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A Lament over Zion

^1 (F1)(C1)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 ^(C2)daughter of my people!

^2 (F1)(C1)Oh that I had in the desert
A wayfarers' lodging place;
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are ^(C2)adulterers,
An assembly of ^(C3)treacherous men.

³ "They ^(C1)bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they ^(C2)proceed from evil to evil,
And they ^(C3)do not know Me," declares the LORD.

⁴ "Let everyone ^(C1)be on guard against his neighbor,
And ^(C2)do not trust any brother;
Because every ^(C3)brother deals ^(F1)craftily,
And every neighbor ^(C4)goes about as a slanderer.

⁵ "Everyone ^(C1)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They ^(C2)weary themselves committing iniquity.

⁶ "Your ^(C1)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they ^(C2)refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.

⁷ Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts,

"Behold, I will refine them and ^(C1)assay them;
For ^(C2)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

⁸ "Their ^(C1)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one ^(C2)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he ^(C3)sets an ambush for him.

⁹ "^(C1)Shall I not punish them for these things?" declares the LORD.
"On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?

¹⁰ "For the ^(C1)mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the ^(C2)wilderness a dirge,
Because they are ^(C3)laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the ^(C4)birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

¹¹ "I will make Jerusalem a ^(C1)heap of ruins,
A haunt of ^(C2)jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a ^(C3)desolation, without inhabitant."

¹² Who is the ^(C1)wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom ^(C2)the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? ^(C3)Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?¹³ The LORD said, "Because they have ^(C1)forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,¹⁴ but have ^(C1)walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the ^(C2)Baals, as their ^(C3)fathers taught them,"¹⁵ therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, ^(C1)I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them ^(C2)poisoned water to drink.¹⁶ "I will ^(C1)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^(C2)sword after them until I have annihilated them."

¹⁷ Thus says the LORD of hosts,

"Consider and call for the ^(C1)mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the ^(F1)(C2)wailing women, that they may come!

¹⁸ "Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,
That our ^(C1)eyes may shed tears
And our eyelids flow with water.

¹⁹ "For a voice of ^(C1)wailing is heard from Zion,
'^(C2)How are we ruined!
We are put to great shame,
For we have ^(C3)left the land,
Because they have cast down our dwellings.'"

²⁰ Now hear the word of the LORD, O you ^(C1)women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a dirge.

²¹ For ^(C1)death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To cut off the ^(C2)children from the streets,
The young men from the town squares.

²² Speak, "Thus says the LORD,
'The corpses of men will fall ^(C1)like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them."'

²³ Thus says the LORD, "^(C1)Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the ^(C2)mighty man boast of his might, let not a ^(C3)rich man boast of his riches;²⁴ but let him who boasts ^(C1)boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who ^(C2)exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I ^(C3)delight in these things," declares the LORD.

²⁵ "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^(C1)uncircumcised--²⁶ Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and ^(C1)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 ^(C2)uncircumcised of heart."