Jeremiah 9:3-26 - Judah's Failures
3
lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
for they proceed from one evil to another,
and they do not take Me into account.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
4
Don’t trust any brother,
for every brother will certainly deceive,
and every friend spread slander.
no one tells the truth.
They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they wear themselves out doing wrong.
In their deception they refuse to know Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:
for what else can I do
because of My dear
they speak deception.
With his mouth
a man speaks peaceably with his friend,
but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?
10
over the mountains,
a dirge over the wilderness grazing land,
for they have been so scorched
that no one passes through.
The sound of cattle is no longer heard.
From the birds of the sky to the animals,
everything has fled—they have gone away.
a jackals’ den.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.
12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned My instruction
17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
send for the skillful women.
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids soaked with weeping.
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
20
Pay attention to
Teach your daughters a lament
and one another a dirge,
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
22 Speak as follows:
This is what the Lord says:
like manure on the surface of the field,
like newly cut grain
with no one to gather it.
23 This is what the Lord says:
the strong man must not boast in his strength;
the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.
that he understands and knows Me
that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 “The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised: