Jeremiah 9:12-26

Why is the land burned and destroyed, left like an uninhabited wilderness? Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is the prophet with a word from YAHWEH to explain it? YAHWEH himself supplies the answer: “Because they have rejected my laws, which I gave them, they refused to live as I told them, and they have not listened to my voice. Instead, they stubbornly followed their hearts’ desires and chased after the Baals, just like their ancestors taught them. Therefore I, YAHWEH, the God of Israel and Commander of Angel Armies, say to you: “Look! I will feed them bitter wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink. I will also scatter them among the nations. They will live as exiles among people they and their fathers have never known. I will send the sword after them until I have made an end of them.” YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, says: “Look around you and discern. Summon the wailing women. Call for those most skilled at mourning. Let them hurry and wail over us that our eyes may overflow with tears and our eyelids gush with water. For the voice of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘We are so ruined and shamed! We have had to leave our land because enemies have demolished our homes.’ ” Women, listen to the word of YAHWEH and take to heart the word he speaks. Teach your daughters to mourn; teach your neighbor a funeral song. For Death has crept in through our windows, forcing its way past our fortified defenses, cutting down the child playing outside and the young men in the streets. Tell everyone: “This is the prophecy of YAHWEH: ‘Corpses will lie unburied like dung on the open field, like stalks of grain after the reaper, with no one to gather them up.’ ” YAHWEH says: “The wise must not boast in their wisdom, the mighty must not boast in their power, and the wealthy must not boast in their riches. If you’re going to boast, then boast about this: that you understand my ways and know my heart, and you know that I am YAHWEH. Let the wise boast in knowing how I demonstrate infinite love, true justice, and righteousness, for these are the things that delight my heart,” declares YAHWEH. “Look,” YAHWEH says, “the day is coming when I will punish all who are circumcised in the flesh only: the Egyptians, the people of Judah, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the tribes in the desert who shave their heads bald. The men in all those lands are uncircumcised. And the Israelites are just like them because their hearts are uncircumcised.”