A Lament over Zion
Jeremiah longs for endless tears over the slain and for a place far from a people marked by adultery, treachery, and deceit. Their tongues are weapons, their relationships are corroded by lies, and because they refuse to know the LORD, He declares that He will refine and punish them.
O1h, that my head were a spring of water, 2If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, 3“They bend their tongues like bows; 4“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; 5Each one betrays his friend; 6You dwell in the midst of deception; 7Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: 8Their tongues are deadly arrows; 9Should I not punish them for these things?
The land itself becomes an object of weeping as mountains, pastures, and cities are pictured in ruin. The LORD explains that this devastation comes because His law was forsaken in favor of stubborn hearts and the Baals, so He will feed the people bitterness and scatter them among unfamiliar nations until judgment is complete.
10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, 11“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, 12Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it? 13And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice. 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” 15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 16I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Professional mourners are summoned because Zion's ruin now requires public lament. Death is described as invading houses and streets, cutting off children and young men, until corpses lie like refuse across the open field.
17This is what the LORD of Hosts says: 18Let them come quickly 19For the sound of wailing 20Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. 21For death has climbed in through our windows; 22Declare that this is what the LORD says:
The LORD forbids boasting in wisdom, might, or riches and instead commends boasting in understanding and knowing Him as the God who delights in steadfast love, justice, and righteousness. He then warns that mere outward circumcision will not shield Judah, because she stands with the nations as one uncircumcised in heart.
23This is what the LORD says: 24But let him who boasts boast in this, 25“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”