Jeremiah · chapter 9 of 52
Updated on
Jeremiah 9 brings together the prophet's weeping for his people, a denunciation of lying and deceit among neighbors, and the announcement that Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins. At the center of the chapter the Lord says the wise, the mighty and the rich should not boast in wisdom, might or riches, but in knowing him and that he practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness.
Jeremiah 9 belongs to the block of chapters 7 through 10, in which the prophet sets out the Lord's judgment and his own grief. This is the chapter of Jeremiah's weeping, which is why he is often called the weeping prophet. But it also contains one of the clearest verses in the whole Old Testament on what God values: not success, but knowing him.
The chapter opens with the prophet's wish that his head were waters and his eyes a fountain of tears, so that he might weep day and night for the slain of his people. He also wishes for a lodging place for travelers in the desert, so he could leave his people, for they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.
The Lord describes this people as bending their tongues like bows for falsehood; they are not valiant for truth in the land. From evil to evil they proceed, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. Everyone must beware of his neighbor, for every brother deceives and every friend goes about as a slanderer. Their tongue is a deadly arrow, and the Lord asks whether he should not punish them for this.
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant. The Lord explains that it is because they forsook his law, did not obey his voice and followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals. He will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, and scatter them among the nations. The mourning women must come and wail, for death has come up through the windows and entered the palaces.
In verses 23-24 the Lord says the wise should not boast in wisdom, nor the mighty in might, nor the rich in riches. Let the one who boasts boast in understanding and knowing him, that he is the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these he delights. Verses 25-26 announce punishment on all who are circumcised only in the flesh: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and the desert peoples. All these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jeremiah wishes his head were a spring of water and his eyes a fountain of tears so he could weep day and night for the slain of his people. The prophet who announces judgment does it with a broken heart.
The Lord says his people bend their tongue like a bow for lies and go on from evil to evil without knowing him. For the Bible, a lack of truth in the mouth springs from a lack of knowing God.
The wise, the mighty and the rich should not boast in what they have but in knowing the Lord, who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness. Paul takes up this idea when he says that the one who boasts should boast in the Lord.
All the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. The sign of the covenant is of no use if the heart remains closed.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That his head were waters and his eyes a fountain of tears to weep for the slain of his people. — Jeremiah 9:1
Answer: A bow bent for falsehood. — Jeremiah 9:3
Answer: A heap of ruins and a lair of jackals. — Jeremiah 9:11
Answer: Because they forsook his law, did not obey his voice and followed their stubborn hearts and the Baals. — Jeremiah 9:13-14
Answer: Their wisdom, their might or their riches. — Jeremiah 9:23
Answer: In understanding and knowing the Lord, who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness. — Jeremiah 9:24
Verse 24 poses an uncomfortable question to a culture that measures worth by intelligence, power and money: what do we really boast in? God says the only thing worth it is knowing him and what kind of God he is. A group can ask how its week would change if it pursued knowing God as hard as it pursues success.
Jeremiah's weeping also teaches a pastoral attitude. Whoever teaches or leads needs to be someone who weeps for people, not only someone who judges them. It is worth asking whether our way of speaking about the rebellion of others comes from compassion or from pride.
Jeremiah 9 ends with a people whose outward circumcision is not enough and with a line that sums up what God seeks: that they know him. Chapter 10 contrasts the idols, made by human hands, with the living God, creator of all.
Because of passages like this one, where he expresses his grief for the people and for the judgment coming. Tradition also attributes the book of Lamentations to him, though the text itself does not say so. In any case, the book of Jeremiah shows a prophet whose voice blends God's message with his own sorrow.
In 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 Corinthians 10, Paul cites the idea that the one who boasts should boast in the Lord. In Corinth people took pride in wisdom and influence, and Paul reminds them that none of it is their own merit: everything comes from Christ.
Israel carried the physical sign of the covenant, but her heart was not given to the Lord. Jeremiah places her beside nations that also practiced circumcision to say that the sign by itself does not shield from judgment. What matters is inward obedience.