Jeremías 9

1 ¡Ojalá mi cabeza fuera un manantial,y mis ojos una fuente de lágrimas,para llorar de día y de nochepor los muertos de mi pueblo!

2 ¡Ojalá tuviera yo en el desiertouna posada junto al camino!Abandonaría a mi pueblo,y me alejaría de ellos.Porque todos ellos son adúlteros,son una banda de traidores.

3 «Tensan su lengua como un arco;en el país prevalece la mentira, no la verdad,porque van de mal en peor,y a mí no me conocen—afirma el SEÑOR—.

4 Cuídese cada uno de su amigo,no confíe ni siquiera en el hermano,porque todo hermano engaña,y todo amigo difama.

5 Se engañan unos a otros;no se hablan con la verdad.Han enseñado sus lenguas a mentir,y pecan hasta el cansancio.

6 »Tú, Jeremías, vives en medio de engañadores,que por su engaño no quieren reconocerme»,afirma el SEÑOR.

7 Por eso, así dice el SEÑORTodopoderoso:«Voy a refinarlos, a ponerlos a prueba.¿Qué más puedo hacer con mi pueblo?

8 Su lengua es una flecha mortífera,su boca solo sabe engañar;hablan cordialmente con su amigo,mientras en su interior le tienden una trampa.

9 ¿Y no los he de castigar por esto?—afirma el SEÑOR—.¿Acaso no he de vengarme de semejante nación?»

10 Lloraré y gemiré por las montañas,haré lamentos por las praderas del desierto,porque están desoladas:ya nadie las transitani se escuchan los mugidos del ganado.Desde las aves del cielo hasta los animales del campo,todos han huido.

11 «Convertiré a Jerusalén en un montón de ruinas,en una guarida de chacales.Convertiré en desolación las ciudades de Judá;¡las dejaré sin habitantes!»

12 ¿Quién es tan sabio como para entender esto? ¿A quién le habló el SEÑOR, para que lo anuncie? ¿Por qué está arruinado el país, desolado como un desierto por el que nadie pasa?

13 El SEÑOR dice: «Ellos abandonaron la ley que yo les entregué; no me obedecieron ni vivieron conforme a ella.

14 Siguieron la terquedad de su corazón; se fueron tras los baales, como les habían enseñado sus antepasados».

15 Por eso, así dice el SEÑOR Todopoderoso, el Dios de Israel: «A este pueblo le daré a comer ajenjo y a beber agua envenenada.

16 Los dispersaré entre naciones que ni ellos ni sus antepasados conocieron; los perseguiré con espada hasta aniquilarlos».

17 Así dice el SEÑOR Todopoderoso:«¡Atención! Llamen a las plañideras.Que vengan las más expertas.

18 Que se den prisa,que hagan lamentación por nosotros.Nuestros ojos se inundarán de lágrimas,y brotará de nuestros párpados el llanto.

19 Desde Sión se escuchan gemidos y lamentos:“Hemos sido devastados;nos han avergonzado por completo.Tenemos que abandonar el país,porque han derribado nuestros hogares”».

20 Escuchen, mujeres, la palabra del SEÑOR;reciban sus oídos la palabra de su boca.Enseñen a sus hijas a entonar endechas;que unas a otras se enseñen este lamento:

21 «La muerte se ha metido por nuestras ventanas,ha entrado en nuestros palacios;ha eliminado en las calles a los niños,y en las plazas a los jóvenes.

22 Yacen tendidos los cadáverescomo estiércol sobre los campos,como gavillas que caen tras el segador,sin que nadie las recoja»,afirma el SEÑOR.

23 Así dice el SEÑOR:«Que no se gloríe el sabio de su sabiduría,ni el poderoso de su poder,ni el rico de su riqueza.

24 Si alguien ha de gloriarse,que se gloríe de conocermey de comprender que yo soy el SEÑOR,que actúo en la tierra con amor,con derecho y justicia,pues es lo que a mí me agrada—afirma el SEÑOR—.

