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."