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 9:24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. 9:25 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised-- 9:26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart."