Jeremiah 9:9-26

9I must certainly punish them for what they have done. I will pay back this wicked nation for their sins.’ That is what the Lord says.

10‘I will weep for the mountains. I will cry for the fields in the wilderness. There is no grass for the animals to eat. Nobody travels through those places. There is no sound of cows and sheep. The birds and the wild animals have all disappeared.’

11The Lord replied, ‘I will make Jerusalem a heap of stones. Only wild animals will live there. I will destroy the towns of Judah so that nobody can live in them.’

12I said, ‘Nobody is wise enough to understand this. The Lord has not told anyone, so that he can explain it to others. Why has our land become like a desert so that nobody travels through it? Does anyone know the answer?’

13The Lord answered, ‘It is because my people have not accepted the laws that I gave to them. They have not obeyed me. They have not lived in the way that I told them to live.

14Instead, they have done whatever they wanted to do. They have served the gods of Baal, as their ancestors taught them to do.’

15So the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this: ‘I will punish my people with trouble and pain. I will give them food that is bitter. They will drink water that is poison.

16I will send them away as prisoners. They will live among foreign nations that they had never heard about. Their ancestors had not heard about them either. I will send enemies to chase after them until I have destroyed them.’

17The Lord Almighty said this: ‘Think about what is happening! Call the women who weep at funerals. Bring those women who know what to do.’

18‘Yes, tell them to come quickly to sing funeral songs for us. Then tears will pour from our eyes, and we will not stop weeping.

19Listen to the people who are crying in Jerusalem! They say, “A terrible thing has happened to us! We are very ashamed! Our enemies have destroyed our houses. Now we have to leave our land.” ’

20‘Now hear the Lord's message, you women. Listen to what he says to you. Teach your daughters how to weep. Teach each other this funeral song:

21“Death has come to visit us! It has come into our strong houses. Death has taken away our children who play in the streets. It has taken away our young men who meet together in the streets.”

22The Lord says this: Dead bodies of people will lie everywhere on the ground. They will lie there like dung that a farmer puts on his fields. They will lie there like crops at harvest time that nobody has picked up.’

23The Lord says, ‘Wise people should not be proud of their wisdom. Powerful people should not be proud of their power. And rich people should not be proud that they are rich.

24If they want to be proud about something, they should be proud that they know me. They should boast that they understand who I am. I am the Lord. I am faithful in my love for my people. I always do what is right and fair. It makes me happy when people live in that way too.’

25The Lord says, ‘Be careful! Very soon I will punish all people who do not respect me. Those people may be circumcised, but if they do not respect me, I will punish them.

26Those people include the Egyptians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the people of Judah. I will also punish the people who live in the desert and who cut their hair short. Those people are not circumcised to give honour to me. The Israelites are the same. Their bodies are circumcised, but they do not want to obey my covenant with them.’