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Jeremiah 9

KJV · Chapter 9/52

1Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

3And they bend their tongues like their bow for 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.

4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

6Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.

7Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.

9Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10For the 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 are fled; they are gone.

11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

12Who is the 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?

13And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

15Therefore 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 gall to drink.

16I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.

17Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:

18And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

20Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

21For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.

22Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

23Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

25Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;

26Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jeremiah wishes he had a fountain of tears to weep for his people, denounces the widespread deceit among neighbors and brothers, and declares that true pride should be found in knowing God, not in wisdom, strength, or riches.

Explanation

Jeremiah is known as 'the weeping prophet,' and this chapter shows exactly why — he genuinely grieves over the situation of the people he must announce judgment on. The observation that 'everyone deceives his neighbor' and 'no one speaks the truth' describes a society where basic trust between people had already broken down. The verse about not boasting in wisdom, strength, or riches, but in knowing God, is quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:31, showing how this principle runs throughout Scripture: the true worth of a life lies not in what is accumulated, but in whom one knows.

Fun facts

  • Verses 23-24, about not boasting in wisdom, might, or riches, are directly quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:31 and 2 Corinthians 10:17.
  • Professional mourners, women hired to weep at funerals, were a documented practice throughout the ancient Near East, mentioned here as part of the expected national mourning.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jeremiah 9:1This is the verse that earned Jeremiah the nickname the weeping prophet: he does not speak about the judgment from a distance. He weeps right along with it, like someone who has lost his own family.
  2. Jeremiah 9:2Still in a weeping voice, Jeremiah dreams of fleeing to the wilderness, far from everyone - worn out by the widespread betrayal he sees in his own people.
  3. Jeremiah 9:3God describes the people's lying as a weapon wielded with an archer's precision - malice has become a habit, and behind it lies the root of the problem: they do not truly know God.
  4. Jeremiah 9:4The distrust reaches the point of warning people not to trust even their own brother. It shows how much lying and betrayal had corroded society's most basic bonds, not just the relationship with God.
  5. Jeremiah 9:5The distrust from the previous verse is explained here: lying has become something practiced, almost a cultivated skill, to the point that no one can trust anyone anymore.
  6. Jeremiah 9:6God sums up that the very environment the people live in is built on deceit - and this widespread lying is also what keeps them from truly recognizing Him.
  7. Jeremiah 9:7God announces He will test the people like someone refining metal in fire - not out of pleasure in punishing, but because, faced with so much corruption, He sees no other way.
  8. Jeremiah 9:8Describes social hypocrisy: people speak well of one another to their faces, but inside they are setting ambushes - the pleasant words hide the intent to do harm.
  9. Jeremiah 9:9Once again the same rhetorical question that has already appeared earlier in the book: faced with so much wickedness, God's judgment is not a whim, it is an unavoidable response.
  10. Jeremiah 9:10Describes a land so destroyed that not even the animals remain - hills and pastures turned into a silent wilderness, with no livestock, no people, not even birds passing by.
  11. Jeremiah 9:11Announces that the capital, Jerusalem, will become total ruin, a place so abandoned that only jackals will remain living among the stones.
  12. Jeremiah 9:12God challenges any wise man to explain why the land will be destroyed - the answer comes next: it is no mystery, it is the consequence of abandoning God's law.
  13. Jeremiah 9:13The answer to the previous question: the destruction of the land is not random, it comes from the people having abandoned the law God clearly gave them.
  14. Jeremiah 9:14Points out that idolatry did not appear out of nowhere: it was taught generation after generation, passed down from parents to children like a corrupted family tradition.
  15. Jeremiah 9:15Wormwood and gall are symbols of extreme bitterness. God announces that the punishment will taste exactly like the bitterness the people spread through their unfaithfulness.
  16. Jeremiah 9:16Confirms exile as part of the punishment: the people will be scattered among nations they do not even know, far from home, pursued there by war.
  17. Jeremiah 9:17The mourning women were professional women hired to weep at funerals. God summons this professional mourning because the coming tragedy will be too great for ordinary grief.
  18. Jeremiah 9:18The request is urgent: let the mourning women come quickly, because the weeping will be so great that the people's own eyes will dissolve in tears.
  19. Jeremiah 9:19It is the voice of the people themselves, already in tears, acknowledging the loss of the land and their homes - the mourning stops being only a prediction and becomes something actually lived.
  20. Jeremiah 9:20God addresses the women specifically, traditionally responsible for teaching songs of lament, asking them to pass this skill on, because it will be badly needed.
  21. Jeremiah 9:21A powerful image: death is personified as an invader entering through the windows of houses, reaching even children playing in the street - no one is safe, not even at home.
  22. Jeremiah 9:22Compares the bodies scattered across the field after the war to leftover harvest that no one bothers to gather - an image of mass death and total dishonor.
  23. Jeremiah 9:23Wisdom, strength, and riches were the three classic sources of human pride in ancient culture; Jeremiah says none of them is worth anything next to truly knowing God. A verse Paul quotes centuries later in 1 Corinthians 1:31.
  24. Jeremiah 9:24After saying wisdom, strength, and riches are worthless as sources of pride, God points to the one valid reason: truly knowing Him and understanding how He acts with kindness and justice.
  25. Jeremiah 9:25God announces that the judgment will spare no one based only on a physical ritual like circumcision - a warning that sets up the contrast in the next verse.
  26. Jeremiah 9:26Lists neighboring nations that also practiced physical circumcision, but God turns the argument around: the rite on the body means nothing if Judah's heart remains just as unfeeling as that of the pagans.

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