Jeremiah 9:6

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night, for the slain of the daughter of my people. ² Oh that I had in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers, that I may leave my people and go from them, for all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors. ³ And they bend their tongue like their bow, for falsehood and not truth is superior in the land, for they go forth from evil to evil, and they do not know me," declares Yahweh. ⁴ "Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor, and you must not trust in any brother, for everyone surely betrays, and every neighbor goes about with slander. ⁵ And everyone deceives his neighbor, and they do not speak the truth, they have taught their tongues to speak lies, they are tired from going astray. ⁶ Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, upon deceit they refuse to know me," declares Yahweh. ⁷ Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Look, I am about to refine them, and I will test them, for what else can I do, because of the presence of the daughter of my people? ⁸ Their tongue is a murderous arrow, it speaks deceit. With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor, but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush. ⁹ Because of these things shall I not punish them?" declares Yahweh, "On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge? ¹⁰ For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the desert a lament, because they are laid waste so that no man passes through. And the sounds of cattle are not heard, from the birds of heaven to the animals they have fled, they are gone.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

habitation: Jeremiah 11:19, Jeremiah 18:18, Jeremiah 20:10, Psalms 120:2-6

refuse: Jeremiah 13:10, Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Proverbs 1:24, Proverbs 1:29, Hosea 4:6, John 3:19, John 3:20, Romans 1:28, 1 Corinthians 15:34

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:14 - he refuseth Exodus 16:28 - General Psalms 10:7 - and deceit Psalms 95:10 - and they Psalms 120:5 - Woe Jeremiah 8:5 - they hold Ezekiel 5:6 - for they Hosea 5:4 - and Hosea 6:7 - they dealt John 7:28 - whom 2 Thessalonians 1:8 - that know

Cross-References

Genesis 4:14
Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me."

Genesis 5:1
This is the record of the generations of Adam. When God created Adam, he made him in the likeness of God.

Genesis 9:2
And fear of you and dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth, and on every bird of heaven, and on everything that moves upon the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they shall be given.

Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives shall be for you as food. As I gave the green plants to you, I have now given you everything.

Genesis 9:5
And your lifeblood I will require; from every animal I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of each man to his brother I will require the life of humankind.

Genesis 9:6
"As for the one shedding the blood of humankind, by humankind his blood shall be shed, for God made humankind in his own image.

Genesis 9:12
And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you, and between every living creature that is with you for future generations.

Genesis 9:14
And when I make clouds appear over the earth the bow shall be seen in the clouds.

Genesis 9:26
Then he said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be a slave to them.

Genesis 9:27
May God make space for Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be a slave for him."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit,.... In the midst of a people of deceit, as Kimchi and Ben Molech. These are the words of the Lord to the prophet, showing what a people he dwelt among, and had to do with; how cautiously and prudently he should act; how little they were to be trusted to and depended upon; and what little hope there was of bringing them to true repentance, since there was so much deceit and hypocrisy among them. The Targum interprets the words not of the habitation of the prophet, but of the people, thus,

"they sit in the house of their own congregation, and talk of their iniquities deceitfully;''

and so Jarchi,

"while they are sitting they devise deceitful devices.''

Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord: or, "because of deceit" t; hypocrisy being a reigning and governing sin in them; they liked not the true knowledge of God, and refused to worship him according to the revelation of his will.

t במרמה "ob dolum", Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

From their punishment the prophet now turns to their sins.

Jeremiah 9:2

The prophet utters the wish that he might be spared his daily striving, and in some lone wilderness give way to his sorrow, without restraint.

A lodging place - It was usual to build in the desert, either by private charity or at the public expense, caravanserais, to receive travelers for a single night, who had however to bring their own supplies with them.

An assembly - Or, a gang.

Treacherous - Faithless toward one another.

Jeremiah 9:3

Rather, “And they bend their tongue to be their bow of lies, i. e.” just as men before a battle get their bows ready, so they of set purpose make ready to do mischief, only their arrows are lying words: “neither do they rule faithfully in the land, i. e.” Judaea.

Jeremiah 9:4

In a state of such utter lawlessness, the bonds of mutual confidence are relaxed, and suspicion takes its place.

Utterly supplant - An allusion to the name of Jacob Genesis 27:36. It might be rendered, “every brother is a thorough Jacob.”

Will walk with slanders - Or, slandereth.

Jeremiah 9:6

A continuation of the warning given in Jeremiah 9:4. “Trust no one: for thou dwellest surrounded by deceit on every side.” Their rejection of God is the result of their want of honesty in their dealings with one another 1 John 4:20.

Jeremiah 9:7

I will melt them, and try them - The punishment is corrective rather than retributive. The terms used are those of the refiner of metals, the first being the smelting to separate the pure metal from the ore; the second the testing to see whether the metal is pure, or still mixed with alloy. God will put the nation into the crucible of tribulation, that whatever is evil being consumed in the fire, all there is in them of good may be purified.

For how shall I do ... - Rather, “for how” else could I act with reference to the “daughter of my people?”

Jeremiah 9:8

An arrow shot out - Rather, “a murderous arrow.”

In heart he layeth his wait - Rather, “inwardly he layeth his ambush.”