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9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? [1] [2] 10 Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them : for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even to the priest every one dealeth falsely. 11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. [3]
13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given to them shall pass away from them. 14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. [4] 15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! 16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell in it. [5] 17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. 18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. [6] 19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a distant country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities? [7] 20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? [8]

CHAP. 9.


O 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 O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And 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. 4 Take 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. [10] 5 And 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. [11] 6 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore 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? 8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he lieth in wait. [12] [13] 9 Shall I not punish them for these things ? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10 For 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 have fled; they are gone. [14] [15] [16] 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. [17]
12 Who 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? 13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked in it; 14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: [18] 15 Therefore 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. 16 I 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.

  1. The wise...: or, Have they been ashamed, etc
  2. what...: Heb. the wisdom of what thing
  3. I will...: or, In gathering I will consume
  4. gall: or, poison
  5. all...: Heb. the fulness thereof
  6. in: Heb. upon
  7. them...: Heb. the country of them that are far off
  8. recovered: Heb. gone up?
  9. Oh...: Heb. Who will give my head, etc
  10. neighbour: or, friend
  11. deceive: or, mock
  12. in heart: Heb. in the midst of him
  13. his wait: or, wait for him
  14. habitations: or, pastures
  15. burned up: or, desolate
  16. both...: Heb. from the fowl even to, etc
  17. desolate: Heb. desolation
  18. imagination: or, stubbornness