September 28 – Jeremiah 9 and 10 from the Old Testament

Jeremiah 9 and 10 –

9:1 (8:23) I wish that my head were a well full of water

and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!

If they were, I could cry day and night

for those of my dear people who have been killed.

9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert

where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.

Then I would desert my people

and walk away from them

because they are all unfaithful to God,

a congregation of people that has been disloyal to him.

The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them

9:3 The Lord says,

“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies.

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means.

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another

and do not pay attention to me.

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives.

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him.

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

9:5 One friend deceives another

and no one tells the truth.

These people have trained themselves to tell lies.

They do wrong and are unable to repent.

9:6 They do one act of violence after another,

and one deceitful thing after another.

They refuse to pay attention to me,”

says the Lord.

 

9:7 Therefore the Lord who rules over all says,

“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction and test them.

The wickedness of my dear people has left me no choice.

What else can I do?

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows.

They are always telling lies.

Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.

But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.

9:9 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord.

“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!”

The Coming Destruction Calls For Mourning

9:10 I said,

“I will weep and mourn for the grasslands on the mountains,

I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness

because they are so scorched no one travels through them.

The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.

Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields

have fled and are gone.”

9:11 The Lord said,

“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there.

I will destroy the towns of Judah

so that no one will be able to live in them.”

9:12 I said,

“Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened?

Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it?

Why does the land lie in ruins?

Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

 

9:13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws. 9:14 Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to the gods called Baal, as their fathers taught them to do. 9:15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, say. ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. 9:16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords until I have destroyed them.’”

 

9:17 The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people,

“Take note of what I say.

Call for the women who mourn for the dead!

Summon those who are the most skilled at it!”

9:18 I said, “Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us.

Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes

and our eyelids overflow with water.

9:19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.

They will wail, ‘We are utterly ruined! We are completely disgraced!

For our houses have been torn down

and we must leave our land.’”

9:20 I said,

“So now, you wailing women, hear what the Lord says.

Open your ears to the words from his mouth.

Teach your daughters this mournful song,

and each of you teach your neighbor this lament.

9:21 ‘Death has climbed in through our windows.

It has entered into our fortified houses.

It has taken away our children who play in the streets.

It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’

9:22 Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says,

“The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere

like manure scattered on a field.

They will lie scattered on the ground

like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’”

9:23 The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful.

Rich people should not boast that they are rich.

9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:

They should boast that they understand and know me.

They should boast that they know and understand

that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth

and that I desire people to do these things,”

says the Lord.

 

9:25 The Lord says, “Watch out! The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. 9:26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. Moreover, none of the people of Israel are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.”

The Lord, not Idols, is the Only Worthy Object of Worship

10:1 You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

10:2 The Lord says,

“Do not start following pagan religious practices.

Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky

even though the nations hold them in awe.

10:3 For the religion of these people is worthless.

They cut down a tree in the forest,

and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.

10:4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold.

He uses hammer and nails to fasten it together

so that it will not fall over.

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.”

10:6 I said,

“There is no one like you, Lord.

You are great.

And you are renowned for your power.

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations,

because you deserve to be revered.

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings.

10:8 The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!

10:9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish

and gold is brought from Uphaz to cover those idols.

They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths.

They are clothed in blue and purple clothes.

They are all made by skillful workers.

10:10 The Lord is the only true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting King.

When he shows his anger the earth shakes.

None of the nations can stand up to his fury.

 

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens.’

10:12 The Lord is the one who by his power made the earth.

He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.

And by his understanding he spread out the skies.

10:13 When his voice thunders, the heavenly ocean roars.

He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.

He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.

He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.

10:14 All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham.

There is no breath in any of those idols.

10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked.

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

10:16 The Lord, who is the inheritance of Jacob’s descendants, is not like them.

He is the one who created everything.

And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own.

He is known as the Lord who rules over all.”

Jeremiah Laments for and Prays for the Soon-to-be-Judged People

10:17 Gather your belongings together and prepare to leave the land,

you people of Jerusalem who are being besieged.

10:18 For the Lord says, “I will now throw out

those who live in this land.

I will bring so much trouble on them

that they will actually feel it.”

10:19 And I cried out, “We are doomed!

Our wound is severe!

We once thought, ‘This is only an illness.

And we will be able to bear it!’

10:20 But our tents have been destroyed.

The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart.

Our children are gone and are not coming back.

There is no survivor to put our tents back up,

no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.

10:21 For our leaders are stupid.

They have not sought the Lord’s advice.

So they do not act wisely,

and the people they are responsible for have all been scattered.

10:22 Listen! News is coming even now.

The rumble of a great army is heard approaching from a land in the north.

It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,

places where only jackals live.

10:23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny.

It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.

10:24 Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure.

Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing.

10:25 Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you.

Vent it on the peoples who do not worship you.

For they have destroyed the people of Jacob.

They have completely destroyed them

and left their homeland in utter ruin.