Jeremiah 9

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Who wil find me a wayfarer's shelter in the desert, for me to quit my people, and leave them far behind?For al of them are adulterers, a conspiracy of traitors.	1 Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.
2 They bend their tongues like a bow; not truth but falsehood holds sway in the land; yes, they go fromcrime to crime, but me they do not know, Yahweh declares.	2 Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors.
3 Let each be on his guard against his friend; do not trust a brother, for every brother aims but to supplant,and every friend is a peddler of slander.	3 And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth, for they have proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith the Lord.
4 Each one cheats his friend, never tel ing the truth; they have trained their tongues to lie and devote altheir energies to doing wrong.	4 Let every man take heed of his neighbor, and let his not trust in any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully.
5 You live in a world of bad faith! Out of bad faith, they refuse to know me, Yahweh declares.	5 And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies: they have laboured to commit iniquity.
6 And, so, Yahweh Sabaoth declares, now I shal purge them and test them, no other way to treat thedaughter of my people!	6 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: Through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord.
7 Their tongue is a deadly arrow, their words are in bad faith; with his mouth each wishes his neighbourpeace, while in his heart plotting a trap for him.	7 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will melt, and try them: for what else shall I do before the daughter of my people?
8 Shal I fail to punish them for this, Yahweh demands, or on such a nation fail to exact vengeance?	8 Their tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait for him.
9 I raise the wail and lament for the mountains, the dirge for the desert pastures, for they have been burnt:no one passes there, the sound of flocks is heard no more. Birds of the sky and animals, al have fled, al aregone.	9 Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation?
10 I shal make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair for jackals, and the towns of Judah an uninhabitedwasteland.	10 For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts they are gone away and departed.
11 Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has Yahweh's mouth spoken to explain it? Why isthe country annihilated, burnt like the desert where no one passes?	11 And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps of sand, and dens of dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an inhabitant.
12 Yahweh says, 'This is because they have forsaken my Law which I gave them and have not listened tomy voice or fol owed it,	12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why the land hath perished, and is burnt up like a wilderness, which none passeth through?
13 but have followed their own stubborn hearts, have fol owed the Baals as their ancestors taught them.'	13 And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law, which I gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in it.
14 So Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, 'Now I shal give this people wormwood to eat andpoisoned water to drink.	14 But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.
15 I shal scatter them among nations unknown to their ancestors or to them; and I shal pursue them withthe sword until I have annihilated them.'	15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 Yahweh Sabaoth says this, 'Prepare to cal for the mourning women! Send for those who are best at it!	16 And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they be consumed.
17 Let them lose no time in raising the lament over us! Let our eyes rain tears, our eyelids run withweeping!	17 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that are wise women, and let them make haste:
18 A lament makes itself heard in Zion, "What ruin is ours, what utter shame! For we must leave thecountry, our homes have been knocked down!" '	18 Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters.
19 Now listen, you women, to Yahweh's word, let your ears take in the word his own mouth speaks. Teachyour daughters how to wail and teach one another this dirge,	19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our dwellings are cast down.
20 'Death has climbed in at our windows, and made its way into our palaces; it has cut down the childrenin the street, the young people in the squares-	20 Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and every one her neighbor mourning.
21 Speak! Yahweh declares this -- human corpses are strewn like dung in the open field, like sheaves leftby the reaper, with no one to gather them.'	21 For death is come up through our windows, it is entered into our houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the streets.
22 Yahweh says this, 'Let the sage not boast of wisdom, nor the valiant of valour, nor the wealthy ofriches!	22 Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the mower, and there is none to gather it.
23 But let anyone who wants to boast, boast of this: of understanding and knowing me. For I am Yahweh,who acts with faithful love, justice, and uprightness on earth; yes, these are what please me,' Yahweh declares.	23 Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 'Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shal punish al who are circumcised only in theflesh:	24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord.
25 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the men with shaven temples who live in thedesert. For al those nations, and the whole House of Israel too, are uncircumcised at heart.'	25 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every one that hath the foreskin circumcised.
	26 Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled round, that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.