Jer 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.
Jer 9:2 Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.
Jer 9:3 “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.
Jer 9:4 “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
Jer 9:5 Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.
Jer 9:6 You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.
Jer 9:7 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?
Jer 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them.
Jer 9:9 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”
Jer 9:10 I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone.
Jer 9:11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”
Jer 9:12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
Jer 9:13 The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.
Jer 9:14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”
Jer 9:15 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
Jer 9:16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”
Jer 9:17 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.
Jer 9:18 Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.
Jer 9:19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.'”
Jer 9:20 Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.
Jer 9:21 Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares.
Jer 9:22 Say, “This is what the LORD declares: “‘Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.'”
Jer 9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
Jer 9:24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
Jer 9:25 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
Jer 9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
1 Jeremiah laments the Jews for their manifold sins, 9 and for their judgment. 12 Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity. 17 He exhorts to mourn for their destruction, 23 and to trust not in themselves, but in God. 25 He threatens both Jews and Gentiles.
Jer 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.
Oh that my head. Logically this verse belongs to ch. 8 and is so placed in the Hebrew Bible. The language here has been appropriately called the poetry of suffering (see Isa. 22:4; Lam. 2:11; 3:48). The hopeless misery of Judah touched the prophet deeply, and he wept bitterly.
This verse is doubtless the source of the designation of Jeremiah as the “weeping prophet.” The depth of his feelings and the tenderness of his words remind us of Christ, who wept for the sins and the fate of His doomed people six centuries later (see Luke 19:41–44).
Jer 9:2 Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.
A lodging place. Life with the godless and corrupt men of Judah had become so intolerable that Jeremiah longed for the peace and quiet of a life of retirement in some desolate and lonely place (see Ps. 55:6–8).
Adulterers. Both literal and spiritual (see on chs. 2:20; 3:8, 9; 5:7, 8).
Jer 9:3 “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.
From evil to evil. There can be no standstill in evil. Sinners progress from one form of wickedness to another (see 2 Tim. 3:13).
Jer 9:4 “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
When a nation has departed from the basic principles of true religion, what restraint is there on the lives of the people? The result is an utter collapse of morality (see Micah 7:5, 6). As Jeremiah learned by bitter experience, no one could be trusted, not even those of his own household (see Jer. 12:6; cf. Matt. 10:36).
Jer 9:5 Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.
The people of Jeremiah’s day deceived not only their avowed enemies but their friends.
Taught their tongue. An intimation of the unnaturalness of their evil. The tongue must be trained in expertness at lying.
Weary themselves. Their ability to do evil is exceeded by their will and desire for it.
Jer 9:6 You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.
For v. 6 the LXX reads, “There is usury upon usury, deceit upon deceit; they did not wish to know me.”
Jer 9:7 Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?
I will refine. To remove the dross, God would put them through the furnace of affliction (see on Jer. 6:27–30; cf. Isa. 48:10). The object of the judgment was purification and not destruction (see Zech. 13:9; Mal. 3:3).
What else can I do? A question justifying the divine course of action (see Isa. 5:4). How else could God treat them under the circumstances?
Jer 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them.
An arrow shot out. Better, “a murderous arrow,” or “an arrow from a strong bow.” In v. 3 their tongue was likened to a bow. Here it is compared with a deadly arrow.
Jer 9:9 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”
Jer 9:10 I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone.
This and the following verses describe the sad desolation of the land and its cities, and the exile of its inhabitants.
Mountains. The hillside terraces, once cultivated and fruitful, would become barren.
Though once clothed with flocks, these would become so utterly wasted that even birds could not find subsistence.
Jer 9:11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”
Ruins consisting of rubbish and stones (see ch. 51:37).
Jer 9:12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
Who is the wise? Both sage and prophet are now challenged to give the cause of the national calamities (see ch. 8:8, 9).
“Why has the land been ruined and become a desolate wilderness?”
