Jeremias 9

¹ O that my head wereThe prophet shows the great compassion that he had toward this people, seeing that he could never sufficiently lament the destruction that he saw to hang over them, which is a special note to discern the true pastors from the hirelings. {{See Jer_4:19}}waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

² O that I had in the wilderness aHe shows that there was more peace and greater safety for him to dwell among the wild beasts than among this wicked people except that God has given him this charge.lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they [are] allUtterly turned from God.adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

³ And they bend their tongues [like] their bow [for]To belie and slander their neighbours.lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

⁴ Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in anyMeaning, that all were corrupt, and none could find an honest man.brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

⁵ And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: theyThey have so practised deceit, that they cannot forsake it.have taught their tongue to speak lies, [and] weary themselves to commit iniquity.

⁶ Thy habitation [is] in the midst of deceit;They would rather have forsaken God than left their wicked trade.through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

⁷ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I willWith the fire of affliction.melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

⁸ Their tongue is as an arow shot out, and speaketh deceite: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart hee layeth waite for him.

⁹ Shal I not visit them for these things, saith the Lorde? Or shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰ For theSignifying that all the places about Jerusalem would be destroyed.mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone.

¹¹ And I wil make Ierusalem an heape, and a den of dragons, & I will make the cities of Iudah waste, without an inhabitant.

¹² Who [is] theMeaning that they are all without sense and understanding and that God has taken his spirit from them.wise man, that may understand this? and [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth [and] is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

¹³ And the Lorde sayeth, Because they haue forsaken my Lawe, which I set before them, and haue not obeyed my voice, neither walked thereafter,

¹⁴ But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, whichHe shows that the children cannot excuse themselves by their fathers: for both father and child if they are wicked will perish.their fathers taught them:

¹⁵ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gallRead (Jer_8:14).to drink.

¹⁶ I wil scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers haue knowen, and I will send a sworde after them, til I haue consumed them.

¹⁷ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call forSeeing you cannot lament your own sins, call for those foolish women, whom of a superstition you have to lament for the dead, that they by their feigned tears may provoke you to some sorrow.the skilful women, that they may come; and send for skilful [women], that they may come:

¹⁸ And let them make haste, & let them take vp a lamentation for vs, that our eyes may cast out teares & our eye liddes gush out of water.

¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we laid waste! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellingsAs though they were weary of us, because of our iniquities, (Lev_18:28, Lev_20:22).have cast [us] out.

²⁰ Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, andHe derides the superstition of the women who made an art of mourning, and taught to weep with feigned tears.teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

²¹ For death hath come up into ourSignifying that there is no means to deliver the wicked from God's judgments: but when they think to be most sure, and most far off, then they are soonest taken.windows, [and] hath entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from the streets.

²² Speake, thus sayth the Lorde, The carkeises of men shall lye, euen as the doung vpon the fielde, and as the handfull after the mower, and none shal gather them.

²³ Thus saith the LORD, Let not theAs none can save himself by his own labour, or any worldly means, he shows that it is vain to put our trust in it, but that we trust in the Lord, and rejoice in him, who only can deliver.wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

²⁴ But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD whoThese three points are necessary to know correctly his mercy, in which consists our salvation: his judgment, which he executes continually against the wicked, and his justice, by which he defends and maintains the faithful.exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.

²⁵ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all [them who are]Meaning, both Jews and Gentiles, as in this next verse he shows the cause, (Jer_4:4).circumcised with the uncircumcised;

²⁶ Egypt and Iudah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all the vtmost corners of them that dwell in the wildernesse: for all these nations are vncircumcised, & al the house of Israel are vncircumcised in the heart.