1[†]Oh that my head were waters

And my eyes a fountain of tears,

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 travelers’ lodging place,

That I might leave my people

And go from them!

For all of them are adulterers,

A solemn assembly of treacherous men.

3“They bend their tongue like their bow;

Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land,

For they go onward from evil to evil,

And they do not know Me,” declares Yahweh.

4“Let everyone beware of his neighbor,

And do not trust any brother,

Because every brother [†]surely supplants,

And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.

5Everyone deceives his neighbor

And does not speak the truth;

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They weary themselves committing iniquity.

6Your habitation is in the midst of deceit;

Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares Yahweh.

7Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Behold, I will refine them and test them;

For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

8Their tongue is a slaughtering arrow;

It speaks deceit;

With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,

But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.

9Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares Yahweh.

“On a nation such as this

Shall I not avenge Myself?

10“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,

And for the pastures of the wilderness a funeral lamentation,

Because they are turned into ruin so that no one passes through,

And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;

Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

11I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,

A haunt of jackals;

And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

12Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, turned into ruin like a desert, so that no one passes through? 13Yahweh said, “Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice nor walked according to it, 14but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,” 15therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them [†]poisoned water to drink. 16I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.”

17Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Carefully consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;

And send for the [†]skillful women, that they may come!

18Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,

That our eyes may shed tears

And our eyelids flow with water.

19For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion,

‘How we are destroyed!

We are put to great shame,

For we have left the land

Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

20Indeed, hear the word of Yahweh, O you women,

And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;

Teach your daughters wailing,

And everyone her neighbor a funeral lamentation.

21For death has come up through our windows;

It has entered our palaces

To cut off the infants from the streets,

The choice men from the open squares.

22Speak, “Thus declares Yahweh,

‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field

And like the sheaf after the reaper,

But no one will gather them.’”

23Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, 24but let him who boasts boast in this, that he [†]understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh.

25“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”