Chapter Nine

1–9. The sins of the Judeans and the punishment awaiting them. 10–22. The prophet laments the fate of his people. 23–26. Appendix.

Jer 9:1-9. The prophet is so exhausted by the futility of his exhortations that he wishes, like Elijah, to go to the wilderness. His kinsmen are adulterers in both the literal and figurative sense of the word. Having abandoned God, they sever the natural bonds of brotherly love and betray their friends.

Jeremiah 9:1. Oh, that I might have water for my head and a fountain of tears for my eyes! Then I would weep day and night over the slain of the daughter of my people. This verse is assigned to the preceding chapter in the Hebrew Bible. The prophet lacks tears to lament the disastrous fate of the Judean kingdom.

Jeremiah 9:2. Oh, that I had in the wilderness a travelers’ inn! That I might leave my people and go away from them: for all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors. “Travelers’ inn” is the so-called caravanserai, a tent or hut in the wilderness where travelers stop for the night and where there is nothing but shelter, no provisions for living. Yet the prophet would gladly have withdrawn even there, if only not to see his fellow-countrymen.

Jeremiah 9:5. Every one deceives his neighbor, and they speak no truth: they have trained their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with iniquity. “Have trained their tongues.” The art of lying requires greater skill than the desire to speak only the truth.

Jeremiah 9:7. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: behold, I will refine them and test them; for how else should I deal with the daughter of my people? The discourse concerns the terrible judgment to which the Lord will subject his people. Jer 9:10-22. The prophet laments his country, which he already sees laid waste, but he explains the fate of the Judeans by the hardness of heart with which they rejected the law of Jehovah. Special mourning women will be needed to lament the great calamities that will fall upon Judah, and then the whole people will weep with sorrow from the loss of loved ones.

Jeremiah 9:21. For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares. Jeremiah 9:22. Say: Thus says the Lord: and the corpses of men shall fall like dung upon the field and like sheaves behind the reaper, and none shall gather them. The verses form a brief, skillfully composed poem in which, apparently, the prophet speaks of plague, which is a terrible scourge for besieged cities. Plague does not spare even children; and of their death Jeremiah speaks first of all, showing his particular compassion for these innocent victims of the sins of their parents.

Jeremiah 9:23. Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not the rich man boast of his riches. Jeremiah 9:24. But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices mercy, justice, and righteousness on earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord. At the divine judgment neither wisdom nor strength nor wealth will help people. Therefore one should not seek security in these advantages, but in the knowledge of the Lord. He who does not wish to do the will of God will find no benefit even in circumcision.

Jeremiah 9:25. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised yet uncircumcised: “Circumcised and uncircumcised” more correctly: circumcised, but (at the same time one might say) uncircumcised. The prophet predicts God’s wrath upon those who are circumcised in body, but at the same time live an impure life, and for whom therefore external circumcision does not constitute a true sign of communion with God and therefore cannot protect them from the judgment of God threatening sinners.

Jeremiah 9:26. Egypt and Judah, Edom and the sons of Ammon, Moab and all who cut the corners of their hair, dwelling in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart. From ancient times the Egyptians have practiced circumcision. Likewise, the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, who were related to the Hebrews, also had circumcision in Jeremiah’s time. However, later among the Edomites this practice fell into disuse, and only John Hyrcanus compelled them to restore it. “Those who cut the corners of their hair” are the Arabs, who performed this rite to please their gods. “These peoples are uncircumcised,” that is, from your point of view, their circumcision is meaningless and does not make them participants in the theocratic life. Likewise, the Judeans cannot rely on their circumcision, because their hearts are not circumcised, that is, they are far from God in heart. Special remarks to chapters VII–IX. The Temple discourse, contained in chapters VI–IX, is obviously in detailed form the discourse briefly set forth in Jer 26:4 and following, and thus for it the prophet suffered the trials mentioned in Jer 26. All this discourse is pervaded with lively prophetic inspiration and is undoubtedly an authentic work of Jeremiah. Only Jer 9:23-26, also of course belonging to Jeremiah, are not connected with the discourse and properly should stand separately. Some commentators (for example, Orelli) also suppose that Jer 7:16-20, which contains a revelation directed personally to Jeremiah, and Jer 8:18 and following Jer 9:2 and following, where the prophet pours out his feelings, form insertions made by the prophet into the Temple discourse when he dictated it to his scribe. But truly there is nothing in these passages that could not have been delivered to all the people in the Temple.