Background
This chapter belongs to the second division of the book, the prophecies “under Jehoiakim (608–597), Jer. 7–20.” It follows the temple sermon of chapter 7 and the long indictment of chapter 8, and it gives no date of its own. The Church's chapter heading says: “Jeremiah sorrows greatly because of the sins of the people—They will be scattered among the nations and punished.”
The speaker shifts without announcement: the prophet grieves in verses 1–2, and the Lord says “saith the LORD” in verses 3, 6, 9 and 13–16. The movement is from grief to accusation, to sentence, to a call for mourners, and then to a single exception to the ruin: whoever wants to boast may boast in knowing the Lord. The chapter ends by listing Judah among the nations around it.
Few passages in scripture lament the results of sin as movingly as this one; it stands with David's cry over Absalom, Jesus' lament over Jerusalem, and Mormon's lament over his people. The footnotes at verse 24 lead to Paul's use of the line in the New Testament and to Ammon's boast in the Book of Mormon.
The thread through the chapter
Jeremiah 9 asks what a prophet does when the people he loves will not turn back. The first answer is that he grieves, and wishes he could stop (verses 1–2). The chapter then shows that the Lord is no colder than His prophet: He asks, “how shall I do for the daughter of my people?” (verse 7) even as He pronounces the sentence. That pairing of grief and judgment is the key to the chapter.
The accusation is of a society in which words can no longer be trusted: bent tongues, slander, “peace” spoken to a neighbor while an ambush is planned (verses 3–8). From there the chapter moves through the sentence (verses 9–16) and the call for the mourning women (verses 17–22) to its center, the one thing that does not fail: “that he understandeth and knoweth me” (verse 24). The closing verses test everyone, Judah included, by that same standard: not the outward mark but the heart (verses 25–26). A people that does not know the Lord ends up with neither truth in its mouth nor a covenant in its heart.
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
A prophet who would rather flee
“If only my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. If only I had a lodging place in the wilderness, I would leave my people and go away from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of traitors. They bend their tongues like a bow to shoot lies. They are not strong for truth in the land, they go from one evil to the next, and they do not know me, says the Lord. Be on guard against your neighbor and do not trust any brother, for every brother cheats and every neighbor goes about slandering. Each deceives the other and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie and they wear themselves out doing wrong. You live in the middle of deceit, and in their deceit they refuse to know me, says the Lord.”
1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
The Lord's verdict
So the Lord of hosts says, “I will refine and test them, for what else can I do with my people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow that speaks deceit. One speaks peace to his neighbor but lays an ambush in his heart. Should I not punish them for this? Should I not take vengeance on a nation like this?” For the mountains and the wilderness pastures I will raise weeping and mourning, because they are burned up and no one passes through; no cattle are heard, and birds and animals have fled. “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins and a haunt of jackals, and the cities of Judah an empty waste.”
7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
Why the land is ruined
Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has heard from the Lord and can explain why the land is ruined and burned like a wilderness no one crosses? The Lord answers: “Because they abandoned my law that I set before them, did not obey my voice or walk by it, but followed their own stubborn hearts and the Baals their fathers taught them. So I will feed this people wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them among nations neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until it has finished them.”
12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Call the mourning women
“Think, and call for the women who mourn; send for the skilled women to come quickly and raise a lament for us, until our eyes run with tears.” A cry of wailing is heard from Zion: “We are ruined! We are deeply ashamed, because we have had to leave the land and our homes have been torn down.” Women, hear the word of the Lord: teach your daughters the lament, and each her neighbor a dirge. Death has climbed in through our windows and entered our palaces, to cut off children from the streets and young men from the squares. Say: “The bodies of men will fall like dung on the open field, like grain behind the reaper, and no one will gather them.”
17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
Boast in knowing the Lord
The Lord says: “Let not the wise boast in wisdom, nor the strong in strength, nor the rich in riches. But let anyone who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who acts with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on the earth; in these I delight.” The days are coming when the Lord will punish all who are circumcised in the flesh but not in the heart: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the desert peoples who clip the hair at their temples. All these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.
23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 9
Paul sets the line from verse 24 directly after naming Christ. He writes that Christ Jesus “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,” and then, “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:30–31). For Paul, the Lord in whom one may boast is the Lord known in Christ.
Jeremiah's lament also stands beside the Savior's own lament over the same city: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets… how often would I have gathered thy children together… and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:37).
Worth exploring next
- The same warning, earlier. Compare verses 1–6 with the charges in Jer. 5:1–9 and Jer. 7:1–11.
- The refrain of mourning. Read Jer. 8:18–22, just before this chapter, then Lam. 1:1–2.
- Boasting in the Lord. Read 1 Cor. 1:26–31 and Alma 26:10–16.
- Circumcision of the heart. Read Jer. 4:4, Deut. 10:16, and Rom. 2:25–29.
- The scattering foretold. Read Deut. 28:36–37, 64 with verses 15–16.
This chapter elsewhere in scripture
- 1 Cor. 1:31 — Paul writes “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord,” the same charge as verse 24.
- Alma 26:36 — Ammon boasts, as he says, in his God, not in his own strength or wisdom.
Sources & further reading
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
- Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
- Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
- Scripture Central, “Why Does Jeremiah Refer to Circumcising the Heart?”, KnoWhy #872.