Jeremiah 9; Jeremiah 10; Jeremiah 11

1 "I wish that my head were [filled with] water and my eyes were a fountain of tears so that I could cry day and night for my dear people who have been killed.

2 I wish I had a place to stay in the desert. I would abandon my people and go away from them. They are all adulterers, a mob of traitors.

3 They use their tongues like bows that shoot arrows. Lies and dishonesty rule the land. They go from one evil thing to another, and they don't know me," declares the LORD.

4 "Beware of your neighbors. Don't trust your relatives. Every relative cheats. Every neighbor goes around slandering.

5 Everyone cheats his neighbor. No one speaks the truth. My people train their tongues to speak lies. They wear themselves out doing wrong.

6 Oppression follows oppression. Deceit follows deceit. They refuse to acknowledge me," declares the LORD.

7 This is what the LORD of Armies says: I will now refine them with fire and test them. What else can I do for my dear people?

8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They speak deceitfully. People speak politely to their neighbors, but they think of ways to set traps for them.

9 I will punish them for these things, declares the LORD. I will punish this nation. I still won't be satisfied.

10 I will cry and weep for the mountains. I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness. They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them. No one can hear the sound of cattle. Birds and cattle have fled. They are gone.

11 I will turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, a home for jackals. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one can live there.

12 No one is wise enough to understand this. To whom has the LORD revealed this so that they can explain it? The land dies; it has been ruined like the desert so that no one can travel through it.

13 The LORD answered, "They've abandoned my teachings that I placed in front of them. They didn't obey me, and they didn't follow them.

14 They followed their own stubborn ways and other gods--the Baals, as their ancestors taught them."

15 This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am going to feed these people bitterness and give them poison to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations that they and their ancestors haven't heard of. I will send armies after them until I've wiped them out.

17 This is what the LORD of Armies says: Consider this: Call for the women who cry at funerals. Send for those who are the most skilled.

18 They should come quickly and cry for us. Our eyes will run with tears. Our eyelids will flow with water.

19 The sound of crying is heard from Zion. "We're ruined! We're very ashamed. We must leave our land because our homes have been torn down."

20 Listen to the word of the LORD, you women, and open your ears to hear his words. Teach your daughters how to cry. Teach your neighbors funeral songs.

21 Death has come through our windows and entered our palaces. Death has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the market places.

22 This is what the LORD says: Dead bodies will fall like manure on the field. They will be like grain that has been cut but not gathered.

23 This is what the LORD says: Don't let wise people brag about their wisdom. Don't let strong people brag about their strength. Don't let rich people brag about their riches.

24 If they want to brag, they should brag that they understand and know me. They should brag that I, the LORD, act out of love, righteousness, and justice on the earth. This kind of bragging pleases me, declares the LORD.

25 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised.

26 I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. I will punish all who shave the hair on their foreheads or live in the desert. Even though these nations are circumcised, all Israel has uncircumcised hearts."

1 Listen to the message that the LORD has spoken to you, nation of Israel.

2 This is what the LORD says: Don't learn the practices of the nations. Don't be frightened by the signs in the sky because the nations are frightened by them.

3 The religion of the people is worthless. Woodcutters cut down trees from the forest. The hands of craftsmen prepare them with axes.

4 Craftsmen decorate them with silver and gold and fasten them [together] with hammers and nails so that they won't fall over.

5 These trees are like scarecrows in cucumber gardens. They aren't able to speak. They have to be carried, because they can't walk. Don't be afraid of them. They can't harm you. They can't do you any good either.

6 No one is like you, O LORD. You are great. Your name is powerful.

7 Everyone fears you, O King of the Nations. This is what you deserve. No one is like you among all the wise people in the nations or in all their kingdoms.

8 They are complete idiots. They learn nonsense from wooden idols.

9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. Craftsmen and goldsmiths shape these metals. The clothing for the idols is blue and purple, all made by skilled workers.

10 But the LORD is the only God. He is the living God and eternal king. The earth trembles when he is angry. The nations can't endure his fury.

11 Tell them this: These gods will disappear from the earth and from under heaven because they didn't make heaven and earth.

