| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Oh 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! | 1Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. |
| 2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. | 2Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. |
| 3And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. | 3"They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares the LORD. |
| 4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. | 4"Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. |
| 5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. | 5Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. |
| 6Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. | 6You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me," declares the LORD. |
| 7Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? | 7Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: "See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people? |
| 8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. | 8Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. |
| 9Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? | 9Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?" |
| 10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. | 10I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone. |
| 11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. | 11"I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there." |
| 12Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? | 12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? |
| 13And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; | 13The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. |
| 14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: | 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them." |
| 15Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. | 15Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. |
| 16I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. | 16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them." |
| 17Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: | 17This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them. |
| 18And 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. | 18Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids. |
| 19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. | 19The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.'" |
| 20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. | 20Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament. |
| 21For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. | 21Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares. |
| 22Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. | 22Say, "This is what the LORD declares: "'Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.'" |
| 23Thus saith the LORD, 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: | 23This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, |
| 24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. | 24but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. |
| 25Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; | 25"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-- |
| 26Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. | 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart." |
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