HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1044
J EREMIA H 9
10
11
12
13
14
for they have rejected the word of
the Lord.
Are they so wise after all?
I will give their wives to others
and their farms to strangers.
From the least to the greatest,
their lives are ruled by greed.
Yes, even my prophets and priests
are like that.
They are all frauds.
They offer superficial treatments
for my people’s mortal wound.
They give assurances of peace
when there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of these disgusting
actions?
Not at all—they don’t even know how
to blush!
Therefore, they will lie among the
slaughtered.
They will be brought down when I
punish them,
says the Lord.
I will surely consume them.
There will be no more harvests of figs
and grapes.
Their fruit trees will all die.
Whatever I gave them will soon be gone.
I, the Lord, have spoken!’
page 674
15
16
17
“Oh, why have they provoked my anger
with their carved idols
and their worthless foreign gods?” says
the Lord.
20
“The harvest is finished,
and the summer is gone,” the people cry,
“yet we are not saved!”
21
I hurt with the hurt of my people.
I mourn and am overcome with grief.
Is there no medicine in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why is there no healing
for the wounds of my people?
• Sin
If I avoid committing sin, am I doing well
spiritually? God criticizes the people not
only for lying, but also for not standing up
for the truth. There may have been some
who felt very holy because they did not
lie. But they incurred God’s condemnation because they did not expose and
resist others’ lies and the prevalent deceit
of their society. We have fallen into the
same error if, for instance, we assume
that because we aren’t prejudiced, we
don’t have to oppose racism in society,
or because our own actions are aboveboard, we have no responsibility to
correct our company’s dishonest business practices. God judges us for what
we should do but don’t as well as for
what we do but shouldn’t. Sins of commission and sins of omission are equally
serious. Spiritual health involves avoiding
evil and being a positive force for good.
“The snorting of the enemies’ warhorses
can be heard
all the way from the land of Dan in the
north!
The neighing of their stallions makes the
whole land tremble.
They are coming to devour the land and
everything in it—
cities and people alike.
I will send these enemy troops among you
like poisonous snakes you cannot charm.
They will bite you, and you will die.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Jeremiah Weeps for Sinful Judah
18 My grief is beyond healing;
my heart is broken.
19 Listen to the weeping of my people;
it can be heard all across the land.
“Has the Lord abandoned Jerusalem?*”
the people ask.
“Is her King no longer there?”
“Then the people will say,
‘Why should we wait here to die?
Come, let’s go to the fortified towns and
die there.
JE R E MIA H 9 :3
For the Lord our God has decreed our
destruction
and has given us a cup of poison to drink
because we sinned against the Lord.
We hoped for peace, but no peace came.
We hoped for a time of healing, but found
only terror.’
22
9
1*If
only my head were a pool of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
for all my people who have been
slaughtered.
2*Oh, that I could go away and forget
my people
and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert.
For they are all adulterers—
a pack of treacherous liars.
Judgment for Disobedience
3 “My people bend their tongues like bows
to shoot out lies.
They refuse to stand up for the truth.
8:19 Hebrew Zion? 9:1 Verse 9:1 is numbered 8:23 in Hebrew
text. 9:2 Verses 9:2-26 are numbered 9:1-25 in Hebrew text.