Study Desk

"Then I will cause the voices of joy and gladness, and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride to vanish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will become a ruin—a wasteland.

"Therefore I will give their wives to others And their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is greedy for [unjust] gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit and deals in corruption.

"For they have treated the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' When there is no peace.

Why are we sitting still [the people wonder]? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities And let us die there, For the LORD our God has decreed our ruin And given us bitter and poisonous water to drink, Because we have sinned against the LORD.

We waited for peace and salvation, but no good came, And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

The snorting of [Nebuchadnezzar's] horses is heard from Dan [on Palestine's northern border]. At the sound of the neighing of his strong stallions The whole land quakes; For they come and devour the land and all that is in it, The city and those who live in it.

"For behold, I am sending serpents among you, Vipers which cannot be charmed, And they will bite you," says the LORD.

Oh, that I (Jeremiah) could find comfort from my sorrow [for my grief is beyond healing], My heart is sick and faint within me!

For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I (Jeremiah) am broken; I mourn, anxiety has gripped me.

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!

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].

"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.

"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.

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?

"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.

"Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall I not avenge Myself On such a nation as this?

"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.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider and call for the mourning women to come; Send for the wailing women to come.

"Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may shed tears And our eyelids flow with water.

"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.'"