1 I wish my head were a well of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I could cry day and night
for my people who have been killed.
2 I wish I had a place to stay in the desert
where I could get away from my people.
They are all unfaithful,
a mob of traitors.
3 They are always ready to tell lies;
dishonesty instead of truth rules the land.
The Lord says,
“My people do one evil thing after another
and do not acknowledge me as their God.”
4 Everyone must be on guard against their friends,
and no one can trust their relatives;
for all relatives are as deceitful as Jacob,
and everyone slanders their friends.
5-6 They all mislead their friends,
and no one tells the truth;
they have taught their tongues to lie
and will not give up their sinning.
They do one violent thing after another,
and one deceitful act follows another.
The Lord says that his people reject him.
7 Because of this the Lord Almighty says,
“I will refine my people like metal
and put them to the test.
My people have done evil—
what else can I do with them?
8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows;
they always tell lies.
Everyone speaks friendly words to their neighbors,
but they are really setting a trap for them.
9 Will I not punish them for these things?
Will I not take revenge on a nation like this?
I, the Lord, have spoken.”
10 I said, “I will mourn for the mountains
and weep for the pastures,
because they have dried up,
and no one travels through them.
The sound of livestock is no longer heard;
birds and wild animals have fled and gone.”
11 The Lord says, “I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins,
a place where jackals live;
the cities of Judah will become a desert,
a place where no one lives.”
12 I asked, “Lord, why is the land devastated and dry as a desert, so that no one travels through it? Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom have you explained it so that they can tell others?”
13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because my people have abandoned the teaching that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them. 14 Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshiped the idols of Baal as their ancestors taught them to do. 15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink. 16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them.”
The People of Jerusalem Cry Out for Help
17 The Lord Almighty said,
“Think about what is happening!
Call for the mourners to come,
for the women who sing funeral songs.”
18 The people said,
“Tell them to hurry and sing a funeral song for us,
until our eyes fill with tears,
and our eyelids are wet from crying.”
19 Listen to the sound of crying in Zion:
“We are ruined!
We are completely disgraced!
We must leave our land;
our homes have been torn down.”
20 I said,
“Listen to the Lord, you women,
and pay attention to his words.
Teach your daughters how to mourn,
and your friends how to sing a funeral song.
21 Death has come in through our windows
and entered our palaces;
it has cut down the children in the streets
and the young men in the marketplaces.
22 Dead bodies are scattered everywhere,
like piles of manure on the fields,
like grain cut and left behind by the reapers,
grain that no one gathers.
This is what the Lord has told me to say.”
23 The Lord says,
“The wise should not boast of their wisdom,
nor the strong of their strength,
nor the rich of their wealth.
24 If any want to boast,
they should boast that they know and understand me,
because my love is constant,
and I do what is just and right.
These are the things that please me.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”
25-26 The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short. All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant.”
1 Oh, that mine head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares, that I might weepe day and night for the slayne of the daughter of my people. 2 Oh, that I had in the wildernes a cottage of wayfaring men, that I might leaue my people, and go from them: for they be all adulterers and an assembly of rebels, 3 And they bende their tongues like their bowes for lyes: but they haue no courage for the trueth vpon the earth: for they proceede from euill to worse, and they haue not knowen mee, sayth the Lord. 4 Let euery one take heede of his neighbour, and trust you not in any brother: for euery brother will vse deceite, and euery friend will deale deceitfully, 5 And euery one wil deceiue his friende, and wil not speake the trueth: for they haue taught their tongues to speake lies, and take great paynes to do wickedly. 6 Thine habitation is in the middes of deceiuers: because of their deceit they refuse to know me, sayth the Lord. 7 Therefore thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Behold, I wil melt them, and trie them: for what should I els do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is as an arow shot out, and speaketh deceite: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart hee layeth waite for him. 9 Shal I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soule be auenged on such a nation as this? 10 Vpon the mountaines will I take vp a weeping and a lamentation, and vpon the fayre places of the wildernes a mourning, because they are burnt vp: so that none can passe through them, neyther can men heare the voyce of the flocke: both the foule of the aire, and the beast are fled away and gone. 11 And I wil make Ierusalem an heape, and a den of dragons, and I will make the cities of Iudah waste, without an inhabitant. 12 Who is wise, to vnderstande this? and to whome the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, euen he shall declare it. Why doth the land perish, and is burnt vp like a wildernesse, that none passeth through? 13 And the Lord sayeth, Because they haue forsaken my Lawe, which I set before them, and haue not obeyed my voice, neither walked thereafter, 14 But haue walked after the stubbernesse of their owne heart, and after Baalims, which their fathers taught them, 15 Therefore thus sayth the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feede this people with wormewood, and giue them waters of gall to drinke: 16 I wil scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers haue knowen, and I will send a sworde after them, til I haue consumed them. 17 Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, Take heede, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for skilfull women that they may come, 18 And let them make haste, and let them take vp a lamentation for vs, that our eyes may cast out teares and our eye liddes gush out of water. 19 For a lamentable noyse is heard out of Zion, Howe are we destroyed, and vtterly confounded, for we haue forsaken the land, and our dwellings haue cast vs out. 20 Therefore heare the worde of the Lord, O ye women, and let your eares regard the words of his mouth, and teach your daughters to mourne, and euery one her neighbour to lament. 21 For death is come vp into our windowes, and is entred into our palaces, to destroy the children without, and the yong men in the streetes. 22 Speake, thus sayth the Lord, The carkeises of men shall lye, euen as the doung vpon the fielde, and as the handfull after the mower, and none shall gather them. 23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisedome, nor the strong man glorie in his strength, neyther the riche man glorie in his riches. 24 But let him that glorieth, glorie in this, that he vnderstandeth, and knoweth me: for I am the Lord, which shewe mercie, iudgement, and righteousnes in the earth: for in these things I delite, sayth the Lord. 25 Beholde, the dayes come, sayth the Lord, that I wil visite all them, which are circumcised with the vncircumcised: 26 Egypt and Iudah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all the vtmost corners of them that dwell in the wildernesse: for all these nations are vncircumcised, and al the house of Israel are vncircumcised in the heart.