Jeremiah 9:1-10

1 I wish my head were a spring of water! I wish my eyes were a fountain of tears! I would sob day and night over my people who have been killed.

2 I wish I had somewhere to go in the desert where a traveler could stay! Then I could leave my people. I could get away from them. All of them commit adultery by worshiping other gods. They aren't faithful to the Lord.

3 "They get ready to use their tongues like bows," announces the Lord. "Their mouths shoot out lies like arrows. They tell lies to gain power in the land. They go from one sin to another. They do not pay any attention to me.

4 Be on guard against your friends. Do not trust the members of your own family. Every one of them cheats. Every friend tells lies.

5 One friend cheats another. No one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues how to lie. They wear themselves out sinning.

6 Jeremiah, you live among people who tell lies. When they lie, they refuse to pay any attention to me," announces the Lord.

7 So the LORD who rules over all says, "I will put them through the fire to test them. What else can I do? My people are so sinful!

8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They tell lies. With their mouths all of them speak kindly to their neighbors. But in their hearts they set traps for them.

9 Shouldn't I punish them for that?" announces the Lord. "Shouldn't I pay back the nation that does those things?"

10 I will cry and sob over the fields in the hills. I will sing a song of sadness about the desert grasslands. They are dry and empty. No one travels through them. The mooing of cattle isn't heard there. The birds of the air have flown away. All of the animals are gone.

Jeremiah 9:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

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.