12 The LORD made the earth by his power. He set up the world by his skill. He stretched out the world by his understanding.

13 He speaks, and the water in the sky produces a storm. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning flash with the rain. He brings wind out of his storehouses.

14 Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Metalsmiths are put to shame by their idols. Their statues are false [gods]. They can't breathe.

15 They are worthless jokes. When they are punished, they disappear.

16 Jacob's God isn't like them. He made everything, and Israel is the tribe that belongs to him. His name is the LORD of Armies.

17 Pick up your bags. You are being blockaded.

18 This is what the LORD says: I am going to throw out those who live in the land at this time and cause trouble for them so that they will feel it.

19 Oh, I'm wounded! My wound is serious. Then I thought that this is my punishment, and I will bear it.

20 My tent is destroyed, and all my ropes are broken. My children have left me and have disappeared. There's no one to set up my tent again or put up my tent curtains.

21 The shepherds are foolish. They don't look to the LORD for help. That is why they won't succeed, and all their flocks will be scattered.

22 The report has arrived. A tremendous uproar is coming from the land of the north. Its army will destroy Judah's cities and make them homes for jackals.

23 O LORD, I know that the way humans act is not under their control. Humans do not direct their steps as they walk.

24 Correct me, O LORD, but please be fair. Don't correct me when you're angry. Otherwise, you'll reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out your fury on the nations who don't know you and on people who don't worship you. They have devoured the descendants of Jacob. They have devoured them completely. They have destroyed their homes.

1 This is the message that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah. He said,

2 "Listen to the terms of this promise, and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem.

3 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who doesn't listen to the terms of this promise.

4 I made this promise to your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, which was an iron smelter. I said, "Obey me, and do everything that I have told you to do. Then you will be my people, and I will be your God.

5 I will keep the oath I made to your ancestors and give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the land you still have today."'" I answered, "Yes, LORD."

6 The LORD said to me, "Announce all these things in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the terms of this promise, and keep them.

7 I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, and the warning still applies to you today. I solemnly warned them to obey me.

8 But they didn't obey me or pay attention to me. They followed their own stubborn, evil ways. So I punished them, because they did not keep all the terms of the promise, the terms that I commanded them to keep."

9 The LORD said to me, "Conspiracy exists among the people of Judah and among those who live in Jerusalem.

10 They've gone back to the evil ways of their ancestors and refused to obey my words. They are following other gods and worshiping them. The nations of Israel and Judah have rejected the promise that I made to their ancestors.

11 This is what the LORD says: I'm going to bring a disaster on them that they can't escape. Although they will cry out to me, I won't listen to them.

12 Then the cities of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will cry to the gods to whom they've been sacrificing. But these gods will never rescue them when they're in trouble.

13 Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. You have set up many altars [in Jerusalem] to sacrifice to Baal. You have as many altars as there are streets in Jerusalem.

14 Jeremiah, don't pray for these people. Don't cry or pray for them. I won't listen when they call to me for help in times of trouble.

15 "What right do these people I love have to be in my house when they do so many devious things? Can the meat from their sacrifices turn disaster away from them? They rejoice when they do evil."

16 The LORD called you a large olive tree that has beautiful fruit to look at. He will set fire to you with a mighty storm, and your branches will be broken.

17 The LORD of Armies planted you. He has pronounced disaster on you. This is because of the evil things that Israel and Judah have done. They have made him furious by burning incense as an offering to Baal.

18 The LORD revealed their plot to me so that I would understand. He showed me what they were doing.

19 I was like a trusting lamb brought to the slaughter. I didn't know that they were plotting against me. They were saying, "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit. Let's cut Jeremiah off from this world of the living so that we won't be reminded of him anymore."

20 O LORD of Armies, you judge fairly and test motives and thoughts. I want to see you take revenge on them, because I've brought my case to you.

21 This is what the LORD says: The people of Anathoth want to kill you. They say, "Don't prophesy in the name of the LORD, or we'll kill you."

22 This is what the LORD of Armies says: I'm going to punish them. The young men will die because of war. Their sons and daughters will die because of famine.

23 I will bring a disaster on the people of Anathoth. It will be a year of punishment. There will be no survivors.