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.

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.

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.

9:4  "Beware of your friends;
do not trust your brothers.
For every brother is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.

9:5  Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.

9:6  You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,"
declares the LORD.

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?

9:8  Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks with deceit.
With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor,
but in his heart he sets a trap for him.

9:9  Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?"

9:10  I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures.
They are desolate and untraveled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds of the air have fled
and the animals are gone.

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."

9:12  What man 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?

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.

9:14  Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."

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.

9:16  I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have destroyed them."

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.

9:18  Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.

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.' "

9:20  Now, O 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.

9:21  Death has climbed in through our windows
and has entered our fortresses;
it has cut off the children from the streets
and the young men from the public squares.

9:22  Say, "This is what the LORD declares:
" 'The dead bodies of men will lie
like refuse on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.' "

9:23  This is what the LORD says:
"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,

9:24  but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the LORD.

9:25  "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-

9:26  Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."