Jeremiah is preaching in the temple. Jeremiah despairs at the onrushing misery, at his people's obstinancy and ignorance and the pain that this brings.
Jeremiah 9:1-2, Weep all day
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.
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.
Jeremiah weeps for his people and also wishes he could run away. He does not want to see the coming suffering.
It is from this passage that Jeremiah is called "the weeping prophet." His raw sharing of his pain (as David did in some psalms) is a special characteristic of his prophecies.
Jeremiah 9:3-6, Tongues shoot lies
"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.
"Beware of your friends;
do not trust your brothers.
For every brother is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.
Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.
You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,"
declares the LORD.
The people shoot out lies as if arrows from a bow. Even within families, the people are liars and deceivers. A century before, the prophet Micah had similar accusations about the dishonesty of the people, even within their own families (Micah 7:5-6.)
Jeremiah 9:7-9, Liars to be tested
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?
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.
Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"
YHWH is aware of the lies and He intends to respond to the lies with justice. Especially noted is the one who smiles and gives a cordial greeting to a neighbor, while planning betrayal.
Jeremiah 9:10-11, Heap of ruins
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.
"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."
In the coming devastation, the pastures will be empty and Jerusalem the haunto jackals. No one will be living in the ruins of Judean villages.
Jeremiah 9:12-14, Why has this happened
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?
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. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."
In a catechetical style (Feinberg), Jeremiah asks questions and answers the. Why does this destruction occur? It is because Israel has turned away from God's law.
Jeremiah 9:15-16, Scattered
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.
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."
The people will be scattered among the nations.
Jeremiah 9:17-19, Call for the wailing women
This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Consider now!
Call for the wailing women to come;
send for the most skillful of them.
Let them come quickly
and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.
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.'"
The professional wailing women are called to wail and cry over Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 9:20-21, Death climbs in
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.
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.
Women are to teach their daughters to wail, for there will be many opportunities to perform those cries, as Death approaches and climbs in the fortress and eventually into windows of the homes. There will be many opportunities for funerals.
Jeremiah 9:22, Bodies in the open field
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.'"
The bodies of soldiers will lie unburied in the open fields. Death, the being who climbed in windows in previous verses, is portrayed here as reaping bodies. In the New Testament, the image of reaping souls appears in Revelarion 14:14-16 (where Jesus is the reaper) and in Revelation 6:8 where Death rides a pale horse at the end of the age. The image of a supernatural being, Death, as the Grim Reaper, has since come down to us from medieval times.
Jeremiah 9:23-24, Boast in the knowledge of YHWH
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,
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.
Jeremiah then inserts a proverb on Wisdom and the importance of the knowledge of God. If one boasts, it should be that he understand YHWH and His views on justice and righteousness.
Jeremiah 9:25-26, Circumcised only in the flesh
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-- 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."
It is not enough to be physically circumcised. It is the heart that matters and Israel's heart is "uncircumcised." The image of circumcised/uncircumcised hearts dates back to the Exodus (eg. Deuteronomy 10:16.) Kidner (p. 56) says of this passage, "Externalism, the great snare of the good churchman in every age, has seldom been more cuttingly attacked."
Some Random Thoughts
Part of verse 8 reads "With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him." I grew up in Texas, moved to the Midwest and then returned to Texas. In my experience, the southern US has an emphasis on external niceties (for example, everyone is to say "Sir" or "Ma'am") while the Midwest does not have this emphasis. As a teenager moving to Illinois, I discovered that saying "Yes, ma'am" to a teacher might be viewed as sarcasm or snark. These are cultural differences, with various advantages or disadvantages. Later, in Texas, I discovered that a senior colleague was plotting behind my back at work, working with others to betray me. One day this colleague called to apologize. He apologized not for his deceit but for the fact that he had failed to say "hello" when he passed me in the parking lot.
All cultures have various ways for people to lie and betray others, while maintaining an appearance of righteousness.
First published January 30, 2025; updated December 28, 2025
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