| 章 |
| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 9:4 |
"Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
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| 9:5 |
Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.
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| 9:6 |
You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me," declares the LORD.
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 9:9 |
Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"
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| 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.
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| 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."
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 9:14 |
Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."
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| 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.
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| 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."
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| 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.
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| 9:18 |
Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.
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| 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.' "
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.' "
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| 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,
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| 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.
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| 9:25 |
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh--
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| 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."
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