Lockman - Bible questions and answers

		Jer 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!
		Jer 9:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness A lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men, That I might leave my people And go away from them! For they are all adulterers [worshiping idols instead of the LORD], [They are] an assembly of treacherous men [of weak character, men without integrity].
		Jer 9:3 "They bend their tongue like their bow; [Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me," says the LORD.
		Jer 9:4 "Let everyone beware of his neighbor And do not trust any brother. For every brother is a supplanter [like Jacob, a deceiver, ready to grab his brother's heel], And every neighbor goes around as a slanderer. [Gen 25:26]
		Jer 9:5 "Everyone deceives and mocks his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They exhaust themselves with sin and cruelty.
		Jer 9:6 "Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me," says the LORD.
		Jer 9:7 ¶ Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I will refine them [through suffering] and test them; For how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?
		Jer 9:8 "Their tongue is a murderous arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But in his heart he lays traps and waits in ambush for him.
		Jer 9:9 "Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall I not avenge Myself On such a nation as this?
		Jer 9:10 ¶ "I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness, Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them]; Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
		Jer 9:11 "I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, A haunt and dwelling place of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."
		Jer 9:12 ¶ Who is the wise man who may understand this [without any doubt]? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
		Jer 9:13 The LORD said, "Because they have turned away from My law which I set before them, and have not listened to and obeyed My voice nor walked in accordance with it,
		Jer 9:14 but have walked stubbornly after their [own] heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,"
		Jer 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 bitter and poisonous water to drink.
		Jer 9:16 "I will [also] scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them."
		Jer 9:17 ¶ Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women to come; Send for the wailing women to come.
		Jer 9:18 "Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may shed tears And our eyelids flow with water.
		Jer 9:19 "For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] from Zion: 'How we are ruined! We are greatly perplexed and utterly shamed, Because we have left the land, Because they have torn down our dwellings.'"
		Jer 9:20 Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women, And let your ear hear the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters a song of mourning, And each one [teach] her neighbor a dirge.
		Jer 9:21 For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces, Cutting off the children from the streets And the young men from the town squares.
		Jer 9:22 Speak, "Thus says the LORD, 'The dead bodies of men will fall like dung on the open field, And like sheaves [of grain] behind the reaper, And no one will gather them.'" [Jer 8:2]
		Jer 9:23 ¶ Thus says the LORD, "Let not the one who is wise and skillful boast in his insight; let not the one who is mighty and powerful boast in his strength; let not the one who is rich boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] abundance;
		Jer 9:24 but let the one who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me [and acknowledges Me and honors Me as God and recognizes without any doubt], that I am the LORD who practices lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight," says the LORD. [1 Cor 1:31; 2 Cor 10:17]
		Jer 9:25 ¶ "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised [physically] and yet uncircumcised [spiritually]-- [Rom 2:25-29]
		Jer 9:26 Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those who live in the desert who clip off the hair on their temples; for all these nations are uncircumcised (sinful, impure), and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."

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