| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1 If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered. | 1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people. |
| 2 Oh, that I could go away and forget my people and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert. For they are all adulterers— a pack of treacherous liars. Judgment for Disobedience | 2If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people. |
| 3“My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. They do not know me,” says the LORD. | 3“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD. |
| 4“Beware of your neighbor! Don’t even trust your brother! For brother takes advantage of brother, and friend slanders friend. | 4“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander. |
| 5They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning. | 5Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity. |
| 6They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,” says the LORD. | 6You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD. |
| 7Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people? | 7Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people? |
| 8For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows. They speak friendly words to their neighbors while scheming in their heart to kill them. | 8Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him. |
| 9Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?” | 9Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” |
| 10I will weep for the mountains and wail for the wilderness pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals have all fled. | 10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away. |
| 11“I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the LORD. “It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will be ghost towns, with no one living in them.” | 11“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” |
| 12Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it? | 12Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it? |
| 13The LORD replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said. | 13And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice. |
| 14Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them. | 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” |
| 15So now, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. | 15Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. |
| 16I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.” Weeping in Jerusalem | 16I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.” |
| 17This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals. | 17This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them. |
| 18Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. | 18Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water. |
| 19Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, ‘We are ruined! We are completely humiliated! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.’” | 19For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’ ” |
| 20Listen, you women, to the words of the LORD; open your ears to what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one another how to lament. | 20Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD. Open your ears to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters to wail, and one another to lament. |
| 21For death has crept in through our windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and young men no longer gather in the squares. | 21For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares. |
| 22This is what the LORD says: “Bodies will be scattered across the fields like clumps of manure, like bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury them.” | 22Declare that this is what the LORD says: “The corpses of men will fall like dung upon the open field, like newly cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.” |
| 23This is what the LORD says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. | 23This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches. |
| 24But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken! | 24But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD. |
| 25“A time is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit— | 25“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised yet uncircumcised: |
| 26the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.” | 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” |
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