{[chapter 8:23. in Hebrew]} {Or, Oh that I were in the wilderness, in &c.}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! {[chapter 9:1. in Hebrew]}
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 are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
And they bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for {Or, faithfulness}truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.
Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.
And they will {Or, mock}deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my people?
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him.
Shall I not visit them for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passeth through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through?
And Jehovah saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,
but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;
therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of {Or, poison}gall to drink.
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:
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.
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because {Or, our dwellings have cast us out}they have cast down our dwellings.
Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather them.
Thus saith Jehovah, 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;
but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.
Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will punish all them that are circumcised in their uncircumcision:
Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 9,23 Jer 9,23
He frustrateth the devices of the crafty,So that their hands {Or, can perform nothing of worth}cannot perform their enterprise.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness;And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
They meet with darkness in the day-time,And grope at noonday as in the night.
and lest thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.
If I have made gold my hope,And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
For {Or, he seeth that wise men &c.}he shall see it. Wise men die;The fool and the brutish alike perish,And leave their wealth to others.
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever,And their dwelling-places to all generations;They call their lands after their own names.
But man being in honor abideth not:He is like the beasts that perish.
This {Or, is the way of them that are foolish}their way is {Or, their confidence: and after &c.}their folly:Yet after them men approve their sayings. [Selah
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders.
And the {Or, according to another reading, blade.}staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield-bearer went before him.
And he stood and cried unto the {Hebrew: ranks (and so in verse 10, 21, 22, 26, &c.).}armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
And the Philistine said, I {Or, reproach}defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,And because my hand had gotten much;
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich,When the {Or, wealth}glory of his house is increased:
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away;His glory shall not descend after him.
Though while he lived he blessed his soul(And men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself),
And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair countenance.
They that trust in their wealth,And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
None of them can by any means redeem his brother,Nor give to God a ransom for him;
(For the redemption of their life is costly,And it faileth for ever),
That he should still live alway,That he should not see {Or, the pit}corruption.
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity.
For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!
And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that {Hebrew: are at my feet.}follow me.
The righteous also shall see it, and fear,And shall laugh at him, saying,
And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off.
Lo, this is the man that made not God his {Or, stronghold}strength,But trusted in the abundance of his riches,And strengthened himself in his wickedness.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
There is no king saved by {Or, a great power}the multitude of a host:A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
Trust not in oppression,And become not vain in robbery:If riches increase, set not your heart thereon.
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
A horse is a vain thing for safety;Neither doth he deliver any by his great power.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath;But righteousness delivereth from death.
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will {Hebrew: visit upon.}punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
For he saith, Are not my princes all of them kings?
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down {Or, the inhabitants}them that sit on thrones:
Now therefore, I pray thee, {Or, make a wager with}give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a {Or, speedy}terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the {Hebrew: heart.}midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God; —
behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from thee;
by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee {Or, power}riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy {Or, power}riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy {Or, power}riches; —
therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,
therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall {Or, profane}defile thy brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas.
Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that {Or, profaneth}woundeth thee.
How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it {Some ancient authorities omit for them that trust the riches.}for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. Because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it;
And I will say to my {Or, life}soul, {Or, life}Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry.
For it is written, {Isaiah 29:14.}I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this {Or, age}world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the {Greek: thing preached.}preaching to save them that believe.
Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night {Greek: they require thy soul.}is thy {Or, life}soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?
but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea {Many ancient authorities omit and.}and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are:
that no flesh should glory before God.
The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?
For the love of money is a root of all {Or, evils.}kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this {Or, age}world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, {Job 5:13.}He that taketh the wise in their craftiness:
and again, {Psalms 94:11.}The Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain.
While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee:
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, {Or, natural Or, animal}sensual, {Greek: demoniacal.}devilish.
For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:
and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down.
But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts', and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will.
And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this,
but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine from them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.
And {Or, refuge shall fail the swift}flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver {Hebrew: his soul (or, life).}himself;
neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver {Hebrew: his soul (or, life).}himself;
and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah.
And the people shouted, saying, The voice of a god, and not of a man.
And immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.