25 »Vienen días —afirma el SEÑOR— en que castigaré al que haya sido circuncidado solo del prepucio:

26 castigaré a Egipto, Judá, Edom, Amón, Moab, y a todos los que viven en el desierto y se rapan las sienes. Todas las naciones son incircuncisas, pero el pueblo de Israel es incircunciso de corazón».

Jeremías 9 Commentary

Chapter 9

The people are corrected, Jerusalem is destroyed. (1-11) The captives suffer in a foreign land. (12-22) God's loving-kindness, He threatens the enemies of his people. (23-26)

Verses 1-11 Jeremiah wept much, yet wished he could weep more, that he might rouse the people to a due sense of the hand of God. But even the desert, without communion with God, through Christ Jesus, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, must be a place for temptation and evil; while, with these blessings, we may live in holiness in crowded cities. The people accustomed their tongues to lies. So false were they, that a brother could not be trusted. In trading and bargaining they said any thing for their own advantage, though they knew it to be false. But God marked their sin. Where no knowledge of God is, what good can be expected? He has many ways of turning a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein.

Verses 12-22 In Zion the voice of joy and praise used to be heard, while the people kept close to God; but sin has altered the sound, it is now the voice of lamentation. Unhumbled hearts lament their calamity, but not their sin, which is the cause of it. Let the doors be shut ever so fast, death steals upon us. It enters the palaces of princes and great men, though stately, strongly built, and guarded. Nor are those more safe that are abroad; death cuts off even the children from without, and the young men from the streets. Hearken to the word of the Lord, and mourn with godly sorrow. This alone can bring true comfort; and it can turn the heaviest afflictions into precious mercies.

Verses 23-26 In this world of sin and sorrow, ending soon in death and judgement, how foolish for men to glory in their knowledge, health, strength, riches, or in any thing which leaves them under the dominion of sin and the wrath of God! and of which an account must hereafter be rendered; it will but increase their misery. Those are the true Israel who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Let us prize the distinction which comes from God, and will last for ever. Let us seek it diligently.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 9

This chapter is a continuation of the judgments of God upon the Jews for their sins and transgressions herein mentioned; illustrated by the lamentation of the prophet; by calling for the mourning women, and upon other women that had lost their husbands or children, with an intimation that none of any rank and class should escape. The prophet is introduced mourning over the destruction of his people, Jer 9:1, and as uneasy at his stay with them, because of their uncleanness, treachery, lying, unfaithfulness, and deceit, Jer 9:2-6, wherefore the Lord threatens to melt and try them; and for their deceitfulness particularly to visit them, and avenge himself on them, Jer 9:7-9, the destruction is described by the desolation of the mountains and habitations of the wilderness; they being so burnt up, that there were neither grass upon them, nor beasts nor birds to be seen or heard about them; and of Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, so that there was no inhabitant in them, Jer 9:10,11, upon which a wise man is inquired after, to give the true reason of all this, Jer 9:12 but none appearing, the Lord gives it himself; which were their disobedience to his law, and their worship of idols, following the imagination of their own hearts, Jer 9:13,14 wherefore they are threatened to be fed with wormwood and gall; to be scattered among the nations, and a sword sent after them to their utter consumption, Jer 9:15,16, hence, for the certainty of it, mourning women are ordered to be called for in haste, to assist them in their mourning, on account of their distress, Jer 9:17-19, and such as were mothers of children are bid to teach their daughters and neighbours lamentation, because of the children and young men cut off by death, and for the carcasses of men that should fall as dung in the field, and as the handful after the harvestman, Jer 9:20-22, and it is suggested that none should escape; not the wise man by any art or cunning he was master of; nor the strong man by his strength; nor the rich man by his riches; and therefore ought not either of them to glory in these things, but in the Lord, as exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, Jer 9:23,24, and the chapter is concluded with a strong asseveration, that the wicked, both circumcised and uncircumcised, should be punished, Jer 9:25,26.