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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 wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.³ And they arm their tongues, [as] their bows, with falsehood; and it is not for loyalty that they are strong: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh.⁴ Take heed every one of his neighbor, and don't trust in any brother; for every brother will completely supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.⁵ And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, perversion; they are unable to come back.⁶ Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit; they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.⁷ Therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says, Look, I will melt them, and try them; for what [else] should I do, because [it is] of the daughter of my people?⁸ Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: with his mouth one speaks peaceably to his neighbor, but in his heart he lays wait for him.⁹ Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?¹⁰ For the mountains I will lift: a weeping and a wailing; and for the pastures of the wilderness: a lamentation; because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled, they are gone.¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

¹² Who 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 and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?¹³ And Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and haven't obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,¹⁴ but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;¹⁵ therefore this is what Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.¹⁶ I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.¹⁷ This is what Yahweh of hosts says, Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come:¹⁸ and let them hurry, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.²⁰ Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.²¹ For death has come up into our windows, it has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from the streets.²² Speak, Thus says Yahweh, The dead bodies of man shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather [them].

²³ Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches;²⁴ but let him that glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.²⁵ Look, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those that are circumcised in [their] uncircumcision:²⁶ Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut off, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.