Jer 9:13 The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.
God Himself now gives the answer to the question posed in v. 12.
Law. Heb. torah, which is a broader term than the English “law.” Torah means “teaching,” “instruction,” and “direction,” and may be used also for the teachings of the prophets (see Jer. 18:18; 26:4, 5; see on Deut. 31:9; Prov. 3:1).
Jer 9:14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”
Instead of teaching them the laws of God (see Deut. 11:19), their fathers taught them to follow such gods as Baal of Peor (see Deut. 4:3), Baal-zebub of Ekron (2 Kings 1:2), and the Phoenician Baal (1 Kings 16:31, 32). See on Hosea 2:17.
Jer 9:15 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water
What is about to happen is pictured as having already taken place.
The bitter woes to which the people are about to be subjected are compared with this bitter, poisonous plant (see Jer. 23:15; cf. Deut. 29:18; Lam. 3:19).
Jer 9:16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.” .
Send a sword. Even in the land of exile there will be no rest and no safety (see chs. 42:16; 44:27).
Jer 9:17 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.
Mourning women. Heb. meqonnoth, literally, “women who chant a qinah [dirge]” (see on v. 10). When death entered a family, mourners were hired to bewail the loss. They emphasized their mournful lamentation by dishevelling their hair, rending their clothes, etc. (see 2 Chron. 35:25; Eccl. 12:5; Amos 5:16; Matt. 9:23; Mark 5:38). Jeremiah pictures the catastrophe to the nation as having taken place and suggests that the usual honours paid to the dead be carried out.
They ingeniously recounted the virtues of the deceased, and touched the tender chords in the hearts of the survivors (see ch. 22:18).
Jer 9:18 Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.
Jer 9:19 The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.'”
Must leave. Since this was not a voluntary departure.
The dwellings are represented as spewing out their wicked inhabitants (see Lev. 18:28; 20:22).
Jer 9:20 Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.
Teach your daughters. Because of the tremendous increase in the number of deaths (v. 21), the ordinary number of trained mourners would not suffice. It would be necessary for the present mourners to impart their skill to their daughters and neighbours
Jer 9:21 Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares.
Jer 9:22 Say, “This is what the LORD declares: “‘Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.'”
Like the swath of newly cut grain behind a reaper, the stricken would lie thickly, victims of the Grim Reaper. However, there is this difference. Grain was gathered. But these dead would be left where they fell or would be contemptuously trampled underfoot.
Jer 9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
The prophet now points out delusive objects of self-confident boasting. The human devices upon which the people prided themselves would be futile in the day of desolation.
Jer 9:24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
The truly wise ascribe praise to God alone, never to self (see on v. 23). The knowledge of God is the only true ground for glorying (see 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17). That man alone is truly wise in whose heart such knowledge is treasured, for it is life eternal (John 17:3).
This knowledge has an intellectual aspect involving the understanding. Man’s relationship to God has a reasonable and intelligent basis. It is no blind discipleship. Man is to serve God with all the mind (Matt. 22:37). But knowing God goes beyond a merely theoretical understanding. It is an experimental knowledge. It is practical. It manifests itself in walking in God’s ways (see Job 22:21; Jer. 22:16).
Lovingkindness. Heb. chesed, “divine love” (see Additional Note on Ps. 36). God desires that men become acquainted with His attributes.
Judgment. Heb. mishpat (see on Jer. 5:4; Ps. 119:7).
I delight. God takes pleasure in manifesting these moral attributes as well as in seeing them reflected in His children (see Micah 6:8; 7:18).
Jer 9:25 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
The outward sign as a mark of dedication to God was in and of itself of no value unless the heart also was dedicated.
Jer 9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
Egypt, and Judah, and Edom. The position of Judah between Egypt and Edom is a mark of degradation. Judah was uncircumcised in heart. Consequently that nation had no pre-eminence over the heathen in the sight of God, and could expect the judgments of God.