Jeremiah 9
9
1How I wish my head were a reservoir
that could weep a fountain of tears.
I would weep day and night
for my beloved ones who have been slain! # 9:1 Although the Hebrew has this verse in ch. 8, most modern translations have made it the first verse in ch. 9. The chapter break here is unfortunate, and this whole section of 8:18–9:2 should be read together.
2If only I had a shelter in the wilderness,
a place for weary travelers to spend the night.
Then I could leave my people
and go away from them
because they’re all unfaithful to God # 9:2 Or “they’re all [spiritual] adulterers.” Chapter 9 is the chapter of the brokenhearted prophet. Jeremiah went throughout the land, begging, preaching, pleading, and weeping over his people, imploring them to turn away from their sin and return to God, but to no avail. —
a company of corrupters.
Corruption
3Yahweh says:
“They shoot out lies with their tongues,
just as an archer uses a bow to shoot arrows.
Their lies have prevailed in the land,
but they are not faithful to Yahweh.
My people go from one evil thing to another
because they do not know my heart.
4Beware of your neighbor
and do not even trust your brother, # 9:4 See Matt. 10:36.
for every brother is a cheater, # 9:4 The Hebrew word for “cheater [deceiver]” is similar to that for “Jacob.” Jacob’s people are all like Jacob.
and every friend is a slanderer.
5They all are professional liars who lie to their neighbors.
They are completely dishonest,
and have trained their tongues to lie.
They weary themselves doing wrong. # 9:5 Or “and they will not quit sinning.”
6Jeremiah, you live surrounded by oppression,
deceit heaped upon deceit,
and the people refuse to intimately know me,” says Yahweh.
7Therefore, Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, says:
“Listen! I will refine my dear people by fire and test them
because of what they have done.
I have no other choice.
8Their words are deadly arrows poisoned with deceit.
Each one greets his neighbor with ‘Shalom,’
but deep in his heart, he secretly sets a trap for him.
9I, Yahweh, will hold them accountable for these things.
And I will take vengeance to punish a nation such as this.”
Lament over Judah and Jerusalem
10I will weep and wail for the mountains
and sing mournful songs for the pasturelands, # 9:10 Jeremiah is mourning over what has happened to his land as one would mourn over the death of a loved one.
for they are burned, with no one passing through.
No one hears the lowing of cattle;
birds and beasts of the field have fled—they are gone.
11“I, Yahweh, will turn Jerusalem into rubble,
a den of jackals.
And I will turn the cities of Judah into ghost towns where no one lives.”
12Why is the land burned and destroyed, left like an uninhabited wilderness? Who is wise enough to understand this? # 9:12 See Ps. 107:43; Eccl. 8:1; Hos. 14:9; 1 Cor. 1:20; James 3:13. Who is the prophet with a word from Yahweh to explain it?
13Yahweh himself supplies the answer: “Because they have rejected my laws, which I gave them, # 9:13 Or “my law I put before their faces.” they refused to live as I told them, and they have not listened to my voice. 14Instead, they stubbornly followed their hearts’ desires and chased after the Baals, just like their ancestors taught them. # 9:14 See Ex. 20:5. 15Therefore I, Yahweh, the God of Israel and Commander of Angel Armies, say to you:
“Look! I will feed them bitter wormwood,
and give them poisonous water to drink. # 9:15 “Bitter wormwood” and “poisonous water [water of gall]” are likely metaphors for bitter sufferings, afflictions, and pain they will bring upon themselves by their disobedience (see Jer. 2:19; Lam. 3:15, 19; Rev. 8:10–11).
16I will also scatter them among the nations.
They will live as exiles among people they and their fathers have never known.
I will send the sword after them
until I have made an end of them.”
Jerusalem Cries Out for Help
17Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, says: # 9:17 A few translations have not included this line, with some commentators in agreement, because they view Jeremiah as the speaker in vv. 16–18 instead of Yahweh. Others see three speakers in this passage: Yahweh in v. 16, Jeremiah in v. 17, and the people of Jerusalem in v. 18.
“Look around you and discern. Summon the wailing women.
Call for those most skilled at mourning. # 9:17 In the culture of that day, professional mourning women were paid to come to the side of grief-stricken families to mourn and chant their lament.
18Let them hurry and wail over us
that our eyes may overflow with tears
and our eyelids gush with water.
19For the voice of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘We are so ruined and shamed!
We have had to leave our land
because enemies have demolished our homes.’ ”
20Women, listen to the word of Yahweh
and take to heart the word he speaks.
Teach your daughters to mourn;
teach your neighbor a funeral song.
21For Death # 9:21 Death is personified in this verse. See Job 18:13; 28:22; Ps. 49:14; Hos. 13:14; Hab. 2:5; Rev. 6:8; 20:13–14. has crept in # 9:21 Or “come up.” Usually, death is seen as taking one down to the underworld; here it is coming up. through our windows,
forcing its way past our fortified defenses, # 9:21 Some commentators view this as an epidemic, sickness, or plague due to the siege of Jerusalem.
cutting down the child playing outside
and the young men in the streets.
22Tell everyone: “This is the prophecy of Yahweh:
‘Corpses will lie unburied like dung on the open field, # 9:22 See Ps. 79:3.
like stalks of grain after the reaper,
with no one to gather them up.’ ”
Our Only Boast
23Yahweh says:
“The wise must not boast # 9:23 Or “shine” or “praise.” in their wisdom, # 9:23 See 1 Cor. 1:18–31.
the mighty must not boast in their power, # 9:23 See Zech. 4:6.
and the wealthy must not boast in their riches. # 9:23 See Luke 12:15.
24If you’re going to boast, then boast about this:
that you understand my ways and know my heart, # 9:24 See Pss. 34:2; 105:3; Isa. 41:16; 2 Cor. 10:17.
and you know that I am Yahweh.
Let the wise boast in knowing how I demonstrate # 9:24 Or “create.”
infinite love, # 9:24 Or “loving-kindness,” “mercy,” “unfailing loyalty,” “grace,” or “favor.” true justice, and righteousness, # 9:24 See Ps. 85:8–13; Hos. 4:1, 6; 5:4; 6:6.
for these are the things that delight my heart,” # 9:24 See Mic. 6:8.
declares Yahweh.
25“Look,” Yahweh says, “the day is coming when I will punish all who are circumcised in the flesh only: 26the Egyptians, the people of Judah, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the tribes in the desert who shave their heads bald. The men in all those lands are uncircumcised. And the Israelites are just like them because their hearts are uncircumcised.” # 9:26 That is, they were disobedient to God and had broken the covenant that circumcision symbolized. See Rom. 2:25–29; 1 Cor. 7:19; Gal. 5:6; Phil. 3:2–3; Col. 2:11–12; 3:11.
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Jeremiah 9: TPT
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