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| 1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eye a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! |
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| 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a traveller's lodging-place, that I might leave my people, and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. |
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| 3 And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for fidelity are they valiant in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah. |
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| 4 Take ye heed every one of his friend, and confide not in any brother; for every brother only supplanteth, and every friend goeth about with slander. |
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| 5 And they act deceitfully every one with his neighbour, and speak not the truth: they teach their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves with perverse dealing. |
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| 6 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah. |
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| 7 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else could I do for the daughter of my people? |
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| 8 Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaketh deceit. A man speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth his ambush. |
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| 9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? |
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| 10 For the mountains will I take up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness, a lamentation; for they are burnt up, so that none passeth through them; and the voice of the cattle is not heard. Both the fowl of the heavens and the beasts are fled; they are gone. |
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| 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. |
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| 12 Who is a wise man, that he may understand this? and he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished, burnt up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through? |
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| 13 And Jehovah saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not hearkened unto my voice, nor walked in it, |
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| 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them; |
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| 15 therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink, |
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| 16 and will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. |
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| 17 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come; |
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| 18 and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids pour forth waters. |
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| 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled, sorely put to shame! For we have forsaken the land, for they have cast down our dwellings. |
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| 20 Hear then the word of Jehovah, ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her companion lamentation. |
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| 21 For death is come up through our windows, is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the street, the young men from the broadways. |
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| 22 Speak, Thus saith Jehovah: Yea, the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the reaper, and there shall be none to gather. |
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| 23 Thus saith Jehovah: Let not the wise glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might; let not the rich glory in his riches: |
Glory in his wisdom – Worldly wisdom tends to self-exaltation and pride. R1919:3
Glory in his might – Power in the hands of the ungodly tends to haughtiness and overbearing selfishness. R1919:3
Glory in his riches – Riches only tend to dwarf the soul among those who have not learned from God the responsibilities of stewardship. R1919:3
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| 24 but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah, who exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah. |
Glory in this – "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." (Psa. 34:2) R1920:1
This exhortation should inspire unbounded confidence and bring lasting comfort to those who honor and love him. R1351:4*
Knoweth me – The beginning of this wisdom is indeed the reverence of the Lord. This is the knowledge that does not puff up. R1919:6
Let our entire trust be centered in God; his promises will not fail. R5501:5
"This is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God." (John 17:3) R1919:6
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| 25 Behold, days are coming, saith Jehovah, when I will visit all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised; |
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| 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their beard cut off, that dwell in the wilderness: for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart. |
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