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(8:23)[a] I wish that my head were a well full of water[b]
and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!
If they were, I could cry day and night
for those of my dear people[c] who have been killed.
(9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the wilderness
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler.[d]
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation[e] of people that has been disloyal to him.”[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:1 sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
  2. Jeremiah 9:1 tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”
  3. Jeremiah 9:1 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
  4. Jeremiah 9:2 tn Heb “I wish I had in the desert a lodging place [inn, or place to spend the night] for travelers.”
  5. Jeremiah 9:2 tn Or “bunch,” but this loses the irony; the word is used for the solemn assemblies at the religious feasts.
  6. Jeremiah 9:2 tn Heb “they are all adulterers, a congregation of unfaithful people.” However, spiritual adultery is, of course, meant, not literal adultery. So the literal translation would be misleading.