9:1  Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!

9:2  Oh that I had in the desert A wayfarers' lodging place; That I might leave my people And go from them! For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.

9:3  "They bend their tongue {like} their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me, declares the LORD."

9:4  "Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

9:5  "Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity.

9:6  "Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me, declares the LORD."

9:7  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I will refine them and assay them; For what {else} can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

9:8  "Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.

9:9  "Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. "On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?"

9:10  "For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge, Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

9:11  "I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, A haunt of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."

9:12  Who is the wise man that may understand this? And {who is} he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?

9:13  The LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,

9:14  but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,"

9:15  therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

9:16  "I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them."

9:17  Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the wailing women, that they may come!

9:18  "Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may shed tears And our eyelids flow with water.

9:19  "For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, `How are we ruined! We are put to great shame, For we have left the land, Because they have cast down our dwellings.'"

9:20  Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a dirge.

9:21  For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To cut off the children from the streets, The young men from the town squares.

9:22  Speak, "Thus says the LORD, `The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather {them.}'"

9:23  Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;

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

9:25  "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised--"

9:26  Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart."